Settlement of 20-Year-Old Anti-Union Hiring Cases Shows Need for Employee Choice
In a case that clearly illustrates the need for real labor law reform, four construction unions have reached a settlement with Fluor Daniel over the company’s practice of discriminating against union organizers who apply for work. It took nearly 20 years for the cases to be resolved and some of the original workers in the cases have died.
Fluor, one of the nation’s largest engineering and construction companies, will pay $12 million in back pay and interest to 167 union members who were denied jobs. Each member will receive between $8,000 and $217,000.
The settlement ends several cases before the National Labor Relations Board, brought by three of the unions—Boilermakers, Electrical Workers and Plumbers and Pipe Fitters. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters is also a party to the litigation. Some of the cases date back to the early 1990s.
Union Sportsmen: Dedicated Funding Needed to Safeguard Fish and Wildlife
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Union sportsmen see firsthand how climate change has harmed the woods, streams and lakes, even as the rest of us are aware of the planet heating up from reports of shrinking ice shelves to holes in the Earth’s ozone layer.
In a letter to congressional leaders from 20 of the unions in the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) and the Union Sportsmen Alliance (USA), the unions write:
Union sportsmen do not need to read reports in the press to know climate change is already affecting the ways they pursue game and fish, the success of their days afield and the timing of their hunting and fishing trips.
The 20 unions urge the leaders of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to include dedicated funding to safeguard fish, wildlife and ecosystems important to sportsmen be in Senate climate change legislation.
Union Movement Mourns Jack Henning
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The union movement is mourning the loss of longtime California labor leader Jack Henning, who died yesterday at age 93. Henning served as executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation for 26 years before his retirement in 1996.
Henning’s leadership produced some of the great milestones in California labor history. Almost immediately after his election to the top office of the state federation, he joined the struggles of the United Farm Workers, campaigning successfully for passage of the historic Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975.
Henning also led the campaign to restore Cal-OSHA in 1988, a year after it was abolished by then-Gov. George Deukmejian, and he spearheaded a successful drive to reform the state’s workers’ compensation system.
500 Workers Cancel Raises to Help Massachusetts’ Budget, and More Bargaining News
Some 500 workers in Massachusetts cancel raises to help state budget deficit, and more updates from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
MULTIPLE, MBTA: Four unions representing 500 workers at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU), the Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the Boilermakers (IBB), agreed to cancel raises set to take effect this summer to help close an estimated $160 million budget deficit. The largest MBTA union, the Boston Carmen’s Union/ATU, represents 3,200 workers and has not yet reached agreement.
Earth Day 2009: Green Jobs Can Be Good Jobs
On Earth Day 2009, there is a growing recognition that green jobs will play a key role in fighting global warming, creating energy self-sufficiency, helping the nation recover from the current recession and moving workers into stable middle-class jobs.
During a House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing this morning, David Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership of four unions and two environmental organizations, said in this economic crisis, creating jobs is a priority, and by passing climate change legislation this year, we can start putting America’s workers back to work building the clean energy economy.
To protect the environment and increase our energy independence, climate change legislation must focus on creating and retaining good, family-sustaining green jobs across the United States.
On Earth Day, AFL-CIO Launches Green Initiative
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To celebrate Earth Day, the AFL-CIO, together with the leadership of its new Center for Green Jobs, announced a plan to reduce energy consumption, cut down waste and reduce the carbon footprint of its national headquarters.
With green jobs emerging as a top public policy priority, the AFL-CIO is pushing to ensure that the new green jobs created are also good jobs that provide a decent wage and benefits.
Says Jeff Rickert, director of the Working for America Institute’s Center for Green Jobs:
It’s like the old saying goes, the AFL-CIO is thinking globally and acting locally, but doing so in a way that demonstrates how to use strategic investments that help the environment while relying on high-skilled work.
Report: Clean Coal Could Create Millions of Jobs
President Obama’s economic recovery plan sets aside $50 billion in grants and tax incentives to promote efficient, clean and renewable energy. Several unions are reminding policymakers that the nation already has a huge and available supply of fuel that could be harnessed to provide green jobs and promote energy independence.
The Mine Workers (UMWA), Boilermakers (IBB), Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council (IUC) are aggressively promoting the use of coal-generated electricity to provide jobs and help clean up the environment.
Along with the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, the unions recently released a study showing that using advanced clean coal technologies that capture and safely store carbon dioxide will create millions of high-skilled, high-wage jobs for U.S. workers. Using this “clean coal” technology will reduce carbon dioxide emissions, generate $1 trillion of economic output and create up to 7 million work-years of employment, according to the study.
Parade Marchers Display Diversity, Strength of America’s Workers
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For Maria Somma, it was a dream come true. The native of Vietnam and naturalized citizen was one of the 265 union members who braved freezing temperatures today to join representatives from across the country and our armed forces to participate in the official inaugural parade for President Obama. The contingent of union members taking part in the parade included members from the AFL-CIO, Change to Win and the National Education Association.
With 15 union members riding a union-made float and 250 marchers alongside, the workers’ contingent was one of the largest groups in the parade. This is the first time in recent memory that workers have participated in the parade.
What’s the Timeline for Reducing Greenhouse Emissions?
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Roxanne D. Brown, assistant legislative director of the United Steelworkers (USW), is among union delegates taking part in the 12-day United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) in Poznan, Poland. The meeting is building upon the framework negotiated last year in Bali, Indonesia. Of the nearly 100 union delegates, Brown is among the more than 20 from North America and sends us this report.
What Comes First?
That’s the question everyone is asking in Poznan, Poland. Does the United States take actions to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by passing legislation in 2009, or do we wait for a new international agreement on climate change to be finalized in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the end of 2009? It’s the classic chicken and egg question. Which should precede the other? Which is most necessary to occur first? Like the chicken and egg question, no one has an answer (or at least a real good one), but one thing is clear: All eyes are on the United States.
