(The AFL-CIO circulated the following on April 11.)
BREAKTHROUGH AT DHL—More than 200 workers at five DHL-contracted package delivery companies in the Columbus and Toledo, Ohio, areas joined the Teamsters in a series of elections in late March and early April. In Maumee, near Toledo, 39 workers at B&L Express, 16 at Vans Express and 23 at Online Logistics voted to join IBT Local 20. In Columbus, 122 workers at two Allen Freight locations and 32 workers at Flight Line Logistics voted for IBT Local 413. Meanwhile in Brewer, Maine, some 25 DHL workers, members of IBT Local 340 who lost their jobs when a new contractor took over, have won community backing. The Greater Bangor Area Central Labor Council and the community group Food and Medicine formed the Farmer-Labor-Small Business Alliance to mobilize the community and persuade the new DHL contractor, Rydborn Express, to rehire the workers and negotiate a contract.
CHILD CARE WORKERS VOTE SEIU—Child care workers in Illinois voted for representation by SEIU in a three-week mail ballot, the results of which were announced April 7. The 49,000 workers provide child care in their homes for about 200,000 low- and moderate-income children, and they are paid by grants from the state. The workers are not covered by federal or state labor laws, but Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) issued an executive order Feb. 18 granting collective bargaining rights. Of the 16,527 ballots returned, SEIU received 13,484 votes.
COOK COUNTRY OFFICERS VOTE AFSCME—Some 471 Cook County, Ill., Sheriff’s Department officers voted to join AFSCME Council 31 recently. In Lake County, Ill., 39 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses at Winchester House Nursing Home won a voice at work with Council 31.
CHOOSING JUSTICE—More than 400 Southern California police officers recently voted for a voice at work with Laborers Local 777. The 400 members of the Los Angeles Airport Police Officers Association voted March 22 to affiliate with the local. The next day, 32 members of the Desert Hot Springs Police Officers Association also voted for LIUNA representation.
A HEAD START TO RESPECT—Some 124 teachers, assistant teachers and social workers at the Paterson (N.J.) Head Start program voted to join AFT April 6.
CEO PAYWATCH—The latest AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch report shows excessive pay packages for corporate chief executive officers are costing workers their hard-earned retirement pay. Last year, the average CEO of a major company received $9.84 million in total compensation, according to The New York Times, a 12 percent increase over 2003, while the average worker’s paycheck grew only 3.6 percent. The site, www.paywatch.org, also provides case studies of six companies, including Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart, that rewarded CEOs with huge pay packages.
STOP CAFTA, TWIN OF NAFTA—Working families, along with environmental, student, religious and family farm activists, are mobilizing to stop CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) as Congress opens hearings on the pact April 13. CAFTA is President George W. Bush’s top trade priority. If approved, it would eliminate tariffs among the United States, five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, extending the disastrous job loss, increasing inequality and environmental damage caused by more than a decade of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “CAFTA represents a flawed model of free trade without protections for workers’ rights, just like NAFTA,” says AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson, who will testify before a U.S. House International Relations Subcommittee April 13. An AFL-CIO report, The Real Record on Workers’ Rights in Central America, shows 40 percent of Central America’s workers earn less than $2 a day and workers’ rights are routinely abused. For more information on CAFTA, visit www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/globaleconomy/cafta_ftaa_main.cfm.
BUSH’S SOCIAL SECURITY BLITZ: PROPAGANDA?—President Bush’s unprecedented 60 Stops in 60 Days blitz to sell his Social Security privatization scheme is costing tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, according to estimates. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate if Bush’s taxpayer-paid blitz has “crossed the line from education to propaganda.” Bush and dozens of members of his administration have taken part in 123 events in 35 states as of April 7, 35 days into the 60-day blitz, according to The Washington Post. Last year, the GAO found the Bush administration illegally used taxpayer funds to produce propaganda regarding Bush’s flawed Medicare prescription dug bill. Recently, the Bush administration has been under fire for paying conservative columnists and writers who promoted Bush policies and for producing video press releases masquerading as legitimate news stories. Last week, the Treasury Department invited more than 30 conservative radio talk show hosts to Washington for one-on-one interviews with Bush administration officials—including Treasury Secretary John Snow—who promoted Bush’s privatization scheme.
TAKING IT TO WAL-MART—Community activists who stopped Wal-Mart from building a store in Inglewood, Calif., last year took their fight to Wal-Mart’s front door. While the giant retailer’s executives conducted a public relations spin fest for invited national media at company headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., last week, the activists called on Wal-Mart to sign a legally binding agreement to protect the rights of the Inglewood community and guarantee living wage jobs and affordable family health care. Even though 61 percent of the mostly African American and Latino voters in Inglewood, near Los Angeles, rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed Wal-Mart to build a supercenter and exempt it from local and state planning reviews, Wal-Mart has since purchased the land where it hoped to build the project and is expected to announce new plans for an Inglewood store soon. To learn more, visit www.walmartcostsyou.com.
WAKE UP WAL-MART—The United Food and Commercial Workers called on Wal-Mart to release all documents connected with allegations of improper expense reimbursements to its former vice chairman, Tom Coughlin. The Wall Street Journal reported Coughlin allegedly diverted thousands of dollars in expense account reimbursements as part of a plan to make secret payments to union staff members so they would tell Wal-Mart officials the names of pro-union employees at stores. The allegations come as UFCW launched a new website, www.wakeupwalmart.com, to publicize information about the company’s anti-worker practices, such as low wages, unaffordable health care coverage and discrimination. The website also encourages elected officials and environmental, civil rights and community groups to join a coalition with unions to fight for justice at Wal-Mart. Meanwhile, the Public Broadcasting System’s “Frontline” TV show will rerun the documentary “Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” nationwide on April 26. Check your local listings for times.
BAD CURRENCY—The U.S. government must stop China’s illegal currency manipulation, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka said April 7 at a Capitol Hill press conference in support of the Chinese Currency Act of 2005. Chinese currency manipulation has led to record U.S. trade deficits with China and contributes to the loss of millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs. The bipartisan bill, introduced by Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) with 14 co-sponsors, would define currency manipulation as a violation of existing U.S. trade laws and World Trade Organization rules. For 10 years, China has artificially pegged its currency at about 8.28 yuan to one U.S. dollar rather than letting the international financial markets set the exchange rate. Such undervaluing of its currency gives China an unfair advantage in the international marketplace and the ability to undercut U.S. manufacturing by exporting, on a large scale, products that previously were produced in this country. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/manufacturing.
‘BIGOTS ON THE BORDER’—Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez condemned the Minuteman Project of armed, private citizens patrolling the United States–Mexico border supposedly to stop illegal border crossings. The group is made up of civilian volunteers. Rodriguez said these self-proclaimed minutemen “amount to little more than bigots on the border.” He said the situation demonstrates the urgent need for Congress to pass the landmark AgJobs bill (S. 359 and H.R. 884) that would allow undocumented farm workers who are in this country now to earn the right to remain here permanently if they continue to work in agriculture.
MAIDA SPRINGER-KEMP—Longtime civil and human rights activist Maida Springer-Kemp died March 29 in Pittsburgh at the age of 94. A member of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (now UNITE HERE), she was the first African American woman to represent the U.S. union movement internationally, promoting freedom of association in Asia, Africa and Latin America. She was instrumental in creating an international labor program at Harvard University and establishing needlework training schools in East Africa. In her honor, ILGWU established the Maida Springer-Kemp Fund, which supports the needlework schools, provides scholarships for workers’ children and gives women financial aid to start home-based enterprises. To make a tax-deductible contribution to the fund, send your check payable to Solidarity Center Education Fund, to the Solidarity Center, Attn: Lourdes Kistler, 1925 K St., N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006-1105. Write “Maida Springer-Kemp” in the memo line of the check.