(The AFL-CIO issued the following on November 15.)
ANIMATED VICTORY—More than 220 employees of DPS Film Roman in North Hollywood, Calif., voted Oct. 29 for a voice at work with the Animation Guild, Local 839, Theatrical Stage Employees. DPS produces animation for the “The Simpsons,” “King of the Hill” and “X-Men: Evolution” television shows. In another victory, about 50 workers at Fox Sports International voted Oct. 20 for IATSE. The new union members make up a master control operation that broadcasts international sporting events.
UNION AT COOPER UNION—The majority of 148 clerical and technical workers at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City voted Nov. 5 to join New York State United Teachers, an AFT affiliate. The majority of 33 teachers at the Triopia (Ill.) school district voted to join the Illinois Federation of Teachers Nov. 9.
ROLLING TO VICTORY—Some 111 workers at Rolling Meadows Nursing Home in Waynesburg, Pa., voted for a voice at work with the Mine Workers Nov. 4. The workers include licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants and dietary, housekeeping, maintenance, laundry and activities department employees.
SEEKING RESPECT—Twenty-seven workers at J&S Delivery Inc., an independent contractor for DHL in Frederick, Md., voted Oct. 28 to join Teamsters Local 992 in Hagerstown, Md.
VINTAGE TACTIC: EMPLOYER MISCONDUCT—Supervisors at the E&J Gallo Winery vineyard in Sonoma, Calif., unlawfully “supported and encouraged” efforts to decertify the Farm Workers as the bargaining representative for the 280 employees, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board ruled Nov. 5. The unanimous ruling dismissed a March 13, 2003, decertification election. Ballots were impounded after the UFW filed unfair labor practice charges against Gallo on June 30, 2004. The union was certified at Gallo in 1994 and fought six years for a fair contract. That agreement expired in November 2003.
POST WORKERS SEEK EQUAL PAY—Members of Mailers Local M-29/Communications Workers of America, who have worked at The Washington Post for nearly 18 months without a contract, rallied with several hundred of their supporters outside the newspaper’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., Nov. 15. The workers are seeking equal pay for equal work for utility mailers—85 percent of whom are African American or Latino—who do the same work as journeymen and get less than 50 percent of journeymen scale. The Post wants mailers to work longer hours for less pay, to give up overtime pay and surrender their pension for a pay raise, said CWA Vice President Bill Boarman.
DISNEY WORLD PACTS—Members of eight building trades unions, representing some 4,000 maintenance workers at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., ratified a new four-year contract by a two-to-one margin. The Craft Maintenance Council, the joint bargaining group for the eight unions, said wages for all trades will increase an average of 3 percent in the first year, retroactive to Oct. 3, 2004. A 2 percent increase occurs on April 6, 2006, with a final increase of 4 percent in September 2007. The council includes members of the Bricklayers, Electrical Workers, IBT, Laborers, Operating Engineers, Painters and Allied Trades, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters, and the unaffiliated Carpenters.
COUNCIL PLANS FOR FUTURE—In its first meeting after the 2004 elections, the AFL-CIO Executive Council reviewed the unprecedented union political effort and set a process for considering proposals for strengthening the union movement for the future. During the Nov. 10 meeting in Washington, D.C., council members heard from Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and discussed the political effort. Union households provided a 5.8 million vote advantage for Kerry. Sixty-five percent of union members voted for Kerry, with 68 percent voting for him in battleground states, according to the election night survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the AFL-CIO. More than 5,500 full-time staff and union members worked in battleground states—up from 1,500 in 2000. More than 225,000 volunteers participated in the Labor 2004 program. Union members knocked on more than 6 million doors in neighborhood walks that ran daily in many states since Labor Day. Volunteers called millions of union members and passed out more than 32 million leaflets at workplaces and in neighborhoods—including more than 6 million in Ohio alone. Union members reached out at 257 phone banks with 2,322 lines running in 16 states. The AFL-CIO’s program sent out more than 30 million pieces of mail to union households. The AFL-CIO Executive Committee will consider proposals on the future of the union movement and bring them to the Council in February for a full discussion.
CWA, IBEW REACH LUCENT PACT—Union workers at Lucent Technologies will soon vote soon on a tentative seven-year contract that protects job security and reduces earlier company demands for a large health care cost increases for both active and retired workers. The tentative agreement covers about 3,400 CWA members, 300 IBEW members and about 150,000 union retirees. The agreement was announced Nov. 9.
LONG-TERM JOBLESSNESS GROWS—The official unemployment rate for the third quarter of 2004—
5.5 percent—masks the rising number of long-term unemployed workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Some 1.2 million workers, or 14.5 percent of the unemployed, have been out of work for 39 weeks or more, EPI found. When Congress enacted the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program in 2002, the jobless rate was 5.7 percent, but only about 700,000 workers were considered long-term jobless. Last year, just before Christmas, congressional Republican leaders refused take action to renew the TEUC program, which provides additional unemployment insurance benefits when workers’ state benefits expire.
LAME DUCKS MAY KILL O.T.—Republican congressional leaders are planning this week to kill a measure that would block President George W. Bush’s new rules that take overtime pay rights away from some 6 million workers. Send a message to your congressional representatives to protect overtime pay at www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Restore_OvertimePay . The House and Senate, back for a lame duck session after the Nov. 2 elections, are expected to vote on an omnibus appropriations bill, which will combine the fiscal year 2005 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bills and several other unfinished spending measures. Both houses passed amendments to the Labor spending bills that would rescind most of the changes that limit eligibility for overtime pay, but observers expect the amendments to be dropped from the omnibus bill.
HOTEL WORKERS GET HELP—Some 4,000 locked-out hotel workers in San Francisco are eligible for state unemployment benefits, the state ruled last week. The workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 2, have been locked out since the end of September. The workers want to retain their health care benefits and gain a two-year contract that would expire at the same time as hotel contracts in other major cities to gain equality with the global hotel industry. In other hotel negotiations around the country, members of Local 25 in Washington, D.C., are meeting this week to discuss ways to get hotel owners to really bargain after management presented unacceptable proposals in talks Nov. 11. In Los Angeles, Local 11 members gained support in their campaign for a fair contract at nine luxury hotels. Elected officials, community groups and clergy vowed to avoid eating, meeting or sleeping at the hotels until the workers have a fair contract. For more information, visit www.hotelworkersunited.org . To make a donation to help Local 2 members with their bills, visit www.unitehere2.org/contribute.html .
IBT ORGANIZER KILLED—Gilberto Soto, an organizer for IBT, was assassinated Nov. 5 while visiting his mother in Usulutan, El Salvador. He was about to meet with Central American port workers documenting violations of workers’ rights abuses, according to the National Labor Committee, a human rights advocacy group. Based in New Jersey, Soto, 49, organized port container drivers in the Northeastern United States. Vowing to continue Soto’s fight to bring justice to port drivers, IBT President James Hoffa and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called on Secretary of State Colin Powell to urge Salvadoran officials to conduct a thorough investigation and capture the killers.
MAKING SWEET MUSIC—Members of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada Local 4 ratified a new two-year agreement with the Cleveland Orchestra Nov. 12. The new contract is a bridge to enable the orchestra to generate more income, the AFM said. The agreement modifies several touring rules and permits increased Sunday activities. Pay increases in the pact are conservative, but seniority provisions already in place will ensure that salary and benefits remain competitive, according to the union.
NO SWEAT IN LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles City Council Nov. 9 unanimously passed a far-reaching anti-sweatshop purchasing ordinance, requiring suppliers to pay a living wage to workers on many city contracts and creating a flexible mechanism for the city to share information with advocates and governments fighting for fair global labor practices. Unions and religious groups joined the advocacy group No More Sweatshops in lobbying for the ordinance.
SHOP UNION FOR THE HOLIDAYS—Have a sweat-free, union-made-in-the-USA holiday season by purchasing your holiday gifts from union companies. This year you can find special gifts of clothing, games, books, music and more online at The Union Shop™ Online (http://unionshop.aflcio.org ). You also can click on links to affiliated unions’ online shops from The Union Shop site. Don’t forget that Nov. 26–Dec. 5 is Buy Union Week—the perfect time to visit www.ShopUnionMade.org for a comprehensive list of union-made products. Sponsored by the AFL-CIO Union Label and Service Trades Department, the week highlights the many quality union-made products available for the holidays. Check out holiday discounts on union-made gifts at www.unionprivilege.org/union-made-savings.cfm .
SHOP TO SUPPORT WORKERS’ RIGHTS—The Campaign for Labor Rights is helping shoppers support fair treatment for workers during the holiday season. Consumers can download postcards urging store managers to enforce a code of conduct to ensure suppliers provide workers with a safe, dignified workplace and the freedom to form unions without intimidation. Activists also can distribute leaflets about the postcard campaign at shopping malls. For more information and to download the postcards and leaflets, visit www.campaignforlaborrights.org/alerts/2004/nov06holiday.htm .