Publications

January 28, 2005

Successful search

In right-to-work (for less) Nebraska, members of the Bellevue City Association affiliated with the Nebraska Association of Public Employees (NAPE)/Local 61. The 102-worker unit was in search of a union that could help in the quest for better, longer-term contracts. After interviewing other unions, the group unanimously voted to join NAPE. Exec. Dir. Jim Lightner says his group has already signed up 74 members.

Special delivery

After a successful mail-in ballot, 29 child care workers from Romeo (Mich.) Public Schools have formed a union with Council 25. The workers — who voted more than 2 to 1 for AFSCME — are fighting for better pay and benefits, and improved staffing levels.

Another AFSCME death in Iraq

Marine Private First Class Brent Vroman, a correctional officer at the medium-security New Lisbon Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, was killed in action in Iraq on Dec. 13. Vroman, 21, belonged to Local 134 (Council 24). He reportedly was killed, along with a fellow member of his unit and an Iraqi man, by an explosive device planted inside a parked vehicle. The incident occurred in Yusufiyah, a town in Iraq's infamous "triangle of death." Survivors include Vroman's parents, three brothers, three sisters and fiancée.

Looking ahead

AFSCME has formally entered the vibrant debate among union leaders over how to strengthen the labor movement. Several unions have made proposals for change. Ours is in the form of a "white paper" that suggests specific ways of increasing working families' political power. The document deals solely with changes that unions should make in order to win elections. "Winning or losing in politics is what will make the difference in whether our members and all working families have health insurance, good jobs and a secure retirement," said President McEntee. Key proposals include investing resources to build an ongoing volunteer army of activists, mobilizing union members where they live and not just where they work, and replacing temporary funding measures with a substantial, permanent portion of the per capita tax paid by national unions. The paper can be found on the AFSCME web site.

ANTI-UNION FORCES struck hard at our members' rights in three states:

  • In Indiana, newly installed Governor Daniels (R) invalidated existing contracts with state workers and rescinded an executive order providing them with collective bargaining. That leaves nearly 25,000 workers, including some 8,500 represented by Council 62, unable to negotiate. The enabling executive order had been maintained for 15 years by a succession of Democratic predecessors. Daniels' action effectively revoked state employees' right to a legitimate voice in the workplace. Council 62 Exec. Dir. David Warrick (also an IVP) said the union will push for workplace improvements despite the governor's efforts.

  • In Missouri, Republican Governor Blunt's first executive decision was to rescind collective bargaining rights for another roughly 25,000 state employees, 6,000 of whom are represented by Council 72. The action sets the stage for a major battle with the state's unions. AFSCME's two state contracts run until 2006, and the union stands firmly behind them. Council 72's new executive director, Ken Jacob, declares, "It's our intent to enforce those contracts in court if they are breached."

  • In Oklahoma, a district court judge's ruling barred AFSCME from being certified as the collective bargaining agent for employees of the city of Enid. The workers vowed to appeal to the state supreme court. Enid officials had already challenged the constitutionality of a new law granting collective bargaining rights to municipal employees in cities of 35,000 or more.

A whopper of a settlement ...

...$6.7 million, to be exact. That's what Council 82 has received from the state of New York. The huge sum followed an arbitration decision that found the state in violation of collective bargaining agreement provisions concerning overtime. Council Pres. James Lyman and his colleagues then convinced the state to award $6.7 million in back pay to 82's 348 affected members - police officers and forest rangers who work for the Department of Environmental Conservation. The win is especially gratifying for two EnCon investigators, Steve Canfield and Joe Conroy. They spotted the shortfall in overtime pay, filed the grievances that eventually produced the settlement, but were subjected to serious management harassment in the process.

Winning work

The bipartisan American Association of Political Consultants has given its 2004 "Pollie" awards to several AFSCME projects. The "AFSCME Hope and Vote Campaign," designed to reach occasional and new women voters, won a bronze award in the phone-call category (produced by Stones' Phones). For the same campaign, we collected an honorable mention for website and e-mail outreach (produced by @dvocacy,Inc.). Going gold in the direct-mail category was "Missouri AFSCME Honor Student" (produced by BatesNeimand Inc.); that effort aimed to unseat a Republican state legislator who cut education funding. And winning silver in the radio-ad category was "Post," an AFSCME-funded spot adapted from an article about American troops frustrated by the lack of progress in Iraq (produced by the Campaign Group).


 

 

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