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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Labor Hour Headlines 6-9-01 |
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by Peter Miller and Omar Ricks
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
11 Jun 2001
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Headlines as broadcast on the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturday at 11 a.m. on WEFT, 90.1 FM. |
Labor Hour Healines 6/9/01
More Cuts, Closings Set for Molex
The Chicago Tribune reported on Thursday that Molex Inc., a manufacturer of electronic components in Lisle, will eliminate 900 full-time jobs and 600 temporary jobs and close down some production facilities to improve its financial position. This comes after actions last November when the company cut back to 4-day workweeks from 5, reduced wages for salaried employees and executives, and dismissed about 1000 temporary employees. Those actions apparently have not been sufficient in the face of a worsening business climate in the telecommunications industry. The company has 52 plants in 19 countries, but did not reveal which were scheduled to be closed.
AMA Backs Off Union Plans
The Supreme Court has made it harder for medical workers to form unions, leading to the American Medical Association scaling back its organizing efforts. A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case in Kentucky stated that nurses at private hospitals cannot join unions if their duties include supervising others. In response, the American Medical Association suspended all new organizing efforts at hospitals. Two years ago, the AMA formed the Physicians for Responsible Negotiation, which began organizing residents at private hospitals around the country. An AMA spokesperson said that the Supreme Court decision would be a serious impediment to physicians\' using collective bargaining as a means to address workplace issues.
Transportation Strike in Argentina
Yesterday in Argentina, tens of thousands of public transportation union members went on strike, effectively immobilizing the nation by shutting down several vital elements of the its infrastructure. Hugo Moyano, a leader in Argentina\'s General Workers Confederation, called the strike in response to Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo\'s decision to raise taxes and cut public spending. Recent weeks have seen waves of protest around the country and in various industries. In Buenos Aires, members of an airline pilots union blocked the runways of a struggling airline for several hours. The airline still had not paid them their wages from April, and is being threatened with bankruptcy by its Spanish holding company unless all of its unions sign a new labor agreement. In this third year of economic recession in Argentina, unemployment continues to hover around 15%. Workers and unemployed citizens have used recent protests to call attention to the need for increased government investment in things like job creation programs and wage and benefit improvements. The government of Argentina has other plans, and as local public services are being privatized, workers fear that further job cuts are imminent. The strike yesterday was the largest since last November, when another large strike paralyzed Argentina in protest of a failure by the government to directly address the high unemployment.
Talks With Mechanics Union Off for Now
Last week, United Airlines again failed to reach an agreement with its mechanics. A federal mediator failed to bring the International Association of Machinists and United to an agreement before talks broke off on June 6. The parties have been negotiating since December 1999 without success, and the union has twice asked the National Mediation Board to declare an impasse. Another session with a mediator has been scheduled for June 20.
Peoples Gas Strike Settlement
Leaders of a 3-week strike against Peoples Gas Company in Chicago reached an agreement with the company on Tuesday and approved the deal later in the week. The vote ends the strike by about 1050 members of Service Employees International Union local 18007. Union officials say the contract is good, but other reports say that the first strike in 37 years against the utility brought few gains. Observers say the strike was energetic, but the union had difficulty keeping members on the picket line, and they did very little outreach to the community. When the strike began, the local\'s business agent said the union objected to the loss of overtime pay, the movement of safety-sensitive work to entry-level positions and the transfer of union work to non-union and management personnel. It is not known whether the strike prevented those proposals from taking effect.
Airline Strike in S. Korea
A general strike called by the Korean Federation of Trade Unions is getting support from airline unions. South Korea\'s largest airline pilot union voted Friday to join the general strike next week. The strike will also include the 6800-member non-pilot union of Asiana Airlines as well as unions of the metal, chemical, and medical industries. The strike is intended to push the government to increase wages and to stop a recent wave of mass corporate layoffs.
NAACP Considers Dropping Lawsuit Against Police
Because the new hiring list for police offers in Springfield shows so much diversity, the local chapter of the NAACP is considering coming to a settlement in its racial discrimination suit against the city. Of the top 50 persons on the new list, 8 are black, 1 is Hispanic, 1 Asian, and 12 are female. In addition, 4 of the top 10 candidates are minorities. The NAACP had charged in its suit that the testing procedures used in determining names for the candidate list were discriminatory, and a trial is set for September. State Journal-Register, June 5, 2001, p 7
Laborers Reach Five-Year Contract with Chicago Area Construction Firms
An agreement approved on June 1 between the Chicago Laborers\' District Council and the Mid-America Regional Bargaining Association will raise wages and benefits by $9.85 over the life of the 5-year contract. Other provisions of the new agreement are modifications in grievance and arbitration procedures, changes in overtime computation, and the creation of a new labor-management committee which will focus on problems at the local union level. A union spokesperson said the union was pleased with the settlement and that it was the best contract they had achieved in years. Daily Labor Report, #107, June 4, 2001, p A-2
New Teachers Union President Poised to Pounce
Deborah Lynch-Walsh, newly elected president of the Chicago Teachers Union, said that she will increase union opposition to academic sanctions now being prepared by the city board of education. She denounced all of the reforms instituted by state laws in 1989 and 1995, which Mayor Daley said would bring more accountability to teachers and schools. Lynch-Walsh said that Chicago public schools would improve if teachers are made partners and not targets of reform, if class sizes are reduced, and if teachers embrace new instructional models. Chicago Tribune, June 3, 2001, section 2, p 9
Freight Car Settles Race Discrimination Charges
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that it had reached a settlement with Freight Car Services in Danville of a racial discrimination suit brought by 2 black former employees. The workers alleged that Freight Car maintained a hostile work environment, failed to promote black workers, and discriminated against them in terms of employment and working conditions. Under the terms of the settlement, the company will pay the workers an undisclosed amount of money, provide training to all employees on maintaining a harassment-free work environment, and post a notice describing the allegations. A spokesperson for the company denied the charges and said that Freight Car had decided to settle to avoid the cost of litigation. Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, June 2, 2001, p B-3
Belleville Memorial Nurses Deny They Threatened CEO
Nurses at Belleville Memorial Hospital denied that they had anything to do with anonymous threats received by the hospital\'s chief executive warning him not to \"mess with SEIU\", threatening personal harm, and comparing him to the chief executive at St. Mary\'s Hospital in East St. Louis for opposing union efforts. The words, \"SEIU\" and \"Rules\", were also spray-painted on his car while it was parked at his home, and two tires were deflated. Nurses at the hospital voted for representation by the SEIU last October, and the parties are currently negotiating their first contract. A federal mediator will meet with the two sides on June 14 for further negotiations. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 1, 2001, p C1
Judge Rules in Favor of Disabled Saturn Worker
Last week, the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a disabled Saturn worker who said that the company had discriminated against him. Jeffrey Kiphart had sued the automaker, his local union, and the United Auto Workers for violation of the reasonable accommodations clause of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Saturn is owned by the UAW and General Motors, and is noted as a trend-setting example of union-company partnership. Saturn pioneered the practice of job rotation on the assembly line, by which all members of a team learn how to do several different tasks and rotate the performance of those tasks. The company touts benefits of this approach, such as increased quality control; increased employee motivation, learning, and communication; and the opportunity for workers to use different muscle groups. Several Saturn representatives called the rotation practice fundamental to Saturn\'s \"different kind of company\" approach and said that this practice could not be compromised.
Nonetheless, disabled workers who could not perform certain tasks would be shifted to other jobs, often temporary and less well paid, or put on involuntary medical leave. Both happened to Kiphart, and, he said, took a financial and emotional toll on him and his family. Furthermore, Kiphart argued that the rotational approach was routinely ignored in practice. He showed that the ability to rotate jobs was mentioned in the job descriptions of some jobs but not others, and it was not even mentioned in Saturn\'s Memoranda of Agreement, the company\'s only binding agreement on policies and procedures. Therefore, he said, the company could have made reasonable accommodations for his disability.
A trial court ruled in favor of Kiphart and awarded him compensatory damages in the amount of $90,000. But a federal district judge set aside that ruling, saying that a reasonable jury could not have reached such a decision based on the facts provided. Now, the Sixth Circuit has reversed that finding, and remanded the case back to the district court for a new compensatory amount.
Although Saturn will have to reconsider its policies toward disabled workers, it is likely that the rotational approach will remain intact. Saturn may appeal the ruling. |
See also:
http://www.ilir.uiuc.edu/lii/
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