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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Labor Headlines 4-13-02 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
14 Apr 2002
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Headlines as broadcast during the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturdays at 11 a.m. on WEFT 90.1 FM, Champaign. Levi Strauss Lays Off 3600, US Prison Population Rises Again, Home- and Day-Care Workers Rally for Raises, Madigan Defends EIU Talks Role, NAACP, City Deadlocked on Retesting Firefighter Applicants, AFSCME: Prison Closings Will Jeopardize Guards, Inmates; 132 Corrections Workers Face Layoffs; OSHA Is Investigating Ailments at Alton Call Center |
NEWS:
Levi Strauss Lays Off 3600
Another major plant layoff was announced this week, as a high profile clothing manufacturer ceases virtually all production of its own products. Levi Strauss announced in a press release that it will close six US factories and cut 3600 jobs this year, as part of a three-year old plan to--quote--"focus more on being a marketing and product-driven organization rather than a manufacturer," unquote. Many brand name corporations, including Nike, Reebok, and even Hewlett Packard, no longer manufacture the products bearing the corporate logo; instead their products are manufactured by contractors that have few ties to the brand name corporation. Calling the decision "painful but necessary", CEO Philip Marineau stated that the company had no choice but to fire its employees. In response, workers rights activists gathered in San Francisco and called for Marineau to resign as CEO. Speaking at the rally was Global Exchange co-founder Medea Benjamin, who charged that the former Pepsi Cola's exec only skill is cutting jobs. Nikki Bas, director of the Oakland-based coalition called Sweatshop Watch, said the trend toward U.S. apparel firms using foreign plants reflects a lack of concern for U.S. workers as well as comparably low-paid workers in other countries, many of whom are denied basic freedoms and prevented from organizing in unions. Levi currently has contracts with about 500 plants in 50 countries, and after closing six more US factories, it will operate only two US factories, both in Texas.
http://www.levistrauss.com/news/pressrelease.asp?r=0&c=1&cat=0&pr=530&area=United+States
US Prison Population Rises Again
The US prison population reached nearly two million last year, according to an annual report released by the Justice Department last week. Government spokespeople were optimistic about the figure because it represented the smallest increase in imprisoned US citizens in nearly thirty years. Most of the new prisoners are in the federal system, due to "tough-on-crime" laws. The number of federal prisoners rose 7.2 percent. Longstanding racial and ethnic disparities remained, particularly among younger black men. For instance, over 13 percent of black males age 25 to 29 were in prison or jail, compared with 4 percent of Hispanic men and less than 2 percent of white males. The Sentencing Project, an advocacy group that promotes alternatives to incarceration, gave a mixed review to the report, noting that U.S. is still number one in incarceration, imprisoning more of its citizens than any other country. The Sentencing Project reports that the US tops Russia as the world leader in incarceration, with 690 prisoners per hundred thousand citizens, two percent more than Russia. The US rate is five to ten times higher than most nations in western Europe, which incarcerate their citizens at a rate ranging from 60-130 per 100,000.
http://www.sentencingproject.org/news/inmatepop-apr02.pdf
Home- and Day-Care Workers Rally for Raises
Last Thursday, over 150 homecare and daycare workers attended a rally at the capitol in Springfield organized by Local 880 of the Service Employees International Union supporting state-funded pay raises. The workers are demanding retention of the $1 an hour pay raise already included in Gov. Ryan's fiscal 2003 budget for homecare workers who serve the elderly plus 15% increases in pay for workers serving non-elderly persons. They also want the state not to reduce the number of hours of care for which clients are eligible. Legislators and union officials spoke on behalf of the workers.
State Journal-Register, April 12, 2002, p 21
Madigan Defends EIU Talks Role
The Chicago Tribune reported that Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan said last Wednesday that he did not act improperly in his two attempts to try to mediate a contract settlement between Eastern Illinois University and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399, which represents steam plant workers at the campus. Madigan explained that his office hosted 2 meetings last year with the EIU president and a union representative, but he made no promise of assistance to the IUOE in exchange for the union's support for the candidacy of his daughter, Lisa, for state attorney general. A new contract was negotiated between the IUOE and EIU in Sept. 2001. Negotiations between the university and the union were contentious, and the university president said that she was angry that union wage demands would have meant some union members were paid more than many faculty members at EIU. Madigan has turned over various documents regarding the matter in response to a federal grand jury subpoena.
Chicago Tribune, April 11, 2002, section 1, p 7
NAACP, City Deadlocked on Retesting Firefighter Applicants
Also on Wednesday last week, the president of the Springfield chapter of the NAACP said that the organization is at an impasse with the city of Springfield over the issue of retesting applicants for firefighter positions who failed the test last fall, and the NAACP is considering legal action. In January, the NAACP asked the city to allow the 26 of 27 women and 20 of 311 men who failed the physical agility examination to retake the test. The city, however, has refused, saying that the test is fair and reflects actual on-the-job conditions faced by firefighters. Both sides entered into a consent decree last September committing them to increasing the number of minority and female firefighters and police officers, and they have been meeting regularly to discuss how tests for applicants might be changed to achieve this.
State Journal-Register, April 11, 2002, p 15
AFSCME: Prison Closings Will Jeopardize Guards, Inmates
The closing of the Vienna Correctional Center and the Valley View Youth Center will jeopardize the safety of both guards and inmates, a representative of AFSCME Council 31 said on Monday. Gov. Ryan has called for the closing of these facilities by May 15, even though the state's budget contains funds to keep them operating until June 30, as part of measures to balance the state budget. About 700 jobs would be eliminated through the closings.
State Journal-Register, April 10, 2002, p 10
132 Corrections Workers Face Layoffs
On April 5, the Illinois Department of Corrections announced the layoffs of ninety correctional sergeants and forty five maintenance workers at dozens of prisons in the state. These layoffs are in addition to the 120 announced last week, but this is the first time that announced layoffs include prison security guards. Department spokespersons say the layoffs have been carefully chosen to ensure prison safety, but representatives of AFSCME, which represents workers at the prisons, say that the union is concerned that cuts target front-line security staff.
Peoria Journal Star, April 6, 2002, p B2
OSHA Is Investigating Ailments at Alton Call Center
Fire department rescue crews have been called to American Water Works Co.'s customer service call center in Alton 14 times in 10 months in response to employee complaints of chest pains, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is initiating an investigation into the possible causes. The company has also hired its own industrial hygienist to conduct an investigation. The call center is located on the site of the former Owens-Illinois glass plant near the Mississippi River.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 5, 2002, p B4
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See also:
http://www.ilir.uiuc.edu/lii/
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