Work in Progress is taking a holiday and will return Jan. 9. We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season and a New Year filled with justice, peace and solidarity.
N.Y., TENN., WASH. WORKERS SAY AFSCME—In New York, 60 food service workers at Cobleskill Auxiliary Services voted to join Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME. In Tennessee, 278 Shelby County Head Start workers voted to join AFSCME Local 1733 and in Washington, 26 vocational rehabilitation supervisors at the state Department of Social and Health Services signed on with AFSCME Council 28.
NURSES WIN UNION VOICE—Some 1,000 registered nurses at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis won a voice at work with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) Dec. 5. The state’s Bureau of Mediation Services certified their victory after determining a majority of the nurses had signed union authorization cards. MNA is affiliated with United American Nurses/AFL-CIO.
MACHINISTS CHOOSE IAM—At Usinatech in Melbourne, Québec, Canada, 123 workers joined Machinists Local Lodge 922 recently. The workers primarily perform machining sub-contracting work for Bombardier Recreational Products.
AFL-CIO OPPOSES ALITO—U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito’s record as a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit reveals “a disturbing tendency to take an extremely narrow and restrictive view of laws that protect workers’ rights, resulting in workers being deprived” of many vital protections relating to health and safety, wage and hour and anti-discrimination laws and pensions, said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. In a letter to the Senate urging opposition to Alito’s confirmation, Sweeney said a review of Alito’s record showed “his judicial philosophy is at odds with the interests of America’s working families.” An AFL-CIO review of Alito’s record is available at http://www.aflcio.org/issues/legislativealert/alerts/upload/alito_letter.pdf. It includes dissents and decisions by Alito in cases involving the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the National Labor Relations Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and other important working family cases.
TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH ON HOLD—The U.S. House of Representatives finished its legislative business Dec. 19 without taking final action on a $56 billion package of tax cuts for the rich. But the House did narrowly approve (212–206) more than $40 billion in spending cuts to vital working family programs. The Senate was expected to vote on the spending cuts late Dec. 19. The spending cuts are aimed at Medicaid, student loans, food stamps, child support enforcement and other important programs. On the tax cut side, more than 84 percent of the House tax cut bill would go to households in the top 20 percent of income. The Senate passed a similar but slightly smaller tax cut bill. Republican congressional leaders said a final version expected to be reached during a January House and Senate conference likely would include the major House tax cuts for the wealthy, including capital gains, dividend and business tax cuts. Visit www.unionvoice.org/ct/ep1612s1-ugS/ to tell your senators and representative these tax cuts for the wealthiest and working family spending cuts are the wrong priorities.
MINIMUM WAGE—One of this year’s most popular holiday toys—the $120 Roboraptor—would cost a parent earning the minimum wage three days’ wages, said congressional backers of an increased minimum wage at a news conference Dec. 14 in front of the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree. The federal minimum wage has been $5.15 an hour since 1997 and congressional Republicans have blocked repeated attempts to increase the wage, most recently in October. “If we value the Christmas tree, the menorah, the crescent, it’s the very least we ought to do,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Two bills (H.R. 2429 and S. 1062) would increase the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour over two years. Meanwhile, union, community and religious activists in several states are mobilizing to boost their state’s minimum wage. Arizona and Arkansas activists are working to put wage increases on next November’s ballot. In New Mexico, a broad coalition of groups is gearing up to win support in the 2006 legislature for a bill to raise that state’s minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.50 an hour, said Christine Trujillo, president of the New Mexico Federation of Labor.
POLL: AMERICANS SAY NATION ON WRONG TRACK—More than half of voters polled—some 56 percent—think the United States is on the wrong track, while only 29 percent think the nation is moving in the right direction, according to a new poll by Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc. In the same poll, respondents said Congress and President George W. Bush are out of step on the issues that most concern working families. The poll shows the public’s concern over the nation’s direction includes not only the war in Iraq but key domestic issues as well. Five important issues on which respondents said the nation was on the wrong track were: health care (69 percent), retirement security (65 percent), fair taxes (57 percent), education (53 percent) and jobs and the economy (47 percent). The survey also found that 63 percent of seniors ages 65 and older were dissatisfied with the new Medicare prescription drug benefit plan that opened to enrollees Nov. 15 for coverage that begins Jan. 1, 2006.
METAL TRADES’ SOLIDARITY CHARTERS—Three unions affiliated with the Change to Win Coalition (CTW) have signed Solidarity Charter agreements with the AFL-CIO’s Metal Trades Department. The agreements with the Carpenters, Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers allow the unions—which disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO—to remain involved in the department at the local council level. “We recognize the importance of sustaining our local leadership and maintaining the longstanding relationships supporting our bargaining units,” said Metal Trades Department President Ron Ault. SEIU also is expected to sign a Solidarity Charter agreement with the department. In October, the CTW unions and the AFL-CIO reached agreement on a Solidarity Charter program to allow CTW locals to participate in state, area and local AFL-CIO organizations. For more information on Solidarity Charters visit http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/ns08262005.cfm.
GLOBAL UNIONS DEMAND DECENT WORK FOR DECENT LIFE—AFL-CIO President John Sweeney joined with leaders of unions around the world in Hong Kong to demand that the World Trade Organization (WTO) create a fair global trade system that gives workers a fighting chance to escape poverty rather than lines the pockets of rich corporations. “Workers need to have the right in their workplace to bargain with their employer to ensure that they receive fair and just treatment,” Sweeney told a Dec. 11 rally of 12,000 in Hong Kong. “Decent work allows workers to provide themselves and their families with other fundamental rights like health care and education.” The global union leaders warned the WTO during its Dec. 13–18 meeting that the rules of the global economy must not force developing countries to make far-reaching concessions that could hamper their development efforts. Instead, their economies should be built up in ways that provide a decent living for working people. For more on the global unions at the WTO meeting, visit www.workersvoiceatwto.org.
BUSH IN DENIAL OVER RECORD TRADE DEFICIT—The U.S. trade deficit reached another record high in October, hitting $68.9 billion for the month, a $2.8 billion increase over September’s record $66.1 billion. The largest deficit again was with China at $20.5 billion. “The Bush administration remains in denial about the impact of trade deficits on the American economy,” AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka said. “America’s workers are not fooled. Their paychecks, the goods in the stores and the latest trade numbers tell a different story.” The soaring trade deficits have caused a downturn in manufacturing that cost 3 million jobs over the last four years, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
HUGE RESPONSE TO E-HEARING FOR GM AND DELPHI WORKERS—More than 1,000 current and retired workers at General Motors Corp. (GM) and Delphi Corp. have submitted testimony about the devastating personal impact of moves by those companies to cut jobs and benefits in a special congressional “electronic hearing.” The e-hearing was launched Dec. 6 by House Democrats and because of the huge response, the deadline to submit testimony has been extended until Dec. 31. “The stories we are hearing from hundreds of workers all over the country are heartbreaking and incredibly important,” said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). The responses are posted on the Internet at http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/autocrisis.html. Comments can be submitted to autocrisis@mail.house.gov.
WAL-MART—TAKE ANOTHER LOOK—The PBS Frontline documentary Is Wal-Mart Good for America? will be re-aired Tuesday, Jan. 3, on most PBS stations. The show follows the trail of U.S. job loss from small towns of Ohio—where one in six manufacturing jobs has been lost in just three years—to the plants in China that fill Wal-Mart shelves with brand-name products from Procter & Gamble Co., Hasbro toys, Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners, RCA TVs and Rubbermaid home products. Through interviews with economists, business experts, mass retailers and American and Chinese manufacturers, Frontline explores the costs behind Wal-Mart’s bargain hunting for U.S. consumers. Check your local listings for show times.
SUPPORT STAFF REACHES DEAL WITH UC—The University Professional and Technical Employees/CWA Local 9119 reached a tentative agreement last week with the University of California on a new three-year contract. The pact covers 10,000 research support professionals and technical employees. If approved, the contract would provide wage increases retroactive to October, when other university staff received raises.
LABOR COLLEGE MOURNS NIGERIAN UNION LEADER—The National Labor College (NLC) is mourning the death of Uche Marcus Okoro, president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria. He died in a plane crash Dec. 10 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Okoro was among 19 trade unionists who attended an intensive leadership seminar at the college the week before he was killed. “A tragedy like this touches us all at any time when it occurs,” NLC President Sue Schurman said. Okoro’s “outstanding leadership skills were evident to all of us throughout the program, adding to our profound sense of loss,” she said.
NEW THIS WEEK AT WWW.AFLCIO.ORG
COOL TOOLS RULE—The newest addition to the AFL-CIO’s Cool Tools website is the film The Rosa Parks Story, starring Angela Bassett as the woman who launched the modern civil rights movement 50 years ago when she refused to give her seat on the bus to a white man. This film is a great way to educate students and others about Parks, who died Oct. 24 at age 92 and who will be the first woman to be honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol. Also check out Economic Apartheid in America by Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel, co-founders of the nonpartisan education and advocacy group United for a Fair Economy. The action-oriented guide to building a movement promotes concrete steps to closing the nation’s growing wealth gap. Also check out Women Organizing Women, a new how-to report on ways to recruit women organizers and members. The report is based on a forum by 19 women organizers with years of on-the-ground experience who swapped ideas and strategies at a two-day forum in New Orleans last year. And don’t miss folk legend Joan Baez’s first live CD in 10 years, Bowery Songs, recorded right after the 2004 elections. Baez sings songs that span her more than 40 years as an entertainer and social activist. Find out more at CoolTools and order books and films from The Union Shop™ Online at http://unionshop.aflcio.org/shop/index.cfm.
TELLING IT LIKE IT IS—Clyde Rucker, at one time considered a model employee by his supervisors, was fired from his job as a customer service representative at Verizon Wireless on what he believes was a trumped-up charge because he was a vocal advocate for union representation in the workplace. In the latest Point of View column on the AFL-CIO website, Rucker tells what it was like being harassed and fired simply for trying to get what he and his co-workers were entitled to: the freedom to form a union. Rucker, who now works with the Communications Workers of America, issues a call to action for union members to fight for the freedoms that are being taken away daily by unscrupulous employers. Find out more at Point of View.
WHO’S ON OUR SIDE?—The AFL-CIO launched a nationwide “Who’s On Our Side?” campaign Dec. 13 to hold members of Congress accountable for the votes they cast on working family priorities. In nine states, working family activists are releasing report cards grading their U.S. senators and representatives on working family issues during the 2005 congressional session. The lawmakers were evaluated on their votes in five categories: jobs and wages, retirement security, health care, tax fairness and education. “The AFL-CIO’s ‘Who’s On Our Side?’ campaign is going to make sure working families know who’s on their side on issues that are vital to their futures,” said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka. “Working families—with the facts in hand—have the power to take back the country and make sure we are represented by leaders who are fighting for our best interests, and not the special interests, every day.” The report cards looked at votes on trade, the minimum wage, community wage standards, child labor standards, protections for wages and pensions, Medicaid, health care, consumer protections, tax cuts for the wealthy, student loans and funding for public education. Throughout 2006, the “Who’s on Our Side?” campaign will include continuing reports on lawmakers and grassroots mobilization to put working family issues at the top of the 2006 congressional agenda. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org/reportcards.
