(The AFL-CIO distributed the following on May 24.)
New members reported in this week’s WIP: 2,154
New members reported in WIP, year to date: 59,681
A SUNNY WIN—The 1,200 maintenance workers and custodians at the University of Florida in Gainesville voted May 19 to join AFSCME Council 79. In the past year, workers at six Florida universities voted for AFSCME. When the state legislature adopted Gov. Jeb Bush’s (R) proposed changes to the state educational governance system last year, the University of Florida board of trustees declined to recognize the union, requiring members to reaffirm representation through votes on every campus.
PICKING UP THE PACE—The majority of 694 adjunct faculty members at four campuses of Pace University in New York voted May 18 to join New York State United Teachers–AFT.
PROTECTING THEIR RIGHTS—The 170 traffic control workers employed by Area Wide Protective Services in York, Pa., joined Machinists locals 97 and 34 recently through a majority verification or card-check process, in which an employer agrees to honor the workers’ choice after a majority indicates the desire to form a union by signing authorization cards.
SEIU WINS IN GREECE—Health care workers and other support staff employed at two nursing homes, Latta Road and Latta Road A, in Greece, N.Y, recently voted 54–31 to form a single bargaining unit of 90 workers and have a voice on the job with SEIU District 1199NY.
DEMOCRATS SUE OVER MEDICARE COSTS—Democratic House members filed a lawsuit May 17 to force the Bush administration to make public its estimates on the true cost of the Medicare prescription drug bill. The White House assured lawmakers and the public the bill’s cost would not exceed $400 billion, only to divulge increased cost estimates after the bill was signed into law. Meanwhile, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reported May 19 the Bush administration violated federal restrictions against using taxpayer money for propaganda when it distributed mock news videos to promote the Medicare prescription drug law. After the bill passed last fall, the Department of Health and Human Services distributed the video “news releases” to television stations around the country praising the drug program and using actors as “reporters.” The GAO found because viewers could not tell the message came from the government, the video violated restrictions against using federal funds for publicity or propaganda. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org.
O.T. RULES THREATEN NURSES, POLICE—The new Bush administration regulations on overtime pay, scheduled to go into effect Aug. 23, could deny overtime pay to nurses and police officers, union leaders said. Cheryl Johnson, R.N., president of United American Nurses, said in a May 19 telephone press conference the new regulations would make it easier for employers to deny overtime pay to hourly employees, including most registered nurses. Dennis Slocumb, executive vice president of the International Union of Police Associations, said the definition of police duties in the regulations is so vague that an employer could easily interpret it to refuse overtime pay to many police officers. Both called on Congress to pass legislation to prevent the new overtime regulations from taking away overtime pay rights from workers who qualify under current rules. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org. Meanwhile, the House Republican leadership for a second time refused to allow debate or a vote on the overtime rules. By a 216–199 party-line vote, the House on May 18 tabled a motion by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) to include overtime pay protections in the Labor Department appropriations bill.
SBC WORKERS DRAW CUSTOMER SUPPORT—Customers of SBC Communications are mobilizing to support some 102,000 members of the Communications Workers of America in 13 states who walked out for four days. The workers began the strike May 21 and will return to their jobs May 25. CWA is asking SBC customers to give the union permission to switch their service to another union carrier, AT&T, if the union deems it necessary. To sign up for the switch campaign, visit www.fairnessatsbc.com. During three months of contract talks, SBC, which made an $8 billion profit last year, has continued to demand employees take a lump-sum payment instead of a pay raise and pay more for health care. Besides a fair wage and affordable health care, the workers are seeking job security. In the past three years workers lost 29,000 jobs because SBC has sent many of its new Internet and DSL broadband jobs overseas. “The issues confronting the CWA are issues with which all unions are struggling,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “We must work together to ensure a successful contract for these CWA members.” The contract expired in April and covers workers in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin.
BILLS WEAKENING OSH ACT PASS—On party-line votes, the House on May 18 passed four bills that would make enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) more difficult and do nothing to enhance workers’ safety and health protections. One bill, H.R. 2728, weakens the requirement that an employer respond within 15 days to contest a citation. H.R. 2279 and H.R. 2730 make changes to the Occupational Safety and Review Commission, and H.R. 2731 requires taxpayers to pay the legal fees of small employers in some instances. The four measures have been packaged into one bill and sent to the Senate.
BUSH PROP DROPPED—The Canton, Ohio, manufacturing plant President George W. Bush used as a backdrop last year to show his economic policies were working is one of three Timken Co. plants being shut down, putting 1,300 people out of work. Timken announced May 14 it will close the bearings plants because of declining production and shift most of the operations to other U.S. plants.
TAXPAYERS BUILD WAL-MARTS…—Taxpayers have paid out more than $1 billion in economic development subsidies to Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, according to a new report released May 24 by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research group. The report, Shopping for Subsidies: How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money to Finance Its Never-Ending Growth, shows Wal-Mart, which made a $9 billion profit last year but pays poverty-level wages to its workers, received sales tax rebates and property tax abatements to help finance the building of 84 Wal-Mart distribution centers since the 1980s. The subsidized buildings account for more than 90 percent of the company’s national warehouse network—at an average subsidy of $7.4 million. To read the report, visit www.goodjobsfirst.org. The AFL-CIO Food and Allied Service Trades Department (FAST) reported last month that the five Walton family members, controlling owners of Wal-Mart, benefit from the tax system in other ways: They will save at least $196 million in federal income taxes this year alone and $1.1 billion over the next six years thanks to the Bush administration’s tax cuts for the wealthy.
…AND PAY HIGH COST OF LOW WAGES—Taxpayers in California pay about $10 billion a year for workers at low-wage employers such as Wal-Mart through public health services, tax credits, child care programs and other assistance for the working poor, said a new report by the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley. The Hidden Public Costs of Low-Wage Jobs in California found nearly half the funds from the 10 biggest statewide public assistance programs went to families with at least one full-time worker. The report recommends raising the state minimum wage from $6.75 an hour to at least $8.
ACT PACT—The 2,300 part-time faculty members at New York University—Adjuncts Coming Together/UAW Local 7902—overwhelmingly ratified their first contract. The six-year agreement provides annual 3 percent raises and a job security clause. Bargaining began in September 2002 and the tentative contract was reached April 21 of this year.
PICKETS UP AT USF DUGAN—Teamsters Local 100 members set up picket lines at USF Dugan’s Cincinnati freight terminal May 21 to protest numerous unfair labor practices it claims the company committed. The alleged violations include the illegal firing of a driver who led a successful organizing drive at the company. On May 17, IBT Local 41 members began picketing at the company’s Kansas City, Kan., freight terminal to protest many unfair labor practices it said the company committed during a recent representation election. The charges include promising to pay drivers for time lost during roadside inspections if the workers did not join a union and soliciting grievances with the implied promise of a remedy. In Philadelphia, 15 office workers at USF Red Star’s freight terminal struck for union recognition May 21.
STRIKEBREAKER LAW STRUCK DOWN—A federal judge in Peoria, Ill., struck down portions of the state’s anti-strikebreaker law on May 14. The judge held the federal National Labor Relations Act pre-empted parts of the state’s Employment of Strikebreakers Act. The judge’s decision means companies in Illinois now can hire professional strikebreakers and day laborers during a strike. Caterpillar Inc. filed the suit last July after an existing statute, which prohibited the hiring of professional strikebreakers during a strike, was amended to ban the use of day laborers as strikebreakers. Eight UAW locals in four states, including Illinois, are bargaining with the company for contracts to replace those that expired April 1.
TURBULENCE AT AIRTRAN—AirTran flight attendants, represented by the Flight Attendants/CWA, leafleted at the airline’s shareholder meeting in Atlanta May 20 to protest stalled contract talks. Negotiations began in August 2002, and the workers are seeking to bring their pay, benefits and work rules into line with those at other low-cost carriers. The flight attendants’ pay has been frozen since October 2001.
CONFLICTS NOT SAFE—At a contentious May 20 meeting, Safeway Inc. shareholders, led by public employee pension funds, withheld 17 percent of their votes from a ballot to re-elect CEO Steven Burd as chairman of the supermarket chain’s board. Shareholders meeting at Safeway headquarters in Pleasanton, Calif., also withheld votes from two other board members they say have conflicts of interest. While the vote did not oust Burd, it sent a message that shareholders won’t tolerate corporate boards with conflicts of interest, activists say. Safeway leaders agreed recently to some reforms, including plans to replace three directors.
OPPOSITION AT MASSEY—More than 70 percent of Massey Energy Co. stockholders voted May 18 to require stockholder approval of executive severance packages that exceed three times the executive’s base salary plus bonus. But it wasn’t enough to pass, as a supermajority of 80 percent is required to change the bylaws of the Richmond, Va.-based coal company. The proposal, introduced by Amalgamated Bank of New York and supported by the Mine Workers, would have enforced the proposal adopted by the stockholders last year. UMWA President Cecil Roberts said Massey had told stockholders in official voting materials the original proposal was “an illegal action under Delaware law” without telling them the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had found the proposal legal.
UNION SAYS EXXONMOBIL BIASED—PACE International Union is accusing ExxonMobil of discriminating against Native American workers in the Four Corners area of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah who have been trying to negotiate a first contract for the past two years. The energy giant is offering no wage increases, even though PACE said the workers are being paid less than ExxonMobil workers in the area who do the same work and have the same responsibilities. Visit www.exxonmobil-solidarity.org for more information.