Teaching and Research Assistants Call on NLRB to Issue Decision
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Christian Sweeney, AFL-CIO deputy organizing director, sends us this.
A busload of teaching and research assistants from New York University (NYU) traveled to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) headquarters in Washington, D.C., in recent days to call on the board to affirm their right to form unions. The NYU TAs and RAs, members of the UAW, filed a petition seeking a union recognition election in the spring of 2010 but are still waiting for a board decision.
Chanting “Two years is too long to wait,” as they rallied outside the NLRB, the TAs and RAs are among tens of thousands of private university graduate employees seeking their legally protected right to form a unions. That right was taken away by a ruling from the George W. Bush-appointed NLRB in 2004.
U-Minn. Graduate Assistants Advance Union Drive
As they proceed with a two-pronged approach to building their union, graduate assistants at the University of Minnesota say they are both hopeful and realistic.
Tuesday morning, one group of graduate assistants delivered a letter to the university president, asking that the university join with the majority of its 4,500 graduate assistants to file a petition for union recognition with the state mediation bureau.
Across the river, a second group of graduate teaching assistants asked the bureau to schedule a union election. Said research assistant and union spokesman Scott Thaller:
We know that a joint petition is a more democratic and inclusive way to form our union and we are hopeful that the University will agree to file joint petition. But we are preparing for other outcomes by also asking the BMS to call a union election.
The graduate assistants have formed Graduate Student Workers United and are seeking to join a union with help from the UAW.
The university blocked three organizing efforts by University of Minnesota graduates since 1991, but Thaller said,
this time, so many grad assistants are involved and support the way that a union will finally give us the right and power to advocate for ourselves, that we believe we will succeed.
NYC Marchers Want an Economy ‘for All Working People’
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On a brisk and sunny day in New York City, Christy Thornton stood at the corner of Broadway and 31st streets.
“We’re facing the same issues as everyone else…high unemployment, mountains of debt and a lack of opportunity,” said Thornton, a doctoral student in history at New York University. “I’m here to stand in solidarity with the labor movement and all working people.”
Thornton is a member of the NYC Student Assembly, which formed this fall when students came together at Occupy Wall Street in lower Manhattan.
Standing in the shadow of the Empire State Building, Thornton mixed with an assortment of New Yorkers—union members from the Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the UAW, as well as three retired men who reminisced about strikes back in the 1940s. Read the rest of this entry »
Trumka Joins Working Ohioans to Get Out the Vote Against Issue 2
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Deborah Dion with the Ohio AFL-CIO field program sends us this.
Speaking at a Cleveland rally on the eve of Nov. 8, Election Day, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka brought down the house yesterday when he spoke passionately about why we must join together and beat back Issue 2/ S.B. 5. More than 500 union volunteers from 30 different local unions as well as community activists and Columbia University students from New York City rose to their feet repeatedly cheering before hitting the doors to canvass city neighborhoods to spread the message about voting “No” vote on Issue 2/S.B. 5.
“No fight is more important than the one right here in Ohio,” said Trumka.
Because no one, no governor, no state legislature should have the power to rob us of the fundamental right to bargain collectively. [Gov.] John Kasich cannot take that away from us. The people of Ohio have spoken and will not stand for it. They want to take away our rights, our dignity, and the ladder to the middle class.
Ohio Federation of Teachers President Sue Taylor, Laborers Local 310 Business Manager Terry Joyce, North Shore Federation of Labor President Loree Soggs and Executive Secretary Harriet Applegate of the North Shore Federation joined President Trumka at the rally. Says Taylor:
UAW Members Ratify New Contract with Chrysler
UAW members at Chrysler have voted to approve a new four-year agreement with the automaker, the last of the Big Three contracts to be ratified. Earlier this month Ford workers approved a contract and in September UAW members ratified a four-year contract with General Motors.
The agreement with Chrysler will add 2,100 new jobs. UAW President Bob King says that the Chrysler jobs, “together with jobs added at GM and Ford, mean more than 20,000 direct manufacturing jobs will be added to our economy.”
The Center for Automotive Research estimates the multiplier for other jobs created from an auto manufacturing job is 10, so these 20,000 direct auto manufacturing jobs, will create another 180,000 jobs in devastated communities across America. The UAW and the domestic auto companies are jump-starting the nation’s economic recovery. Read the rest of this entry »
Tobacco Workers Face a Range of Human Rights Abuses, Says Oxfam
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In North Carolina, the tobacco industry is running roughshod over workers’ rights—and their most fundamental human rights, according to a recent report, “State of Fear: Human Rights Abuses in North Carolina’s Tobacco Industry,” issued jointly by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and Oxfam, the global relief organization. FLOC represents more than 6,000 farm workers in the state.
Tobacco farm workers, researchers found, routinely work in blazingly hot fields without access to clean water and contract nicotine-related illnesses because of employers’ refusal to outfit them with the most basic of protective gear such a gloves. Many say they are forced to live in overcrowded facilities infested with rodents and devoid of working showers or toilets. The report traces the deterioration of working conditions for tobacco workers to a 2004 deregulatory law passed by Congress. One in four of the 103 workers interviewed by FLOC, under the guidance of Oxfam researchers, say they receive less than the legally required minimum wage for their labor.
Yet even in this atmosphere of Dickensian working conditions, workers are afraid to form unions. Why? Because nine out of 10 North Carolina tobacco workers are undocumented Read the rest of this entry »
Steelworkers Ratify New Contract, End 11-Month Lockout—and More Bargaining News
Some 750 United Steelworkers (USW) members ratified a new contract, ending an 11-month lockout, 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 1,400 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
USW, U.S. Steel: In Canada, members of USW Local 1005 ratified a new contract, ending an 11-month lockout by U.S. Steel. The pact, covering some 750 workers, will run until Oct. 15, 2014.
UAW Members Ratify New Contract with Ford
UAW members at Ford Motor Co. have voted to approve a new four-year agreement with the automaker. In September, UAW members ratified a four-year contract with General Motors. Workers at Chrysler now are voting on a tentative deal reached earlier this month.
The agreement with Ford will add 5,750 new jobs, bringing to 12,000 the number of new jobs when combined with recent announcements from Ford. UAW President Bob King says:
As the nation’s economy remains stalled and uncertain and its employment rate stagnates, we were able to win an agreement with Ford that will bring auto manufacturing jobs back to the United States from China, Mexico and Japan.
The agreement includes $16 billion to produce new and upgraded vehicles and components by 2015, of which, $6.3 billion will be invested directly into retooling and upgrading plants. A complete list of plant investment can be found on the UAW’s website.
UAW Members Ratify Pact with Oshkosh—and More Bargaining News
UAW members in Wisconsin ratify a new contract with Oshkosh Corp., 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 1,400 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
UAW, Oshkosh Corp.: Members of UAW Local 578 voted to ratify a new five-year deal with Oshkosh Corp. in Oshkosh, Wis. The 3,100 workers approved the agreement, following two earlier rejections, after the company dropped proposals that would have allowed it to hire temporary workers.
AFT, Philadelphia School District: Teachers at Philadelphia’s public schools approved a one-year contract extension with the school district. The contract now runs through August 2013 and covers 15,000 members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (AFT).
AFSCME, University of California: Patient care workers and service workers at University of California campuses ratified new contracts that will provide wage increases for some 20,000 AFSCME members. The patient care contract runs until Sept. 30, 2012, while the service contract expires Jan. 31, 2013.
UAW, Chrysler Reach Tentative Agreement
The UAW and Chrysler Group LLC reached a tentative four-year agreement this morning that will create more than 2,000 new jobs and invest $4.5 billion to retool and upgrade plants to produce new and upgraded vehicles.
The agreement with Chrysler follows recent settlements with Ford and General Motors. UAW President Bob King says:
This tentative agreement, coupled with the new agreements at General Motors and Ford, brings more than 20,000 new jobs to communities across America. Together with the jobs created in suppliers and other businesses supported by auto manufacturing, a total of 180,000 jobs will be added to the country’s battered economy. Through collective bargaining and working together with the domestic automakers, we have shown that cooperation and collective bargaining work.
