Work in Progress
January 8, 2001

By: Myke Reid
Assistant Director
Legislative Department
American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO
mreid@apwu.org

DRIVING AND FLYING--In Chicago last month, the 5,000-member unaffiliated Chicago Truck Drivers Union voted to merge with Teamsters Local 710. CTDU, formed in 1908, represents drivers, freight and warehouse workers at several Chicago-area firms. Also last month, 950 flight attendants at Air Canada regional carriers voted to join the IBT's Canadian Airline Division. The vote came after Air Canada decided to merge its regional carriers into one operation.

CAREGIVERS WIN VOICE--Led by a strong volunteer organizing committee, 755 workers at Seattle's Northwest Hospital voted Jan. 4-5 to join SEIU 1199NW. It was the largest private-sector union win in Washington State since 1997. In Springville, N.Y., the majority of 250 workers at the Bertrand Chafee Hospital overcame a vicious anti-union campaign in November and voted for
a voice at work through SEIU Local 1199 Upstate. The victory capped a seven-month organizing effort by the caregivers. The bargaining unit includes LPNs, technicians, aides, clerks, dietary workers and other support staff.

JUST SUPER--Some 153 school bus drivers, escorts, mechanics and cleaners at Super Trans in Bronx and Yonkers, N.Y., gained a voice at work by voting Dec. 15 for Transport Workers Local 100. Another 41 flight dispatchers for United Parcel Service voted overwhelmingly last month for Local 545.

RTC--Those three initials stand for Rood Trucking Co. and "really tough campaign," which is why the 94 drivers at thePittsburgh-based company chose the Postal Workers in a repeat representation election in late December. The National Labor Relations Board found the company's anti-union actions in the first election effort, which the union lost by just a few votes,
were egregious enough to warrant a rerun election.

BUSH'S LABOR NOMINEE SLAMMED--Unions, civil rights, women's and other groups sharply criticized President-elect Bush's choice of Linda Chavez to head the Labor Department. Chavez, a right-wing newspaper columnist, is president of a staunchly conservative think-think and a former Reagan administration appointee. She has a record of opposing the federal minimum wage, equal pay laws to break the "glass ceiling," affirmative action and other worker protections. "It is an insult to American working men and women to put an avowed opponent of the most basic workers' rights in charge of enforcing the federal laws and regulations that protect workers'  wages, employment and pension rights, equal employment opportunity and other programs for advancement," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. In addition, reports have surfaced that Chavez housed an illegal immigrant from Guatemala in 1992, that the woman performed occasional chores around Chavez's Beltsville, Md., home and that Chavez provided money to the woman. Chavez's explanation of the arrangement, "sounds too much like the explanation of employers who have tried to skirt the law by saying that individuals are not their employees," said AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson.

EC TO REVIEW ELECTION, LOOK AHEAD--The AFL-CIO Executive Council will meet in Washington, D.C., Jan. 9 to review working families' impact on the 2000 elections. Council members also will take a close look at President-elect Bush's cabinet appointees and will discuss with Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) legislative goals and possible battles. The council will reconvene for a longer meeting next month.


CELEBRATING DR. KING--Union members from around the country will join civil rights, community, student and faith groups in five days of celebration, marches and community and educational events in Greensboro, N.C., to honor the civil rights and workers  rights legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King. The Jan. 11-15 activities will focus on ways to increase minority and low-income voter participation and culminate on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 15, in donate their time and skills for a variety of community outreach events. "The AFL-CIO King Day celebration is a unique opportunity for the union movement to show that our goals are the same as Dr. King s--to ensure that all American workers have the right to come together and improve their lives and be treated with respect and dignity," said AFL-CIO Vice President Clayola Brown. For more information, call the AFL-CIO Civil and Human Rights Department at 202-637-5270.

VOTING RIGHTS--AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson will address a rally for voter rights in Greensboro, N.C., Jan. 15 as part of the federation's celebration of the life and legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That same day, Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka will speak at a citywide breakfast honoring King, who led efforts to eliminate discrimination
in voter registration throughout the South. For five days, Jan. 11-15, union members from around the country, along with civil rights, community, student and faith groups, will focus on ways to increase minority and low-income voter participation and donate their time and skills for a variety of community outreach events. For more information, call the AFL-CIO Civil and Human
Rights Department at 202-637-5270.

A STINK AT SMITHFIELD--An administrative law judge ruled that managers at Tar Heel, N.C.-based Smithfield Packing Co., the nation's largest pork-processing plant, committed "egregious and pervasive" labor law violations during two UFCW organizing campaigns in the 1990s. Judge John H. West ordered Smithfield to adopt fair practices toward UFCW in its next election. In a 436-page ruling, the judge said Smithfield illegally fired 11 workers because of their union activities and threatened to report Latino workers to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

WAL-MART LEADER FACES CHARGE--The NLRB has charged that a top Wal-Mart executive interfered with workers' freedom to
choose a voice at work. The NLRB says Wal-Mart Stores Division CEO Tom Coughlin and other managers spied on workers at the store's Kingman, Ariz., tire and lube express location and threatened them with a loss of benefits if they supported the union. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99R did not hold a scheduled election last summer because of the atmosphere of intimidation. "Wal-Mart would rather break the law in order to break its employees' will to exercise their federal right for a free and fair voice on the job," said Mike Leonard, UFCW's director of strategic programs. "Now, the NLRB is setting the record straight."

PUBLIC MONEY MATTERS--Despite efforts by Big Business to stop it, a new California law that prevents employers receiving state funds from using that money to deter employees from unionizing went into effect on New Year's Day. On Dec. 28, U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor denied the groups' request for a preliminary injunction to stop enactment of the new law. The law requires employers to keep records documenting that public dollars were not used to assist or deter employees' efforts to join
a union.
 
CHEW & CREW IN 802--Ray Chew & the Crew, the band that has played for Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater for eight years, now is covered by a Musicians Union Local 802 two-year contract that boosts salaries by 53 percent for side musicians and 40 percent for the bandleader. Theater management recognized Local 802 as the bargaining agent and agreed to a contract that
gives the musicians employer-paid health insurance and pension contributions, plus a "right to organize" clause to allow future Apollo musicians to be represented by Local 802 with a simple card-check. Under card-check, an employer agrees to recognize the union if a majority of workers sign union cards.
 
'NO PRIVATIZATION'--With some air carriers and members of Congress urging privatization of the nation's air traffic control system, the Air Traffic Controllers are running print and TV ads calling the effort "shortsighted and ill-conceived." The Federal Aviation Administration has the "latitude to achieve efficiencies needed in air traffic control" and this service is "best provided from within the federal government," says NATCA President John S. Carr.

AFGE IS FIRED UP--AFGE is asking a federal court to ensure that the Defense Department properly staffs its fire department at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., home to NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. "The safety situation at Redstone Arsenal is severe," said AFGE President Bobby Harnage. "It's equivalent to our hometowns not having adequate fire and emergency services."

OWENS TAKES REINS--The Amalgamated Transit Union general executive board elected Oscar Owens as secretary-treasurer, succeeding Oliver Green, who retired in December. Owens had served as the union's international vice president. Union representative Chuck Cook was named vice president.

TOP SITE--LabourStart, a website for international trade unionists, has named the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics Local 238 site (www.gmp238.org) as the "Labour Website of the Year for 2000." The Kokomo, Ind., local has 200 members. The site of the Congress of South African Trade Unions was second. For more information, click on www.labourstart.org.

LEADERSHIP RECOGNIZED--The Minnesota Women's Press, a St. Paul newspaper, named Jaye Rykunyk, secretary-treasurer of Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Local 17, among its top 10 newsmakers in 2000. The list recognizes Minnesotans
who promote justice, equality and self-determination for women. Rykunyk led a rolling hotel strike in Minneapolis last June. The local won a stunning new five-year contract with more than a 100 percent wage and benefit increase for workers, including many immigrant women.

WALSH NAMED TO NLRB--President Clinton has named attorney Dennis P. Walsh to a recess appointment as a member of the NLRB. The recess appointment will enable Walsh to serve as a member until Congress ends its 2001 session, unless the Senate confirms his nomination to serve a full term. Walsh, a former board attorney, had been serving as chief counsel on the staff of
NLRB member Wilma B. Liebman.

STEELTOWN, USA--A multimedia exhibit by artist James Williams will be shown through April 2 at the American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark in Haledon, N.J. The exhibit features three very large murals and a dozen other pieces, along with video interviews of steelworkers in Mexico, New York and Ontario, Canada, and sounds of an operating steel mill. The museum, at 83 Norwood St. in Haledon, is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tours for large groups are offered Wednesday-Saturday, 1*4 or by appointment.