(The AFL-CIO distributed the following on June 7.)
New members reported in this week’s WIP: 2,492
New members reported in WIP, year to date: 64,421
WEST COAST VICTORIES—A total of 2,344 health care and other workers at four West Coast hospitals voted recently to join SEIU. In California, the 900 workers at Desert Regional Hospital in Palm Springs voted for a voice on the job with Local 399 at the end of May; the majority of 700 workers at Doctors Medical Center of Modesto voted for Local 250 May 27, as did 115 employees at Doctors Hospital of Manteca May 25. Tenet Healthcare Corp. owns all three hospitals. Also, some 629 registered nurses at Deaconess Medical Center in Seattle voted June 3 for SEIU District 1199NW. A National Labor Relations Board panel earlier this year set aside an April 2003 election the union lost because the hospital committed unfair labor practices and interfered with the results of the election.
SETTING A NEW PACE—A majority of 148 production, logistics and maintenance workers at the SCA Tissue converting plant in Bellemont, Ariz., voted for a voice on the job with PACE International Union in late May. The new union members make tissue products from recycled materials. The vote was held under an agreement between SCA and PACE to abide by such principles as an expedited election and a positive code of conduct by both parties during the organizing campaign.
202 IN HOUSE BACK EFCA—Backers of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) reached a milestone this month when the number of U.S. representatives co-sponsoring the historic legislation hit 202. S. 1925 and H.R. 3619 would ensure employees in a workplace can form a union without the debilitating obstacles employers now use to block their free choice. To find out if your members of Congress are co-sponsors of the EFCA, visit www.aflcio.org/aboutunions/voiceatwork/efca.cfm. During the Voice@Work Workplace Week of Action, June 28–July 4, union members will wear lapel stickers, distribute worksite fliers and send postcards urging President George W. Bush to change his mind and support the EFCA and thanking Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) for co-sponsoring the bill. To order materials, e-mail Bernie Pollack at bpollack@aflcio.org.
MY VOTE, MY RIGHT—To ensure every vote is counted in the 2004 election and no eligible voter is intimidated, the AFL-CIO is launching the My Vote, My Right campaign. Working with affiliated unions, constituency groups, state federations and local central councils, the federation will mobilize union members by reminding them of past election problems and providing information on how to protect their votes. Voters’ Rights Protection Advocacy Teams will be established in 32 communities in 12 battleground states—Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. Teams will work with community allies to lobby for changes to protect the right to vote and to use media and the courts, if necessary, to ensure these changes are made. If you live in a battleground state and need more information, call Lora Foo at 202-508-6922. Materials, including state voting bills of rights and fact sheets, will be available online.
JOBS, HEALTH CARE TOP WOMEN’S PRIORITIES—The rising cost of health care and finding and keeping good jobs with basic benefits in today’s economy are the top concerns of working women, according to the AFL-CIO Ask a Working Woman Survey Report released June 2. Nearly half—48 percent—of working women say they have been out of work in the past year or have a family member or close friend who has been out of work. And being employed does not ensure basic benefits, the survey finds. One-quarter to one-third of employed women lack such basic benefits as affordable health insurance, prescription drug coverage, pension or retirement benefits, equal pay and paid sick leave. Fully 95 percent say secure, affordable health care is an important job benefit, but 31 percent say they lack it. Working women also listed making health care more affordable as their top legislative priority. “This survey dramatically demonstrates that the jobs crisis deeply affects America’s working families,” says AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson. Download the survey at www.aflcio.org/womenreport.
LONG-TERM JOBS CRISIS—Despite adding 248,000 new jobs last month, the nation’s economy is still mired in a long-term jobs crisis with more than 8 million workers unable to find jobs and the average length of unemployment rising. The overall jobless rate held at 5.6 percent in May, reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), but the average length of unemployment rose to 20 weeks last month, up from 19.7 weeks in April. Nearly 22 percent of all jobless workers have been without work for 27 weeks or more. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org.
REPORT PREDICTS WHITE-COLLAR MELTDOWN—New government job projections reflect the growing impact of sending jobs offshore on U.S. professional and high-tech workers, according to a new analysis by the AFL-CIO’s Department for Professional Employees. The BLS recently revised downward projections for white-collar job growth for 2002–2012. Over the next decade, the greatest job growth will be in low-paid service jobs, BLS said. For more information, visit www.dpeaflcio.org.
BUSHWHACKED BY THE ECONOMY—The wealthiest Americans gained during the recent economic recovery, while workers lost out, according to the Labor Research Association (LRA). The group reports that total corporate profits are at the highest level ever (totaling $1 trillion in 2003). At $6.2 million per year in 2003 or about $120,000 a week, the median compensation for corporate CEOs is 232 times the average weekly pay for U.S. production workers. To read LRA’s analysis, visit www.lraonline.org/story2.php/356.
REINVEST IN AMERICA—The Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition kicked off a four-day bus tour of Appalachia in Pittsburgh June 6. The Reinvest in America: Put American Back to Work! tour will role through Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts, Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, Steelworkers Vice President Leon Lynch and David Bradley, executive director of National Community Action Foundation, joined Jackson on the bus ride to focus attention on the tristate area’s need for well-paying jobs, affordable health care and quality education. Other tour sponsors include the AFL-CIO, AFGE, Bricklayers, CWA/IUE and PACE. To follow the tour’s progress, visit www.reinvest-in-america.org.
STRENGTH FOR DOCTORS—Physicians for Responsible Negotiation (PRN), the former collective bargaining arm of the American Medical Association—which split from that organization last year—has affiliated with SEIU and will coordinate its work through SEIU’s umbrella organization for physicians, the National Doctors Alliance. PRN will reach out to groups of nonsalaried and private-practice physicians to address issues such as quality of care, compensation, insurance and due process.
JUSTICE AT CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE—In their first statewide agreement, three SEIU local unions in California reached a tentative contract settlement with Catholic Healthcare West, covering 14,000 workers. The pact ensures a voice for caregivers in improving staffing levels and sets up a training program. Members of locals 121RN, 250 and 399 are set to vote on the contract this week. Meanwhile, in Fresno, Calif., the 10,000 home care workers who are members of Local 250 also won their first tentative contract.
INEQUALITY MATTERS—During the 1990s, the number of Americans without health insurance climbed 33 percent. This is just one consequence of the widening income gap in this country, and conditions will only get worse unless the income gap becomes a major political issue, according to experts who addressed the Inequality Matters conference June 2–4 in New York City. Participants in the conference, co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO, discussed ways to bring the issue to the public’s attention and to force officials to focus on the problems caused by poverty.
‘POLICE TRAMPLED FTAA MARCHERS’ RIGHTS’—Activists who went to Miami Nov. 18–20 to protest the closed-door meetings to finalize the Free Trade Area of the Americas were met by the equivalent of martial law. In some cases, police reacted with an “unrestrained and disproportionate use of force” and “civil rights were trampled,” according to a draft report released late last month by the Miami-Dade County Independent Review Panel, which is examining police conduct during the conference. At a public hearing in December, union members, retirees, students and community members described mismanagement by police officials in Miami that led to numerous instances of obstruction, intimidation, harassment and repressive tactics against 20,000 peaceful protestors during a march in downtown Miami Nov. 20. To read a copy of the report, visit www.miamidade.gov/irp/Library/5-19-04_FTAA_Exec_sum.pdf.
PROGRESS AT ULLICO—At its recent annual meeting, ULLICO, the insurer and investment manager for many of the nation’s union members, reported its first quarterly profit in three years and passed a number of corporate governance resolutions. Meanwhile, the congressional investigations into ULLICO concluded last week with the Republican staff of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs releasing a report that included details of actions taken by ULLICO’s new board and management last year to turn the company around. The new team at ULLICO took over after ULLICO’s special counsel, former Illinois Gov. James Thompson, found ULLICO’s former officers and directors had engaged in improper stock transactions.
WORLD AUTO COUNCIL—Some 200 automobile manufacturing union members from 25 countries will meet June 8–10 in Dearborn, Mich. The International Metalworkers’ Federation World Auto Council will discuss global strategies to deal with issues affecting autoworkers around the world, such as exporting jobs, international workers’ rights and trade agreements.
RECORD FOOD COLLECTION—The Letter Carriers’ annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive collected a record 70.9 million pounds of food, more than 10 million pounds more than last year’s collection. The food, collected May 8 in more than 10,000 communities, was distributed to local food banks, pantries and shelters. Buffalo/Western New York NALC Branch 3 collected 1,751,470 pounds of food—more than any other branch collected for the second consecutive year.
VICTOR REUTHER DIES—The union movement is mourning the death of Victor Reuther, 92, who died June 3. Reuther was a longtime UAW organizer, education director and international affairs director. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger called Reuther “a pioneer of our union whose passion for social justice and talent as an orator energized and mobilized early sit-down strikers. Victor and his brothers Walter, president of the UAW from 1946–1970, and Roy, the union’s legislative director, played a pivotal role in the birth and growth of the UAW.” A memorial service will be held at a later date in Washington, D.C.