(The AFL-CIO issued the following on August 30.)
CHOOSING A UNION–Some 250 employees of Monarch Industries in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, voted for UNITE HERE last week. Monarch makes pumps, hydraulic cylinders and metal castings. Another 32 workers at an Aramark laundry facility in Phoenix voted for the union this month.
WORKERS TEAM UP FOR A VOICE–Some 70 workers voted to join the Teamsters in four recent victories. In San Carlos, Calif., 30 workers at Allied Waste/BFI voted for a voice with Local 350. Twenty-five delivery drivers for Pine Hall Brick in Madison, N.C., voted for Local 391. In Plymouth, Mich., nine DHL drivers voted for Local 299, and six Steele County (Minn.) Corrections Department sergeants voted to join Local 320.
KEEN(E) ON BEING UNION–Fifty-two city employees in Keene, N.H., voted to join the New Hampshire Federation of Teachers/AFT. The unit includes secretaries, mechanics, maintenance workers, parking enforcement officers and employees in the parks and recreation and public works departments.
A GOOD BRONX CHEER–A dozen technicians and studio workers at BronxNet voted for a voice at work with NABET-Communications Workers of America Local 5 this month. BronxNet is a cable access channel serving the Bronx, N.Y.
GROWERS OK ORGANIZING–The North Carolina Growers Association (NCGA), which fiercely has resisted union organizing since 1999, has agreed to urge its members to allow Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) organizers access to their farms. NCGA arranges seasonal labor for about 1,000 farms, providing upwards of 10,000 migrant workers annually under the federal H-2A visa program. NCGA will urge its members to allow FLOC to conduct organizing activities at their farms; however, the final decision on access will be up to individual growers.
LENDING A HELPING HAND–Union members across the country are providing their time and resources to help victims of Hurricane Charley, which killed 25 people and left millions without power in Western Florida Aug. 13. Members of about 15 unions are donating materials and volunteering their skills to make sure victims receive such necessities as food, debris removal and financial help. For more details, visit http://www.aflcio.org . Union Privilege announced hurricane victims who participate in the Union Plus credit card, loan and mortgage programs may be eligible for payment extensions. For information, visit http://www.unionplus.org . To donate to the Union Community Fund, labor’s charity for relief and recovery efforts, visit http://www.unioncommunityfund.org or mail checks payable to the Union Community Fund, 815 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20006 and designate “Hurricane Charley Relief” on the checks. To support current relief efforts in Florida and relief for future hurricanes and other disasters throughout the country, make a financial donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund at http://www.redcross.org/metadata/charley/AFL-CIO.html . Select “Disaster Relief Fund.” Be sure to enter your local union name and number in the box labeled “Company/Organization.”
PROTECTING THE VOTE–The volunteers in the AFL-CIO’s My Vote, My Right campaign will be especially busy this week working to ensure everyone’s vote is counted in the 2004 elections. Voter rights advocacy coalitions of unions and community groups will monitor the Florida primary Aug. 31 and the Arizona primary Sept. 7 to identify and work to correct any voting problems that occur. Earlier this month, the Voter Protection Coalition, which includes the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU, NAACP and People for the American Way (PFAW), filed suit to overturn a Florida state law requiring destruction of provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct. To learn more about the My Vote, My Right campaign, click on http://www.myvotemyright.com . A new report released Aug. 25 said the Republican Party is mounting a campaign to keep African Americans and other people of color from voting in November. The report, “The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today,” by PFAW Foundation and the NAACP, cites recent incidents that singled out voters based on their races. It cites the use in Orlando, Fla., of armed state police to question elderly black voters in their homes as part of an investigation into absentee ballots in the city’s March 2003 primaries. For a copy of the report, visit http://www.pfaw.org .
ADDRESS THIS!–On Sept. 2, the same night President George W. Bush addresses the Republican National Convention, more than 15,000 union members will be walking door-to-door talking with a million union households. They will discuss issues Bush is likely to ignore or sugarcoat, including Bush’s failure to address America’s jobs and health care crises. They’ll distribute leaflets comparing the positions of Bush and his democratic rival Sen. John Kerry on key working family issues. It will be the largest single-day election mobilization in the union movement’s history and will be fueled by record numbers of union members volunteering for political action. “Despite the rosy rhetoric of the Republicans, the prolonged jobs crisis tears at the fabric of America’s middle class,” said John Sweeney, AFL-CIO president. “Never before have working people been so energized about an election. We’ve been overwhelmed by the number of volunteers who want to be out in their neighborhoods, talking to fellow union members while President Bush accepts his party’s nomination.” Walks are set for 200 communities in 16 states and are part of the AFL-CIO’s Labor 2004 initiative. To find out how you can join the walks, contact your local union or central labor council or visit http://www.votenov2.com .
MORE AMERICANS POOR, UNINSURED–For the third straight year, the number of Americans living in poverty and the number without health insurance increased, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Aug. 26. About 35.8 million people are poor, defined as having an annual income of less than $18,810 for a family of four, up from 34.5 million in 2002. Nearly 45 million lack health insurance, up from 43.5 million the previous year. Despite an overall economic recovery, median family income dropped from $43,381 to $43,318, demonstrating that “clearly the benefits of this growth have failed to reach middle- and lower-income families,” according to the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI). To read EPI’s analysis, visit http://www.epinet.org .
LABOR DAY AROUND THE COUNTRY–Working families are set to celebrate Labor Day, Sept. 6, with picnics, political rallies and religious services. Thousands of union families will rally in New York City Sept. 1 for good jobs, health care and other working family issues while the Republican National Convention is in full swing. The next day, more than 15,000 union members will walk door-to-door to discuss issues in the presidential campaign (see “Address This!” above). In Columbus, Ohio, workers will rally at a plant that is shutting down for good on Labor Day. Seattle working families will march in front of a Manpower temporary services office to highlight the growth of temporary and service jobs in place of well-paying manufacturing jobs. In Portland, Ore., workers will rally in support of returning veterans who come home to find out they have lost their jobs, in violation of federal law. The South Bay Labor Council in San Jose, Calif., will hold a Labor Day Speak Out at area congregations throughout the long weekend to honor working families and to unite people of all denominations in a common commitment to social and economic justice. In Manchester, N.H., the New Hampshire AFL-CIO will hold a special breakfast on Labor Day with some 300 union political activists and local lawmakers. Visit the AFL-CIO’s online Labor Day site, http://www.aflcio.org/laborday , to find out what’s happening in your community, send a Labor Day e-card, play games and more.
UTILITY PACTS–Utility Workers Local 223 members ratified two new three-year contracts covering 4,700 gas and electric workers at two DTE Energy Co. subsidiaries: Detroit Edison Co. and Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. The contracts raised wages and increased health care and retiree benefits.
RETIRED MINERS WIN COVERAGE–About 400 retired Mine Workers who were employed by the now-bankrupt Bethlehem Steel Corp. won health care benefits through UMWA Health and Retirement Funds Aug. 18. A ruling by an arbitrator settled a dispute between union-appointed and employer-appointed trustees to the funds.
FARM WORKERS FIRST–For the first time in its history, a grower will address the Farm Workers biennial convention. Peter Orum, an Illinois nursery owner and president of the American Nursery and Landscape Association, will speak as part of a joint union-industry effort to get Congress to pass the Agricultural Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act, which would allow undocumented farm workers to earn the permanent legal right to stay in the United States by continuing to work in agriculture.
CONTRACEPTIVE EQUITY–AFSCME Local 2343, working with New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, won contraceptive equity for women workers in 17 municipalities in Westchester County, N.Y. State law requires prescription drug insurance plans to include coverage of contraceptives, but the municipalities used a loophole to deny workers the coverage to which they were entitled. Spitzer launched an investigation after a complaint from Arlene Curinga, an AFSCME member employed by the Town of Cortlandt, N.Y.
POWER(FUL) PARTNERSHIP–The Electrical Workers formed a safety partnership with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, five national electrical contractors and two industry trade associations to improve job safety in electrical transmission and distribution work. The partnership will identify, evaluate and control health and safety hazards and publicize best practices through training programs and materials.
RETURNING RUNAWAYS–New York Gov. George Pataki (R) signed into law Aug. 24 a tax incentive bill strongly supported by the entertainment unions that would help stop runaway film productions–films shot in other countries by U.S. producers. The bill commits $100 million over four years to producers through a 10 percent tax break for costs of producing films in the state.
STOP SUDAN GENOCIDE–Joslyn Williams, president of the Metropolitan Washington (D.C.) Council, AFL-CIO, and other union activists were arrested Aug. 26 at the Sudanese embassy while protesting that government’s refusal to stop the genocide in which nearly 50,000 black Africans have been killed by government-backed militia in the oil-rich Darfur province. To send a letter to Sudanese Ambassador Khidir Haroun Ahmed, visit http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/StopSudanGenocide .
PHILLIPS TO LEAD CLUW–The national executive board of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) elected United Food and Commercial Workers Vice President Susan Phillips as president of the AFL-CIO constituency group. Phillips succeeds Gloria Johnson, a founder of CLUW, who retired as the organization’s president Aug. 26. Phillips, who was a CLUW vice president, will fill Johnson’s term through fall 2005. Johnson led CLUW since 1993 and retired earlier this year as IUE-CWA’s women’s activities coordinator.
SCHOLARSHIPS ARE A UNION PLUS–The Union Plus Scholarship Program has awarded $150,000 in 2004 scholarships to 106 students representing 38 AFL-CIO affiliated unions. The scholarship winners include union members, their spouses and children. Twelve students won the program’s top $4,000 awards. Since it began in 1992, the Union Plus Scholarship Program has awarded $1.8 million in scholarships to students in 1,100 union families. Applications for the 2005 scholarships will be online at http://www.unionplus.org/benefits/education starting Sept. 1.