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News :: Labor |
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Labor Headlines 8-30-03 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
(No verified email address) |
01 Sep 2003
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Headlines broadcast during the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturday at 11 am on WEFT 90.1 FM, Champaign. Yale Workers Strike as Students Return to Campus, Bush Limits Raises for Federal Workers, Monument in the Works at Pullman Museum to Honor Black Laborers, Local Air Controllers Against Privatizing |
Yale Workers Strike as Students Return to Campus
Last Wednesday as students arrived for the new semester at Yale University, they found more than 2,500 of Yale University workers on strike, according to a report in the New York Times. Approximately half of the clerical workers and nearly all of the maintenance and dining hall workers joined in the strike. As a result of the walkout many of Yale's dining halls will remain closed, phones at some academic departments may go unanswered, and there may be delays in cleaning some dormitory bathrooms. In addition, many professors are expected to move their classes off campus to honor the picket line. At issue in the strike are pensions, wages, and job security. Yale claims they have made an unusually generous offer of a 4 percent wage increase to the clericals and a 15 percent increase in both unions' pensions. But union officials mock Yale's offer, contending that while the numbers may seem large, they leave workers with unreasonably low pay and pensions. During a rally outside the office of University President Richard Levin, the president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union pointed out that Yale workers who retired last year with 20 or more years on the job received only $7500 per year in retirement. Peggy Nelson, a maintenance worker who earns $29,000 after 19 years at a university with an $11 billion endowment said simply, quote, "Their offer stinks. I have three kids, and what they're offering isn't enough to support a family," in the Connecticut town where Yale is located. On Friday Howard Dean, Vermont's former governor and a Democratic candidate for president, was scheduled to speak in New Haven on behalf of the strikers. The walkout is the second at Yale this year and the ninth since 1968.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/28/nyregion/28YALE.html
http://www.yaleunions.org/news/releases.htm
http://www.yaleunions.org/news/press_releases/deandinner.pdf
Bush Limits Raises for Federal Workers
President Bush said today that he would limit raises for 1.8 million federal workers to 2 percent next year in a move he claims is intended to control the federal budget deficit. On Tuesday he acted to keep a much larger increase from occurring under a formula that would take effect in January if the president did not act by Aug. 31 and Congress did not legislate a raise. Under the formula, federal workers would have received a 2.7 percent raise, plus increases to compensate for the increased cost of living in major urban centers. A House subcommittee has passed a bill that would grant federal workers a 4.1 percent raise, the same they received this year. After slashing raises for federal employees, Bush also said he'd allocate a half billion dollars for "merit pay." It is expected that much of that money will be used to award friends of the president or the Republican party, rather than people who perform their jobs exceptionally well. Last week, the Congressional Budget Office estimated this year's deficit will hit a record half billion dollars, largely due to the Bush tax cut and costs related to the invasion of Iraq, costs that dwarf a pay increase for federal employees. The International Monetary Fund warned that US budget deficits threaten economic growth worldwide.
www.afge.org
Monument in the Works at Pullman Museum to Honor Black Laborers
The A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum at 10406 Maryland Ave. in Chicago announced last Sunday that it was beginning a fund drive to build a monument to black laborers. The museum, which is privately run, was established 8 years ago as a tribute to Pullman porters, but has since expanded to honor the accomplishments of all black workers. The monument will be a statue that is envisioned as a composite depiction of all black laborers.
Chicago Tribune, August 25, 2003, section 1, p 7
Local Air Controllers Against Privatizing
Branches of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association in Illinois announced the beginning of a television and radio marketing campaign on Aug. 25 in the Springfield, Peoria, and Chicago markets to block the privatizing of 69 air traffic control towers across the country, including those in East St. Louis and Aurora. The government says it is cheaper to privatize small airports, and they are just as safe as those operated by federal controllers. The union says that towers are already understaffed and privatization will lead to increased costs and less safety for the public.
State Journal-Register, August 26, 2003, p 29
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See also:
http://www.ilir.uiuc.edu/lii
http://www.labourstart.org
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