(The AFL-CIO circulated the following on January 24.)
DELIVERING THE GOODS—Workers at Silver Ink Inc.—a contractor that delivers packages for DHL—voted to join Teamsters Local 512 Jan. 14. The 33 workers and the company are in Jacksonville, Fla. Also, eight workers at Cordin Transport in Dearborn, Mich., voted to join IBT Local 299.
QUANTUM LEAP FOR WORKERS—Nineteen workers at Quantum Technologies Inc. in North Port, N.Y., won voluntary recognition with NABET/Communications Workers of America Local 51011 Jan. 19. The broadcast integration workers build television studios and install industrial cameras. They won their union through majority sign-up, under which the employer agrees to recognize the union as the workers’ bargaining agent when a majority signs authorization cards.
CANADIAN WAL-MART WORKERS WIN—United Food and Commercial Workers Local 501 was certified by the Quebec Labor Relations Board as the bargaining representative of some 200 employees at Wal-Mart Canada Corp.’s store in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. “Wal-Mart workers now realize that if they want a union in their store, Wal-Mart can’t stop them,” said Michael Fraser, the union’s Canadian national director. A Wal-Mart spokesperson said the company is considering a legal challenge.
U.S. WAL-MART WORKERS ON MEDICAID—A quarter of Wal-Mart’s Tennessee workforce receive health care through the state’s Medicaid program—TennCare—not the company’s self-touted health care benefits. A survey by TennCare and the state Department of Labor found 9,617 of the retailer’s 37,000 workers were enrolled in TennCare, designed to provide health care for low-income workers. In a recent advertising campaign, Wal-Mart claimed its wages and health care benefits provide its workers with a good standard of living and quality health care. A 2004 study in California found Wal-Mart workers who qualified for various forms of public assistance cost the state about $32 billion. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit www.walmartcostsyou.org.
HAVE YOUR SAY—A new survey seeking input on how to strengthen state and local union movements has been posted as part of the AFL-CIO’s examination of how the union movement must change and build on its strengths to continue to be an effective advocate for working families. Hundreds of union members, educators and activists have posted thoughtful and detailed messages about the strengths and weaknesses of the American union movement at the AFL-CIO’s Strengthening Our Union Movement for the Future website. Visit www.aflcio.org/ourfuture to share your ideas and read what others have to say.
NAM JOINS BUSH JUDGE FIGHT—The National Manufacturers Association (NAM) recently announced a multimillion-dollar public relations campaign to promote President George W. Bush’s extremist nominees for federal judgeships. The announcement came shortly after Bush resubmitted the names of 12 federal appeals court nominees who failed to win Senate confirmation during Bush’s first term because of their out-of-the-mainstream legal views. NAM will form a group called the American Justice Partnership to front the campaign, said NAM President John Engler, former Michigan governor (R) and a long-time friend of Bush, according to the Los Angeles Times. For more information on Bush’s drive to pack the federal courts with extremist judges, visit http://saveourcourts.civilrights.org.
SOCIAL SECURITY BATTLE HEATS UP—Activists are attacking remarks by House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) that Congress ought to consider whether women should receive lower Social Security benefits because women live longer than men. Thomas chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees Social Security. “Shortcomings in the present retirement system already cause harm to women, many of whom are low-wage workers,” says Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. Women earn less than men and are more likely than men to live in poverty and rely solely on Social Security, Ness said. More than 85,000 people have signed an AFL-CIO online petition to strengthen Social Security and defend it against President Bush’s plans to privatize the system and drastically cut benefits in the process. To sign the petition, visit www.aflcio.org. Working families also sent some 500,000 e-mail messages to Bush and members of Congress, urging them to protect the country’s most successful family security program. Bush’s allies are raising millions of dollars for an election-style campaign to privatize Social Security, replacing guaranteed benefits with risky private accounts. Bush’s privatization plan would saddle future generations with $2 trillion in debt. Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO told the trade group Securities Industry Association (SIA) to stop pushing private Social Security accounts that would put workers’ retirement at risk but give SIA members a $940 billion windfall in fees. “Support for privatizing Social Security creates a conflict of interest for the member firms of the SIA like those that led to the financial industry scandals of recent years,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a letter to SIA Chairman Daniel Ludeman.
D.C. HOTEL PACT RATIFIED—With an overwhelming “yes” vote, workers at 14 Washington, D.C., hotels agreed to a new three-year contract Jan. 18. The agreement covers about 3,500 members of UNITE HERE Local 25 and includes new protections from workload increases, harassment at the workplace and other problems workers sought to improve. The economic package improves wages and pension contributions and maintains a strong health care package.
ACTORS REACH RECORD DEAL—The Screen Actors and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists reached a historic tentative agreement Jan. 20 with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The new three-year deal, worth about $200 million, is the most lucrative pact in the history of actor–producer collective bargaining, the unions said. The agreement includes gains across-the-board for every category of performer in television and motion picture productions, with the most significant advances coming for performers working at scale who rely most heavily on the union contracts. For more information, visit www.sag.org.
CALL FOR TRANSPORTATION SUMMIT—The Machinists have called for a national transportation summit of management, labor and government to “work toward the common goal of rebuilding the transportation industry for our mutual benefit,” Robert Roach Jr., IAM vice president for transportation, wrote in a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. He cited the financial crises and bankruptcies at the nation’s airlines, soaring oil prices and ongoing problems with rail companies. Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, backed the call for a summit, saying, “a dialogue and action are badly needed.”
DENIM ACCORD—UNITE HERE Local 1391 members unanimously ratified economic changes to their current contract, which includes pay raises for some 1,000 production and maintenance workers at International Textile Group’s (ITG’s) Cone Denim Division in Greensboro, N.C. The workers’ last pay increase was at the end of 2002, after which the manufacturer, then known as Cone Mills Corp., went into chapter 11 bankruptcy and was sold to ITG. Other changes include improvements in health and retirement benefits.
ENFORCEMENT LACKING—The Farm Workers began a campaign for stronger enforcement of California’s field sanitation laws and regulations, saying the state’s enforcement of written protections is weak. Of the 78,500 farms there, only a few hundred are inspected each year. At the present rate, the UFW said, it would take the state more than 300 years to inspect all the farms. The lack of decent bathrooms and clean drinking water is a health hazard for the workers, the union said. For more information, visit www.ufw.org.
TSUNAMI TAKES JOBS AND LIVES—Some 1 million people in Indonesia and Sri Lanka may have lost their jobs as a result of the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster, according to a report by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO). Most of the jobless worked in fishing, agriculture, tourism or small, informal businesses, the ILO said. The ILO is still assessing the impact of the tsunami on jobs in India, Thailand and other Indian Ocean countries hard hit by the deadly tsunami that claimed more than 200,000 lives. Unions and union members have joined millions of other Americans in raising funds to help the tsunami victims. Donations to the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center’s Tsunami Relief Fund will go directly to union partners in those nations for medium- and long-term reconstruction and development. To contribute, make out a check marked Tsunami Relief, payable to Solidarity Center Education Fund, and send it to Tsunami Relief Fund, Solidarity Center, 1925 K St., N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006-1105. For more information, visit www.solidaritycenter.org. For a list of relief agencies, visit the U.S. Agency for International Development website at www.usaid.gov.
MEDIA DEATHS RISING—At least 129 working journalists and media staff were killed on the job last year by murder, assassination, crossfire accidents or unexplained circumstances—the worst annual death toll in history, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). In its report, 2004—A Dark and Deadly Year for Media, the IFJ renewed its call for the United States and other governments to better investigate media deaths. Much more must be done to ensure the safety of reporters because “their ability to report fully is the ultimate guarantee of press freedom for all of us,” said Linda Foley, president of The Newspaper Guild/CWA. For a copy of the report, visit www.ifj.org.
LASER ACTION—The Air Line Pilots welcomed the announcement by Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta that the Federal Aviation Administration will require pilots to immediately report laser incidents to air traffic controllers, who then would repeatedly broadcast warnings and quickly notify law officers. Since the beginning of 2005 there have been 31 incidents of individuals shining laser beams into airplane cockpits, which can temporarily blind pilots. ALPA President Duane Woerth said the actions are an important first step toward the union’s goal of improved information flow, both in reporting incidents to a central office for analysis and dissemination of security information to pilots.
HANLEY TO RETIRE—Operating Engineers President Frank Hanley, who has led his union since 1990, announced his decision to retire March 1 during the union’s executive board meetings in Bal Harbour, Fla., Jan. 18. Vincent Giblin, who served as secretary-treasurer under Hanley, will serve the remainder of Hanley’s term to April 2008.