Labor Union Blog

By Doug Cunningham

At its July convention the 1.4 million member American Federation of Teachers is expected to make history by being the first major U.S. union to simultaneously elect women to the top three leadership posts. Randi Weingarten, Antonia Cortese and Lorretta Johnson are expected to take over as President, Secretary-Treasurer and Executive Vice-President.

By Doug Cunningham

Workers at an Aramark facility in Madison, Wisconsin have voted to strike. A national campaign is underway by workers at the giant food services corporation to draw attention to Aramark’s business and labor practices. Among the concerns are food safety, nutrition and the need for good jobs with health care at Aramark facilities.Jesus Rodriguez is Business Rep for UNITE-HERE Local 229 in Madison.

[Rodriguez]: “There’s a lot of health and safety issues. There’s a lot of pressure, a lot of disrespect that happens on the floor to the members. You know, the company does not respect, so – or try to negotiate in good faith.

By Doug Cunningham

Silicon Valley janitors in California are back on the job now after a nine-day strike won them a 22 percent pay raise and improved health care benefits over four years. Represented by SEIU, some 6,000 janitors clean the office buildings of some the biggest names in computers and related industries. The janitors walked off the job May 20th.

By Doug Cunningham

In another step down the death spiral staircase for American manufacturing, American Axle is slashing its U.S. workforce by more than half. Now that the UAW has ratified a concessionary agreement ending the strike that started February 26th, American Axle says 2,000 U.S. jobs manufacturing jobs are being lost. Some of that production is moving to Mexico. Most of the job cuts are coming from buyouts and early retirement incentives negotiated by the UAW, but there will be some involuntary layoffs, too. The strike had enough power to cripple GM production and it cost American Axle and GM combined about one and a half billion dollars.

By Doug Cunningham

Twenty thousand workers at ten University of California campuses and hospitals could strike as soon as June 4th. Many of the workers are in poverty and qualify for public assistance. The workers want better wages and benefits and they’ve been negotiating with UC for ten months. Lakesha Harrison is President of AFSCME Local 3299

[Harrison]: “This whole fight is not about resources, it’s about priorities. UC has the money to do what’s right by the workers and they refuse to do it. If UC really values the workers and the workforce and the patient care folks they need to pay a wage that’ll help sustain that workforce and pay the wage that needs to be paid – which is at least 25 percent more than what they pay now.”

It seems that each day that goes by reveals a new surprise in Sen. John McCain’s campaign for president.

Last week, we learned one of McCain’s fundraisers lobbied for the Colombian government, pushing an anti-worker trade deal that McCain supports (despite the fact that dozens of union members are killed every month). This week, it comes out that McCain is taking his economic advice from a former lobbyist for a bank with interests in the housing market. And already there’s another revelation about someone on McCain’s campaign staff: One of his top money men is responsible for outsourcing thousands of jobs.

A year ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court told Lilly Ledbetter “tough luck,” in a 5–4 decision that made it much easier for corporations to get away with pay discrimination.

Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, says since the ruling,

lower courts have relied on that unjust ruling to deny relief to other victims of discrimination [and] President Bush’s effort to make our highest court friendlier to employers that discriminate has prevailed.

Steelworker Joseph Fallert Jr. attended the meeting. He is a candidate for re-election as a state representative.

Randy Kiser, state director of the Missouri AFL-CIO, reports on the state federation’s endorsements for the 2008 election.

The Missouri AFL-CIO Executive Board met in Jefferson City yesterday to vote on candidate endorsements for the November ’08 election.

Board members unanimously voted to endorse Jay Nixon (the current Missouri state attorney general) for governor of Missouri.

Following the vote, Nixon gave a brief speech thanking the board for its endorsement, as well as the support he has received from the AFL-CIO throughout his public career. He expressed appreciation for the union movement’s assistance in defeating the Voter ID requirement and regressive Worker Compensation legislation. (The Voter ID law was stopped in the state Senate when the legislative session ended. This month, state legislators also defeated a proposal to gut a workers’ compensation fund.) Nixon asked those present to reach out to their members as they have in the past and do the hard work to aid in his election. He stated that he feels good about where his campaign is now and the Democrat’s chances of winning not just his race, but others in November. He looks forward to Missouri becoming a state that respects union membership and our freedom to form unions and bargain collectively.

Pilots, translators, meter readers, mechanics and drivers are among the latest workers to win a union voice at work.

Pilots at CommutAir overwhelmingly voted to join the Air Line Pilots (ALPA). Some 135 pilots fly for the airline that operates as a Continental Connection carrier and serves 23 cities in the Upper Midwest and Northeast from its Cleveland base.