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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Labor Hour Headlines 5-26-01 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller and Omar Ricks
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
26 May 2001
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News headlines as broadcast on the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturday at 11 a.m. on WEFT 90.1 FM, Champaign. |
Comair Strike Continues
The pilots\' strike at Comair, the nation\'s second largest regional airline, has taken another turn. With the strike succeeding in canceling all flights for the ninth week, managers have begun calling union members at home encouraging them to end their strike. The Air Line Pilots\' Association says that managers appear to be targeting pilots with sick family members who may be in greater need of their health insurance-which the company suspended for the strike--and encouraging them to go against their union leadership. In March, 99 percent of members voted to go on strike, and, two weeks ago, 91 percent of the airline\'s 1350 pilots rejected a mediator\'s contract proposal. Union leaders dismiss the management phone calls as a standard union-busting tactic, and they are discouraging members from taking the calls. Comair is owned by Delta Airlines which posted profits of $1.3 Billion last year.
NLRB HELPS WAL-MART KEEP ITS UNION BARRIER IN PLACE
On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board gave Wal-Mart a helping hand in fending off union organizers. A federal labor panel rejected an unfair labor practice complaint filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. The UFCW argued that since Wal-Mart allowed organizations like the Salvation Army and the Girl Scouts to solicit on its property, they should also allow union organizers to approach workers in the stores. The NLRB ruling says that Wal-Mart can discriminate against union organizers in giving access to the workplace. The labor board ruling isn\'t enough for some, however. Sen. Tim Hutchinson, a Republican from Wal-Mart\'s home state of Arkansas introduced a bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act to allow charities, but not unions, to solicit inside retail stores. The UFCW has been trying to organize workers at over 300 Wal-Mart stores since September 1999. Wal-Mart is the nation\'s second largest corporation, trailing only the super-corporation Exxon-Mobil in annual revenues. None of Wal-Mart\'s 1.1 million employees are protected by union contracts.
New Report on Nike Issues by Global Exchange
Sweatshop monitoring group Global Exchange has issues a 105 page report condemning Nike for failing to live up to its pledge to end sweatshop labor in factories that produce Nike products. Leila Salazar, the director of corporate accountability for Global Exchange said that Nike has continued to treat sweatshop abuses as a public relations issue rather than a serious human rights matter. The report cited six promises made by Nike CEO Phil Knight during a May, 1998 speech at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. There, Knight pledged to raise the minimum age of employees, improve safety standards, promote micro-loan businesses, and more. But three years later, Global exchange reports that Nike workers are still forced to work excessive hours in high pressure work environments, they are not paid enough to meet most of their basic needs, and are subject to harassment, dismissal, and violent intimidation if they try to form unions or talk to journalists about labor issues in their factories. Nike discounted the report, claiming that they have worked harder than any other corporation to improve conditions in their factories.
Investors Question Executive Salaries
More investors are questioning the outrageous salaries that chief executives award themselves, acording to a new report from the Investor Responsibility Research Center. The center, which monitors shareholder and management proposals, found that the number of shareholder proposals related to executive pay increased over the past year by 24 percent to 113 proposals. About one third of the propsals linked executive pay to a company\'s performance, while others sought to cap executive pay, tie salaries to environmental or social criteria or put limits on extravagant severance packages that some executives negotiate for themselves. While few of the proposals ever come to a vote, observers believe that the increasing frequency of such proposals indicates a growing displeasure with how executives are paid.
Workplace Rules Take Center Stage in Labor Disputes
Work rule changes at Peoples Gas in Chicago prompted members of Gas Workers Union Local 18007 to go on strike last Monday. The company wants to establish a Tuesday through Saturday workweek without overtime pay for Saturday for some repair employees, reduce some maintenance crews from 2 people to 1, to be able to assign employees with lower pay and less seniority to locate and mark underground pipe lines, and to assign non-union employees to do some clerical and service work. Peoples Gas has said it will not move from its last offer, and no negotiations are scheduled.
Chocolate Factory Blast Hurts 2
An explosion on May 19 at the Blommer Chocolate Factory in Chicago damaged walls and critically injured 2 workers. The workers were investigating machine alarms sounded by an industrial cocoa bean roaster when the roaster exploded, causing a fire that was extinguished within an hour. The city has closed the building until repairs can be made, and the accident is under investigation.
Sterling Steel Mill Announces Closure
Northwestern Steel and Wire Co., which is operating under bankruptcy protection, announced on May 18 that it will shut down its plant in Sterling beginning May 20, eliminating 1400 jobs and leaving about 2500 retirees without health insurance. The company had tried to find a buyer or to continue operating by working out deals with suppliers who were unwilling to ship materials unless they were paid, but without success.
Religious Leaders Join UI Union Effort
Chancellor Aiken will meet with the religious and labor leaders to discuss the university\'s stance toward unions. The Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice of Champaign County, which was formed last November, asked to meet with University of Illinois Chancellor Michael Aiken to discuss labor relations at the University. The group is part of a national movement of religious, labor, and community leaders working to improve workers\' wages and working conditions. The letter to the Chancellor says the University is perceived to be very anti-union and asks that the University cease activities that undermine workers\' freedom to choose union representation and to recognize that bargaining in good faith is both a legal right and a moral imperative. Chancellor Aiken reportedly contacted a member of the committee to set a meeting time. The Committee has also asked to meet with James Stukel, the President of the University, but have not received a response from him.
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