People Before Profit blog

UAW workers go on strike at American Axle

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:17:00 +0000

DETROIT—The United Auto Workers struck American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc at 12:01 a.m. Feb. 26 when no deal was reached on a new labor pact. The largest proportion of American Axle parts are for GM’s pickups and SUVs. Affected are 3,600 workers in plants in Michigan and New York.

At American Axle’s Detroit Manufacturing Complex, sitting on the border of Detroit and Hamtramck, it was not the best weather to be forced to walk out in – smack into the middle of a February snowstorm. But workers do what they have to do, weather be damned. That was evident by the crowded local hall full of people signing up for their picket line duties. UAW Local 235 Vice President Bill Alford said everybody is doing their part and many are signing up for multiple shifts.

Alford said the union is charging the company with “unfair labor practices” because they have not provided the union with any information to back up the cuts they are asking workers to take. The union says the company is demanding wage reductions of up to $14 an hour as well as elimination of future retiree health care and defined benefit pensions for active workers.

“We are hard working, working people,” said Alford. Nobody here is a millionaire except the guy in the big chair. We will be out as long as it takes and we’ll fight every step of the way.”

While Alford said the townsfolk have been great, bringing things like hot coffee to the picket line, the specialty of Hamtramck is homemade Polish sausage. “We’re still holding out for that” Alford said.

The same hospitality cannot be said of the local police. They’ve forced the workers to put out the “barrel fires” they were using to stay warm. “I now have to go find propane heaters” he said.

jrummel @pww.org

Janitors kick off contract campaign

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:50:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. — Janitors represented by Service Employees International Union held coordinated actions around California late last week as they kicked off their campaign to win new union master contracts covering workers in southern and northern California. The current contracts expire April 30.

Among key demands, as workers marched and rallied here, in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and other cities, are higher wages, access to affordable health care and respect.

SEIU, which represents 20,000 California janitors who clean commercial office buildings, high tech and biotech offices around the state, says wages are so low that many workers are forced to live in single rooms, mobile homes and even garages. The union says Los Angeles and Oakland janitors working full time currently earn an average of $23,000 per year, less than half the nearly $51,000 the Economic Policy Institute says a California family needs to meet basic requirements without government help. Sacramento janitors average only about $17,680 per year.

“We need for the companies not just to give us what they want to give us, but what we deserve as workers in this city and state — better health insurance, a living wage, better benefits including a vacation,” janitor Nicolasa Mendez told her fellow workers gathered near City Center in downtown Oakland. “But the most important thing here is that we need to be able to take our kids to the doctor when they get sick. We can’t wait to take them until we have enough money to pay the doctor.”

Under their current contract, janitors in Oakland, Sacramento and San Jose must wait 30 months to be eligible for family health coverage.

Alfredo Lahud, a janitor in Oakland City Center area office buildings for the past 10 years, emphasized the need for better wages. “In the last five years, the companies have given us almost nothing,” he told the World. “But everything has gone up.”

Lahud added that besides cutting the waiting time for family health coverage, workers are also calling for lower co-pays and improved benefits.

Work loads are another issue, he said. “When workers call in sick or are on vacation, some companies and supervisors never put additional workers on the job, they just spread the work around among those who are still on the job.”

Among key janitorial service contractors are ABM/One Source, Able Janitorial Services and Somers Building Maintenance, Inc. Major clients include high tech firms such as Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and Genentech as well as real estate giant Shorenstein and the State of California.

The California janitors can take heart from some year-end developments on the opposite coast. Just before the New Year, SEIU Local 32BJ, which represents some 85,000 property workers in six states, announced that workers in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and nearby areas had won significant wage increases as well as better health benefits including family prescription drug coverage. At the same time, New York City office cleaners won 16 percent pay increases over four years as well as improved pension benefits.

mbechtel@pww.org

Battling the right to work scam

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:59:00 +0000

This past Labor Day, trade unionists were outraged to wake up and read an editorial in The Detroit News arguing for a “right-to-work” law in Michigan.

Right-to-work bills failed to garner majority support in the Michigan Legislature last year, but the editorial in the state’s leading business newspaper signaled that the anti-labor crowd is not giving up. Now it is putting its energies into collecting what will have to be almost 500,000 signatures to place a right-to-work initiative on the ballot this November. In response, the state AFL-CIO has started a campaign to educate union members and the public to speak out against what, in every sense of the word, is an attack on the state’s working families.

“Right-to-work” is the second far-right ballot initiative that Michigan has had to deal with in the last two years, and there are parallels between them. In 2006, passage of the cleverly named anti-affirmative-action Michigan Civil Rights Initiative was a setback for democracy and equality.

Many years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King aptly pointed out that those “spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth” are, almost always, “a twin-headed creature.”

A look at the National Right to Work Committee shows this to be true. This committee is part of an anti-labor, anti-civil-rights, anti-democratic network involving organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Sarah Scaife Foundation, and Michigan’s own conservative think tank, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

With Michigan hit hard by plant closings, layoffs and budget shortfalls, how much worse can things get for the working class? Plenty worse, if this measure gets through.

“Right-to-work” is like “No money down but pay through the nose later,” or that slick used car salesman trying to unload a lemon car on you. It has nothing to do with making sure everyone has a job. It is nothing but a big business spin to weaken unions, to make it harder for workers to unify to fight for decent wages, benefits and working conditions and, yes, the right to a decent job.

What the corporations hate more than anything is having to deal with the working class pulling together through their unions. Remember, without unions, all power is with the boss. When you try to “bargain” as an individual, your wages and benefits are on a one-way train to nowhere.

A “right to work” law essentially means this: while the union fights for benefits you receive, you, the worker, are encouraged by the state not to pay dues for the union’s work in winning the benefits you enjoy, and employers are encouraged by the state to pressure you and your fellow workers into undermining the union. The workforce becomes split and the union’s finances and ability to function are impaired.

One Detroit activist defined it this way: the “right to work for corporate greed.” That’s one reason it’s backed by the National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce.

Why do workers join unions? It’s not because they are coerced. They join because of the plain facts: union workers across the board earn about 30 percent more than nonunion workers and are more likely to have health care and retirement benefits.

Union contracts also help nonunion workers, who see higher wages and better benefits when they are part of a union-dense labor force.

In 2006, eight of the 10 states with the best rankings for health of their residents were free bargaining states, while nine of the 10 worst were “right-to-work.”

Median household income in the 22 states that have “right-to-work” laws is $5,900 less than in those that don’t. Michigan workers’ yearly incomes average $7,601 more than that of workers in “right-to-work” states. It is figures like these which explain why corporate interests in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, Colorado and more have right-to-work legislation pending.

Labor is a target of the right wing because it fights for the whole class, union and nonunion alike. In Washington and in state capitals, unions lobby for workplace safety, consumer protection, progressive taxation, more aid to our schools and much more. Labor is also in the right-wing crosshairs because it sees how working people have suffered at the hands of the Republicans and will work to “sweep” them out of office this November.

Finally, labor’s vision is becoming more international. The AFL-CIO’s initiative, last December, to bring together unions from over 60 countries must have brought sleepless nights to many CEOs. Fighting for workers here at home is bad enough, but joining hands with them around the world? That’s downright subversive. Why not try to break that union power with phony “right to work” laws?

But for working class America, building unions and unity at home and building unity among workers around the world is something to get excited about. Corporate “right to work” scams are nothing but a downer.

John Rummel (jrummel @cpusa.org) is Michigan organizer for the Communist Party USA.

California nurses say good riddance to Governators health plan

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:56:00 +0000

SACRAMENTO (PAI)--By a 7-1 vote on Jan. 28, the California state senate Health Committee killed a corporate-based statewide universal health care plan pushed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), a vote the California Nurses Association cheered.

Committee Republicans rejected the plan as yet another government mandate: Schwarzenegger would have forced everyone to buy health insurance and penalized them, by garnishing wages, or through mortgage liens if they didn’t. Committee Democrats called his scheme too costly and said it had too many holes.

Nurses Association Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro, whose union lobbied against the plan, was glad for several reasons. CNA has pushed strongly for single-payer government-run universal health care in the nation’s largest state. Committee Chair Sen. Sheila Kuhl (D) got that through the Democratic-run legislature twice, but Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed it. Kuhl and other committee members vowed to try again.

Health care action in California is important, since it has one-eighth of the nation’s population and actions there often start trends for the rest of the U.S. It also has 2.1 million union members. Single-payer, abolishing the insurers, their high premiums and co-pays and denial of care, would be a major change there.

DeMoro called the governor’s plan, which would also have ordered employers to pay into a statewide fund to cover the uninsured--if they refused to provide coverage themselves—“badly flawed.” Schwarzenegger and State Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D) had pushed it through the Assembly, and Service Employees President Andy Stern backed it.

Kuhl’s Senate Health Committee, after a “thorough, deliberative process,” took “a principled courageous stand despite enormous pressure by those pushing for hurried passage for a bad bill,' DeMoro said. The panel bounced it, she added, not because Californians like the present insurer-dominated “broken health care system,” but because it was fundamentally flawed on its merits on access, quality, and cost.”

One key flaw, she said, was forcing individuals to buy insurance, but with no cost controls on the insurers and no minimum benefits or quality--and no penalties for companies that don’t provide workers health coverage.

The measure would let firms either drop their coverage, and pay into the fund, or let them offer minimum coverage without vision, dental or mental health care.

Dover AT&T call center workers join CWA

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:18:00 +0000

Dover, NH - 600 AT&T Government Solutions workers in Dover, New Hampshire have formed a union with Communications Workers of America Local 1298 last month. It is the largest private sector organizing victory for workers in New Hampshire since 1966.

By joining CWA Local 1298, the Dover call center workers have united with nearly 6,000 other AT&T employees throughout New England. CWA Local 1298 is based in Hamden, CT.

The call center workers assist the public in applying for passports under a contract with the U.S. State Department’s National Passport Information Center. These highly skilled workers, who must also qualify for stringent security clearances, decided to form a union because of concerns about wages, high medical coverage costs, job security and fairness on the job.

“AT&T is a good company to work for, but we needed a voice on the job to help make it better,” said Michael Coon, one of the Dover workers who served on the organizing team. “With CWA, we’ll have the ability - and the legal right - to have our voice heard. That’s why we organized.”

Another Dover worker involved in the organizing campaign, Deanna Reagan said, “I am so happy about this, we worked hard and we worked together. It’s democracy and solidarity in action!”

Under a national agreement between CWA and AT&T, management remained neutral while workers decided whether to choose union representation. The agreement with management also included a voluntary recognition procedure so that the union would be officially recognized once a majority of employees had signed union authorization cards.

Unfortunately, Dover became one of the first workplaces to be impacted by the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) “Dana decision” mandating a 45-day period following management’s voluntary recognition of the union for a minority of workers to request a secret ballot election by the NLRB. The so-called “Dana” period is now concluded at Dover without a petition having been filed, allowing workers to finally celebrate their organizing win.

“I am so proud of the Dover workers,” said Bill Henderson, President of CWA Local 1298. “They are a smart, hard-working and enthusiastic group, and we’re excited to have them join the Local 1298 majority of AT&T employees who are united in Local 1298 and other CWA locals around the country.

“I also have to give credit to AT&T, who remained true to their commitment to remain neutral,” continued Henderson. “This win shows conclusively why a voluntary recognition procedure is a much better way for workers to make a decision about organizing without employer pressure and the delays of the current National Labor Relations Board process. This is real democracy, and all workers should be given this type of opportunity.”

Good for GM (and Ford), bad for the rest of us

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:39:00 +0000

While the future is looking up for General Motors and its high-priced execs, it’s anything but good for workers as the company is moving quickly to slash its labor expenses. General Motors has just told Wall Street analysts it will take advantage of its new cost-cutting labor agreement with the United Auto Workers to reduce its annual U.S. labor costs by $5 billion by 2011. Wall Street is also pushing GM to close an additional three to four plants. This is happening even though cutting wages and closing more plants can only exacerbate the nation’s overall economic downturn.

In the announcement, GM said it will offer buyouts to 46,000 of its 73,000 employees next month. Unlike previous buyouts that drastically reduced the company’s workforce, this one aims to drastically reduce the workers’ pay.

Workers accepting a buyout will be replaced by workers with a pay and benefits package totaling $26 an hour, compared to the current package of $62. The new GM-UAW agreement, signed last September, allows GM to pay new hires in non-core jobs approximately 50 percent less than other workers, and all new hires, core and non-core alike, will be covered by a new health and benefits package that is significantly less than the one covering current employees.

All this is happening while GM set 2007 sales records in Europe, Asia and other non-North American markets. And the future is looking even better as far as GM is concerned: within 10 years, CEO Rick Wagoner said the company will probably get 75 percent of car and truck sales from outside the U.S. as it expands operations and sales worldwide.

The company’s increased profits, combined with its wage cuts, will only widen the pay gap between workers and the top brass. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has noted that Japanese executives make 43 times less than their U.S. counterparts.

Ford Motor Co. announced it too would reduce labor costs by offering buyouts and early retirement packages to its 54,000 hourly employees. Under Ford’s new contract with the UAW, the company can replace workers taking the buyouts with workers who would be paid $14.20 per hour — half the wages of current workers.

Unlike the contract with GM, all new Ford hires get $14.20 an hour and can be assigned to any nonskilled job at the plant. The contract allows up to 20 percent of Ford’s U.S. hourly workforce to be paid at this low rate, but that figure can grow. Jobs that are currently outsourced can become in-house, paid the lower rate and not count against the 20 percent cap.

While GM is hoping 20,000 workers will accept the buyout and be replaced with the lower-wage workers, the result will be 20,000 workers who will have even less to spend on mortgage payments, their kids’ college tuition and everything else working families are struggling with. The same goes for Ford, which hopes to actually reduce its overall workforce in addition to lowering the pay of new workers. The end result? The communities and states autoworkers live in will receive less tax revenue and retail stores will see fewer people walking through the door.

And the future for GM and Ford? The additional annual billions GM and Ford take from the workers will enrich the few at the expense of the many. What’s good for GM and Ford is definitely not good for their workers.

jrummel@pww.org