Archive for May, 2006
Peabody Miners Fighting for a Union
Tired of being forced to work overtime every week and getting precious little in return, nonunion coal miners who work for Peabody Energy, the world’s largest coal company, have joined together with the AFL-CIO, the Mine Workers, community religious leaders and miners in Australia to say, “Enough! We want a union.”
Peabody has systematically closed its union mines and replaced production with nonunion mines over the past 15 years, says Bob Gaydos, UMWA’s assistant organizing director. Today, only 40 percent of Peabody’s miners worldwide are union members, he says, down from about 70 percent in the 1990s.
Imposed FAA Contract Could Threaten Air Safety
The Federal Aviation Administration is poised to impose unfair work rules and pay cuts that could compromise air safety and worsen existing staff shortages among air traffic controllers.
After demanding pay cuts of up to 30 percent and inflexible work schedules, the FAA declared an impasse in contract negotiations with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) on April 5. Unless Congress acts by June 5, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey will impose the agency’s last offer, which could result in as many as 4,000 controllers, about 25 percent of the workforce, choosing to retire.
No Free Speech for Government Whistle-Blowers
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 30 that the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment free speech protections do not protect public employees who blow the whistle on wrongdoing while performing their jobs.
“This decision gives constitutional sanction to those who would fire a public worker for stepping forward to preserve the integrity of our public institutions as a government whistleblower,” says AFSCME President Gerald M. McEntee.
Study: Wal-Mart Stores Add to Poverty, Not Prosperity
Although Wal-Mart claims its stores benefit communities and grow local economies, a new study shows that Wal-Mart retail stores contribute to higher local poverty rates.
The study, published in the June 2006 issue of Social Science Quarterly (subscription required), the journal of the Southwestern Social Science Association, finds “unequivocally” that counties with the most Wal-Mart stores and counties that added stores between 1987 and 1998 had higher poverty rates during the 1990s economic boom.
Wal-Mart stores increase the poverty rate in several ways, the report says. First, Wal-Mart’s business practices drive independent retailers out of business. The workers who once worked for these “mom-and-pop” stores often end up working part-time at Wal-Mart for lower wages. In addition, other local retailers reduce their wages to remain competitive with Wal-Mart, the study shows. As a result, even though Wal-Mart may move into a depressed neighborhood, the poverty rate rises after the new stores are built because the chain forces down wages for everyone. This contradicts Wal-Mart’s claims that its stores benefit low-income communities by lowering prices for consumers.
Minimum Wage Hike Closer in N.C., Mass.
Two more states are a step closer to raising their minimum wage rates.
In North Carolina, the state House and Senate have voted to raise the minimum wage by $1 an hour to $6.15, possible by Sept. 1. The Massachusetts Senate voted last week to make the state’s minimum wage the highest in the nation, raising the current rate by $1.50 in two steps, from $6.75 to $8.25 by September 2007, and linking future minimum wage increases to the cost of living starting in 2008.
Public Employee Pensions Under Attack
While private employers are dismantling the traditional guaranteed pension system to save money, some of the largest defined-benefit plans, those designated for public employees, are under attack as well. And workers from Alaska to New Jersey are fighting back.
During the stock market boom in the 1990s, many cities and states increased pension benefits as part of collective bargaining agreements with firefighters, police, teachers and other public employees. When the stock market sank in 2001, many public plans became underfunded. Pensions & Investments magazine estimates that in 2004 the average major public plan was only 88 percent funded. Now some Republican governors are using public pension plan underfunding as a reason to attack public employee pensions.
CBTU Celebrates 35 Years with Call to Organize, Build Political Strength
With the percentage of African American workers who are union members dropping substantially, the union movement must organize more workers of color, force working family issues onto the political agenda and promote diversity in union leadership. That’s the message from the nearly 1,600 union members meeting in Orlando this weekend at the annual convention of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU).
The percentage of African Americans who are either members of or represented by unions fell from 31.7 percent of all black workers in 1983 to 16.6 percent in 2004, according to a report by the Center for Economic Policy and Research. In 2004, African Americans still were more likely to be in unions (16.6 percent) than whites (13.9) and Latinos (11.4 percent). Nevertheless, the decline in union membership between 1983 and 2004 was sharper among black workers (down 15.1 percentage points) than it was for whites (down 8.3 percentage points) and Latinos (down 12.8 percentage points).
The report shows much of the decline is due to the loss of manufacturing jobs. Between 1979 and 2004, the share of all African American workers who worked in manufacturing declined from 23.9 percent to 10.6 percent.
Lots To Say
The Bush administration’s tax policies are condemned. Two suggestions are made to help rebuild the union movement. Our AFL-CIO Now readers have lots to say.
Remember, if you have news or comments, send it to us at: blognews@aflcio.org.
Report: Minorities Still Face Bias at Voting Booth
Although the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed barriers that kept people of color from voting, such as literacy tests and poll taxes, minority voters continue to face discrimination across the country. A series of reports by the Voting Rights Act Collaborative, a coalition of civil rights groups, including the AFL-CIO, shows widespread voting rights violations in states in which the Voting Rights Act applies.
Unless Congress acts soon, three key sections of the Voting Rights Act will expire in August 2007. The legislation needs to be renewed now, supporters say, because next year’s crowded congressional calendar may not allow the bill to complete the legislative hurdles before the act expires.
College Graduates Face Weakest Job Market in Two Decades
College seniors graduating this Spring face a double whammy of high college loan debts and the slowest job market in two decades.
The labor market for young college graduates, ages 25 to 35, is slowly improving but remains much weaker than before the last recession in 2001. It has been 20 years since young college graduates have experienced employment rates as low as those of the past five years, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
