For the latest hurricane relief efforts of the AFL-CIO and ­affiliate unions, see the special edition of WiP published earlier today and visit www.aflcio.org/hurricane.

A WIRELESS VOICE—More than 800 Cingular workers, former AT&T Wireless employees, at two call centers in Greensboro N.C., won a voice at work Sept. 9 with the Communications Workers of America Local 3607. After the Cingular/AT&T merger, the company agreed to a level playing field and to honor the workers’ freedom to form a union when a majority signs authorization cards. Under that agreement, nearly half of the 5,000 former AT&T workers who have chosen CWA are in the traditionally anti-union Southeast, where employers mount huge anti-union campaigns against workers.

N.J. FREE CHOICE ACT PAYS OFF—In July, New Jersey’s version of the Employee Free Choice Act took effect. The new law allows workers not covered by the National Labor Relations Act to choose to be represented by a union by signing authorization cards. This month all 41 assistant prosecutors in the Mercer County prosecutor’s office won a union voice with CWA Local 1034. The federal Employee Free Choice Act (S. 842 and H.R. 1696) would allow employees to freely choose whether to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation. It also would provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes and establish stronger penalties for violating the rights of workers seeking to form a union. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org.

GLOBAL WORKERS SUE WAL-MART—Apparel workers from factories in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Nicaragua and Swaziland that produce clothes for Wal-Mart filed a class-action suit against Wal-Mart in a California state court last week. The unique suit brought by the International Labor Rights Fund charges that Wal-Mart not only violated its own much ballyhooed code of contract for its contractors but also deliberately misled the American public about its efforts to protect the workers who make goods overseas for the retail giant. The suit alleges Wal-Mart’s code created a contractual obligation between the company and the thousands of workers employed by the contractors that are required to comply with the code. The workers charge they were paid less than minimum wage, denied time-and-a-half for overtime and were beaten and locked in the ­factories. For information, visit www.laborrights.org or www.walmartcostsyou.com.

AFT’S FELDMAN DIES—Former AFT President Sandra Feldman, 65, died Sept. 18 after a long battle with cancer. Her four-decade career in education began as a New York City second-grade teacher. She was elected AFT president in 1997. She served on the AFL-CIO Executive Council and Executive Committee until her retirement earlier this year. “Sandy Feldman devoted her life and her career to ensuring that children from every background could benefit from the finest public school education,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “She was a tireless advocate for children and the teachers, schools and staffs who serve them.” AFT President Edward J. McElroy said ­Feldman “was a leader without comparison.”

TOUGH ANTI-SWEATSHOP LAW SIGNED—The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved what some call the nation’s toughest anti-sweatshop ordinance Sept. 13. Mayor Gavin Newsom, who co-sponsored the legislation, will sign the bill. The new law was backed by Global Exchange, a coalition of 60 labor and community groups. It requires city contractors to pay wages equivalent to the federal poverty level for a family of three—$9.28 an hour currently—and pay a premium for overtime. It allows only voluntary overtime and prohibits sexual, physical or other illegal harassment or abuse. It also sets standards for any contracted work done internationally.

AIRLINES FILE BANKRUPTCY—Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines, with more than 100,000 workers—including union members—filed for bankruptcy protection last week. The bankruptcies are the latest among major airlines, including United Airlines and US Airways, where workers suffered job cuts, loss of pension and health benefits and wage reductions under the bankruptcy agreements approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney urged the airlines not to use “bankruptcy as a cover to shed workers’ pensions and responsibilities to loyal employees. The Bush administration has seen this crisis coming and has refused to take steps to shore up the airline industry. It fought providing airline transportation stabilization funding, hasn’t addressed our pensions crisis and has not built a more forward-looking energy policy.”

CLUW MEMBERS MOBILIZE—More than 800 members of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) from 53 unions developed organizing strategies, examined the global economy and its impact on women, debated women’s role in the union movement and more at CLUW’s 13th Biennial Convention in Detroit, which wrapped up Sept. 17. AFL-CIO Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson told the delegates union members and leaders must “give every bit of energy and vision and effort that we can to building our union movement; to helping millions more working women to organize into unions; and to spreading the word, mobilizing our sisters around the issues that count the most for us, and preparing to elect women and men who finally start giving us the high-quality leadership we deserve.”

PAY GAP’S STILL REAL—When U.S. Supreme Court chief justice nominee John Roberts worked for the Reagan administration in the 1980s, he wrote documents suggesting he did not believe a gender pay gap existed and voicing opposition to proposed actions to promote pay equity. But U.S. Census Bureau data show the gender pay gap not only was quite real in the 1980s, it persists today. Women who now are in their mid-40s are earning as much as 38 percent less than their male counterparts, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). A woman with a college degree in 1984, who is now in her mid-40s, lost a total of $440,743 between 1984 and 2004, EPI reported. For more information, visit www.epi.org.  

RALLY SLAMS CBC LOCKOUT—Hundreds of CWA and other union members rallied Sept. 12 outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., to protest the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s lockout of 5,500 Canadian Media Guild members since early August. CWA President Larry Cohen said the locked-out union members “are up against a company—funded by the Canadian government—that wants to turn full-time, quality jobs into temporary work. That would be an outrageous demand coming from a private company. It’s completely unacceptable from a public broadcaster.” The rally was part of an international day of action in support of the locked-out workers.

CALIF. UNIONS BLAST DECEPTION SCHEME—California working families and their unions are mobilizing to beat back Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) attacks on their political rights and on teachers and schools. Schwarzenegger called for a special election Nov. 8 on a paycheck deception ballot initiative (Proposition 75) to silence public employees’ voices in the political arena and on Proposition 74, which reduces job security and contract protections for teachers. Paycheck deception legislation would place massive reporting and administrative burdens on unions before they could use dues money for any political expenditure—which includes educating members about issues and lobbying for pro-working family legislation. Schwarzenegger’s special election will cost California taxpayers $80 million. For more information, visit the California Labor Federation at www.calaborfed.org or the Alliance for a Better California at www.betterca.org.

TABLE TALK—In families that have frequent dinners together, teenagers are less likely to smoke, drink or use drugs and are more likely to have better grades, according to a new report. The Importance of Family Dinners II, from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, found teens who have five or more family dinners a week are at half the risk for substance abuse and are 40 percent likelier to receive As and Bs in school than teenagers who have fewer evening meals at home. To encourage more families to eat together, CASA and the television networks TV Land and Nick at Nite have developed an initiative, Family Table: Share More than Meals, which is asking families to set aside Sept. 26 as Family Day—A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children. For more information, visit www.FamilyTable.info or  www.CASAFamilyDay.org.

NONUNION APPRENTICE PROGRAMS LACKING—Serious problems remain in nonunion apprenticeship programs and in the U.S. Department of Labor’s management of the nation’s apprenticeship system, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report found nonunion programs graduate fewer students and pay their apprentices some 24 percent less than union-run programs. It also criticized the Labor Department for not conducting quality reviews of the programs. The GAO report confirms what AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) reports have found, said BCTD President Edward C. Sullivan. “Unions take pride in the fact we invest hundreds of millions annually to ensure the highest standard of skills training in every craft,” he said. For more information, visit www.bctd.org.

KATRINA SURVIVORS NEED REAL HELP—President George W. Bush’s proposal to help Hurricane Katrina survivors rebuild their lives and communities not only falls far short of the help needed but instead is a blueprint for the anti-worker, reactionary agenda Bush has been unable to win ­otherwise, said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. The AFL-CIO and affiliated unions have developed a comprehensive relief plan to help hurricane survivors and are urging Congress to act. In contrast, the Bush administration has lifted prevailing wage protections for construction workers rebuilding the Gulf area under federal contracts; deferred affirmative action regulations for many of the recovery contracts; awarded multimillion dollar, no-bid hurricane recovery contracts to firms with close ties to the administration and its friends; proposed draining public education funds to private schools with vouchers; and pushed privatized “recovery accounts” in place of meaningful job training programs the administration has cut. “They are callously trying to turn Katrina’s aftermath into a bonanza for the radical right and rich contractors who want to eliminate government services and regulations and enrich corporations,” said Sweeney. Instead, the federation’s recovery plan calls for restoring Davis-Bacon wage protection for construction workers who will rebuild the Gulf Coast, protecting workers from biological and chemical hazards in the region and improving access and benefit levels for Disaster Unemployment Assistance. The union plan also would provide health care to survivors through Medicaid and restore funds lost through budget cuts in Medicaid and other programs that should aid hurricane survivors. It urges Congress to provide funds to reopen and rebuild area schools, comprehensive re-employment services for displaced workers and increased federal financial assistance to states and communities that have opened their doors to Katrina survivors. For the latest in relief efforts by the AFL-CIO and affiliate unions, visit www.aflcio.org/hurricane.