Family-Friendly Workplaces

Today’s report by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and the Labor Project for Working Families comes at a seminal moment for the debate on economic and labor law reform in this country. This report emphasizes a crucial point - - that unions help families at a time when workers are forced to work more hours in an increasingly unstable environment, and as the social system in our country is being chipped away.

A unionized workplace dramatically helps working families. According to the report, unions increase compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act, ensure paid sick leave for employees and their children, and increase the likelihood that health care is covered for families. As corporations force working people to work longer and spend more time away from their home, unions are key to creating an economy that works for everyone and ensuring that workers have flexibility in handling their family and work responsibilities. Corporations have spent billions to try to eliminate benefits like paid sick leave, time off, and health care coverage. Without workers’ freedom to form and join unions, corporations will continue to chip away at the family-friendly practices that help working people across the country.

To download “Family-Friendly Workplaces: Do Unions Make a Difference?” go to http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu or
http://www.working- families.org

--Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney

1,500 Arkansas Workers March for Free Choice

On Saturday July 11th, national labor leaders joined over 1,500 Arkansas workers in Little Rock for a rally in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, which will restore workers’ freedom to join a union and bargain for a better life.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker, the first African-American executive officer of the AFL-CIO and widely known civil rights leader, joined other national labor, civil rights, and faith leaders in an historic march and rally. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka, Arkansas AFL-CIO President Alan Hughes, Communications Workers of America Secretary-Treasurer Jeff Rechenbach, and Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard led hundreds of union and faith and civil rights activists in the first of its kind demonstration in Little Rock.

Early Saturday morning, members of the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council and workers from all over Arkansas traveled to meet at Central High School. There, they remembered the sacrifices and contribution of the Little Rock 9 to freedom for all people in America. Led by Arkansas ministers, the assembled marched to another rally on the steps of the State Capitol featuring local faith leaders and local elected leaders in an even louder call for Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act. The marchers concluded with an old-fashioned Arkansas catfish fry at the adjacent Arkansas Education Association building.

Workers across America have launched the largest grassroots mobilization effort since the November election to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill will provide workers with a greater voice on the job and will allow them to bargain collectively for higher wages, benefits, and job security. It would additionally allow for workers to join a union through majority sign up and take away the right of corporations to demand a ballot election, giving the choice of majority sign-up or an election to the workers.

20,000 Faculty Gain Bargaining Rights

More than 20,000 faculty members at two midwestern universities are one step closer to good union contracts. Yesterday, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed the state’s biennial budget, which includes a provision [1] extending collective bargaining rights to more than 20,000 University of Wisconsin (UW) faculty, academic staff and research assistants.

The same day, some 430 instructors and adjunct faculty at Western Michigan University (WMU) [2] voted for the Professional Instructors Organization (PIO), an [3] AFT affiliate, to represent them.

The University of Wisconsin victory capped a 40-year effort by faculty members to gain a better life by joining a union. The new law extends to 6,600 full-time, tenured and tenure-track faculty and 13,100 academic staff, which includes part-time and full-time lecturers, adjuncts, advisers, IT technicians and others. Another provision gives 3,200 research assistants the right to determine whether they want representation through the state’s first majority sign-up process.

The UW academics were the only nonmanagement public employees in the state without bargaining rights—until now. AFT-Wisconsin President Bryan Kennedy credits the continued building of workers’ political strength for the victory.

We’ve had the same legislation introduced in the three previous legislative cycles. Each time, we’ve had a chance to educate people and bring them around.

At Western Michigan University, the PIO soon will begin discussions with the WMU administration about better working conditions. Many instructors at WMU have not received any salary increase for 12 years.

Says Karl Schrock, who teaches in WMU’s School of Music:

We are confident that our organizing will help university leaders to see that part-time faculty are an essential component (along with tenure-line faculty and graduate teaching assistants) in the educational enterprise at WMU. We look forward to working with the administration to improve communication, faculty recognition and long-term planning for the university’s mission in ways that will benefit students and the university community as a whole.

These wins follow [4] several other votes in Michigan over the past two years. During that time, new unions representing contingent faculty and graduate employees have formed at Michigan State University, Central Michigan University, Henry Ford Community College and Wayne State University, all affiliated with AFT Michigan.

Article reprinted from AFL-CIO NOW BLOG: http://blog.aflcio.org/

URLs in this post:
[1] extending collective bargaining rights: http://www.aftface.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=546
[2] voted for the Professional Instructors Organization: http://www.aftface.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=547&Itemid=63
[3] AFT: http://www.aft.org/
[4] several other votes: http://www.aftface.org/index.php?option=com_search&Itemid=52&searchword=michigan&searchp
hrase=any&ordering=newest

National Health Care Reform

Coming from unions, community organizations and all walks of life, nearly 10,000 supporters of health care reform gathered on Capitol Hill today to send a strong message: We demand affordable, high-quality health care for all, and we aren’t waiting any longer.

Every corner of the Upper Senate Park on Capitol Hill was filled this afternoon with union members, health care advocates and community activists from across the country, and they heard from not only members of Congress and union leaders, but also from nurses, small business owners, workers and parents who told compelling stories about why we need health care reform.

Like all of the speakers, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker expressed confidence that we can move from an unsustainable health care system to one that protects families and covers everyone:

Health care without cost control will not work. Health care without a quality public option to lower costs is totally unacceptable.

Many rally participants are spending this afternoon at town hall meetings and on Capitol Hill lobbying members of Congress for real health care reform. In addition to the strong turnout of union members and community organizers, groups including Working America and Democracy for America brought tens of thousands of signatures they’ve collected from people across the country who say we’ve waited long enough for health care reform.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown said despite determined opposition from the insurance companies that control our health care now, we have an opportunity to build on and improve our health care system:

Special interests and the health insurance industry will not hijack this process. We must have and we will have a strong public option.

Pennsylvania Rep. Allyson Schwartz said we need health care reform that controls costs to recover from today’s economic crisis:

This is such an important issue for all of us. It’s always been a moral responsibility, but it’s increasingly an economic imperative.

Other rally speakers included union leaders President Gerald McEntee of AFSCME and President Larry Cohen of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), members of the House and Senate, actress Edie Falco, former Gov. Howard Dean and leaders of a wide variety of grassroots organizations.

Confirm Sotomayor

The International Executive Board of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has unanimously declared its support for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, and promised to help secure her confirmation by the Senate.

“President Obama’s nomination of distinguished Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is the right move for our nation,” said AFSCME President Gerald McEntee. “Judge Sotomayor is exactly the kind of experienced, capable and fair jurist the working men and women of this nation need to serve on our highest court.”

“Judge Sonia Sotomayor has worked to preserve the rights of workers to receive fair pay, health benefits, and to be free of workplace discrimination,” said McEntee. “The Senate should promptly confirm Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.”

Call Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, and ask them to vote to confirm Judge Sotomayor's nomination. You can reach their offices at (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

UA Putting Employees Last

Some staff members at the University of Arkansas will get small raises for the next school year, but they still won’t earn what the new statewide pay plan for classified employees says they should.

There are 1,577 classified employees at the university. The plan gives a boost to 386 of those employees making less than the entry-level wage, but in some cases they will still be below the entry level wages. Faculty members will not receive any raises this year.

Chancellor David Gearhart made a big deal about not raising tuition and only slightly raising student fees. “We believe this to be the only responsible course of action for us to take to support our students and their families during these difficult economic times,” said Gearhart in a letter to university employees.

Chancellor Gearhart did not say what he thought would be a responsible course of action for him to take to support faculty, staff, and their families during these difficult economic times.

Academics for Employee Free Choice

University of Arkansas faculty from the J William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences held a news conference on campus today. They joined university and college teachers, scholars, and research scientists from both public and private higher education institutions across Arkansas, who are calling for public policy decisions to be informed by facts. Unfortunately, the current national debate on enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act has been distorted by unsupported assertions that ignore the available empirical evidence.

Arkansas Academics for Employee Free Choice today released copies of two recent studies that directly touch on arguments being made in the national debate. The first refutes the claim that the current process is working and documents increasing employer hostility to organizing efforts (No Holds Barred). The second is a survey of four states where majority sign-up is working, and it found no instances of intimidation by either employers or unions (Majority Authorization and Union Organizing in the Public Sector). "In brief, from 2003-2009 in the states studied, a total of 34,148 public sector workers employed in state, county, municipal and educational institutions voluntarily joined a union. Most importantly, contrary to business claims, in 1,073 cases of union certification and in at least 1,359 majority-authorization campaigns, there was not a single confirmed incident of union misconduct". They expressed their hope that Senator Pryor and Senator Lincoln will take the time to review these studies and become better informed by the facts.

In addition, a recent article from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that points out another failure of the current process that can be remedied by the Employee Free Choice Act. Even when employees vote for union representation under current NLRB rules, there is no requirement that employers negotiate in good faith or in a timely manner. Following the article is a timeline documenting the history of one corporate employer that refused to meet with employees for over nine years, and only did so after being ordered to do so by the courts and a long, unnecessary, and expensive legal battle. EFCA would encourage more timely good faith negotiation to avoid arbitration.

Academics for Employee Free Choice sent a letter to Senators Pryor and Lincoln. It is signed by more than 40 academics from across Arkansas, including 18 at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The letter clearly explains the reasons why they support enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act to make sure that the economic recovery includes everyone and allows working families to share in the American Dream of a better life for themselves and their children.

AFSCME Local 965 members Betty Martin, Michael Pierce, Lindsley Smith, Trish Starks, and Stephen Smith were among those attending and participating in today's news conference.

This Date in Arkansas Labor History

May 31, 1936. St. Francis County Judge E. A. Rolfe and Sheriff J. M. Campbell ask Governor Futrell to send Arkansas National Guard to put down Southern Tenant Farmers Union strikers asking for higher wages.

May 31, 1960. Local Union No. 131 of the Glass Bottle Blowers Association (AFL-CIO) prevails in federal court, enforcing arbitration for claim of wrongful discharge of a union member by Arkansas Glass Container Corp.

May 31, 1965. Arkansas Supreme Court holds that involuntarily unemployed workers of the International Shoe Company were entitled to unemployment benefits denied by company after two-week shut-down of two plants in 1963.

Labor Vigil in Fayetteville

The Northwest Arkansas Labor Council joined with the NWA Workers Justice Center, UA Students Against Sweatshops, and the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology for a labor action in support of enacting the Employee Free Choice Act. Twenty-six workers and supporters walked an informational picket line outside Senator Blanche Lincoln's office in the Federal Building at Fayetteville this afternoon, asking the Senator to stand up for working families and make sure that the economy works for everyone.

Senator Lincoln is one of the few Democratic members of the U.S. Senate who has refused to support the Employee Free Choice Act, despite the fact that the Washington County Democratic Central Committee, the Senior Democrats of Northwest Arkansas, the Washington County Democratic Women, and the UA Young Democrats have all overwhelmingly adopted resolutions asking her to co-sponsor the legislation and vote for cloture to stop the Senate Republicans from preventing a vote on the bill.

AFSCME Local 965 members Kasey Walker, Michael Pierce, Mark Swaney, Larry West, and Stephen Smith were among those participating in todays informational picket to remind Senator Lincoln that a majority of Americans support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Michael Pierce to Senator Lincoln

Please, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, change your mind on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Earlier this month, Lincoln announced that she would oppose the Employee Free Choice Act, an AFL-CIO-supported initiative that would simplify the process by which the National Labor Relations Board would certify unions as the collective bargaining agents for workers. Rather than holding costly, complicated and often drawn-out elections, the NLRB would certify a union when more than 50 percent of the employees sign union cards - a method commonly called "card check."

The best way to help Arkansans in these troubled economic times is to put more money in the pockets of those who go to work every day, and making it easier for people to join labor unions would do just that. In 2006 and 2007, unionized workers in the state - there are about 80,000 of them - averaged $17.29 per hour, and non-union workers made but $12.70 an hour. In other words, union workers made 36 percent more than non-union workers. Even within the same job categories, unionized workers make more.

In Little Rock, workers at Kroger grocery stores earn about 25 percent more than their counterparts at Wal-Mart. This is because the union that represents Kroger workers - the United Food and Commercial Workers - sees to it not only that its members receive a living wage but also that they cannot be fired for simply having accrued too many seniority raises or reaching an age that causes insurance rates to rise.

Since consumer spending represents about two-thirds of our nation's economic activity, making it easier for workers to join unions would also create more jobs - the very thing that Lincoln says is her top priority. With more money in their pockets, union families would spend more on food, clothing, computers and books, and this increased demand for goods would stimulate the economic growth needed to get the nation back on a sound economic footing.

Recent surveys suggest that more than half of American workers would join unions if given the opportunity. But currently about 12 percent of the nation's workers are union members. The major reason for this disparity is simple: the process by which the National Labor Relations Board certifies unions provides too many opportunities for companies to coerce those seeking to join unions. Elections to certify unions are held on company premises. Employers threaten their employees that they will lose their jobs if the union is certified. Legal challenges drag out the process in hopes that employees will give up in their attempt to organize, and workers are often forced to sit through sessions designed to intimidate them. This is the process that the Employee Free Choice Act seeks to simplify.

The opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act - among the most strident are Wal-Mart, The Home Depot and bailout poster child Bank of America - have been disingenuous in their opposition. Instead of telling people the real reason that they oppose card check - they don't want to pay their employees higher wages and they want to be able to fire workers without due process - these companies have hid behind claims of wanting to preserve the "secret ballot."

Arkansans should remember, though, that the secret ballot does not guarantee free or fair elections. For political elections, the state introduced the secret ballot (also called the Australian ballot) in 1892 specifically to stop blacks and poor whites from voting. A Democratic campaign song that year explained:

The Australian ballot works like a charm,

It makes them think and scratch,

And when a Negro gets a ballot

He has certainly met his match.

As Harvard University historian Jill Lepore has written, "The year after Arkansas passed its Australian-ballot law, the percentage of black men who managed to vote dropped from 71 to 38." The total white vote declined by more than 25 percent, with the poor making up most of those disenfranchised. In other words, history makes clear that the secret ballot can be used to some very undemocratic ends.

A strong labor movement is good not only for union members but for all Arkansans. Over the course of the 20th century, the Arkansas labor movement was at the forefront of nearly every positive reform in the state, reforms that were denounced as "too radical" by the economic elite at the time but are now taken for granted. In the century's first two decades, the Arkansas State Federation of Labor helped push through direct legislation, child labor laws, educational reforms, women's suffrage, maximumhours laws and minimum-wage legislation. In the 1930s, it was the architect of the state's workers' compensation and unemployment plans. In the postwar years, it led the way in integrating public facilities, increasing aid for education, fighting for the repeal of the poll tax and opposing the doctrines of nullification and interposition that the segregationists wanted to use to keep African-Americans second-class citizens.

A vibrant labor movement is Arkansas' best hope for a progressive future.

· · ·

Dr. Michael Pierce is an assistant professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he teaches Arkansas history and serves as associate editor of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly. He is a member of AFSCME Local 965.

This entry originally appeared in the Benton County Daily Record, May 10, 2009.

Women Workers Less Likely to Have Secure Retirement

Women workers are less likely than men to have enough money to retire comfortably because they generally live longer than men and earn less on the job, according to a new report. It will take a three-pronged approach to help women have a secure retirement, the report says: traditional pensions, supplemental 401(k)-type savings and Social Security.

“Shattering the Retirement Glass Ceiling: Women Need a Three-Legged Stool,” released this month by the non-profit research group National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS), found that because of her longer life expectancy, a woman with an annual income of $50,000 would need to save $1,000 more toward retirement every year than her male counterpart to have an equal retirement experience. Yet, more than 45 years after the Equal Pay Act was signed, women in the United States still earn only 78 cents for every dollar men earn—even with similar education, skills and experience—and African American and Hispanic women earn even less. The wage difference makes saving money more difficult for many women.

Working women also have limited access to retirement plans through their employers. Men are nearly twice as likely as women to have retirement income from defined benefit plans. Click here to read the report.

“The retirement gender gap is alive and strong,” said Ilana Boivie , an NIRS policy analyst and author of the report.

Women still earn less, have less to save, and are less likely to have workplace retirement plans. And given that the global economic crisis has drastically eroded retirement readiness, it’s all the more urgent that a policy framework is put in place to give all women a shot at achieving retirement security.

One sure way to overcome the retirement gap is through union membership. A recent study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) found that for the years 2004-2007, union women were much more likely to have health insurance (75.4 percent) and a pension (75.8 percent) than women workers who were not in unions (50.9 percent for health insurance, 43 percent for pensions).

The NIRS research also shows:

• Defined-benefit pension plans, which guarantee a specific pension payment each month, provide benefits and protections that are especially important for women, such as spousal protections and lifetime income.
• Women are more likely to live above the poverty line in retirement when they have income from pensions. But just 23.3 percent of women have their own pension, compared with 42 percent of men. Among women dependent upon their husbands’ retirement plans, those whose husbands have a defined-benefit plan may be better off because those plans have special protections for surviving spouses.

Under the Obama administration, progress already has been made in moving toward more equal pay for women. President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law on Jan. 29 and established a White House Council on Women and Girls in March. The Council was created to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families.

James Parks, AFL-CIO Now Blog

Celebrating May Day

May 1, 1886, became historic. On that day thousands of workers in the larger industrial cities poured into the streets, demanding eight hours. About 340,000 took part in demonstrations in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Baltimore, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and other places. Of these nearly 200,000 actually went out on strike. About 42,000 won the eight-hour day. Another 150,000 got a shorter day than they had had before.

Chicago workers supported the movement most vigorously. To combat labor organization and activity, Chicago employers organized and acted. Pinkerton detectives and special deputies were in evidence. Policemen were swinging billies and breading up knots of workers on street corners.

At the factory gates of McCormick Harvester Co., where a strike meeting was being held on May 3, policemen swung their clubs and then fired into the running strikers....The speaker at the meeting was August Spies, a member of the Central Labor Union, which had supported the May First strike. He was also a member of a militant labor group that was at the time influential in the Chicago Labor movement. Six workers were killed that day and many wounded.

Anger ran high through the Chicago labor movement. About 3,000 attended a protest meeting the next day at Haymarket Square....The Chicago press reported the speeches were less "inflammatory" than usual. Mayor Carter H. Harrison who was present testified later that the meeting was "peaceable." But as it was about to adjourn, policement swooped down and ordered the audience to disperse. Then some unknown person threw a bomb. It exploded, killing a police sergeant and knocking several core to the ground. The police opened fire. At the end of the day, seven policemen and four workers lay dead.

At once several Chicago labor leaders were rounded up and thrown in jail. Eight of these finally came to trial--Albert Parsons, August Spies, Louis Lingg, George Engel, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fieldon, Adolph Fischer and Oscar Neebe. The presiding judge helped pick the jury which was strongly anti-labor and hostile to the defendants. The trial lasted 63 days. All of the men were declared guilty of murder. All were given death sentences, except Neebe who got a 15-year prison sentence.

A nationwide defense campaign won wide popular favor...At the last moment, as a result of widespread protests, the Governor of Illinois communted to life imprisonment the sentences of Fieldon and Schwab. It was reported that Lingg "committed suicide" in his cell.

On November 11, Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fischer and George Engel were hanged. On the gallows Spies cried, "There will be a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today." Straightway the defense movement, now led by Albert Parsons' widow, Lucy Parsons, turned to efforts to have the remaining three men freed. Fieldon, Schwab and Neebe were finally pardoned by Governor Altgeld in 1893. He was fully convinced, he said, of the innocence of all the eight men.

Out of the eight-hour struggle which culminated in the strike of May 1, 1886, and its aftermath, the Haymarket tragedy, came international May Day. In Paris, France, on July 14, 1889, leaders from organized proletarian movements in many countries came together to form once more an international association of workers....At the first congress of the Second International, delegates listened to the story related by the United States representatives, considered a request from the American Federation of Labor for support of their eight-hour fight, and voted to make May 1, 1890, a day for an international eight-hour day demonstration.

--Holt Labor Library

Workers Memorial Day

All too often we hear about Americans being killed and injured at the workplace. Nearly 5,680 workers on average die on the job each year. In the last 30 years, 500 AFSCME members have been killed on the job.

Every worker who is killed or injured under these circumstances serves as a constant reminder of why the men and women of AFSCME continue to fight for increased security and the best workplace safety resources.

April 28, Workers Memorial Day, is set aside to pay tribute to the men and women who have been killed or injured at work. The date coincides with the anniversary of the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency in charge of issuing and enforcing standards for workplace safety and health.

Since OSHA’s inception, in 1970, the number of workplace fatalities has fallen. But we have more work to do. Today, only 24 states along with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have federally approved OSHA laws covering public employees. That’s not enough. Every public employee across this nation deserves OSHA protections.

That’s why AFSCME is playing a leading role in the battle for the job safety rights that protect workers from asbestos, infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and other hazards. Regularly, we also conduct health and safety training so our members can identify and correct workplace hazards.

The fight for workers’ rights goes hand in hand with workplace security. After all, good jobs are also safe jobs.

This Date in Arkansas Labor History

April 27, 1999. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration declared that Arkansas has more high-injury workplaces per capita than all but 10 other states. The federal agency identified 264 job sites in Arkansas as among the nation’s 12,500 worst for occupational injury and illness.

UA Pay Equity Still an Issue

The Wage Gap….It’s not just about women anymore! The wage gap isn’t just a women’s issue. Equal pay for women raises family income and the whole family benefits.

In 2006, women earned approximately 77 cents for every dollar men received. That’s $23 less to spend on groceries, housing, child care and all other expenses for every $100 worth of work done.

Two years ago, AFSCME Local 965 raised the problem of the significant wage gap between male and female professors at the University of Arkansas with Chancellor John White, but his response was to offer excuses rather than solutions. We are hopeful that Chancellor David Gearhart will take the issue more seriously and take meaningful action to make it right.

A press conference will be held observing Pay Equity Day Tuesday, April 28, 1PM at the Fayetteville Public Library Walker Room. Pay Equity Day is the day to which women must work the following year to make the same money as a man made in the 12 months of the year before. Women must work 16 months for what men earn in one year. The press conference is being sponsored by The American Association of University Women Fayetteville Branch, Business and Professional Women of NW Arkansas, Democratic Women of Washington County, League of Women Voters of Arkansas, and National Organization of Women of Arkansas. Information from the new AAUW State by State Earnings Comparsion and the last University of Arkansas Wage Study will be shared. Where women are wage wise and what needs to be done to address the disparity will be discussed.

For questions or further information, contact Berta Seitz, 479-442-6256, or email at berta.seitz@att.net.

From President Gerald McEntee

State and local budgets are being drastically slashed, and AFSCME members like you are on the front lines—trying to meet skyrocketing demand for services with fewer and fewer resources.

In the face of such challenges, AFSCME members do we what do best—we keep our communities going. We make America happen.

But it can't all be left to the frontline workers to keep doing more and more with less and less. That's why AFSCME launched our Make America Happen campaign—to win bold changes in Washington that will get our country back on track.

With our Make America Happen campaign we are fighting to win:

1. Big investment in public services that strengthen the economy;
2. Quality, affordable health care we can count on;
3. A stronger middle class by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

Republican leaders in Congress have made clear that they will do all they can to block progress. Not one Republican House member—not one—voted for President Obama's recovery bill for Main Street—a bill to create or save nearly 4 million jobs, in part by investing $225 billion in state and local public services. We got it passed without them because tens of thousands of AFSCME members took action—calling, emailing and writing your elected officials in Washington.

Our work is far from done. Our next step is to help get the President's budget passed. Unlike the budgets of the past eight years, it’s a budget with the right priorities—putting the needs of working families first and paving the way for real health care reform.

As part of our Make America Happen campaign, we've deployed field organizers across the country. And this week we've launched, in partnership with Americans United for Change, a TV ad campaign to put pressure on politicians who want to stay with the failed policies of the past.

But field organizers and TV ads won't be enough. We need every AFSCME member taking part in this campaign. We’ve launched a new Make America Happen website. There you can get campaign updates, watch a video message from me, hear from your fellow AFSCME members, register for a special online briefing and sign up to get involved.

In Solidarity,

GERALD W. McENTEE
International President

This Date in Arkansas Labor History

April 19, 1999. University of Arkansas United Students Against Sweatshops pressed Chancellor John White and UA administrators to support changes to "code of conduct" addressing women's rights and realistic wages to ensure that the University's trademark apparel isn't made in sweatshops by mistreated and underpaid foreign workers.

Health Care for America Survey

THE ECONOMY IS NOT WORKING FOR WORKING FAMILIES TODAY—AND HEALTH CARE IS A MAJOR PART OF THE PROBLEM. Across America, families are making hard decisions between paying for health care and paying for other necessities and struggling with a system that is too often cruel and inefficient. As President Obama has said, "Health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year."

With health care reform front and center, it's important that AFSCME members make our voices heard in this critical policy debate. Take the survey!

As decision-makers at every level take up health care reform, it is urgent that they hear from working families about what you are experiencing. Please MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD BY COMPLETING THIS SURVEY, telling your health care story and encouraging your friends, co-workers and family members to do so, too. We'll share the survey results with national, state and media leaders.

Mayor Jordan Stands with Local 965

Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan, former President of AFSCME Local 965 and former President of the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council, was honored yesterday for his career of service to working families and the community.

Jordan served as President of the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council from 2006-2008 but resigned after he took office as Mayor in January 2009, following his policy of serving only on boards of organizations that are covered by the Arkansas Freedom of information Act. He served as President of AFSCME Local 965 from 2000-2006 until he was promoted to a management position and was precluded from holding that office by the by-laws of the local union.

After addressing the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council yesterday, Mayor Jordan signed a new union card to rejoin AFSCME Local 965, the first Fayetteville city employee to do so this year.

Labor Council Honors Mayor Jordan

The Northwest Arkansas Labor Council will host a reception honoring Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan, Past President of the NWA Labor Council, at 4:30 pm on Thursday, March 26th, at the Martin and Kieklak Law Firm offices at 2059 Green Acres Road in Fayetteville.

AFSCME Local 965 will be cooking hamburgers and hot dogs for the event, so come hungry and join with other local unions to congratulate Brother Lioneld.

Campus Town Hall Meeting Tuesday

Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan will be holding a Town and Gown Town Hall Meeting on the University of Arkansas campus this week. The event will be in Old Main Giffels Auditorium from 12:30 to 1:30 on Tuesday, March 24th.

This is an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to learn more about our local government and to ask questions about the programs and policies of city government. All members of AFSCME Local 965 are encouraged to attend during their lunch break.

Mayor Jordan will be joined by several city department heads, including Police Chief Greg Tabor, Trails Coordinator Matt Mihalevich, Parks and Recreation Director Connie Edmonston, Sustainability Coordinator John Coleman, Bryan Pugh from Recycling and Composting Facilities, and Yolanda Fields from Community Development and Code Enforcement.

Chief of Staff Don Marr will also discuss opportunities for citizen involvement and service on city boards and commissions that deal with environmental concerns, historic preservation, sidewalks, trails, trees and landscape, support for the arts, Fayetteville Public Library, Yvonne Richardson Center, telecommunications policy, and the Council of Neighborhoods.

The last 30 minutes of the meeting will be devoted exclusively to questions from the audience.

We Need Labor Law Reform

Millions of America's working families are losing their jobs and even their homes, while millions more are seeing their job-based benefits cut back or eliminated and their wages stagnate.

Our elected leaders need to tackle this economic crisis, the worst since the 1930s Depression. They must keep their promises to the people who voted for them—and we have to give them the support they need to make the tough choices. We need strategies that will turn around this broken economy for working families with good jobs, "green" jobs, re-regulation of our financial system and health care that works for all of us. But no matter what else we do, it won’t result in real shared prosperity unless we restore workers’ freedom to form unions so they can bargain for better benefits, fair wages and a better life.

As President Obama said in January when launching the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families:

We need to level the playing field for workers and the unions that represent their interests, because we know that you cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement.

That’s what proposed legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act, will do—level the playing field and make the freedom to form unions and bargain a reality. The Employee Free Choice Act will:

• Put real teeth in the laws that are supposed to bar companies from intimidating, harassing—even firing—workers who want to form unions.
• Allow workers, not management, to decide how they form a union and give workers the option of majority sign-up.
• Require arbitration to end corporate foot-dragging when workers try to get a first contract.
• 
  

The Employee Free Choice Act will level the playing field that today leaves all the power in the hands of corporations, not workers. And that’s not important just for workers who are trying to form unions: Everyone in the job market, including current union members who want to negotiate fair contracts, benefits from this “strength in numbers.” More union members means more power for workers across states and industries, leading to better health care, more pensions and fairer wages for all workers.

The corporations whose greed has driven our economy understand this, too. That's why Big Business and its corporate front groups are preparing an all-out, $200 million propaganda and lobbying war to block it.

The corporate campaign is aimed at spreading falsehoods about the Employee Free Choice Act, aimed at driving a wedge between workers and the unions that represent them. Despite the fact that nearly 30,000 workers a year are discriminated against and coerced by their employers during attempts to form a union (compared with fewer than 50 confirmed incidents of union misbehavior in the 70-year history of the NLRB), these shady front groups pose as defenders of workers’ rights, making false claims of union coercion.

Know Your Rights

Two recent United States Supreme Court decisions strengthen employee protections.

On January 21, 2009, a unanimous opinion in Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee written by Justice Alito, the Supreme Court reversed the First Circuit and held that plaintiffs suing for gender discrimination under Title IX may also assert constitutional claims under Section 1983. The Court reviewed the history of Title IX and found no evidence that Congress intended that legislation to preclude constitutional claims to redress gender discrimination under Section 1983. The Court noted that Title IX is modeled after Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which addresses racial discrimination in education, and Title VI has long been held not to preclude parallel and concurrent Section 1983 claims. Therefore, the Court reasoned, “Title IX was not meant to be an exclusive mechanism for addressing gender discrimination in schools, or as a substitute for § 1983 suits as a means of enforcing constitutional rights.” The Court therefore remanded the case, allowing claimants to proceed on both their Title IX and the Section 1983 claims.

On January 26, 2009, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed and remanded the Sixth Circuit decision in Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville.The Supreme Court reviewed the conflict among circuit courts and held that the “opposition” clause of Title VII’s anti-retaliation provisions protects an employee who testifies in an internal investigation of alleged harassment. The Court ruled that Title VII’s protection “extends to an employee who speaks out about discrimination during an employer’s internal investigation.” The Supreme Court ruling did not reach the issue of whether the “participation clause” of the anti-retaliation provisions also protects such an employee.

For additional information on these cases, see the AAUP’s Web site.

The Big Lie

The Big Lie About the Employee Free Choice Act

March 5th, 2009

By AFSCME President Gerald McEntee

America’s top CEOs — the clueless millionaires whose greed, ignorance and arrogance drove our economy off a cliff — have declared their top legislative priority for 2009. It isn’t the president’s budget. It’s not promoting jobs or health care for their workers. And it’s certainly not limits on CEO pay.

Instead, they’ve launched an all out campaign to scuttle bi-partisan legislation that would restore workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life. The legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act, fixes a broken system and would restore the promise of the American Dream for working Americans. It must be a key component of our efforts to rebuild the middle class, promote economic growth and create an economy that works for all Americans.

America’s CEOs have made the defeat of this bill their biggest goal in 2009. To spearhead their campaign, they’ve hired Rick Berman, a shadowy P.R. man who has spent his career attacking nonprofits, like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, through phony front groups and misleading advertisements. Berman made a name for himself by winning huge fees working for clients including the tobacco and alcohol industries, mounting campaigns to defeat or weaken drunk driving laws, quieting concerns about cigarettes, and blocking increases in the minimum wage.

Berman specializes in Big Lie campaigns. That’s why the CEOs have hired him. The Chamber of Commerce, The National Association of Manufacturers and other front organizations for the CEOs have decided that they can’t oppose the Employee Free Choice Act on the merits, so they’ll create a Big Lie to raise concerns about the bill. The lie they’re promoting is that the bill would eliminate secret ballots for workers forming a union.

The claim is simply not true. The bill gives workers, not their employer, the choice in how they choose to form unions: either after a majority of workers sign a card in support of the union or through a secret ballot election. Workers could choose elections, but the opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act don’t care about the truth. They’ve already begun spending $200 million to spread the lie that the bill eliminates secret ballots, hoping that enough people will believe it to kill the bill. That’s why we need to call them on their lie.

The real reason CEOs oppose the bill is because they know that giving workers a better chance at forming a union will undercut corporations’ ability to keep the rewards only to themselves. Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott - who made about $23 million in 2007 - is one of the few CEOs to tell the truth about his motives. He admits that the secret ballot canard isn’t the real reason he’s fighting to kill the bill. “We like driving the car,” he said, “and we’re not going to give the steering wheel to anybody but us.”

Playing fast and loose with the truth is not going to defeat this important legislation in Congress. In the last Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act passed the House of Representatives by a wide margin, and in the Senate, Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has helped to build a solid majority of Democrats to support the bill. Thanks to Senator Reid, we now have a senate majority that supports giving workers a ticket to the middle class. But Republican senators have threatened a filibuster. Too many Republicans appear to be frightened that if they stand up to the Big Lie about secret ballots, they will upset the leaders of the their party. They know from experience that those leaders - anti-worker talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity - will make it difficult for them to stand with America’s workers.

That’s why it’s important to keep the facts in front of the GOP senators. They need to be reminded that union members earn 30 percent more than workers who don’t have one. Union members are 63 percent more likely to have health care through their employers. That’s why workers want to join unions. CEOs don’t want to pay more so that workers can live better.

Americans want an economy that works for everyone, not just CEOs and right wing radio and TV talk show hosts. The Employee Free Choice Act will help rebuild the middle class and jumpstart our economy, by giving every worker a chance to bargain for decent wages, benefits and safe working conditions. A union job is not only a ticket for workers into the middle class, it’s the best way to jumpstart our economy.

Help during Hard Times

If you've ever given yourself a six-figure bonus, this message probably isn't for you.

But if you're like me, and you're outraged that CEOs and other executives continue to lavishly reward themselves while the middle class struggles, I hope you'll keep reading—and that you'll add your name to our petition to rebuild the middle class right now.

Earlier this month, AFSCME members everywhere stepped up to help pass President Obama's jobs and economic recovery package. We have to keep the momentum going because our economy is still in big trouble. I probably don't have to tell you how tough it is out there—as public service workers, we're on the frontlines of this crisis every day.

But I do want to tell you that, here at AFSCME, we remain committed to big solutions that will help make America happen—again. Right now, that means guaranteeing quality, affordable health care for all and strengthening our middle class.

With the new President and Congress, we have a historic chance to pass the much-needed Employee Free Choice Act. The idea behind the bill is simple: if a majority of workers want to form a union, they should be able to do so. And so far, nearly one million people—from AFSCME and other unions and allies—have added their name in support. Can I count on you to join them?

Once passed, this change will deliver an economy that works for us all by giving workers a stronger voice. Workers will be empowered to form unions and together fight for better wages and better benefits.

The result for AFSCME members? A stronger union workforce that lifts our national standard of living during hard times and rebuilds the middle class for the long term.

CEOs and corporate interests are terrified of this bill and fighting back with the dirtiest tricks in the books, including misleading ads and bogus front groups. These are the folks who think CEOs should be able to rake in millions while they cut health care benefits and layoff employees. But we can win, just like we did earlier this month, because we have you.

Over the next couple months, we'll be calling on AFSCME members to help us make America happen, again. Today, that means adding your name to our petition in support of the Employee Free Choice Act so we can rebuild the middle-class and restore the American Dream.

Minimum Wage Hike Passes House

Legislation to have the stae minimum wage law parallel the federal wage rates passed the Arkansas House of Representative today, 67-27. The bill is sponsored by Local 965's own Representative Jim Nickels (D-Sherwood), and it would raise the Arkansas minimum wage to $7.25 in July.

Fayetteville Democratic legislators Lindsley Smith, Jim House, and Uvalde Lindsey all voted for the bill.

All Northwest Arkansas Republicans vote NO -- Duncan Baird, Jonathan Barnett, Les Carnine, Debra Hobbs, Donna Hutchinson, Bryan King, Mark Martin, Roy Ragland, Marylou Slinkard, and Tim Summers -- and to keep wages below the federal poverty level. Jon Woods (R-Springdale) did not vote, which has the same effect as voting no.

Unions and Upward Mobility for Women Workers

In 2007, women made up 45 percent of union members. If the share of women in unions continues to grow at the same rate as it has over the last 25 years, women will be the majority of the unionized workforce by 2020.

This paper uses the most recent data available to examine the impact of unionization on the pay and benefits of women in the paid workforce. The data suggest that even after controlling for systematic differences between union and non-union workers, union representation substantially improves the pay and benefits that women receive.

On average, unionization raised women's wages by 11.2 percent - about $2.00 per hour - compared to non-union women with similar characteristics. Among women workers, those in unions were about 19 percentage points more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and about 25 percentage points more likely to have an employer-provided pension.

For the average woman, joining a union has a much larger effect on her probability of having health insurance (an 18.8 percentage-point increase) than finishing a four-year college degree would (an 8.4 percentage-point increase, compared to a woman with similar

Similarly, unionization raises the probability of a woman having a pension by 24.7 percentage points,compared to only a 13.1 percent increase for completing a four-year college degree (relative to a high school degree). For the average woman, a four-year college degree boosts wages by 52.6 percent, relative to a woman with similar characteristics who has only a high school degree. The comparably estimated union wage premium is 11.2 percent - over 20 percent of the full four-year college effect.

Read the full report.

One Down, Two to Go

Thanks to you, we now have an economic recovery plan that includes substantial fiscal relief to state and local governments. President Obama signed this bill into law today.

Thousands of AFSCME members across the nation helped get this bill passed with phone calls, emails and faxes to your members of Congress. AFSCME International President Gerald McEntee has a special video message for all of you who took action: you can view it here.

We succeeded despite the Republican leadership's effort to kill the bill and stick to the failed policies that got us in this mess in the first place. Not one Republican supported this bill in the House. And only Senators Snowe and Collins (ME) and Specter (PA) were brave enough to break with their fellow Republicans in the Senate.

The opposition to Obama's jobs and recovery package was truly shocking given the dire situation of our economy.

• AFSCME members are dealing with proposals for layoffs, furloughs, demands for contract re-openers and much more—all while demand for public services grows.
• America is losing 20,000 jobs a day and unemployment just hit 7.6%.
• States are looking at shortfalls this fiscal year that amount to 14% of their total budgets.
• Projections for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years look to be even worse.

I will be the first to admit that the compromise deal for the bill isn't perfect. We'll probably need more help and perhaps another recovery bill. But we know that without this plan, AFSCME members would feel much more pain. With it, we can avoid some of the most drastic cutbacks that would otherwise be made.

As a result of your hard work, the bill includes:

• $87 billion increase in the federal contribution for Medicaid programs, money that will immediately relieve pressures on state governments and free up resources for other purposes.
• $80 billion in new education funding to help states and local governments.
• $150 billion in spending on infrastructure, for transportation facilities, roads and bridges, public transit, clean water, flood control, school construction and energy efficiency.
• An additional $9 billion to the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund for flexible grants for critical public services.

Passing a jobs and economic recovery bill was the first of our three top legislative priorities in our "Make America Happen" campaign. Now we will fight to win quality, affordable health care for all and to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. And we’ll need you every step of the way. If the events—and your emails and calls—over the last few weeks have shown me anything, it's that when we join together, we can indeed make America happen, again.

Thanks for making a difference—I hope you'll watch the special video message from International President Gerald McEntee here.

It's All About Jobs

Let there be no mistake. We know it, you know it and President Obama knows it: Our economy is bordering on collapse and we need your help to save it.

We have lost more than 1.5 million jobs in the last three months alone and we must act quickly to create new jobs, preserve existing ones and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. To meet this challenge, President Obama and leaders in Congress have developed a large and comprehensive economic recovery and reinvestment bill.

We all worked very hard to make this the best bill it can be and create the most jobs possible, and let's be clear: While the final version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act isn't perfect, passing it is absolutely necessary.

We need you to contact your senators and representative immediately and tell them to vote for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Economists across the political spectrum agree we need to act quickly. But a small band of Republicans and right-wing radio hosts are determined to derail any effort to rescue our economy and rebuild our middle class. The same people who got us into this mess somehow think the best way to get us out of it is to keep doing the same things that got us here in the first place. Crazy, eh?

We can’t let them stop a comprehensive economic recovery package and we need your help to make sure that doesn’t happen. Tell John Boozman that you support the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We are all counting on you.

Please contact your senators and representative right now. Time is of the essence.

McEntee on Executive Salaries

For years, AFSCME has been leading the fight to rein in the grotesque and excessive paychecks that unaccountable boards of directors have been giving too many of America’s CEOs. We’ve fought shareholder battles and taken our case to the media, arguing that directors who approve exorbitant salaries for executives cheat shareholders and workers. We created a network of institutional and individual investors that fights to get shareowners a voice on executive compensation packages and in the boardrooms of major corporations. But the CEOs want their sky-high pay guaranteed even when they fail, so they’ve fought us every step of the way.

Finally, as unemployment reached a 30 year high this week, President Obama took the case to the American people. "We all need to take responsibility," the President said on Wednesday, "and this includes executives at major financial firms who turned to the American people, hat in hand, when they were in trouble, even as they paid themselves their customary lavish bonuses." The President called excessive pay and bonuses "the height of irresponsibility." More importantly, he laid the responsibility for our country’s economic crisis right in the hands of CEOs who have put greed ahead of the well-being of everyone else. "That’s shameful," the President said.

President Obama decried the "culture of narrow self-interest and short-term gain at the expense of everything else" that has produced countless tales of corporate irresponsibility. For example, Martin J. Sullivan ran AIG, the giant insurance and financial services firm, into the ground. He was fired, but walked away with a severance package estimated at $47 million. He wasn’t alone. At a time when taxpayers were handing over $700 billion to bailout failing banks, the top echelon of the banks collected more than $18 billion in bonuses.

Benefits and pay for most Americans are being cut to the bone, jobs are disappearing, health care costs are skyrocketing and working families are struggling to make ends meet. Yet, CEOs are paid an average of 344 times more than average workers. This madness has to end. Unjustified executive salaries are padded with generous benefits, bonuses and contracts with so-called golden parachute provisions.

That’s why it was heartening to hear the President pledge that our taxes wouldn’t be spent to line the pockets of those who already get too much. "For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis is not only in bad taste - it’s a bad strategy - and I will not tolerate it as President." Yesterday, the Senate followed the President’s lead and passed two important amendments to the President’s jobs and recovery legislation. Senators adopted an amendment from Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), which imposes a $400,000 salary cap,on officers and directors at firms that receive bailout funding.

The Senate also adopted an amendment offered by Senator Christopher J. Dodd, (D-CT), to prohibit bonuses and other incentives for at least the 25 most highly paid executives at firms that receive bailout funds from the Treasury Department and to conduct a retroactive review of bonuses given out by the firms.

Now, for the first time in memory, our political leaders are taking action that can lead to accountability and reform. But more must be done. It’s time to stop rewarding corporate executives for failure. Shareowners must have a say on executive pay. It’s time for Congress to pass legislation that gives shareholders a voice in how top corporate executives are paid and a chance to elect directors who will represent shareholder interests. We need bold action to bring these rampant abuses to an end.

--AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, February 6, 2009

Jim Nickels Serving in House

State Representative Jim Nickels, member of AFSCME Local 965 and Executive Director of AFSCME State Council 38, is serving his first term in the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing District 43 (Sherwood and North Little Rock). Jim is also a member of the Executive Board of the Arkansas AFL-CIO.

Jim is an experienced labor attorney, who has served on the Executive Board of the Little Rock Workforce Investment Board since 2005, and he holds memberships in the Labor and Employment Relations Association, the American Association for Justice, the American Association of University Professors, the Lawyers Coordinating Committee of the AFL-CIO, and the National Employment Lawyers Association. He received his undergraduate and master's degrees in Sociology from Henderson State University and his law degree from the University of Arkansas.

Nickels prefiled House Bill 1035 to "unlock the freeze" and allow county assessors to lower the tax liabilities for homeowners who are over age 65 or disabled if their property values fall. The House approved HB1035 by a 99-1 margin on January 23rd. It received a Do Pass recommendation from the Senate Revenue and Tax Committee, and it is expected to pass the Senate this week.

Last week Representative Nickels filed House Bill 1383 that would authorize the state Contractors Licensing Board to impose penalties on a contractor who knowingly employs illegal immigrants either directly or through a subcontractor. The board could fine an offending contractor up to $200 per day for as long as the violation continues and could suspend or revoke the contractor’s license. It is currently on the agenda for the House Committee on State Agencies.

Another Union Man in Legislature

State Representative Richard Carroll (G - North Little Rock) is a former President of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local No. 66. Though he cleans up well, his button-down work as a legislator is a far cry from what he really does for a living: a dirty, dangerous job as a boilermaker for the Union Pacific Railroad, Thanks to what he calls his very “civic minded” employer, Carroll has been allowed to work the night shift at the Union Pacific yards in North Little Rock part time so he can come to the legislature during the day. From 11 p.m. to around 3 in the morning, he helps rebuild locomotives that have been damaged in derailments and accidents. He catches a few catnaps before and after work, and sleeps a lot on weekends. “I get a couple hours sleep before I go in to the Capitol,” he said. “I may stay until 7 o'clock, go home, get a couple more hours sleep, then go to work.”

Read the rest of the article in this week's edition of the Arkansas Times.

Southern Labor Holds Steady

Union membership in Southern states held steady in 2008 amidst rising unemployment and a troubled economy, according to an analysis of government statistics released this week. Union membership in Arkansas increased by 6,000 in 2008, growing to 68,000 members.

A review of new Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the non-profit Institute for Southern Studies finds that the percentage of workers in the South belonging to unions in 2008 stayed at 5.3 percent, the same unionization rate as in 2007.

Among the 13 Southern states included in the Institute analysis, seven showed union gains and six had a net loss in union membership. Nationally, union membership rose from 12.1 percent of employees in 2007 to 12.4 percent in 2008, the second year in a row that unions had shown gains.

Southern unions were able to hold their ground despite big job losses in the region. The total number of union members in the South actually declined by 23,000 in 2008, but because the overall Southern workforce shrank even more, the rate of unionized workers stayed the same.

"Southern union members appear to have weathered the economic downturn slightly better than their non-union counterparts, for a number of reasons," said Chris Kromm, director of the non-profit Institute. Likely factors include the kind of industries that have lost jobs, like the largely non-unionized finance sector, and greater job protections enjoyed by union members, Kromm said.

Among other findings of the Institute for Southern Studies analysis of federal labor data:

• Southern states remain the least unionized in the nation: Of the 12 states nationally with 6 percent or less of their employees in unions, nine were in the South. North Carolina had the lowest rate of unionization, with just 3.5 percent of its workers belonging to a union.
• Florida, North Carolina and Virginia had the biggest gains in union membership: Florida led the South by adding 27,000 union members in 2008. North Carolina was second with union membership growing by 18,000, including a major election victory in December by the United Food and Commercial Workers at pork processing giant Smithfield Foods.
• Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas saw the biggest union losses: Georgia alone lost 35,000 union members in 2008, over a third of labor's total losses in the South. Union membership also declined by at least 14,000 in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

The Bureau's 2008 Union Members Survey contained other data of special interest to Southern states:

• Union Membership by Race: Black workers were more likely to be union members (14.5 percent) than workers who were white (12.2 percent), Asian (10.6 percent), or Hispanic (10.6 percent). Over 40% of African-Americans nationally live in the 13 Southern states included in the Institute's analysis.
• Union Membership by Sector: Government jobs continue to be important to union membership. The union membership rate for public sector workers (36.8 percent) was substantially higher than the rate for private industry workers (7.6 percent). Within the public sector, local government workers - including teachers, police officers and fire fighters - had the highest union membership rate, 42.2 percent. In North Carolina and Virginia, unions are mounting campaigns to overturn bans on collective bargaining in public sector jobs.
• Union Representation of Non-Members: About 1.7 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union on their main job in 2008, while not being union members themselves. All Southern states except Kentucky and West Virginia have "right to work" laws which enable employees to benefit from union contracts without having to join a union.

• 
• Chris Kromm, Facing South, January 29, 2009
  

Your Job

Right now Congress is deciding on nothing less than our jobs.

This week, the House of Representatives voted in favor of $300 billion in aid to state and local governments for Medicaid, education, law enforcement, transportation, unemployment insurance operations and other vital public services. This is a major step forward. Now the bill goes to the Senate—where it faces stiff opposition.

We need you to contact Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor today by clicking here.

This bill, President Obama's "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" is about creating jobs, supporting public services and jobs and getting our economy back on track for working families.

President Obama has called for unity and an end to partisanship. Unfortunately, neither John Boozman nor a single Republican member voted for the House bill. That's why it’s imperative that you contact your senators and urge them to vote YES for the Senate bill. We need Republican and Democratic support together to get it passed.

The Senate will start voting on the bill next week. A brief message from you to our senators can make a difference.

Please act now.

Make America Work. Again

Tens of thousands of new layoffs were announced today, and more companies are expected to cut payrolls in the months ahead. This recession, which started in December 2007, and is expected to stretch into this year, has been a job killer. The economy lost 2.6 million jobs last year, the most since 1945. The unemployment rate jumped to 7.2% in December, the highest in 16 years, and is expected to keep climbing.

This week, Congress begins to vote on the President's economic recovery plan. That's why AFSCME has launched the "Make America Happen" campaign to support President Obama's agenda to get our country back on track.

As public service workers, AFSCME members know first hand the severity of the economic crisis. But with President Barack Obama in the White House and a new Congress in place, things can change for the better—if we all do our part.

As President Obama said in his inaugural address: "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works—whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified."

Do you agree? If so, sign the petition calling for bold action to create jobs and jumpstart the economy, make quality health care affordable and strengthen the middle class.

You can read more about our AFSCME campaign at MakeAmericaHappen.com.

Rally for Affordable Health Care

State Representative Jim Nickels, a member of AFSCME Local 965 and Executive Director of State Council 38, spoke today on the steps of the State Capitol to 300 people attending the Rally for Affordable Health Care organized by the Arkansas Education Association.

Click here for a 4 minute YouTube video of his inspiring remarks.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Labor

"At the turn of the century women earned approximately ten cents an hour, and men were fortunate to receive twenty cents an hour. The average work week was sixty to seventy hours. During the thirties, wages were a secondary issue; to have a job at all was the difference between the agony of starvation and a flicker of life. The nation, now so vigorous, reeled and tottered almost to total collapse. The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress. Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old age pensions, government relief for the destitute, and above all new wage levels that meant not mere survival, but a tolerable life. The captains of industry did not lead this transformation; they resisted it until they were overcome. When in the thirties the wave of union organization crested over our nation, it carried to secure shores not only itself but the whole society."

Illinois AFL-CIO Convention, October 1965

"When there is massive unemployment in the black community, it is called a social problem. But when there is massive unemployment in the white community, it is called a Depression.

"We look around every day and we see thousands and millions of people making inadequate wages. Not only do they work in our hospitals, they work in our hotels, they work in our laundries, they work in domestic service, they find themselves underemployed. You see, no labor is really menial unless you're not getting adequate wages. People are always talking about menial labor. But if you're getting a good (wage) as I know that through some unions they've brought it up...that isn't menial labor. What makes it menial is the income, the wages."

Local 1199 Salute to Freedom, March 1968

"You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor. So often we overlook the work and the significance of those who are not in professional jobs, of those who are not in the so-called big jobs. But let me say to you tonight that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth."

AFSCME Memphis Sanitation Strike, April 3, 1968

Photo: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking in support of striking AFSCME sanitation workers at Mason Temple, Memphis, 4/3/68.

National Day of Service

A new era will be ushered in Tuesday with the inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th president. Meanwhile, all across our country this weekend and Monday, we are celebrating one of America's true heroes, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

In honor of King and in response to President-elect Obama's call to service, hundreds of thousands of Americans, including more than 20,000 AFL-CIO union volunteers, are helping those in need. Projects range from giving out free meals to cleaning up blighted areas, distributing winter clothing and repairing dilapidated homes.

In these difficult economic times, union members know that it's more important than ever to come together as communities and help one another. That's why we're rolling up our sleeves and volunteering in our neighborhoods here in Fayetteville.

President-elect Barack Obama's national call to service has inspired AFSCME Local 965 to join in a volunteer cleanup at Greathouse Park, 1710 S. Price in Fayetteville. We will meet there at 10 a.m. on Monday, January 19th. Turning south from 15th Street onto Brooks, left on Walker, then right on Price looks like the most direct route there.

The King Day of Service, on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, was actually initiated by Congress in 1994 to promote community service grounded in King's teachings of nonviolence and social justice.

This Miracle Brought to You by America’s Union Members

They're calling it a miracle--the successful landing of a US Airways jet in the Hudson and subsequent rescue of all 155 passengers. They're detailing the heroism of all involved, starting with the pilot and including cabin crew, ferry crews, and first responders. What they're not telling you is that just about every single one of these heroes is a union member.

There's the pilot:

What might have been a catastrophe in New York — one that evoked the feel if not the scale of the Sept. 11 attack — was averted by a pilot’s quick thinking and deft maneuvers,

[snip]

On board, the pilot, Chesley B. Sullenberger III, 57, unable to get back to La Guardia, had made a command decision to avoid densely populated areas and try for the Hudson,

[snip]

When all were out, the pilot walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure the plane was empty, officials said.

Sullenberger is a former national committee member and the former safety chairman for the Airline Pilots Association and now represented by US Airline Pilots Association. He--and his union--have fought to ensure pilots get the kind of safety training to pull off what he did yesterday.

Then there are the flight attendants:

One passenger, Elizabeth McHugh, 64, of Charlotte, seated on the aisle near the rear, said flight attendants shouted more instructions: feet flat on the floor, heads down, cover your heads.

They are members of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. Yesterday's accident should remind all of us that flight attendants are first and foremost safety professionals--they should not be treated like cocktail waitresses.

There are the air traffic controllers:

The pilot radioed air traffic controllers on Long Island that his plane had sustained a “double bird strike.”

They're represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. Someday, they'll rename National Airport for the work these men and women do to keep us safe in the air.

There are the ferry crews:

As the first ferry nudged up alongside, witnesses said, some passengers were able to leap onto the decks. Others were helped aboard by ferry crews.

They're represented by the Seafarers International Union. They provide safety training to their members so they're prepared for events like yesterday's accident.

There are the cops and firemen:

Helicopters brought wet-suited police divers, who dropped into the water to help with the rescues.

They're represented by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the Uniformed Firefighters Association and Uniformed Fire Officers Association (IAFF locals).They're the men and women who performed so heroically on 9/11--and they've been fighting to make sure first responders get the equipment to do this kind of thing.

Bob Corker and Richard Shelby like to claim that union labor is a failed business model.

But I haven't heard much about Bob Corker and Richard Shelby saving 155 people's lives.

Reprinted from Emptywheel, January 16, 2009.

Make America Happen. Again.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt took the oath of office, he promised the nation bold and dynamic leadership and proved that government can be a partner with the American people to see us through dark times. Through robust public investment, FDR created jobs, provided relief and guaranteed a more secure retirement for working men and women. Today, the challenges awaiting President-elect Obama are different, but the solutions are similar: we need to reinvest in the long term stability and prosperity of our communities.

This week, AFSCME launched a new campaign, “Make America Happen,” to support President-elect Obama’s efforts to revitalize our economy, provide health care for all and strengthen the middle class. We’ve created a new video as part of our campaign, highlighting the lessons to be learned from FDR’s response to the Great Depression. You can see the video and sign up for the campaign to “Make America Happen” at: www.MakeAmericaHappen.com.

President-elect Barack Obama’s call for bold action and civic engagement in response to our present crisis echoes FDR’s inspiring call to pull the nation out of the Great Depression and forge the New Deal. The video shows how our nation triumphed over economic crisis once before and can do so again by reinvesting in public service, providing health care for all Americans and growing the middle class.

In the weeks and months ahead, the “Make America Happen” campaign will build the grassroots support needed to overcome resistance and enact the kind of bold programs that are needed to address the national crisis we face today. With Barack Obama in the White House and a new Congress in place, working families have never had more public support nor had such a historic chance to affect a major shift in American politics. It’s up to each of us right now to make the most of this critical time.

You can be a part of this historic effort. Sign our petition to advance three legislative priorities of the Make America Happen” campaign:

• Jumpstart the Economy: America needs a comprehensive economic recovery package that provides aid to ailing state and local governments and maintains vital public services and the jobs of the dedicated employees who provide them.
• Make Health Care Affordable: Our broken health care system must be reformed and the skyrocketing costs of coverage must be controlled. Guaranteed quality, affordable health care everyone can count on is key to economic recovery.
• Rebuild the Middle Class: Workers should be free to join unions and bargain for better wages and benefits. Unions are a ticket to the middle class and they raise the standard of living for all. We can accomplish this by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

FDR’s leadership inspired a generation and helped America’s economy get back on track. Barack Obama offers bold leadership and new solutions to address the crises we currently face. Now, we need to be involved. Already, prominent Republicans in Congress have signaled strong opposition to much of the President-elect’s agenda, including his call to give states and local governments the support they need to continue providing the services that the public needs during a difficult recession. We cannot allow them to scuttle critically important proposals that will turn our economy around and build a better future for our country.

Take a look at AFSCME’s video and sign the petition urging quick action on an agenda to create jobs and protect vital services, provide health care for all and strengthen America’s middle class. Working together we can “Make America Happen.” Again.

Boozman Votes Against Equal Pay

Congressman John Boozman (R-AR3) voted twice this week against fair pay for women, but the House on Friday, in a vote of 247-171, overwhelmingly passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 11), which boosts a woman’s ability to bring pay discrimination lawsuits. The bill overrules a Supreme Court decision that workers must file a discrimination claim within 180 days of a pay violation, even though many people don’t learn about the wage disparities for years.

In a 256-163 vote, lawmakers also approved the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 12), which closes “loopholes that have enabled employers to evade the 1963 law requiring equal pay for equal work.” Boozman voted against it.

As Justice Ginsburg said in her rare, blistering oral dissent from the bench, at the time the Ledbetter decision was handed down:

In our view, the court does not comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination.

Title VII was meant to govern real-world employment practices, and that world is what the court today ignores.

The battle for pay equity now moves forward to the U.S. Senate, where the margins are a bit tighter. Please take some time to call our Senators and voice your support.

Also send a note to UA Chancellor David Gearhart and tell him it is time that women faculty be paid equally with their male colleagues at the University. No more excuses; no more discrimination.

Rosie the Riveter is on her way to getting paid equally with the men at the physical plant. And the office. And the classroom. And wherever else she might be doing an equal job for equal pay.

Obama: Made-in-America Jobs

President-elect Barack Obama today laid out some of the details of his economic recovery plan. While the current President focuses on giving the Medal of Freedom to the leader of a country that has the highest number of trade union murders in the world and on spending nearly $600,000 on new china for the White House days before leaving office, Obama is moving to clean up the Bush economic mess. Giving the Democratic radio address this morning, Obama said:

Our first job is to put people back to work and get our economy working again. This is an extraordinary challenge.

Obama said his plan was in part crafted by economist Jared Bernstein, an ally of the labor movement at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and now economic advisor to Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

We’ll create nearly half a million jobs by investing in clean energy–by committing to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years, and by modernizing more than 75 percent of federal buildings and improving the energy efficiency of two million American homes. These made-in-America jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, developing fuel-efficient cars and new energy technologies pay well, and they can’t be outsourced.

“Made-in-America jobs.” What sweet words after eight years of an administration bent on giving endless corporate incentives to move U.S. jobs overseas. Here’s more from Obama’s radio address:

• Put nearly 400,000 people to work by repairing our infrastructure–our crumbling roads, bridges and schools.
• Build the new infrastructure we need to succeed in this century, investing in science and technology, and laying down miles of new broadband lines so that businesses across our nation can compete with their counterparts around the world.
• Work to achieve bipartisan extensions of unemployment insurance and health care coverage; a $1,000 tax cut for 95 percent of working families; and assistance to help states avoid harmful budget cuts in essential services like police, fire, education and health care.

-- Yula Connell, AFL-CIO Now Blog

Solis Confirmation Hearing Report

Rep. Hilda Solis, a four-term House member from California's 32nd Congressional District and a true friend of America's workers, appeared today before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in a confirmation hearing on her nomination to be labor secretary. Today, we had an opportunity to hear the first extended discussion of how she plans to return the U.S. Department of Labor to its primary mission of protecting the lives, wages and rights of working people.

Solis is a longtime friend of the labor movement who comes to her understanding of unions and working people naturally—she is the daughter of immigrant working class, union member parents. Her dad was a Teamsters member and shop steward; her mom was an assembly line worker at a Mattel toy factory in Southern California and a member of the United Rubber Workers (since merged into the United Steelworkers).

Learn more about Hilda Solis on our blog.

As President-elect Barack Obama said repeatedly throughout the campaign, the Bush administration and outgoing Labor Secretary Elaine Chao spent eight years attacking workers' rights, workplace health and safety rules and unions while they carried the water for Big Business. We can count on Solis to change that focus.

We can help strengthen one of America's greatest assets, its labor force. I will work to strengthen our unions and support every American in our nation's diverse workforce. We also must enforce federal labor laws and strengthen regulations to protect our nation's workers, such as wage and hour laws, and rules regarding overtime pay and pay discrimination.
— Hilda Solis, discussing her goals for the Labor Department

This isn't just talk—Solis has a long record to back this up. While in Congress, she has voted for the Employee Free Choice Act, raising the minimum wage, protecting the wages of construction workers, strengthening fair and equal pay laws for women, tough workplace safety standards, bolstering the rights of federal workers and other issues that we all agree should top the Labor Department's priority list.

Learn more about the Solis confirmation hearing on our blog.

In Solidarity,

Marc Laitin
Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO

Arkansas Labor Legislative Conference

The Arkansas 87^th General Assembly convenes Monday, January 12^th. The AFL -CIO in conjunction with the Arkansas Professional Firefighters will be hosting a Legislative Conference on February 9^th – 10^th, 2009 . We will also be hosting a reception on Monday evening. The conference will be held at the Comfort Inn & Suites located at 707 Interstate 30, Little Rock , Arkansas .

At the conference we will be discussing legislation of interest to union members and the working families of Arkansas . Arkansas Legislators will be invited to the conference and a reception Monday evening. There will be presentations on Workers Compensation, PAC Registration and Lobbying. There will be a breakfast hosted for all Legislators on February 10^th, giving you an opportunity to meet with and lobby your Legislators.

After breakfast we will go to the Capitol to continue lobbying on the issues of interest to Labor. There is a registration fee of $45.00 per person, breakfast and all materials are included. Lunch will be provided on February 9^th.

We have negotiated special hotel room rates of $79.00 for all rooms and $89.00 for suites. You may call the hotel at (501) 687-7700 to make reservations. To get the special room rate, you must tell the hotel that you are attending the AFL-CIO & APFF Joint Legislative Conference. January 26^th, 2009 is the cut-off date for making reservations. Rooms are limited please make your reservations now.

Fraternally yours,

Ricky Belk, Secretary-Treasurer

Questions: Call the Arkansas AFL-CIO at (501) 375-9101.

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Please complete this registration form and return to:

Arkansas AFL-CIO, 1115 Bishop St., Little Rock, Arkansas, 72202

Name_______________________________________________________________

Address_________________________City____________________State____ Zip____

Union_______________________________ Local Union Number _________________

Telephone Number_________________________E-mail­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_________________________

Check Amount_______ Check Number________

Make checks payable to Arkansas AFL-CIO.

Please use one registration form per person. Duplicate this form as needed.

Tyson Foods Fined for Worker Death

Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Arkansas and agreed to pay $500,000, the maximum fine, for willfully violating worker safety regulations that led to a worker's death, the U.S. Justice Department announced.

According to a news release, Jason Kelley was killed at Tyson Foods' River Valley Animal Foods plant in Texarkana, Ark., after being overcome with hydrogen sulfide gas while repairing a leak from a hydrolyzer.

Tyson Foods used high-pressure steam processors called, called hydrolyzers, to convert poultry feather into feather meal. The Justice Department said the conversion process creates hydrogen sulfide gas, an acute-acting toxic substance tha's harmful to workers. It said Tyson Foods was aware of the dangers of the gas and that it was present at the plant but did not take "sufficient steps" to reduce exposure within prescribed limits or provide effective training to employees.

"Federal laws require employers to undertake steps that limit exposure to dangerous substances like the gas that killed Jason Kelley," said Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "Tyson Foods willfully ignored these regulations and today is being held responsible."

According to Tuesday's plea agreement, Tyson Food will pay $500,000, the maximum criminal fine. The company also will serve one year probation, according to the Justice Department

(Arkansas Business, January 6, 2009)