Labor Union Blog

Elizabeth Boomer of the AFL-CIO International Affairs Department sends us this report.

Food service giant Sodexo, with 391,000 employees worldwide—including some 18,000 in the United States—and International Union of Food Workers (IUF), have signed an agreement confirming Sodexo’s commitment to respect fundamental rights at work, namely freedom of association and collective bargaining. The IUF includes 336 unions with 12 million members in 120 countries.

Known as an “international framework agreement (IFA),” it provides for a continual and progressive dialogue between Sodexo management, Sodexo employee representatives and the IUF. It is the first of its kind in the industry and IUF General Secretary Ron Oswald says:

This agreement provides a concrete tool to help ensure that Sodexo workers across the world have access to their fundamental rights.

IFAs can be a positive tool for workers and unions, unlike voluntary codes of conduct that corporations adopt unilaterally—often as window dressing to give an impression of a commitment to corporate social responsibility.

The agreement is not just about recognizing that Sodexo workers have rights, but also addresses, at least in part, how workers can access those rights. The agreement provides a process through which everyone can hammer out issues by engaging in ongoing discussions, and calls for mediation if the parties cannot bridge their differences.

Debbie Anderson, director of the International Department at UNITE HERE, which represents workers at many U.S. Sodexho operations, called the IFA “a very positive step.”

UNITE HERE has always had a good relationship with Sodexo. Now workers in countries where adequate protections or rights don’t exist will also have a way forward. We look forward to working with Sodexo and the IUF to help implement this agreement, which is one of the best IFA’s I have seen.

This from Brenda Loya in AFL-CIO Media Affairs.

The AFL-CIO and the National Immigration Forum (NIF) sent a joint letter yesterday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stressing the urgent need to change the Secure Communities program.

The Secure Communities program, implemented a few years ago by Homeland Security, was created to empower local law enforcement agencies to report undocumented immigrants with criminal records to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. But rather than making America’s communities safer, a recent investigation by the Justice Department confirmed the program has in many instances led to racial profiling.

The letter expresses serious concern with the Department of Justice findings of racial profiling of Latinos and other civil rights violations by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, headed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio. It also notes that the Justice Department findings demonstrate abuse can happen when Homeland Security is actively collaborating with enforcement agencies through the Secure Communities program as well as informally with local law enforcement agencies. 

The Justice Department’s findings are only the most recent evidence of the need for immediate and significant reforms to the Secure Communities program, according to the letter.

To prohibit DHS from becoming a vehicle for unlawful and discriminatory policing and to reinforce community policing principles, the AFL-CIO and NIF recommend the following measures:

1. Immediately terminate the operation of Secure Communities in states, such as Alabama, where immigration enforcement laws that have been challenged as unconstitutional by the Department of Justice are in effect.
2. Immediately terminate the operation of Secure Communities and prevent the activation of Secure Communities in jurisdictions where the Department of Justice has found discriminatory policing.
3. Suspend the Secure Communities program nationally until the reforms and safeguards recommended in the Task Force’s report are fully implemented.
4. Honor localities’ decisions about whether and how to participate in collaborative immigration enforcement programs with DHS.

The AFL-CIO and NIF are former members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, Task Force on Secure Communities. Recently, the task force submitted a set of recommendations on Secure Communities. But the AFLCIO and NIF were unable to ultimately endorse those recommendations because they did not remedy fundamental flaws in the program’s design and implementation.

Indiana workers are gathering again at the statehouse today to make sure their voices are heard as the Republican-controlled legislature attempts to ram through a so-called right to work (RTW) bill that Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) says is at the top of the state’s agenda.

Yesterday, more than 7,000 working people traveled to Indianapolis and rallied outside and then jammed the statehouse after the Gov. Mitch Daniels’ (R) administration rescinded its order restricting citizens’ access to the proceedings.

While Republican state house and senate leaders are trying to quick-march the RTW bill through the legislature, Democrats are calling for a series of statewide hearings where citizens’ voices can be heard. The Indiana AFL-CIO is urging Hoosiers to call House Speaker Brian Bosma (317-323-9567) and Senate President David Long (317-232-9416) and urge them to hold the public hearings.

Indiana AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott has called on Daniels to reveal the secret donors behind the statewide television commercials he appears in calling for passage of the RTW legislation. The group sponsoring the ads, Indiana Opportunity Fund, refuses to divulge who is funding the group. Says Guyott

“If the governor is going to personally appear in commercials to attack working family’s collective bargaining rights they at least have the right to know who is signing the checks.”

Meanwhile, the Center for Media and the Democracy’s (CMD) PR Watch today outlines the connections and relationships between the extremist American Legislative Council (ALEC) and Indiana lawmakers and how their RTW bill mirrors the “model” legislation from ALEC.

The bill, writes CMD Executive Director Lisa Graves, “tracks key provisions of ‘model’ legislation secretly voted on by corporations and politicians” on an ALEC task force.

ALEC legislators often introduce legislation, voted on behind closed doors by ALEC corporations and politicians, cleansed of any reference to the fact that the bills were pre-approved and pre-voted on by corporations.

Along with the more than 2,000 extreme lawmakers from every state, including dozens from Indiana, ALEC boasts more than 300 major corporations as members–such as Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, Kraft Foods, Bayer and Koch Industries. David and Charles Koch, the right-wing extremist billionaire brothers, are major funders of ALEC, according to a July article in The Nation.

You can follow the action from Indian on Twitter with the hashtag #InUnion and at the Stand Up for Hoosiers Facebook page here.

Memo to Indiana lawmakers pushing “right to work” for less law in that state.

A federal judge has invalidated both the anti-union laws pushed through by Idaho GOP lawmakers last session, saying they violate federal law, according to the Spokesman-Review.

The measures…both expansions of Idaho’s Right-to-Work law, sought to ban “job targeting programs” that use union dues funds to subsidize members’ wages as a way to help contractors win bids, and to ban “project labor agreements” through which contractors sign agreements with unionized workers while bidding on public works projects.

The following is by John August, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. Read the full version of his column at L&M Partnership.

It’s no secret that our economy is changing profoundly for millions of workers. But a Dec. 30, 2011, New York Times article, “Factory Jobs Gain, but Wages Retreat,” deserves special attention. Reporter Louis Uchitelle writes, in part:

Manufacturers are hiring again in America, softening a long slide in factory employment. But for a new generation of blue-collar workers, even those protected by unions, the price of employment is likely to be lower wages stretching to retirement. 

That is particularly true of global manufacturers like General Electric. With labor costs moving down at its appliance factories here, the company is bringing home the production of water heaters as well as some refrigerators, and expanding its work force to do so.

The wages for the new hires, however, are $10 to $15 an hour less than the pay scale for hourly employees already on staff—with the additional concession that the newcomers will not catch up for the foreseeable future. Such union-endorsed contracts are also showing up in the auto industry, at steel and tire companies, and at manufacturers of farm implements and other heavy equipment, according to Gordon Pavy, president of the Labor and Employment Relations Association and, until recently, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s director of collective bargaining.

Uchitelle raises very timely questions by implication.

• Median income in the U.S. stands at $49,900, so these “top” wages place these manufacturing workers substantially below the median.
• While he doesn’t discuss the purchasing power of General Electric’s near-top wages of about $19 an hour, I suspect that the workers pay for health insurance, or at least a portion of it, and contribute to their retirement (most likely through a 401K account). That would mean workers are contributing to benefit payments that would substantially reduce the already low wage.
• The article referenced “lean” manufacturing techniques and increased productivity through such processes. I wonder whether the unions are thinking about the longer view; about how to create greater value and close the wide gap between profits and wages—a gap that has only grown wider with increased productivity.
• I would guess that $19 an hour, less benefits and taxes, probably leaves workers with about $25,000 a year in take-home pay. There is plenty of research to show that an annual salary of at least twice that is necessary for a single person to escape near-poverty and move up to just “vulnerable.” (The Census Bureau recently reported that even at four times the poverty level, or $97,000 for a family of four, people are considered “vulnerable,” when all living expenses are included

Can we begin a dialogue between employers, the government and unions to defeat this cycle? Time is short. We can only imagine what will happen with the next “bust” in the economic cycle. And at some point, unions will need to respond to growing worker demand for equity. (For additional perspective on these trends, see “A Jobs Compact for America,” by MIT professor Thomas A. Kochan.)

Read the rest of the article here.

Operating Engineers (IUOE) General Counsel Richard Griffin is among the three new members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) President Obama will appoint through recess appointments, the White House announced.

Also named is Sharon Block, currently deputy assistant secretary for congressional affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor. She has served as the senior labor and employment counsel for the Senate HELP Committee. The third member named is Terence F. Flynn, chief counsel to NLRB member Brian Hayes. He also was counsel in the labor and employment law firm Crowell & Moring.

IUOE President James T. Callahan says Griffin is “highly respected by lawyers on both the labor and business side of labor law.”

His fair-minded approach to legal questions is exactly what the NLRB needs….Richard Griffin and the President’s other pick Sharon Block are distinguished attorneys who will bring an even-handed approach to labor and management issues.  They deserve to be seated—and workers and employers deserve a functioning National Labor Relations Board.

The Indiana state legislature opened its session today as hundreds of workers descended on the statehouse to protest a proposed “right to work” for less bill. Earlier today, Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) lifted his order that would have restricted citizens’ access to the statehouse, but not that of lobbyists.

Little action was taken today as Democrats caucused throughout the afternoon. But here are a few tweets to give a flavor to today’s events. Workers will be at the statehouse every day.

IMHO4: RT @AFLCIO: RT @_burgan: Look, they opened the door! Kind of sad when access to lawmakers is big, exciting news. #InUnion#stateSOS#1u#p2

DefeatVos: RT @SeleneMSC: #WIunion watching #INunion right now? They’re flooding into their Capitol, leaving hand-written notes to their legislators

INAFLCIO: Several House and Senate Rs refuse to meet w/ constituents. Wow. #InUnion#inlegis

indyJonMurray: RT @marybschneider: Statehouse filled with chants of “union!”

cathysherwin:”#Righttowork”: a naked political attack on basic bargaining rights but elected officials lie pretend is abt freedom. #inunion

KVHehateMe: Say what you will, the solidarity on display at the statehouse right now is inspiring! #inunion

Chanter1944: Much, much love and #solidarity to #inunion from #wiunion!

oakparkres: RT @Progress2day: RT @defeatvos: #WIunion stands with #INunion. It’s YOUR house. Take it.

President Obama will use recess appointments to name three new members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the White House announced this  afternoon.

Since Jan. 1, the board has just two members and cannot carry out most business. Republican Senate leaders have said they will block any NLRB nominations in a move most regard as an attempt to shut down the NLRB. That is part of an overall strategy that has bottled up hundreds of Obama administration nominations. But with the Senate in recess, Obama is allowed to make appointments that last through the current session of Congress.

Earlier today Obama used a recess appointment to name Richard Cordray head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

We commend the president for exercising his constitutional authority to ensure that crucially important agencies protecting workers and consumers are not shut down by Republican obstructionism.  Working families and consumers should not pay the price for political ploys that have repeatedly undercut the enforcement of rules against Wall Street abuses and the rights of working people.

“Brotherhood Outdoors,” the unique hunting and fishing television series of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA), kicks off its second season Thursday night on the Sportsman Channel, with Indiana Ironworkers member Jessica Reagor on a California wild hog hunt.

Hosted by noted outdoorsman Tom Ackerman, “Brotherhood Outdoors” puts union workers in the spotlight, taking viewers into their homes and communities, on their job sites and into the wilderness for exciting hunting and fishing adventures across North America. Guests on the series have the opportunity to join Ackerman for an outfitted North American adventure or to act as his guide, taking him to their favorite hunting or fishing locations.

The series airs on Thursday at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST and this season’s guests include a mix of pipe fitters, boilermakers, electrical workers, bricklayers and others who pursue a variety of fish and game throughout the United States and Canada.

Reagor, who began hunting as young girl, hadn’t been in the field for the past two years because she and her husband adopted a special needs 14-day-old boy in 2009. For more on Reagor by USA’s Ken Barrett, click here. For a video preview and photos from the hunt, click here and here.

Writing in Health Leaders Media, John Commins takes a look at the recent successes nurses have had in winning a voice on the job with National Nurses United (NNU) and finds that, once again, when workers are given a fair opportunity to join a union, they do.

Union supporters believe that more U.S. workers would join unions if they could. They don’t, the explanation goes, because these workers haven’t the leverage to bargain with management, especially in a weak economy plagued by high unemployment.

But because of the high demand for skilled nurses, nurses know “they don’t have to tolerate a dysfunctional workplace.”

They can vote with their feet and find a new job elsewhere, or they can vote to organize. NNU’s success suggests that when workers are given the chance to organize, usually they will. That annoys a lot of people who want to believe that unions are no longer needed in this era of enlightened management.

Read more here.