(The AFL-CIO issued the following on May 9.)
JUSTICE GOES ISLANDWIDE—In San Juan, Puerto Rico, April 26, delivery drivers at Islandwide Express voted to join Teamsters Local 901. There are 150 workers in the bargaining unit, and Islandwide does more business than both UPS and Federal Express in Puerto Rico. Also last month, 100 drivers and dockworkers at USF Dugan in St. Louis voted to join IBT Local 600 and in Schererville, Ind., 44 drivers at Kemiron/Eaglebrook Express voted in favor of IBT Local 142 representation.
WORKERS CHOOSE UFCW—Workers at Tilton Terrace Nursing Home in Wilmington, Del., voted April 28 to join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27. The 78 employees are dietary, housekeeping, laundry and maintenance workers.
VICTORY AT QUEBECOR—After a long struggle, members of the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters reached agreement with Quebecor World on new rules for organizing at the company’s nonunion facilities in the United States. Quebecor, the world’s largest commercial printer, agreed not to interfere with employees’ efforts to organize, and the union agreed to focus its campaigns on how employees can address workplace issues through collective bargaining and union representation. The workers will be able to choose union recognition in a non–National Labor Relations Board election. “This new accord marks a significant step forward for workers’ rights in the printing industry,” said George Tedeschi, president of the Graphic Communications Conference. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney praised the agreement, saying, “This organizing accord is a significant accomplishment.” The AFL-CIO has provided strategic support for the campaign to Graphic Communications and the Teamsters.
MIGUEL CONTRERAS DIES—Miguel Contreras, 52, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor since 1996, died unexpectedly of a heart attack May 6. The son of a farm worker, Contreras began working in the fields at age 5. By 17 he was leafleting supermarkets on behalf of the Farm Workers, and later he became a national organizer for the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (now UNITE HERE). “Miguel re-energized our movement by bringing unions and workers together across craft, class and income divisions,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. “He gave special pride to Latino workers and fought tirelessly for the rights of immigrants—even as he gave voice to all working people in Los Angeles.” Contreras is survived by his wife, UNITE HERE Vice President Maria Elena Durazo, and two sons, Michael and Mario. A memorial service is scheduled for May 12 and a funeral service May 13, both in Los Angeles.
AFL-CIO RESTRUCTURES—In a move to increase resources for union organizing efforts and member political and legislative mobilization, the AFL-CIO announced a significant restructuring May 3. The federation will have fewer departments, and some 167 current jobs at AFL-CIO headquarters and in the field were eliminated, while 61 new positions were created. The Field Mobilization and Political departments were merged, as were the Legislative, Public Policy and Safety and Health departments. The work of the International Affairs Department was moved to the Organizing Department, the President’s Office and the Solidarity Center. The magazine “America@work” no longer will be published but will be replaced by issues toolkits and online resources for activists. These moves make possible the changes the AFL-CIO’s executive officers have recommended to increase growth through organizing and gain legislative and political strength for working families. The blueprint for change, “Winning for Working Families,” is available at www.aflcio.org.
BUSH PRIVATIZATION SLASHES BENEFITS— President George W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security would deeply cut benefits and hit the middle class the hardest, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) analysis. Bush’s plan to replace Social Security with a privatized system would cut benefits for 70 percent of future retirees, even if they do not choose private accounts. Anyone earning more than $20,000 a year would see a benefit cut. For example, under the Bush plan, a worker who earns an average of $36,600 a year, does not choose to have a privatized account and retires in 2045 would lose $3,253 a year in guaranteed Social Security benefits (in 2005 dollars). Workers who choose private accounts would face even greater hits. A worker averaging $36,000 who does opt for a private account and retires in 2055 would get just $7,510 a year in guaranteed benefits, compared with $22,100 promised under the current system. Meanwhile, public support for President Bush’s Social Security privatization scheme continues to drop. Recent CNN/”USA Today” and ABC News–”Washington Post” polls show nearly two-thirds disapprove of Bush’s handling of Social Security. For more information on Social Security, visit www.aflcio.org/socialsecurity. For a copy of the CBPP report, visit www.cbpp.org/4-29-05socsec.htm.
INDUSTRIAL UNION CONFERENCE—More than 1,200 workers from 12 unions are developing strategies to stem the loss of manufacturing jobs and to reform the global economy during the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council (IUC) legislative conference May 9–10 in Washington, D.C. The workers are focusing on retirement security, trade and job exports, workers’ rights, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Employee Free Choice Act, historic bipartisan legislation that would reform the nation’s basic labor laws by requiring employers to recognize a union after a majority of workers signs cards authorizing union representation.
NO CAFTA—U.S. and Dominican workers will join political leaders in a May 10 press briefing and rally on Capitol Hill to support good jobs and call on Congress to stop CAFTA, President Bush’s top trade priority. After the rally, the U.S. workers will visit their representatives and senators to push initiatives to create good jobs. CAFTA would extend to five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic the job loss and environmental damage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The rally and lobbying day will culminate the IUC conference. For more on CAFTA, visit www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/globaleconomy.
ITCHY FINGER ON NUKE BUTTON—U.S. Senate Republican leaders may soon push the button on the so-called nuclear option and launch their attack to end the right to filibuster judicial nominees. Since President Bush took office, the Senate has confirmed 204 of his nominees but used Senate rules, including the filibuster, to block 10 who have bad records on workers’ rights, civil rights and other important working family issues. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has indicated he may bring one of the contested nominations to the Senate floor this week and, if Democrats use the filibuster, set in motion a process to circumvent Senate rules and declare filibusters out of bounds for judicial nominees. It takes 60 votes to end a filibuster but a simple majority to approve Frist’s end-run around the rules. Visit www.unionvoice.org/campaign/StopNuclear to urge your senators to preserve the right to challenge judicial nominees.
WAL-MART EXEC INSULTS GARMENT WORKERS—Although more than 250,000 U.S. textile workers have lost their jobs since 2001, the head of global procurement for Wal-Mart says increased Chinese imports are not jeopardizing American textile jobs—because there aren’t any. “The only apparel that’s left in the United States is sweatshops in Chinatown,” Wal-Mart’s procurement chief, Andrew Tsuei, said during an interview last year with the Los Angeles Times. The number of garment and textile jobs in the United States dropped from about 850,000 in 2000 to 593,000 last year, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wal-Mart, which imported $1.5 billion in garments from China last year, is the single largest importer of foreign-produced goods to the United States.
WAGES UP AND DOWN—The Minnesota state legislature last week voted to raise the state’s minimum wage by $1 an hour to $6.15 an hour starting Aug. 1. Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) is expected to sign the bill. The action is “a long-awaited boost for low-wage workers in our state,” said Ray Waldron, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, which is part of the coalition of community, poverty, religious and other activists groups that worked on the issue. Meanwhile in Georgia May 3, Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) signed legislation that bans local governments from establishing living wage laws. Business groups backed the effort after union and community groups won a living wage ordinance in Atlanta last year that would have given preferences to contractors that paid workers at least $10.50 an hour plus health benefits. Visit www.aflcio.org/yourjobeconomy/livingwage to learn more.
USW SLAMS IMERYS—At the annual meeting of Imerys SA May 3 in Paris, United Steelworkers (the merged union of the Steelworkers and PACE International Union) members told shareholders about the company’s efforts to destroy the union. Since June 2000, when employees at the Imerys plant in Sylacauga, Ala., voted for a union, the company has “disrespected our rights and engaged in harassment, unjust discharges and intimidation,” said Keith Fulbright, president of USW Local 3-516 in Sylacauga. The French-based minerals and building materials company has been charged with racial bias at the Alabama plant, and Imerys is being prosecuted under the National Labor Relations Act for delaying negotiations at its Dry Branch, Ga., site. For more information, visit www.imerys-solidarity.org.
LETTER CARRIERS DELIVER FOOD—The Letter Carriers will hold their 13th National Food Drive May 14 with the goal of topping last year’s record collection of 70.9 million pounds of perishable food. The food is donated to community food banks, pantries and shelters. People who wish to donate are asked to place nonperishable foods near their mailboxes, and the carriers will pick up the food. In Chicago and New York, postal customers are asked to take their donations to local post offices between May 7 and May 14. For more information, visit www.nalc.org.
TOP ADMINISTRATORS—Eight members of the School Administrators have won the union’s 2005 Distinguished Leadership Award. The award winners are Kevin Truitt of San Francisco, James Thompson of Hartford, Conn., Stephen Wallis of Columbia, Md., Gladys Camp of Washington, D.C., Stephen Bennett of Yonkers, N.Y., and Phyllis Corbin, Gregory Hodge and Leonard Golubchick, all of New York City.
HEDGPETH TAKES AFTRA POST—The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists named Kim Roberts Hedgpeth as the union’s new national executive director. She succeeds Greg Hessinger, who left last month to become executive director of the Screen Actors. Hedgpeth joined the AFTRA staff in 1981 and has served as associate executive director since 1997.