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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Labor Hour Headlines 5-12-01 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller and Omar Ricks
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
12 May 2001
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Headlines as broadcast at 11 a.m. on the Illinois Labor Hour on WEFT 90.1 FM in Champaign. |
Labor Hour Headlines 5/12/01
Sweeney Criticizes Bush, Democrats
The labor reporter for the Associated Press took note last week when AFL-CIO President John Sweeney evaluated the first hundred days of Bush\'s presidency. Sweeney said, quote, \"Which adjective should I use? The administration in its first one hundred days has been most responsive to the heavy contributors and supporters in their own campaign and has favored business and employers far more than it has addressed the issues of workers,\" unquote. But more than Sweeney\'s attacks on Bush, the writer noted his warnings to the Democratic party, which included suggestions that Democrats who support George Bush\'s anti-worker programs will face challenges in upcoming election primaries from pro-labor candidates. Sweeney was also critical of the Democrats\' disorganization in opposing the Republican agenda. To fill the void, the AFL-CIO has already launched new programs to mobilize union members, a move which some hope will turn into a continuous grassroots labor campaign.
Harvard Sit-in Ends
A twenty-one day sit-in for economic justice, staged by students at Harvard University, ended on Tuesday. On April 18, forty-six undergraduate and graduate students occupied the President\'s office at Harvard, demanding that the institution pay its employees no less than $10.25 per hour, the amount of money needed to simply get by in Boston. In 2000, Harvard paid its employees as little as $7.50 per hour, and it has outsourced work to contractors who pay as little as $6.50. At the end of the sit-in, Harvard administrators did not agree to immediately increase wages, but they did agree not to sub-contract any more work until a new committee\'s recommendations have been presented. The committee will advise the president on university employment practices for lower-wage workers. More significantly, perhaps, the protesters drew worldwide attention to the plight of low-wage workers at Harvard, the world\'s wealthiest educational institution, and to low wage workers across the United States. In related news, on Friday night, a student sit-in at the University of Connecticut ended after only fifty five hours. Eight students occupied the president\'s office, and their sit-in ended when the university agreed to improve pay for janitors and not to hire subcontractors to replace union service workers without at least six months prior public notice.
http://www.livingwagenow.com/
Delta Threatens Mass Firing of Striking Pilots
The Washington Post reported last night that striking pilots at Comair, the nation\'s largest regional air carrier, received not-so-veiled threats from their top executives who want pilots to accept a federal mediator\'s contract proposal. Comair is owned by Delta airlines. The president of Delta said he would, quote, \"take whatever actions are necessary\" if the pilots reject the contract. While he didn\'t say that Delta would sell off the subsidiary, he didn\'t rule out a nearly equal possibility, that other Delta subsidiaries might take over the flights currently handled by Comair. Another option hinted at by Delta\'s president was selling off all of Comair\'s jets. Either option would leave five thousand people looking for work, including thirteen hundred fifty pilots. The Delta president also said he would not return to negotiations if pilots reject the current offer. Comair pilots went on strike on March 26 after working for nearly three years without a contract. The pilots seek pay equity, a retirement plan, more rest between shifts, and pay for non-flying hours when they\'re on duty. The union bargaining team did not endorse the proposal currently under consideration, which includes wage increases for lowest-paid pilots from twelve thousand to sixteen thousand dollars per year, but which also transfers medical expenses to employees. Delta is among the two hundred largest corporations in the nation, and its posted profits of one point three billion dollars last year.
Bush Launches Fast Track Fight-AFL-CIO Lays Out Principles
As soon as his budget had sailed through Congress, easily securing the Democratic votes he\'ll need to give a 1.4 trillion dollar tax cut to the wealthy, George Bush launched his effort to negotiate more trade deals. On Friday, George Bush sent a letter to congresspeople telling them that he wants fast track negotiating authority. Fast track, which has been re-named \"presidential trade promotion authority\", grants the president the right to negotiate trade deals that congress must either accept or reject, but not change. Bush will need \"trade promotion authority\" to complete the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and negotiate other trade deals. Labor and environmental groups successfully persuaded Congress to deny the authority to President Clinton after it expired in 1994. Bush is talking about labor and environmental issues, acknowledging the difficulty he\'ll have persuading congress to hand him trade negotiating authority. But later on Friday, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney criticized Bush\'s proposals as, quote, \"fundamentally hollow,\" unquote, adding that Bush offers, quote \"no more than lip service on the question of human and environmental rights,\" unquote. Sweeney went on to list key principles to be addressed before expanding trade negotiating authority, including inclusion of ENFORCEABLE workers\' rights and environmental standards in the core of all new trade agreements, easy access to information about what is being negotiated, that trade agreements must not undermine public services or public health, and corporations must not be allowed to sue governments. The White House did not immediately respond to the AFL-CIO\'s declaration.
Supreme Court Narrows Civil Rights
In yet another five to four decision, the Supreme Court issued a decision that will make it much harder for victims of discrimination to win lawsuits. The newly-restrictive ruling was written by the court\'s most conservative member, Antonin Scalia. Until now, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allowed people to sue federally-funded institutions such as state or local governments or federal agencies if a their policies had the effect of discriminating. The court\'s new decision forces plaintiffs to show that discrimination is the intended result of a policy, in effect requiring a smoking gun such as a written statement saying, for example, \"we need this policy to keep black people out.\" Civil rights attorneys say that the ruling could have dramatic impacts, permitting states to provide in-equitable school funding, allowing more pollution in poor communities, or permitting fewer opportunities for women to play college sports. The conservative Heritage Foundation praised the decision saying that it helps end affirmative action.
(See NYT, April 25, 2001, \"Supreme Court Limits Scope Of a Main Civil Rights Law\", LINDA GREENHOUSE)
ARBITRATOR SUPPORTS LIMITED REHIRE OF BASEBALL UMPIRES
An arbitrator ruled on Friday that Major League Baseball must rehire nine of 22 umpires who resigned in an abortive 1999 strike attempt. The failed 1999 strike reflected weak support from members of the umpire\'s union, and gave league owners a decisive advantage needed to break the union. In September, Major League Baseball offered to rehire 10 umpires at the major league level, with other hired at the minor league level and still others forced into retirement. Commissioner Bud Selig said that he was \"at a loss\" to understand the arbitrator\'s ruling, and said that the league will consider taking further action.
COUNTY SUPERVISOR ATTACKED FOR SUPPORT OF PRO-UNION CONTRACT PROVISION
A county supervisor in California has come under attack for promoting union wages in a county building project contract. Several non-union contractors in Bay Area California have mailed 7,500 local business owners, urging them to protest county supervisor Donna Gerber\'s push for union wages and benefits in the contract. One of the contractors said that the provision has caused five non-union contractors to drop their bids, and that the provision is an unfair attempt to return market share to unions at the expense of what he termed \"family-owned businesses.\" Gerber said that the attack is the work of anti-union forces who want her to fail in her bid for a state Assembly seat in 2002. Contra Costa county has used union wage provisions in the past when accepting bids on its projects.
Independent Media Subpoenaed in Ohio
In another strike against a free and independent press, the FBI served a subpoena to the owner of an Ohio-based independent media website on Tuesday, May 8. The subpoena directed the person to appear before a grand jury and to hand over information about who had posted news articles to the site. The Independent Media Center reports that the news posting at the Ohio Valley IMC includes what might be interpreted as a threat to Cincinnati Police Officer Steve Roach. On May 7, Officer Roach was indicted on misdemeanor counts for his role in the April 7 shooting of un-armed African American Timothy Thomas. The Thomas shooting sparked a wave of protests in the city, and the misdemeanor charge is widely seen as a mere slap on the wrist. This FBI subpoena against the Ohio Valley Indpendent Media Center comes shortly after the Seattle IMC was served with similar orders from the federal government. The owner of the Ohio IMC says that his software does not keep the information that the FBI seeks. For more information about this story, tune in to Radio Free Conscience tomorrow at 10 a.m on WEFT.
Downtown Chicago Building Guards Have New Contract
Twelve hundred security guards employed by the Chicago Building Owners and Managers Association have a new three year contract. The contract between SEIU local 1 and the building owners provides for wage increases up to $1.10 per hour over the life of the contract plus promotion opportunities, an additional paid holiday for Martin Luther King\'s birthday, an additional week of vacation for employees of 25 years or more, increased pension and health benefits, and the development of a training program.
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One more... |
by Peter Miller
peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
12 May 2001
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Bunge-Lauhoff Workers May Strike
When the votes were counted on Friday, only one of two hundred eighty two votes was in favor of a contract presented to union employees at Bunge Lauhoff Grain Company in Danville. The members of Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, and Energy Workers local 6-0972 also voted to strike if no contract is reached by 11 p.m. this Wednesday. A union press release says that the contract offer is unacceptable because it calls for wage freezes and cuts, it increases subcontracting, exempts some people from the grievance process, and makes work rules and safety codes subject to change on a daily basis. The union's contract expired on March 31 and has been extended twice since then.
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