(The AFL-CIO issued the following article on May 23.)
GW INSTRUCTORS VOTE SEIU—Some 1,200 adjunct and part-time faculty members at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., won representation with SEIU Local 500 after challenged ballots from an October 2004 National Labor Relations Board election were opened May 17. The faculty members teach at most of the university’s schools except the school of medicine.
AFT/AAUP AFFILIATION—The 740 members of the Part-Time Lecturer Faculty Chapter of the Rutgers (N.J.) University Council of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) voted May 13 for joint affiliation with AFT. Earlier this year, the 4,000 AAUP full-time faculty, graduate employees and counselors at Rutgers voted for joint affiliation with AFT.
VISIONS SEES UNION—In Chicago, 77 direct care staff at The Visions Network, a nonprofit agency serving individuals with developmental disabilities, won recognition with AFSCME Council 31 recently. Also, 59 Illinois state employees in a variety of job classifications, including analysts, building and grounds supervisors and switchboard operators, won recognition. Both victories came through majority sign-up, in which employers recognize the union after a majority of workers signs cards authorizing union representation.
80 JOIN IBT—Thirty-five Panera Bread truck drivers in Chicago voted May 6 for a stronger voice at work with Teamsters Local 734. The drivers deliver products to Panera cafes in the Chicago area. In Ridgecrest, Calif., 27 warehouse workers at the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, who are employed by BMAR & Associates, a military contractor, voted recently to join IBT Local 166. Elsewhere, 18 drivers at My Type Inc., a DHL independent contractor in Bloomington, Ill., voted for representation by IBT Local 26.
TWO NEW IAM UNITS—Janitors for Treco Inc. at Laughlin AFB in Del Rio, Texas, recently voted 13–0 for representation by Machinists District 776. In Norfolk, Va., 10 Lockheed Martin workers who maintain and operate submarine trainers for the Navy at the Norfolk Naval Operations Base voted to join IAM District 74.
SCHWAB CHALLENGED ON SOCIAL SECURITY—Some 26 percent of the shareholders withheld their votes for the board at the Charles Schwab Corp.’s annual shareholder meeting in San Francisco May 19. The shareholders also voted to elect directors annually. The votes—in effect, votes of no confidence in the financial firm’s leaders—came after hundreds of Schwab clients, retirees, union members and community activists rallied outside the meeting, delivered 1,100 letters from Schwab clients and called on the company to “Stop the Double Talk” and drop its support for privatization of Social Security. The company claims it does not take a position on Social Security privatization, but it maintains membership in several groups leading the attack on Social Security. The AFL-CIO is leading the campaign to hold Wall Street firms accountable for their subterfuge efforts to win Social Security privatization. For more information, visit www.schwabgreed.org.
ON THE ROAD TO STOP CAFTA—The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) would hurt workers in the United States and Central America, workers from Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and this country said at community forums in New York City and San Antonio last week. The forums were part of the AFL-CIO’s “CAFTA—We Don’t Hafta” tour to spread the word that CAFTA would extend to the Dominican Republic and five Central American countries the low wages and environmental damage caused by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Since it was enacted in 1994, NAFTA has resulted in the loss of 900,000 U.S. jobs and job opportunities, while Mexico’s real wages have dropped, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). In New York City’s forum, five members of Congress spoke out strongly against CAFTA, which could come to the floor of the House as early as this month. In San Antonio, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson slammed the Bush administration for refusing to include strong workers’ rights protections in the trade deal. “Over and over again—in every paragraph of CAFTA from start to finish, the Bush administration turned its back on workers and refused to do what’s fair and just,” she said. For more information on CAFTA, visit www.aflcio.org/cafta.
GOVERNOR VETOES HEALTH BILL—With Wal-Mart executives on hand, Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) vetoed legislation May 19 that would require companies with 10,000 or more employees in the state to spend at least 8 percent of their payrolls on employee health care. Wal-Mart is one of four large companies affected by the legislation, but it is the only one that does not spend 8 percent on employee health care. The state legislature will attempt to override the veto. Because of low wages and expensive health care premiums, many Wal-Mart employees around the country are forced to rely on state assistance such as Medicaid for health care. Meanwhile, legislators in New Jersey introduced a health care bill similar to Maryland’s, and the Pennsylvania legislature is considering a bill to require companies to issue annual reports revealing the numbers of their workers receiving state medical assistance. For more information, visit www.walmartcostsyou.com and www.wakeupwalmart.com.
COUNTDOWN ON JUDGES—U.S. Senate Majority Leader William Frist (R-Tenn.) started the countdown to end filibusters of judicial nominees when he brought the nomination of one of President George W. Bush’s most extremist federal appeals court candidates—Priscilla Owen—to the Senate floor May 18. On May 24 the Senate will vote on Frist’s motion to end debate on Owen’s nomination, which requires 60 votes to pass. If that vote fails, Frist has vowed to circumvent Senate rules and end filibusters for judicial nominees. While the Senate has approved more than 200 of Bush’s judicial nominees since 2001, Democrats have blocked 10 nominees who have bad records on workers’ rights, civil rights and other important working family issues. Through the AFL-CIO Working Families Network, America’s workers have sent nearly 100,000 e-mails and faxes to senators urging them to reject Frist’s attempts to eliminate the judicial filibuster. Visit www.unionvoice.org/campaign/StopNuclear to urge your senators to preserve the right to challenge judicial nominees.
TIME TO BOOST MINIMUM WAGE—New minimum wage legislation would increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour in three steps over 26 months. The minimum wage has been $5.15 an hour since 1997. The legislation (no bill numbers have been assigned) was introduced May 18 by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). Republican leaders and the Bush administration have blocked meaningful minimum wage increases repeatedly in the past several years, most recently in March.
FMLA CHANGES—CUTS?—DUE SOON—The U.S. Department of Labor announced it will publish a proposed rule revising Family and Medical Leave Act regulations by the end of May. The department has refused to comment on changes it will propose. Business groups have sought to restrict use of the leave permitted by the 1993 law, which allows workers in firms with 50 or more employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year to care for a seriously ill family member or a newborn or newly adopted child. The AFL-CIO, family and women’s groups and congressional allies have urged the department not to reduce the act’s protections.
NEW RULES CUT CALIF. COMP—California workers who are permanently disabled by workplace injuries could see their benefits cut in half by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) changes to the state’s workers’ compensation rules, a new independent study shows. A study by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau shows the rules Schwarzenegger’s administration issued in January would reduce by 40 percent the number of workers eligible for permanent disability payments and reduce the benefits by 58 percent for those who still qualify. The California Labor Federation and other workers’ groups are urging the state legislature to act to protect injured workers from the cuts.
WORKING HARDER FOR LESS—Even though worker productivity in the United States jumped 4.1 percent in the past four years, worker pay grew only 1.5 percent, according to a new report by EPI. While wages remain stagnant—or fall, in the case of blue-collar and service workers—corporate profits are heading through the roof, EPI reported. For a copy of the report, visit www.epinet.org.
WAL-MART APOLOGIZES FOR AD—Wal-Mart is apologizing for approving a full-page ad equating a proposed Arizona zoning ordinance with a Nazi book burning. The ad in the May 8 Arizona Daily Sun included a 1933 photo of people throwing books onto a pyre in Berlin. The ad compared a Flagstaff, Ariz., proposal to restrict Wal-Mart from expanding a local store to the government limiting what books people could read. Complaints by the Arizona Anti-Defamation League, members of Congress and the United Food and Commercial Workers about the ad triggered Wal-Mart’s apology.
CONTROLLERS HONORED FOR ‘SAVES’—The National Air Traffic Controllers Association presented Medal of Safety awards to 12 controllers who helped pilots and passengers avoid disaster. The dozen honored during a May 14 Washington, D.C., ceremony include a controller who helped a private plane passenger land safely after the pilot had a stroke. Another hero averted disaster by alerting the crew of a 747 with 409 passengers that its landing gear was up as it neared touchdown. “This is a talented lineup of exceptional public servants who embody the very essence of our profession—the relentless work ethic and determination of ensuring the safety of the National Airspace System,” NATCA President John Carr said. Visit www.natca.org to read about each controller’s actions.
USW QUESTIONS BLAST REPORT—United Steelworkers (the union formed by the merger of the Steelworkers and PACE International Union) has questioned the findings of British Petroleum’s interim report on an explosion that killed 15 workers at its Texas City, Texas, refinery March 23. The union will hire outside safety experts to work with federal agencies investigating the blast. USW said the company’s focus on blaming employees for the explosion excluded other factors, including management failures, unsafe design flaws and safety procedures.
FIRE FIGHTER WINS ‘SURVIVOR’—Tom Westman, a New York City firefighter and member of IAFF Local 854, became the sole “Survivor” on the popular CBS television reality show “Survivor: Palau.” The 41-year-old father of three spent 39 days on the island and outlasted 20 competitors to win the $1 million prize. For more information, visit www.iaff.org.