(The AFL-CIO issued the following on November 8.)
IBT UP IN FALL–Thousands of workers won a voice on the job with the Teamsters this fall, including 1,000 municipal workers in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who joined Local 769 on Oct. 27 and 700 Diamond Walnut workers in Stockton, Calif., who joined Local 601 on Oct. 15. In an ongoing campaign, 530 drivers, ramp workers and clerical staff at DHL Express in three cities joined IBT, while another 458 workers at several of the company’s subcontractors did as well. Other recent wins include 400 Highline School District workers near Seattle joining Local 763; 345 Grandview Foods/BBSI workers signing up with Local 760 in Yakima, Wash.; and 92 Waste Management workers in Stoughton, Mass., winning a voice on the job Sept. 2. The majority of 30 sergeants and officers at the Maitland, Fla., Police Department recently voted to join Local 385.
UNITING WITH UNITE HERE–The majority of 74 Duane Reade retail store workers at six stores across New York City voted overwhelmingly to join UNITE HERE in late October. The workers are part of the New York Joint Board. In Ithaca, N.Y., the majority of more than 50 workers at the Moosewood Restaurant voted to join the Rochester Regional Joint Board.
BACK ON THE BOARDWALK–Ending a month-long strike, Atlantic City, N.J., casino workers Nov. 3 overwhelmingly approved a contract that boosts wages, improves health insurance and retirement coverage and preserves family-supporting jobs. The 10,000 members of UNITE HERE Local 54 went out on strike Oct. 1 at seven casinos, fighting for decent wages and benefits. “Our members have achieved the best contract in the history of Local 54 and in the history of the gaming industry,” said C. Robert McDevitt, Local 54 president. During the strike, union and community activists, along with Haitian-born hip-hop singer Wyclef Jean and actress Dana Ivey, rallied to support the workers, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) joined activists on the picket lines. The contract includes employer-paid family health care coverage, a 51 percent increase in employer pension contributions over five years and protections against contracting out jobs.
SUPPORT GROWS FOR SF HOTEL WORKERS–As thousands of hotel workers in San Francisco, members of UNITE HERE Local 2, remain locked out of their jobs at 14 properties, community support for their fight for a fair contract is growing. In a pre-Halloween show of encouragement, costumed members of the group Critical Mass, which mobilizes for bicycle riders’ rights, rode their bikes Oct. 29 through the city to hotel picket lines. Meanwhile, activists are logging on to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/hotelworkers to send faxes to four hotel executives, urging them to end the lockout. Supporters plan rallies in Baltimore, Seattle, Jersey City, N.J., and San Diego this week. For more information, visit http://www.hotelworkersunited.org.
UNION MEMBERS BACKED KERRY, LOOK FORWARD–During the presidential campaign, virtually all union members received information from their unions on issues crucial to working families, leading an overwhelming percentage to support presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) on Nov. 2, according to an independent election night survey. Separate exit polls by news organizations show union households accounted for one of four voters, totaling 27 million union household voters in 2004. Union households provided a 5.8 million vote advantage for Kerry. Sixty-five percent of union members voted for Kerry, with an even bigger margin–68 percent–voting for Kerry in battleground states, according to the election night survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the AFL-CIO. Overall, 62 percent of union members surveyed say they disapprove of President George W. Bush’s job performance, with 67 percent saying they have only some or very little confidence Bush will look out for working families. “Never have so many different unions done so much. Never have we been so unified, moving forward together,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. With more than 200,000 volunteers distributing leaflets, making phone calls and walking precincts, the union movement’s 2004 voter education and mobilization program “was the biggest ever,” Sweeney said. “We will take the energy and momentum, the technology and the field operation we developed throughout the presidential campaign and use it to turn our country around.”
MINIMUM WAGE MEASURES WIN–By huge majorities, voters in Florida and Nevada Nov. 2 approved measures to boost the state minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, a dollar more than the federal minimum. Union activists worked with ACORN in Florida to win 71 percent of the vote for a constitutional amendment boosting the minimum wage, which will be indexed to inflation. In Nevada, 68 percent of the voters approved a measure that would require businesses that don’t offer health insurance to workers and their families to raise their minimum wage. Voters must approve the measure again next year for it to take effect.
WAGELESS RECOVERY–Millions of workers are unemployed longer and the nation is still losing manufacturing jobs, according to recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The bureau reported Nov. 5 that the official jobless rate rose in October to 5.5 percent. “Despite gains in different industries, we still lost 5,000 manufacturing jobs in October and…the average length of long-term unemployment remains at 19.6 weeks and millions of workers are forced to work multiple jobs to pay for health care and basic household expenses,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. Meanwhile, average wages for workers grew at the slowest rate on record between July and September, according to BLS. “The recovery is no longer jobless, but it is beginning to look ‘wageless,’ ” said Jared Bernstein, senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute.
AFM GROOVES WITH JIVE–The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada Nov. 2 reached an agreement with Zomba Recording to include the label in the union’s contract. The pact covers Zomba subsidiaries and labels, including Jive Records. High-profile artists Brittany Spears, R. Kelly, Justin Timberline, Backstreet Boys, ’NSYNC and Eamon and Aaron Carter are covered by Jive Records. “Musicians engaged by Zomba will now receive for the first time the full range of benefits and protections provided by federation collective bargaining agreements including scale payments, working conditions, pension contributions and residual payments from several special payments funds,” said union President Thomas Lee.
WORKERS WIN ORGANIZING RIGHTS–Mexican garment workers have reached an agreement with the Sara Lee Corp. to let them form unions without fear of retaliation or discrimination, the first commitment from a global corporation operating in Mexico to remain neutral in union elections. Under the agreement, workers at a recently closed T-shirt factory in the Northern Mexican state of Coahuila will be given access to jobs at a new Sara Lee plant, which makes Hanes and other brands of underwear. After years of contentious organizing at the now-closed factory, Sara Lee transferred its work to a newer facility and laid off 1,200 workers. The workers and their allies fought back with shareholder resolutions at Sara Lee’s annual meetings and continued organizing in the United States and Mexico. The Workers Rights Consortium, Portland, Ore.-based Enlace organization, which provides technical assistance to groups organizing low-wage workers in Mexico and the United States, and an independent worker center in Mexico collaborated on the campaign.
AD CAMPAIGN CAUSES HEARTBURN–The AFL-CIO joined advocacy groups for seniors and the Prescription Access Litigation Project in filing a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company that makes the heartburn medicine Nexium. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges pill maker AstraZeneca waged a misleading advertising campaign for the drug, violating California laws against unfair competition and false advertising. The suit contends the company made misleading comparison tests between Nexium and its older and cheaper heartburn drug, Prilosec, to convince doctors and patients to use the more expensive medicine.
IBT TO HELP TRUCKERS BE HEALTHIER–IBT is teaming up with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, an affiliate of the Harvard Medical School, to design programs to help truck drivers quit smoking and lose weight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded researchers at the institute two grants to develop workplace-based health promotion and prevention programs. “Being overweight may be strongly tied to drivers’ lack of physical activity and unhealthful food options available on the road. We will develop a program that responds to these concerns,” said Glorian Sorensen, director of Dana-Farber’s Center for Community Based Research.
BUY UNION FOR THE HOLIDAYS–With an array of greeting cards, games, clothes, books and music in stock, The Union Shop is the first stop for activists who want to buy union-made and social-justice oriented holiday gifts for their friends and families. To place orders, visit http://www.aflcio.org/shop or call 1-800-442-5645. Holiday shoppers also can give the gift of good jobs by buying union-made presents for the holidays during Buy Union Week, Nov. 26–Dec. 5, spearheaded by the AFL-CIO’s Union Label and Service Trades Department, which recently launched the all-union Internet shopping site http://www.ShopUnionMade.org . At the site, unionists can not only shop but also download publicity materials for Buy Union Week and send holiday e-cards with Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwaanza themes.
EXHIBIT HONORS POSTAL WORKERS–The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum is showcasing postal workers with an online exhibition called “In the Line of Duty: Dangers, Disasters and Good Deeds,” chronicling the courage, commitment and quick thinking of workers who saved the lives of others and risked their own lives. Visitors to the website can view photos and artifacts illustrating how a postal clerk aboard the Titanic tried to save the mail on the ship and the challenges faced by workers after anthrax was found in the mail in 2001. The exhibit is at http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/duty.