New NLRB Rules ‘Modest Step to Election Fairness’
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this morning released proposed changes in the way union representation elections are conducted that the NLRB says will “reduce unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of questions concerning representation.”
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the proposed changes are a “modest step to remove roadblocks and reduce unnecessary and costly litigation—and that’s good news for employers as well as employees. But he adds:
The proposed rule does not address many of the fundamental problems with our labor laws, but it will help bring critically needed fairness and balance to this part of the process.
Trumka says the rules “appear to be a common sense approach to clean up an outdated system and help ensure that working women and men can make their own choice about whether to form a union.” Read the rest of this entry »
NLRB Seeks to Overturn Anti-Worker Amendments in Ariz., S.D.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is set to file lawsuits to overturn constitutional amendments in Arizona and South Dakota that outlaw the use of majority sign-up for workers who want to form unions.
Federal labor law provides two methods for worker to form unions. They can either go through an NLRB-supervised election or use majority sign-up, in which the employer agrees to recognize the workers’ choice when a majority of the workers sign union authorization cards.
The NLRB says the state amendments, approved by voters last fall after well-funded campaigns by anti-worker groups, are preempted by federal labor law.
Acting General Counsel Lafe E. Solomon also says the state amendments are preempted by the supremacy clause of the Constitution that says federal law prevails if there is a conflict between state and federal law. Read the rest of this entry »
‘America Is One Nation and We Signify that Nation’
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Karen Bright got on a bus a little after midnight in Syracuse, N.Y., and rolled down the East Coast for seven hours because she had a message she wanted to deliver to America.
Standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall as tens of thousands of union members and our allies in the human rights, faith and workers’ rights communities began filling up the wide banks of the Reflecting Pool, Bright said:
“It’s important that we make jobs the priority in this country and not all of the other issues that are dividing us. I think that’s the one issue that’s important to all of us.”
On an absolutely gorgeous fall afternoon Bright, a member of CSEA/AFSCME Local 1000, and all of the nearly 200,000-strong crowd at the One Nation Working Together march and rally, were a living example of what one sign seen throughout the crowd said.
“We March for Hope, Not Hate!”
Speaking to the crowd that spread from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the World War II Memorial, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka surveyed the vast crowd of women, men, people of color and white, gay and straight, all ages and creeds and ethnicities, and told marchers that
“America is here today. America is One Nation and we signify that nation.”
Behind the voices of fear and hatred that have risen to dominate out national conversation are the forces of
“greed, the moneyed powers that put us in the economic mess we’re in today. And we’ve got a lot of work to do to repair the damage that greed did to our country.
We Couldn’t Have Said It Better
After President Obama finished delivering his speech to the AFL-CIO Executive Council this morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka had this question for the president.
We’re going into a congressional election three months from today, and I think it’s fair to say that workers’ hopes for congressional action to protect workers’ rights and to create jobs have been frustrated by a Republican minority that has filibustered every matter in front of them, every single thing that’s been good for us.
I just want to ask you, what advice do you have for workers as the election approaches, particularly for workers who are trying to organize to have a voice on the job?
We couldn’t have answered any better. Take a look at Obama’s response.
Well, you guys don’t need advice from me, but let me tell you what I see out there. We were hurt by this recession, badly hurt. This is going to take some time to recover. Unemployment is at unacceptably high levels.
But as I said before, we’d had challenges before the crisis hit. A lot of your membership had been hurting long before, partly because we just live in a more competitive world. There’s nothing we can do about that, that’s just the truth. But a lot of it also had to do with the fact that we put policies in place that were not good for working families. There’s a reason why incomes, wages, were stagnant for average workers, even while the costs were going up. And part of it had to do with the fact that we had a philosophy that said that providing help to workers, allowing them to collectively bargain, allowing them to negotiate for better benefits, that that all was something of the past instead of something we need for the future. Read the rest of this entry »
We’d Hate to Close the Plant. You Won’t Be Joining a Union, Will You?
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What goes on behind closed doors when a supervisor or anti-union hired gun summons a worker to a meeting when a union organizing drive is under way?
A new video from the Electrical Workers (IBEW) gives a pretty clear picture of the behind-closed-doors intimidation and veiled (and not-so veiled threats) workers who are trying to form a union are forced to endure. In union organizing drives, 78 percent of employers force workers to attend closed-door meetings.
The dramatization features longtime employee Max, who has been observed, both on and off the job, meeting with “union types.” While Max is at work, a beefy foreman approaches and sternly says:
Max, we need to see you in the conference room.
Labor Department Says Focus is on Worker Safety, Fair Wages
New rules to improve workplace safety, monitor employer compliance, track ergonomics injuries, bring union-busting consultants out of the shadows and ensure fair wages and overtime pay top the U.S. Department of Labor’s regulatory agenda.
Says Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in a video statement on the department’s website:
Protecting wages and working conditions is the key mission of our department. Insuring workers have a voice on the job is also vital….We are committed to ensuring that workers are paid a fair wage and have a voice in the workplace.
More than 1,000 Workers Win Voice with AFL-CIO Unions
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Illinois state employees and nurses, government-contracted tech workers, airport workers and helicopter pilots all have won a voice at work with AFL-CIO unions recently.
In Illinois, more than 500 Illinois state public service administrators won their fight for representation with AFSCME Council 31 after waiting more than a year and a half for their ballots to be counted. As Henry Bayer, Council 31 executive director, says: “In tough times, a strong union is essential.”
With AFSCME, all public service workers have the job security and decent wages and benefits only a strong union can provide.
The workers perform audits and other functions for many state agencies, primarily the Department of Revenue and the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
Workers Join AFSCME, Machinists and IUE-CWA in Recent Campaigns
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Some 2,600 family child care providers in New Mexico recently voted to join Child Care Providers Together (CCPT)/New Mexico, an AFSCME affiliate. Meanwhile, aerospace workers in Georgia voted for Machinists (IAM) representation and car rental workers in Boston chose IUE-CWA.
In New Mexico, the child care workers—who care for children whose parents are eligible for state child care assistance—topped off their three-year fight for a voice at work last week when their vote to join CCPT was certified.
In April, Gov. Bill Richardson (D) signed legislation the workers had fought for since 2006 to win the right to join a union to improve their lives and the quality of home child care services in the state.
Rite Aid’s Wrong, Workers Tell Shareholders
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Rite Aid workers at the drug chain’s distribution center in Lancaster, Calif., took their years-long fight for justice to New York City yesterday, where they urged the company’s shareholders to fire management’s hired-gun, union-busting consultants.
At a Times Square rally, the workers got a boost of solidarity from their New York union brothers and sisters.
At the firm’s annual shareholder meeting, Angel Warner, a veteran Rite Aid employee and member of Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 26, charged Rite Aid with “abusive, disrespectful and illegal treatment” before and after more than 600 workers voted to join the IWLU in March 2008.
Hundreds of Workers Join AFSCME, IAM and CWA
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Flight service specialists, health care employees and aluminum mill workers are among the latest workers to win a voice at work and a union card with AFL-CIO unions. Meanwhile in New Mexico, child care workers have just won the right to join unions and bargain for better lives.
More than 800 Automated Flight Service Specialists at Lockheed Martin voted to join the Machinists (IAM). The Flight Service Specialists work at 12 sites and three hub facilities across the continental United States and Hawaii.
Their duties include pre-flight, in-flight, operational and special services, en route communications, search and rescue and pre- and in-flight meteorological and aeronautical briefings. Says IAM Vice President Rich Michalski:
This is a great victory for them and a strong signal that in these tough economic times, workers want the benefits of union representation—job security, a secure retirement and the pay and benefits that support a healthy middle class.
