1,800 Boeing Workers Ratify Pact with Pay Increases—and More Bargaining News
Some 1,800 Boeing workers ratify pact with pay increases, 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 1,200 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
UAW, Boeing: Members of UAW Local 1069 at Boeing’s Rotorcraft plant near Philadelphia ratified a new five-year contract yesterday, after their contract expired Oct. 1. The new pact covers nearly 1,800 workers and includes annual raises between 2 percent and 4 percent and improves pension benefits.
NEA’s Van Roekel: This Is Our Time, This Is Our Opportunity
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The changes in our country since the November elections have been dramatic and union members must be ready to take advantage of the opportunities for working people. In a powerful speech at the AFL-CIO Convention this morning, National Education Association (NEA) President Dennis Van Roekel said this is the time for working families to rebuild America’s working and middle class.
Making those changes requires power and power comes through unity, Van Roekel said.
We must find a way to change the country’s attitude towards the union movement and the middle class. We need the power to act.
Obama to Address AFL-CIO Convention
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President Barack Obama will address our AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh on Sept. 15, marking a major shift in the relationship between the union movement and the White House. For the past eight years, the Bush administration waged war on America’s workers, and union members took a big step toward taking back America by playing a major role in electing Obama and a Democrat-controlled Congress.
Obama will address a convention that will make history by electing a new leadership team. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is retiring after 14 years at the helm.
Along with Obama, the Sept. 13-17 convention will hear from many prominent political and union leaders, including Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Caroline Kennedy and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.
Teachers to Obama: We’re Ready to Work with You
Last week, President Obama unveiled a $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” fund to help states finance improvements in public education. The final rules for the program won’t be released until late August, and that’s when the AFT will be able to fully judge the initiative, says AFT President Randi Weingarten.
We are going to use our own four criteria when reviewing the department’s plan. They are: Does it help kids? Is it fair and helpful to educators? Is it transparent? And does it require shared responsibility? If the answer is “yes” for each, then we have a real chance of improving the quality of teaching and learning and raising student achievement.
The Race to the Top fund will provide grants to encourage and reward states for plans in four core educational reform areas aimed at improving teacher and principal quality, academic standards, data collection and turning around low-performing schools. The money is part of the nearly $100 billion set aside for education in the economic recovery package passed earlier this year.
Court Halts Mandatory Furloughs for Hawaii State Workers, and More Bargaining News
Hawaii state workers won their battle against the governor’s proposals to mandate furloughs, 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 1,100 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS
Multiple Unions, Hawaii: Hawaii state workers won their battle against the governor’s proposals to mandate furloughs when a Circuit Court judge ruled the governor does not have the authority to unilaterally order furloughs. Gov. Linda Lingle (R) had ordered state workers to take three furlough days a month for two years starting this month. The governor did not indicate whether she would continue to defend her furlough plans in court. The workers are represented by multiple unions that include Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA-AFSCME), United Public Workers (UPW-Ind.) and Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA-NEA).
Winning Together—NEA and the AFL-CIO
Congratulations to the seven lucky National Education Association (NEA) members who today won top prizes in the AFL-CIO Winning Together Contest by displaying their knowledge of the power of union solidarity.
The contest was sponsored by the federation’s Unity Partnerships project and was open to NEA members and staff attending the NEA Representative Assembly Expo in San Diego this week.
To enter the contest, participants answered a question about the combined voting strength of NEA and AFL-CIO active and retired households in their home states. Those who answered correctly were eligible for the grand prize and three second prizes. Everyone who submitted an answer was eligible for one of three third prizes.
In today’s drawing, Carol Sampsel of State College, Pa., won the grand prize of a $1,000 Costco gift certificate. Sampsel says, “I Just got a new place to live, so this will come in handy!”
Two Unions in Hawaii Seek to Block Governor from Ordering Furloughs—and More Bargaining News
Two unions in Hawaii seek to block the governor from ordering furloughs for thousands of state workers—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.
WORK STOPPAGES AND JOB ACTIONS
Multiple, BART: Two of the larger BART unions, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and SEIU Local 1021, agreed to extend their labor contracts beyond the June 30 expiration through July 9 at midnight. AFSCME, which represents white-collar workers at BART, expects to sign a similar extension. You can get real-time updates on Twitter at https://twitter.com/realbartworkers.
CWA Delegates Back Employee Free Choice, Health Care and Unity
More than 2,500 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) delivered a message to their representatives on Capitol Hill yesterday: It’s time to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and real health care reform.
The Capitol Hill lobby day is part of the union’s four-day convention in Washington, D.C., which ends today. Delegates will go back to the Capitol today to join thousands of workers in the mass rally in support of health care reform.
Wyden Wants to Tax Health Care Benefits
Last year, in his failed run for the presidency, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) proposed taxing working families’ health care benefits as part of his deeply flawed plan for health care reform.
The reaction was direct and swift. “No!” said unions, health care reform advocates and consumers. Candidate Barack Obama blasted the McCain proposal.
But today, the idea of taxing health care benefits has resurfaced, and from an unlikely source: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who for most of his career has been a good friend of working families. His call to tax your health care benefits is buried in legislation (S. 391) that he introduced this year and is now being considered by the Senate Finance Committee as one of several possible ways to finance health care reform.
Thousands of Graduate Assistants Join AFT
Strong-arm tactics by the Central Michigan University (CMU) administration—including a last-minute letter filled with anti-union rhetoric and innuendo—couldn’t sway graduate assistants from exercising their freedom to form a union and bargain for a better life.
On Monday and Tuesday, the CMU graduate assistants voted overwhelmingly to join the Graduate Student Union/AFT. The 450 teaching and administrative assistants teach, grade, tutor and perform administrative duties on the university’s Mt. Pleasant campus.
Also last week, graduate assistants at Florida State University (FSU) voted to join FSU Graduate Assistants United (FSU-GAU), a Florida Education Association/NEA/AFT affiliate. The new union will represent 2,800 graduate employees.
