CLEAR WINS FOR AFSCME—AFSCME continues winning a voice at work for staffers at privately run (but publicly funded) mental health agencies. A strong majority of 284 workers at the Clearbrook Center in Illinois voted to join Council 31 April 4. Meanwhile, 50 workers at the Tuscarawas County, Ohio, agency for developmentally disabled people and 25 workers at a similar Jefferson County agency joined Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 4 recently.
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS—On April 12, 127 Head Start workers at the Montochusetts Opportunity Council in central Massachusetts voted to join SEIU Local 285.
LET'S GO CRUISIN'—Seafarers will crew the Cape May Light, a 250-passenger cruise ship christened in Alexandria, Va., April 25. The ship will call on ports from Jacksonville, Fla., to Boston. It carries a crew of 80 and its operator, Delta Steamship Lines, recognized the crew's choice of SIU.
THIRST FOR A UNION—Fifty-eight drivers and warehouse workers at Onondaga Beverage Corp. in Liverpool, N.Y., voted for a voice at work with Teamsters Local 1149 April 25. The workers overcame captive-audience meetings and intimidation tactics by the employer with support from the Greater Syracuse Labor Council.
POWER PLAY—By a 26-2 vote, 29 workers at Powers Manufacturing in Waterloo, Iowa, gained a voice at work April 20 with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 431. A maker of athletic uniforms, Powers has a plant nearby in which workers are represented by UFCW Local 166G.
WORKER SAFETY FIGHT CONTINUES—A group of workers suffering from job-related injuries delivered a petition to the Bush administration's Department of Labor April 25, challenging it to keep its promise to develop a new rule to protect workers from such ergonomic injuries as carpal tunnel syndrome. The next day, more than 20 workers sporting "Stop the Pain" T-shirts jammed a U.S. Senate hearing room to urge quick action on adopting a new ergonomics rule. When President George W. Bush and the Republican-led Congress killed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's long-sought ergonomics standard in March, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said the administration would develop a new standard. But despite repeated questioning by senators, Chao refused to give any estimate of when the department might act on a new ergonomics standard. "She presented neither a long-term plan, an interim solution nor a time frame for action, confirming fears that this administration has no plans to deal with the most important job safety problem in America," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. More than 190,000 workers have suffered from job-related repetitive stress injuries since the rule was killed. "If these injuries affected CEOs, we would see change tomorrow," said Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) at a Capitol Hill rally. For more information on ergonomics and workplace health and safety, visit www.aflcio.org/yourjobeconomy/safety.
BUSH'S FIRST 100 DAYS—After 100 days in the White House, President Bush "has proposed and implemented policies that reward his big corporation and wealthy campaign contributors at the expense of children and working families," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson told a Capitol Hill press conference April 25. She and other speakers compared Bush's campaign promises with his actions and found a wide gap. They slammed Bush's millionaire tax cut proposal that would raid the Medicare trust fund, his signature on legislation to kill the workplace ergonomics standard, his support of letting states duck minimum wage requirements, his support of corporate polluters and opposition to a Medicare prescription drug benefit for all seniors. If Bush "continues to attack working families in order to serve big corporate interests and the wealthy, as he has in his first 100 days, he will seal his standing as the worst president for working people in 70 years," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. For a look at Bush's first 100 days and his attacks on working families, visit www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/bushwatch.
FIGHTING FOR THE LIVING—More than 6,000 workers died on the job in 1999 and another 5.7 million were hurt. Those workers and others killed and injured were honored during more than 100 Workers Memorial Day ceremonies around the nation last week. The latest figures on workplace deaths and injuries are contained in the 10th edition of "Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect," prepared by the AFL-CIO's Safety and Health Department. The 1999 figures are the latest available. Construction work is the most dangerous major industry in the nation, and in a dozen cities, members of construction unions demonstrated in front of construction temporary employment agencies, which have some of the worst safety records in the industry. "Temp workers in construction have the same right to life and limb as any other worker," said Edward C. Sullivan, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department. In Everett, Wash., an 11-foot-by-8-foot Workers Memorial Monument, commissioned by area union groups and businesses, was dedicated. In Rochester, Minn., the Southeast Central Labor Council held a service outside the new Labor Temple overlooking the Zumbro River and tossed a wreath into the river and released black balloons to honor the dead. In Little Rock, Ark., members of more than a dozen unions, the Arkansas AFL-CIO and the Arkansas Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice held a candlelight vigil.
EC SETS POLITICAL COURSE—The AFL-CIO Executive Council will examine a working families political and legislative strategy at its meeting in Boston this week. It will discuss ways to mobilize union members to fight the attacks on workers and their unions by the Bush administration. In addition, the council will review organizing goals and successes, discuss ways to make the global economy work for working families, participate in an April 30 rally for Harvard University students sitting in for a living wage and take part in a May 1 rally for immigrant rights. Be sure to visit www.aflcio.org for updates on the council's actions and see next week's edition of Work in Progress.
BUSH PLA ORDER ON TRIAL—The AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department filed suit April 26 to overturn President Bush's executive order banning project labor agreements on any construction project that receives federal funds. A PLA is a form of "prehire" collective bargaining agreement. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, says Bush's order prohibits construction firms, employers and unions from entering into PLAs even though they are authorized specifically by the National Labor Relations Act. Joining as co-plaintiffs are the City of Richmond, Calif., and the Contra Costa County Building and Construction Trades Council, which want to negotiate a PLA for a federally funded local project.
ROLLING IN WASHINGTON—More than 4,000 members and supporters of the Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME—including some of District 1199 Northwest/SEIU's 800 state-employed nurses—rallied at the state capitol in Olympia April 22. Representing about 19,000 state workers, WFSE/AFSCME and the 1199 nurses began rolling strikes April 19. The workers are demanding parity with raises recently granted to teachers and protesting service cuts and health care costs that would nearly double under current budget proposals. At the rally, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee gave the federation a $100,000 check to help workers continue job actions while legislators hammer out a budget in a special session. "This strike isn't just about a few percentage points in pay or a cap on health care benefits," McEntee told the crowd. "This strike is about dignity and respect." For more information, go online to www.wslc.org and click on Legislative Update 2001.
NEW YORKERS BREAK A SWEAT—With the strong backing of the New York union movement and its community allies, the New York City Council voted April 25 to override Mayor Rudy Giuliani's veto of a strong anti-sweatshop bill that will guarantee city workers are not wearing uniforms made in sweatshops. "It ensures that our heroes in uniform will not be forced, unknowingly, to wear apparel made by substandard labor or in forced prison camps," said New York City Central Labor Council President Brian McLaughlin.
CLEANED AND PRESSED—The executive board of the 8,800-member Laundry and Dry Cleaning International Union voted to switch its affiliation from SEIU to UNITE, which already represents a high percentage of laundry workers. Union leaders agree the move will benefit the workers. "SEIU's cooperation in this effort was based on their recognition that the workers will benefit by uniting laundry workers in one strong union," said UNITE Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Raynor. The merger could be effective by 2003.
RUNNING INTERFERENCE—The decision by President Bush and some members of Congress to meddle in the airlines' collective bargaining process "has been harmful," said Sonny Hall, president of the Transport Workers and of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department. In testimony before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee April 25, Hall said Bush's threat to appoint presidential emergency boards to prevent airline strikes is a move that can "poison" the collective bargaining process, noting that only three presidential emergency boards had been appointed in the past 33 years. Machinists President R. Thomas Buffenbarger called on the committee to support fair and even-handed collective bargaining to resolve long-running negotiations and to insert a "drop-dead date" into the Railway Labor Act that governs airline negotiations to "give both sides an incentive to reach a fair agreement." A delegation of Flight Attendants from United Airlines told the panel of their concerns regarding the UAL/US Airways merger.
NEW ORIT LEADER—AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson was elected president of the Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers (ORIT) by the 200 delegates to its annual congress in Washington, D.C., April 23-26. Delegates discussed the Free Trade Area of the Americas and other issues affecting working families. ORIT is the Latin and North American arm of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and represents about 35 million workers.
WOMEN AT WORK—Organizing women workers, alleviating poverty among women and expanding family leave are among the topics on the agenda for the Institute for Women's Policy Research conference June 8-9 in Washington, D.C. "The Status of Women: Facing the Facts, Forging the Future" is the theme of the conference. For more information, check out www.iwpr.org/conference/index.htm.
IAM FIGHTS FOR JOBS—The more than 10,000 jobs United Technologies Corp. has eliminated in Connecticut since 1990 helped lower that state's median family income by 14 percent, a recent study revealed. To promote high-skill, high-wage jobs in the state, the Machinists, other UTC unions and community groups have launched GrowCT, a statewide grassroots campaign. IAM, UAW, Steelworkers, PACE and other union organizations at the UTC held a "UTC Unions Summit Meeting" April 28 to develop strategy and mobilization plans for the campaign.
