|
Comment on this article |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Labor |
|
Labor Headlines 10-25-03 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
(No verified email address) |
26 Oct 2003
Modified: 08:38:34 PM |
|
Headlines broadcast during the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturdays at 11 am on WEFT 90.1 FM, Champaign. Wal-Mart Violations, Deaths: John Foster and Mike Warmbier, Exelon Merger-Job Cuts, Rescue workers try to reach trapped miners in southern Russian mine, C-U Public Health Employees Organize |
Wal-Mart Violations
The largest corporation on earth has been caught violating labor laws--again. Wal-Mart's annual revenues total $250 billion, making it 34% larger than the world's next largest corporation, General Motors. Nonetheless, Wal-Mart has been caught in a sting operation showing that executives knew they were employing undocumented workers to clean stores. Although law enforcement officials arrested three hundred workers at sixty stores, police say they have audio recordings showing that Wal-Mart executives had direct knowledge of the scheme. While Wal-Mart publicly said they would cooperate with the investigation they also tried to distance themselves from the crime by noting that the cleaning crews were outside contractors.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031023/us_nm/retail_walmart_arrests_dc_10
http://www.ufcw.org/issues_and_actions/walmart_workers_campaign_info/index.cfm
http://www.walmartwatch.org/
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2001772336_harrop23.html
Deaths:
We regret to report on two deaths this morning. A factory worker at the Mitsubishi car plant in Normal was killed on Thursday while performing preventive maintenance on automated equipment. Forty two year old John Foster of Metamora was working alone when he suffocated after being trapped between two conveyor belts that carry car seats to the assembly line. A long-time employee at the auto plant, Foster died shortly after six on Thursday morning. His death was discovered after control panels showed that the conveyor was malfunctioning in the area where Foster was working. United Auto Workers Local 2488, which represents employees at the Mitsubishi plant, is helping OSHA investigate the incident, and the union and the company have established a fund to help Foster's wife and five children. Production was halted after Foster's death was discovered, and it resumed about 24 hours later with workers observing a moment of silence.
Also this week, Mike Warmbier passed away at age 63. Warmbier was a former business agent for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 601, the union representing building construction electricians in and around Champaign. In addition to his work for the local, Warmbier was also a secretary of the AFL-CIO building council and the chairman of the IBEW-NECA trust fund. Memorials for Mike Warmbier are being accepted by the St. Matthew Catholic Church building fund.
Exelon Merger, Job Cuts
If executives have their way, a corporate merger is coming to the Illinois power industry, and official labor organizations largely support the measure. Exelon Corporation already owns Commonwealth Edison and numerous nuclear power plants in Illinois. Now Exelon is lobbying the state legislature for fast-track approval of its bid to purchase Illinois Power--and to raise the price of electricity. A spokesman claimed that the corporation, which would hold an almost complete monopoly on power in Illinois, would raise rates by about six percent, despite some claims that power prices should actually fall after a rate freeze expires in 2006. Also, corporate mergers typically bring job cuts as another means of squeezing profit out of companies. When Exelon purchased the Clinton nuclear power plant in 2000, it laid off dozens of employees. Last week, the corporation agreed in writing not to fire more than 50 employees over the next five years, and it agreed to keep offices open in Decatur, Danville, and Kewanee. It also agreed to preserve benefits for current employees and retirees. Such promises likely explain why electrician locals holding contracts with Illinois Power are supporting the merger. The Illinois AFL-CIO supports the merger, as well, placing the union groups in partnership with groups typically hostile to unions, including the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Manufacturers' Association. Union spokespeople have said they support the merger because it will help their 401(k) plans and improve electric reliability. Some rank-and-file union members may be opposing the merger, however. News reports say that three separate handbills have been distributed, opposing the legislation and rate increases, pointing to the high profits that the utilities already make. The handbills claim to be authored by Illinois Power retirees and current employees concerned about potential layoffs and about their retirement benefits.
www.herald-review.com
www.news-gazette.com
Rescue workers try to reach trapped miners in southern Russian mine
In international news, a team of mine rescue workers dug ventilation tunnels Friday and tried to reach 46 coal miners trapped about a half-mile underground in a shaft in southern Russia, emergency officials said. The trapped miners were caught 2,500 feet underground when water from a subterranean lake leaked into a shaft above them on Thursday, blocking their way to the surface. Seventy-one miners were in the Zapadnaya mine in the Rostov-on-Don region, about 600 miles south of Moscow, when the accident happened, officials said. He said 25 miners managed to escape to other pits and reach the surface after the leak filled several shafts. Electricity in the mine was shut off, and the miners have low batteries and no food, Shkareda said. The trapped miners have little air, and the rescue teams were attempting to make special ventilation shafts. According to the ITAR-Tass news agency, it was the second such accident at the Zapadnaya mine this year. Water flooded the mine in February, but no people were inside at the time, the news agency said. Accidents are common in the Russian coal industry, and miners stage frequent protests over wage delays and declining safety standards. According to the Independent Coal Miners' Union, 68 miners were killed on the job in Russia last year and 98 in 2001.
***UDATE: As of Sunday night, 10/25/03, 33 of the stranded miners had been rescued, leaving 13 still underground.
Public Health Employees Organize
The News-Gazette reported on Friday that employees at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District have chosen union representation with AFSCME. According to union organizer Tara Macauley, a majority of the district's 90 employees signed union authorization cards and that the cards have been filed with the labor board. Under new legislation passed just this year, the employees do not need to hold an election but will automatically have union recognition once the signatures are verified by the Illinois Labor Relations Board. Macauley said that employees chose to have a voice at work after management arbitrarily changed pay and working conditions, demonstrating how little control unorganized employees have over their jobs. Tammy Hamilton, an administrative assistant, told the News-Gazette that she and other employees want to "have a voice at the table when it comes to things that affect us." The union will be certified within a few weeks. |
See also:
http://www.labourstart.org
http://www.ilir.uiuc.edu/lii/
|
