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AFL-CIO Union Movement Coordinates Campaigns Among Public Employees |
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Ten AFL-CIO unions will work together to help state and municipal workers win a voice at work with a newly formed Industrial Coordinating Committee (ICC), which was approved last week by the AFL-CIO Executive Council.
The AFL-CIO also recently created a coordinating committee for nurses and one for workers in the communications, entertainment and media industries.
The public employee ICC will plan and mobilize large-scale campaigns, such as the effort to win bargaining rights for public workers in 30 states that ban or restrict employees from joining unions. The ICC also will focus on expanding current collective bargaining rights and on specific organizing campaigns.
The 10 unions participating in the public employee ICC are: AFSCME, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), United Steelworkers (USW), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA), Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Transport Workers Union (TWU), California State Employees Association (CSEA), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) and the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA).
In another boost for public employees, AFSCME and CWA are working together in Arizona to bring a voice at work to more than 40,000 state workers.
Sheri Van Horsen, AFSCME state director, describes the new Arizona State Employees Association as
…pooling our strength to create positive changes for public service employees in Arizona.
State employees in Arizona do not have bargaining rights. Linda Hatfield, president of CWA Local 7000 in the Tucson area, says the group will focus on two key goals—winning union rights for the state workers through legislation and building solidarity with the state’s workers in hundreds of department and agencies.
By joining forces, we will fight to correct the injustices faced by state workers. These workers’ salaries are well below the industry standards. Now is the time for state workers to stand together to make their voices heard through the Arizona State Employees Association. Together, we are partnering for power.
The drive kicks off with a rally in Tucson on Wednesday and another in Phoenix on Thursday.
Meanwhile, in other organizing news…
Thousands Join Machinists…More than 2,200 locked-out workers at AK Steel Corp. in Middletown, Ohio, are now members of the Machinists (IAM) following a recent election. The workers, members of the Armco Employees Independent Federation, voted to affiliate with the IAM. The company locked out the workers Feb. 28 when their contract expired.
The IAM was the choice of workers in four other recent organizing victories. In Long Beach, Calif., 409 city workers—including librarians, physicians, nurses and analysts—joined IAM District 947. In Albuquerque, N.M., 35 flight simulator technicians at Lockheed Martin voted to join IAM, as did four flight technicians at DynCorp International in San Diego and 10 workers at the Bechtel Bettis Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Nothing Squirrelly in Moose Lake…At Mercy Hospital in Moose Lake, Minn., 29 licensed practical nurses voted to join AFSCME Council 29. Twenty-four child-care workers at Hunts Point (N.Y.) Day Care voted to join AFSCME District Council 1707. In Crawford County, Iowa., 23 road workers signed up with AFSCME Council 61, and 19 municipal workers in Boardman Township, Ohio, voted to join AFSCME Council 8.
UAW is Clear Choice…In the third consecutive win for workers at auto glass manufacturer PPG Industries Inc., 100 workers at the company’s plant in O’Fallon, Mo., voted to join the UAW. In late June, workers at PPG facilities in Crestline, Ohio, and Evansville, Ind., voted for UAW representation.
Says UAW Vice President Thurman:
After three elections in a row, the verdict is quite clear. Workers in PPG plants want a voice on the job.
Law and Order…The 44-member Rochester (N.H.) Police Union voted unanimously to join the New England Police Benevolent Association/IUPA. In Lovington, N.M., 38 Lea County detention officers voted to join IUPA.
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