(The AFL-CIO issued the following on January 4.)
UAW DANDY IN DUNDEE—In a major victory, the workers at a new automobile engine manufacturing plant in Dundee, Mich., have a voice on the job with UAW. Workers at the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance—a joint venture among DaimlerChrysler AG, Mitsubishi Motors and Hyundai—chose UAW in mid-December through a majority sign-up, or card-check process, in which workers win their union when a majority verifies the desire to join a union by signing authorization cards. By 2007, the bargaining unit is expected to grow to 400.
WORKERS CHOOSE AFT—Some 95 school personnel in East Aurora, Ill., won voluntary recognition to become part of AFT Local 604 on Dec. 9. And in New York the Canton Central School District recognized the right of 30 teaching assistants to form a union with the Canton Teachers Association on Dec. 17.
FOUR TEAMSTERS VICTORIES—In December, 185 workers won a voice on the job with the Teamsters. As part of the union’s campaign to organize Allied Waste/BFI facilities in five states, 52 drivers at the company’s Stockton, Calif., facility voted to join IBT Local 439, while 10 workers at the Allied Waste/BFI landfill in Timberlands, Ala., voted to form a union with IBT Local 991. At Richfield Management LLC’s three locations in Flint and Port Huron, Mich., 82 drivers, loaders, jumpers and mechanics voted to join IBT Local 332 in Flint and Local 339 in Port Huron. Elsewhere, the School Committee of Gloucester, Mass., recognized IBT Local 42 in Lynn, Mass., as the bargaining agent for its 41 cafeteria workers.
RIGHTS FIGHT AT COLUMBIA—The majority of 1,900 graduate employees at Columbia University in New York City have signed cards indicating the desire to have a voice on the job with UAW Local 2110 and are calling on the administration to voluntarily recognize the union. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer certified the Dec. 17 card count and criticized a July National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision denying graduate employees at private universities collective bargaining rights. Graduate employees say they want Columbia to recognize the union in spite of the NLRB’s unfair decision.
OUR FUTURE—As part of the ongoing discussion about how to strengthen America’s union movement for the future, the AFL-CIO has launched a new website to solicit comments from and provide updated information for union members and allies. At http://www.aflcio.org/ourfuture, union members and others can submit their comments, read comments from others, download proposals from national unions, state federations and central labor councils, find fast facts on the union movement, get e-mail updates and more. The Strengthening Our Union Movement For The Future website is part of the AFL-CIO’s broad-based examination of the issues our union movement must address to meet the challenges we face as we build strength for the future.
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A VICTORY—The workers at Houston’s first union hotel have a strong first contract after a union–community campaign to help them win a voice on the job. The 500 members of UNITE HERE Local 251 at the Hilton Americas Hotel (a number that hits 700 during peak seasons) ratified their first contract Dec. 16, which includes good wages, increased employer contributions to health insurance, improved retirement benefits, sick days, vacation time, a seniority system and a grievance procedure. They won their victory through a majority sign-up process. Local unions and community allies mounted a political campaign to convince elected officials to support neutrality by hotel management during the union organizing campaign. The Harris County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, mobilized members of Congress, the state legislature and the city council to write letters to workers and to the Hilton Corp. supporting neutrality, and 50 community groups pledged to support the workers. About 25 members of Operating Engineers Local 564 at the hotel also have a voice on the job.
UNIONS JOIN TSUNAMI RELIEF—Unions and union members are joining in the massive relief efforts to help the millions of survivors of the Dec. 26 tsunami that devastated coastal communities in Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Indonesia and other Indian Ocean nations. More than 155,000 people were killed by the massive tidal waves, and tens of millions of survivors are in desperate need of clean water, food, medical supplies and shelter. The AFL-CIO American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center) has established a Tsunami Relief Fund to which unions and individuals may donate. “No words can describe the horror and suffering of the millions of people affected,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a letter to the unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO, urging them to join in the relief efforts. To contribute to the relief fund, 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. Visit http://www.solidaritycenter.org for more information on the Solidarity Center’s relief fund and for a firsthand account of the destruction and initial relief efforts in Thailand. For a list of relief agencies, see the U.S. Agency for International Development website at http://www.usaid.gov.
WAL-GRINCH—Retailing giant Wal-Mart won the 2004 Grinch of the Year award, an annual contest sponsored by Jobs with Justice to highlight the organization that most harms workers and their families. More than 60 percent of the more than 2,300 votes cast in this year’s online poll went to Wal-Mart, according to Jobs with Justice, which announced the results Dec. 22. Despite nearly $9 billion in profits in 2003, Wal-Mart wages are so low many employees are eligible for food stamps. Local taxpayers often are forced to finance Wal-Mart’s expansion through tax breaks and development incentives approved by local lawmakers. Small businesses that offer good jobs often are forced to shut down when Wal-Mart comes to their towns. For more information on Wal-Mart and the corporate Grinch award, visit http://www.walmartcostsyou.com and http://www.jwj.org.
EPI GUIDE TO SOCIAL SECURITY—As the new Congress convenes and President George W. Bush steps up his campaign to privatize Social Security, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has released an updated guide on the nation’s most successful family insurance program. Available at http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguide_socialsecurity , the guide includes frequently asked questions, Web links to advocacy groups fighting to strengthen Social Security, reports and statistics. Bush wants to divert Social Security funds to private accounts, which would lead to future benefit cuts for retirees, people with disabilities and surviving families of deceased workers who rely on Social Security, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. More than 47 million Americans receive benefits from Social Security. Also, Bush’s privatization plan would increase the retirement age, increase the federal deficit and expose retirees to the risks of the stock market.
UWUA SUPPORTS SOLDIERS, FAMILIES—With the help of a fundraising drive spearhead by the Utility Workers, nearly 30 families of soldiers severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan are living in three group homes on the grounds of the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Because some families would be unable to afford traveling to Walter Reed and staying in the area to visit their wounded loved ones, the union launched UWUA Operation Family Reunion to help pay families’ expenses. To donate, send a check made out to UWUA Operation Family Reunion to UWUA Operation Family Reunion, Attention Secretary-Treasurer Gary Ruffner, 815 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20006. For more information, visit http://www.uwua.org/operationfamilyreunion.htm.
ANSWERING THE CALL—Funeral services were held Dec. 10 for Fire Fighters member Christian Engeldrum of New York City Fire Department’s (FDNY) Ladder Co. 61, who was killed in an attack on U.S. Army forces in Iraq. Engeldrum also fought in Operation Desert Storm and spent months digging through the rubble of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. He was captured in a “New York Daily News” photo on Sept. 11 steadying a ladder that another firefighter climbed to hang a torn American flag from a bent light pole. He is the first FDNY member to die in the fighting in Iraq since the war began. Another FDNY firefighter, Daniel Swift, was wounded in the same attack.
SHOW US THE JOBS—Twenty-nine states still have fewer jobs and 39 states have higher unemployment rates than before the start of the recession in March 2001, according to an EPI analysis. Reviewing the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ state-level jobs report released Dec. 21, the EPI found that in every state but Alaska, Hawaii and Wyoming, the number of new jobs is not even enough to keep up with working-age population growth, let alone catch up to prerecession job levels. For more information, visit http://www.jobwatch.org/states/index.html.
JOINING TOGETHER—SEIU Local 250 and California’s two largest health care systems—Kaiser Permanente and Catholic Healthcare West—on Dec. 20 announced a new joint labor-management statewide training and education fund. The health care systems will provide the initial $16 million financing. With a shortage of qualified professional and technical health care workers increasing hospital costs and endangering patients, the fund will allow workers to advance their careers and train for new jobs. Contributions from government and private funds will eventually supplement the hospitals’ contributions, according to Local 250 President Sal Rosselli.
UFCW MOVES FORWARD—United Food and Commercial Workers Local 588, representing approximately 19,000 Northern California grocery workers, reached a three-year tentative agreement Dec. 19 with Safeway, Ralphs and Albertsons. On Dec. 17, Local 588 reached a separate tentative agreement with the Raley’s chain employing some 6,500 Northern California workers. Both agreements, which include pay increases and lump-sum payments, preserve fully employer-paid health care and do not permanently reduce wages and benefits for new hires. In San Francisco, UFCW is still negotiating with Safeway, Ralphs and Albertsons. Across the country, approximately 1,700 A&P workers represented by UFCW Local 371 voted unanimously Dec. 16 to ratify a new 52-month contract that will ensure fully employer-paid health coverage. Full-time workers will receive $100 in weekly increases over the contract term.
LUCENT PACTS RATIFIED—Members of the Communications Workers of America and the Electrical Workers ratified a new 91-month contract with Lucent Technologies Inc., covering 3,400 CWA members and 300 IBEW members. The accord includes pay increases, a ratification bonus, a cost-of-living adjustment and pension increases. A no-layoff clause covers installers and opens new job opportunities in installation.
CAT IN THE PACT—UAW members at seven locals and heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar on Dec. 16 reached a tentative six-year agreement on a new contract. The previous agreement expired March 31. “It’s been a lengthy and difficult set of negotiations, but thanks to the solidarity of our members, we were finally able to obtain an agreement we can recommend for ratification,” said UAW Vice President Cal Rapson, who directs the union’s Agricultural Implement Department.