People Before Profit blog

Historian: Air Controller strike a turning point for the U.S.

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:58:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike permanently changed U.S. labor relations and opened the door to the bitter, ideological polarization now rife in U.S. politics, a historian of the era says.

Georgetown University professor Joseph McCartin, author of Ronald Reagan, The Air Traffic Controllers And The Strike That Changed America, explained Reagan made strikebreaking and permanent replacement of workers acceptable. It was legal but tacitly forbidden before. After PATCO, firms become emboldened to smash workers and to strongly shove their agenda through Congress.

The first to grasp that were the airlines, who used the strike as an excuse to bust unions while adjusting schedules to increase their revenues. Other businesses quickly followed Reagan's "permanent replacement" example and have done so ever since.

Labor, he added, deprived of the strike as a viable weapon - there were only five major strikes last year, federal records show - had to turn increasingly to politics to defend itself.

Not only that, but the tacit political consensus that produced rising postwar productivity and the idea that it should be shared with workers, thus producing the middle class, was shattered, too. And labor issues became a big part of the subsequent political-ideological conflict that has raged in the U.S., McCartin said.

McCartin was joined by three others in discussing the strike: Ken Moffett, then director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service - who thought he had worked out a settlement of the PATCO-Reagan conflict - and two former PATCO members, Jim Morin of Long Island and Elliot Simons of Baltimore.

McCartin compared the strike's impact to only a few other labor-management conflicts, notably the 1893 Pullman strike and the Auto Workers' successful sitdowns in Flint, Mich., in 1937 for recognition and bargaining. But while the memory of those specific conflicts faded, even if their impact did not, PATCO's memory stays.

One example: Wisconsin Right-Wing GOP Gov. Scott Walker, just before he unveiled his legislation to strip 200,000 state and local workers of their collective bargaining rights, told his staff in February that just as PATCO defined the Reagan administration, the anti-union bill would define his. He made that comparison explicit.

So did Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., in a recent speech on foreign policy.

Ironically, McCartin said, PATCO "was a strike that did not have to happen."

Reagan's administration actually bargained with PATCO over wages, benefits, and working conditions, a major concession then - and now - to federal employee unions. Another key issue was controllers' long hours in a "highly stressful" job.

Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis offered a settlement that would have given the PATCO members raises more than inflation at a time when other workers, federal and private, were losing to inflation, McCartin said.

"A second myth of PATCO was that Reagan set out to force the strike and undermine organized labor. The research didn't show that either. Reagan never challenged the right of the controllers to bargain or even the justice of some of their demands - only their right to strike," he added.

But once the newly elected, more militant PATCO president, Robert Poli, called the strike on Aug. 3, 1981 - without even telling the AFL-CIO Executive Council, then meeting in Chicago - the Reagan administration unilaterally decided to fire the controllers. That scared other workers, too.

"To see highly skilled workers like these banned" from getting their jobs back "and permanently replaced changed things in this country," McCartin said. "Private employers applauded and followed" Regan's example "time after time." And the strike and its aftermath has set the tone for 30 years, he contended.

"The attack on collective action and the ability to strike has been devastating. Workers had no choice but to turn to politics. And the strike was a game-changer in politics, too. After 1981, Regan and his followers willingly donned the mantle of union-busters. And he made union-busting a litmus test for conservatives, such as the Walkers and the Christies," he explained.

The PATCO strike also showed the need for labor solidarity, McCartin added. He interviewed AFL-CIO council members or top unionists and found Poli had not rounded up any support, and that the strike was opposed by the Air Line Pilots, the Machinists and other transportation unions. Since PATCO, McCartin noted, successful strikes have occurred only with widespread labor solidarity, marshaling community support - as the Mine Workers did in the 1989 Pittston strike - or both.

Others agreed. Poli's predecessor, john Layton, whom Poli ousted the year before, spoke up from the audience to say Poli asked him to campaign for the new pact, but never sent him out on the road. Simons said he told Baltimore media of all the union's high points - including safety - but was floored by a question about whether public opinion would decide the issue. Turning against the union, it did, he said.

Union women jump into fight for jobless benefits

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:53:00 +0000

WASHINGTON -The Coalition of Labor Union Women and a wide range of other women's groups - from the YWCA to the National Women's Law Center - are banding together in a joint alliance, called HerVotes, to push their issues to the fore in the 2012 election campaign, and to protect women's rights.

But even before the groups start the election drive, they're campaigning to ensure federal jobless benefits are extended again, lest they run out at the end of this year. Expiration would disproportionately hurt women, alliance members said.

"All the activity that is being generated that HerVotes (and CLUW) has been involved in about unemployment insurance extension," said CLUW Executive Director Carol Rosenblatt. CLUW President Karen See and Rosenblatt attended the Dec. 9 alliance meeting where the groups discussed joint efforts and strategy.

As part of the unemployment insurance drive, CLUW also wrote lawmakers urging they preserve the program at its present length: Up to 99 weeks of total state and federal jobless benefits. CLUW's letter to lawmakers urged them to oppose a GOP plan to cut the overall jobless aid by up to 40 weeks.

"Our top legislative priority is to ensure a robust and clean continuation of federal unemployment insurance programs throughout all of next year," CLUW wrote.

"Families are suffering in this difficult job market. We hear from our members every day that their families will face disaster if the crucial safety net of federal unemployment insurance is cut," CLUW said.

After the jobless benefits fight ends, alliance members will launch their wider HerVotes campaign in January. They want to ensure women's voices are heard on the campaign trail, and their votes - 53 percent of the electorate - are heeded. That applies to both parties, speakers emphasized.

"The idea is to make advances for women a major part of the political dialogue. They're at risk right now, and I'm not just talking about reproductive rights," said veteran activist Eleanor Smeal of the Feminist Majority.

The alliance plans to raise specific issues on the campaign trail, have its local affiliates work together to put pressure on politicians nationwide, get political pledges of commitment on women's issues - and hold the pols to them - and to make it clear that the issues involved will decide women's votes next November.

Their model is what happened in Mississippi, members said, where the groups came together in one wide-ranging statewide coalition to oppose a right wing constitutional amendment stating life begins at fertilization. That would have outlawed not just abortion, but contraception and all other reproductive rights. The coalition started at least 40 percentage points behind in polls, but phone banking, Internet communications and leafleting produced a 12-percentage-point win on Nov. 8.

Nevertheless, the alliance has its work cut out for it, politically. The Obama administration is concentrating on the economy, in general, and the GOP hopefuls, with the exception of reproductive rights, ignore women's issues altogether.

"We're losing a lot of jobs" as state and local governments slash budgets and workforces, See said. "And many workers can't strike" even when state and local pols cut their pay and pensions, raise their health care costs, and kill collective bargaining.

"Cuts in public services are a double whammy for women," added Nancy Campbell of the National Women's Law Center. "Women are a majority among state workers, and are 66 percent of the 600,000" state workers let go in recent months. "And since women are highly dependent on the services states provide, they're more economically vulnerable" to public service cuts.

A fact sheet from the group lists 10 top advances in women's rights and interests, starting with the passage of the 19^th amendment in 1920, which gave women the right to vote, that are now threatened. "Voter ID requirements" in 30 states "target students, people of color and women" and "are attempting to turn the clock back to the 19^th century, when only privileged white males were allowed to vote," the fact sheet adds.

Smeal said the voter ID requirements are particularly threatening to older women, especially minority women, many of whom lack the documentation - such as birth certificates - that the ID laws now require in order to register to vote.

The other threatened women's advances are Social Security, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Medicare, Medicaid, the Title X National Family Planning Program of 1970, the Title IX Education Amendments of 1972, which outlaw discrimination in federally funded education programs or activities, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, the 1994 Violence Against Women Act and President Obama's health care law.

That law "covers maternity care, eliminates pre-existing conditions and prevents health plans from charging women more than men for the same coverage," the fact sheet adds. "It also covers well-woman preventive health services," but both the House GOP and various states would repeal all of its provisions.

"It's not just health care and the economy, but we have to put a woman's face" on all those issues, said Linda Hallman of the American Association of University Women. Her group convened the Dec. 9 meeting.

Campbell also said the uneven, and slow, economic recovery is a threat to women. She pointed out that since the "official" end of the Great Recession in July 2009, the economy has added 1.2 million male workers from the ranks of the unemployed. But the number of jobless women has increased by 46,000.

"And for single mothers, the jobless rate is 12.4 percent and for black women it's 12.9 percent," she said - far above the still-high national 8.6 percent jobless rate.

Other groups at the Dec. 9 meeting were the Black Women's Roundtable, the YWCA, MomsRising.org, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

NY building service workers march for contract

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:43:00 +0000

NEW YORK - A sea of yellow and purple banners flowed along 6th Avenue from 41st Street to 48th Street in a show of solidarity and Local 32BJ strength on Dec. 14, as New York City building service workers demanded a good contract with the landlords who employ them. Their message was simple and direct: "We want a contract, now!"

Workers danced-marched along the route, carrying a variety of signs in Spanish and English, including "32BJ United for a Fair Contract" and "32BJ United Good Jobs, Strong Communities." Beating drums, whistles and every other kind of noisemaker filled the air. Many called out "Union Power," "They Say Cut Back; We Say Fight Back," and "Occupy Wall Street." Most wore purple stocking caps with the 32BJ insignia.

Especially as they waited for the march to begin, workers of many races, nationalities, and languages used the occasion to catch up with old friends and co-workers. Several brought their children to the march and rally; one little girl slept blissfully through the cacophony of the march.

A multitude of working families along the line of march enthusiastically greeted the marchers.

Among the speakers was Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, was being introduced.

Meanwhile, workers from Laborers' Local 79 were doing an informational picketing at the Chelsea Hotel . They are protesting use of non-union demolition and asbestos removal workers by that building's current owner, who has laid off 32BJ members as he intends to convert the hotel into condominiums.

TV, radio artists to vote on new pact with networks

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:51:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES - The governing board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) will vote Jan. 28 on a new 3-year pact that union negotiators reached with four of the nation's television networks, the union announced on Dec. 9. Assuming board approval, AFTRA members will then vote on it.

The contract covers performers, recording artists and other broadcast professionals who work for ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, said union President Roberta Reardon, the bargaining committee chair. The proposed pact is retroactive to Nov. 16.

It covers workers who toil on the networks' daytime programming, talk shows, morning news shows, soap operas, variety, reality, contest and sports shows, and promotions. It's worth a total of $250 million to the workers, Reardon said.

The union said it gained its top objective: A 1 percent increase in employer contributions to the health and retirement funds, thus raising the employer share to 16.5 percent. The contract also includes 2 percent yearly raises, raises in minimum hazard pay, an earlier start for overtime pay for singers - starting at their seventh hour of work, not after their ninth - and large increases in the minimum daily rates for stand-ins.

There is also "improved contract language to increase equal employment opportunities for union performers, including an agreement to prohibit discrimination based on a member's gender identity," the union said.

"Our negotiating committee of rehearsal and background actors, promo announcers, freelance newspersons, stunt performers, singers, dancers and actors" delivered "an agreement that guarantees increases and improvements for all union members who work, or who will work, under this contract," Reardon said.

Labor rallies to extend unemployment lifeline

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:05:00 +0000

The AFL-CIO and allied groups have held actions in 50 cities urging extension of unemployment benefits set to begin expiring in January. Six million could lose their lifelines next year if there is no emergency extension of federal benefits that supplement state benefits that usually run out after 26 weeks.

Over 43 percent of the unemployed have been out of work more than six months - the highest in 60 years of keeping records -- and for every job opening there are over four workers seeking a job.

Thus, maintaining the lifeline of benefits, amounting to an average of $295 a week, is urgent.

Most of the events involved visits to offices of Republican lawmakers and many included prayer vigils, rallies, marches and petitions.

In Ohio, where 57,900 stand to lose benefits, actions were held at the offices of Sen. Rob Portman in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, House Speaker John Boehner in West Chester and Rep. Steve LaTourette in Painesville. All are Republicans.

State AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Petee Talley led a delegation to Portman's office in Columbus and presented information on the crisis to his representative, who was non-committal on supporting a benefit extension.

Dino Desantos, LaTourette's spokesman, told the group in Painesville that LaTourette would support a bill to extend benefits that would be introduced this week. However, the bill, he said, would be tied to issues sought by the GOP. Press reports indicate this would include expediting construction of the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline to bring crude oil from Canada to refineries in Oklahoma and Texas. Pres. Barack Obama has threatened to veto action on the pipeline until a report is issued on the environmental impact of the project.

As in Jackson, Michigan, Charleston, S.C. and other cities, the action in Cleveland included the Occupy Movement. A rally of about 50 people gathered in Public Square where the Occupiers have a tent.

John Sasala, a young unemployed worker, taking part in Occupy Cleveland since mid-October, said the movement "has changed my life.

"We can't give up the fight. If we continue to come together, we will win."

Earlier that week, Occupy Cleveland got a resounding vote of confidence in a City Council Resolution that passed 18-1.

Brenton Sample, a 25-year old unemployed African-American union Iron Worker and lifelong Cleveland resident said he had never seen things so bad in the city.

"I'm a hard worker," he said, "but the opportunities are just not there. If they cut off my unemployment benefits, I won't be able to use the RTA to get to a job. I have two kids. I need help. People are going to starve. This is real."

The group then marched to the Federal Building chanting "We Are the 99 per cent" and "What Do We Want - Jobs, Jobs, Jobs."

The demonstrators signed a letter to Portman asking his support to extend benefits and sent a delegation to the Senator's office. Harriet Applegate, Executive Secretary of the North Shore AFL-CIO, said the labor movement was also asking for passage of the American Jobs Act, which would create 1.9 million jobs, including 50,000 in Ohio, mainly in construction, but also maintain employment for teachers and first responders in local and state governments facing budget shortfalls.

The bill would be paid for by a small surtax on those earning over $1 million.

Speakers also called for support for federal employees facing imminent layoffs. Dan Toth, a business agent for the National Association Letter Carriers, said the U.S. Postal Service was under attack due to defunding measures passed under the Bush Administration.

"If we are forced to go to a five-day delivery system, letter carriers will lose 80 thousand jobs," he said. "We need to stand together as union activists."

Darlene Tinsley, Secretary-Treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3348, representing Social Security workers , said she was among a group of workers who met last month at the White House to discuss the importance of the American Jobs Act. She said in her 32 years of service she had never been more concerned about the cuts in federal jobs and crucial services now looming.

The Social Security Administration, she said, is reducing services to the most vulnerable, closing offices early and imposing a hiring freeze.

"We need to keep these jobs," she said. "We need to continue speaking out until action is taken to solve this problem."

Union gets second chance for vote after company shenanigans

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:05:00 +0000

BRONX, N.Y. - In a classic case, showing how employers manipulate voter lists to defeat union organizing drives, the National Labor Relations Board has given the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union a second chance at winning a representation vote at a Bronx, N.Y., moving company.

That's because the Nov. 18 NLRB ruling shows the first vote, two years ago, was so messed up that it was impossible to tell even who the eligible voters were.

The original election occurred on Aug. 14, 2009, after Flat Rate Movers had already broken labor law by illegally spying on its workers, threatening to fire union supporters - firing 40 workers overall - illegally photographing workers and illegally intimidating workers by posting armed guards at the polling place, among other things.

As if that weren't enough, there were supposed to be 274 eligible voters in the election, and Flat Rate tried to "stuff" the bargaining unit with 63 temporary workers, including at least 15 foreign students who were in the U.S. on J-1 temporary work visas.

The result was chaos.

RWDSU, Local 116 lost 85-67, with 95 challenged ballots, including 26 that the board's own agent challenged. That doesn't include the 40 permanent movers fired after the organizing drive began. Another six ballots were challenged because those workers seemed to be employed by an "alter ego" company to Flat Rate.

The board's administrative law judge, Raymond Green, ruled the union had a valid case and the NLRB, by a 3-0 vote, agreed. It sent the whole mess back down to its regional director with an order to count all challenged ballots, including the 40 from workers who had been fired, except for the "alter ego" six. If Local 116 won, it would be certified to represent all workers. If it didn't, there would be a separate hearing on the validity of the last six votes. If RWDSU still didn't win, the local gets a rerun election.

The board itself did not comment on the case; Green did. He noted that until it learned of the organizing drive, around Independence Day in 2009, Flat Rate strived to keep its permanent and veteran movers on the job. Flat Rate economized on materials, cut managers' pay by 10 percent, and cut rates for its customers, hoping to keep volume up.

But after the organizing drive became known, the firm switched gears.

"This program was canceled shortly after the company became aware of the organizing campaign. At that point, it apparently was no longer so important to retain an experienced group of permanent employees. So the company decided to discharge 40 of its permanent employees while at the same time continuing to keep a greater number of foreign college students who had been hired as temporary employees," Green said.

Utility workers: American Water in more hot water

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:24:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS - American Water, the same highly-profitable nationwide utility that is trying to drastically raise rates on its St. Louis customers, and using workers from a non-union labor law-breaking company to try to replace its Utility Worker members here, is about to get hit with labor law-breaking charges of its own.

The Utility Workers said acting National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Lafe Solomon, the agency's top enforcement officer, believes American broke labor law by unilaterally implementing health care cuts in January. Solomon is expected to file charges against the utility in the next few weeks, the union reported on Dec. 5.

Some 3,400 unionists, from the Utility Workers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Electrical Workers, the Operating Engineers, the Laborers, the Service Employees, the Plumbers and Pipefitters, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Steelworkers, got hit. The unions bargain jointly with American Water on a National Benefits Agreement, and represent the firm's workers not just in Missouri, but elsewhere.

"In November 2010, members throughout the country voted overwhelmingly to reject the company's demands for big cuts for workers while continuing big profits and big bonuses for bosses. In January 2011, despite our protests, American Water went ahead with the cuts. The company's unilateral cuts resulted in every member paying much more for healthcare with higher monthly contributions, higher deductibles, higher co-pays, and lower benefits," the Utility Workers explained.

Health insurance is a mandatory subject of bargaining under labor law.

The Utility Workers filed a complaint with the NLRB in April about the firm's actions. The agency probed the controversy and decided to issue the complaint, including a remedy that - if found guilty - American Water "must reimburse every union-represented employee for the economic losses he or she has suffered due to the company's unlawful implementation of cuts in healthcare and other benefits."

But health care isn't the only instance of American Water being involved with union busting. The Labor Tribune reports that American Water's Missouri subsidiary, trying to break Utility Workers Local 335 in St. Louis, hired non-union labor law-breaker American Directional Boring to install a water main in the northern St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights. Ordinarily, five-person crews of union workers install American Water's lines.

ADB had to settle the court case that involved IBEW Local 2 trying to organize the company. It was forced to pay $262,500 to 13 union supporters-almost a quarter of its workforce-that it illegally fired, the Labor Tribune said. The case dragged on for seven years. Despite the firm's plea to the 8^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ADB was found guilty of all charges leveled by Local 2 and the NLRB, including charges that it illegally threatened to close if the workers unionized.

In its ruling against ADB, which the court upheld, the NLRB said that the non-union firm engaged in "fabrication of evidence against union supporters [and] blatant and unconscionable actions" and that the company's manager "had no regard for the truth."

Utility Workers Local 335, which represents the water company's outside work crews, "is protesting this outrageous effort by American Water because the company unilaterally implemented a massive take-away contract that allows them to subcontract union work at will. The union is taking this issue to the NLRB," the paper said.

"American Water is using their ratepayers' money to subsidize a company that has a notorious record of union-busting, that's obvious by their record," said Local 335 President Tom Schneider. "Hiring this firm to do our work clearly defines the anti-union attitude of American Water," added the local's vice president, Al Ratermann. Even during the NLRB trial, ADB continued to fire union supporters, the NLRB decision notes.

On top of all this, American Water is trying to raise rates in the St. Louis area by 19 percent, the Labor Tribune said. The Utility Workers, community groups, and others filed protests with the state Public Service Commission against the rate hike plan. American Water earned $268 million in 2010 profits, the paper reported.

By Missouri law, the state commission is surveying American Water customers about the proposed rate hike. The paper is urging ratepayers to return the survey with strong opposition to the increases, to call the commission toll-free to "express your displeasure," and to directly complain to the president of the firm's Missouri subsidiary.

"Let all of them know as a ratepayer, you are not happy with Missouri American Water turning their backs on its veteran, experienced union workforce," the paper said.

Labor Board: Locked out workers covered by labor law

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:24:00 +0000

BRONSON, Mich. (PAI) - In an unusual situation, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled, in a case involving a Bronson, Mich., auto parts maker, that locked-out workers are still "employees" of the company and covered by labor law.

And the board, by a 2-1 vote in November, ordered the firm, Douglas Autotech, to bring back the 146 United Auto Workers, Local 722 members Douglas said it fired via the lockout.

The case began in May 2008, through a Local 722 error: It did not file the legally required 60-day notice before the end of its prior contract, but went on strike anyway.

The union realized its mistake three days later, a mistake which also included failing to seek a mediator. The mistakes made the strike illegal, so Local 722 offered unconditionally to return to work. Douglas responded by locking the workers out.

But bargaining continued, with Douglas repeatedly saying it would return the "employees," and it used that word, to their jobs - and let its replacement employees go - once the two sides reached a new pact. They never did. When Douglas switched law firms, its new attorney told the firm to fire the employees, three months after the strike.

The board majority said that when unions make unconditional offers to return to work to end a strike, the workers become the firm's employees again - and employees are covered by labor law, including its protections in such circumstances.

Quoting the agency's administrative law judge, NLRB members Mark Pearce and Craig Becker said, "When confronted with an illegal strike, an employer is vested with the full discretion to frame its response. It may choose to discharge the strikers or it may select an alternative approach.

"If it selects such an alternative, it cannot renege on that choice. By selecting an alternative, the strike has ended and the strikers have regained the protective mantle of the" National Labor Relations Act. "Any subsequent unlawfully motivated discharge will violate the law," Pearce and Becker said.

"The judge stated that, insofar as the above principles are concerned, he could perceive no difference between an employer's selection of a settlement agreement or its invocation of the economic weapon represented by a lockout. In either case, the judge stated, the strike has ended and former strikers are again under the act's protection."

The board's sole Republican, Brian Hayes, disagreed. He said that lockout or no lockout they're fired. "The lockout was not somehow transformed into an affirmative act of 'reemployment,'" he said. Strikers are re-employed "only on their actual return."

Steelworkers back renewed ‘Buy America’ push

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:12:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The Steelworkers are strongly supporting a new "Buy America" jobs push, targeted at infrastructure projects, proposed Dec. 1 by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W. Va., and many colleagues.

Rahall, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said, "The 'Made in America' label ought to be stamped on every I-beam bolted and welded into our national highway system."

Measures renewing federal highway aid programs are caught in traffic in the committee, with Republicans, led by Chairman Dan Mica, R-Fla., demanding deep cuts in federal funding to rebuild highways, bridges and mass transit systems. Money to do so comes from gas taxes, which have not been increased in approximately 20 years.

And the current Buy America provisions in transportation law have "existing loopholes that have allowed some major components of transportation projects to be purchased abroad," Rahall said as he introduced the Invest in American Jobs Act (H3533), which he wants to insert into a long-term transportation bill.

One example of what can go wrong with foreign-made products is reconstruction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which included 43,000 tons of Chinese-made steel for the bridge's rebuilt 2.2-mile east span, a $6.3 billion state (not federal) project.

"This project employed 3,000 workers in China -- jobs that should have gone to American workers," because the reconstruction money came from U.S. taxpayers, a congressional fact sheet says. It did not detail the problems bridge builders face.

"We all share the same goal to grow manufacturing here at home," Steelworkers Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson said at the press conference with Rahall and other lawmakers. "The strong Buy America requirements of this bill make certain that taxpayer dollars are spent on iron, steel and manufactured goods made in America by American workers."

Johnson cited an Alliance for American Manufacturing study showing every $1 billion invested in infrastructure creates or maintains 18,000 jobs. "When you add in strong Buy America requirements, the job number expands by 33 percent," he said.

"We are in a job crisis and we need to use our taxpayer dollars wisely to create as many useful jobs as possible, including good manufacturing jobs that the American public will support as the best engine for economic growth. This bill introduced does just that," Johnson said.

USW President Leo Gerard, adding a statement to support voiced at the press conference, noted Chinese-made materials for the Bay Bridge project have given California nothing but trouble: Faulty rivets, subspec cement, cost overruns, project delays and, now charges of fraud against two bridge inspectors to look the other way.

"California was penny-wise and pound-foolish to not accept federal funding to avoid Buy America," Gerard declared. "This bill introduced today encourages support of

American manufacturing and promotes family supportive American jobs."

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told the Dec. 1 press conference that the federation backs Rahall's Buy America bill. Text of her remarks was unavailable.

Photo: Matt Michalski // CC 2.0

Steelworkers: Recent government moves helping on jobs

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:57:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - According to Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, the recent International Trade Commission ruling extending import curbs on cut-to-length carbon-quality steel plate from Korea, India and Indonesia will save around 4,000 U.S. jobs.

The ITC ruling, announced Dec. 5, extends anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on steel plate from those nations for five years. The orders and accompanying tariffs were first imposed in 1999.

"Revoking the existing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on cut-to-length carbon-quality steel plate from India, Indonesia, and Korea would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time," the commission said. Its vote was 6-0.

The ITC also voted to lift its orders and tariffs, also imposed in 1999, on steel plate from Italy and Japan, saying those imports are no longer undervalued and no longer threaten the U.S. industry. That vote was 4-2.

Gerard said all five countries argued for ending the tariffs, but the federal panel found that steel from three of them is still subsidized. He also pointed out the domestic U.S. steel industry is still trying to recover from a weak steel market.

"Five American steel producers operating plate mills in seven states and employing about 4,000 Steelworkers were threatened if the duty orders were not kept in place," Gerard said.

At an October hearing on renewing the orders and the tariffs, Steelworkers Local 6787 Vice President Pete Trinidad, whose local represents workers at the ArcelorMittal steel plate plants in Gary and Burns Harbor, Ind., told the commission about the impact further subsidized imports would have on members of his Chesterton, Ind.-based local. Trinidad led a delegation of 17 Steelworkers from Indiana and Pennsylvania mills.

"The last decade has been a real roller coaster ride for our members who make cut-to-length plate. They have faced bankruptcies, plant closures, layoffs, forced retire-ments, lost wages, and reductions in pension and health care benefits," Trinidad said.

"Every ton of dumped plate that is allowed to enter our market is a ton of plate that Steelworkers at Burns Harbor won't get to make."

The tariffs let ArcelorMittal's plants increase plate orders and sales starting in May 2010, Trinidad added - so much so that the plant was able to add a second crew this past August. Additional demand for that steel has yet to develop, he said.

Photo: Had tariffs not remained in place, jobs at steel mills like this one would have been in danger, according to the Steelworkers' union. christine592 // CC 2.0

Union rallies in New York call for jobs

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:38:00 +0000

NEW YORK - Jobs, justice and voting rights were the focus of two mass rallies in New York City, Dec. 9-10.

The rallies there, which attracted unions ranging from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers to AFSCME, SEIU and more, emphasized the heavy impact the recession has on minority workers and the anti-minority rights impact of voter suppression laws now pending around the country.

Organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network on Dec. 9 and the NAACP the following day, the rallies drew thousands to sites in Manhattan. The network's rally opened with a protest march that started at the New York offices of the infamous Radical Right Koch Brothers - funders of politicians such as Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis. - before moving downtown. AFSCME was its main union backer.

Sharpton's group said their rally was to call attention to the disproportionate impact that state and local government firings and budget cuts have on members of minority groups. A recent study showed African-Americans are 30% more likely to hold public sector jobs than white workers are. Sharpton's group also sponsored rallies in other cities, including Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee and Baltimore.

The rallies "bring attention to the growing economic disparity in these cities, lack of employment, and equality issues surrounding our current economic state. The rallies...call attention to the disproportionate layoffs of Blacks, Latinos and other groups, and the growing wealth gap. The rallies are in cities most impacted by joblessness and attacks on workers rights," the group said. "With African-American unemployment at an unacceptable 15%, this is a clear sign that we need action -- inaction is not an option."

Saturday's "Stand for Freedom" voting rights rally near the United Nations drew many union sponsors. It blasted on so-called "Voter ID" laws, curbs on Election Day registration and other Right Wing schemes to disenfranchise minorities, young voters, the elderly and the disabled. Speakers said those laws recalled the segregation era.

"We are in the midst of the greatest coordinated legislative attack on voting rights since the dawn of Jim Crow," said NAACP President Ben Jealous. "Voter ID laws are nothing but reincarnated poll taxes and literacy tests, and ex-felon voting bans serve the same purpose today as when they were created in the wake of the 15th Amendment guaranteeing ex-slaves the vote-suppressing voting numbers among people of color."

"The so-called problem of voter fraud is a myth, the percentage is miniscule," said George Gresham, President of 1199SEIU Hospital and Health Care Workers.

He also said it's no coincidence the right is enacting voter suppression laws now.

"These new laws are suddenly being pushed after the historic 2008 presidential election when Americans headed to the polls in droves. Now as we prepare for the 2012 elections, it's difficult to believe that this isn't some kind of ploy to keep poor people, working people, or people of color away from the polls."

The NAACP explained that "in dozens of states, new rules will create a modern-day poll tax by requiring voters to obtain and present official photo ID in order to cast a ballot." It said the laws disproportionately affect African-Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, seniors, students, working women and immigrants, "since many in these communities are less likely to have identification that complies with these strict rules."

"Now, as before," the Right Wing is "seeking to block us from voting in order to make it easier to come after our other rights," added Mike Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers, AFT's New York affiliate. "Everything we care about is at stake, from the right to a quality education to the right to a fair wage."

"These block-the-vote efforts are a response to two factors: The unprecedented levels of political participation in 2008 by voters of color, and significant growth by communities of color, as reflected in the 2010 Census," said John Payton, Legal Defense Fund President and counsel. "This is a call to action for us to empower those communities to confront and to overcome this voting rights assault."

"In many of these same states, new laws significantly cut early voting and Sunday voting opportunities as well," Payton added. An American Civil Liberties Union map shows voter suppression laws in 14 states. In one, Maine, a Nov. 8 referendum repealed the law, which had banned the state's long rule of Election Day registration.

But similar laws are pending in other states, including the swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, both of which are now run by GOP-dominated legislatures and Republican governors. The Ohio law has been stalled until at least 2013, by a statewide campaign for a referendum next November, to overturn it.

Besides RWDSU, SEIU and AFT, other unions or union-affiliated groups sponsoring the Dec. 10 voting rights rally included the AFL-CIO, the Jewish Labor Committee, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, AFGE, Communications Workers District 1 and Local 1081, AFSCME Locals 374 and 1549 and District Council 37 and the Long Island branch of Labor's Council for Latin American Advancement.

This article was distributed by PAI.

Unions hit latest plans for postal cuts

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:25:00 +0000

WASHINGTON -The nation's postal unions strongly protested the Postal Service's latest cutback plans, which would close hundreds of distribution centers and lengthen delivery times. The USPS announced its cuts would be open for public comment, but the last line of its statement says it will go ahead with the cuts, anyway.

The cuts, which the agency calculated would save $2.1 billion annually, would shutter just over half of the agency's 487 distribution and processing centers nationwide and cost thousands of workers their jobs.

The cuts would also slow delivery of all types of mail, with first-class letters taking a minimum of two days to get from where they're mailed to their destination, rather than - in some cases - overnight. Periodicals could take up to nine days.

While the USPS must put its cuts out for public notice and comment, it contends the changes will "have minimal impact" on most customers. And the last line of its fact sheet says 90 days after it sent its proposals to the Postal Rate Commission -- which can issue "an advisory opinion" on them -- management can make the cuts anyway, regardless of what the panel or the public thinks. It announced the cuts on Dec. 5.

Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando said slowing the mail and closing the distribution centers would only make things worse for the financially strapped USPS.

"We are very concerned about the proposal to reduce delivery standards. High-quality service is essential to preserving the value of our networks and to any future growth strategy. Degrading standards not only hurts the public and the businesses we serve, it's also counter-productive for the Postal Service because it will drive more people away from using the mail," he said.

"Changes in service need to be part of a coherent business plan that takes advantage of new opportunities, such as delivering the items people increasingly order online. We urge the Postal Regulatory Commission to review the proposal carefully and act to protect the long-term viability of America's Postal Service," he concluded.

Postal Workers President Clifford Guffey demanded Congress step in to stop the plans. But he admitted lawmakers are instead going in the other direction. "The USPS should be modernizing and striving to remain relevant in the digital age, not reducing service to the American people," he said in a prepared statement. "Degrading service is a direct consequence of Postal Service plans to eliminate half of its mail processing centers. Dismantling the Postal Service's processing and distribution network will devastate mail service, damage the economy, and drive customers away."

This article was written by Mark Gruenberg of Press Associates International.

Transport union defends members in airline bankruptcy

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:58:00 +0000

NEW YORK - The Transport Workers "will do everything possible" to vigorously protect 23,400 members who work for American Airlines and its American Eagle subsidiary as the carrier goes through bankruptcy, TWU President James Little said.

But in a measure of what TWU faces, American's letter to the union declared it "would not proceed to finalize tentative agreements" for two groups of TWU-represented workers, the 10,166 fleet service workers and 140 flight dispatchers. Both airlines "would prepare to seek further changes" in other TWU contracts, their letters to the union said. A plan to spin off Eagle within 18 months was put on hold, its CEO added.

Little warned his members of the pitfalls. "This is likely to be a long and ugly process," he wrote on Nov. 29 to TWU members employed by American and Eagle.

American filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 29, becoming the last big U.S. airline to do so. The others that went through bankruptcy used it to slash unionized workers' pay and health care through forced contract revisions and dumped retirees' pension plans onto the federal agency that insures traditional pensions.

"Our union had tried to work with managers to make the company more cost competitive and more efficient. In the past month we had reached tentative agreements for both flight dispatchers and fleet service workers," Little said.

"Fleet service is American's largest bargaining unit. Other TWU units at both American and Eagle previously inked agreements. Our aircraft mechanics and maintenance workers, represented by TWU, have saved the company several hundred million dollars over the past decade through boosted productivity and by bringing in work from other airlines," he said. TWU also proposed contract concessions, such as 401(k)s, not traditional pensions, for new hires in the fleet service group.

"While we think this bankruptcy could have and should have been avoided, it does not come as a surprise," Little admitted. "TWU engaged special bankruptcy counsel two years ago as a contingency," and sent its attorney into bankruptcy court in Manhattan to defend the workers' interests in the proceedings.

Little also promised TWU would fight to protect American's passengers. One key difference between American and other big U.S. airlines is that American kept aircraft maintenance work in-house and in the U.S., using TWU members. Other carriers outsourced much of their maintenance to "less-secure poorly regulated maintenance facilities in third-world countries," Little noted. "We will do everything in our power to maintain quality and safety for this airline and its passengers, while protecting the interests of our members," he added.

Photo: Passengers wait in line at an American Airlines ticketing counter at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago Nov. 29. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)

U.S. nurses backed general strike in U.K.

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:50:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The National Nurses Union led a coalition of U.S. unions that demonstrated in six cities on Nov. 30 to back British public workers, who staged a one-day strike.

The strike saw an estimated two million British teachers, nurses, public health workers, and members of 30 unions walk off the job to protest drastic cuts in workers' and retirees' pensions planned by the Conservative Party government.

"These actions are part of a global response to governments that are pursuing measures that shift the economic and social burden of the economic crisis further onto the shoulders of working people," said David Cockroft of the London-based International Transport Workers Federation. "Alongside public sector workers, transport workers face demands for wage cuts, austerity, and reductions in social security protection, and suffer from the impacts of free trade agreements and attacks on trade unions worldwide.

"The crisis was the result of deregulated capitalism and was not caused by workers, their unions, social programs, and public sector benefits. That's why the ITF, as part of the global labor movement, backs not only today's action but will also support broader movements such as that of the Occupy protesters," Cockroft added.

In Washington, the NNU led around 200 protesters on an informational picket line outside the British Embassy. It presented a letter to the ambassador protesting the cuts: "We urge the British government to stop its attempt to make public sector workers pay more and work longer to receive a smaller pension when they retire."

Other demonstrations in sympathy with the British public workers occurred at British consulates in Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Orlando, and San Francisco. Other unions joining the D.C. picket line included Teamsters Local 639, the Teachers, the Letter Carriers, SEIU, OPIEU, Pride at Work, and the Metro DC Central Labor Council.

NNU Co-President Karen Higgins, who presented the letter at the embassy gate, made British officials aware of the U.S. solidarity - and of the impact of the pension cuts. "If they don't have a pension, they won't be able to retire. They'll be working when they're 70" she said of British nurses "and there'll be no jobs for younger workers."

SEIU Vice President and Organizing Director Tom Woodruff told PAI there's another reason for the U.S. workers to aid their British brothers and sisters. "Working people are under attack all over the globe, and they're beginning to rise up," he said. "It's the same forces, the giant multi-nationals that are on the attack against all of us."

A win for labor in Minnesota Senate race

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:40:00 +0000

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. - Chalk up another political victory for workers, as strong union supporter Chris Eaton won a special election for a Minnesota state senate seat this fall. She got 61.85 percent of the vote, breaking a jinx for Democratic Farmer Labor Party and labor-endorsed candidates.

Although the suburban Senate district in Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park, Minn., favors DFL and labor-endorsed candidates in high turnout regular elections, they have lost three low turnout special elections there in recent voting history.

Until this year.

In the 2010 general election, 19,095 people voted in the state senate District 46 race. In this year's special election, only 5,455 people voted. Eaton won 3,374 votes compared to Republican Cory Jensen's 1,782 votes.

Despite low voter turnout, Eaton polled a majority in each of the district's 22 precincts, earning at least 53 percent in every precinct. She won 60 percent or more in 13 precincts.

"I never expected to win that big," Eaton said. "I was excited to win every precinct."

The win resulted from lots of hard work by the Eaton campaign and from the independent efforts of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation and its affiliates.

"We had a lot of people who normally don't get excited about special elections; who didn't take it for granted this time," Eaton said. "I've never seen anything like it. It was absolutely amazing."

The Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation organized volunteers to staff phone banks calling union members who live in the district. Affiliated unions sent out letters to their members in the district. And a canvas run by Working America, the AFL-CIO's community affiliate, door-knocked in the district.

"Everyone stepped up," said MRLF president Bill McCarthy, thanking affiliates at the MRLF delegate meeting Nov. 9. "She won by more than 60 percent. It was a big deal."

Eaton said voters were motivated by concerns about the state budget from the last legislative session. "Everybody's feeling overwhelmed by property taxes," she said.

Sugar CEO calls union workers a "cancer"

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:55:00 +0000

SOUTH FARGO, N.D. - As American Crystal Sugar's lockout of its 1,300 Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco, and Grain Miller (BCTGM) workers passed the 4-month mark, workers challenged the lockout at the firm's annual meeting - just after its CEO embittered them by comparing them to cancer.

"Four months ago today, workers arrived at Crystal Sugar factories up and down the Red River Valley to find the doors locked. Crystal Sugar management hired replacement workers and security guards to protect the factories from their own workers," said John Riskey, president of BCTGM Local 167G, as workers massed in front of the Holiday Inn in South Fargo, N.D., where American Crystal's meeting occurred on Dec. 1.

"We're here today to ask why? Was it to reduce productivity? Was it to starve your neighbors? Was it to hit local businesses in a down economy? Was it to divide our communities? Because that's what's happening."

Union members questioned the company's contention that it cannot afford the union contract, pointing out that the last three years have been profitable for Crystal Sugar and directors have rewarded top executives handsomely. The company reported net revenues grew by over 28 percent from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2011 to $1.54 billion. President and CEO Dave Berg's total annual compensation package grew to $2.44 million in 2011.

"We worked hard to produce a quality product until they locked us out four months ago, and it shows in the company's recent results," said Kari Sorenson who worked at the Moorhead factory. "I am angry that the board has rewarded Berg with a $2.4 million compensation package this year. And yet management are committed to taking away from the workers who've helped make this company such a success, no matter the cost to our communities."

Before the lockout, union members cite years of cooperative relations between the union and the company. They also said the lockout threatens both sides.

"For decades we've worked together with growers and management to produce a quality product and to defend our way of life here in the Red River Valley. At a time when several legislative efforts to kill the sugar program are afoot, we should be working together to support our industry," said Riskey.

The situation wasn't helped by Berg's comparison of the workers to cancer, three weeks before, or his discussion of ways to rid the firm of its union workers.

In a meeting of Crystal Sugar shareholders on Nov. 7 in Grafton, N.D., Berg likened the workers to a 21-pound cancerous tumor. According to an audio recording of the meeting, Berg told the story of a sick friend diagnosed with cancer, who had a massive tumor removed.

"That's a scary deal. He was sick for a long time," said Berg. "We can't let a labor contract make us sick forever, and ever, and ever. We have to treat the disease and that's what we're doing here."

Workers responded with disappointment and outrage.

Sarah Gust, a 40-year worker, said, "The fact that Dave Berg would refer to our union, our contract, as a cancerous tumor is deeply offensive to me and many of my co-workers. Some of us had cancer or have lost loved ones to cancer. It's a tragic, devastating disease. And that's how Crystal Sugar management sees our union. I tell you, this just shows how much respect Dave Berg and management have for us workers."

Berg went on to say the company had a long-term strategy to deal with the union. "Joe [Talley, CFO] and I and others...many many many others mapped this out a long time ago," he said. He told shareholders his strategy would be costly: "It is expensive. We're investing a lot of your money so you'll be more profitable in the future."

Berg repeated his cancer analogy, saying "At some point that tumors got to come out. That's what we're doing."

News of Berg's offensive remarks came the week after the company began placing help wanted ads locally and as far away as Bismarck, N.D. After locking out workers four months ago, the company hired replacements through Minnetonka, Minn.-based Strom Engineering. Crystal Sugar says it is moving to the next phase of its "contingency plan" by offering wages significantly below those of locked-out workers.

Support for the locked-out workers is widespread, and one indication of it came at a Nov. 30 fundraiser in the Twin Cities to support them. The event, at the UFCW Local 1189 hall, netted more than $22,000 in donations for the locked-out workers.

Ken Lamberson, a 16-year Crystal Sugar employee, said the contributions would help all the workers, but particularly those in North Dakota who are not receiving unemployment compensation, unlike workers in Iowa and Minnesota. "At one point it was just a union and a neighborhood I belonged to," he said. "Now I've seen everyone else stand up. What you guys are doing is appreciated."

Union vote may end battle with Boeing

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:36:00 +0000

SEATTLE - The long and bitter battle over Boeing's retaliation against the Machinists - by moving production of its 787 Dreamliner from unionized Pacific Northwest plants to anti-union South Carolina - may end with a vote: The union's vote.

That's because Machinists District 751 announced Nov. 30 that its bargainers, working in secrecy after being approached by company managers, reached a new four-year contract extension with Boeing, far in advance of the 2012 expiration of the pact.

Members will vote on it on Dec. 7, and bargainers unanimously recommended an OK.

And that contract extension guarantees so many aircraft factory and parts jobs in the Pacific Northwest on the Boeing 737MAX that the fight over the Dreamliner would be dropped, as there would be more than enough work to go around, news reports say.

District 751 President Tom Wroblewski and other bargainers said the key point the union won, which IAM members at Boeing plants in the Puget Sound area, Wichita, Kansas and Portland, Ore., made their top goal for 2012, was job security.

"The proposed contract extension would secure thousands of jobs while raising Machinists' pay and pensions," he said. "Hopefully it also signals the start of a new relationship that can both meet our members' expectations for good jobs, while giving Boeing the stability and productivity it needs to succeed."

One other key section of the extension establishes joint "top-level" labor-management committees "to address conflicts and opportunities," and iron them out without bitter confrontations, the union's detailed contract summary says.

It was such bitterness - where Boeing forced IAM to strike several times in the last two decades - that led the firm to retaliate by building the Dreamliner in South Carolina. Boeing executives, from its CEO on down, openly said they moved production there, and planned to cut production in Seattle, in retaliation against IAM.

Such retaliation against workers exercising their rights breaks labor law, and brought the National Labor Relations Board into the fray after an IAM complaint. The board's acting general counsel tried to get the two sides to work together. When they couldn't, he filed unfair labor practice - law-breaking - charges against Boeing.

His action in turn set off an uproar among the GOP House majority, which was seeking an excuse to trash workers' rights. Its "Boeing bill," passed in September, strips the agency of any power to move against firms that retaliate against workers.

The contract extension would "secure the future of the 737MAX for Puget Sound, including current parts manufacturing, assembly, and supporting shops," the union said.

It also would "continue Boeing's firm commitment to widebody (aircraft) production in Everett" and tanker and P-8 manufacturing in Puget Sound; preserve the present pension for new hires, with yearly increases; give each worker a $5,000 signing bonus on ratification, plus two percent yearly raises plus cost-of-living increases; add two to four percent annual gross pay bonuses and preserve medical care for present and future retirees.

Secrecy for the talks "was the right decision," Wroblewski and other negotiators said. "What resulted is an unprecedented commitment by Boeing to Puget Sound and Portland for the 737MAX and related manufacturing that's being performed here. This will generate long-lasting security for our members. It also resulted in a Boeing commitment to the success and continuation of the other airplane programs where our members have shown time and again their expertise, productivity, and quality."

Photo: Tom Wroblewski/AP Images

New York City Opera contract talks in crisis

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:44:00 +0000

New York City Opera, one of the city's cultural treasures, stood at a crossroads this week, after contract talks broke down Nov. 30 between management and its two main unions.

The American Federation of Musicians, Local 802, and the American Guild of Musical Artists said opera management had unlawfully declared an impasse in the talks, despite the unions' intensive efforts to reach an agreement, including their readiness to make "extraordinary" concessions.

The two unions represent orchestra and chorus members, as well as directors, stage managers and principal singers who come in for specific performances.

In recent years financial pressures have forced City Opera to cut its season of performances drastically, from a one-time high of 12 to 16 operas a year with 130 performances, to a curtailed schedule of 16 performances.

The unions said the talks have focused on General Manager George Steel's plan to replace the 68-year-old professional company with ad-hoc freelance musicians and performers. They said this would eliminate dozens of jobs and would cut annual pay of the remaining instrumentalists and singers from about $40,000 a year to $4,000 while leaving Steel's pay at $400,000, far outstripping the orchestra's total payroll.

They also sharply criticized what they called Steel's "poor management decisions," including his decision to leave the opera's traditional home at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts- also home to the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera - for performances at various New York City venues.

Local 802 President Tino Gagliardi called management's proposals "a matter of paucity of vision. Steel talks about how the opera is broke, but doesn't understand that playing to large Lincoln Center audiences is the fastest way out of the fiscal crisis caused by his incompetent management."

Gagliardi said Steel has made "abysmal choices" in all areas, from revenue-generation to repertoire, and "his appalling choices are now about to decimate this beloved institution."

Gail Kruvand, chair of Local 802's City Opera negotiating committee, said the unions have "made a good faith effort to say that yes, we are willing to sacrifice - as we have in the past - for the sake of ensuring that the grand tradition of the city opera lives on." But she said the performers "must work as full partners with management" to produce quality repertoire, and called Steel's "intransigence" a "death knell for one of New York's cultural treasures."

AGMA's national executive director, Alan Gordon, declared the opera "will exist under collective bargaining agreements that protect its performers or it doesn't deserve to exist at all."

The unions, which for the first time have been bargaining together, said that while they hoped bargaining would resume, they were filing unfair labor practices charges with the National Labor Relations Board and would meet together to decide next steps. Performances are not scheduled to resume until Jan. 9.

City Opera was founded by then-Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1943, to be the "people's opera." Among singers who performed there early in their careers: Renee Fleming, Beverly Sills and Placido Domingo.

From 1966 to 2010 City Opera was part of Lincoln Center. Besides its fall and spring opera seasons there, it had extensive outreach programs including educational performances for 4,000 students in more than 30 schools.

The company mounted innovative performances, including the only Carmen this writer ever saw where the plot made sense: Carmen was a guerrilla leader in the Spanish Civil War, and her interactions with Don Jose and Escamillo were part of the fight to save the Spanish Republic.

Also, La Traviata in a contemporary setting, with Violetta's illness AIDS rather than tuberculosis.

Photo: In this image provided by the Metropolitan Opera, Jonas Kaufmann, left, and Kate Aldrich perform in Bizet's "Carmen" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Ken Howard)

Minor league baseball umpires agree on new labor deal

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The Association of Minor League Umpires (AMLU)/Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Guild 322, is ready to play ball after its more than 200 members voted to approve a new labor agreement with Minor League Baseball.

The minor league umpires announced the new deal earlier this week, two days before their current contract was set to expire.

The new contract is the first since the AMLU went on a prolonged strike to start the 2006 baseball season. That year, Minor League Baseball used replacement, amateur umpires while 100 percent of the professional umpires remained on strike. The umpires returned to work after agreeing to a six-year contract in June of that year.

"It is exciting to have such a good contract and get it done before the December holidays," said Shaun Francis, AMLU president in a statement. "In this deal we have more money and a better overall contract than what we were able to get the last time after a strike. It's clear to me that this union's solidarity and determination in 2006 was one of the driving forces behind getting a deal done this time around. And our affiliation with OPEIU gave us the strength and resources we needed to get a deal done."

Francis continued, "It isn't necessarily the deal that you get when you're on strike that makes a work-stoppage worthwhile; often it is the deal you get the next time around when both sides don't want to have to go through that again."

Francis says he is thankful for the new contract and to those that helped settle it.

"Now it is time to take a breath and then get ready for negotiating the next deal in 2016," he said.

The new agreement calls for salaries to remain the same until 2016 when Triple-A and Double-A umpires will receive a minimum $100 per month raise, depending on service time. Per diem will go up immediately.

Tim Purpura, executive vice president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues told the Associated Press, "It will allow us to manage the costs associated with our umpire program in an effective manner and will help maintain our industry as an attractive form of affordable family entertainment."

Purpura notes the deal will increase umpire costs by 2.5 percent annually.

Umpires earn a minimum $2,600 per month at Triple-A, $2,300 at Double-A, $2,000 at Class A and $1,900 at rookie leagues.

Per diem, which ranged from $30-$40 this year, will rise to $32.50-$43.57 next season and increase to $42.50-$56 by the final year.

AMLU became an affiliated guild of OPEIU in 2010. OPEIU Director of Organization and Field Services Kevin Kistler served as the lead negotiator for the union.

"We're very pleased that we were able to secure a contract that provides for the improved working conditions and benefits for these hardworking umpires," Kistler said in a statement.

The Association of Minor League Umpires/OPEIU Guild 322 was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in New York City. It's a national labor union that represents professional baseball umpires working in the U.S. and Canada.

The union's mission is to promote the integrity of the hardest working employees of the national pastime; to create a work environment for the professional umpires where they can display their strengths and abilities; to uphold the integrity of the game of baseball; to improve wages, benefits and working conditions for those who devote their lives to the game of baseball.

AMLU is an affiliated Guild of Office and Professional Employees International Union with the AFL-CIO. OPEIU represents more than 125,000 employees and independent contractors in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada in banking and credit unions, insurance, shipping, hospitals, medical clinics, utilities, transportations, hotels, administrative offices and more.

Photo: Home plate umpire Mark Lollo during an Arizona Fall League game between the Mesa Solar Sox and Phoenix Desert Dogs at HoHoKam Park November 3, in Mesa, Ariz. (Mike Janes/Four Seam Images via AP Images)

Right wing push to destroy labor board comes to a head

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:27:00 +0000

A right-wing scheme to incapacitate the National Labor Relations Board was derailed in the nation's capital this week just before the NLRB voted on new rules that way would make it easier for workers to organize unions.

The scheme was exposed by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, who turned the heat up on Brian Hayes, the one Republican on the now three-member labor board, after Hayes threatened to resign. His resignation would have left the three-member board inoperable due to lack of a quorum.

Refusal by GOP lawmakers to confirm President Obama's NLRB appointments has prevented the filling of the two vacancies that now exist on what should be a five member board.

The NLRB is charged, under the law, with protecting the union organizing rights of American workers.

Miller went on the offensive, charging that Hayes was responding to pressure from the extreme right. Over the Internet, at least, Hayes was urged to resign by a number of radical right blogs, led by redstate.com and the National Review.

Miller publically demanded disclosure of who was putting the squeeze on Hayes and why. He demanded to know whether Hayes had received a future offer of employment from any right-wing group, in exchange for resigning his post. The congressman also demanded copies of all documents between Hayes and any other parties, dealing with the topic of his resignation.

Miller charged that with open right wing requests to Hayes that he resign, the possibility of secret requests and quid pro quo offers of employment had to be considered.

"I have read reports of special interest organizations and individuals calling on you to resign precisely to incapacitate the board," Miller wrote in a letter to Hayes. "I am also in receipt of a Nov. 21 letter from Chairman Pearce to you indicating you have indeed threatened to resign. Open calls to resign, followed by the threats you allegedly have made, raise the specter of private requests as well. I am concerned that any decision to resign prematurely will be the result of objectionable motives or improper influence."

Hayes had told the press last week that he was actively considering resignation if that is what it would take to block the NLRB's attempt to reform union election rules.

After the pressure from Miller, Hayes backed down and the NLRB majority approved a resolution yesterday calling upon its staff to turn proposed new union organizing rules into a formal resolution to be voted on by the board sometime between now and the end of the month.

At issue in the threatened resignation by Hayes was the NLRB's intention to eliminate some of the roadblocks to speedy union elections, said the board's chair, Gaston Pearce.

Although the changes don't go nearly as far as unions would like, the labor movement has supported the proposals since they were first announced this summer. If unions had their way workers would be represented by the union as soon as a majority of employees in a bargaining unit sign pledge cards declaring their support for the union. The "card check" route to achieving union representation was the main feature of the Employee Free Choice Act, backed by majorities in both houses of Congress two years ago but filibustered by Senate Republicans.

Big business has mounted fierce opposition to the proposals. Under the law, when the NLRB proposes changes it has to consider all public comments on the proposed changes. Business lobbies, in an attempt to slow the process, deluged the board with more than 65,000 comments.

At yesterday's meeting of the board Pearce put forward a resolution authorizing drafting of language, not an actual resolution of approval of the proposed new rules. At the meeting, however, he argued for those rules.

"The vast majority of NLRB-supervised elections, about 90 percent, are held by agreement of the parties - employees, union and employer - in an average of 38 days from the filing of a petition," he said. "The amendments I propose would not affect those agreements.

"Instead, they apply to the minority of elections held up by needless litigation and disputes which need not be resolved prior to an election. In these contested elections, employees have to wait an average of 101 days to cast a ballot.

"As several employees testified at our hearing in July, that period can be disruptive and painful for all involved." Pearce noted that some companies delay and defy union organizing by mounting pre-election appeals to the board and turning the resultant hearings into the scene of legal battles.

He said the board's proposed new rules "would simply address these procedures by limiting subjects that can be raised in pre election hearings to those that are directly relevant to the election, and postponing election-related appeals until after the election."

Not discussed at yesterday's meeting was the variety of ways in which employers use the longer, 101 day periods between filing and the election to harass and fire union supporters and to mount intensive propaganda campaigns against unions.

Photo: Union members and allies at a 2006 rally outside the Region 13 office of the NLRB in Chicago. Carlos Fernandez, Workers Independent News. (CC BY-NC 2.0)