Sen. Cardin: New NLRB Rules Afford Workers the Right to Vote
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Speaking on the Senate floor, Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin (D) eloquently described why new rules proposed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week would help level the playing field for financially struggling workers and their families. Statements supporting the proposed rule by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) follow.
“Mr. President, I rise today to praise the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for issuing new proposed rules that will modernize the process that workers use to form a union. These new rules will improve the consistency and efficiency of the election process [and] protect workers’ right to a timely vote….
America’s middle class is struggling. Hard-working families are finding it hard to make ends meet. We are recovering from the deepest recession since the Great Depression, and there are workers who are trying to achieve for their families what we all want: financial stability that keeps our families secure. However, as workers see their benefits, hours and pay being cut, they feel powerless. Meanwhile, executives can and do negotiate their employment contracts. Where is the fairness?
Unions can level the playing field for workers, but the process for choosing a union is outdated. Current NLRB election procedures produce extensive delays, encourage litigious stall tactics and provide opportunities for intimidation. Further, the organizational structure of the NLRB has created inconsistencies in the processing of the election petitions. It is time for the NLRB to address these important procedural shortcomings, and I am encouraged by their response.
Fired Central Falls Teachers Keep Jobs in New Agreement
Teachers at Central Falls (R.I.) High School will keep their jobs under a new tentative agreement with the school system. The teachers will vote today on the new pact. Under the agreement, which was reached Saturday, the school system will implement a plan to turn around Central Falls High School for the 2010-2011 school year in a way that involves all stakeholders—administrators, teachers, students and parents—to create a pathway toward excellence for everyone at the school.
The agreement allows the current staff to return to the school without having to reapply for their jobs. Teachers will need to recommit to their jobs and interview with the new principal.
The plan also would incorporate important changes designed to increase student achievement. These include a longer school day, more after-school tutoring, a new evaluation system designed to inform teaching and learning and targeted and embedded professional development.
Westin Workers Gain Nationwide Support
Rhode Island state Rep. David Segal yesterday delivered petitions with 3,600 signatures from around the country to management at the Westin Providence in support of the 200 workers there who got the shaft during contract negotiations. The petitions urged the hotel to negotiate a fair contract with the workers, members of UNITEHERE! Local 217.
The hotel owners, the Procaccianti Group, ended bargaining talks March 14 and unilaterally imposed a 20-percent pay cut and an increase in employees’ health insurance costs.
Netroots Nation Demands Westin Bargain Fairly With Workers
Big shout out to Netroots Nation, the group that sponsors a yearly conference for progressive bloggers and online activists. Organizers of the annual event, which is slated for Providence, R.I., in 2011, are letting the Westin Providence hotel know that unless management comes to an agreement with workers there, Netroots Nation will not work with the hotel in hosting the more than 2,000 participants who take part. That would mean a more than $2 million loss for the city, because without the Westin, Netroots Nation would move to another city for sufficient accommodations.
Some 200 hotel workers at the Westin, members of UNITEHERE! Local 217, have been picketing daily in front of the hotel after its owners, the Procaccianti Group, ended contract negotiations and unilaterally imposed a 20-percent pay cut and an increase in employees’ health insurance costs March 14.
Central Falls Superintendent Stalling on Talks With Teachers
Less than a week after agreeing to negotiate with fired teachers at Central Falls (R.I.) High School and their union, the school superintendent is delaying the talks.
In a statement, Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers Union, an AFT affiliate, urged Superintendent Frances Gallo to “resume negotiations with the teachers union and to accept (Rhode Island Education) Commissioner Deborah Gist’s offer to provide impartial mediation.”
We must not keep this school, its students, teachers and staff on tenterhooks any longer.
The school superintendent fired all teachers at Central Falls High on Feb. 23. She agreed March 3 to resume bargaining and include the union in all discussions on a comprehensive education plan that will help students and teachers succeed. The move followed a nationwide public outcry, with thousands signing an online petition to tell school officials the students deserve better and they should work with teachers to build on improvements at the high school. (Keep the pressure on the Central Falls school administration. Sign a petition here.)
30,000 CWA Members Ratify Contract with AT&T—and More Bargaining News
Some 30,000 Communications Workers of America members ratify a contract with AT&T, 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
CWA, AT&T: Members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 3 last week ratified a three-year contract with AT&T. The contract covers 30,000 workers in the Southeast. CWA District 1 in Connecticut is now the only region still in negotiations with AT&T.
Central Falls Superintendent Agrees to Resume Talks with Teachers
The school superintendent who last week fired all teachers at Central Falls (R.I.) High School has agreed to resume bargaining and include the union in all discussions on a comprehensive education plan that will help students and teachers succeed. The move followed a nationwide public outcry, with thousands signing an online petition to tell school officials the students deserve better and they should work with teachers to build on improvements at the high school. (Keep the pressure on the Central Falls school administration. Sign a petition here.)
AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement that she was pleased the superintendent has agreed to resume talks:
The dedicated teachers and staff [of Central Falls High] want nothing more than to continue and improve upon the progress they have made. Real, sustainable change will only happen when all stakeholders work together.
Firing of Central Falls, R.I., Teachers ‘Illegal, Unjust, Disgraceful’
In the middle of the worst jobs crisis since the Great Depression, more than 90 dedicated professional educators find themselves put out into the street. On Feb. 23, the Central Falls, R.I., school trustees fired the entire teaching staff of Central Falls High School, supposedly because of declining test scores at the school, which is located in Rhode Island’s smallest and poorest city.
In all, 93 persons were put in the street—74 classroom teachers, plus reading specialists, guidance counselors, physical education teachers, the school psychologist, the principal and three assistant principals. Negotiations over ways to improve the school between teachers and the school superintendent broke down when school officials insisted that teachers add new duties, some without any extra pay at all.
14 Senators Urge Unemployment Extension
More than 1 million people hurt by the bad economy are at risk of losing their unemployment insurance by the end of the year. During the toughest economic crisis in more than a generation, 7,000 people every day are seeing their UI expiring—and it’s due to the petty obstructionism of two senators who are blocking the needed extension of UI benefits.
This afternoon, 14 senators from across the country joined together to urge swift passage of a UI extension, to give workers access to the system they’ve paid into and to keep families and communities economically secure. With unemployment officially at 9.8 percent and an estimated 26 million out of work or discouraged, we can’t wait any longer to extend UI.
2,000 City Workers Ratify Pact with Milwaukee—and More Bargaining News
AFSCME members ratified a new contract with the city of Milwaukee, 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
AFSCME, City of Milwaukee: Members of AFSCME Council 48 ratified a new contract with the city of Milwaukee. The 2,000 city employees agreed to a pay freeze for 2010 and 2011 in return for a no-layoff guarantee.
