Labor Union Blog

Economic Report:

Will an economic rebound mean an increase in employer-employee communication? Not likely. According to a new report by consulting firm Watson Wyatt, few companies plan to expand communications with workers when it comes to business performance and pay. Only 28 percent of businesses plan to increase communication regarding business performance over the next 12 months and only 19 percent will increase pay communication.

Subway trains in New York City will continue to run with two operators. According to the New York Times, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been seeking to have the underground trains operated by only one worker to cut back on costs, but dropped the request during recent contract negotiations hoping the union would accept health care concessions. Workers will also see an 11.3 percent pay increase spread out over the next three years. The decisions were made by an arbitration panel which took over negotiations after the MTA and the Transport Workers Union were unable to reach a contract agreement.

Lede: When Congress returns from its August recess, a single payer heath care reform amendment will get debate and an up or down vote in the House. Doug Cunningham has more on that story.

By Doug Cunningham

Dr. Quentin Young of Physicians For A National Health Program says there won’t likely be enough votes to pass single payer, yet it is an historic moment in the struggle to reform health care.

[Young]: “This is historic, just that act. There has never been a vote on the floor of Congress, even though there have been bills introduced over the last half century and longer, so this is very big. And this month recess when the congressmen are in the district, as they say, give a wonderful opportunity for proponents of single payer to visit their congressperson and do their best to convince them that this is a chance to make a huge, historic move.”

It took nine years, but workers at the Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard newspaper finally won the right to use company e-mail to discuss union business.

In a sharply worded ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company did not break federal labor laws in 2000, when management disciplined the president of The Newspaper Guild-CWA (TNG-CWA) Local 37194 for using the company’s e-mail system to send three e-mail messages about Guild business. The messages were sent after work hours.

The Guild filed unfair labor practice charges, but the then Bush-dominated NLRB sided with the company regarding two of the e-mail messages. The appeals court overturned that ruling.

The company claimed that e-mail could only be used for business purposes, but the Guild showed that the company’s e-mail system was used by both employees and managers for a wide assortment of news—from baby shower invitations to requests for United Way volunteers.

The appellate judges had some sharp words for the Register-Guard’s union-busting lawyer Michael Zinser. The decision characterized Zinser’s arguments as “simply more distortion than the words can bear.”

The judges also criticized the NLRB, saying its rationale smacked of “a post hoc invention.”

TNG-CWA President Bernie Lunzer applauded the ruling:

The court’s decision made it clear that the company had discriminated based on union activity. I was at the Court of Appeals when Michael Zinser presented his case, and a jury of kindergarteners could have seen through it. He tried to argue that the union was a special case and could be barred from communicating by company e-mail, even though everyone else was allowed to use it freely.

Click here to read the court’s decision.

After eight years of being pushed out of discussions over bad trade agreements, America’s working people now have a chance to personally let policymakers know what they really think about one of the most controversial trade deals.

In an announcement in the July 29 Federal Register, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) asks for comments on the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. USTR is conducting a review of labor-related issues in the context of the agreement and is seeking “comment from the public to assist the USTR in working with the Colombian government to secure continued progress in ensuring that Colombia’s workers can fully exercise their fundamental labor rights.”

Written comments are due by noon, Sept. 15, 2009. Comments should be submitted electronically online at www.regulations.gov. For alternatives to online submissions, contact Gloria Blue at 202-395-3475.

The AFL-CIO and a broad coalition of groups have opposed congressional consideration of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement until workers can fully exercise internationally recognized labor rights without fear, the country makes deep and sustained progress on ending impunity and labor law reforms bring the country’s laws into compliance with International Labor Organization (ILO) standards. The AFL-CIO Executive Council recognized the courage of Colombian workers by nominating Colombia workers’ rights activist Yessika Hoyos for the 2008 George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award.

The request for comments comes just weeks after U.S. Trade Rep. Ron Kirk announced new trade enforcement measures aimed at saving jobs and creating new jobs in the United States by leveling the global playing field for America’s workers and businesses. 

Speaking last month at a U.S. Steel plant in Braddock, Pa., near Pittsburgh, Kirk said the administration is committed to better enforcement of America’s trade laws, including workers’ rights around the world.

The key measures Kirk outlined include: 

• Steps to spot and address trade barriers, particularly those affecting America’s agricultural producers and manufacturers, such as rules restricting U.S. agricultural exports and technical barriers that impede our producers’ ability to trade worldwide.
• Increased coordination with the departments of State, Labor, Commerce, Agriculture and other federal agencies to spot and respond to trade barriers.
• A commitment to closer observation of foreign labor practices and redress of substandard practices that tilt the playing field away from U.S. workers in violation of labor obligations in our trade.

Said Kirk:

 America’s workers need to know that this administration has their backs in the global trading system.

The word is getting out to union members across the country that voices of working families must be included—and heard—in the growing health care reform debate taking place at town hall meetings across the country this August.

Yesterday, union members in Portsmouth, N.H., and Houston, Texas, were among those making sure participants at town halls could discuss the real facts about the health care proposal.

Stirred up by a lie-filled campaign from extremist groups—some funded by corporate donations and backed by extremist Republican leaders vowing to kill health care reform—loud and aggressive groups hijacked several early August meetings with lawmakers back home for the congressional recess.

Yesterday, in Portsmouth, where President Obama hosted a health care reform town hall meeting—click here for details—more than 300 union members came out to support health care reform.

AFL-CIO field staffer Ben Traslavina reports that a torrential downpour followed by stifling humidity didn’t deter the big union contingent that included members from AFSCME, Communications Workers of America (CWA), Electrical Workers (IBEW), National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), Postal Workers (APWU), Letter Carriers (NALC), Laborers and SEIU.

They rallied outside the high school auditorium where the town hall took place—(admission to the meeting was limited to those who won tickets via an online lottery).

Says New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Mark MacKenzie:

New Hampshire workers desperately need major health care reform and we will not let our voices be silenced by the corporate funded mobs on the other side.

There was also a large and loud group of opponents, some carrying signs characterizing Obama as “Adolf Hitler,” others claiming reform would establish “death panels” for the elderly and disabled and other outrageous lies (click here for the real facts on health care reform legislation and why so-called death panels are egregious scare-monger tactics and lies ). Says Traslavina:

In spite of intense provocation from protesters against health care, our union brothers and sisters kept their cool and stuck to the high road. The rally was peaceful and there were no physical confrontations.

Meanwhile in Houston, Richard Shaw, president of the Harris County AFL-CIO ,files this report on a health care town hall with Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-Texas) that included union members and retires. H/t to Texas AFL-CIO communications director Ed Sills for passing along Shaw’s report.

Sheila was composed and articulate. She indeed knew her stuff. Even in the face of questions pertaining to alleged practices of euthanasia and genocide (the questioners were utterly convinced that these practices were in the bill and would be implemented), Sheila calmly and clearly dealt with these issues.

A few times, some would call out and try to be disruptive but they were not able to disrupt the flow of the meeting. Some were quickly brought back into line when a senior citizen would ask them to be quiet so that everyone could hear the questions and the answers.

In addition to some of the above questions, most were about the plan and many persons expressed their feelings about our insurance companies that do not cover pre-existing conditions and for those not covered by a healthcare plan at all and/or could not afford to even get proper medical treatment.

When confronted with the charges that other industrialized countries (like Canada, England, Japan) had poor ’socialized’ healthcare plans, Sheila would repeat the statistics on how the U.S. longevity rates were much lower and prenatal care issues were more severe than these countries. These folks had no answer for this.

The AFL-CIO union movement is working with allies such as Health Care for America Now! (HCAN!) to ensure big turn-outs for town hall and community forums with House and Senate lawmakers. National unions are asking their local unions to reach out to rank-and file members with letters and worksite fliers, reminding them what’s at stake and encouraging working families to attend town hall meetings and to contact their lawmakers.

The Alliance for Retired Americans also is mobilizing to recruit members to attend town hall meetings with lawmakers and plans a series of events highlighting the need for real health care reform.

The Alliance is also setting the record straight on the phony “death panels” that the group terms “a cruel and appalling distortion of the truth,” and other lies designed to scare seniors. Click here for their fact sheet.

Working America canvassers will be out in neighborhoods across the country talking to families about health care reform.

Click here to find a town hall meeting in your area and see HCAN’s list of all August meetings here.

A couple months ago, Mike Elk at the Campaign for America’s Future wrote a piece about why he had stopped drinking Yuengling beer. Titled “Union Busting Ended My Love Affair with a Beer,” it got some other people thinking about responsible beer-drinking. (Responsible beyond obvious stuff like not drinking and driving, that is.)

The AFL-CIO and Working America have joined together to move that discussion forward at Netroots Nation. And, since it’s Netroots Nation, it’s got to be fun as well as educational. That’s why we’re, literally, raising a glass (or a few hundred of them) for the working class.

During Netroots Nation, stop by our booth any time the exhibit hall is open, and take action for working families—sign on to support health care reform or the freedom to join a union, or join Working America (if you’re not already a member). We’ll also have wallet-sized info cards to carry as a reminder of which beers are union made.

Then, each afternoon, come back to the booth and (if you’re older than 21), sample some union beer. We’ll have locally brewed Iron City, Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat and Classic Amber, and either Miller High Life or Budweiser American Ale. If you’re not an alcohol drinker, you can taste some Sharp’s.

We hope we see you there!

Union members and allies protested Rite Aid’s unfair treatment of its workers.

Across the country, union members and allies are protesting Rite Aid’s unfair treatment of warehouse workers and demanding that Congress pass the Employee Free Choice Act to end management abuses and restore the freedom to bargain.

On Monday, supporters of the freedom to form unions gathered in seven cities, including outside a pharmacy industry conference in Boston, to demand that Rite Aid workers and all workers be able to form a union and bargain free of intimidation, coercion and illegal firing.

In 2006, Rite Aid warehouse workers in California, fed up with poor working conditions, attempted to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The experience these workers had shows the need for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Rite Aid used a tactic that’s all too common when workers want to form a union and bargain: They hired a high-priced union-busting consulting firm, Oliver J. Bell & Associates, that carried out a campaign of intimidation against workers interested in the union. Even after successfully voting for a union last March, these workers still haven’t been able to get a first contract, and they contend that Rite Aid is still trying to undermine their union.

In a new report, “Rite Aid, Oliver J. Bell & Associates, and the Case for the Employee Free Choice Act,” Jobs with Justice (JwJ) examines the three-year history of Rite Aid’s hostile tactics against these workers, who have been denied their basic freedom to bargain for a better life.

The report concludes:

The experiences of workers at the Rite Aid distribution center in Lancaster, and of those at workplaces across the U.S., speak to the urgent need for significant labor law reform in this country. Current labor law is so weak and so weighted in favor of employers that company managers effectively get to make the decision about whether or not workers can form a union. Even when companies break the law, the penalties are so minimal they are considered just a cost of doing business.

JwJ activists and allies from across the union movement are spreading the word outside of Rite Aid stores in Boston; Philadelphia; Cleveland; Indianapolis; Richmond, Va.; Montpelier, Vt.; Portland, Ore.; and Bangor, Maine.

Carlos “Chico” Rubio, a Rite Aid worker, says workers like him need the Employee Free Choice Act to protect their freedom to bargain for a better life.

If we had the Employee Free Choice Act, we would already have a contract. All of the dozens of Unfair Labor Practices would not have gotten just a slap on the wrist. We would have already been in arbitration and had a contract by now, and they wouldn’t be able to continue to stall and intimidate workers. Right now, it’s like the employer gets to decide if we get a union. We don’t want anyone else to go through what we’ve had to go through just because they want to join a union.

You can read the full JwJ report on Rite Aid here.

Last night at a Portsmouth, N.H., town hall meeting on the health care reform proposal now making its way through Congress, President Obama said there is room for disagreement, but that disagreement should center on what is actually in the legislation, not “wild misrepresentations.”

Telling the crowd it was time to ”set the record straight,” Obama went point by point:

• Under the proposed health care reform, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.

• If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.

• The majority of Americans will still get their health care from private insurers under the plan. One key goal of reform: Make sure private insurers are treating you fairly.

• This is not about putting the government in charge of your health insurance. Having a public option as part of that would keep the insurance companies honest.

• Insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage because of a person’s medical history. Period.

• Insurance companies will not be able to drop your coverage if you get sick.

• Another myth that we’ve been hearing about is this notion that somehow we’re going to be cutting your Medicare benefits. We are not.

Obama also pointed out that reform will help bring down the soaring health care costs that are eating working families’ paychecks with fast-rising premiums, growing co-payments and staggering out-of-pocket expenses as insurance companies reduce or drop coverage altogether.

No one holds these companies accountable for these practices…that will change when we pass health care reform.

A provision in the House bill allows Medicare to reimburse people for consultations about end-of-life care, setting up living wills, the availability of hospice care and other difficult decisions families face. But that has been deliberately spun by reform opponents as government “death panels.”

The rumor that’s been circulating a lot lately is this idea that somehow the House of Representatives voted for “death panels” that will basically pull the plug on Grandma. I am not in favor of that.

So I just want to clear the air here. the intention of the members of Congress was to give people more information so that they could handle issues of end-of-life care when they’re ready, on their own terms. It wasn’t forcing anybody to do anything.

The bottom line, said Obama:

If you don’t have health insurance, you will finally have quality, affordable options once we pass reform.

Click here for more health care facts.