Publications

July 22, 2005

Reporting organizing wins in ...

Connecticut, where Council 4 has two new bargaining units. Eighty paraprofessionals employed by the Stonington Board of Education became a union through voluntary recognition. And a 32-person unit of Weston Town Hall employees voted 21-7 to join up. Massachusetts, where a 48-worker unit of paraprofessionals at the Ayer School District in Middlesex County voted 31-6 to form a union with Council 93.

Straightening out U.D.W.A.

AFSCME has placed its San Diego-based affiliate, the United Domestic Workers of America-NUHHCE, under an administratorship. The action follows an AFSCME Judicial Panel finding that UDWA Pres. Ken Seaton-Msemaji and Sec.-Treas. Fahari Jeffers "mismanaged the union's finances, drove the 60,000-member UDWA to the brink of bankruptcy, and covered their tracks with shoddy and deceptive bookkeeping." The two leaders tried to block AFSCME's action, but a federal district judge ruled against them. Flora Walker, our Western Regional Director, has been named administrator of the affiliate. Walker called the judge's decision "a first step toward putting UDWA on firm financial footing and strengthening the union in every way."

AFSCME power at work

Council 31 members employed by the City of Chicago have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new contract that will raise wages a hefty 12.75 percent over the life of the agreement, which is retroactive to July 1, 2003, and runs until June 30, 2007. Council Exec. Dir. (and IVP) Henry Bayer says the deal "provides a fair wage increase and retroactive pay, keeps health care coverage strong and affordable, and improves the working environment for the thousands of AFSCME-represented frontline city workers who do so much to make Chicago the livable city it is." The union represents 5,000-plus city workers.

Close call

Also in Council 31's territory, a planned strike this month by more than 350 health care workers at Illinois state prisons has been averted. The employees were about to walk out over stalled contract negotiations (with Wexford Health Sources Inc.) when the state decided to cancel the company's contract to provide medical, dental and mental health care to inmates at 23 facilities. Health Professionals Limited, which provides health care in nine correctional institutions organized by AFSCME, has temporarily taken over the Wexford contract. The firm has entered negotiations with the union.

Saving their workplace

In a selfless effort to prevent more layoffs, members of Milwaukee Public Museum Local 526 (Council 48) agreed to a new two-year contract that includes pay cuts and increased employee contributions to health insurance and retirement plans. Richard Abelson, the council's executive director, said a financial scandal involving the museum's administration forced the union to accept cutbacks — including the loss of 60 jobs. "Had we not engaged in concessionary negotiations, along with the banks and other institutions, the museum would likely have closed its doors," Abelson explained. The union, which represents about 200 museum employees, got management to agree that no more than six more employees would be laid off and that workers will be given two seats on the board of directors.

R.I. says OK

Members of Rhode Island Council 94 voted by a 3-to-1 margin to ratify a new four-year contract, retroactive to June 30, 2004, that provides 4 percent raises in each of the first two years and 3 percent hikes over the next two. In addition, the deal calls for a 3.5 percent retroactive increase on overtime earnings over the past year.

No surrender

City employees throughout Oklahoma have vowed to keep fighting for collective bargaining following a state supreme court ruling that struck down a 2004 state law allowing municipal employees to organize in cities with populations of more than 35,000 people. The court, by a 5-4 vote, said the law is unconstitutional because it applies only to the 11 cities that met that threshold. The four dissenting justices noted that it represents an abrupt departure from 80 years worth of supreme court decisions on municipal governance. AFSCME is considering appealing to the court to reconsider its ruling. Nevertheless, the employees affected will be working to convince their municipalities that they should voluntarily bargain collectively.

Making lone-star history

For the first time ever in Texas, non-uniformed, non-civil service public employees have the right to bargain for a contract. A new law signed by Governor Perry (R) allows some 14,000 Houston city employees to negotiate under meet-and-confer rules. AFSCME had been working for two decades to pass the bill, which the state Senate approved unanimously and the House backed by a 98-52 vote. The new rules allow either side to walk away from talks at any time — amounting to what Dee Simpson, Texas political/legislative director for AFSCME, calls "collective bargaining with certain caveats."

Voice of Amer ... uh, Hong Kong

Even our government is being outsourced: Voice of America recently decided to move part of its late-night news operation to Hong Kong. The result could be foreign workers delivering Uncle Sam's messages to the world. Some lawmakers and unions are protesting.


 

 

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