Trumka, Holt Baker, Shuler Discuss Future of Union Movement at State/Local Conference
Participants at the AFL-CIO’s State and Local Conference got the chance today to hear from—and ask questions of—candidates for the future leadership of the AFL-CIO. The slate of Richard Trumka, running for president, Arlene Holt Baker, running for executive vice president, and Liz Shuler, running for secretary-treasurer, sat down for a frank discussion about how the union movement needs to move forward.
Conference attendees got to ask questions of the officer candidates and raise concerns about management and strategy. (Watch video clips from the state and local conferences here.)
Stressing the importance of strong state and local entities, Trumka said the attendees, representing state federations and central labor councils (CLCs), were critical to a strong, active movement:
You are the backbone of the American labor movement. We’re going to be working with you to create a seamless organization.
Trumka laid out several principles for working with CLCs and state federations, including making sure national unions are affiliating at the state and local level and implementing responsive communications structures. At the national level as well as the state and local level, he said, we need to make sure communication is going both ways, and that local units are evaluating strategies and programs to see what works. If the union movement is engaged in full-time mobilization and education on issues, organizing and campaigns, Trumka said, state and local bodies will need to participate and take ownership in programs. We need as many voices as possible involved in developing and implementing policy.
We need to take firm stances and clear positions, Trumka said, if we want people to know what we stand for and get involved.
Strategic Research Training: Getting Ready for Labor Law Reform
The AFL-CIO Organizing Department and its Center for Strategic Research is holding a training course on strategic corporate research Oct. 5-9 at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md.
The training is designed for first-year strategic researchers as well as experienced organizers and communicators who are new to strategic research. It will benefit union staff who are expected to do corporate research as part of their duties and those who want to strengthen their campaign skills.
Says Ken Zinn, the AFL-CIO’s acting organizing director:
Strategic research can play a vital role in successful organizing campaigns. We are pleased to offer this opportunity to help strengthen and expand strategic research and campaign capacity in the labor movement.
The deadline for registration is Sept. 15. For more information, contact Robert Masciola, deputy director of the Center for Strategic Research, at rmasciol@aflcio.org or 202-637-3948.
Carwash Workers Win Big Victory in NLRB Settlement
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Carwash workers in Los Angeles won a major victory in their struggle for better working conditions and decent pay. Today, the workers reached a formal settlement in their National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaint against Vermont Hand Wash, one of the area’s most notorious anti-worker car washes.
As a result of the settlement, Vermont’s owners must pay more than $50,000 in back pay to workers who were illegally fired for union activity.
The NLRB issued the complaint in late May alleging that Vermont’s management targeted and then fired three workers because they sought to form a union. According to the complaint, among other retaliatory acts, Vermont management cut the hours of union supporters or assigned them less desirable duties and unplugged the time clock when union supporters picketed the carwash, resulting in a loss of wages to workers on the job.
The complaint identifies one manager, Manuel Reyes, who, it says, threatened employees on multiple occasions with bullets, a machete and a combat knife. The NLRB also charged Reyes with similarly threatening two union organizers with a side-handle billy club in front of carwash employees.
2,300 Pittsburgh Port Authority Workers Get Pact, and More Bargaining News
More than 2,000 Pittsburgh Port Authority workers won a new contract and more news 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
ATU, Port Authority: Some 2,300 Pittsburgh Port Authority workers, represented by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 85, reached a tentative agreement, four days after the national AFL-CIO began mediating the talks in Washington, D.C. The Port Authority previously planned to implement its final offer.
IFPTE, Boeing: Some 21,000 members of the Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) working at Boeing ratified new four-year contracts in Seattle, Utah, California and Oregon. Contract highlights include a 2 percent to 2.5 percent wage increase and a 5 percent increase in the “base salary fund” each year of the contract.
