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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Labor Hour Headlines 6-2-01 |
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by Peter Miller
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
02 Jun 2001
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Headlines as broadcast on the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturdays at 11 a.m. on WEFT 90.1 FM, Champaign. |
GM Bid for Daewoo Leaked: More Protests
A storm erupted in South Korea last week when a bid by General Motors to buy Korean car manufacturer Daewoo was leaked to the press. Talk about GM making the move had circulated for months in a wave of car company mergers that have included Chrysler merging with Daimler-Benz. That merger led to the firing of 26,000 workers in the United States, which may help explain the reaction of Korean workers to the buyout by GM. Korean workers have been taking action for over a year to fight Daewoo efforts to fire large numbers of employees, which included the firing of 30 percent of the company\'s 16,000 employees earlier this year. The actions have included numerous clashes with police. So when GM\'s eight hundred million dollar bid for Daewoo was leaked on Tuesday, a worker reaction was not surprising. This morning, Reuters news service reports that some ten thousand workers clashed with riot police in Seoul. Reuters says that, in addition to speaking out against GM\'s attempt to purchase Daewoo, many were protesting the violent repression of workers in early April as they attempted to enter one of Daewoo\'s factories. In addition on Thursday, five representatives from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions accepted an invitation by the United Auto Workers to protest outside GM\'s headquarters in the US. The Korean and American auto workers will begin their protests on Monday. The mass firings, police violence against workers, and offer to sell Daewoo can be traced to the Asian Financial Crisis and the ensuing restructuring of the South Korean economy which was mandated by the International Monetary Fund in 1998.
Chicago Teachers Union Select New Leader
The Chicago Tribune reported on a major change in leadership of one of the state\'s largest unions. Chicago teachers chose for their president Deborah Lynn-Walsh, an elementary school teacher who had been defeated 2 previous times. Lynn-Walsh will head the Chicago Teachers Union, succeeding Thomas Reece, who had served in that office for 7 years. Lynn-Walsh is a hard-line activist who accused Reece of being too close to management. The school board had recently made such pro-teacher moves as awarding a 1% one-time pay increase, shelving a plan to hire management school privatizing firm Edison Schools to oversee some troubled city schools, and delaying announcement of teacher layoffs at 5 high schools. The caucus headed by Lynn-Walsh, called ProActive Chicago Teachers and School Employees, garnered all but 8 seats on the union\'s executive board as well. The new president will take office on July 1.
UW Grad Assistants Strike
Graduate assistants at the University of Washington in Seattle are on strike. The Graduate Student Employee Action Coalition, which is affiliated with the United Auto Workers, went on strike early Friday morning after contract negotiations failed. The strike happens at a strategically critical time for the campus, as finals are set to begin on Monday. Administrators and faculty are talking about canceling or simplifying finals to complete the work that would have been done by the sixteen hundred graduate assistants, upsetting some students who claim that they are not getting the educations they paid for. The strike comes two weeks after union members voted 1061 to 100 to authorize a strike. Nearly three quarters of graduate assistants belong to the union. A strike was threatened last December after University of Washington administrators signed an agreement that included working together to pass legislation that formally allows graduate assistants to form a union, but those bills failed. Graduate assistants are demanding agreements on health insurance, work load, and job security. They are also demanding that the university recognize their union. The striking graduate assistants are receiving community-wide solidarity. The Seattle Times reports that the King County Labor Council, a local division of the AFL-CIO, will do whatever it can to help. Other campus unions have pledged to do whatever their contracts permit to support a strike. In many cases, this includes refusing to cross graduate assistant picket lines. Secretaries, food service workers, groundskeepters, and janitors are among the approximately 8,000 union members employed by the University of washington. In addition, Metro bus drivers have said they will not drive past picket lines onto campus.
American Flight Attendants may Strike
Flight attendants at American Airlines, the nation\'s largest carrier, have rejected binding arbitration as a means to reach a contract settlement. This opens the door for them to strike on July 1. A walkout on July 1 could disrupt traffic on the busy July 4 holiday weekend, causing large disruptions at Miami International Airport where American carries about half of the passenger volume. Negotiations are expected to continue to resolve the dispute, but if they do not reach an agreement, President Bush could establish a presidential emergency board which could delay a strike by 60 days. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants represents American\'s 23,000 flight attendants.
Minnesota Nurses Avoid a Strike
The Associated Press reports that a strike by thousands of registered nurses in Minneapolis-St. Paul was averted Friday morning after a night of furious negotiations that led to tentative agreements at seven hospitals. The nurses delayed their walkout so they could review the proposals and vote on them. The union bargaining team recommended ratification of contract at all but two of the hospitals, according to a spokesperson for the Minnesota Nurses Association. Union members overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer on May 17, saying nurses are stretched too thin to care for patients safely, and they need a higher first-year salary to recruit more people to the profession. Hospitals prepared for a strike by lining up non-union people to fill the strikers\' jobs. Union members said they were frustrated that replacement nurses were being offered higher pay than regular nurses.
State Budget Leaves Retired Teachers in the Cold
Contentious debate over a new state budget provided $300 million dollars for unspecified projects in members\' districts, but legislators did not resolve a health care crisis for 40,000 retired teachers. Health insurance for retired teachers will increase by 45 percent starting July 1 due to a major budget shortfall by Central Management Services, which administers insurance for retired teachers. The state Economic and Fiscal Commission reported that rising costs would lead to a $330 million deficit by 2005 if rates were not increased. Monthly premiums currently range from $83 to $270 per month, and they will rise by 45 percent on July 1, making the highest rate $390 per month. CMS says that another rate increase of 20 percent will be necessary next year.
Bunge Lauhoff, Union At Impasse
A federal mediator joined the negotiations between Bunge Lauhoff Grain Co. in Danville and striking workers represented by Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Local 6-0972 for a bargaining session on May 30, but no progress was made in the talks. Workers have been on strike for 3 weeks and have been maintaining a 24-hour a day picket line at the plant since the strike began. At issue in the strike are a number of items concerning wages, benefits, and concessions demanded by the company. A rally in support of the strikers was held on May 26.
Walgreens, Union To Extend Pharmacists Pact Deadline
In the hope of reaching an agreement, Walgreen Co. and its pharmacists, who are represented by the National Pharmacists Association, have extended their contract until June 6. At issue in the negotiations are staffing levels and wages. The pharmacists say that understaffing has led to long lines at the pharmacy departments and job stress, and they claim that Walgreen pharmacists are underpaid compared to pharmacists at other drugstores. Workers will remain on the job while talks continue.
Contract Dispute Pushes Powerton To Allow Strike
On May 25, employees at Powerton in Pekin, an electric generating plant owned by Midwest Generation, who are represented by IBEW Local 15, voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike if contract talks fail. A big issue in the dispute is whether there is currently a contract in effect. Midwest Generation maintains that, when it purchased Powerton and 6 other plants from Commonwealth Edison in December 1999, it was obliged by federal law to continue Comm Ed\'s exiting contract for another 30 months, or until June 2002. The union is following its existing contract with Comm Ed, which expired on April 1. Even though the company says that the contract is still in force, it has made 3 offers to the union, the latest of which provides for a 4% wage increase and a $2000 bonus. A hearing on the dispute before the National Labor Relations Board will be held on July 10. In the event of a strike the company plans to continue operations with non-striking employees.
Central Illinois Builders Settle with Basic Trades in 4 Percent Range
A set of new 3-year contracts covering building and construction trades workers in Springfield and Champaign-Urbana was negotiated between the Central Illinois Builders and the Springfield Building Trades Council in mid-April. Wage increases for bricklayers, plasterers and cement masons, ironworkers, laborers, and tile setters averaged about 4% per year. Earlier, a bargaining impasse between IBEW Local 601 in Champaign and the local chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association was settled by the industry\'s Council on Industrial Relations. The settlement provides for a wage increase of $4.40 per hour over 3 years and the establishment of a voluntary 401(k) savings plan. |
See also:
http://www.ilir.uiuc.edu/lii/
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