American Labor Museum Honors Wowkanech
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Charles Wowkanech, president of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, is being honored as a labor hero at this year’s 27th Annual Sol Stetin Awards Gala.
The award is bestowed every year by the American Labor Museum, located at the historic Botto House in Haldeon, N.J.
Wowkanech is being honored for his 12 years of service as leader of the state AFL-CIO and his decades of dedication to the union movement, both as an elected leader and a member of Local 68 of the Operating Engineers (IUOE).
The award is named in honor of the late Textile Workers president Sol Stetin.
Bargaining Wins for Public Employees in Los Angeles, Pennsylvania, Kentucky
Public employees across the country have been battling bruising attacks on their jobs and paychecks as cities and states sink into red ink. No more so than in California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger achieved through budget cuts what he couldn’t in state referendums voted down by voters in 2008, a drastic reduction in state services. Yet in Los Angeles, city workers—members of several unions—ratified a new contract that averts furloughs and layoffs. State employees in Pennsylvania and Kentucky also have good news after mobilizing successfully to protect their paychecks and turn back cuts in benefits.
The Los Angeles city budget, adopted in May, called for layoffs and 26 furlough days per worker—amounting to a 10 percent cut in services and pay for every city program and every worker. Since then, members of the Coalition of LA City Unions in Los Angeles overwhelmingly approved a new contract with the city that preserves city services and avoids layoffs and furloughs. The new agreement will save more than half a billion dollars over the next three years, primarily through a retirement incentive program and delays in scheduled wage increases.
IUOE Project Shows Union Workers Ready for Green Jobs
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Many of the green jobs of “the future” already exist and are performed by union members who make energy-efficient products and teach others how to conserve energy.
Take Operating Engineers Local 49, which represents workers in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Members of the local recently built a wind turbine farm in the small town of Chandler, Minn. Crane operators from the local union hoisted the turbines into place as other members dug trenches for the transmission lines and did the grading.
Glen Johnson, business manager for Local 49, tells the Operating Engineers (IUOE) magazine, International Operating Engineer:
We’re green. We’ve been green a long time. When our operators are building roads and bridges, key environmental factors must be met.
Retirees Were Promised Health Care—GM Deal Breaks the Promise
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Workers and retirees have suspected for years that companies often use bankruptcy as an excuse to cheat retirees out of their promised benefits. Now, three unions say that’s exactly what the U.S. Treasury Department is doing to tens of thousands of General Motors (GM) retirees.
The IUE-CWA, United Steelworkers (USW) and the Operating Engineers (IUOE) plan to appeal a bankruptcy judge’s approval late last week of a plan to allow the new GM, which now is owned primarily by the taxpayers, to take away health coverage from 55,000 retirees at some GM and GM Delphi plants.
In a series of newspaper ads, the unions urge workers to call the White House at 202-456-1414 or send an e-mail to www.whitehouse.gov and ask President Obama to restore the GM retirees’ health care benefits. Click here to learn more about IUE-CWA’s campaign to save the retirees’ benefits.
The ads feature retirees like Debra Turner (see ad above), a GM retiree who suffers from multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. At 51, she’s not eligible for Medicare. Until now, her GM health care paid for most of the $3,400 a month in medicines she has to take.
5,300 Employees at Southwest Airlines Reach Tentative Pact, and More Bargaining News
Some 5,300 employees at Southwest Airlines reach a tentative pact, 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
IAM, Southwest Airlines: Some 5,300 customer service and reservation agents at Southwest Airlines, represented by the Machinists (IAM) District 142, reached a tentative four-year agreement. The agreement, which still needs ratification by workers, is retroactive to last year and runs through October 2012.
AT&T Workers: ‘No Way’ to Huge Health Care Cuts and More Bargaining News
Contract talks stalled between 90,000 workers and AT&T over management demands for huge health care cuts 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.
WORK STOPPAGES, JOB ACTIONS
CWA, AT&T: Health care benefits remain a contentious issue in negotiations between more than 90,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and AT&T. The CWA bargaining website indicates that management is making outrageous claims that if they cannot make huge cuts to health care, then they will face the same problems as the Big Three automakers. CWA officials characterized the talks as “stalled.”
CWA, New Jersey: Thousands of New Jersey state workers represented by CWA protested against furloughs and wage freezes. ”There were more than 100 picket lines statewide,” said Hetty Rosenstein, New Jersey director for the CWA.
Construction Workers Turn ‘Tip’ Into Cash for Sick Kids
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Construction workers in Portland, Ore., have come up with a unique way to help children with a serious disease. It all began about three weeks ago when Roger Bullock, a 12-year member of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 701, found a penny on the floor of the elevator he operates five days a week at a downtown Portland construction site.
According to the Northwest Labor Press, he jokingly told his co-workers, “That’s my tip for the day,” as he taped the penny to the wall of the elevator. The paper reports:
by the end of the day, a nickel and dime were taped to the wall next to the penny. “It went from nickels and dimes to quarters and dollar bills,” Bullock said. Pretty soon, Bullock had more than $10 on the wall.
“I didn’t want to keep the money,” he told the NW Labor Press. So he posted a sign saying: “Children’s Cancer Society.”
Word spread that Bullock was giving the money to the cancer center at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. In less than a week more than $200 was tacked to the elevator walls.
8,500 University of California Workers Near New Contract, and More Bargaining News
Some 8,500 workers at the University of California, represented by AFSCME, have a tentative contract settlement—and more updates here 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
AFSCME, University of California: Some 8,500 custodians, gardeners, cafeteria workers and drivers at the University of California, represented by AFSCME, announced a tentative contract settlement, ending an 18-month contract dispute that triggered a five-day strike last summer and protest rallies at regents’ meetings and elsewhere. The contract would provide a minimum pay rate of $12 per hour to take effect later this year and would rise to $14 an hour over five years.
