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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Labor Headlines 1-5-2002 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
05 Jan 2002
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From the IL Labor Hour, Sat. at 11 a.m. on WEFT. Oregon Home Care Workers Choose Union Representation, Part-Time Faculty Seeks Hike in Pay, Women's Sexual Harassment Class Action Alleges Rampant Conduct at Insurance Firm, Union: Prison Cafeteria Plan Unlawful, UAW Moves Against Local 2036 in Henderson KY |
Oregon Home Care Workers Choose Union Representation
The AFL-CIO's weekly on-line newsletter, "Work in Progress" reports this week that some 13,000 home care workers in Oregon now have a voice on the job with SEIU Local 503 following the results of a mail-ballot election in December. The caregivers had been trying to form a union for four years, seeking health insurance, training, workers' compensation, and wage improvements, but their efforts were stymied because they had no "employer of record" with whom to bargain. They were also concerned about standards of care for their clients and better access to qualified caregivers. Workers and their allies mobilized in the 2000 elections for a ballot initiative to create an employer: a statewide home care commission to serve as the employer. Voters passed the measure, the organizing campaign continued in 2001, and when given the choice of union representation, the home care workers took it. The margin of victory was 92 percent casting ballots in favor of the union and eight percent opposed.
Part-Time Faculty Seeks Hike in Pay
The Chicago Tribune reported on December 23 that part-time faculty members and adjunct instructors at the College of DuPage will begin negotiating their first contract in February. In early December, adjuncts and part-time professors voted to be represented by the College of DuPage Adjuncts Association, an affiliate of the Illinois Education Association. Spokespersons for the union say that a big issue in the talks will be salary increases, although the union also campaigned on numerous disparities between their jobs and part-time jobs at colleges with union representation. Those issues include the availability of meeting space, use of email and campus mail, class cancellation fees, a fair grievance procedure, and representation in campus governance. College officials acknowledge that part-timers are paid less than full-time faculty, but say they are not expected to meet the same performance standards as the full-time faculty. Part-time salaries at the College of DuPage are the third highest of all community colleges in the state. Officials with the Illinois Federation of Teachers charge that academic institutions in the state are using too many adjunct and part-time faculty, and want the state to limit the use of non-tenured faculty to 25% of all classes taught.
http://www.codaa.org/home.htm
http://www.codaa.org/union/comparison.htm
(Peter Miller works for the Illinois Education Association)
Women's Sexual Harassment Class Action Alleges Rampant Conduct at Insurance Firm
Showing of pornographic movies during meetings, groping, and gang rape are included among the charges filed by ten women against a major insurance corporation based in Chicago. The December 19 issue of the Employment Discrimination Report states that ten current and former female employees at Combined Insurance Co. of America filed a sex discrimination suit against the company on Dec. 13 alleging sexual harassment. Combined Insurance is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AON Corp., a major national insurance corporation which claimed $7.5 billion in revenues last year and ranks 247 in the Fortune 500 list of the nation's largest corporations. The women accuse Combined of maintaining a "fraternity party atmosphere" and engaging in, quote, "a shocking campaign of cruel, severe and pervasive sexual harassment and economic discrimination against its female workforce," unquote. In addition to showing pornographic movies, groping, and gang rape, the suit also alleges discrimination in pay and promotions. Attorneys for the plaintiffs are seeking class action status for the suit. Although AON provides insurance against sex discrimination cases, AON posted no response to the discrimination charges against themselves.
www.aon.com
Union: Prison Cafeteria Plan Unlawful
Privatizing cafeterias in prisons is not an option that the governor can use to bail the state out of its budget crisis, according AFSCME Council 31, which represents workers at state prisons in Illinois. AFSCME says that Gov. Ryan's plan to save $2 million by privatizing food service and commissary service in state prisons violates a state law which bans private prisons. The Private Correctional Facility Moratorium Act, passed in the 1980s, bans private companies from running prisons but permits them to provide services not directly related to owning, managing, or securing a prison. AFSCME contends that the definition of "security employee" includes non-security persons who are "responsible for the supervision and control of inmates", such as food and commissary supervisors who interact with inmates and may handle altercations. The Governor has said that no layoffs would occur because of the privatization, but AFSCME officials doubt that all affected workers could be reemployed elsewhere.
UAW Moves Against Local 2036 in Henderson, KY
The United Auto Workers will revoke the charter of a dissident local in Henderson, Kentucky on January 15, unless the members ratify a contract they've rejected before. UAW Local 2036 in Henderson, Kentucky went on strike at Accuride Corporation, a major supplier of steel wheels for trucks, in February 1998. The following month members voted to return to work without a contract but were locked out. According to local 2036, Accuride's contract proposal guts union rights, allows the company to alter the health insurance and pension programs at will, and lets the company subcontract work at their choosing. Under pressure from the international union, local 2036 was forced to vote on six such company proposals, and they rejected each one, the most recent in November 2001. The margin was 97 percent opposed to the contract. Two thirds of the 420 members cast ballots. Part of the explanation may be that under the proposal, only about one in four union employees would return to work, and replacement workers would be in charge of training the returning strikers. Local 2036 is asking for solidarity from their international union. They want the international to direct truck manufacturers not to use Accuride wheels until the labor dispute is settled, and they want their union sisters and brothers to strike if the truck makers refuse. Members of Local 2036 are calling for rallies on the day before the UAW revokes their charter. The rallies will take place on Monday, January 14 at Solidarity House, the UAW headquarters in Detroit, and in Kentucky.
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