(The AFL-CIO circulated the following on May 10.)
New members reported in this week’s WIP: 211
New members reported in WIP, year to date: 55,508
A VOICE ON THE JOB—After a spirited worker and community campaign, 100 workers at Livingston Manor nursing home in Pontiac, Ill., joined SEIU Local 4 late last month by 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.
GOOD DAY AT SCHOOL—Some 64 maintenance workers, secretaries, cafeteria personnel, library aides, tutors, school nurses, cooks and others working for the Westbrook, Conn., school district voted May 3 to affiliate with AFT Connecticut.
UNION SÍ—The 35 mainly Latino workers at Damon Insulation in Hooksett, N.H., overcame the employer’s intense anti-union campaign and voted recently to join the Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers Local 6.
MINING FOR JUSTICE—The 12 miners at Mountain Edge Mining Inc.’s Logan Fork Mine in Boone County, W.Va., voted to join the Mine Workers in April. The workers are seeking a voice on the job to fight inadequate medical coverage, lack of seniority rights and frequent schedule changes.
TAKING ACTION AT QUEBECOR—Workers at Quebecor World last week took action on three fronts to gain justice at the world’s largest commercial printer. Employees at the company’s nonunion Olive Branch, Miss., plant filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charging the company with discrimination against women and African Americans. At a May 6 printing industry event in Chicago, Quebecor workers from several plants, members of Graphic Communications, demanded the company improve working conditions and respect workers’ right to form a union. Meanwhile, workers from four states asked tough questions about the company’s campaign of harassment and intimidation of workers trying to form unions at the company’s annual meeting in Montreal, on May 5.
SUPPORT GROWS FOR PURCHASE WORKERS—Six students at State University of New York’s (SUNY) Purchase College began a hunger strike last week in support of 80 food service workers seeking a union with Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME. The food service vendor, Chartwells, is refusing to sign an agreement to respect its employees’ freedom to choose a union. Meanwhile, 14 students who were arrested March 31 during a peaceful protest for the workers received punishments ranging from academic probation to suspension. The students also face criminal charges and will appear in court May 14. To support the students and workers, visit www.unionvoice.org/campaign/SUNYPurchase.
LONG WAY TO GO ON JOBS—Although April unemployment figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 7 bring encouraging news, U.S. workers are still suffering under a huge jobs deficit created under the Bush administration, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. The unemployment rate fell slightly to 5.6 percent, though long-term unemployment—and worker anxiety—remain high. “We still have a long way to go to climb out of the deep jobs hole that has consumed millions of Americans,” Sweeney said.
SENATE TO BUSH: STOP YOUR O.T. PAY GRAB—U.S. workers won a major victory and handed President George W. Bush a stinging defeat May 4 when the U.S. Senate voted to guarantee that workers now eligible for overtime pay will not lose their overtime pay protections despite new regulations issued by the Bush administration April 23. The new rules, which redefine who is eligible for overtime pay, are due to go into effect in late August unless Congress acts to stop them. On a 52–47 bipartisan vote, senators approved an amendment to the Foreign Sales Corporation tax legislation (S. 1637) to allow updates to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s rules that expand overtime pay eligibility while ensuring no workers currently eligible for overtime pay lose it. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called the Senate’s action a “common-sense decision. There is simply no reason for the Bush administration to slash a single worker’s overtime pay, especially in this economy, when middle-income families are already so hard pressed.” The vote came after nearly two weeks of an intense Bush administration spin operation to paint the new regulations as an expansion of overtime pay eligibility. “The Bush administration’s final rule is a frontal attack on the 40-hour workweek, and it is bad economic policy. My amendment guarantees that workers will not lose their right to overtime pay,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the amendment’s sponsor. The U.S. House of Representatives could vote on the measure soon. Passage would force President Bush to either sign or veto the legislation. Sweeney urged the House to “support the Harkin amendment and reassure all working Americans that their rights to overtime pay will be protected.” Visit www.aflcio.org to take action to save overtime pay.
DAY BY DAY—The Communications Workers of America and telecom giant SBC Communications agreed to extend the current contract day by day as a May 7 strike deadline passed. CWA President Morton Bahr and SBC CEO Edward Whitacre are meeting May 10 with federal mediators in Washington, D.C., to try to move contract talks along. The union and SBC did reach agreement last month on retiree health care benefits, one of the major issues in the negotiations. Some of the remaining key issues are job security and the company’s demand for substantial increases in employee expenses for health care. The contract expired in April and covers 102,000 workers.
REAL IMMIGRATION REFORM—Working families are supporting immigration reform legislation that would address two key goals of the union movement: permanent citizenship for undocumented workers and reuniting immigrant families. The Safe, Orderly Legal Visas and Enforcement Act of 2004, introduced May 4 by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and the House Democratic Caucus, also includes provisions that allow immigrant workers who are fired illegally for trying to form unions to win back all their lost wages. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org. In January, President Bush proposed allowing immigrant workers to work for a specified time period and then return home without a chance to become citizens.
OSH ACT BILLS WEAKEN PROTECTION—On a party-line vote, the House Education and Workforce Committee May 5 approved four bills that make enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) more difficult and do nothing to enhance workers’ safety and health protection. One bill, H.R. 2728, weakens the requirement that an employer respond within 15 days to contest a citation. H.R.s 2279 and 2730 make changes to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, and H.R. 2731 requires taxpayers to pay the legal fees of small employers in some instances.
SAFE STANDARDS—On National Nurse Day, May 6, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) introduced legislation that would set mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing standards to relieve the burden of too few nurses caring for too many patients. The Nurse Staffing for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2004 would establish minimum staffing levels for different hospital units. Once the minimums are met, management would be required to develop staffing plans in consultation with nursing staff. “We need a federal, safe registered nurse-to-patient ratio law to improve patient care and protect nurses at the bedside,” said Cheryl Johnson, president of the United American Nurses.
FIGHTING FOR CORPORATE FAIRNESS—The AFL-CIO, CWA and IBEW are urging shareholders of the Comcast Corp. to withhold support from CEO Brian Roberts and Director Decker Anstrom at Comcast’s annual meeting May 26. Under the cable television company’s current corporate governance, Roberts controls one-third of the voting power despite holding approximately 1 percent of Comcast’s outstanding shares. Shareholders are also voting on a proposal, sponsored by the AFL-CIO, urging the board of directors to adopt a policy of maintaining a two-thirds independent board. Another proposal, sponsored by the CWA, requests the board restructure Comcast’s stock to provide for one vote per share.
BLOOMINGDALE’S PACT—Members of Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 3/United Food and Commercial Workers ratified a new four-year contract with Bloomingdale’s, covering 2,000 employees at its flagship store in New York City. The new accord maintains current health care benefits for the duration of the contract. Pay will increase by at least $1.55 an hour over the term of the pact.
RAIL SECURITY OFF TRACK—The federal government and railroad employers still are not doing enough to make rail transportation secure, even after the recent Madrid, Spain, terrorist attacks, Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, told the House Rail Subcommittee May 5. He urged Congress to develop a comprehensive rail security agenda that includes mandatory, rigorous security training for employees, strengthened whistle-blower protections, increased security regarding access to rail facilities and federal regulations covering the use of remote control locomotive technology.
PICK A CARD?—Seniors using many of the Medicare prescription drug cards that became available May 3 will pay more for their medicine than they would pay using several online pharmacies, according to a report by the minority staff of the House Government Reform Committee. The cards were created as part of the Bush administration’s Medicare prescription drug legislation passed by Congress last November. Seniors must choose from 70-plus card options offered by pharmacies and drug companies. But choosing a card may be difficult because the Medicare prescription card website may be carrying inaccurate pricing information, according to news reports. For more information, visit www.retiredamericans.org or www.aflcio.org.
WASHINGTON POST MOVES TO WISCONSIN—The Washington Post subscribers who call the paper next month with delivery problems most likely will be talking to a poorly paid nonunion call center employee 1,000 miles away. The Post announced it is moving a substantial portion of its call center work out of a unionized office in Washington, D.C., to a nonunion facility in La Crosse, Wis., next month. Current call center employees in Washington, D.C., are almost all minority women and members of the Newspaper Guild/CWA.
WORKERS LACK HEALTH INSURANCE, TOO—Some 20 million working people have no health care coverage, according to a new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released May 5. The study, “Characteristics of the Uninsured: A View from the States,” also found that in six states, one in five working adults is not insured. In 38 other states, one in 10 is uninsured. Overall, nearly 44 million Americans lack health care coverage. The report was released as part of Cover the Uninsured Week, an effort by a diverse group of organizations, including the AFL-CIO, SEIU, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, health and insurance industry groups and community and health advocacy organizations, to focus attention on the plight of those without coverage. For more information, visit www.covertheuninsuredweek.org.
CHAVEZ-THOMPSON HONORED—Women’s eNews announced that AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson is being honored as one of “21 Leaders for the 21st Century” in a ceremony in New York May 20. Women’s eNews is an online independent news service. For more information, visit www.womensenews.org.