PostalReporter.com-Labor News Arvives jan-feb- 2004

Labor News Archives-Jan-Feb 2004

February 29, 2004-Bush administration fighting to free federal managers from MSPB-Agency managers have little to fear from the MSPB. For one thing, there is little delay in employee disciplinary cases as a result of MSPB review. Most cases are resolved within a few months of appeal. Even if an administrative judge moves much slower, almost all actions, be they removals or suspensions, usually take effect immediately after the agency makes its decision. (Compare the MSPB's speedy record with the dismal and interminable process of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.)

February 29, 2004-Striking grocery workers vote on tentative agreement-Thousands of members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union stood in lines at voting sites, looking to beat the Sunday night voting deadline, said Barbara Maynard, a UFCW spokeswoman. Workers said the new offer requires them to pay for health benefits for the first time and includes a one-time bonus but no raise. The 4½-month dispute gained national attention because it was seen as a referendum on affordable employee health care. Presidential candidates John Kerry and John Edwards were among those who rallied behind the grocery workers. Many employees were eager to return to their jobs and have said they voted to ratify the deal. However, they said the offer was not much different from one they received from their employers in October — one that was rejected by the union. Under the expired contract, workers paid no monthly premiums for health benefits and a $10 copay for doctor's visits and prescriptions. The new offer includes no premiums for the first two years of the contract. Beginning in the third year, however, workers would pay $5 a week for individual coverage and $15 a week for family coverage, according to a union fact sheet given to workers. Employees said their co-payments would increase to $25 for a doctor's visit and $100 for treatment at a hospital emergency room.

February 29, 2004- Battle over outsourcing heats up-Democratic Party lawmakers cite the international shift in labor as showing that President Bush has failed to revive the U.S. economy after the loss of 2.3 million jobs in three years. Members of Congress including Sen. John F. Kerry, who is vying to be Bush's opponent in November's election, have threatened to cut tax breaks for companies that move work overseas.

February 28, 2004-DoD, OPM and Unions Conclude Preliminary Meetings-The Defense Department, the Office of Personnel and Management (OPM) and labor unions have just concluded two days of important discussions about concepts for a new labor relations system for DoD under the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service also facilitated the meetings. In April, a formal proposal will be provided to the unions that will begin the congressionally mandated 90-day collaboration process. NSPS forges a new collective bargaining system between DoD and federal unions by creating a modern and dynamic model for labor negotiations. The concepts call for bargaining at the national level but do not eliminate local bargaining units. The current collective bargaining model -- fragmented among nearly 1,400 local units and focused on procedural detail -- diverts national security resources and focus. Congress has given labor and management the opportunity to forge what the law calls a "collaborative issue-based approach to labor management relations."
-Testimony of JOINT HEARING 2/25/04 : The Key to Homeland Security: the New Human Resources System

February 27, 2004- Switzerland Postal Workers Protest Dismantling of Collective Contract-The Collective Agreement of the postal workers is due to expire at the end of 2004 and even after negotiations held yesterday, the post office has publicly announced that they wish to amend the collective contract and continue with outsourcing due to the decrease in business. The union has said that there will be consequences for the postal workers and indeed Switzerland's customers. These will be lower wages, increase in workloads of postal employees and dismantling of the public postal service.

February 27, 2004-Congress Rejects Long-term Unemployment Benefits- The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) today criticized Senators who voted to defeat an extension of long-term unemployment insurance benefits. The amendment would have reinstated the thirteen-week federal unemployment insurance program, extended it for six months, and ensured that "high unemployment" states continue to be covered. "The timing of this could not be worse," said Deborah Cutler Ortiz, CDF's family income director. "We know from new 2003 data that parents, like other workers, are sinking deeper and deeper into long-term unemployment. Without this extension parents will be struggling to meet their children's basic needs." New estimates from the Children's Defense Fund show that the crisis of extended unemployment affects hundreds of thousands of working parents with children. The annual average number of parents unemployed long term (longer than six months) soared to 583,000 in 2003. This is up from 465,000 parents in 2002 and nearly triple the level in 2000 (200,000 parents). The data are from a CDF analysis of a monthly government survey of households nationwide; the same data used in the Labor Department's unemployment statistics.

February 26, 2004-Grocers, Union Reach Accord to End California Strike - Albertson's Inc., Safeway Inc. and Kroger Co. reached tentative agreement with union officials in Southern California to end the U.S. grocery industry's biggest- ever strike, said Terry O'Neil, a spokesman for Kroger's Ralphs chain. No further details were immediately available but sources say newly hired workers would be put on a lower-wage tier. The deal on the table would trim supermarket employees' health benefits and create a second tier of new workers who would earn less than those hired before the dispute began, according to sources who know the rough details of the proposed contract.

February 26, 2004-(AP) Two top labor unions join forces-The country's biggest unions for hospitality employees and apparel workers are merging to create a single labor organization with more than 400,000 members. The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, known as HERE, and the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, called Unite, approved the merger yesterday. The organization, which will be called Unite HERE, will be based in Manhattan. Unite President Bruce Raynor, 54, will become general president of the new union, and HERE President John Wilhelm, 58, will become president of the organization's hospitality division. ( Editor: A Petition was started to merge APWU and Mail Handler Unions)

February 25, 2004-Social Security cutback advised-Greenspan's urging gets chilly reception from Bush, Democrats Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan urged Congress on Wednesday to cut Social Security benefits for future recipients "as soon as possible" in order to reduce mounting budget deficits. Greenspan recommended to the House Budget Committee cutting entitlements to reduce the deficit instead of risking harm to the economy by raising taxes. He did not say which future retirees should be targeted.

February 25, 2004-Court rejects reverse age discrimination-In an important age-bias case, the US Supreme Court Tuesday sided with older workers in ruling that the ADEA does not empower relatively younger workers to file so-called reverse-discrimination lawsuits. The Supreme Court ruled that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the 1967 law that prohibits discrimination against workers over the age of 40, doesn't apply when those same workers believe that more-senior colleagues have received preferential treatment. Employers may use age as a valid criterion to award more lucrative benefits to older workers without violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

February 25, 2004- Workers' Rights Are Being Rolled Back -While the Bush administration is gung-ho for democracy in Iraq and Zimbabwe, there is one place it wants to be sure it never sees the light of day: the American workplace. right that most Americans thought they won back in 1935 -- the right to form unions and bargain collectively. Over the years, that right has been whittled away by legislation, poked with holes by appeals courts and reduced to irrelevancy by a well-meaning bureaucracy that has let itself be intimidated by political and legal thuggery. As a result, any company willing to use intimidation and delaying tactics will never have to sign a first contract with a union, even if employees really want one

February 25, 2004-Canada Postal union opposed to fingerprinting-Canada Post and one of its unions are in a battle over the corporation's requirement that some new mail carriers be fingerprinted -- at their own expense -- as part of background checks. Brian Henderson, vice-president of the local union, said fingerprinting is insulting and unnecessary, particularly since many of the workers have been on contract with Canada Post for as long as eight years

February 24, 2004- NALC Abstains Due to ‘No Consensus' As AFL-CIO Backs Kerry for President
NALC President William H. Young abstained February 19 when the AFL-CIO General Board met in Washington to vote on endorsing a candidate for President of the United States. Young said his decision to abstain came after results were tallied of a poorly responded survey of NALC members via a special ballot card in the Postal Record. Only 13,000 of a potential 305,000 members bothered to return the survey form. "Since there was no consensus expressed among the NALC membership – and the number of survey forms returned was insufficient to determine a solid leaning toward anyone – I decided to remain neutral at this stage and abstain," Young said. In the end, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) won the nod of the labor movement. In the NALC survey, former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO), who later dropped out as a presidential candidate, led those on the Democratic side of the political scale. President George W. Bush was the top Republican.

February 22, 2004- Labor council head arrested in solidarity action-Friday, Feb. 13, turned out to be a bad luck day for the management of Safeway in Baltimore. Hundreds of trade union and community activists set up an informational picket line on Harford Road in front of a local branch of the huge grocery chain. They were there in support of striking West Coast grocery workers, and the focus of their solidarity was health care. Workers from practically every union in the area attended, including the Auto Workers, Communications Workers, Operating Engineers--who opened their offices and parking lot to participants--Sheet Metal Workers, Machinists, AFSCME, Service Employees, Postal Workers, Hotel & Restaurant Employees, Masters, Mates & Pilots, GUILD and the Steel Workers. The All Peoples Congress, a local community group, helped organize and mobilize its members, along with the NAACP and the AFL-CIO Religious Committee

February 22, 2004-NLRB Rules in Favor of APWU & NALC on Failure to Provide Info-The case arises in the Houston district of the Postal Service . The vast majority of the complaints filed by APWU and NALC allege that the Postal Service failed to provide or to provide information and threatening an employee and changing his working conditions in retaliation for his union activity.

February 19, 2004- MAJOR LABOR UNIONS BACK KERRY CANDIDACY-The AFL-CIO federation of labor unions endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry Thursday, urging some 13 million workers nationwide to support the Massachusetts lawmaker. Also see Bushwatch|

- Organized Labor Backs Democratic Front-Runner John Kerry After Being Divided

February 18, 2004-Quebecor World Workers Launch Justice@Quebecor Website-- The Graphic Communications International Union (GCIU) announced today the launch of a new Justice@Quebecor campaign website, www.JusticeAtQuebecor.org. The website includes breaking news about the campaign to win workplace justice at Quebecor World, Inc. and offers opportunities for workers, customers, and community allies to get involved in the campaign. The website provides a vehicle for both unionized and non-union Quebecor World workers to participate in the campaign and for the company's customers to pledge their support for worker safety, human rights, and quality printing. About Quebecor World: “ touts itself as the largest business partner of the U.S. Postal Service They also partner with USPS with PostalOne!, MERLIN, Flats Strategy, Confirm/PLANET™ Code and the mail security task force, among others.

February 17, 2004-Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez releases congressional report on Wal-Mart -With supporters of a March ballot measure to ban Wal-Mart superstores and other "big-box" businesses in unincorporated Contra Costa County (Calif.) flanking him, Miller, ripped the Arkansas-based corporation for creating "downward spirals in communities," violating child labor and workplace safety laws and "paying wages below industry averages."

February 16, 2004-Opinion: Labor Unions: Tools of a Lost Era -"A specter is haunting" the American economy. Its grasp strangles firms into submission through violent, coercive tactics. Its propaganda riddles the minds of workers and draws them as if a moth to a flame. Once the champion of the "little guy," now his covert enemy. This article explores the factors that gave rise to labor unions, explains their evolution from effective tools to prehistoric strains on the economy, and describes their current existence in today's economy. Although there is no place for unions in today's society their old-hat tactics are still seen and their results are no longer tolerable. It is no secret that unions have made it virtually impossible for firms to fire union workers. This unnatural job security strips workers of their motive to be as productive as possible because there is no consequence for slacking off. Also, their wage (which is already too high) will remain the same no matter their productivity so there is no reward for working to the best of ones abilities. The result is a socialistic dogma that holds firm's hostage by forcing them to pay unnaturally high wages for substandard labor. On average union workers wages are 25% higher then their non-union brethren

February 16, 2004-Supermarket and union negotiators for Stop & Shop averted a strike -Union members planned to take a strike vote if no settlement was reached and members of other bargaining units from Yale University, the U.S. Postal Service and the New Haven teachers union vowed to boycott Stop & Shop supermarkets

February 14, 2004-Unions joining in common goal-"The labor movement is changing, and it needs to grow," said Jay Rykunyk, president of Local 17 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) union. "There are unions that have a really strong focus on organizing, and they can support one another. Diverse unions have come together like this in the past, University of Minnesota industrial relations professor John Budd said: For example, as big factories pooled a lot of different occupations under one roof, unions started to organize by industry instead of by crafts. It's time to go for strength in numbers again, said Chris Chafe, national political director in New York for the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), one of five unions in the New Unity Partnership

February 14, 2004-Homeland Security Rethinks Personnel System -Plan Would Replace Annual Pay Raises With Ones More Tied to Jobs and Performance -Citing the demands of the war on terrorism, homeland security officials yesterday launched the most ambitious and complex attempt in decades to overhaul the way federal employees such as Border Patrol agents, customs inspectors and intelligence analysts are paid, promoted and deployed.

February 13, 2004-Labor Secretary Stresses Job Training, Worker Protections in President's Budget-Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao recently told a House appropriations subcommittee that President Bush's new budget request will provide American workers with more effective job training, help them stay safer in their jobs and better protect their employer-sponsored benefits and union dues."The Department of Labor has three fundamental missions: to protect workers, to provide for workers facing dislocations, and to prepare workers for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century economy," Chao said in testimony before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. "The President's budget delivers on our commitment to American workers."

February 13, 2004-Local unions will support any Stop & Shop strike -Union members from around Connecticut pledged to boycott Stop & Shop Supermarkets if a contract impasse forces 43,000 workers in the three southern New England states out on strike. In Rhode Island, the AFL-CIO labor union pledged to support workers should they walk off their jobs at Stop & Shop stores statewide, including support on the picket line, raising funds and seeking political support. "As quick as we can tell them to shop there, we can tell them not to shop there," said John Dirzius, who represents 5,000 Connecticut members of the American Postal Workers union. Union leaders in the dispute said the main sticking points are health care benefits and overtime wages for workers of five union locals in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

February 12, 2004-Standing up for Workers' Rights -To the cheers of a responsive Washington, D.C. audience on December 10, 2003, Sterling Laundry worker Evelyn Thomas vowed to continue the battle for the freedom to form a union at her workplace, in spite of fierce employer opposition. Thomas' tale was just one of the dozens of horror stories told by workers who rallied on International Human Rights Day to call attention to the widespread abuse of the rights of workers. In 90 events in 37 states, tens of thousands of workers and their allies campaigned to restore the freedom to form a union guaranteed under American law and international human rights codes, but sadly eroded in our country today

February 11, 2004-NALC probes Provo, Utah worker complaints-It was a time of tragedy for two Provo postal employees -- one lost a father, the other a son. When those workers received what the union views as a disciplinary action, other postal employees complained to the regional office of the business agent of the National Association of Letter Carriers. Those yielded an investigation into work conditions at the Provo post office, where some employees perceived going to work was "hell." The Daily Herald has been advised that by naming the individuals involved or talking to employees "on-the-record," some workers could be terminated as the U.S. Postal Service has no whistleblower protection for employees. The employees are not allowed to talk to the press and say something against the Postal Service. (This is an update of the 2/4 story)

February 4, 2004-No crying in letter-carrying: "Honchos from District 2 of the National Association of Letter Carriers out of Washington state have been at the main Provo Post Office investigating the disciplinary actions taken against two longtime postal workers. Their crime: Taking time off to plan and attend the funerals of a father and a son. About 70 co-workers, outraged that the two were given "official" verbal warnings about their "unscheduled leave," met Friday with a union official, who will be on hand again this week when postal officials from the district office in Salt Lake City go to Provo to conduct their own probe." -end-(Salt Lake Tribune)

from LuNewsViews reader February 7, 2004: to expand on the 2 union letter carriers...One is the local president and the other is the person the USPS used in their propaganda to show how great postal employees are. About 8 months ago he heard a fellow employee needed a kidney and donated one of his without a second though. Because of his kindness the fellow union member has a new lease on life. Something isn't it?

February 11, 2004-Bush Administration: Ship More U.S. Jobs Overseas-With some 15 million U.S. workers unemployed, underemployed or too discouraged to continue hunting for work, the Bush administration now is backing moves to outsource more U.S. jobs. “Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade,” said N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), when releasing the CEA’s annual economic report to Congress. “More things are tradable than were tradable in the past. And that’s a good thing.” (AFl-CIO)

February 11, 2004- Veterans Would Get No Preference Under Bush-Rumsfeld Plan

The Bush-Rumsfeld plan would allow the Defense Department to layoff workers without considering veterans preference, according to GovExec.com. Veterans also are targeted in Bush’s plan to eliminate overtime pay protections for 8 million workers, a proposal that would allow employers to consider the training veterans received while in the military as a basis for classifying them as professionals, and so denying veterans overtime eligibility.

-DOD Workers, Unions Criticize Rumsfeld for New Personnel System; President of Federal Workers Union Charges Rumsfeld 'Duped' Congress (American Federation of Government Employees)

-Employees to Protest Pentagon Labor Plan-"Hundreds of federal employees are expected on Capitol Hill to protest a new personnel plan for the Defense Department that union leaders say would strip unions of any meaningful role in protecting the workers' rights and welfare." (Washington Post)

- Federal employees union furious about Pentagon tactics|| Unions step up opposition to Defense personnel overhaul
- Rumsfeld plans to strip workers' rights|| Pentagon denies union busting claim (subscription)

February 11, 2004-Wal-Mart, Other Big Retailers Driving Down Working Conditions Worldwide-Wal-Mart and other major global retailers in the apparel and food industries are driving down working conditions for millions of mostly women workers worldwide, according to a new report by the British-based international development agency, Oxfam.

February 8, 2004-APWU National Business Agent Sentenced to prison in protest against government -Greg Poferl, APWU National Business Agent, Support Services Division and 10,000 protestors demonstrated at Fort Benning in November 2003, demanding the government close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly the School of Americas) and voicing their opposition to Latin America foreign policy. He and 27 others were arrested for "crossing the line" or trespassing onto federal property, a deliberate action. Poferl was sentenced last month for trespassing at Fort Benning, Ga. in an annual protest against the Army's school for Latin American soldiers. Poferl received 90 days in prison and fined $1,000. Poferl and others blamed the school for alleged atrocities by graduates-more info

Greg Poferl's Statement in Court || Greg Poferl's letter to his sisters and brothers in APWU

February 11, 2004-Judge Dismisses Teamsters' Suit Against Carey-A federal judge in Manhattan has thrown out a suit by the Teamsters union against former boss Ronald Carey and several others, ruling that the defendants' embezzlement of union funds did not constitute a "pattern of racketeering activity" under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

February 9, 2004-UPS is cutting jobs in Syracuse- 33 administrative workers were given word they may be out of a job come April.1,200 employees work out of the Syracuse area. UPS said it doesn't know how many workers will be cut yet. The company said some workers may retire, and other have been offered jobs within the company. UPS said it had to cut 500 jobs nationwide and blames the downsizing on new computer technology.

February 9, 2004-NALC Backs Grocery Workers; Urges Support for UFCW Strike - The NALC has donated $5,000 to a special fund of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union to help some 70,000 workers either on strike or locked out since October 11, 2003 at Safeway-owned Von's, Albertsons and Kroger-owned Ralphs stores in southern California. The contract dispute centers around management demands for a dramatic permanent cut in healthcare benefits and two-tiered pay scale even though they have reaped huge profits in recent years. The AFL-CIO has asked union workers nationwide to change their normal routine and not shop at Safeway stores during the strike. "The company that owns Safeway is stubbornly refusing to negotiate a reasonable contract," the AFL-CIO said in a memo to affiliated unions. "We all need to vote with our shopping choices and tell these giant grocery corporations that their actions are unacceptable and we will not support them with our business."

February 9, 2004-Wal-Mart's way---Ever cost-conscious, chain fights to keep out unions-Wal-Mart is so concerned about the union that it assigns a Union Probability Index, or U.P.I., to each store based on an anonymous survey of employees, says Stan Fortune, 47, a 17-year Wal-Mart veteran who now works for the UFCW's Wal-Mart team. Williams says U.P.I. actually stands for Unresolved People Issues. If the U.P.I. gets high enough, Wal-Mart sends in a special team to root out the union, Fortune says.

February 7, 2004-Kerry Wins Washington; Union Dumps Dean-Howard Dean, shut out in the primary season to date, suffered a fresh blow when the head of a major union decided to withdraw his support. Democratic officials said Gerald McEntee, head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, delivered the news to the former front-runner during a meeting in Burlington, Vt.

February 7, 2004-Mediator may enter strike talks-Striking supermarket workers and giant grocery chains could come together next week for talks under the supervision of a federal mediator in the latest attempt to settle a bitter, 17-week labor stalemate affecting 70,000 workers and 900 stores in Southern California

Union wavering as consumer support slips in grocery strike-In a sign that the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union may be growing battle-weary, local labor leaders this week offered to tell their members to go back to work if the grocers involved would agree to federal mediation.

February 6, 2004- Opinion: Looking for the Union Label-It's almost a rite of passage. Politicians go to great lengths to woo labor unions and proudly advertise any endorsements they get. But if recent returns are any indication, those endorsements aren't worth fighting for-at least, not if you want votes from rank-and-file union members. In the Iowa Democratic caucuses, the nation's big manufacturing unions threw their support-and their money-behind Richard Gephardt, while the important (and growing) public-sector unions put their cash on Howard Dean. But union members had a different idea. Of those union members voting in the Democratic primary, a plurality, 29 percent, ignored their union's advice and supported Sen. John Kerry. Dean managed 22 percent, while Gephardt, despite strong and early union backing, had to settle for 19 percent. A similar thing happened in New Hampshire, when 41 percent of union members voted for Kerry. Only 25 percent cast ballots for Dean, although he enjoyed the support of the state's largest union.

February 6, 2004-Unions object to Pentagon labor-management proposal-A Defense Department memorandum aimed at kicking off discussions about the pending National Security Personnel System is prompting angry denunciations from labor union officials. Pentagon officials sent the memo to union representatives on Friday explaining the agency's thinking on labor-management relations under the new system.

February 5, 2004- Wal-Mart overtakes UPS as top political donor-Wal-Mart Stores overtook UPS as the biggest corporate donor to Congress last year, with its political action committee giving $1.2 million in donations to 222 members of Congress and candidates, disclosure records show. UPS was second with $840,085 in donations. Also in the top 10 were AFLAC, fifth at $508,000, and BellSouth Corp. ninth at $454,400.Wal-Mart's political action committee, which can give $5,000 to federal candidates per election and is funded through voluntary payroll deductions from company managers, gave 14 percent more to congressional candidates last year than it did in 2001 and 2002 combined, according to figures compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine.com, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign finance. -Bloomberg News

February 3, 2004-Low-wage, no-benefit model poses threat to postal letter carriers-The picket line is where workers put it on the line. Letter carriers fed up with poverty-level wages and broken promises walked out in 1970, risking jail for a fair shot at the American dream and life in the middle class. In recent months, California grocery workers have walked the line, too, but while yesterday’s letter carriers were climbing upward, workers today find themselves fighting to keep from slipping backward into the nightmare of America’s new low-wage economy. Welcome to the Wal-Martization of America—you don’t want to become part of it. (NALC Feb. 2004 Postal Record)

Labor News-January 2004

January 31, 2004-Some Vets Fear Losing OT under Proposed Rules -Some veterans are concerned that they may lose overtime eligibility because proposed rules would allow employers to count military training when classifying workers as "learned professionals" who are exempt from overtime pay., Labor unions are trying to bolster their case against the overtime changes by highlighting the concerns of some veterans. The labor unions and some veterans contend that the new rules would make some veterans ineligible for overtime in the white-collar jobs they currently hold..

January 28, 2004-Union Network International News from around the world including US-Highlights: Support US shopworkers Donate online and help 70,000 US shopworkers and UFCW members defend their health care rights - through the AFL-CIO at https://secure.ga3.org/08/holdtheline ; Overall global unemployment rose in 2003 to 185.9 million, remaining at record levels for men and women and escalating more sharply among young people; UNI warned of the dangers of

Wal-Martization and much more

January 27, 2004-Largest Federal Union Blasts Bush for Code Talk in His State of the Union Message-AFGE National President John Gage criticized what he called a litany of disingenuous remarks made by President Bush in last night's State of the Union Message. "There were so many code words thrown about, I thought I was listening in on a room full of CIA operatives," said Gage. "The American people deserve an accurate translation of that code so they understand exactly where the Presidents wants to take this country."

January 27, 2004-Govt accused of reneging on deal with Ireland postal workers-The Communications Workers Union is due to march to the Dáil today in protest at the Government's failure to implement an employee share ownership plan (ESOP). The union said the Government negotiated the plan with postal workers three years ago. It said An Post employees were promised a 15% stake in the company in return for changes to their work practices, but the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats coalition has since reneged on the agreement. (Ireland Online, Ireland )

January 27, 2004-Statement of Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao on Court’s OK of New Union Transparency Rule —U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao issued the following statement regarding the decision by Judge Gladys Kessler of the United States District Court upholding the U.S. Department of Labor’s new union financial transparency rule and allowing it to go into effect later this year. “This decision is a major victory for rank-and-file union members and affirms that the new union transparency reforms are inherently reasonable. Because of this ruling, union members will have access to meaningful information on their union’s fiscal health, management and priorities.” (source: DOL)

January 27, 2004-Unions lend voice, might to back gay marriage-Labor unions representing nearly 200,000 workers across Massachusetts have endorsed same-sex civil marriage in recent weeks, as the organizations lobby to expand workplace benefits for their gay and lesbian members. Labor officials, hoping to consolidate their influence, have begun hashing out a strategy for the Feb. 11 vote on the proposed constitutional amendment, when activist groups from around the state and nation are expected to converge on the State House

January 27, 2004-Hispanics swell ranks of labor unions-Today's immigrants from Latin America are doing what the Irish, Germans, Italians, Jews and others did before them: organizing to make their issues part of labor's agenda. This can be seen in the flip-flops that the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations have done on immigration. Unions that once lobbied for closed borders because they believed immigrant labor would depress salaries and rob their members of jobs now are reaching out to newcomers to this country to swell the rank and file.

January 26, 2004-Questioning Labor History-A century ago labor issues were at the heart of American politics. How could American workers, increasingly employed by large corporations, escape “wage slavery” and be assured of an “American standard of living,” determined by morality and democratic politics and not just by the employer-dominated labor market? How could the rights of citizens be protected as the power of capital grew and workers toiled under undemocratic conditions for large private corporations? Historian Nelson Lichtenstein’s State of the Union superbly surveys and analyzes how these dilemmas were temporarily resolved in an unsatisfactory way in the middle of the 20th Century. Labor struggles didn’t disappear entirely, but largely disappeared from public debate—and have once again become as relevant as during the Progressive Era, but with only a diminished labor movement weakly raising the issues.

January 26, 2004-Supreme Court Reaffirms Miranda Ruling- The Supreme Court told police Monday not to try to wrest confessions from criminal suspects facing formal charges without telling them they have a right to see a lawyer. Justices ruled unanimously that officers who want information from indicted people must be upfront in telling them of their legal rights, a victory for a Nebraska man who claimed he was tricked into talking to officers who came to his house to arrest him on drug charges.

January 25, 2004-Strike, Lockout Hurting Grocery Workers - The picket lines began thinning after Christmas, when union strike pay for the grocery workers was cut in half, and every day since there have been fewer people holding picket signs with Vicky Cooper outside a Vons supermarket." The team is falling apart," the 25-year-old checker said. "Everybody said 'Forget it, we're not coming back.'" The strike and lockout affecting 70,000 Southern California grocery workers at three supermarket chains is in its third month. Mail Handlers Supports Striking UFCW Members

January 23, 2004-Overtime fight not over, AFL-CIO says-Strong-armed by President George W. Bush, members of the U.S. Senate backed off a filibuster against a massive government spending bill. Bush had threatened to veto the bill if it included an overtime pay protection guarantee for the nation’s workers, and the Senate in December launched a filibuster to protest the lack of an overtime pay guarantee in the bill

January 22, 2004-Spending bill with disputed OT rules goes to president-Bush is expected to sign the massive spending bill. By the end of March, the Labor Department is expected to finalize the overtime rule, which would deny time-and-a-half pay to an estimated 8 million workers. The revised regulation covers overtime eligibility for white-collar workers who are considered professionals, executives or administrators. Workers earning less than $425 a week — $22,100 annually — would be automatically eligible for overtime no matter what their job duties are, while in most cases white-collar employees earning more than $65,000 would not be eligible for overtime. Among workers earning $22,100 to $65,000, the definitions of executives, administrators and professionals would be broadened. Bill Samuel, legislative director of the AFL-CIO, said the administration's pro-business, anti-worker effort to change overtime regulations had made it past a major hurdle. "It dodges a bullet, but it's a temporary thing," said Samuel, indicating organized labor's congressional allies will continue efforts to derail the changes.

January 22, 2004 -What Democrats need to know about jobs-Presidents don't create jobs. Contrary to popular opinion, private sector jobs are an incidental byproduct of private enterprise. From hot-dog stands to General Motors, investors form and conduct businesses to make a profit. Bright, energetic people with capital, managerial skill, and products or services start businesses if the climate is right. Entrepreneurs take personal financial risks and pour gallons of sweat into companies in the often vain hope of turning a profit. Most business start-ups fail. Putting people to work is not the main idea. Businesses employ people to the extent necessary to produce, sell and maintain their products and services. Businesses are not altruistic welfare agencies. There is no social contract to provide employment for anyone

January 21, 2004-Labor Unions Examine Political Operations-Organized labor is taking a hard look at its political influence and voter turnout operations after the two union-backed candidates that were to dominate the Iowa caucuses sank instead.

January 21, 2004- Five Labor Union Presidents Launch Bid to 'Revolutionize' AFL-CIO -Five Labor Union Presidents have formed a group called "New Unity Partnership" in a bid to oust AFL-CIO National President John Sweeney in the next election which is scheduled for the 2005. What John Sweeney did unto Lane Kirkland in 1995, may now be done unto him. On September 18, this year, Sweeney announced he would run for reelection as AFL-CIO president, along with Rich Trumka, secretary-treasurer, and Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice-president. But his term of office doesn't expire until mid 2005, almost two years to go. Ordinarily such a premature declaration would seem strange. Not this time, however, because Sweeney needs to forestall a not-so-subtle drive by five international union leaders to push him out. They had planted stories in Business Week and in the American Prospect about his probable 'retirement' in 2005 (news to him!); they were already mulling over the choice of his successor. The pressure on Sweeney continues. When the New York Times reported that he would run for reelection, it added, "Some labor officials questioned whether Mr. Sweeney might reverse himself and ... not seek another term." (source: Association for Union Democracy)

January 15, 2004-Editorial: The Decline And Fall Of The American Job -The big downside to all this is that we're destroying customers. Every job lost in the United States is a customer lost. Every job lost is a taxpayer lost and a tax burden gained. The pioneers in the outsourcing movement thought they were smart, and perhaps they were. Their competitors did what they had to do to survive. But where will it all end? Will it be good for America when all the industry is somewhere else? (San Francisco Chronicle)

Some Vets Fear Losing OT under Proposed Rules

Friday, January 30, 2004 (Associated Press)

Some veterans are concerned that they may lose overtime eligibility because proposed rules would allow employers to count military training when classifying workers as "learned professionals" who are exempt from overtime pay.,

Labor unions are trying to bolster their case against the overtime changes by highlighting the concerns of some veterans. The labor unions and some veterans contend that the new rules would make some veterans ineligible for overtime in the white-collar jobs they currently hold..

They point to language in the Labor Department's proposal, which says "the exemption is also available to employees in such professions who have substantially the same knowledge as the degreed employees, but who have attained such knowledge through a combination of work experience, training in the armed forces, attending a technical school, attending a community college or other intellectual instruction."

An official from the Labor Department tells the Washington Post that there has been some confusion over the proposed rules, which the department aims to clarify when it issues final rules by the end of March.

"Where people have raised concerns, we're confident we can address it in the final rules," says Victoria A. Lipnic, assistant secretary of labor for employment standards. "Vets can be assured their vet status will not result in them losing overtime."

The question of who would lose their overtime is one of the most divisive aspects of the Bush administration's proposal. Bush contends 644,000 white-collar workers would lose their overtime eligibility. Labor unions and many Democrats say that about 8 million workers would lose overtime eligibility. return

Union Members Summary

UNION MEMBERS IN 2003

In 2003, 12.9 percent of wage and salary workers were union members, down from 13.3 percent in 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of persons belonging to a union fell by 369,000 over the year to 15.8 million in 2003. The union membership rate has steadily declined from a high of 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available. Some highlights from the 2003 data are:

--Men were more likely to be union members than women.

--Blacks were more likely to be union members than were whites, Asians, and Hispanics or Latinos.

--Nearly 4 in 10 government workers were union members in 2003, compared with less than 1 in 10 workers in private-sector industries.

--Nearly two-fifths of workers in education, training, and library occupations and in protective service occupations were union members in 2003. Protective service occupations include fire fighters and
police officers.

Membership by Industry and Occupation

In 2003, workers in the public sector had a union membership rate more than four times that of private-sector employees, 37.2 percent compared with 8.2 percent. The unionization rate for government workers has held steady since 1983. The rate for private industry workers has fallen by about half over the same time period. Within government, local government workers had the highest union membership rate, 42.6 percent. This group includes the heavily unionized occupations of teachers, police officers, and fire fighters. Among major private industries, transportation and utilities had the highest union membership rate, at 26.2 percent. Construction (16.0 percent), information industries (13.6 percent), and manufacturing (13.5 percent) also had higher-than-average rates. Agriculture and related industries had the lowest unionization rate in 2003--1.6 percent.

Among occupational groups, education, training, and library occupations (37.7 percent) and protective service workers (36.1 percent) had the highest unionization rates in 2003. Natural resources, construction, and maintenance workers and production, transportation, and material moving occupations also had higher-than-average union membership rates at 19.2 percent and 18.7 per-cent, respectively. Among the major occupational groups, sales and office occupations had the lowest unionization rate--8.2 percent.

Demographic Characteristics of Union Members

In 2003, union membership rates were higher for men (14.3 percent) than for women (11.4 percent). The gap between men's and women's rates has narrowed considerably since 1983, when the rate for men was 10 percentage points higher than the rate for women.

Blacks were more likely to be union members (16.5 percent) than were whites (12.5 percent), Asians (11.4 percent), or Hispanics (10.7 percent). Union membership rates were highest among workers 45 to 54 years old. Full-time workers were more than twice as likely as part-time workers to be union members.

Union Representation of Nonmembers

About 1.7 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union on their main job in 2003, while not being union members themselves. (See table 1.) About half of these workers were employed in government.

Earnings

In 2003, full-time wage and salary workers who were union members had median usual weekly earnings of $760, compared with a median of $599 for wage and salary workers who were not represented by unions. (See table 2.) The difference reflects a variety of influences in addition to coverage by a collective bargaining agreement, including variations in the distributions of union members and nonunion employees by occupation, industry, firm size, or geographic region. (For a discussion of the problem of differentiating between the influence of unionization status and the influence of other worker characteristics on employee earnings, see "Measuring union-nonunion earnings differences," Monthly Labor Review, June 1990.)

Union Membership by State

In 2003, 33 states reported lower union membership rates, while 15 states and the District of Columbia registered increased rates. Two states reported no change in their union membership rates from 2002 to 2003. Twenty-nine states had union membership rates below that of the U.S., while 21 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates. All states in the Middle Atlantic and Pacific divisions again had union membership rates above the national average of 12.9 percent, while all states in the East South Central and West South Central divisions continued to have rates below it.

Four states had union membership rates over 20 percent in 2003--New York (24.6 percent), Hawaii (23.8 percent), Alaska (22.3 percent), and Michigan (21.9 percent). This is the same rank order as in both 2001 and 2002. All four states have had rates above 20 percent every year since data became regularly available in 1995. North Carolina and South Carolina continued to report the lowest union membership rates, 3.1 and 4.2 percent, respectively. These two states have had the lowest union membership rates each year since the state series became available.

The largest numbers of union members lived in California (2.4 million), New York (1.9 million), and Illinois (1.0 million). About half (7.9 million) of the 15.8 million union members in the U.S. lived in six states (California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania), although these states accounted for just over one-third of wage and salary employment nationally.

The number of union members in a state depends on both its union membership rate and the size of its employed workforce. Texas had only about one-fourth as many union members as New York, despite having 1.2 million more wage and salary employees.

(source Bureau of Labor Statistics)