MIDWEST WINS FOR UAW—Approximately 540 workers in the Midwest joined UAW in late 2003. In Montpelier, Ohio, most of the 210 workers at Powers and Sons, an automotive component maker, voted to join the union. The majority of about 200 workers at Hollingsworth Logistics, an auto-parts packager in Dearborn, Mich., also voted for a voice on the job with UAW. And at St. Clair Die Casting in St. Clair, Mo., the majority of 130 workers cast ballots for UAW.
SEIU WINS IN IOWA—The majority of 175 registered nurses at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa, voted Jan. 12 to join SEIU Local 199 for a stronger voice in patient care. Presidential candidate Howard Dean met with and supported the nurses forming a union. Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of 100 business office clerical workers employed at Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, Calif., voted Dec. 17 to join SEIU Local 250. More than 50,000 SEIU caregivers at 95 CHW facilities in California, Oregon and Washington will participate in coordinated contract talks this year.
HERE IN MARGARITAVILLE—On Dec. 19, 250 workers at the Margaritaville Restaurant at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas used a card-check to join Culinary Union/Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 266. Under card-check, an employer agrees to recognize the union after a majority of workers indicates a desire for union representation by signing authorization cards.
CREDITWORTHY UFCW—At the Cooperative de Ahorro y Credito Sabanena in Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, 19 credit union workers voted unanimously Jan. 13 for a voice on the job with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 481.
KING DAY CELEBRATION FOCUSES ON POLITICS—More than 400 union leaders and activists from across the country commemorated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday by registering voters and planning strategies to increase the political strength of working families and people of color. The national union movement’s King Day celebration was held this year in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 15–19. Union members walked door-to-door in African American, Latino and Asian American neighborhoods in Orlando Jan. 16 urging residents to register and vote. The registration effort was followed by strategy sessions on ways to get out the vote across the country. The activists also supported local working families by distributing paper goods and apparel to social service agencies and providing counseling and toiletries to single working mothers. The same day, AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Bill Lucy, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson and AFGE Vice President Andrea Brooks joined with local community leaders for a labor–community forum on important working family issues including education, jobs and health care. Union members also participated in two Jan. 17 parades honoring King—in Orlando, where AFL-CIO President John Sweeney spoke at a dinner, and Eatonville, Fla., the nation’s oldest incorporated black municipality. The activists also honored Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriquez for his contribution to fulfilling King’s dream of a just society.
SENATE VOTE BACKS O.T.—As George W. Bush prepared to deliver his State of the Union message tonight, the U.S. Senate today voted to protect workers from Bush’s attack on overtime pay. The Senate defeated a White House–backed attempt to end a filibuster against an omnibus spending bill. Senate Democrats launched the filibuster in December because the bill did not contain an overtime pay guarantee that would have blocked Bush’s changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act that could eliminate overtime pay protection for 8 million workers. In 2003, both the Senate and House voted in favor of an amendment by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) to an appropriations bill that would have protected overtime pay while allowing the Labor Department to expand overtime pay to cover more low-income workers. But Republican leaders, strong-armed by Bush, stripped the amendment from what became the omnibus bill. Tuesday’s Senate vote kept the overtime battle on the legislative front burner and allowed activists more time to mobilize political support for overtime pay protection. Almost 300,000 workers have signed online and hand-distributed petitions calling on Bush to withdraw his the overtime pay take-away proposal and more than 230,000 workers faxed their senators and urged them to support the filibuster and protect overtime. Those messages were copied to the Bush White House. Meanwhile, leading up to the president’s televised address, workers around the country have been talking about the real state of the union in a series of AFL-CIO–sponsored roundtable discussions focusing on working families’ struggles in this jobless economic recovery. Approximately 15 million U.S. workers are unemployed, underemployed or too discouraged to look for work. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org.
BUSH DUCKS SENATE JUDGE VOTE—In a Jan. 16 end-run of the U.S. Senate, President Bush used a recess appointment to place Charles Pickering on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This allows Pickering, opposed by the AFL-CIO and civil rights groups because of his controversial and destructive record on civil rights and other issues, to serve until a new Congress takes office January 2005. “Americans deserve federal judges of distinction and fairness, not judges with questionable records on civil rights,” AFL-CIO President Sweeney said of the appointment. Pickering’s nomination to the court was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2002. He also was unable to overcome a Senate filibuster after Bush renominated him last year and the Judiciary Committee approved the nomination 10–9 on Oct. 2. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/factsheet_ns04242003.cfm.
STEPPING UP AGAINST SAFEWAY—While 59,000 UFCW members continue walking picket lines in southern California, union leaders and the AFL-CIO announced Jan. 20 a nationwide mobilization effort to hold the line for health care, with actions to include community support and intense education of Safeway shoppers. On Jan. 15, the AFL-CIO Office of Investment reported to the Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) that because of Safeway’s confrontational labor strategy and poor management, Safeway investor WSIB has suffered “significant losses.” Negotiations are imminent for contracts expiring in May for some 30,000 Washington state grocery workers at Safeway and other chains. Also on Jan. 15, a group called San Francisco Giants Fans for Justice at Safeway delivered a statement to Giants president and general partner Robert Magowan, a Safeway director and former CEO. They asked him to “step up to the plate and use your influence to bring a just settlement to the Safeway labor dispute.” The contracts for 10,000 Bay Area workers at Safeway and Albertsons expire in July. To support the workers, please mail a check payable to AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer to the Hold the Line for Health Care Strike Fund, AFL-CIO, 815 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20006. Or donate online through the AFL-CIO at https://secure.ga3.org/08/holdtheline.
KEY VICTORY—US Airways flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants/CWA, won an arbitrator’s ruling Jan. 14 upholding their contract’s furlough provisions. In December, the carrier announced involuntary furloughs for 552 flight attendants, despite a contract requiring the company first offer voluntary furloughs.
WORKERS GET VOICE IN NEVADA—Corrections officers represented by State of Nevada Employees Association/AFSCME Local 4041 have won meet-and-confer rights in the settlement of their First Amendment lawsuit against the state. By law, Nevada state employees cannot bargain collectively. The suit was filed after 12 union activists were suspended for speaking about the union. The settlement resolved some worker concerns by providing seniority rights, minimum staff requirements and training standards.
DEM CANDIDATES BACK FMLA—All Democratic presidential candidates support expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to cover more workers and to replace lost wages for workers who use the leave to take care of family members, according to results of a survey by Take Care Net (TCN). Released Jan. 13, the survey examined candidates’ positions on issues critical for working families seeking to balance family and work, including early education and child care, FMLA, family caregivers, paid caregivers and general work–life balance. President Bush’s campaign declined to respond to the survey by the requested date. Take Care Net is an alliance of more than 300 work–life experts that advocates public policies to support paid and unpaid caregivers. For complete survey results, visit www.takecarenet.org.
BUSH’S SCHOOLS BUDGET FLUNKS—President Bush’s education budget for the 2005 fiscal year shortchanges students, according to figures obtained by AFT. Congress has promised some $19.3 billion for the Title I program that helps schools educate disadvantaged students. But Bush’s budget proposal only provides $12.5 billion, leaving a gap that breaks administration promises for better public education through reduced class size and other improvements, said AFT, citing Congressional Research Service budget figures. For more information, visit www.aft.org/press/2004/011204.html.
N.Y. UNION, HOSPITALS PROPOSE HEALTH PLAN—Health and Human Services Employees Union, 1199/SEIU, and the Greater New York Hospital Association are proposing legislation that would finance health insurance coverage for the state’s 2 million to 3 million uninsured residents. Under the plan, employers that don’t provide health coverage would be assessed fees, small employers that do provide health insurance would get tax credits and the state would issue a bond to pay for improvements to the state’s health care infrastructure.
N.J. GOV. PROPOSES ‘KIDSTIME’—New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey (D) wants legislation requiring employers to give workers 16 hours of paid leave annually for children’s health or educational needs such as parent–teacher conferences and medical emergencies. McGreevey unveiled his KidsTime proposal Jan. 13 in his State of the State address.
APOLLO TO CREATE U.S. JOBS ON EARTH—The new Apollo Project to invest $300 billion in public money in clean energy and related areas such as manufacturing and transportation would create 3.3 million skilled jobs over a decade, according to an economic analysis released Jan. 14 by the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of environmental, union, business and political leaders that backs the Apollo Project. “Rather than focusing on securing oil for businesses in the Middle East, we should be securing jobs for workers in the Midwest,” Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said. For more information, visit www.apolloalliance.org.
DUANE DOES WRONG—On Dec. 31, the New York State Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by Duane Reade drugstores against Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW Local 338. Stemming from the chain’s refusal to recognize the union, the suit alleged “tortious wrongs” including trespassing and defamation. Some 2,600 New York state Duane Reade clerks, cashiers and pharmacists, longtime Allied Trades Council members, voted overwhelmingly to affiliate with Local 338 last May. They now have been without a contract for nearly two years. In late December, an audit conducted as part of a lawsuit by the union and its funds against Duane Reade found it owes union health and welfare funds a total of approximately $5.8 million. For more information, visit www.dwaynegreed.com.
