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News :: Labor |
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Labor Headlines 10-4-03 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
(No verified email address) |
04 Oct 2003
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Headlines broadcast during the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturdays at 11 am on WEFT 90.1 FM, Champaign. Ullico Gets Cash Infusion, More Enron Employees Get the Boot, Campaigning Against FTAA Heats Up, Union Action Saves Cost of Living Adjustments for State Employees, Teamsters Allow Wrigley Cleanup Despite Strike, Nursing Home Employees Stage Picket Outside Facility, Overtime Pay Cut Defeated in House of Representatives |
Overtime Pay Cut Defeated in House of Representatives
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display/13562/index.php
Ullico Gets Cash Infusion
The scandal-plagued, labor-backed insurance company Ullico revealed on Wednesday that its union shareholders will invest another $50 million in the company to shore up the company's finances. The Washington Post reported that after a new audit showed Ullico losing an additional $20 million over the originally-reported $54 million in losses, the company's accounting firm refused to vouch for the company's solvency unless more money was invested. The new $50 million was the proof that PriceWaterhouseCoopers needed to declare the company solvent. Ullico sells insurance and asset management services to unions and their members. In May, its board kicked out its chairman, Robert A. Georgine--the president of the AFLCIO's building and construction trades department. It also kicked out 15 other board members, who were accused of reaping combined profits of more than $6 million from improper trading of Ullico stock. The board is currently headed by Laborer's union president Terrence O'Sullivan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31584-2003Oct1.html
More Enron Employees Get the Boot
The bankrupt energy company with extremely close ties to George W. Bush announced another round of layoffs this week. Enron Corporation, in the midst of what was the largest bankruptcy in the country, announced that 200 of the company's remaining 1200 employees will be laid off as the energy trading giant tries to emerge from bankruptcy. Tens of thousands of workers were forced to invest their retirement savings in Enron stock, which became worthless after it was learned that the company had lied about its performance. The current Army Secretary, Thomas White, headed Enron's "energy services" division during the California energy crisis, and investigations have shown that Enron played a large role in depriving the state of energy in order to make money for Enron. Ken Lay, the corporation's former CEO, is a close friend of George Bush and was the largest contributor to his first presidential election campaign. The newly laid-off employees will lose their jobs in December and February.
Campaigning Against FTAA Heats Up
Grassroots campaigning against the next corporate trade agreement is heating up across the United States. The Olympia, Washington newspaper wrote this week about labor and environmental groups who are boarding a bus for a tour across the United States to educate people about the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a hemisphere-wide expansion of NAFTA. The bus leaving from Seattle stopped outside a closed Miller Brewing Company facility to show how multinational corporations will abandon communities and also how trade agreements over-ride the rights of local, state, and national governments to create family-friendly and environmentally sound jobs. The bus is headed for Miami where trade representatives from 34 nations will meet shortly before Thanksgiving to finalize details for the FTAA. George Bush is a strong supporter of the FTAA. In a radio address earlier this month, Bush defended global trade as an engine for job growth. But global justice advocates say that the U.S. has lost more than 700,000 jobs directly attributable to NAFTA and that those jobs have been exported to low-wage countries. The AFL-CIO is participating in campaigns against the FTAA. On Sept. 24, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called on union leaders to mobilize their members to participate in the November rally and march in Miami. Workers also are demonstrating their opposition to FTAA by signing unofficial ballots opposing the trade deal. Local organizing against the FTAA is also underway. Planning meetings take place weekly at the Independent Media Center at 218 West Main in downtown Urbana. The meetings take place at 2 pm each Sunday.
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030930/business/112617.shtml
http://www.ucimc.org/feature/display/13519/index.php
http://www.aflcio.org/stopftaa
Union Action Saves Cost of Living Adjustments for State Employees
Thanks to their union, 2700 workers at the Illinois Secretary of State's office will receive cost of living increases that had been threatened due to the state budget problems. The raises were to have been given on July 1, but Governor Blagovegich cut the agency's budget, and that led to the pay freeze. Service Employees International Union Local 73 represents the workers, and they immediately began a campaign to restore their contractually-agreed raises. The campaign, which included gathering 60,000 petition signatures, succeeded not only in restoring the raise, but also in increasing the agency's budget to ensure that no facilities will be closed and no union members will be laid off. The pay raise, which is retroactive to July 1, will be delivered by the end of October.
www.seiu73.org
Teamsters Allow Wrigley Cleanup Despite Strike
The Chicago Tribune reported that despite a strike by garbage haulers in Chicago, city workers will be able to clean up trash around Wrigley Field where the Chicago Cubs are in the baseball playoffs. Teamsters Locals 731 and 301 have been striking since Wednesday over a wage dispute with the Chicagoland Refuse Haulers Association. The unions are seeking a $2 per hour wage increase in each of the next three years, while the haulers want to hold the increase to $0.75 for the next five years. Many news outlets are reporting about trash nearly overflowing from dumpsters around the city. It was good news for the Cubs when the Teamsters gave the city approval for picking up garbage around Wrigley. If the Teamsters had opposed the action, the city would have seen a backlash from other unions which demonstrate strong solidarity with one another.
http://www.teamster.org/03news/hn_031003_4.htm
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0310040155oct04,1,6993612.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Nursing Home Employees Stage Picket Outside Facility
On Oct. 1, employees at the Champaign County Nursing Home, who are represented by AFSCME Local 900-C, picketed outside the nursing home to call attention to the slow progress of their negotiations with the county board. The employees have worked without a contract for 10 months, and a union spokesperson said that he had been told that the county negotiators were moving slowly because the agreement could set a pattern for negotiations with other county bargaining units whose contracts expire Nov. 30. The county board's last offer provided for a 3-year contract with wage increases of 1%, 1.5%, and 2%. The union wants an increase for certified nurse's assistants, who receive only retirement benefits and who would see no wage increase during the entire contract, retention of the current 90-10 percent health insurance plan, and retention of the current vacation buyback option. The county has offered to pay 100% of employee health insurance costs if the county can establish the amount and is also seeking to abolish the vacation buyback plan.
Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, October 2, 2003, p B-1
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See also:
http://www.labourstart.org
http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl=fc&in=Business&cat=Labor_and_Union_News
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Comments
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Re: Labor Headlines 10-4-03 |
by SPFPA
SPFPAUNIONYES (nospam) AOL.COM (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
08 Oct 2003
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SECURITY OFFICERS UNION - SPFPA - JOIN US TODAY
1-800-228-7492
The SPFPA has approximately 20,000 active members in the United States, SPFPA is the largest International Union of Security, Police and Fire Protection Officers in America today!
The SPFPA Union Advantage in Pay and Benefits
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation - March 2001 (June 29, 2001)
Union workers earn more Wages and benefits for the average union worker in the private sector totaled $27.80 an hour in March of 2001. That compares with a total compensation package of $19.98 an hour for the average nonunion worker.
Wages and salaries increase...
The wage and salary portion of the average union worker's pay package rose from $16.87 an hour in March 2000 to $18.36 an hour in 2001. Wages and salaries for nonunion workers edged up more slowly, from $14.18 to $14.81 an hour. It would take a 24 percent pay hike for the average nonunion worker to equal the pay of the average union member.
...but benefits are the biggest union advantage
Benefits, though, are where the biggest union advantage lies. Across the board - but particularly when it comes to pensions and health care - union members enjoy a better benefit package than their nonunion counterparts. On average, negotiated benefits are worth $7.11 an hour for union workers, versus less than half that amount - just $3.53 an hour - for nonunion workers.
Retirement benefits for union workers far surpass those of nonunion workers.
The retirement and savings benefits received by union workers are worth an average of $1.52 an hour. For nonunion workers, the figure is just 51 cents. While defined benefit pension plans account for the bulk of union retirement benefits, they are virtually nonexistent for nonunion workers. But the union advantage isn't limited to traditional defined-benefit pensions - even 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans are better for union workers. The average union worker has a defined contribution plan worth 45 cents an hour, versus 40 cents an hour for the average nonunion worker.
More vacation, holidays and sick leave
Union workers receive more vacation, holiday and sick leave than nonunion workers do. The total value of paid leave for a union worker is $1.92 an hour, compared with $1.31 an hour for a nonunion worker.
Union advantage holds across occupations and industries
Blue-collar workers in manufacturing enjoy a substantial advantage from union representation - but so do workers in non-manufacturing settings. In fact, the union advantage holds across occupations and industries. For example, union workers in protective service jobs (such as security guards and corrections officers) earn $786 per week, compared with $502 for nonunion workers. That's a difference of 57 percent. Unionized clerical workers earn 29 percent more than clerical workers who do not have the advantage of union representation.
Union jobs are more stable
Although nearly 50 percent of union workers have been with their current employers for at least 10 years, only 22 percent of nonunion workers can make the same claim. Union workers have greater job stability, in part because they're more satisfied with their jobs, receive better pay, have better benefits and have access to fair bargaining agreements.
Even more important, most collective bargaining agreements protect union members from unjust discharge. Nonunion workers are "employees at will" who can be fired at any time for any reason - or for no reason.
The SPFPA has approximately 20,000 active members in the United States, SPFPA is the largest International Union of Security, Police and Fire Protection Officers in America today!
Specializing in the following Departments
Court Security Officers
Federal, State and County Buildings
GSA Governmental Contracts
Department of Defense NASA/Aerospace
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Correctional Facilities
Casino Hotel Industry Police
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For More Information on Joining SPFPA Please Contact Steve Maritas SPFPA Organizing Director at 1-800-228-7492 or Visit our Website at SPFPA.ORG |
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