For information about the hurricane relief efforts of the AFL-CIO, affiliate unions and our members, visit www.aflcio.org/hurricane and watch for the next AFL-CIO Hurricane Relief Update.
A CINGULAR SENSATION—More than 2,000 Cingular Wireless workers in several cities recently won a voice at work with the Communications Workers of America through a majority sign-up, in which an employer agrees to recognize the union when a majority of workers signs authorization cards. They include 1,134 who chose CWA Local 6016 in Oklahoma City, 444 who joined CWA Local 7901 in Portland, Ore., 418 in Lebanon, Va., who gained representation with CWA Local 2204 and 37 network technicians throughout Virginia who are now members of CWA Local 2201. They join the more than 2,100 Cingular workers who also recently chose to join CWA, exercising their rights on a level playing field where the company agreed to honor the workers’ freedom to form a union.
A GOOD START—In Pajaro Valley, Calif., 75 Migrant Program Head Start staffers won a voice at work with AFT last month when the school district recognized their choice to join a union. They will become part of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers bargaining unit.
PHARMACISTS ALIGN WITH USW—The United Steelworkers and the National Pharmacists Association (NPhA) announced Sept. 6 they are forming a joint Pharmacists Council. About 2,500 pharmacists nationwide will participate in the council. “Working together with the USW will give all of our members a stronger voice to advocate for improved safety practices,” said NPhA President Tom Hanson.
A MILLION STRONG—Working America, the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate, has topped the 1-million-member mark. Formed in August 2003, Working America enables nonunion workers to combine their strength with 9 million union men and women and millions of others who share common challenges and goals. The group works at the local, state and national levels on important working family issues—good jobs, affordable health care, world-class education, secure retirement, real homeland security and more. For more information, visit .
THOROUGH EXAM OF ROBERTS NEEDED—There are “grave concerns” about Judge John Roberts, President George W. Bush’s nominee for chief justice of the United States, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. He said questions about Roberts’ judicial philosophy and commitment to equal rights in part center on Roberts’ urging the Reagan administration to oppose strengthening the Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act, criticism of a Supreme Court ruling that public education cannot be eliminated for children of undocumented immigrants, defense of a narrow Supreme Court decision denying the right to recover unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act and his opinion that equal protection under the law should not be enforced if it costs a defendant significantly. Sweeney called for “vigorous and extensive” questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee when it begins hearings this week.
SENIORS RALLY TO PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY—Nearly 800 senior activists rallied Sept. 8 on Capitol Hill against the Bush administration’s plan to privatize Social Security and met with their lawmakers to demand better retirement security for all Americans. The rally was part of the Alliance for Retired Americans 2005 National Legislative Conference Sept. 7–9 in Washington, D.C. Seniors from across the nation planned strategies to protect pensions, Social Security and Medicare and provide affordable prescription drugs. For more information on the conference, visit .
MINIMUM WAGE EVEN MORE SO—The nation’s minimum wage hit its lowest point in relation to the average wage in the country since 1949, a new report by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found. Today, the minimum wage equals just 32 percent of the average private-sector, non-supervisory wage. During the 1950s and 1960s, the minimum wage equaled about 50 percent of the average wage. The purchasing power of the $5.15 an hour minimum wage has decreased by 17 percent since it was last raised in 1997. Republican lawmakers and the Bush administration have blocked several attempts to raise the wage over the past several years. While minimum wage workers have struggled to get by on the $5.15 an hour wage, Congress voted itself seven pay raises since the minimum wage was increased. Unions are joining with Democratic congressional leaders to bring minimum wage increase legislation to a vote. The bills (S. 1062 and H.R. 2429) would raise the minimum age to $7.25 an hour in three steps over 26 months. For more information, visit , and www.aflcio.org.
BOSTON TO WAL-MART: NOT IN MY YARD—Union members and community supporters in late August derailed an effort by Wal-Mart to open a store in downtown Boston. The giant retailer dropped plans to build the store after unions, lawmakers and community supporters launched an all-out drive to keep Wal-Mart out. The activists oppose Wal-Mart coming to their community because the giant retailer pays inadequate wages, does not provide affordable health care for its employees and is virulently anti-union, said Rich Rogers, executive secretary-treasurer of the Greater Boston Labor Council. For more information, visit www.walmartcostsyou.com.
MACHINISTS STAND STRONG AGAINST BOEING—Machinists are picking up strong support for their strike against Boeing Co. Some 18,400 workers walked out Sept. 2 after overwhelmingly rejecting the company’s “best and final offer.” Although Boeing’s profits tripled in the past three years, the aerospace giant is demanding workers pay nearly 300 percent more for health insurance, refuses to include job security language in the new contract and proposes small increases in pension benefits, according to the union. “Every man and woman on those picket lines knew exactly why they were there. The issues they are fighting for—pensions, health care and jobs—are the same issues that matter to every union member, indeed every worker in North America,” said IAM President Thomas Buffenbarger, after he marched with picketers at several sites recently.
Marcello Malentacchi, general secretary of the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), said, “It is completely unacceptable for a company such as Boeing to deny its workforce a fair share in the profits they help to make. Anything less will result in the further erosion of workers’ living standards everywhere.” The Geneva-based IMF, which includes aerospace workers’ unions from around the world, represents more than 200 trade unions from 100 countries. For updates on the strike, visit .
STATE WORKERS UNDERPAID—Although states are recovering from fiscal crises, many state governments are in danger of losing key workers because they are not paying public employees enough to keep up with inflation, according to a report by the AFT. The 2005 AFT Public Employees Compensation Survey showed the median salary increase for state employees surveyed was 1.19 percent from 2004 to 2005, significantly below the inflation rate of 3.15 percent for the same period. For a copy of the report, visit .
UNION-MANAGEMENT PARTNERSHIPS CITED—High-profile national employers that have successful partnerships with unions representing their employees were credited in a report released Sept. 2 by the labor advocacy group American Rights at Work. The employers are “bucking the current race-to-the-bottom trend while defining new standards for 21st century labor relations,” the report said. Among the partnerships cited were Cingular Wireless and CWA, Harley-Davidson and the Machinists and Brightside Academy and AFSCME. For a copy of the report, The Labor Day List: Partnerships that Work, visit .
NEW LEADERS FOR APALA—Delegates to the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance’s (APALA’S) convention in Las Vegas Aug. 26–28 elected Antonio Saguibo as its national president. Saguibo, a member of Laborers Local 368 in Honolulu, has served as the AFL-CIO constituency group’s second vice president since 2003. He succeeds Luisa Blue, who resigned. Delegates also elected Maria Somma of USW as first vice president, Jan Tokumaru of the Office and Professional Employees as second vice president and re-elected Marion Thom of AFT as secretary and Kathleen Topacio-Flores of AFSCME as treasurer.
USW’S YOUNG RETIRES—Boyd Young, executive vice president of USW, retired last month. Young served as president of PACE International Union before PACE and USW merged in April 2005. He also served on the AFL-CIO Executive Council. Richard LaCosse has been named Young’s successor. LaCosse also is a former PACE officer.
BUSH CUTS REBUILDING WAGES—President George W. Bush issued an executive order Sept. 8 that would allow contractors to pay substandard wages to construction workers in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast area destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The order followed Congress’ approval of more than $62.3 billion to help rebuild the devastated areas, and billions more are likely to be approved. “What a double tragedy it would be to allow the destruction of Hurricane Katrina to depress living standards even further. Taking advantage of a national tragedy to get rid of a protection for workers the corporate backers of the White House have long wanted to remove is nothing less than profiteering,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. The AFL-CIO is urging Congress to reverse Bush’s order to remove Davis-Bacon Act protections, and the act’s high quality work standards, from federal reconstruction projects. The act requires federal contractors on federally funded construction contracts to pay workers at least the prevailing wages in the area where the work is conducted. “Davis-Bacon has long been the law of the land to protect communities from fly-by-night contractors who would drive down community living standards with taxpayer money,” said Laborers President Terence M. O’Sullivan. “Suspending Davis-Bacon protections for financially distressed workers in the Gulf states amounts to legalized looting of these workers who will be cleaning up toxic sites and struggling to rebuild their communities while favored contractors rake in huge profits from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reconstruction contracts,” said Edward Sullivan, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department.
