Nickels and Lincoln

AFSCME organizer Justin Nickels discusses the need for a "public option" in national health care reform. Senator Lincoln tries to dodge the issue by saying it is too expensive. She did not mention whether the cost of agribusiness subsidies were too expensive or demand that those handouts be revenue neutral.

FOR the New High School

The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Local 965, today called for an investment in our children’s future and announced its endorsement of the proposed millage to build a world class 21^st Century high school in Fayetteville. “It is important to our members that we build here and build now for the future of our children and our community; we must not miss this opportunity to do the right thing at the right time” said Larry West, a member of the executive committee

“Last year, we urged the school board to build the new high school at the current location, because it serves students well to be near the University and its resources,” said Vice President Betty Martin. “In addition, it is convenient for our faculty and staff who have children attending high school, as well as for nontraditional students and single parents enrolled at the University.” The resolution adopted by the group noted that failure to pass the millage and move forward now would reopen the old debate about location of the school and “shift the discussion from achieving lasting excellence to finding the cheapest temporary solution.”

Early voting begins on Tuesday, September 8, at the Courthouse. Election Day is Tuesday, September 15, at your regular polling place. This is an important election for AFSCME members and their families, so be sure to vote FOR the millage for the new Fayetteville High School.

Labor Day Picnic

AFSCME Local 965 will be hosting our Labor Day Picnic on Saturday, September 5th, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the UA Agri Park (Garland Ave ) 1/2 south of I-540). Bring your family and friends from work. Fun, games, and free food. Hamburgers and hot dogs should be ready by 11:00.

We are also extending an invitation and warm welcome to the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council and the families of member unions. Please join us for a celebration of working families and the dignity of labor.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy

The 1.6 million members of AFSCME join Americans of all walks of life in mourning the loss of our closest ally and most steadfast friend in the U.S. Senate, Ted Kennedy. During Senator Kennedy’s nearly 47 years as a servant of the entire nation, the labor movement developed an especially close relationship with him, and AFSCME was proud to stand with him in every political effort he made. We stood by his side when he ran against Jimmy Carter because Ted Kennedy was such a great champion for working people and families.

Senator Kennedy called health care reform the cause of his life, first advocating for national health care in 1966. He made a surprise return to the Senate last summer to cast the decisive vote for the Democrats on a Medicare bill. In his memory, we must continue to do all we can to realize his goal of health care reform.

Beyond what he achieved on the national stage, Ted Kennedy was an empathetic and caring man. He stayed in contact with families who lost loved ones on 9/11 and remained in touch long after the cameras were gone. The tragedies he experienced made him especially compassionate when others endured their own hardships.

For me this loss is particularly difficult. He was not just an ally, but a dear friend. But while Senator Kennedy will no longer raise his voice on our behalf, we will forever remember what he gave all of us: his life, his passion, his commitment to a more fair and equitable nation. In remembrance of him, let us all keep fighting for the causes he championed so willingly and so well, and rededicate ourselves to winning national health care reform.

- AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee on the Death of Senator Kennedy

A Contrast to Mob Mentality

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ran a report last week on our Highway to Health Care event in front of the state Capitol in Little Rock — and the importance of Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s support of a public option. In the article, “Union backs public health-care plan during rally” (subscription-only), AFSCME’s Blaine Rummel pointed out that Lincoln has said she’s open to it.

He continued:

“If we allow [government] to compete with private insurance companies, it’s going to force private insurance companies to lower premiums,” Rummel said.

He said Obama’s plan will ensure that people keep coverage when they change jobs.

Sen. Lincoln sits on the Senate Finance Committee, which is playing a key role in shaping health care legislation. She has said she believes individuals should be given choices when it comes to health insurance. In a July guest column in the Democrat-Gazette, Lincoln said “Options should include private plans as well as a quality, affordable public plan or non-profit plan that can accomplish the same goals of a public plan.”

Rummel said the association wanted to provide a contrast to the “mob mentality” of protesters during recent public forums. Its literature has a rock ‘n’ roll theme.

There was no mob in Little Rock, as you can see in this photo — just a group of ordinary Americans who want to make their voices heard as we fight for real health insurance reform.

Little Rock residents were excited about reform at the Highway to Healthcare event on Monday evening. Find more on Flickr.

For a strong public plan option

A quality public health insurance option is a crucial part of health care reform to keep private insurance companies honest, hold down costs and ensure that everybody has a health care choice available. Key to holding down costs for families, for businesses, and for the federal budget is forcing insurance companies to compete. And the only way to force real competition on the insurance companies is a strong public plan option.

Unfortunately, the usual suspects opposed to reform are trying to hijack the reform process and attacking the public health insurance plan option because they are afraid of competition and they want to keep gouging working families. But unless we take decisive steps to stop the crippling rise of health costs, we will have squandered this moment of opportunity.

We will continue to relay that message forcefully to the Senate and the White House.

John Sweeney

“Highway to Health Care Reform” Tour

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I'm Blaine Rummel, I work at AFSCME in Washington, DC, — and my most important work is health care reform. That's why this month, I won’t be in Washington. I'll be on the road for reform. Starting in North Dakota this Wednesday, AFSCME is taking the fight on the road with our Highway to Health Care Reform Tour; want to come along?

Highway to Health Care Rallies

Monday, August 17
Fayetteville, AR
10:30 AM, Fayetteville Square

Monday, August 17
Little Rock, AR
Barbecue and Concert
6:00 PM, Arkansas State Capital

Tuesday, August 18
Little Rock, AR
10:30 AM, Arkansas State Capital

Let me explain: Congress is on recess this month — but we're not. Health care isn't working for America’s middle class. It's too expensive and too uncertain — and it's crippling our nation's economy. That's why we've rented an RV and converted it into a mobile action center for a month-long road trip of our own. We'll crisscross the country — drive right through Arkansas where the most important votes are — to keep the pressure on Congress to fix health care and to do it now.

That's right. AFSCME is on the Highway to Health Care Reform.

Okay, so Karl, a great intern at AFSCME headquarters, and I are not exactly rock stars playing at arena shows. But believe me, we’re going to rock. We have to, and I hope you'll be right there with us when we deliver the loudest, strongest, message possible — from Bismarck, North Dakota to Bangor, Maine.

Join us. Please consider coming to our one-of-a-kind event in Arkansas and put yourself on our special Highway to Health Care Reform road map. Add your voice to the chorus of people telling Congress that real health care reform just can't wait.

We're closer to real reform than we've ever been — thanks for everything that you've done to help us get this far. We can't allow Congress's recess to slow us down.

Please join our Highway to Health Care Tour by sending a letter to Congress today and adding your name to our map: www.Highway2HealthCare.org. You can also download a special Highway to Health Care Reform poster.

Thanks for your continued pressure on Congress — summer vacation or not. I'll be sure to keep you updated with stories and other easy things you can do to help us pass real reform during the tour. Check back on the Highway to Health Care Reform website for regular tour updates, pictures and more.

Sincerely,
Blaine Rummel
AFSCME Legislation Department

A New Generation of Labor Activists

The future of the union and social justice movements lies in reaching out to college students, young workers and young voters who are energized by the election of Barack Obama.

Reaching out to young people is a top priority for AFSCME and the AFL-CIO. Speaking at the Texas state federation convention last week, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, a candidate for AFL-CIO president, said:

If there’s anything our labor movement needs, it’s an infusion of younger Americans—the people whose futures are taking a beating at the hands of the Wall Street hucksters and fast-buck artists who’ve driven our economy into a ditch.

We have an opportunity, and indeed an obligation, to continue building stronger worker and student alliances in the fight for worker’s rights. To make the real changes we need, the leadership will come from working with a new generation. AFSCME Local 965 welcomes the next generation of public employees, and we are dedicated to involving this new generation of advocates for working families.

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.