Arkansas Workers Have No Job Security

A Letter to the Editor in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette today calls attention to a gross inequity concerning dedicated employees trying to do a good job and provide for their family. They can be fired on a whim without a moment's notice and find themselves facing unpaid bills for rent or scrambling to find health insurance for their family.

Spencer Honey of Arkadelphia makes a lot of sense when he writes, "You can be legally fired from your job for no reason in Arkansas. Why? Because without a good employment contract or union membership or an employee handbook requiring the employer to fire for good cause, you are an at-will employee and can be fired for no reason. Even if you do a perfect job and your employer promises that if you follow the rules, you will not get into trouble for anything, you can still be fired without the employer being wrong. Why? Because Arkansas legislators have never passed a law requiring employers to have a good reason to fire. And because Arkansas courts say at-will employees can be fired for no reason or even a poor reason.

"America is the only industrial nation generally forcing workers to be at-will. Almost all Arkansas courts and employers say employees and employers are equal. They think equality is that employers can fire for no reason and employees can quit for no reason. Such thinking is wrong and like believing a car and roller skates are equal transportation. Employers can keep their job when unfairly firing an at-will employee. To solve this problem, our legislators can pass a good-cause discharge law that is fair to employees and employers."

AFSCME 965 members at the University of Arkansas have some due process protection against being fired without cause, but non-union workers in the private sector do not. We agree that the legislature could--and should--adopt a law providing for firing only for good cause, but we doubt that will happen anytime soon. Arkansas is a so-called Right-to-Work state that undermines union strength by allowing free riders and scabs to reap benefits without joining a union that protects their economic interests, and the state Chamber of Commerce and Farm Bureau will bring out the big guns to kill any legislation to protect worker rights.

As long as the Arkansas General Assembly is dominated by members recruited and financed by business interests, the average working family will remain at risk for unjust firing, low wages, and inadequate workers compensation for job-related injuries. Employees need to understand the benefits of union membership and begin organizing their workplaces. Unions need to more actively recruit and help elect public officials who care about working families. We can begin now in Northwest Arkansas.

Federal Minimum Wage to Rise on Tuesday

About 1.7 million people made $5.15 or less in 2006, according to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many workers, along with union advocates for low-wage workers, are celebrating the first increase in the federal minimum wage in a decade. Yet many acknowledge that raising it from $5.15 an hour to $5.85 will provide only meager help for some of the lowest paid workers. Arkansas and more than two dozen states already have minimum wages higher than the federal one.

"The reality for a minimum wage worker is that every penny makes a difference because low-wage workers make the choice between putting food on the table and paying for electricity or buying clothes for their children," said Beth Shulman, former vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. "Saying that, it's clear going up to $5.85 is not enough to really make sure that people really can afford the things that all families need," said Shulman, author of The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans.

Minimum wage workers will get an additional 70-cent boost each summer for the next two years, ending in 2009 at $7.25 an hour. Even then when the full increase is enacted, minimum wage workers will be just scraping by. That comes to just above $15,000 yearly before taxes for a 52-week work year. Now, someone in such a job and earning $5.85 an hour would bring home $12,168 a year before taxes. The federal poverty level for singles is $10,210, couples is $13,690 and $17,170 for families of three.

Poverty and the minimum wage are becoming major issues in the Democratic presidential race. John Edwards and Barack Obama are emphasizing raising the minimum wage. Edwards, who said he wants to eliminate poverty within a generation, favors raising the minimum wage to $9.50. Obama is advocating a "living wage" that would go up as inflation rises and he has promised to eliminate the phrase "working poor."

It is shameful that anyone who works full time still ends up in poverty. Everyone who puts in an honest day's work should receive a fair day's pay. The Arkansas Legislature should adopt a new minimum wage law to step increases above the current $6.25, and it should tie future increases automatically to meet inflation. AFSCME Local 965 will be asking area legislators and legislative candidates their positions on this and other issues affecting working families.

Obama Says He Would Walk Picket Line

At the annual convention of Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents more than 20,000 Iowa state workers, Democrat Barack Obama told union activists last night that he would walk a picket line as president if organized labor helps elect him in 2008. AFSCME plays an important role in Iowa Democratic politics. Besides campaign money, an endorsement brings into play a legion of talented organizers throughout the state.

"I stood on the picket line and marched with workers at the Congress Hotel in Chicago last week," Obama said. "I had marched with them four years earlier and I told them when I left that if they were still fighting four years from now, I'd be back on that picket line as president of the United States and we'll get the Congress Hotel organized."

"I won't just vote the right way with you, I will stand with you," Obama said. "We are facing a Washington that has thrown open its doors to the most anti-union, anti-worker forces we've seen in generations. What we need to make real today is the idea that in this country we value the labor of every American."

Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson also addressed the convention.

ARHealthNet for Low Income Workers

Giving up on the Bush Administration to do anything about health care costs, Arkansas has a new insurance plan for small businesses called ARHealthNet. The goal is to make health coverage affordable for more people who live on low incomes. It’s estimated that 17 percent of the state’s population have no health insurance coverage of any kind. There are more than 378, 000 people of working age — between 19 and 64 — who lack coverage. Workers in large companies except for Wal-Mart tend to be covered, while people who work for small firms are the most likely to lack coverage. ARHealthNet is for employees of companies with fewer than 500 workers.

The benefits are limited, to better hold down costs. They include six doctor visits a year, seven inpatient days in a hospital and two outpatient days for things like major surgeries and emergency room services. Benefits also include two prescriptions a month. If a low-income worker required catastrophic care beyond the major services covered under ARHealthNet, it is likely the state Medicaid program would help, according to the director of the state Human Services Department. Research has proven that people without health insurance tend to postpone going to the doctor when they are sick. As a result, when they finally do seek medical help their problems have become more severe and more expensive to treat. Also, people without insurance are much less likely to visit the doctor for routine preventative care such as an annual physical or a cancer screening.

People without insurance — whether they’re in good health and neglect routine prevention or whether they’re ill and put off going to the doctor — are much more likely to be hospitalized with avoidable illnesses. That drives up the cost of health care and results in higher costs for people who do have insurance. Therefore, a secondary benefit of ARHealthNet is to help hold down costs for people who have insurance.

When a company signs up for ARHealthNet, all full-time employees must participate; however, the government will help pay for coverage of workers who make low wages. The subsidies will be for workers who earn less than 200 percent of the poverty level, which depends on the number of people in the worker’s family. For an employee with a family of four, the threshold is $3,441 a month. So far, only 178 small businesses have signed up for ARHealthNet and only 665 workers have gained coverage under the new program. The Chamber of Commerce should be promoting participation in the new plan instead of trying to keep wages and workers compensation benefits so low.

Union Busting Is Big Business

As the percentage of American workers in unions continues its long and severe decline, the U. S. Senate just voted to kill the Employee Free Choice Act. What prompted the now-dormant bill, and what is causing the weakening of the labor movement, is not a decreased need for unions. According to polls, about half of non-supervisory workers want to join one, but employers are increasingly breaking the law to prevent their workplaces from being unionized.

Fifty years ago, more than 30 percent of private-sector workers were organized. That share today is 8 percent. Globalization and the new, technology-driven economy have contributed to this decline, but advanced economies in Europe survive these same developments with union coverage rates as high as 80 percent. Much of the falloff is actually the result of illegal, antiunion actions by employers. Our recent analysis of cases brought before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB ), which oversees union-management relations in most of the private sector, shows that employers illegally fire as many as 1 in 5 union organizers.

Actions by the world’s largest employer are a case in point. When butchers at Wal-Mart’s Jacksonville, Texas, store joined the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Wal-Mart permanently closed its meat-cutting departments, switched to pre-packaged meat, and fired four of the union supporters.

Just picking on Wal-Mart is unfair, as much of the business community also despises unions. Unions fight for increased wages and benefits and for redistributing earnings from employers to workers. Corporate managers, on the other hand try to maximize profits for shareholders and compensation packages for those at the top. Compelled by the threat of lower profits, many employers will do whatever it takes to avoid a union workplace.

Not infrequently, this means breaking the law. The National Labor Relations Act (NRLB ) makes it illegal to intimidate or fire workers for union activity. Yet, according to our study of data from the NLRB, there has been a steep rise in illegal firings of pro-union workers in the last few years. Currently, 1 in 53 is dumped during an election campaign. And employers generally fire the workers who are leading the union organizing drives. If 10 percent of union supporters are actually organizers in their workplace, NLRB data show that about 1 in 5 is fired illegally for their activism.

Interestingly, union membership has actually increased in the public sector. Whereas the private sector — the bulk of the U. S. economy — has seen unionization fall by three-quarters over the last 50 years, public-sector union membership has tripled over the same period to about 36 percent. Persistent, illegal activity by employers in the private sector explains this disparity. Illegal firings exist in the public sector too, of course, but they are less prevalent. Additional civil service protections ensure that firings are more onerous to the government than they are to a business. Besides, we should expect less union busting in the public sector: There is no profit motive there.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower once lambasted union busters, proclaiming, “ Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice. ” The fools today are actually quite rational, practicing the cool calculus of costs and benefits.

In a worst-case scenario, the cost of firing a union supporter isn’t that much. It includes legal proceedings and remuneration to the discharged employee. At a maximum, discharged employees will receive missed earnings minus any income they have earned in the meantime. The total award usually amounts to less than $ 4, 000, a small price to pay to avoid sharing profits with employees through a union-negotiated contract.

In its vote, the Senate eliminated the opportunity to increase fines and make other changes to labor law that reduce the incentives for illegal employer aggression. But without those reforms, crime really does pay.

Ben Zipperer is a researcher and John Schmitt is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D. C.

Unions and the Environment

A glistening wind turbine stands outside the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland -- the city where the world's first electricity-generating windmill was built in 1888. The new machine weighs 26 tons and has kept 40,000 pounds of climate-changing carbon dioxide emissions out of the atmosphere.

Gazing skyward, United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard was impressed. "Twenty-six tons!" he marveled, mentally calculating how many manufacturing jobs that equaled -- before he learned that this particular machine was built in Denmark. "That seems pretty dumb," Gerard said. "We figure out how to make it work. And then someone in another country makes something of it and ships it back to us."

The scene occurred last fall, when Gerard was on a three-day, three-state barnstorming tour with Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope. They encouraged elected officials to support wind and solar power and energy efficiency as ways of creating jobs, pumping up the U.S. economy, and fighting global warming.

Gerard's United Steelworkers union has been fighting for clean workplaces and communities since the 1960s. It helped pass landmark U.S. legislation regulating air and water pollution and toxic waste, as well as "right-to-know" laws, which require companies to tell the public how much pollution they are releasing. "We need to put an end to the lies, the myths, the hysteria, that say you can have either a clean environment or good jobs," Gerard says. "You can have both, or you have neither."

Gerard's father belonged to a miners' union and held shop-steward meetings in the family basement. He describes himself as an "irreverent" youngster, impatient with high school. "The stuff they were teaching me was how to have a good memory. I resented the system because I thought it marginalized people," he says.

Gerard was elected as United Steelworkers president in 2001, and the irreverent kid who had yearned to become an economics professor was in a position to change the economic future of North America. The union is deeply engaged in the key issues facing workers: healthcare, pensions, and "offshoring," the trend toward moving North American industries and jobs overseas. It is also working for broader, longer-term goals such as worldwide standards to protect industrial workers, worker-friendly pension-fund investments, and the union's ground-floor membership in what the Steelworkers see as North America's emerging clean-energy economy.

While promoting the union's causes, Gerard can be intimidating. Once when it was his turn to speak at a steel company's shareholder meeting, the lights suddenly went out. "This is no time to be f -- -ing with the lights," he barked. "Get them back on or somebody's going to beat the sh -- out of you." Suddenly the room brightened, and Gerard was able to say his piece.

On the first day of their clean-energy tour, Gerard and Pope met with media, workers, environmentalists, and the Twin Cities mayors at the United Auto Workers Hall in St. Paul. Across the street is the sprawling plant that once provided 2,000 high-paying jobs making Ford Ranger pickups. Ford turned down workers' entreaties to convert it to building high-mileage hybrid vehicles and announced the plant's closure in 2008. Gerard was not pleased. "Don't tell me that a car made in America can't get 30 or 40 or 50 miles per gallon," he said. Gerard and Pope's appearance made the local papers that day, as did the alternative they support: converting the old Ford plant into a wind tower and turbine factory.

Although the barnstorming tour focused on clean-energy jobs of the future, the union is still working hard to clean up existing workplaces. "Roughly 60,000 workers die each year in this country from workplace accidents or from diseases caused by workplace chemicals," says union environmental specialist Diane Heminway.

In 1990, the Steelworkers published a 34-page manifesto called "Our Children's World." Its message was simple: "We cannot protect Steelworker jobs by ignoring environmental problems." Ahead of its time, the report also warned of the "catastrophic consequences" of global warming. When the document was presented at the Steelworkers' annual meeting, it was not an easy sell.

"We don't say there is never a jobs-versus-environment conflict," says Michael Wright, the Steelworkers' director of health, safety, and environment. "Conflicts may exist, but fighting cleanups is not the way to solve them. Our job is to find solutions that protect both jobs and the environment."

More recently, the union's environmental policies have been questioned by some members of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE), which merged with the Steelworkers in 2005. Paper workers, including loggers and mill workers, are still smarting over environmentalists' efforts to protect the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s. They don't think much of the Sierra Club's stand against commercial logging in national forests either.

Gerard is undaunted by such squabbles. "We aren't going to be united with the environmental movement on every issue," he says. "But we are going to be united 80 or 90 percent of the time. Let's work on that unity rather than let our enemies exploit the divisions."

Gerard's dream of a thriving U.S. clean-energy industry has moved a few steps closer to reality. He is not surprised. "We are not promoting some kind of fuzzy, left-wing, feel-good stuff that Rush Limbaugh will love to attack," he says. "This is sound social and economic policy. This gives my grandkids a shot."

Excerpted from "Union Heavy Embraces Green Energy as Crucial Vision for the Future," by Joan Hamilton, Sierra Magazine

Student Labor Action Project

Every summer, clothing companies like American Eagle spend millions of dollars advertising fall's must-have items, hoping we will run out and buy them for the first day of class.

But this summer, business as usual isn't going to fly for American Eagle Outfitters. Over the next few months, students across North America will show AE that students care about more than just fads and fashion.

Thousands will pledge to boycott American Eagle Outfitters back-to-school.

AE says it cares about workers — its own Code of Conduct requires contractors to respect the right of employees to form unions. Yet workers at the National Logistics Services warehouse contracted to ship AE clothing in Canada faced harassment and intimidation when they tried to improve conditions by forming a union with UNITE HERE. Instead of doing the responsible and moral thing – protecting workers' rights at NLS – American Eagle hasn't lifted a finger. We think this inaction violates AE's own Code of Conduct, which requires that contractors respect their employees' right to organize.

Students have worked hard to create accountability for workers' rights with both the overseas contractors where university apparel is sewn and with the contractors here at home that prepare our dining hall food and clean our classrooms. Taking the same fight to a retailer, especially one whose target customer is young, college-age people like us, is an extension of our efforts.

Don't Buy American Eagle until they protect workers' rights!

Be among the thousands of young people who have signed the pledge!

www.AmericanVulture.org

I pledge to not purchase American Eagle Outfitters merchandise until AEO enforces its Code of Conduct to ensure that distribution workers at National Logistics Services in Ontario have the right to join a union free from harassment and intimidation.

The Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) is a joint initiative of Jobs with Justice and the United States Student Association and is a network that engages student organizations in economic justice campaigns. Jobs With Justice (JwJ) coalitions around the country house local SLAPs that connect students from multiple campuses. SLAP supports the growing student movement for economic justice by making links between campus, community, and labor union organizing. So does AFSCME Local 965.

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GOP Blocks Vote on Employee Free Choice

The battle for the Employee Free Choice Act moves to the 2008 election after a handful of obstructionist senators have blocked a vote on the bill. On a vote of 51-48, the Senate voted for cloture, that is, shutting off debate. Sixty votes were needed to invoke cloture, end debate, and move to a vote on the bill. So even though a majority of the Senate voted for cloture, a small group of Republicans denied workers a free choice to join a union.

Senators Lincoln and Pryor both voted for cloture. Please contact them and thank them for their support.

U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln

Washington D.C. Office

355 Dirksen Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202.224.4843
202.228.1371 – Fax

Central Office
912 West Fourth Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
501.375.2993
501.375.7064 - Fax

U.S. Senator Mark Pryor

Washington Office

217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202.224.2353
202.228.0908 – Fax

Main District Office

The River Market
500 President Clinton Ave., Suite 401
Little Rock, AR 72201
501.324.6336
501.324.5320 - Fax

UA Faculty Salaries among Lowest in SEC

Faculty salaries at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, are among the lowest in the Southeastern Conference. Only Mississippi State University’s salaries are lower, according a national report by the American Association of University Professors.

UA Administration spokesmen blamed the legislature for not appropriating more money. They did not mention the inordinate amount of the University budget consumed by the ever-growing number of administrators with salaries higher than the teaching faculty, nor did they explain why professors in the Walton College of Business are paid $50,000 more per year than faculty in the Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences. Coaches make more than faculty in any college.

News coverage in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette also noted that male faculty members are paid more than female faculty members at all academic ranks.

AFSCME Wins Paid Leave to Participate in Your Children’s Educational Activities

One of the 2007 Legislative Priorities for AFSCME Local 965 was a bill providing paid leave for state employees’ children’s educational activity. We were successful, and now each year, all full-time benefits eligible employees will receive 8 hours of paid leave for the purpose of participating in their children’s educational activities. Unused leave is not subject to carry-over and is not compensable at retirement, so use it for the sake of your kids.

Children are defined as any person enrolled in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 (preK-12) and who is related to the state employee as: natural child, adopted child, stepchild, foster child, grandchild, legal guardian or any other legal capacity where the employee is acting as a parent.

Educational activity is defined as: parent-teacher conferences, participation in school-sponsored tutoring, school-sponsored volunteer programs, field trips, classroom programs, academic competitions, and assisting with athletic, music or theater programs. Please note that this does not include attendance at sports activities.

This leave goes into effect July 1^st. For 2007 only, you will receive the full 8 hours to use between July 1st and December 31^st. After January 1^st, 2008 it will be 8 hours per calendar year. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Beth Arbuthnot of UA Human Resources at 5-6209 or betha@uark.edu. If any supervisor trys to deny you paid leave for your children's educational activities, contact any officer or executive board member of AFSCME Local 965.

This Date in Arkansas Labor History

1936 Mr. Roy Morelock, Rev. Claude Williams, and Miss Willie Sue Blagden flogged by six men hired by planters near Earle for supporting Southern Tenant Farmers Union cotton pickers strike for $1.00 per hundred pounds.

Educated Workers Are Dangerous

Educated workers are dangerous. They have facts and solid arguments, and that makes it more difficult for the corporate managers and institutional administrators to peddle their bull unopposed in the media. So, keep reading. This week's New York Review of Books looks at three excellent additions to any union resource library. Read the reviews, read the books, and tell it like it is.

The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences, by Louis Uchitelle. Vintage, 287 pp., $14.95 (paper)

The Great American Jobs Scam, by Greg LeRoy. Berrett-Koehler, 290 pp., $24.95

The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, by John C. Bogle. Yale University Press,260 pp., $16.00 (paper)

Restoring the Right to Organize

The Morning News provides coverage of today's informational picket at the Little Rock office of U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln. "Dozens of union members and nonunion workers alike gathered here Friday outside the office of Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., to urge the senator to support union-backed federal legislation that would ease union-forming practices. Led by the Arkansas AFL-CIO State Federation, the group of steel workers, plumbers, machinists, government workers, communication workers and others delivered more than 6,000 postcards urging Lincoln to support the Employee Free Choice Act."

"We're looking for the right to be organized without being interfered with and to have a voice in a work place," Alan Hughes, the AFL-CIO president, said during Friday's demonstration. He later used a bull horn to lead the group in chanting, "What do we want? Free choice! When do we want it? Now!" The act would increase penalties for employers that commit unfair labor practices as well as provide arbitration if labor and management fail to agree on a first contract.

America’s working people are struggling to make ends meet these days and our middle class is disappearing. The best opportunity working people have to get ahead economically is by uniting to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits. Recent research has shown that some 60 million U.S. workers would join a union if they could.

But the current system for forming unions and bargaining is broken. Every day, corporations deny workers the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life. They routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and even fire workers who try to form unions and bargain for economic well-being.

The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800, S. 1041), supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would level the playing field for workers and employers and help rebuild America’s middle class. It would restore workers’ freedom to choose a union. Republican Congressman John Boozman voted against it. All Arkansas Democrats in our Washington delegation have announce their support for the bill--except Blanche Lincoln.

Priority #1 - Affordable Housing in Fayetteville

Adam Wallworth's article in today's Northwest Arkansas Times reports that Alderman Lioneld Jordan's persistent advocacy for affordable housing has made it the top priority for the City Council agenda for the next six months, with a decision set for Dec. 31.

City staff will be making a policy recommendation in three weeks for providing housing options for people who make 60-80 percent of the median income, said Gary Dumas, director of operations. He said there will be a second phase for affordable housing that will address housing options for people with incomes that are 30-60 percent of the median income.

Ward 2 Alderman Nancy Allen was especially interested in the priority. ”We need to quit talking and do it, ” she said.

We agree.

Organizing Nurses in Northwest Arkansas

Doug Smith's recent article in the Arkansas Times details the recent reaffirmation of union representation for the nurses at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock. The vote was 334 to 224 to keep the union. It was a big victory for the professional nursing staff, represented by United Health Care Local 22 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union.

Nurses at health care facilities in Northwest Arkansas also have an opportunity to organize for better salaries, benefits, working conditions, and respect for their important work. The members of AFSCME Local 965 stand ready to assist them in their efforts and to put them in contact with professional organizers from AFSCME Council 38 and AFSCME United Nurses of America.

AFSCME-United Nurses of America is over 60,000 nurses working in unity to advance quality and accountability in the healthcare setting through organizing, political action and nursing practice. Together, United Nurses of America members across the country are winning wage, benefit and other improvements such as prohibitions on mandatory overtime through strong collective bargaining agreements with our employers – and advocating for legislation and policies to increase health care funding, improve quality care, and institute safer working conditions and protections for nurses. Across the country, we are reaching out to other nurses who want to join AFSCME-UNA. As our numbers grow, so does our power to improve our jobs, the care we deliver and the quality of our lives.

Contact our officers by email at apeu965@yahoo.com

Celebrating 120 Years of Local Labor History

This month marks the 120th anniversary of organized labor making a difference for working families in Fayetteville and Washington County. On June 17th, 1887, Fayetteville Lodge No. 10,388, Knights of Labor organized at Byrnes' Hall at Fayetteville. A. C. Hoag, a carpenter from Minnesota, was elected Master Workman of the local lodge. Other officers included J. Tillman, W. F.; Calvin H. Putman, W. I.; W. Gakin, Almoner; S. H. Smith, F. S.; Henry M. Rieff, Treas.; E. D. Erwin, Statistician; C. T. Carr, R. S.; John French, U. K.; A. Hodges, I. E.; John Zilla, O. E.; H. M. Rieff, Judge; D. Calvin, Judge Advocate. These, with twenty-five others, constituted the charter membership.

AFSCME Local 965 honors those who lived and made labor history. Today our members are proud to continue the union tradition of fighting for a better life for working families in Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas.

Always Low Wages, 總低薪水

In case you have missed the fact that our campus is currently occupied by Wal-Mart, the parent company of the University of Arkansas, the Morning News today has a fuzzy puff piece by PR conduits Brandon Harris and Dug Begley. They think everything is wonderful, and we are sure that Wal-Mart management loved it as much as anything produced by their in-house publicity operation--or by Julie Roehm and Draft FBC.

Not everyone agrees, but you won't find much about that in Arkansas newspapers or aired on local television "news."

Give Workers a Voice

Dale Charles, President of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has a forceful op-ed column in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He cites solid data to show that union members earn more and have better benefits than non-union workers, and he shows that this is even more important to African-American workers. He makes the case for the Employee Free Choice Act and asks our Senators to support it.

"For decades, unions have helped women and people of color bridge the wage gap. Through the power of collective bargaining, union workers have been able win access to health insurance and other benefits for themselves and their families. In fact, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, African American workers who belong to unions earn 36 percent more than their nonunion counterparts and are more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and pensions. . . .

"Most people in America don’t know that labor law in this country has been so twisted that it is now virtually impossible for workers to form a union without running the risk of employer harassment and even termination. Seventy years of labor law amendments, court decisions and a ballooning multi-million-dollar union-busting industry have effectively robbed workers of their constitutional and human right to choose whether to form a union to bargain for improved working conditions. . . .

"There is a new bill before Congress that would make it more difficult for employers to interfere in their employees’ efforts to organize for a better life. Approved by the House in March, the Employee Free Choice Act would give working people back their freedom to form and join unions by stiffening penalties on employers who violate the law. . . .

"Sadly, the debate on this worker rights bill is being hijacked by sound-bite arguments from the all-powerful business lobby, which falsely claims that the bill will eliminate union elections. The bill doesn’t eliminate anything. It simply gives workers another choice to form unions when a majority signs authorization cards. Such procedures have been in place since 1935, but today the choice is up to the boss. It should be up to workers.

"Simply put, a union contract gives some power to working people in circumstances where they otherwise have relatively little control. Employers don’t like that. It’s time we let workers control their own destinies, without interference from greedy corporations that care more about their bottom lines than their employees."

From Poverty to Prosperity

The Center for American Progress last year convened a diverse group of national experts and leaders to examine the causes and consequences of poverty in America and make recommendations for national action. In this report released last month, the Task Force on Poverty calls for a national goal of cutting poverty in half in the next 10 years and proposes a strategy to reach the goal.

Our nation has seen periods of dramatic poverty reduction at times when near-full employment was combined with sound federal and state policies, motivated individual initiative, supportive civic involvement, and sustained national commitment. In the last six years, however, our nation has moved in the opposite direction. The number of poor Americans has grown by five million, while inequality has reached historic high levels.

The Center for American Progress recommends 12 key steps to cut poverty in half, but they also make sense for national, state, and local public policy to help all working families:

1. Raise and index the minimum wage to half the average hourly wage. At $5.15, the federal minimum wage is at its lowest level in real terms since 1956. The federal minimum wage was once 50 percent of the average wage but is now 30 percent of that wage. Congress should restore the minimum wage to 50 percent of the average wage, about $8.40 an hour in 2006. Doing so would help nearly 5 million poor workers and nearly 10 million other low-income workers.

2. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. As an earnings supplement for low-income working families, the EITC raises incomes and helps families build assets. The Child Tax Credit provides a tax credit of up to $1,000 per child, but provides no help to the poorest families. We recommend tripling the EITC for childless workers and expanding help to larger working families. We recommend making the Child Tax Credit available to all low- and moderate-income families. Doing so would move as many as 5 million people out of poverty.

3. Promote unionization by enacting the Employee Free Choice Act. The Employee Free Choice Act would require employers to recognize a union after a majority of workers signs cards authorizing union representation and establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights. The increased union representation made possible by the Act would lead to better jobs and less poverty for American workers.

4. Guarantee child care assistance to low-income families and promote early education for all. We propose that the federal and state governments guarantee child care help to families with incomes below about $40,000 a year, with expanded tax help to higher-earning families. At the same time, states should be encouraged to improve the quality of early education and broaden access for all children. Our child care expansion would raise employment among low-income parents and help nearly 3 million parents and children escape poverty.

5. Create 2 million new “opportunity” housing vouchers, and promote equitable development in and around central cities. Nearly 8 million Americans live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty where at least 40 percent of residents are poor. Our nation should seek to end concentrated poverty and economic segregation, and promote regional equity and inner-city revitalization. We propose that over the next 10 years the federal government fund 2 million new “opportunity vouchers” designed to help people live in opportunity-rich areas. Any new affordable housing should be in communities with employment opportunities and high-quality public services, or in gentrifying communities. These housing policies should be part of a broader effort to pursue equitable development strategies in regional and local planning efforts, including efforts to improve schools, create affordable housing, assure physical security, and enhance neighborhood amenities.

6. Connect disadvantaged and disconnected youth with school and work. About 1.7 million poor youth ages 16 to 24 were out of school and out of work in 2005. We recommend that the federal government restore Youth Opportunity Grants to help the most disadvantaged communities and expand funding for effective and promising youth programs—with the goal of reaching 600,000 poor disadvantaged youth through these efforts. We propose a new Upward Pathway program to offer low-income youth opportunities to participate in service and training in fields that are in high-demand and provide needed public services.

7. Simplify and expand Pell Grants and make higher education accessible to residents of each state. Low-income youth are much less likely to attend college than their higher income peers, even among those of comparable abilities. Pell Grants play a crucial role for lower-income students. We propose to simplify the Pell grant application process, gradually raise Pell Grants to reach 70 percent of the average costs of attending a four-year public institution, and encourage institutions to do more to raise student completion rates. As the federal government does its part, states should develop strategies to make postsecondary education affordable for all residents, following promising models already underway in a number of states.

8. Help former prisoners find stable employment and reintegrate into their communities. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. We urge all states to develop comprehensive reentry services aimed at reintegrating former prisoners into their communities with full-time, consistent employment.

9. Ensure equity for low-wage workers in the Unemployment Insurance system. Only about 35 percent of the unemployed, and a smaller share of unemployed low-wage workers, receive unemployment insurance benefits. We recommend that states (with federal help) reform “monetary eligibility” rules that screen out low-wage workers, broaden eligibility for part-time workers and workers who have lost employment as a result of compelling family circumstances, and allow unemployed workers to use periods of unemployment as a time to upgrade their skills and qualifications.

10. Modernize means-tested benefits programs to develop a coordinated system that helps workers and families. A well-functioning safety net should help people get into or return to work and ensure a decent level of living for those who cannot work or are temporarily between jobs. Our current system fails to do so. We recommend that governments at all levels simplify and improve benefits access for working families and improve services to individuals with disabilities. The Food Stamp Program should be strengthened to improve benefits, eligibility, and access. And the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program should be reformed to shift its focus from cutting caseloads to helping needy families find sustainable employment.

11. Reduce the high costs of being poor and increase access to financial services. Despite having less income, lower-income families often pay more than middle and high-income families for the same consumer products. We recommend that the federal and state governments should address the foreclosure crisis through expanded mortgage assistance programs and by new federal legislation to curb unscrupulous practices. And we propose that the federal government establish a $50 million Financial Fairness Innovation Fund to support state efforts to broaden access to mainstream goods and financial services in predominantly low-income communities.

12. Expand and simplify the Saver’s Credit to encourage saving for education, homeownership, and retirement. For many families, saving for purposes such as education, a home, or a small business is key to making economic progress. We propose that the federal “Saver’s Credit” be reformed to make it fully refundable. This Credit should also be broadened to apply to other appropriate savings vehicles intended to foster asset accumulation, with consideration given to including individual development accounts, children’s saving accounts, and college savings plans.

Honor Our Fallen Service Members

An American soldier serving in Afghanistan recently wrote an op-ed piece which has stirred up a national debate. The soldier asked an important question: Why we do not lower the flag to half mast when a soldier dies at war?

Here at AFSCME, we could not agree more. In Afghanistan the U.S. has suffered 390 military deaths, and in Iraq the number of troops killed has now reached 3,452, including 21 members of the Arkansas National Guard. We should honor our fallen service members.

Sign our petition to amend the US Flag Code to have flags lowered for a day each time an American service member dies at war.

Just click HERE and fill out the form to let our Congressman know you are in support of this petition to amend 4 USC 7 to include that the flag will be flown at half-staff for one day when a service member dies at war.