(The AFL-CIO circulated the following on June 20.)
WORKERS CHOOSE IBT—Nearly 300 workers in seven recent elections voted for a voice at work with the Teamsters. In San Diego, 175 packaging department workers at the Union Tribune voted to join Local 432M of the Graphic Communications Conference/IBT. In the continuing organizing drive at DHL independent contractors, 36 workers at Commercial Cargo in Mobile, Ala., voted to join Local 991 and 31 drivers at Z&K Transport offices in Mount Vernon and Bothell, Wash., voted to join locals 38 and 231. Twenty workers at Praxair Distribution Inc. in North Royalton, Ohio, voted to join Local 407, and 15 workers at Farner-Brocken distribution Center in Centerville, Iowa, voted for Local 238. Other new members include 10 firefighters at Initial Securities in East Chicago, Ind., with Local 142, and eight drivers at USF Dugan in Fort Smith, Ark., with Local 373.
SWEENEY CALLS FOR SOLIDARITY—AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said he will work to create “a new spirit of solidarity” in the union movement by continuing to treat differing views with “respect and an open mind.” Last week, the 24-member AFL-CIO Executive Committee approved a Sweeney administration proposal to increase the federation’s focus and investment in the twin goals of increasing organizing and grassroots political and legislative mobilization. Unions representing 35 percent of AFL-CIO members have formed the Change to Win coalition to push for major changes involving organizing and industrywide collective bargaining. The coalition is made up of the Laborers, SEIU, IBT, United Food and Commercial Workers and UNITE HERE. The AFL-CIO Executive Council will review the Sweeney administration plan June 27 and, if approved, recommend it to the AFL-CIO Convention next month. The coalition group also plans to submit its proposals to the Convention. For more information on strengthening the union movement, visit www.aflcio.org/ourfuture and www.changetowin.org.
DEFENSE PERSONNEL RULES DELAYED—The Bush administration delayed until at least late fall its implementation of the proposed National Security Personnel System rules for 750,000 Department of Defense workers due to go into effect July 1. The new rules gut the civil service and bargaining rights of the department’s civilian workers. Federal workers’ unions have mobilized to urge Congress to protect workers’ rights in any new system. AFGE’s Operation Fairness project just completed a three-week nationwide effort of workplace meetings, information distribution and print and broadcast ads in targeted areas to educate members, the public and lawmakers about the new rules’ impact on workers. The Bush administration says it will seek to impose similar rules on all federal workers. For more information, visit www.afge.org and www.aflcio.org.
CHILE, A PREVIEW OF PRIVATIZATION—Chile’s social security system was privatized 25 years ago, and today most Chilean workers and retirees, especially women, are not reaping the benefits from private accounts. Their plight offers a lesson for the United States as President George W. Bush continues his push to privatize Social Security, said Carmen Espinoza, director of Chile’s Program of Economy and Work. Chile’s plan is plagued with high administrative costs, low returns on investments and low levels of coverage for retirees, Espinoza said at a Washington, D.C., roundtable discussion June 7. The Economic Policy Institute and Global Policy Network sponsored the roundtable. For more information on Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security, visit www.aflcio.org/socialsecurity.
HILL SPOTLIGHTS MANUFACTURING CRISIS—The crisis in U.S. manufacturing is gaining new attention on Capitol Hill with the formation of a bipartisan Senate Manufacturing Caucus. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on June 14 announced the creation of the caucus, which will hold hearings and roundtable discussions around the country to examine manufacturing issues, including global trade practices. “America’s manufacturing crisis has vital implications for our domestic economy and our national security. It deserves the full attention of the Senate,” said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, who chairs the federation’s Industrial Union Council. U.S. manufacturing has lost 2.8 million jobs since 2001. The growth of the U.S. trade deficit reached a record $666 billion last year, and the deficit with China leaped to $162 billion, the largest bilateral trade deficit in world history. Graham and Clinton said the country cannot remain confident about the economy or national security if we become dependent on outside sources for all our goods. For more information on the manufacturing crisis, visit www.aflcio.org/manufacturing.
CENTRAL AMERICANS SAY ‘NO’ TO CAFTA—Legislators from four Central American countries told members of Congress last week the proposed Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) would make multinational corporations richer while hurting workers in North and Central America. The legislators from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua joined members of Congress for a Capitol Hill rally against CAFTA June 15. They also visited congressional districts in Illinois, New York and Texas. Their visit came as two House and Senate committees in informal, nonbinding sessions approved draft legislation to implement CAFTA. In the Senate action, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) offered an amendment to safeguard workers’ rights. It failed on a bipartisan 10–10 vote but showed the growing bipartisan support for new trade rules that protect workers’ rights. CAFTA is modeled after the North American Free Trade Agreement, which, like CAFTA, does not contain adequate environmental protections or enforceable protections for such core workers’ rights as the freedom to form unions. For more information on CAFTA, visit www.aflcio.org/cafta.
L.A. HOTEL DEAL REACHED—Workers at seven Los Angeles hotels who had been without a contract since March 2004 and faced a June 11 lockout scored a major win when they reached a tentative agreement that maintains free family health care benefits and boosts wages. The pact expires in 2006, when hotel contracts in several other major cites also expire. Newly elected Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa helped broker the deal that covers 2,500 bellmen, housekeepers, front desk workers, banquet servers, cooks and other workers. “Good jobs and benefits make strong families and communities, and thanks to our new mayor, our members and the Los Angeles Hotel Employer’s Council, we are making a better Los Angeles,” said Maria Elena Durazo, president of UNITE HERE Local 11.
STRONGER IMMIGRATION LAWS NEEDED—Union leaders, immigrant rights advocates and members of dozens of grassroots organizations from across the country called for strong federal labor laws to protect the rights of all workers, especially immigrant workers. The Low-Wage Immigrant Worker Coalition, a collaboration of state and national advocates, met in Washington, D.C., June 15 to plot strategy to gain immigration reform. “The fact millions of immigrant workers in our economy are forced to accept low wages, no benefits and outrageous working conditions is something that affects us all,” said AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/immigration.
U.S. IGNORES CHILD LABOR PROBLEMS—In its new report, Protecting Working Children in the United States: “Is the Government’s Indifference to the Safety and Health of Working Children Violating an International Treaty?,” the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) took the U.S. government to task for its inaction and questioned its compliance with an international treaty protecting children. Five years after U.S. ratification of the International Labor Organization Convention 182, which called for immediate action to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, the CLC said the government’s efforts to correct child labor deficiencies are inadequate. It cited outdated regulations, lax enforcement and the continued exposure of young farm workers to pesticides as major problems. The CLC is a group of more than 40 unions and consumer, human rights, children’s and other organizations. For more information, visit www.stopchildlabor.org.
IRAQIS REBUILDING UNIONS—Despite tough security problems, high unemployment and a lack of strong workers’ rights laws, Iraq’s union movement is being rebuilt, six Iraqi union leaders said June 14 during a visit to the AFL-CIO headquarters. The leaders said their fundamental goal is a progressive and modern labor law that guarantees workers’ rights. The AFL-CIO, affiliated unions and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions are assisting Iraqi unions in building an effective union movement.
USW TENTATIVE PACTS—The United Steelworkers reached tentative contracts with Bridgestone/Firestone covering more than 6,000 workers at eight tire plants. The proposed accords, subject to ratification later this month, would replace contracts that expired two years ago. The agreements came shortly after hundreds of USW members took their message urging a fair settlement and Bridgestone/Firestone’s commitment to its U.S. manufacturing plants to some 250,000 fans at the famed Indianapolis 500 race May 29.
NATIONAL STAND DOWN—Fire Fighters across the nation will observe a national stand down for firefighter health and safety June 21, when IAFF members will focus on fire safety issues by discussing the causes of line-of-duty deaths and injuries, checking all apparatus and protective gear, reviewing operating procedures and taking stock of training exercises and wellness and fitness goals. IAFF President Harold Schaitberger said the stand down “will bring attention to the need to address preventable line-of-duty deaths and injuries among firefighters.” Fifty firefighters have died in the line of duty thus far in 2005—10 more than for the same period in 2004.
LEADING NEW MEXICO—Delegates to the New Mexico Federation of Labor’s recent convention re-elected Christine Trujillo as president and elected Michelle Gutierrez vice president. Their election marks the first time an AFL-CIO state federation will be led by two Latinas. Trujillo is an AFT member, and Gutierrez is vice president of AFSCME Local 3999.
LABOR ARTS AND ORGANIZING—More than 100 union activists and artists are attending the Great Labor Arts Exchange and Conference on Creative Organizing at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., June 19–21. The event, sponsored by the Labor Heritage Foundation, wraps up June 21 with a free public concert at 7:30 p.m. at the Labor College. Conference participants explored the use of songs, skits, games and other techniques in organizing, and shared ideas and experiences for strengthening the union movement and celebrating the rich culture of working people. For more information, visit www.laborheritage.org.