(The AFL-CIO distributed the following on October 20.)
New members reported in this week’s WIP: 2,440
New members reported in WIP, year to date: 126,743
ADD US TO UNION–About 750 workers employed by Addus HealthCare have a voice on the job with SEIU after recent card-check victories in two cities. Under card-check, an employer agrees to recognize the union after a majority of the workers indicates a desire for union representation by signing authorization cards. Also in early October, about 440 nursing home workers in six southern California facilities won recognition for SEIU Local 434B, and some 240 caregivers at two northern California facilities gained a union voice with SEIU Local 250.
AFT GOES TO COLLEGE–A total of 705 workers joined AFT recently. The majority of 290 adjunct faculty members at Southwestern Illinois College voted for the Illinois Federation of Teachers, an AFT affiliate, Sept. 22. Meanwhile, the Hortonville Area School District Board of Education recently voted to recognize the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers as the representative for about 215 teachers in the district after a card-check. And on Oct. 8, the 200-member Alabama Association of Classified School Employees signed an affiliation agreement with AFT.
VOICE FOR CONTRACT WORKERS–The 150 workers at FSJ Transport Inc., a transportation contractor for New Jersey boards of education, voted Oct. 10 for a voice at work with Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 108, an affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
MAKING NEWS–Fifty-eight workers recently joined the Communications Workers of America. After a card-check Oct. 14, 23 workers at Gannett-owned Pacific Media Publishing in Hawaii joined The Hawaii Newspaper Guild/CWA Local 39117. A majority of 20 newsroom and advertising workers at the St. Clair (Ill.) Journal voted for The Newspaper Guild Local 36047. Recently, 15 workers at the Peninsula School District in Gig Harbor, Wash., information technology department and the Pierce County (Wash.) Department of Emergency Management joined CWA Local 37083 via card-checks.
UNION PRIDE AT PEPSI AND PENSKE–Thirty-five drivers at Pepsi-Cola’s Windsor (Wis.) distribution center voted Oct. 29 to join Teamsters Local 695 in nearby Madison. In San Marcos, Calif., a unit of 17 mechanics and customer service agents at Penske Truck Leasing recently voted to join IBT Local 481.
THE UNION ASPECT–The 45 workers at Aspect Ratio voted for the Theatrical Stage Employees Sept. 24. The Los Angeles-based company produces trailers for motion pictures, television and home entertainment. Aspect Ratio tried to break away from the union after the last contract expired, forcing the union to petition for another election.
STAYING NEUTRAL–The UAW reached an agreement Oct. 15 with Collins & Aikman, a major auto parts manufacturer, that guarantees company neutrality and card-check recognition in union organizing campaigns. The union currently represents 2,200 Collins & Aikman employees. When workers choose union representation, the company also agreed to make a good-faith effort to reach a collective bargaining agreement within six months and to refer outstanding issues to a neutral arbitrator.
WORKERS FIGHT FOR HEALTH CARE–More than 85,000 workers are on the picket lines from California to West Virginia as employers try to shift even more costs for health care to the workers in new proposed contract takeaways. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called the workers “brave leaders on the front lines of the fight for every American’s basic right to have affordable and quality health care.” In California, the UFCW sued the Albertsons and Ralphs grocery chains for locking out their workers after employees at Vons grocery stores walked out Oct. 11, putting some 70,000 workers on the picket lines. The supermarket chains, negotiating jointly, are demanding workers pay higher premiums for health insurance and accept reduced pension benefits. Meanwhile, 10,000 UFCW members in St. Louis remain on strike after rejecting the contract offer by three grocery chains–Shop ‘n Save Warehouse, Schnuck Markets and Dierbergs Markets. Another 3,300 workers in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky struck Kroger Co. grocery chain stores Oct. 13. In Los Angeles, 2,200 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union walked out Oct. 14 over demands by the management of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to shift the increasing costs of health care premiums to workers. Bus drivers, train operators and other workers are honoring the picket lines.
WORKERS TO BUSH: HANDS OFF O.T.–In a little more than a month since the Senate voted to protect workers’ overtime pay, more than 60,000 messages have been e-mailed to the White House urging President George W. Bush to stop his attack on workers’ paychecks and accept the congressional overtime guarantee. The White House has threatened to veto the fiscal year 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill (H.R. 2660) if it contains the Senate-passed ban on Bush’s changes in the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime rules that would take away overtime pay from workers. The House voted Oct. 2 to urge House members of the conference committee merging the Senate and House versions of H.R. 2660 to accept the Senate’s overtime guarantee. For more information and to send a message to Bush, visit http://www.aflcio.org .
ASBESTOS ‘DEAL’ FLAWED–An “agreement” on funding for asbestos compensation legislation reached in secret by the asbestos companies and their insurers is “a major step backwards in efforts to reach a satisfactory and equitable solution” to compensate asbestos victims fairly,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. The legislation, S. 1125, is intended to compensate workers who contracted serious and often fatal diseases because of exposure to asbestos in the workplace. The “agreement” falls $40 billion below the $153 billion the Senate Judiciary Committee provided when it approved the bill earlier this year. In addition, no representatives of the victims or the union movement were allowed into the funding discussions, brokered by Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).
AVIATION SAFETY, FOR SOME–In a move to win Republican congressional support for the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that would privatize many of the nation’s air traffic control towers, House Republican leaders have offered to exempt towers in certain Republican districts, the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD) and National Air Traffic Controllers Association charge. “The safety of the aviation system should never have to take a backseat to political gamesmanship,” said NATCA President Robert Carr. Call 1-866-I-FLY-SAFE (1-866-435-9723) to tell your congressional representative to oppose the bill. In a related development, “The Hill,” a newspaper that covers Congress, reported a Republican congressional aide said key safety provisions in the bill could be stripped away as retaliation against the aviation unions that have fought the bill because of its privatization provisions.
HELP NEEDED–Congress must extend the temporary extended unemployment compensation (TEUC) program because the need is greater now than when the program first began, according to a new study by the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute. TEUC, which expires at the end of the year, pays a maximum of 13 weeks of additional unemployment benefits to most workers who exhaust their normal 26 weeks of benefits. The report finds that the number of individuals unemployed 40 weeks or more and who still need the extended payments has nearly doubled–from 700,000 to 1.3 million–since April 2003. To read the report, visit http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots .
AMERICA WEST PROTEST–The America West Airlines Labor Coalition held a unity rally in Phoenix Oct. 15. The coalition, representing members of the Air Line Pilots, Flight Attendants, IBT and Transport Workers, protested the carrier’s lack of contract compliance, poor labor relations and erosion of employee benefits and job security. Since Sept. 11, 2001, America West’s employees have worked to return the carrier to profitability, only to see management wrest away the profits to reward itself with lucrative bonuses and stock options while ignoring the needs of workers, said Capt. Terry Sadler, ALPA Master Council chairman, speaking for the coalition.
PACIFIC GAS PACT APPROVED–Members of the Electrical Workers ratified a new five-year agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Under the contract, workers will receive a lump-sum payment and annual wage increases of 4 percent. The pact covers more than 9,100 meter readers, mechanics and linemen in northern and central California.
HARSH LIGHT ON CINTAS–Cintas directors removed company Chairman Richard Farmer from a nominating committee for independent directors. The AFL-CIO had urged Cintas shareholders to withhold votes for Farmer’s re-election as a director because of his insider presence on the committee responsible for selecting independent directors to represent the interests of outside shareholders. A separate AFL-CIO proposal calling for a truly independent nominating committee received 37.3 percent of all votes cast, including a majority of votes cast by shareholders who are not affiliated with management. Cintas is the largest U.S. uniform and laundry company.
CWA: ‘COMCAST VIOLATES PRIVACY’–Members of CWA, IBEW and their supporters from other unions in 50 communities on Oct. 10 leafleted local governments and cable TV customers, raising privacy concerns about Comcast Communications. CWA charges that Comcast’s privacy policy contains so many exceptions and qualifications that it allows the firm to share a customer’s Social Security number, driver’s license number and other personal identifying information with any company it chooses. Activists called on local government officials–who grant franchise agreements for cable service–to make sure Comcast is abiding by community standards.
DON’T FIDDLE WITH ROYALTIES–Five of the most popular Irish and American Celtic music acts have sued Green Linnet Records and staged a sing-in Oct. 10 at the label’s Danbury, Conn., office to protest years of nonpayment of royalties by one the largest sellers of Celtic music in America. The five acts, all members of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, are Altan, Cherish the Ladies, Eileen Ivers (nine-time All Ireland Fiddle champion and musical star of “Riverdance”), Joanie Madden and Mick Moloney. “The suit is not just about the five of us, it’s also about the countless other Irish musicians who have been stiffed but can’t afford to sue a company with the financial resources of Green Linnet,” said Moloney.
MALDEN TO BE HONORED–Actor Karl Malden will receive the Screen Actors’ most prestigious award, the Life Achievement Award. The award will be presented at the SAG Awards in February 2004. “Karl Malden has superbly achieved the goal of every actor–to bring an extraordinarily rich range of iconic characters to the screen and stage,” SAG President Melissa Gilbert said.
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