Workplace Issues Today

A landmark settlement was reached yesterday in a human rights case involving indentured servitude and other violations committed on the island of Saipan by garment factories manufacturing clothing for major U.S. retailers (see WIT for Oct. 18, 2001). Involving twenty-six companies and $20 million for back pay and funding of a monitoring program, the settlement may be the largest ever in a U.S. lawsuit over violations of international human rights. Having decided to settle the case only after suffering several major legal defeats in the case in the past year (see WIT for May 15, 2002), the companies involved still deny that they are guilty of any crime and many have attempted to publicize the settlement as altruistic action willingly taken in the best interest of workers on the island.

See Settlement Reached in Saipan Sweatshop Case., NANCY CLEELAND, Los Angeles Times, Sep 26 2002

For only the second time in his eight-year tenure as Britain?s Prime Minister, Tony Blair faces an embarrassing defeat on policy at the Labour Party?s annual conference, as his government yesterday ruled out the possibility of compromise with British unions on privatization issues. Outraged over what has been widely perceived as a betrayal by Mr. Blair?s ?New? Labour over the impact of privatization schemes (see WIT for Sep. 9, 2002), Britain?s unions will likely command the majority needed to pass a non-binding but highly symbolic resolution calling for a halt to Blair?s Private Finance Initiative at the conference. If pubic sector union Unison, and general union GMB are able to convince the Blair government aligned Transport and General Workers? Union not to break ranks with the rest of the labor movement, promises of a conference revolt by the Unison leadership will almost certainly be realized in a most damaging way for Mr. Blair.

See Blair Faces Conference Defeat on Privatization., CHRISTOPHER ADAMS, Financial Times, Sep 26 2002

A discrimination lawsuit was filed against the Federal Bureau of Investigation?s New York field office---the Bureau?s largest field office and a key player in the 9/11 investigations--- by five highly regarded black and Hispanic agents. The agents have accused their supervisors of ongoing and pervasive discrimination including over supervision of minority agents, and posting of pictures of minority agents on bulletins of gang members and criminals. The seriousness of the charges is compounded by allegations that at least one supervisor?s continued disdain for minority agents and failure to take their recommendations seriously, may have directly led to a failure to prevent the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

See Bias Charges Filed against FBI?s NY Office., DAVID JOHNSTON, The New York Times, Sep 25 2002

The last senator to take a position on the debate over worker and union rights in the proposed Homeland Security Department, Moderate Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island crossed party lines yesterday, reaching a compromise with Democrats on a plan that has the support of federal labor unions (see WIT for July 10, 2002). Under the compromise legislation, presidential changes in civil service rules could be challenged by federal unions and brought to binding arbitration, and the president would only be able to remove union representation rights from Homeland Security Department employees whose jobs directly impact national security. Chafee?s decision counters the earlier cross-party move by Democratic Georgia Senator Zel Miller, setting the stage for Senate passage of a long-awaited Homeland Security bill and raising the possibility of a political showdown over legislation opposed by the president and at odds with the Security bill passed by the House of Representatives.

See Senate Compromise Reached on Homeland Security., DAVID FIRESTONE, The New York Times, Sep 24 2002

According to U.S. Census Bureau data revealed today, the U.S. poverty rate rose last year for the first time in almost a decade---a trend compounded by a decrease in household income. From a 26 year low of 11.3 percent in 2000, the percentage of Americans living below the poverty level jumped to 11.7 as 1.3 million Americans descended into poverty. Poverty rates were highest among blacks, who experienced the greatest decline in average income in 19 years, while Asians experienced the largest percentage decline in household income.

See Incomes Fall, Poverty Rate Increases., The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Sep 23 2002

U.S. unions, human rights groups, student activists and religious leaders will meet today in Washington, D.C. to launch a new national campaign to put an end to sweatshops by restricting the import of sweatshop products into the U.S. While acknowledging that former strategies of shaming companies into adopting and adhering to voluntary codes of conduct have been effective in a few well publicized cases, the groups have pointed out that the codes of conduct are often more about public relations than about real change. In an attempt to create regulations with teeth, the campaign?s organizers plan to shift their focus from consumer pressure and public shame tactics, to a push for national laws aimed at preventing the import of sweat-tainted goods.

See Anti-Sweatshop Groups Renew, Refocus Efforts., EDWARD ALDEN, Financial Times, Sep 23 2002

California is once again taking the lead in the protection of workers? rights and the support of healthy work/life balance, as members of Governor Gray Davis? administration announced Sunday that the governor will sign paid family leave legislation passed three weeks ago by the state legislature (see WIT for Aug. 29, 2002). Although the Governor?s request to the bill?s authors to forgo an earlier plan to make employers pay for half the benefit was met, and the benefit will be financed entirely by deductions from workers? paychecks, business groups have still vehemently opposed the legislation all the way. Despite the final bill?s limiting of pay to only six of the twelve weeks of leave most working Americans are entitled to under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), employers have argued that the landmark bill will result in huge costs to California businesses in terms of lost productivity, and training and hiring replacement workers.

See CA Governor to Sign Paid Family Leave Bill., GREGG JONES, Los Angeles Times, Sep 22 2002

The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) called off a lockout at Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports yesterday when the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) sent full crews of equipment operators to the Stevedoring Services of America stations at the two ports (see WIT?s for August 28 and 21, and July 22 and 18, 2002). The PMA set a lockout deadline after the ILWU failed to dispatch full complements of workers to the two terminals starting this week, accusing the union of engaging in a slow down in an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations---a tactic the association had promised to respond to with lockouts. The union vehemently denied the accusations of engaging in a slowdown saying that it simply had not had enough workers to deal with a backlog of shipping, and both sides have said that industrial action is still a very real possibility even as the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service asked both sides to put an end to brinksmanship.

See LA and Long Beach, CA Lockouts Averted, West Coast Trade Flows for Now., NANCY CLEELAND and LOUIS SAHAGUN, Los Angeles Times, Sep 19 2002

After almost two years of rancorous contract negotiations, Nassau County and the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) agreed yesterday to submit to binding arbitration by a five member panel, and drop State Supreme Court and state Public Employment Relations Board cases against each other. Although the union has taken a risk by agreeing to allow the panel to reconsider contract provisions that had already been negotiated to agreement, it won a major victory in convincing County Executive Thomas Suozzi to cease his opposition to a generously pro-union arbitrator that the PBA had long sought to include on any arbitration panel. Although the PBA strongly opposed to Suozzi?s demands for a retroactive salary freeze, and givebacks on minimum staffing levels, sick days, work schedules and night shift bonuses, there is some optimism that the agreement to arbitrate signals a shift towards less antagonistic relations between the two parties.

See In Nassau County, NY, Police Contract to be Submitted to Binding Arbitration., MICHAEL ROTHFELD, Newsday, Sep 19 2002

Narrowly averting a strike that would have affected over 2,200 patients (see WIT for Sept. 13, 2002), health and human services union 1199/Service Employees International Union and Premier Home Health Services Incorporated reached a contract agreement yesterday. The several thousand 1199/SEIU members employed at Premier unanimously approved the fifteen-month contract which contains a twenty percent increase in pay and benefits, including employer paid health insurance, paid holidays, overtime and sick days. The contract represents a major victory for the low paid home health aides in an often rancorous two-year fight for a first contract (see WIT for Sept. 16, 2002), and may serve as a basis for settling contract negotiations covering 8,000 city-employed home health workers.

See Premier Healthcare, 1199/SEIU Settle., RANDI F. MARSHALL, Newsday, Sep 18 2002

With five hours left until a union strike deadline, the Canadian Auto Workers and General Motors reached a tentative three-year contract settlement covering 19,000 workers and setting the pattern for the union?s ongoing negotiations with the Ford Motor Company and DaimlerChrysler (see WIT for Aug. 26,2002). In addition to three percent raises in each of the first two years of the contract, and a two percent raise in the third year, the CAW also won $632 signing bonuses and an extra two-and-a-half days of paid vacation time for all members. Perhaps the greatest victory for the workers, however, was their achievement of the increased job security that was their primary goal in negotiations (see WIT for July 17, 2002), in the form of a commitment from GM to invest $506 million in its Canadian plants.

See GM, UAW Reach Tentative Agreement., BERNARD SIMON, The New York Times, Sep 17 2002

In an attempt to end widespread violations of Fair Labor Standards Act wage and hour regulations in New York City?s 2,000 grocery stores, State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer yesterday announced the successful negotiation of a greengrocer code of conduct with groups representing major stakeholders in the business. Over twenty grocers have already signed the code of conduct, and Mr. Spitzer is optimistic that several hundred will sign on in the next few months alone, in order to gain the amnesty from government prosecution of past violations that agreeing to the code confers. The code of conduct requires grocers to allow inspectors to check their businesses and financial records at least twice a year to insure that they are paying their employees the minimum wage and time-and-a-half for hours worked beyond a standard forty-hour workweek, offer paid sick days, and at least a week of pad vacation.

See New Program to End FLSA Violations in NYC Groceries Announced., STEVEN GREENHOUSE, The New York Times, Sep 17 2002

Unable to reach a contract agreement with the Maintenance Contractors of New England (MCNE) in the two weeks since its 10,000 members authorized leadership to call a strike (see WIT for Sept. 3, 2002), Local 254 of the Service Employees International Union set a Sept. 30 strike deadline yesterday. Following through on its promise to selectively target high profile buildings, Local 254 announced that only members employed by the region?s largest cleaning contractor Unicco will go on strike on the 30th---a decision that will allow the union to picket some of Boston?s most prominent buildings while conserving its $500,000 strike fund. Local 524 has accused this agenda setting member of the MCNE of standing in the way of a settlement, and has said that it is willing to resume talks if Unicco takes seriously its demands for health insurance, raises and opportunities for full-time employment for low-paid part-time employees.

See Boston Janitors Pick Target, Set Strike Date., DIANE E. LEWIS, The Boston Globe, Sep 16 2002

With unemployment still high in what many are calling a jobless recovery from the past year?s economic downturn, the days of large signing bonuses, creative perks and massive recruitment campaigns are gone. Replacing them is a buyer?s job market in which applicants are resorting to increasingly original and desperate measures to stand out from a reserve army of the unemployed swollen with the ranks of those recently laid off as a result of downsizing or scandal induced corporate bankruptcies. In addition to the flowers, cakes, doughnuts, lottery tickets and singing telegrams sent to hiring managers, some job seekers have taken to handing out resumes on the street, agreeing to work for stock options instead of paychecks, and standing in business suits on street corners with ?seeking work? signs.

See In Loose Job Market, Necessity is the Mother of Invention., STEPHANIE ARMOUR, USA Today, Sep 12 2002

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a class action lawsuit against the Cendant Corporation?s travel service Cheap Tickets yesterday, charging the company with allowing blatant and widespread sexual harassment of female employees by supervisors at its now closed Los Angeles office. Stemming from allegations of sexual propositioning, verbal and physical abuse, and retaliation against the former employee who first contacted the EEOC, the suit on behalf of at least seven former employees was filed after attempts at a settlement fell through. In addition to up to $300,000 in compensation for each of the victims, the EEOC is seeking injunctions against the company preventing it from engaging in sexual discrimination or retaliation against employees who speak out, as well requirements that the company take concrete action to reform a corporate environment pervaded by discrimination and harassment.

See EEOC Files Harassment Suit against Travel Company Cheap Tickets., DAVID ROSENZWEIG, Los Angeles Times, Sep 12 2002

Long used to a forty-four-hour workweek that includes a half-day on Saturday, Korea has over the past year moved towards the five-day, forty-hour standard, pushed by the demands of labor unions and the realities of international trade in a world where most major businesses are unavailable on weekends. Under legislation proposed by the Labor Ministry and currently before the National Assembly, public corporations and companies with over 1,000 employees would be required to adhere to forty-our workweeks next July, with the regulations eventually extending to companies with at least 30 workers in 2006. Opposition from business interests that view a forty-four-hour workweek as vital to Korea?s continuing economic development, and from labor unions who object to phasing in the regulations and the Korean president?s sole authority over extending the regulations to companies with less than thirty employees, may still sink the legislation, however.

See Korea Moves Towards a Forty-Hour Workweek., DON KIRK, The New York Times, Sep 11 2002

One year after what has been called the Pearl Harbor of our times, lasting effects of the September 11 attacks on the workplaces and working lives of Americans are, for most, subtle but undeniable. Although high unemployment has made many workers unwilling to rock the boat, many have begun to reevaluate where their jobs fall in terms of life priorities, and have made or at least contemplated changes that allow them to spend more time with their loved ones. The prevalence of employee assistance and emotional counseling programs has increased in the American workplace, as has the prevalence of security measures and background checks---even as employees continue to debate whether too little is being done to protect them or too much done to infringe upon their privacy. The worst of the American people continues to show itself as Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs and individuals mistaken for members of these cultural and religious groups face ongoing hostility, discrimination and even violence on the job because of the ignorance and prejudice of a few and the fear of many. The best is also seen, however, as many Americans continue to condemn not only the terrorist attacks on our country, but also the racist attacks by some of us against fellow Americans singled out because of their beliefs or skin color. On this anniversary of a day as hard to comprehend as it is impossible to leave behind, perhaps the best legacy that we can hope for from the past year is an appreciation for the working men and women who one year ago risked or gave their lives to save others. Whether the police officers, firefighters and EMT?s whose jobs it is to risk their lives every day to protect the rest of us, to run in when others run out, or the countless everyday heroes---the teachers who made sure that not a single one of the city?s students was lost, the ironworkers who worked non-stop at Ground Zero amid the smoke and flames cutting through the wreckage in the search for survivors---we owe a debt of gratitude to these working heroes. Your WIT Editor, Steven Quinn

See The Workplace a Year Later., STEPHANIE ARMOUR, USA Today, Sep 10 2002

The state arbitration panel which last week reached a binding decision on a new contract for New York City?s police men and women (see WIT for Sept. 5, 2002), yesterday released its official written decision explaining the reasoning behind the terms of the contract. The decision reveals that Mayor Bloomberg?s defeat on extracting extra working time, and the Patrolmen?s Benevolent Association?s (PBA) minor victory in achieving the same raise as other uniformed city unions over a shorter time, were the result of the panel?s recognition of the major pay gap between the NYPD and surrounding forces. The pay disparity argument made by the PBA was unsuccessful, however, in convincing the panel to break the pattern set by contracts negotiated between the city and other uniformed unions, and it seems that it was largely the unwillingness of the panel to break this pattern that prevented the PBA from winning the higher raises it sought.

See Arbitration Panel Recognizes NYPD Pay Gap, Balks at Breaking Pattern., STEVEN GREENHOUSE, The New York Times, Sep 10 2002

As America?s economy has shifted from an industrial base to a post-industrial service base, four-year colleges, professional and graduate schools have become the gold standard of education, with vocational and technical schools increasingly looked upon as second-class educations leading to dead end jobs. With technology playing an ever greater role in the workplace, however, and an increasing number of high-school graduates choosing to pursue four-year degrees, a growing demand for highly skilled craft and technical workers has created a job market now being explored by some unlikely candidates. Some companies that rely on highly skilled manual labor have begun recruiting efforts at high schools, and are finding that many topflight students are attracted to non-desk jobs where they can make starting salaries on par with those earned by undergraduate degree.

See Employers, Students Give Vocational and Technical Programs a Second Look., PAULINE M. MILLARD, Los Angeles Times, Sep 9 2002

Although U.S. unemployment rates have been in a state of flux in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, economists were surprised by the release last week of Labor Department data showing that from a six-year high in April of six percent, the unemployment fell to 5.7 percent in August. Expecting joblessness to have increased to 6.5 percent in that time period, some economists have pointed out that the seemingly positive movement is due more to their failure to take into account unemployed workers? increasing loss of hope in their ability to find a job. Despite longstanding questions of misrepresentation, calculations of U.S. unemployment rates continue to exclude from the ranks of those considered unemployed, workers who have given up looking for a job---a group which over the past few months has grown at the fastest pace since the mid-1970?s and accounts for the lower than expected unemployment rates.

See Unemployment Rate Drops, But Only Because of Record Worker Despondency., PERONET DESPEIGNES, Financial Times, Sep 8 2002

Released yesterday, the Kaiser Family Foundation?s annual report on employer-based insurance reveals that an increasing number of small businesses are canceling, restricting or charging employees more for their health insurance. In the twelve months from the first quarter of 2001 the number of businesses with between three and nine employees that do not offer any health benefits to their workers rose by three percent to forty-five percent---an increase that means an additional 150,000 Americans with no health insurance. In the same period companies have increased drug co-payments, cut coverage of retirees, and raised the premiums that employees pay for health insurance by 12.7 percent overall and by fourteen percent among companies with under fifty employees.

See Employees of Small Businesses Face Contraction, Elimination of Health Insurance., MILT FREUDENHEIM, The New York Times, Sep 5 2002

Despite an arbitration panel?s binding decision to give members of the New York Police Department little more than half of the raises they were seeking to put them on an equal footing with policemen in surrounding areas (see Yesterday?s WIT), most are praising the leadership of their union the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA). Although the union?s membership has in the past been quick to blame union officials for contracts that fell short of expectations, support remains strong for four-year PBA president Patrick Lynch and his decision to take the contract negotiations to binding arbitration. Denouncing Mayor Michael Bloomberg?s attempts to force them to put in more time on the job to receive raises they feel they deserve for the hard work they already do, the city?s police officers condemned the administration?s and the arbitration panel?s greater emphasis on the economic hardships facing the city than on their sacrifices for the city.

See NYPD Rank and File Feel Betrayed by Mayor, City, Arbitration Panel, but not by Union., JACOB H. FRIES, The New York Times, Sep 5 2002

After agreeing to sixty-five separate one-day extension of their previous contract with the Pacific Maritime Association (see WIT for June 28, 2002), the International Longshore and Warehouse Union allowed the contract covering 10,500 West Coast dockworkers to expire Sunday evening citing bad faith bargaining by management as the reason. Although under its constitution the union is required to conduct a ballot by mail before calling a strike, the decision allows the union to engage in slowdowns---a tactic that has proven successful in the past, and one that the union has not ruled out despite management?s threats to respond to any such industrial action with a lockout. Both sides insist that they are willing to engage in real talks, and continue to trade blame for the current breakdown, much as they did when talks stalled in late July (see WIT?s for July 22, and August 21, 2002).

See Port Talks Fall Through, Cargo Still Moving for Now., MARLA DICKERSON, Los Angeles Times, Sep 3 2002

As working men and women across America celebrated Labor Day yesterday with 8.3 million of their brothers and sisters unemployed, there was one thing that conservatives and liberals, business and labor all agreed on---workers are fed up. The management oriented Employment Law Alliance found that in a survey of 1,000 Americans last month, fifty-eight percent were in favor of union organizing campaigns, seventy-three percent wanted laws requiring employee representation on corporate boards, and eighty-four percent wanted more corporate accountability. In a similar poll of 800 American workers also conducted last month, the AFL-CIO found that half would join a union tomorrow if given the opportunity---up eight percent from last year---and fifty-eight percent had negative feelings towards CEO?s.

See Labor Day Studies Show Workers Upset, More Receptive to Unions., KIRSTIN DOWNEY GRIMSLEY, The Washington Post, Sep 2 2002

Three days after the expiration of a previous contract and a union strike deadline (see WIT for July 25, 2002), Illinois Governor George Ryan continues to hold together the fractious talks for a new contract for 7,300 hotel workers employed at thirty Chicago-area hotels (see WIT for Aug. 13, 2002). With the area?s largest convention of the year set to bring 120,000 visitors and $221 million to the city starting on Wednesday, Governor Ryan has been pushing both Local 1 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union and the Hotel Employer Labor Relations Association to reach a settlement. The hotels made a ?final? offer last week including a $3.57 raise over the next five year, and a reduction in the cost of family health care coverage to $45 per month, which the union rejected as falling far short of its bargaining goals of $18.15 per hour and free family health coverage paralleling the its New York City hotel industry.

See In Chicago, Illinois Governor Keeps Hotels, Workers Talking., STEPHEN FRANKLIN, Chicago Tribune, Sep 2 2002

With much of America out of work as corporate scandals continue to batter the stock market, and talk of a jobless recovery instilling little faith in job markets, many workers who never finished high school and have now lost the manufacturing and service jobs they had relied on are ending up on federal disability pay. Far from an indicator of laziness or attempts to exploit the system, the jump in recipients of disability pay over the past eighteen months is actually an indicator of just how much the average American worker will suffer in order to avoid relying on welfare. Most of the recent increase in disability pay applications has come from workers who, while they could find steady employment worked through injuries and conditions that meet the requirements for disability pay, and are seeking benefits only now that the jobs they had relied on have disappeared.

See In Loose Job Market Laid Off Workers are Deciding Not to Tough Out Injuries., LOUIS UCHITELLE, The New York Times, Sep 1 2002

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) today released the 2002-2003 edition of its "The State of Working America" report on income equality---or the lack thereof---and its implications for the working men and women of America and the country as a whole. The overall results of the study coauthored by EPI president and former Cornell Professor Lawrence Mishell reveal that the same trends of growing income polarization, the disappearance of the middle class and the loss of family time as parents work longer hours to make ends meet, are all continuing in the absence of high union density. And while low and middle income workers made real gains in wage levels in the second half of the 1990?s, and the rate at which the income gap is growing appears to have slowed, the report points out that the possibility of a jobless recovery from the recent recession may mean we are returning to a period of accelerated growth in income inequality.

See Bi-Annual Labor Day Study Finds that Income Gap is Still Growing., DAVID MOBERG, Chicago Tribune, Sep 1 2002

In a blow to World War II Mexican guest workers seeking hundreds of millions in wages taken from them by the U.S. and Mexican governments (see WIT for April 11, 2002), and possibly private banks, a U.S. federal judge dismissed their lawsuit on Wednesday. The judge wrote in his decision that he believed the claims of the braceros, but ruled that a six-year statute of limitations and the U.S. court?s lack of jurisdiction over Mexican institutions barred the suit. The braceros? search for justice is not over, however, as the judge left open the possibility of an amended claim against the U.S. if the braceros can prove that statute of limitations does not apply because they did not know about it, and legislation to allow the case to proceed despite the technicalities has been introduced in the House of Representatives.

See Braceros Lose Lost Wages Suit on Technicalities., OSCAR AVILA, Chicago Tribune, Aug 29 2002

On Tuesday the California State Assembly joined the State Senate in approving legislation that would make California the first state in the U.S. to provide paid leave for workers who need to take time off to care for ill or aged loved ones, or new children (see WIT for July 29,2002). Although paid family leave bills were introduced in twenty-five states and the U.S. Congress this year, and the last few years have seen Minnesota, Missouri and Montana establish limited paid leave for infant care, the U.S. remains the only one of 130 advanced industrial nations that does not provide paid family leave for its workers. The legislation passed by the assembly will provide workers with fifty-five percent of their pay for up to six weeks instead of the sixty-five percent for twelve weeks originally called for, and will be funded entirely by payroll taxes on workers instead of splitting the cost between employers and employees, but is still opposed by business groups.

See Paid Family Leave Bill Passes CA Assembly, Goes to Governor., V. DION HAYNES, Chicago Tribune, Aug 28 2002

A week after management at California?s Port of Hueneme declared an impasse in negotiations with eighteen employees represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 998 (see WIT for Aug. 21, 2002), two days of intensive bargaining have yielded a tentative contract settlement. The three-year contract proposal splits the difference between the seventeen percent raises sought by the union and the thirteen percent last offered by management last week, raising workers? salaries fifteen percent on average by 2005. The proposal decreases health benefits for current employees and retirees, but also provides for increased pensions, allows workers to accumulate more sick days that they can cash out when they retire, maintains current seniority provisions and workers? rights language, and adds Cesar Chavez? birthday as a paid holiday.

See Tentative Settlement in Port of Hueneme Dispute., GREGORY W. GRIGGS, Los Angeles Times, Aug 28 2002

Officers of the International Association of Machinists yesterday urged the 25,000 IAM members employed at the Oregon, Kansas and Washington state production facilities of world?s largest plane manufacturer Boeing to reject management?s ?final? contract offer. Although the proposal includes a twenty percent increase in pension benefits that is eight percent higher than the company?s initial offer on pensions, it falls far short of the 100 percent increase sought by the union whose membership averages forty-six years of age and is more concerned with pensions and job security than raises (see WIT for Aug. 22, 2002). Members of the historically tenacious union will vote tomorrow on whether to accept the proposal which also includes a signing bonus but does not offer the production-level based job security provisions that the union is fighting for, and would raise annual health insurance premiums for some members by $10,000.

See IAM Strike at Boeing Looks Imminent., PETER ROBISON, Los Angeles Times, Aug 27 2002

US Airways yesterday entered a request in bankruptcy court to be allowed to default on its labor contracts with 7,200 Communications Workers of America represented reservation and ticket agents, and 12,000 members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM), who have not agreed to concessions sought by the airline. US Airways is so far holding to its promise not to attempt to default on contracts with dispatchers and crew trainers represented by the Transport Workers of America, or members of the pilots? and flight attendants? unions---all of whom have agreed to wage and benefit concessions (see WIT for Aug. 9, 2002). Having made it clear that they do not support management concession demands that their membership will vote on tomorrow, officers of the IAM expected yesterday?s action by management and announced that they are ready to fight for the 12,000 mechanics and baggage handlers whose contract is threatened.

See US Airways Seeks to Void Labor Contracts., KEITH L. ALEXANDER, The Washington Post, Aug 26 2002

With new allegations of corporate mismanagement and accounting and securities fraud sending ever more companies into bankruptcy proceedings and eating up employees? pensions, benefits and severance packages, workers are increasingly choosing to fight back instead of accepting the pittances they are often left with. Starting with Enron and picking up momentum with the collapse of WorldCom and Global Crossing, a grassroots activism has taken shape among laid off workers who are realizing that as a group they can exert considerable political and legal pressure (see WIT?s for June 12, and July 12, 2002). With assistance from the American labor movement, ex-employees have pressured politicians into redirecting donations from companies involved in corporate scandals into relief funds for laid-off employees, achieved tax exempt status for relief funds to encourage donations, and have gone toe-to-toe with corporate and financial groups in their former-employers? bankruptcy proceedings to recover lost severance pay, pensions and benefits.

See In Increasing Numbers, Victims of ?Enronomics? are Fighting Back., ANDREW BACKOVER, USA Today, Aug 26 2002

In a move reminiscent of the campaigns that secured the 1975 passage of California?s Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the United Farm Workers yesterday marched on the California State Capitol to put pressure on Governor Gray Davis to sign what could be the most significant agricultural labor bill of recent times (see WIT for July 8, 2002). Passed by the State Senate in May and the State Assembly earlier this month (see WIT for Aug. 6, 2002), bill SB 1736 would implement binding arbitration for deadlocked agricultural labor contract negotiations---putting an end to the bad faith negotiating and delay tactics farm workers say growers have used to subvert their union rights. Despite the outpouring of support for the farm workers by celebrities, democratic leaders in the State Legislature and his own Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante who participated in the rally that capped the 150-mile march, Governor Davis? recent political maneuvering suggests that he may veto the bill.

See UFW Holds Massive Rally to Push for Governor?s Signature on Arbitration Bill., GREGG JONES, Los Angeles Times, Aug 25 2002

After almost a year of intense negotiations and a five-week strike this past winter (see WIT for Nov. 29, 2001), the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and the 450 members of the Lay Faculty Association who teach at the ten Catholic high schools owned directly by the Archdiocese have reached a tentative contract settlement. Pressure on the Archdiocese to settle the contract has mounted as it cancelled a major fundraiser over threats of a teacher picket, was found guilty of bargaining in bad faith by the state labor board, and faced the threat of another strike at the beginning of the coming school year. A September 10 ratification vote is scheduled for the agreement, which keeps health care costs to teachers at current levels, and includes large increases in employer contributions to the teachers? annuity plans, and retroactive raises of three percent annually for the first two years of the contract, and five percent in the final year.

See NY Archdiocese, Lay Faculty Association Reach Tentative Agreement., Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, Aug 22 2002

With contract negotiations between University of California at Berkeley administrators and the unions representing clerical workers and untenured lecturers deadlocked, close to 3,000 workers may go on strike during the first three days of this year?s fall semester. The 2,300 members of the Coalition of University Employees who work as clerical staff are planning a three-day strike over pay starting on the first day of classes this coming Monday, and the 450 members of the UC Council of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are planning a one-day strike for Wednesday over job security. Although university officials insist that the impact on students will be minimal, the AFT is planning to ask students to join its walkout, and the approximately sixty members of the California Nurses Association who work at campus health centers are planning a three-day sympathy strike starting on Monday in support of the lecturers and clerical workers.

See UC Berkeley Students Likely to get Lesson in Labor Disputes., STUART SILVERSTEIN, Los Angeles Times, Aug 21 2002

Accepting a last offer from Radio City Entertainment?s parent company Cablevision, the forty-one senior Rockettes on the dance group?s permanent roster agreed last night to a contract that guarantees them job security for the upcoming run of Christmas performances. Although the forty-one core members of the Rockettes were able to win one more year of job security by boycotting the open auditions held under a plan unilaterally implemented by management nine days ago (see WIT for Aug.14), their job security will be phased out, with only forty-percent of them guaranteed jobs in next year?s show. In addition to buyouts for their job security the Rockettes will also receive a 401(k) plan and 2, 2.5 and 3 percent raises over the next three years, respectively.

See Rockettes, Radio City Entertainment Reach Agreement., LEONARD POST, Newsday, Aug 21 2002

In a port labor contract dispute separate from the larger negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), the eighteen members of Service Employees International Union Local 998 employed as wharf and clerical workers at the Port of Hueneme, this Monday authorized their negotiators to call a strike. Having reached agreements on sick leave and holidays, but still at odds over pay, pensions and medical benefits, the union has secured promises from the ILWU and the Teamsters that they would honor Local 998 picket lines if the union strikes. Apparently upset by the forceful tactics of the union, managers at the port declared an impasse in talks on Monday and no new meetings have been scheduled despite management?s claims that it wants to return to bargaining.

See At Port of Hueneme Workers Take Strike Vote, Management Declares Impasse., GREGORY W. GRIGGS, Los Angeles Times, Aug 20 2002

Labor unions and business groups are wondering how this election year will affect decisions on bills dealing with issues such as paid family leave, binding arbitration for farm workers, annual cost-of-living increases for minimum wage workers, and more.

See Governor Gray Davis of California will make approval decisions on numerous labor-related bills in the upcoming months., Gregg Jones, Los Angeles Times, Aug 19 2002

The latest consumer price index (CPI) report from the Labor Department revealed a continuation of a negative trend in the apparel component of the CPI Index since September 1998. Production moving to countries with cheap labor, stiff competition, and changing shopping habits favoring large discount stores are some reasons cited for the decline.

See Despite the fact that prices of most goods and services have been increasing over the past fours years, clothing prices in the United States have been falling steadily., The New York Times, The Associated Press, Aug 19 2002

The first strike in thirty-eight years at utility company Dominion Resources Inc. ended today as 3,700 electrical workers represented by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 50 returned to work. The strike was called off by the union?s leadership after the two sides reached a tentative contract agreement yesterday following management?s new offer to increase the monthly retirement pay of workers who retire between the ages of fifty-five and sixty-two by up to $450 until they become eligible for Social Security at sixty-two. Despite the gains for retirees, reductions in wage raises in the new offer mean that the overall pay and benefits members will receive are the same as those offered by the company before the thirteen-day strike, and union officials have sent the offer to a membership vote without any recommendation to members on whether to accept the offer.

See Tentative agreement reached after thirteen day strike., KENNETH BREDEMEIR, The Washington Post, Aug 15 2002

Members of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) yesterday struck three of the Caparo Steel Group?s plants over the company?s attempts to eliminate the current defined-benefit pension plan and switch to a defined-benefit plan with a reduced pension salary or to a defined-contribution plan in which workers shoulder all the risks. Although workers at some plants have been engaged in a work-to-rule for forty days and have been boycotting overtime work (see WIT for July 5, 2002), this is the first time they have struck over the issue at this company owned by a member of the Labour Party in Britain?s House of Lords. Having continued to contribute to their pension plan even as the company took a ten-year leave from contributions from 1990 to 2000, workers insist that they are willing to help the company through a tough steel market and are simply seeking the pension security they have long saved for.

See Steel Workers Strike Plant Owned by Labour Lord., DAVID TURNER, Financial Times, Aug 14 2002

Having recently won large wage increases for the 1.4 million employees of Britain?s local government councils (see WIT for Au. 6, 2002), British unions Unison, TGWU and GMB are pushing private employers, who contract with the government to provide public-sector services, to match the raise. The general union GMB has informed contractors that it will ballot its private-sector government members on strike action if matching raises are not forthcoming, and the Transport and General Workers Union has also stated that it is determined to win raise parity for the 600,000 contractor-employed government workers nationwide. Officers of public-sector union Unison are still discussing the matter with members, but have made it clear that they also plan action on the issue raise and other differentials in the ?two-tier? government workforce created by the use of private contractors.

See British Unions Adamant on Raise Parity for Private-Sector Government Employees., JIM KELLY, Financial Times, Aug 14 2002

Seven months after the contract covering the forty-one dancers on the permanent Rockettes roster expired, Radio City Entertainment and its parent corporation Cablevision Systems yesterday unilaterally implemented terms of employment eliminating the dancers? job security. Radio City Entertainment has been trying for several years to open up all 200 slots in the nationwide roster and force the Rockettes who formerly formed the perennial core of Radio City Music Hall?s almost century old Christmas show to compete for their jobs each year. The company decided to unilaterally end year-to-year job security for the dancers---who earn approximately $1,300 to $1,600 a week but are only hired for fifteen weeks per year---after they turned down the company?s offer of a buyout in return for eliminating job security.

See At Radio City Music Hall, Negotiations Fall Through, Rockettes Lose Job Security., ROBIN POGREBIN, The New York Times, Aug 13 2002

Accusing the Hotel Employer Labor Relations Association representing Chicago-area hotel managers of failing to make serious attempts to reach a compromise over the past week of negotiations (see WIT for July 25, 2002), the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 1 yesterday called for a vote to give them the power to call a strike. Although votes were still being counted last night, most officials expected the vote to pass as thousands of cheering members attended large meetings at which Local 1 President Henry Tamarin informed them that they would all receive $200 per week in strike pay if a walkout was necessary. In addition to its strike fund, the union has been stockpiling food at a pantry it has set up, and has secured the support of community groups and other unions in what looks like a potentially bruising fight to bring workers? pay up to the levels prevailing among hotel workers in New York City.

See Chicago Hotel Workers Prepare to Strike., STEPHEN FRANKLIN, Chicago Tribune, Aug 12 2002

Four decades after Britain first set up the workplace dispute resolution system that became the Employment Tribunal Service respected by both management and labor, the two groups agree with an ETS Task Force that it is time for some changes. Originally designed as an informal, streamlined method of resolving employment disputes in order to keep the country?s high courts from being bogged down in employment law cases, the ETS has become more costly and complex as employment law has grown in complexity. Among the changes already initiated or under consideration, are this year?s Employment Act establishing minimum requirements for employer in-house grievance procedures, greater online dissemination of information on employment law to prevent cases arising solely from misunderstandings, and efforts to get plaintiffs and defendants talking more.

See Britain Looking to Adapt ETS to Changing Times, Employment Laws., DAVID TURNER, Financial Times, Aug 11 2002

Opposition parties in Germany have indicated that they will not attend a ceremony at which the Social Democrat government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroder will accept the report of the Hartz Commission on labor market and employment reform (see WIT for July 2, 2002). Members of the conservative Liberal Democrat and Christian Democrat parties have accused Germany?s unions, Chancellor Schroder and other left-wing lawmakers of pressuring members of the commission into watering it down into a meaningless public relations ploy (see WIT for July 23, 2002). Mr. Schroder and leaders of Gemany?s unions have disputed these claims, and Mr. Schroder has said that a cabinet meeting will be held this week to decide how best to implement measures called for in the commission?s report.

See Center-Right Parties in Germany Boycott Labor Market Report., HUGH WILLIAMSON, Aug 11 2002

4,800 pilots at US Airways voted yesterday by a margin of over seventy-five percent to accept a twenty-six percent average reduction in wages and benefits through 2008, in return for 19.3 percent of the company?s stock. The company, which will save $465 million a year for the length of the cuts, last month reached a tentative agreement on wage and benefit reductions with the 323 member Transport Workers of America local that represents its dispatchers and crew trainers, and its flight attendants will vote today on proposed $76 million a year cuts. Seeking an overall $1 billion in annual labor cost reductions, the airline has had significantly less luck in extracting $222 million annual cuts from the International Association of Machinists local representing 13,000 US Airways mechanics, and $70 million per year from the union representing its 7,200 reservation, gate and ticket agents.

See US Airways, Pilots Agree to Temporary Wage Cut Deal., KEITH L. ALEXANDER, The Washington Post, Aug 8 2002

Assured by in-person meetings between union executive director Donald Fehr and all of Major League Baseball?s teams that players strongly support steroid testing, the MLB Players Association yesterday made an offer to management on random steroid testing. Under the union?s plan, random testing will be used to determine the size of baseball?s steroid problem, with two years of random unannounced testing following if more than five percent of players tested are found to be using steroids, and continuing until steroid use drops. While the union does not want to test for or prohibit players from using legal performance enhancers available to the public, its plan does provide for disciplinary measures and testing for cause, and could lead to an agreement on the issue according to management?s chief lawyer.

See As MLB Contract Negotiations Continue, Players Make Counter-Offer On Steroids., LAURA PRICE-BROWN, Newsday, Aug 7 2002