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Covanta Complaint Shows Need for Employee Free Choice Act |
Here’s another example of why the Employee Free Choice Act is so important. The National Labor Relations Board this week issued a comprehensive complaint charging Covanta Energy Corp. and all of its U.S. subsidiaries with violating federal labor law.
More than 130 workers at Covanta’s Southeastern Massachusetts (SEMASS) facility in West Wareham, Mass., voted to join Utility Workers (UWUA) Local 369 in May 2008. The facility converts solid waste into energy by shredding and burning the trash. The employees have been trying to negotiate a first contract for more than a year.
If the Employee Free Choice Act were law, this dispute would have been over months ago. The legislation provides the mediation and arbitration assistance to help settle a contract when a company and a newly certified union cannot agree on a contract after three months.
NFFE’s Richard Brown Dies at 47: ‘A Trade Unionist at Heart’ |
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Richard N. Brown, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), died yesterday in Arlington, Va. He was 47 years old.
Brown served as president of the 100,000-member NFFE since 1998. The union represents blue- and white-collar federal workers in more than 30 federal departments and agencies. The NFFE was founded in 1917 and affiliated with the Machinists (IAM) in 1990.
NFFE Secretary-Treasurer Bill Dougan says Brown was “a strong leader, a dedicated trade unionist, and a friend.”
Rick was a trade unionist at heart. He came from a union family and maintained membership in NFFE-IAM and the Laborers Union (LIUNA), the latter being a membership he maintained after leaving construction to become a machinist. Rick was a strong advocate for federal employees. Never one to back down, Rick was a strong presence in the fight against several federal workforce initiatives aimed at contracting out federal government jobs and eliminating federal employees’ unions.
In his passing, we have lost a strong voice and champion for working men and women. We will mourn his loss greatly.
Minnesota Supreme Court Rules Franken Winner in Senate Race |
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UPDATE 4:41 p.m.: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has announced he will certify the election.
UPDATE 4:02 p.m.: Former Sen. Norm Coleman has conceded. Al Franken will be the next senator from Minnesota.
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The Minnesota Supreme Court, after nearly eight months of counting and appeals, has ruled that Al Franken won the election to be Minnesota’s next U.S. senator.
Franken was endorsed by the AFL-CIO last year and union members worked hard on his behalf.
In the ruling, available here, the five state Supreme Court justices unanimously agreed:
For all of the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under Minn. 32 Stat. § 204C.40 (2008) to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.
UPDATE: Here’s what AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney had to say about this important decision:
America’s workers congratulate Al Franken—and the people of Minnesota who have gone 226 days without a second Senator—for their unanimous victory today in the Minnesota Supreme Court.
20,000 University of Wisconsin Faculty Gain Bargaining Rights |
More than 20,000 faculty members at two midwestern universities are one step closer to good union contracts. Yesterday, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed the state’s biennial budget, which includes a provision extending collective bargaining rights to more than 20,000 University of Wisconsin (UW) faculty, academic staff and research assistants.
The same day, some 430 instructors and adjunct faculty at Western Michigan University (WMU) voted for the Professional Instructors Organization (PIO), an AFT affiliate, to represent them.
Postal Unions Slam Saturday Mail Cut Plan |
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Six days a week, 144 million U.S. homes and businesses count on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to deliver the mail. Now, in a cost-cutting move, the USPS wants to slash Saturday mail delivery and the nation’s two largest postal unions say it is a disastrous proposal.
Letter Carriers (NALC) President Bill Young says stopping six-day delivery would have a profound impact on the Postal Service, its costumers and Letter Carriers across the country:
The NALC’s position on this issue should be crystal clear: We oppose the elimination of six-day delivery. Downsizing the Postal Service to meet the needs of a severely depressed economy is short-sighted and self-defeating—it will cost us tens of thousands of jobs and open the way to competitors to provide service on the sixth day.
The USPS is conducting a study of dropping Saturday delivery as part of an overall move to cut costs and is seeking comments from various stakeholders. Postal Workers (APWU) President William Burrus says his advice is simple: “Don’t do it!”
AFL-CIO: Honduras Coup Is ‘Unconscionable’ |
The AFL-CIO today called on the U.S. government and the international community, particularly the Organization of American States and the United Nations, to “make every effort” to restore constitutional order in Honduras and reinstate democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a military coup Sunday.
In a statement, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called the coup “an unconscionable attack on the fundamental rights and liberties of the Honduran people.” He urged governments to condemn the coup and withhold recognition of the current government. Zelaya was ousted after pushing for a referendum on proposed changes that would allow the president to run for re-election and create new procedures for amending the constitution.
The recent internal conflict relating to the proposed constitutional referendum cannot in any way justify the extra-constitutional measures undertaken by the armed forces. These measures are a flagrant violation of the most basic democratic principles and of the rule of law.
Labor Secretary Solis: ‘Level the Playing Field’ |
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We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Elections have consequences. Speaking today in an interview with The Washington Post, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis re-affirmed the administration’s commitment to passing the Employee Free Choice Act and restoring workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain.
Here’s what Solis had to say about why we need the Employee Free Choice Act:
I think it helps to level the playing field because, in many cases, workers have been disadvantaged. They’ve been intimidated, they’ve been harassed, and we have case after case after case that we can look at. And you probably hear from the opposing side, that they will say, “Well, no, there have been successes where people have been able to organize, and they have been able to push forward a unionization.” But when you look at the attempts that have been made over the past few years…there have been barriers that have been put up. And I think that the past administration was not very favorable for unions. They were not supportive in many ways.
New Plant Closing Bill: ‘FOREWARNED’ Is Better Armed |
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The WARN Act, passed in 1988, was supposed to require employers to give workers and the surrounding community a 60-day advance notice of mass layoffs, providing workers a head start in preparing to find another job and communities a chance to brace for the economic impact.
But loopholes, exceptions and weak enforcement have undermined the act, say a group of lawmakers who have introduced new legislation (S. 1734 and H.R. 3042) to strengthen the WARN Act—the Federal Oversight, Reform and Enforcement of the WARN Act (FOREWARN).
Says Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the chief sponsor of the bill, along with Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.):
Mass layoffs send shock waves through individual households and entire communities. This bill is about protecting workers and helping communities respond to mass layoffs. The WARN Act was supposed to give employees time to find a new job. Unfortunately, fair notice has become the exception not the rule.
Catholic Scholars Support Employee Free Choice Act |
A group of leading Catholic scholars is adding their voices to the coalition supporting the Employee Free Choice Act.
Organized by Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice, dozens of religious leaders, professors and scholars from a wide variety of institutions have signed on to a statement in support of the Employee Free Choice Act and the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain. This diverse group of Catholic thinkers agrees that our broken system needs new law to protect these basic workers’ rights.
Employee Free Choice is “rooted in and supported by” Catholic social teaching, these religious scholars note in their statement:
The Magisterium of the Catholic Church recognizes “the fundamental role played by labor unions, whose existence is connected with the right to form associations or unions to defend the vital interests of workers employed in the various professions.” Indeed, the Catholic Church holds that unions “are a positive influence for social order and solidarity, and are therefore an indispensible element of social life.”
Great Quotes: ‘Only a Fool’ Would Block Workers from Unions |
As Labor Day approaches, here are some great quotes reinforcing the value of unions to our nation. A big thumbs-up to Ramona for her blog on TPM, which includes quotes from leaders as diverse as Dwight Eisenhower, Clarence Darrow and Pope John Paul II.
Eisenhower sounds like he is endorsing the Employee Free Choice Act:
Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice.
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