Archive for May, 2006
Bargaining Digest Weekly
Members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 675 in Las Vegas ratified a new three-year contract May 24 with Medco Health Solutions Inc., ending an illegal lockout of about 580 mail-order pharmacy workers that began April 5.
Workers had refused to give up their right to bargain over benefits, according to USW. The contract provides for a medical and dental plan that cannot be altered or changed during the life of the contract, USW said. Other benefits such as life insurance and the 401(k) plan are restored.
The agreement, which runs through Sept. 1, 2008, provides an immediate wage increase of 3.5 percent, another 3.5 percent increase this September and a final 3.5 percent in September 2007. Workers also will get three lump-sum bonuses totaling about $3,800.
Union members across the country used their purchasing power to urge Medco to end the lockout and bargain fairly with the USW. More than 6 million union members and their families, about 25 percent of the company’s business, are covered by one of the company’s prescription plans.
Here Comes Another Bush Judge
Another of President George W. Bush’s troubling judicial nominees will take a seat on an important federal court now that the U.S. Senate has confirmed Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
For Minimum Wage Workers, It’s Hard to Fill the Tank
It now takes more than a full day of work for a minimum wage worker to earn enough to buy a tank of gas.
As the value of the minimum wage sinks and gas prices rise, minimum wage workers are caught in what the Center for American Progress calls “a double whammy.” On average, the center says, a minimum wage earner must put in 11.2 hours of work to fill the tank—up from 5.5 hours in March 2001.
Do we really need more evidence that America needs a raise? Please act now to convince your members of Congress to raise the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $5.15 an hour since 1997 while Republican leaders have blocked efforts to change it.
Click here to urge your representative to sign a discharge petition to bring the minimum wage increase to the House floor, and click here to become a citizen co-sponsor of the Senate bill to raise the wage.
Government Fails to Protect Health Workers from Pandemic Flu
The federal government is not doing enough to protect nurses and other responders from a possible avian flu pandemic, 73 U.S. representatives told the secretaries of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Labor on May 25.
Led by Reps. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) and Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio), co-chairs of the Congressional Nursing Caucus, the bipartisan House members said the administration’s pandemic flu plans do not adequately protect nurses and others from airborne hazards.
Lots to Say
Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) President Pat Friend clarifies the Mesaba situation. “Big Oil” draws fire. George McGovern is taken to task. Our AFL-CIO Now readers have lots to say.
Remember, if you have news or comments, send it to us at: blognews@aflcio.org.
Last week we reported that a court decision regarding AFA-CWA members at Mesaba was a “setback.” President Friend sets us straight:
The judge’s ruling was not a setback for the Mesaba flight attendants as you reported. In fact it was a victory for us. Mesaba management had filed a motion in the bankruptcy court to allow them to reject our contract. The judge denied the company’s request. Now we will continue bargaining with the company in an effort to preserve the airline without impoverishing the employees.
Senate Approves Immigration Legislation
On a 62-36 vote, the Senate today approved a massive bill to change U.S. immigration law.
During two weeks of debate, senators plowed—sometimes heatedly—through dozens of amendments, defeating attempts to create a reasonable path to citizenship and strengthen labor law protections for immigrant workers. They did, however, make adjustments to the bill’s guest worker program—including requiring employers to seek qualified U.S. workers before turning to immigrant workers.
The legislation now must be reconciled with a much harsher House-passed bill.
UPDATE: Nurses Rally Against Pending NLRB Restrictions
Yesterday, we wrote how nurses are fighting back against an expected decision by the Bush National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that could further erode workers’ fundamental freedom to have a voice at work.
Last night, more than 500 people rallied near the Statue of Liberty to kick off a campaign for nurses’ freedom to have a voice at work by RNs Working Together, a coalition of eight AFL-CIO unions representing more than 200,000 registered nurses.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told the crowd that even though the NLRB decision initially will affect nurses, every worker’s rights are threatened.
New Yorkers Demand Fair Share Health Care
“No employee of a multi-billion dollar corporation should be forced to go without medical care.”
That’s what the t-shirts said on more than 400 New Yorkers who told lawmakers at a special State Assembly hearing May 23 in Albany to pass Fair Share Health Care legislation.
Fair Share legislation and initiatives, which the AFL-CIO, unions and health care advocates are pushing in more than 30 states, would ensure that the largest corporations like Wal-Mart stop shifting health care insurance costs to workers, taxpayers and other businesses. In general, the initiatives require large, profitable companies to spend a percentage of their payroll on employee health care or pay into a state fund. In March, the AFL-CIO released a report showing just how much Wal-Mart’s health care cost-shifting is costing states.
In New York, which is considering several Fair Share bills, activists from unions and community, civil rights and faith groups gathered from around the state to meet with legislators and rally outside the State Capitol following the hearing.
Trumka: China’s Currency Manipulation Dragging Down American Middle Class
The Chinese government’s deliberate undervaluing of its currency is an anchor “that is dragging down American manufacturing and the middle class,” AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka says in a letter published today in the Wall Street Journal.
Trumka wrote to the newspaper in response to a May 15 editorial praising a U.S. Treasury Department report on unfair trade practices that did not designate China as a country that manipulates its currency.
An AFL-CIO report shows China’s fixed currency rate artificially lowers the price of Chinese goods by 40 percent and subsidizes exports, putting U.S. companies at a disadvantage. The lack of currency flexibility has been a major factor in American job losses and a trade deficit with China that hit $201 billion last year.
Will Congress Turn Its Back on Katrina-Rita Survivors?
Unless Congress acts before it leaves for a holiday recess Friday, 80,000 survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita who lost their jobs in the storms will start losing their unemployment benefits. The workers and their families need this support, although it averages only $104 per week.
Since March 1, some 60,000 Katrina and Rita survivors have left the jobless rolls. Those who remain are the ones having the hardest time recovering. Since the hurricanes struck nine months ago, the federal government has consistently failed to step in with a robust recovery program that could help get people back to work.
