Union Families Bring Holiday Cheer to Pittsburgh-Area Families in Need
Andy Richards on our Field Communications staff sends us this.
With the holidays only days away, Pittsburgh-area faith leaders, community members and union families came together Friday to hand bring holiday cheer and hand out hundreds of toys and donations to families in need.
At the Allegheny County Labor Council’s annual Labor of Love/Stuff the Bus Toy Drive, they gave out toys, gift cards and other donations collected earlier this month. The annual toy collection is one of the largest holiday toy drives in Pittsburgh and union members and their families kick it off each year by filling a 40-foot transit bus to the brim with gifts for children in need. Says Bob Mazzie, a retired member of ATU Local 85 who donated toys at the kick-off event earlier this month: Read the rest of this entry »
Ohio Union Volunteers Turning Up the Heat on Issue 2
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| AFT President Randi Weingarten joined hundreds of Ohio union volunteers to mobilize to defeat Issue 2. |
AFL-CIO Field Communications Coordinator Andrew Richards files this report on the fight in Ohio to defeat Issue 2.
From small towns like Portsmouth on the banks of the Ohio River in the south to big cities like Cleveland bordering Lake Michigan in the north and all around the Buckeye State, union members are hitting the doors and the phone banks to make sure working families cast a “No” vote on Issue 2 Nov. 8.
Issue 2 would repeal S.B. 5, the law passed this spring that takes away the right of public employees to collectively bargain for a middle-class life.
In Cleveland, AFT President Randi Weingarten told the more than 800 members from dozens of unions who volunteered Saturday:
[Ohio Gov. John] Kasich, [Wis. Gov. Scott] Walker, [Fla. Gov. Rick] Scott, [Ind. Gov. Mitch] Daniels and many others are trying to strip working people of their rights, that’s their goal. But we’re not going to let that happen. We are going to fight back, give workers and the community their voice back and in the next 10 days do everything we can to bring Issue 2 home.
Huge NYC Union March Set to Spotlight Occupy Wall Street Protest
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New York area union members will join an expected several thousand labor activists and supporters today in a Wall Street march and rally in support of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.
The grassroots-grown protest is now in its third week, with a diverse array of people from across the country camping out in the heart of the financial district to demand Wall Street is held accountable for the schemes and reckless games that led to the nation’s economic collapse.
The mostly young Occupy Wall Street protesters are “speaking for the vast majority of Americans who are frustrated by the bankers and brokers who have profited on the backs of hard working people,” says Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) President Larry Hanley.
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), says Occupy Wall Street “has brought into sharp focus a reality that cannot be denied.”
Cincinnati Union Softball Match Raises Funds for Cancer Society
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AFL-CIO Community Services liaison Mark Caddo at the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council tells us that despite a heat index of 103 degrees, union and community members recently turned out for a fundraising softball match between Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) locals 627 and 628.
The event, which pitted the Cincinnati Metro Bus Drivers against the Newport TANK Bus Drivers, raised $1,049 for the American Cancer Society.
Drivers, Riders Unite for Expanded Bus Service
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Workers and community members in Fall River and New Bedford, Mass., have come together to fight for expanded bus service in the cities where buses stop running at 6 p.m. and don’t operate at all on Sunday.
Members of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Locals 174 and 1037, have partnered with the group Bus Riders United and the labor/community organization People First to press for the expanded service. The Greater Southeastern Massachusetts Labor Council has joined the fight for better bus service.
Last night, several dozen people met with Fall River Mayor Will Flanagan who supports expanded service and others to map out the next steps.
When buses stop running at 6 p.m., it affects workers who might otherwise ride the bus from work or to jobs that start later, and also impacts seniors who don’t have access to other transportation. It puts downtown restaurants and other business off-limits to people who depend on public transportation.
Steelworkers Ratify Pact with RG Steel—and More Bargaining News
The United Steelworkers (USW) at RG Steel ratified a new contract—and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
USW, RG Steel: The United Steelworkers ratified a new agreement with North America successor RG Steel that covers some 6,000 workers at five facilities in Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia.
Hanley Takes the Wheel as New ATU President
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Larry Hanley, who began his union career in 1978 as a 21-year-old bus driver in Brooklyn, was elected president of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) yesterday at the union’s convention in Orlando, Fla. He succeeds Ronald J. Heintzman.
Hanley says that his efforts will focus on benefiting members
and the larger labor movement as well as in the service of improving mass transit throughout North America, where the future is dependent on bringing public transportation into the 21st century. Transit jobs are green jobs.
Hanley served as president of ATU Local 726 from 1987 until 2002. He then joined the staff of the international union. He most recently served on the general executive board as international vice president where he bargained and negotiated contracts for local unions.
Hanley helped found the Keep America Moving coalition to build support for mass transit. He has been politically active and was instrumental crating New York State’s Working Families Party in 1988. For more information, read his bio here.
The ATU represents 200,000 bus drivers, subway operators and maintenance workers across the U.S. and Canada.
AFSCME Seeks to Block Furloughs of 9,000 Kentucky State Workers—and More Bargaining News
AFSCME is filing suit to block furloughs for 9,000 Kentucky state employees, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES & LEGAL ACTION
AFSCME, State of Kentucky: AFSCME Kentucky on Friday filed a lawsuit to block the furlough of state workers by Gov. Steve Beshear. Beshear plans to furlough state workers, including AFSCME’s 9,000 members, for six days this fiscal year.
Unions Texting for Jobs and Political Action
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The next text message a Painter and Allied Trades (IUPAT) member might receive could be a job lead from the union. Members of the Transport Workers (TWU) and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) get text messages about the latest actions in the unions’ Save Our Ride campaign.
This past April, during the AFL-CIO’s massive rally and march on Wall Street, hundreds of participants joined a text messaging action and called Goldman Sachs, telling the Wall Street giant to stop opposing meaningful financial reform.
Let us know if your union using is using text messaging to communicate or mobilize its members. And don’t forget, you can join the AFL-CIO Good Jobs Now team: Text JOBS to 225568.
Emergency Transit Funding Protects Riders and Workers
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Unless the U.S. Senate passes emergency funding introduced in legislation (S. 3412) this week, working families who count on public transportation systems in communities across the country will face even more severe fare increases and service cuts and transit workers are looking at further layoffs.
State and local governments have been hit hard by the downturn in the economy and public transportation systems nationwide are experiencing major budget cuts as a result. Amalgamated Transit Union President (ATU) Warren George says that since January 2009, six out of 10 transit systems have cut services, raised fares, or both.
Thousands of transit workers have been laid off and millions of commuters have less access to public transportation. Without emergency action, the problems will only get worse—seven out of 10 transit systems are facing deficits in the coming year.
