Workplace Issues Today
One month after members of Britain?s air traffic controllers union, Prospect, voted overwhelmingly to reject a two-year contract offer including a six-percent raise, the union has reached a tentative settlement with Britain?s National Air Traffic Services (NATS). The crux of the potential agreement lies in the union?s acceptance and encouragement of voluntary overtime by members in return for a ten-percent raise over the next two years. If members vote to accept the proposal in the coming month---as the union leadership is encouraging them to do---it will diffuse the growing potential for a strike and ease the major staffing problems NATS is currently experiencing.
See Tentative Agreement Reached on British Air Traffic Controllers? Contract., KEVIN DONE, Financial Times, Jul 17 2002
Responding to a rising tide of corporate scandals, the U.S. Senate yesterday passed a landmark management and accounting reform bill by the same 97-0 margin that it passed an amendment adding strict criminal penalties for corporate executives to that bill last Wednesday (see WIT for July 11, 2002). Although the failure of amendments requiring companies to record corporate stock options like any other expense have left loopholes for accounting fraud according to some senators, the Senate bill remains much stricter than a reform bill passed by the House of Representatives in April and supported by the president. As the Republican Speaker of the House has refused to put the Senate bill to a House vote, the legislation will now go to negotiation---where many predict that pressure from the yesterday’s unanimous vote will lead to compromise legislation closely resembling that passed by the Senate.
See Unanimous Vote for Corporate Reform Bill in the Senate., RICHARD SIMON and RONALD BROWNSTEIN, Los Angeles Times, Jul 15 2002
In an example of the democratic nature of union decision-making---or of poor timing, depending on your viewpoint---several hundred striking Queens transit workers walked out of a meeting of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 this past Sunday over a proposed settlement with the three city-subsidized bus companies they work for. Reached after Queens Borough President Helen Marshall talked New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg into offering to loan the bus lines $2 million to meet the health care demands of the striking workers (see WIT for June 18, 2002), the settlement foundered on concerns over workers’ job security when contracts between the city and the companies come up for renewal. Local President Roger Toussaint has indicated disapproval of the Local member and national TWU officer who triggered the walkout by calling for an independent union and accusing Toussaint of selling out, and insists that after a month on strike the membership has the right to a formal vote on the proposed settlement.
See Queens Bus Line Workers Split Over Latest Offer., STEVEN GREENHOUSE, The New York Times, Jul 15 2002
In a chain of events all too similar to the Enron scandal, employees of World Com have seen their 401(k) pension plans take an enormous hit as the company stock in which many of them were heavily invested has dropped from sixteen dollars to twelve cents. Brought down by revelations that it overstated its corporate profits by almost $4 billion, WorldCom has been accused by employees of encouraging them to use their pension plans to buy company stock and discouraging sell-offs even as the company’s officers were trying to conceal the company’s accounting fraud. Although WorldCom did not prohibit employees from selling company stock as Enron did, a lawyer representing both Enron and WorldCom employees has said that a smoking gun similar to the Enron company videos encouraging employees to buy their employers’ stock, may yet be found in the WorldCom case.
See WorldCom Employees Hit Hard by Stock Collapse., JULIE EARLE, Financial Times, Jul 15 2002
In an incredible David and Goliath story, 600 unarmed Nigerian women snuck into ChevronTexaco's Escravos oil terminal last Monday, taking hostage 700 workers---many of whom are foreigners, including Americans---and bringing to a halt the vast majority of the company’s Nigerian oil production. The wives, mothers and grandmothers released 200 of the employees yesterday as a sign of good faith, but have threatened to bare themselves in an extremely powerful traditional shaming ritual of the remaining hostages should they try to escape. The women are demanding that ChevronTexaco offer jobs to their male relatives and use some of the enormous profits reaped from Nigerian oil production to help the economically and environmentally devastated villages surrounding the oil terminal.
See Unarmed Nigerian Women Hold ChevronTexaco Hostage., The Associated Press, Newsday, Jul 14 2002
In the six seasons since its formation, the Women’s National Basketball Association has remained largely free of the labor-management strife often seen in other professional sports, and earned a reputation for high spirits and cooperation. But with players’ salaries averaging only $47,000---or $58,000 depending on whether you ask the Players Association or the WNBA management---and taking up less than fifteen percent of revenues as opposed to as much as four times that amount for the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, labor-management cooperation may fall apart when the current players’ contract runs out on September 15. Frustrated not only by low pay, but also by restrictions on marketing contracts, salaries that seem to be locked in by initial contracts and disregard experience, and a prohibition on free agency, the players feel that they have done their best for the league and should not suffer for its continuing financial problems.
See Strike a Possibility for WNBA., JASON BUTLER, Newsday, Jul 14 2002
On Friday, Major League Baseball’s arbitrator Shyam Das requested and received a two-week extension from management and the players’ union on his decision in the dispute over the MLB’s attempts to unilaterally eliminate two teams before baseball’s next season. The dispute stems from a November 6, 2001 vote by the owners to contract the league by disbanding the Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins, and the union’s contention that this violated the contract---now expired---between the two parties. Although both sides have insisted that the extension will not delay bargaining over a new contract, a decision that the owners must negotiate the contraction with the players would add a hotly contested issue to the bargaining process.
See MLB Contraction Decision Postponed by Arbitrator.., HAL BODLEY, USA Today, Jul 14 2002
In the latest chapter of the WorldCom scandal, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington D.C. agreed yesterday to hold an expedited hearing on Tuesday to answer a request to bar WorldCom from conditioning severance package offers on a waiver of the right to sue. Filed yesterday by attorneys representing WorldCom employees, the request was precipitated by the corporation’s offer of severance pay and paid health insurance to laid off employees who agree not to sue the company or its officers regardless of any wrongdoing that may be discovered in the future. While severance packages in excess of legal and contractual requirements may be conditioned on such waivers, the complete immunity for any actions that might be revealed by a major fraud investigation just getting under way make the WorldCom offer objectionable according to the employees’ lawyer.
See WorldCom Seeking Immunity from Lawsuits in Return for Severance Pay., ELIZABETH DOUGLASS and LISA GIRION, Los Angeles Times, Jul 11 2002
With the stock market investments on which they are based faltering, the pension plans of many major U.S. companies including Ford, GM, SBC Communications, most steel producers and all airlines except Southwest, are under funded according to analysts. The problem is being compounded by corporations’ use of unrealistic investment growth assumptions to delay using profits, reserves or loans to shore up the failing pension funds. As a result, pension plans at some of these corporations are short by as much as $9 billion of the amount needed to meet their future obligations---a potential crisis which companies continue to address by further increasing their predicted rates of return on investments even as actual rates of return continue to fall.
See Weak Stock Market, Overly Optimistic Assumptions Jeopardizing Pension Plans., DAVID KILEY, USA Today, Jul 11 2002
In a special summer session, the Ontario provincial legislature yesterday passed a back-to-work bill ending a strike by Toronto City workers in its third week and requiring city and union leaders to take the matter to binding arbitration before a neutral to be recommended by the parties and chosen by the provincial government. Triggered by city proposals to privatize municipal services, the strike was both a protest against privatization and an attempt to win greater job security for workers whose jobs are privatized (see WIT for July 5, 2002). While unions are expected to call the strike off, city employees are far from satisfied with the outcome and removal of the garbage piled up throughout Toronto may take significantly longer than the ten days predicted by Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman.
See Ontario Legislates Striking Toronto Employees Back to Work., CLIFFORD KRAUSS, The New York Times, Jul 11 2002
By a landslide 97-0 vote, the U.S. Senate yesterday passed an amendment adding strict punishments for corporate executives who destroy subpoenaed evidence and documents or commit securities fraud that destroys people’s finances, to anti-corporate fraud legislation. Realizing the consequences of publicly opposing anti-corruption reforms in the current political climate, even the staunchest of business allies have done little more than accuse Democratic politicians of hypocrisy and taking advantage of widespread suspicion of corporations to further their election campaigns. Likely to be voted on in the coming week, the overall legislation is significantly tougher than a corresponding House bill and may force the president to choose between business-lobby supporters and a general public outraged by the recent string of accounting scandals at such corporations as Enron and WorldCom
See Senate Passes Amendment to Create New Criminal Penalties for CEO’s., JILL ZUCKMAN, Chicago Tribune, Jul 10 2002
According to Roger Lyons, president of Britain’s largest manufacturing union Amicus, proposals to eliminate benefits for surviving spouses and discontinue inflation adjustments would gut pensions rather than saving them. Contained in a report written by the former chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), and commissioned by the current Labour Party government, the proposals have also drawn criticism from charity organizations over the affect they will have on the elderly. While the report’s author has defended the proposals as a way of preventing further pension plan terminations similar to the one causing labor unrest at several Welsh steel plants (see WIT for July 5, 2002), Mr. Lyons attributes the move away from such plans to an attempt by British employers to exploit legal loopholes to shift risks to their employees.
See Proposal to Cure Britain’s Sick Pensions Kills Patient According to Union Leader., ANDREW BOLGER, Financial Times, Jul 10 2002
With the annual conventions of Britain’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) and his own Labour Party just around the corner, British Prime minister Tony Blair’s attempts to avoid an all out revolt by the party’s union backbone while hewing to his business-friendly “New Labour” line, are growing increasingly strained. His government’s offer of a review of employment laws---intended to regain the approval of unionists outraged by his anti-workers’ rights stance---having been met with indignation from business groups and calls for actions not words from the labor movement (see WIT for July 8, 2002), Mr. Blair has once again struck a balance seemingly dictated by politics rather than principles. Union protections will possibly be increased and two reviews of workers’ rights will take place, but the reviews will lead to consultation instead of legislative action and greater rights and protections for individual workers will not be forthcoming.
See Blair Continues Attempts to Straddle Labor/Business Fence., JEAN EAGLESHAM, Financial Times, Jul 10 2002
Tired of being paid as low as $2,500 per semester-long course and receiving no health insurance or pension---and seeking more paid office time and greater access to electronic communications in order to be better able to help their students---a majority of adjunct professors at New York University voted in favor of union representation last month. However, faced with a decision between the United Auto Workers who earlier this year organized NYU's graduate assistants (see WIT for March 21, 2002), and the American Federation of Teachers who have long represented NYU's clerical and technical staff, no union won a majority of the ballots cast. The results of the necessary runoff election were announced by the National Labor Relations Board yesterday, with the UAW winning and becoming the exclusive bargaining representative of NYU's adjuncts.
See UAW Beats Out AFT to Represent NYU Adjuncts., KAREN W. ARENSON, The New York Times, Jul 9 2002
A sixty-eight word clause buried in the president's thirty-four-page Department of Homeland Security bill is generating much concern among federal employees, their unions and political allies, and is fast shaping up to be the subject of a major battle over the intersection of workers' rights and managerial flexibility. The sentence that is causing this controversy would allow the secretary of homeland security to ignore the civil service protections afford federal employees---including collective bargaining rights, grievance procedures and whistle-blower protections---in the interests of departmental flexibility and fitness. While the president and his allies have defended the provision as a necessary part of doing everything possible to ensure national security, representatives of federal employees say that this is just one more anti-union move by the same anti-union president who banned unions in much of the Justice Department earlier this year (see WIT for Feb. 7, 2002).
See Unions, Democrats Concerned by Clause in Homeland Security Legislation., ELLEN NAKASHIMA and BILL MILLER, The Washington Post, Jul 9 2002
On strike for over three weeks now at three privately owned Queens, NY bus lines subsidized by New York City (see WIT for June 18, 2002), members of Transport Workers Union Local 100 (TWU) picketed outside Queens Borough Hall and at major bus stops in order to bring their plight to the attention of the general public. Representatives of the TWU will also be in court this morning filing a challenge to the citywide state of emergency declared by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, that allows livery cabs and dollar vans to operate along the bus routes. The TWU has accused Mayor Bloomberg of deliberately breaking his promise to extend the same improved health insurance received by NYC transit workers to its members, in order to precipitate the strike so that he will have an excuse to proceed with his long stated goal of bringing the three bus lines under direct city control.
See Queens Bus Drivers Take Strike to the Streets and Courts., BOBBY CUZA, Newsday, Jul 9 2002
A disputed union election for registered nurses (RN’s) at Antelope Valley Hospital is receiving a lot of attention, with the state Public Employment Relations Board stepping in to file a complaint against the hospital board, and nine state legislators writing to the hospital board to point out practices not conducive to a well-run hospital. The dispute stems from an attempt by Antelope Valley nurses to elect the California Nurses Association (CNA) as their collective bargaining agent in order to address what they feel are serious problems with patient care caused by dangerously low staffing levels. Although a majority of the nurses voted for union representation according to CNA officials, the hospital claims that there are seventy-eight RN’s at the hospital that the union has not taken into account, and refuses to acknowledge votes that continue to come in favoring union representation.
See Union Recognition Campaign in Lancaster, CA Draws Statewide Attention., RICHARD FAUSSET, Los Angeles Times, Jul 8 2002
In a five-hour executive board meeting yesterday, the Major League Baseball Players Association decided not to set a definite strike date in their ongoing contract negotiations with the owners association, instead giving Executive Director Donald Fehr the power to set a date if talks remain deadlocked. Mr. Fehr has indicated that setting a strike date will likely be held off at least until after the end of the month, and that if an agreement can be reached on the amount of revenue sharing between teams, the method of revenue sharing and other major issues will likely be resolved without a strike. While many are hopeful that yesterday’s decision indicates the real possibility of a settlement without a strike, the fact that a strike date was also not set at the Players Association Convention in 1994---the year the World Series was cancelled because of a strike---has not escaped those familiar with the game.
See Players Union Does Not Set Strike Date, but Gives Fehr Power to Do So., ROSS NEWHAN, Los Angeles Times, Jul 8 2002
As the Fourteenth International AIDS Conference swung into high gear yesterday in Barcelona, Spain, the director of the World Health Organization?s HIV/AIDS department announced that several sub-Saharan African countries stand to lose over twenty-five percent of their workforces to AIDS by 2020. Seven such countries already have HIV infection rates of close to that number among their working-age populations, and without access to anti-retroviral drugs it is only a matter of time before these people will become unable to work due to the onset of full blown AIDS. Many countries are already feeling the burden of this workforce drain on their economic development and national infrastructures---in Kenya seventy-five percent of deaths among police officers are due to AIDS, and in Swaziland 13,000 teachers will be lost to AIDS in the next seventeen years.
See AIDS Epidemic Could Compromise African Workforce, Economic Development., Los Angeles Times, Jul 8 2002
Twenty-seven years after the California Legislature passed the Agricultural Labor Relations Act---extending to California?s farm workers many of the protections available to non-agricultural workers under the National Labor Relations Act---California is once again on the verge of making labor relations history. Having passed the State Senate in May, a bill that would require binding arbitration in deadlocked farm labor contract negotiations is likely to pass the State Assembly before the end of the month as it is already cosponsored by just under fifty percent of Assembly members. Strongly supported by the United Farm Workers, the bill would allow growers and farm-workers at unionized fields three months of negotiations to reach contracts on their own and another month in mandatory non-binding mediation, before allowing either side to petition the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board for binding third party arbitration.
See Binding Arbitration a Real Possibility for Collective Bargaining in CA Agriculture., FRED ALVAREZ, Los Angeles Times, Jul 7 2002
Already at odds over the privatization of public services (see WIT for June 26, 2002), British Prime Minister Tony Blair?s ?New Labour? Party and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) are now facing off over Mr. Blair?s opposition to new European Union (EU) workers? rights laws. According to some TUC officials, workers? rights laws have become a bigger issue for unions than the prime minister?s push for privatization of many key utilities, and Mr. Blair can expect anything from an earful to a major fight in the months leading up to the TUC?s annual conference in September. In an apparent attempt to mollify Britain?s workers, the Labour Party has called for a review of employment laws to begin in the coming week---resulting in a scramble by business groups to get the first word in before the TUC submits a list of legislative demands.
See In Britain, Unions Oppose Labour Party Stance on Workers? Rights., CHRISTOPHER ADAMS and BEN HALL, Financial Times, Jul 7 2002
As the pressure to gain admission to a top college increasingly dominates children?s lives at an ever younger age, more and more junior high and high school students are spending their summers doing internships and taking advanced placement and college courses in order to strengthen their college applications. As a result, the US Labor Department reports that the percentage of sixteen- to nineteen-year-olds starting jobs this summer will likely hit its lowest level in the fifty-four years that statistics on US workforce participation rates have been kept---while well over twice as many in that age group will enroll in academic programs as did a decade ago. This trend has many parents and teachers concerned that teenagers are not being giving the chance to develop emotional and social maturity, financial responsibility, and to just be kids.
See Many Increasingly Worried as Teens Trade Summer Jobs and Summer Fun for Resume Building., MARY WILTENBURG, The Christian Science Monitor, Jul 4 2002
In a further blow to the already troubled relationship between Britain?s Labour Party and the British labor movement, members of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) have taken industrial action at steel plants owned by a Labour Party member of Britain?s upper legislative body, the House of Lords. Starting yesterday, 200 ISTC members began working to rule at two steel plants in Wales in response to the decision by owner Lord Paul of Marylebone to terminate their pension plans and switch to a plan that offers less security to workers. The workers at the two plants plan to begin one-day strikes next Wednesday, and workers at a third plant intend to hold a vote on whether to join in the industrial action---despite claims by Lord Paul that the two sides are working towards a compromise.
See British Steel Workers Begin Work-to-Rule at Plant Owned by Labor Peer., SHEILA JONES, Financial Times, Jul 4 2002
In what has become the largest strike by city employees in Canadian history, 15,000 indoor employees of the City of Toronto yesterday joined outdoor city employees who have been on strike for more than a week over failed job security negotiations. Among the workers now on strike in an effort to reduce the probationary period for obtaining tenure from ten years to six years, are swimming pool attendants, day care center workers, animal shelter employees, sanitation workers and public health inspectors. Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman appears to have taken a hard-line approach to the strike, encouraging the Ontario provincial legislature to pass legislation forcing city employees back to work, and using the possibility of such a measure to pressure workers to end the strike.
See In Toronto, Indoor City Employees Join Outdoor Employees in Strike., Reuters, Los Angeles Times, Jul 4 2002
According to a recent study by an international managerial and executive job placement firm, the number of laid off managers and executives under the age of forty who start their own businesses increased 36 percent in the first quarter of 2002. The large jump in entrepreneurial undertakings has been attributed to several factors---including the huge increase in the incomes of married couples over the past decade, and the corresponding increase in the personal savings couples have available to finance a new business. Other factors cited include the increased willingness of venture capital firms to fund non-technology start ups in the wake of the dot-com collapse, and a shifting of personal priorities and life goals following the September 11 attacks.
See Entrepreneurs on the Increase., AMY JOYCE, The Washington Post, Jul 3 2002
Fearing the possibility of a strike date being at the Major League Baseball players? union executive board convention next Monday, Commissioner Bud Selig has lifted the threat of a $1 million fine on club owners for speaking to the press about ongoing contract negotiations. Several owners quickly made use of the decision, attempting to enlist public support to management?s side by accusing the players? union of stalling negotiations and standing in the way of necessary change. Union members and officials are still undecided about the best course of action to take, with some advocating setting a strike date during this season, others urging a post-season strike date, and some suggesting holding off until next season and trying to negotiate an agreement with the owners not to unilaterally implement any off-season rules changes.
See As Union Convention Nears, Selig Allows Owners to Talk to the Press., MURRAY CHASS, The New York Times, Jul 3 2002
Long known for an amicable relationship with its workers and their unions, Southwest Airlines is beginning to experience some of the labor unrest that has long been a feature at its rivals. While Southwest employees benefit from a pension based profit sharing plan under which some of the higher paid pilots are set to receive millions when they retire, during their employment most Southwest workers make thirty to seventy percent less than their counterparts at other airlines. In light of Southwest?s strong financial performance even as other airlines have experienced major losses, several unions are pushing for raises on a level with those won by unions at other airlines.
See Labor Relations Rocky at Southwest Airlines., MICHELINE MAYNARD, The New York Times, Jul 3 2002
After being prohibited from wearing the head scarf required by her religion, a female Muslim deputy sheriff recently filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the Cook County, Illinois sheriff?s office alleging that her rights under the First Amendment and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act had been violated. The sheriff?s department has defended its decision on the grounds that granting exceptions to a department policy against wearing non-uniform clothing while on duty would open the door to further such requests and would jeopardize the department?s discipline and public perceptions of equality before the law. Confronted with its past practice of allowing officers of other religions to wear religious clothing on duty, the department responded yesterday by revoking the police powers of an Orthodox Jewish deputy who refused to remove the skull-cap his supervisors had permitted and encouraged him to wear for the past two years.
See Cook County Sheriff?s Office Responds to EEOC Complaint by Allowing Less Religious Clothing., NOREEN S. AHMED-ULLAH, Chicago Tribune, Jul 2 2002
Taking the position that workers must be able to exercise their union rights free from employer coercion, a European Union Court yesterday ruled that employers cannot use pay or benefits to encourage employees to waive their right to bargain collectively. The ruling overturns an earlier decision by the British House of Lords, and stems from a case in which a member of the National Union of Journalists was offered a 4.5 percent raise to drop out of a union contract---and, after refusing, was consistently given raises lower than coworkers who accepted the offer. The decision raises the possibility that British labor and employment law may have to be reformed to meet EU workers? rights standards.
See EU Court Prohibits Employers? Carrot and Stick Union Avoidance Tactics., NIKKI TAIT and JEAN EAGLESHAM, Financial Times, Jul 2 2002
Since 1988 federal tax has been imposed on employers for the amount of their employees? incomes derived from tips---a substantial source of government revenue that, until now, the Internal Revenue Service has had much difficulty collecting. THe problems with determining the amount that waiters and others receive in cash tips was greatly simplified for the IRS last month, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled six to three in United States vs. Fior D'Italia that the IRS can use credit card tip averages to estimate the cash tips at restaurants. This could have a massive impact on the restaurant industry and the American dining experience, as undeclared tips are often a vital component of the financial survival of small restaurants, the income of low paid restaurant workers, and of the influence that diners have over the quality of the service they receive.
See IRS Can Estimate Cash Tips and Tax on that Basis., AMITY SHALES, Chicago Tribune, Jul 2 2002
Faced with high energy prices, the lack of local banks large enough to underwrite serious industrial development and expansion on a large scale, and a nationwide decline in the importance attributed to manufacturing, California?s manufacturing sector is struggling. Although most of California?s manufacturers have only ten employees and few have more than 1,000, in Los Angeles alone they employ over 600,000 workers---putting LA on par with the leader in US manufacturing employment, Chicago. The LA County Economic Development Corporation?s chief economist, Jack Kyser, argues that if politicians do not place a greater emphasis on vocational training and aid to manufacturing, California will witness increasing income polarization and class friction as high paying blue-collar jobs disappear.
See LA Business Leader Makes Social Case for Supporting CA Manufacturing Sector., CHRISTOPHER PARKES, Financial Times, Jul 1 2002
A Suffolk County law requiring all private employers who receive county funding or contracts worth $50,000 or more to pay their employs at least $9 an hour with benefits or $10,25 an hour without benefits, went into effect yesterday. Passed last year, the legislation is expected to benefit day care and home health care workers---often among the lowest paid workers in the county---in particular, according to sponsor and Democratic Legislator David Bishop. Suffolk County has created a fund to assist nonprofit organizations that meet stringent requirements on the maximum incomes of upper-level managers and can prove that the ?living wage? will be a significant burden, and can grant exemptions for such organizations on a case-by-case yearly basis.
See ?Living Wage? Goes into Effect in Suffolk County, NY., VALERIE BURGHER, Newsday, Jul 1 2002
As employers seek to squeeze ever more productivity out of employees, workers are increasingly being forced to work uncompensated overtime---leading to a wave of lawsuits and Labor Department investigations over Fair Labor Standards Act violations. Wal-Mart, the world?s largest retailer, is currently the subject of a lawsuit alleging that it forces employees to work before punching in and after punching out, oftentimes for up to three hours. White-collar workers---like those who recently settled an FLSA violations case with Starbucks---are also experiencing the pressure to work more without being paid more, finding themselves required to work overtime on non-managerial tasks while being denied the time-and-a-half overtime pay that employers are required to pay non-managerial employees.
See Push for Productivity Leading to FLSA Overtime Violations., FAY HANSEN, The Christian Science Monitor, Jun 30 2002
A recent string of multi-million dollar settlements by and lawsuit awards against British companies and subsidiaries is only the most visible part of persistent on the job discrimination according to some workplace experts. Discrimination and employment law practitioners have warned that this could become a much larger problem for employers over the next four years as new European Union laws prohibiting harassment, sexual harassment, and religious, sexual orientation and age discrimination in the workplace are added to existing British anti-discrimination laws. Although the new laws will also make employers responsible for proactively monitoring and encouraging equal treatment of workers, it seems likely that many will continue to ignore equity issues until faced with a lawsuit.
See Businesses in Britain Unprepared for EU Anti-Discrimination Laws., ALISON MAITLAND, Financial Times, Jun 30 2002
Despite losing a 5-2 City Council vote in March, the Ventura, CA Living Wage Coalition is not giving up on its efforts to pass a city ordinance requiring all businesses with city contracts to pay their workers at least $9 an hour. Members of the organization will hold a candlelight vigil outside tonight?s City Council meeting before formally announcing their intention to lead a petition drive to get the signatures of fifteen percent of the city?s registered voters in time to put the living wage issue on the fall 2003 ballot. Similar to many of the coalitions that have successfully campaigned for local living wages across the country, the Coalition draws on a diverse group of members ranging from union members and community activists to college students and local church leaders.
See Push for Local Living Wage Continues in Ventura, CA., TIMOTHY HUGHES, Los Angeles Times, Jun 30 2002
In a statement echoed at numerous joint rallies up and down the West Coast yesterday, the presidents of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced to a cheering crowd in the Port of Oakland that the two unions will join forces to make shipping ports solidly union. While both the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) plan to continue talks after their existing West Coast contract expires in four days and are seeking to avoid strikes or lockouts (see yesterday?s WIT), the Teamsters have agreed not to cross ILWU picket lines in the event that there is a work stoppage. In return, the ILWU will assist the Teamsters? efforts to unionize port truckers who are currently paid on a piece-rate system instead of on an hourly wage rate.
See Teamsters, Dockworkers form Alliance., LOUIS SAHAGUN, Los Angeles Times, Jun 27 2002
In a rare demonstration that sensible labor law reform is not only possible but can be achieved in a reasonable amount of time, Illinois Governor George Ryan yesterday signed legislation to make a well-regulated exception to state child labor laws for young umpires who work for summer youth baseball leagues. The new law resolves a conflict first raised less than three months ago when an anonymous call led to a State Labor Department audit of the Darien Youth Club baseball league for paying teenagers under the age of fourteen to umpire and referee games. Under the new law, youth leagues will be allowed to pay twelve and thirteen-year old umps to work up to ten hours a week provided they obtain the proper employment certificate, the umps have a parent or guardian present at the games they are calling, and other regulations protecting the umps physical and educational welfare are met.
See Speedy Resolution to Child Labor Law Dilemma., CHRISTI PARSONS and TED GREGORY, Chicago Tribune, Jun 27 2002
One week after his strong victory over the more moderate incumbent president of the British Air Line Pilots? Association, 747 pilot John Frohnsdorff is taking a hard stand against British Airways? (BA?s) attempts to lay off BALPA members while continuing to cut wages for the second year in a row. Frohnsdorff---who made it clear before elections that, if victorious, he would step down as soon as a replacement was found---has told airlines that the union will not allow them to use September 11 as an excuse to lay pilots off and extract concessions from those who remain. Already trailing many of their American and German counterparts by up to twenty percent in pay due to concessions made last year, pilots at BA are in no mood to go along with management?s plans to cut pay further and lay off almost a quarter of its employees.
See New Leader of British Pilots Takes Stand against Concessions., MARK ODELL, Financial Times, Jun 27 2002
Challenging the 2.6 percent raise for federal employees and civilian Department of Defense employees called for by the President, the Treasury, Postal Service and general government subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee yesterday recommended a 4.1 percent increase for these workers. The bipartisan amendment to the President?s budget easily passed the Republican controlled subcommittee and will likely be approved by the full Appropriations Committee and both branches of Congress. Democratic supporters of the amendment have argued that in light of the September 11 attack on the Pentagon and subsequent anthrax attacks, federal employees are ?on the front lines of the war on terrorism here at home" and deserve the same raise the President recommended for enlisted men and women.
See Subcommittee Recommends Federal Employee Raise Equal to Enlisted Raise., DAN MORGAN, The Washington Post, Jun 26 2002
As the New York State legislative session winds down, the State Assembly today passed a bill that prohibits private employers receiving state contracts or grants from using that money to oppose union organizing campaigns. The bill has been strongly supported by unions and labor activists---especially in the health care sector where a major organizing push is under way---and has been agreed to by the State Senate and Governor Pataki. Business groups have decried the bill as a record keeping nightmare and an infringement on their First Amendment Rights, but unions have pointed out that state money should not be going to finance employers? anti-union agendas.
See NYS Assembly Bans Use of State Funds for Union Busting by Private Companies., SHAILA K. DEWAN, The New York Times, Jun 26 2002
One month after contract talks began, and with only five days left before existing contracts expire, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and West Coast shipping companies are no closer to a settlement than when they started. The two sides have not reached agreement on any of the major issues, and have yet to begin talks on the implementation of new technology and layoffs---the issues viewed as the most likely to deadlock the negotiations. As the two sides broke their month-old agreement to keep the negotiations process confidential earlier this week, accusing each other of having violated the pact first, retailers increased their stockpiling efforts in preparation for a potential strike during the back-to-school and holiday seasons.
See Negotiations between Shipping Lines and Dockworkers Going Nowhere Fast., NANCY CLEELAND, Los Angeles Times, Jun 26 2002
On Monday, President Bush signed into law a bill making any life insurance beneficiary of a firefighter or police officer eligible to receive a $250,000 federal death benefit for public safety officers who die in the line of duty. Prior to the passage of the law---which is retroactive to September 11, 2001---only spouses and children were eligible to receive the benefit. The White House has described the ratification as an attempt to respect the wishes of many of the unmarried individuals who died in the September 11 attacks, but has drawn both praise from gay rights groups and criticism from conservatives for the fact that same-sex domestic partners are among those eligible to receive the benefit under the new law.
See Under New Law, Domestic Partners of Public Safety Officers Eligible for Benefits., MIKE ALLEN, The Washington Post, Jun 25 2002
In a sign that Prime Minister Tony Blair?s New Labour cannot continue to engage in wide scale privatization of public services without seriously jeopardizing support among its core constituency, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) yesterday announced a massive cut in donations to the Labour Party. Outraged by the government?s transportation and labor policies, members at the RMT?s annual conference voted to decrease their contributions to the Labour Party by over ninety percent, and to switch individual financial backing from many leading Labour officials to their left-wing opponents. Faced with the loss off 30,000 post office jobs due to a government restructuring plan, many within the Communication Workers Union are pushing for similar cuts in their contributions to the Labour Party when the CWU conference is held tomorrow.
See British Labour Party Losing Union Financial Support., DAN ROBERTS and SARAH LAITNER, Financial Times, Jun 25 2002
Following the serious injury of three striking workers at a Navistar truck manufacturing plant in Ontario when a company van carrying strikebreakers attempted to force its way through a picket line, the Canadian Auto Workers has raised the possibility of a province-wide general strike by its member. Members at other factories would be sent to the Navistar plant to reinforce the picket lines and prevent any further attempts at strike-breaking. The company---which is seeking $14 million in pay and benefit concessions---announced yesterday that it will not use replacement workers today but will attempt to operate the plant with managers and office staff.
See CAW Responds to Strike-Breaking Attempts at Navistar., Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Jun 25 2002
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday granted an application by the State of Nevada for review of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, upholding the applicability of the Family Medical Leave Act to states and state agencies in their capacity as employers. The case stems from the alleged illegal firing in 1997 of a Nevada Department of Human Resources employee for exercising his right to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the FMLA to take care of his seriously ill wife. Nevada state officials have pursued a states? rights defense, arguing that the sovereign immunity granted to states under the Eleventh Amendment protects Nevada from being sued for violation of the FMLA.
See Supreme Court Takes Up Nevada Challenge to FMLA., DAVID G. SAVAGE, Los Angeles Times, Jun 24 2002
The California Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that a nineteen-year old state anti-discrimination law only protects workers over forty from age based discrimination in hiring, firing, and demotion, and not in working conditions and job benefits. In their decision the justices pointed out that while the law does prohibit discrimination against other groups in working conditions and job benefits, a prohibition against age discrimination in such areas is conspicuously absent. The decision leaves older workers in California protected only by the far less favorable federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and has prompted Democrats in the California State Assembly to introduce legislation that would extend full state age-discrimination protection to workers over forty.
See State Age Discrimination Law Does Not Cover Job Benefits, CA Justices Rule., MAURA DOLAN, Los Angeles Times, Jun 24 2002
Responding to allegations by a U.S. citizen formerly employed by technology company Sun Microsystems, the U.S. Department of Justice is looking into the company?s personnel practices to determine if it discriminatorily favors foreign workers with H1-B visas discriminates over U.S. citizens. The allegations are based on the fact that Sun has continued to apply for H1-B technology visas for foreign workers even as it laid off several thousand workers. The company insists that the visas it applied for are for current staff who are entitled to the same anti-discrimination protections as citizens under U.S. law, and has accused the former employee of wanting them to discriminatorily give him preference based on his citizenship.
See Justice Department Investigates Alleged Anti U.S. Citizen Bias at Sun Microsystems., BENJAMIN PIMENTEL, San Francisco Chronicle, Jun 24 2002
Starting on October 1, Chile will become the first country to hand most of its unemployment insurance coverage over to a private system, citing the success of its privatized pension system which twenty years ago was likewise the first of its kind. Under the new system---open to all workers, and mandatory for those entering the workforce or switching jobs after the system takes effect---workers will pay contribute0.6 percent of their wages, matched by an additional 2.4 percent from their employers. The government will contribute $12 million annually for workers who do not make enough to cover their benefits and will regulate the securities the private system can invest in, but will remain otherwise uninvolved in the fund which will pay workers forty percent of their wages for five months if they are laid-off, fired or quit their job.
See Chile to Privatize Unemployment Insurance., LARRY ROHTER, The New York Times, Jun 23 2002
In what was the last of approximately fifty rallies held across the country in the past five months, over 3,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters employed by the United Parcel Service rallied outside a union meeting hall in Nassau County, NY yesterday. With only one week left in the contract reached between UPS and the Teamsters after a fifteen-day strike in 1997, the rallies---and a recent increase in the Teamsters strike fund---are a clear message to UPS that the union is ready to strike if a new contract agreement is not reached. The main areas of disagreement in the negotiations are management?s proposal to replace raises with profit-sharing, and the union?s push for UPS to offer full-time employment to a substantial number of the fifty-nine percent of Teamsters members currently working part-time for the company.
See Teamsters Rally as UPS Contract Deadline Approaches., TAMI LUHBY, Newsday, Jun 23 2002
Faced with increasing labor shortages as legal immigrants move out of agricultural employment, farmers have joined with the United Farm Workers (UFW) and civil rights groups to push for legislation that would make it easier for gainfully employed undocumented immigrants and guest workers to gain citizenship. An assortment of competing bills containing various versions of such a policy were introduced in both houses of Congress last year, and were near the top of the Bush administration?s immigration agenda until the September 11 terrorist attacks changed the focus of immigration policy from labor supply problems to security concerns. Through the Million Voices for Legalization campaign, growers, unions and community activists have been lobbying for renewed attention to such legislation, and hope to send one million postcards calling for such legislation to the president this fall.
See Labor-Management Coalition Seeks Legalization Procedure for Undocumenteds., FRED ALVAREZ, Los Angeles Times, Jun 23 2002
A joint venture by the Oregon Public Broadcasting company and the British Broadcasting Company is giving workers the chance to watch their bosses walk a mile, make that a week, in their shoes---in six half-hour episodes over the next five weeks. In its back-to-back episode premiere tonight, ?Back to the Floor? will show a week of the director of New York?s Central Park reporting to work at 6:45am to confront the crack vials, six tons of trash, and back-breaking work that her employees deal with everyday. Also featured tonight will be the director of Burger King?s British operation, who spills drinks, fumbles the cash register, and forgets to smile and ask customers if they want to super-size---but still gets preferential treatment according to at least one minimum wage worker on the same shift.
See Reality TV Comes to the Workplace., JOSH FRIEDMAN, Los Angeles Times, Jun 20 2002
Responding to the Los Angeles Unified School District?s unilateral decision to increase class sizes---in some cases to over forty-one students per classroom---United Teachers-Los Angeles filed an unfair labor practices charge with the state Public Employment Relations Board on Tuesday. While the District has claimed that provisions regarding state funding cuts give them the power to increase class sizes, and that most classes will still be within contractual limits, the union has argued that the decision endangers students? educational opportunities and teachers? safety in classes for emotionally disturbed students. Barring a court injunction sought by the teachers? union, the two-student per class increase will go into effect in most fourth to twelfth-grade classes in year-round schools next month, and in regular academic calendar schools this fall.
See Citing Risk to Selves, Students, LA Teachers Fight Increased Class Sizes., DUKE HELFAND and SOLOMON MOORE, Los Angeles Times, Jun 20 2002
In what may be the first charges brought under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, the U.S. attorney for Buffalo, New York indicted six farm contractors on Wednesday of running a forced labor camp outside of Buffalo. The indictment alleges that the contractors charged forty Mexican workers $1,000 each to drive them from Arizona to New York in overcrowded, unventilated vans last summer. Upon arrival the workers were forced into overcrowded rooms, threatened with physical violence, and forced to work to pay off the money the contractors claimed they owed them, until ten of the workers escaped and contacted Farmworker Legal Services of New York.
See Six NY Farm Contractors Charged under Human Trafficking Law., STEVEN GREENHOUSE, The New York Times, Jun 20 2002
For the third time in the past two years, air traffic controllers in France walked out yesterday over proposals to form a consolidated air traffic authority for the European Union?s fifteen member states. They were joined for the first time by controllers in fellow member states Greece, Portugal, Italy and Hungary, shutting down over 7,700 flights and affecting tens of thousands of passengers. While air traffic controllers? unions claim that the move to a centralized authority will cause layoffs and privatization that will decrease safety, the European Commission insists that the consolidation is meant only to bring order to Europe?s fragmented airways and is not a prelude to privatization.
See Air Traffic Controllers Shut Down Europe?s Skies., PAMELA SAMPSON, The Washington Post, Jun 19 2002
The American Medical Association yesterday announced that it will continue funding its union affiliate Physicians for Responsible Negotiation (PRN), reversing a board decision reached earlier this year not to fund the union which has so far not brought in enough members or dues to offset its expenses (see WIT for May 9, 2002). The AMA board changed tack following a unanimous vote earlier yesterday by its 552-member House of Delegates, supporting the immediate resumption of loans without which the PRN could have collapsed as early as next month. The delegates defended the thee-year old union as vitally important in the fight against doctors? growing loss of control over patient care decisions to HMO?s.
See AMA to Resume Funding of Doctors? Union., BRUCE JAPSEN, Chicago Tribune, Jun 19 2002
The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York filed a discrimination lawsuit against the New York City Parks and Recreation Department yesterday, accusing the department of systematically discriminating against black and Hispanic workers in promotions. The suit parallels a class-action suit initiated early last year by current and former Parks Department employees, and alleges that for the past seven years the department has failed to provide an open and unbiased promotion system---instead seeking out white employees without giving fair consideration to minorities. According to the suit, the department?s practice of hiring high-performing college graduates directly into upper management positions contributed to the advancement of younger white workers over more experienced black and Latino workers who have worked their way up though the department?s ranks.
See NYC Parks Department Sued for Discrimination., BENJAMIN WEISER and LYDIA POLGREEN, The New York Times, Jun 19 2002
Members of Service Employees International Union, Local 399 employed at Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center began their second four-day strike in three weeks yesterday (see WIT for May 28, 2002). Nurses, therapists and technicians, some of whom have been working at the hospital for over two decades, cited dangerously low staffing levels as the primary factor in their decision to strike. The union has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board over the hospital?s suspension of seventeen nurses who called in sick the day before last month?s four-day strike.
See Nurses, Others Strike Hollywood Hospital Again Over Staffing Levels., NERISSA PACIO, Los Angeles Times, Jun 18 2002
Spain?s trade unions will hold the country?s first nationwide general strike in eight years tomorrow on the eve of the European Union summit in Seville, and have announced their intention to ignore President Jose Maria Aznar?s minimum services decree. President Aznar---whose proposed restrictions of unemployment eligibility have occasioned the strike (see WIT for May 24, 2002)---has ordered that forty percent of domestic flights and twenty-five percent of train and bus routes remain in operation on the day of the strike. Although polls indicate that only thirty-three percent of Spanish workers will participate in the strike, a majority of Spaniards surveyed indicated their support for the strike and the unions are refusing to willingly comply with the president?s order and intend to go to the Spanish Supreme Court if necessary.
See Despite Forecasts of Low Turnout, Spanish Unions to Take Hard Line in Strike., LESLIE MADRID, Financial Times, Jun 18 2002
Life insurance policies taken out on rank-and-file workers by their employers---often without the knowledge of workers or their families---are causing growing outrage among American workers. This corporate-owned life insurance, or COLI, is unrelated to life insurance plans included in benefits packages for workers and their families, and is used as a source of non-taxable revenue. While many employers defend the practice as a means of funding retirement benefits, abuses have led to the introduction in Congress of a bill that would require disclosure of this practice to affected workers, and plans for legislation encompassing stricter regulations.
See Controversy Surrounds Corporate-Owned Life Insurance., ADAM GELLER, Chicago Tribune, Jun 17 2002
Home Depot, the second largest retailer in the U.S., recently informed all of its stores not to do business with government agencies in order to avoid affirmative-action reporting standards that apply to all companies with more than fifty employees and over $50,000 in sales to government agencies annually. Despite the Department of Defense?s seemingly significant reliance on Home Depot as a supplier, company officials have insisted that the policy is not new, but rather an existing one that is reiterated regularly in order to ensure that all new managers and employees are aware of it. A spokesperson for the company---which paid $65 million to settle a discrimination suit five years ago, and is currently facing another suit---does not have the administrative capacity to report on the racial and gender demographics of its workforce.
See Home Depot Eschews Government Business to Avoid Affirmative-Action Reporting., Associated Press, Newsday, Jun 17 2002
Members of Transport Workers Union Local 100 (TWU) carried through today on their threat to strike three private Queens bus companies for the third time this year (see yesterday?s WIT), insisting that they will not return to work until they have a contract. The Union has accused New York City officials of reneging on an agreement to increase employer contributions to its members? health-insurance by the same 19.8 percent over two years as city employees. NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to insist that the negotiations are a private matter between the employers and the union---despite the fact that he must give final approval to any contract entered into by the three city-subsidized companies.
See Queens Bus Line Workers Strike., BOBBY CUZA, Newsday, Jun 17 2002
After two days of bringing production to a grinding halt at five major automotive assembly plants, a United Auto Workers strike against four Johnson Controls auto-parts factories has yielded a major labor victory in an industry that has declined from fifty to twenty-five percent union density in the past three decades (see WIT for June 14, 2002). A tentative settlement was reached Friday morning after thirty-six hours of high-level, non-stop bargaining, and was ratified by union member at all four struck plants later that afternoon. The settlement includes four-year contracts with raises, signing bonuses, and company paid health, dental, vision care, and retirement plans at the three plants where the union had already won recognition, recognition of the union at the fourth striking plant, and company neutrality at twenty-six other plants the UAW is trying to organize.
See UAW Strike at Auto-Parts Supplier Successful., JOHN GALLAGHER, Detroit Free Press, Jun 16 2002
Several thousand members of German construction union IG Bau will go out on strike at worksites in Berlin and Hamburg today, after the union?s 340,000 members voted by an overwhelming 98.63 percent this Saturday to strike over pay and other issues (see WIT for June 4, 2002). Bau officials have made it clear that members are ready for a drawn out fight, and that this first strike in the post-WWII era will be expanded throughout the entire country in the coming week if a contract agreement is not reached. With the union calling for an immediate 4.5 percent raise, and the construction employers offering three percent in September and an additional one-time payment amounting to another 1.7 percent, the main obstacle to an agreement seems to be the refusal of employers to bring industry wages in eastern Germany up to western levels.
See German Construction Workers to Strike Today., Reuters, The New York Times, Jun 16 2002
116,000 commuters may once again be left scrambling for alternate means of transportation, as drivers represented by Transport Workers Union Local 100 prepare to go on strike at Jamaica Buses, Triboro Coach and the Queens Surface Corporation for the third time this year at midnight tonight. One-day and two-day strikes by drivers at the three private bus companies earlier this year failed to produce a contract settlement on such issues as pensions, wages and job security, and a TWU official has said that this strike will be much longer. The New York City Department of Transportation has announced that if the strike does occur, the city will allow livery cabs and dollar vans to pick up passengers along the struck bus routes as it did during the previous strikes.
See TWU Plans to Strike Queens Bus Lines for Third Time., ELISSA GOOTMAN, The New York Times, Jun 16 2002
Despite United Airlines CEO John Creighton Jr.?s Wednesday claim that unions and management at United have made significant progress towards an agreement on wage concessions as part of a recovery plan, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) announced yesterday that it does not see concessions as necessary. IAM officials have made it clear that while they will meet with management if so requested, they will not recommend participation in the recovery plan to their 36,000 members at United. The secretary-treasurer of the flight attendants? union at United has made similar statements, and even disputes Mr. Creighton?s statement on Wednesday that all unions at United had been giving proposals on concessions---none of which bodes well for United?s possible application for federal loan guarantees.
See At UAL, Disagreement over Necessity, Progress of Concession Talks., EDWARD WONG, The New York Times, Jun 13 2002
Alleging unfair labor practices and anti-union activities, workers at four of auto-parts maker Johnson Controls? factories---some of whom have been trying to negotiate a first contract for almost two years---went on strike on strike this Wednesday. Because most car manufacturers have cut back on inventories in order to decrease overhead and storage costs, the 700 person strike was able to shut down production at two DaimlerChrysler plants and two GM plants within twenty-four hours. Pressure mounted as the strike continued yesterday, with analysts predicting significant decreases in earnings on Johnson Controls stock, and major losses in earnings on GM stock.
See Lean Inventory Practices Amplify Effect of ULP Strikes at Auto-Parts Supplier., JAMES P. MILLER, Chicago Tribune, Jun 13 2002
In a direct showdown with the Boston Government, three large recycling companies bidding on the city?s recycling contract are refusing to obey a 1998 city ordinance requiring all city contractors to pay their workers a living wage. As the three multi-million dollar companies are the only ones bidding on the contract, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is facing a tough decision between allowing the city?s recycling program to lapse when the current contract runs out, and issuing a waiver that would allow the contractors to pay their workers less than the $10.25 ?living wage.? Supporters of the living wage law are arguing against a waiver as an invitation to future violations of the law, as are members of Recycling Action---who insist that companies must not be allowed to force governments to choose between equally important social policies.
See Boston Faced with ?Living Wage? Dilemma., SARAH SCHWEITZER, The Boston Globe, Jun 13 2002
In a ruling released this week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) upheld an earlier decision by an administrative law judge that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is guilty of retaliating against one of its own employees for filing discrimination charges, and ordered reinstatement, backpay and damages. The EEOC found that the Civil Rights Commission had demoted its staff solicitor Emma Monroig in retaliation for her 1995 filing of an EEOC complaint alleging anti-Hispanic bias within the Commission. This is the ninth EEOC complaint filed in recent times by employees of the against the Civil Rights Commission---which is now claiming that it has since eliminated Ms. Monroig?s position and does not have the funds to pay the $150,000 awarded her by the EEOC.
See Civil Rights Commission Guilty of Retaliation against EEOC Claimant., DARRYL FEARS, The Washington Post, Jun 12 2002
In its ongoing attempts to reduce discrimination and retaliation charge backlogs, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is considering changing its procedures for the processing of complaints by federal employees. The commission is currently circulating an informal paper in which it considers streamlining its federal sector process, by modifying it to more closely parallel its private sector process. Critics of the proposal claim that by eliminating in-depth EEOC investigations, it will put the considerable financial burden of establishing the evidence necessary for appealing initial decisions squarely on employees---depriving many lower-paid victims of the chance to receive a fair hearing.
See Changes May be in the Offing for Federal Discrimination Claims., STEPHEN BARR, The Washington Post, Jun 12 2002
The recent decision by the U.S. Department of Labor to post financial disclosure reports from hundreds of unions on its website, without posting the disclosure reports of employers, is being met with outrage from the American labor movement. Although the Labor Department defends the move as part of its ongoing attempts to increase transparency in labor relations---and insists that company records will be posted in the future---many unions feel that the failure to simultaneously post similar records of the money spent by businesses on anti-union campaigns is outright discrimination. Often referred to as LM?s, these labor-management records include data on union assets, officer salaries, expenses, political contribution, and spending on labor relations experts and organizations by businesses.
See Unions Decry Alleged Bias in Online Availability of Labor-Management Financial Records., KIRSTIN DOWNEY GRIMSLEY, The Washington Post, Jun 12 2002
After six months of putting pressure on company and government officials, an unlikely coalition of mostly non-union workers, organized labor and church groups has won over $29 million in additional severance pay for laid off Enron workers. Subject to a bankruptcy judge?s ruling, the agreement will pay up to $6,900 each to former Enron employees---some of whom lost as much as $24,400 each in severance pay when the corporation filed for bankruptcy. Although former employees are usually last in line to receive money owed them by bankrupt companies, Enron workers refused to give up without a fight and were given substantial financial and legal assistance by AFL-CIO officials outraged by the actions of the Enron Corporation?s management.
See Coalition Wins Additional Severance Pay for Enron Workers., KIRSTIN DOWNEY GRIMSLEY, The Washington Post, Jun 11 2002
While players and owners are still miles apart on a new contract for major league baseball, after several months of deadlocked negotiations management has come out with a new contract proposal with minor concessions on several points. The main sticking points between the previous proposals from the two sides were management?s calls for fifty percent straight-pool revenue sharing, a fifty percent luxury tax and a $100 commissioner?s discretionary fund---as opposed to the Players Association?s proposal including 22.5 percent targeted revenue sharing and no luxury tax. The owners? new proposal reduces the discretionary fund to $85 million, phases in the fifty percent payroll tax from a lower initial level, and according to both sides offers hope of more substantive movement towards an agreement.
See Progress Made in MLB Talks., LAURA PRICE-BROWN, Newsday, Jun 11 2002
New York City?s firefighters? union was quick to take notice of the new tentative contract agreement between the city and the United Federation of Teachers (see yesterday?s WIT), and ask for similar terms in a contract for its members. The Uniform Firefighters Association decided not to take a tentative thirty-month contract agreement including two five percent raises to its members last year---asking for improved benefits and pay in light of the deaths of 343 firefighters in the World Trade Center attacks. Working without a contract for over eighteen months now, firefighters say that the city can use federal funds offered after the September 11 attacks to pay for improved raises---just as a state payment to NYC?s schools was earmarked for raises in the new teachers? contract.
See NYC Firefighters Look to Teachers? Contract, Ask for the Same., WILLIAM MURPHY, Newsday, Jun 11 2002
After nineteen months of working without a contract, members of New York City’s United Federation of Teachers (UFT) have won a tentative contract with raises ranging from sixteen to twenty-two percent over the next thirty months (see yesterday’s WIT). Reached late yesterday, the agreement will be voted on by the UFT delegate assembly tomorrow, and, if passed, will proceed to a mail ballot vote by the UFT’s 80,000 teachers later his week. In addition to raises that will put pay for NYC’s teachers nearly on level with that in nearby cities, UFT negotiators avoided many work rule concessions sought by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, maintained majority control over non-classroom work assignments and reached a compromise leaving the use of a 100-minute per week increase in working schedules to school by school decisions.
See NYC Reaches Tentative Teacher Contract Agreement., STEVEN GREENHOUSE, The New York Times, Jun 10 2002
British public sector union Unison sent out strike vote ballots to its 800,000 members yesterday, predicting that a proposed July 17 one-day nationwide strike would be approved overwhelmingly. The Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) and GMB general union are expected to ballot the combined 200,000 local government council workers they represent within the next two weeks on whether to join the July 17 strike. With the unions insisting on a six percent raise for their lowly paid members, and the local government employers’ association holding to their final offer of three percent, it looks as though a confrontation---disrupting education, road maintenance, housing benefit office, cemetery, parks, and social services---may be inevitable.
See Britain Faces National Strike by Local Public Sector Workers., KEVIN BROWN, Financial Times, Jun 10 2002
In a major victory for organized labor and working families, California moved one step closer to becoming the first state to offer paid family leave yesterday, when the State Senate passed legislation guaranteeing partially paid leave in a vote that split almost exactly along party lines. The bill guarantees up to twelve weeks of disability pay for workers who take time of to care for newborn infants or seriously ill immediate family members or domestic partners. The benefits would be paid out of the state disability insurance program, which---for the first time, under the bill---employers would have to contribute fifty percent of additional premium costs to.
See CA Senate Passes Paid Family Leave Bill., CARL INGRAM, Los Angeles Times, Jun 10 2002
In a 9-0 ruling today, the Supreme Court overturned a Ninth Circuit ruling that a contractor at an oil refinery had to allow an employee with a liver disease decide for himself whether to work in conditions that could aggravate his condition (see WIT for Feb. 26, 2002). The employee in the case was fired after a company physical for a higher paying job led to a diagnosis of chronic, active hepatitis C---leading him to file a discrimination suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Today?s decision continues what was already a six decision streak of cases, in which the current justices ruled against the employee in employment based ADA claims.
See Supreme Court Rules Against Worker in ADA Discrimination Case., The Associated Press, The New York Times, Jun 9 2002
A thirteen-week extension of unemployment benefits---passed by Congress in March to aid those affected by the September 11 attacks---will run out in the next two weeks for 100,300 New Yorkers. New York is unlikely to receive an additional automatic extension of a further thirteen-weeks, as it has not met the threshold level of unemployment recipients necessary to qualify. With the state?s share of last month?s federal $8 billion insurance fund payout already used up providing benefits, Albany politicians are scrambling to come up with a solution that takes care of New Yorkers without putting an overly excessive strain on the state?s already burdened budget.
See Clock Running Out on Unemployment Insurance Extension., LESLIE EATON, The New York Times, Jun 9 2002
With his bid to take greater control over New York City schools from the state and city now likely to succeed (see WIT?s for June 5, 2002 and May 13, 2002), Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that he is hopeful a contract settlement can be reached with the city?s teachers. Negotiators from both sides met for five hours yesterday at the United Federation of Teacher?s (UFT?s) headquarters, and?while a settlement was not reached?the results were promising enough that UFT President Randi Weingarten has asked that the counting of a membership-wide strike vote be delayed while meetings continue. A settlement is still sticking on the use of an agreed on twenty-minute extension of the school day, and on whether the city will live up to the wage raise recommended by a state fact-finding panel.
See NYC Teachers, Mayor Resume Contract Negotiations., STEVEN GREENHOUSE, The New York Times, Jun 9 2002
The United Auto Workers held its constitutional convention yesterday, officially swearing in former vice-president Ron Gettelfinger as the replacement for retiring president Stephen Yokich, and Elizabeth Bunn as the union?s first female secretary-treasurer (see WIT for Nov. 9, 2001). Mr. Gettelfinger already faces a major challenge in his new job, as the union begins its three-day convention on bargaining strategies for next year?s Big Three contract negotiations tomorrow. When the current four-year contract runs out next September, General Motors, Ford Motor and DaimlerChrysler are expected to seek layoffs to reduce overcapacity in production.
See UAW Swears in New President., Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Jun 6 2002
After failing to reach an out of court settlement, Los Angeles County was found guilty in Superior Court yesterday of discriminating against its public safety officers in terms of pay and pension benefits. Black, Latino and Asian minorities make up eighty percent of the 500 member Office of Public Safety peace officer force---one of the only forces that does not receive pension benefits similar to those enjoyed by County police, firefighters and lifeguards. The public safety officers have argued that they are often confronted by violent psychiatric patients and gang members as they patrol hospitals, parks and other county properties, and are seeking over $100 million in raises, back pay and benefits.
See LA County Found Guilty of Bias in Peace Officer Compensation., HECTOR BECERRA, Los Angeles Times, Jun 6 2002
Officials at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) yesterday reached an agreement with members of the Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO), on a more inclusive bargaining unit for union representation elections. The agreement comes after the GEO held a one-day strike earlier this year, forcing the UIUC administration to resume negotiations halted after a ruling by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board established a bargaining unit with only 250 grad students (see WIT for March 14, 2002). If the Board agrees to the new bargaining unit, up to 3,000 of UIUC?s 5,000 graduate assistants will be eligible to vote to join a union next year.
See Latest Victory for U of I Grad Students., ROBERT BECKER, Chicago Tribune, Jun 6 2002
A study released today by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) shows nationwide bias in the proportion of girls in higher-paying, traditionally male-dominated high school vocational classes. In Maryland girls make up over ninety percent of students training for careers in cosmetology, child care and health-care with wages as low as a dollar or two above minimum wage, while boys make up just under ninety percent of those training for technology, construction and automotive careers which can pay over $30 an hour. Thirty years after the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments banned discrimination in schools, the finding that every state surveyed evinced the trend seen in Maryland, has led the NWLC to announce its intention to petition for formal investigations into possible Title IX violations in this matter.
See Survey Shows Bias in Vocational Training., a Washington Post Staff Writer, The Washington Post, Jun 5 2002
The U.S. State Department issued its second annual report on human smuggling yesterday, estimating that 4 million people are smuggled annually to labor in sweatshops, as household servants, or in the underground sex industry---50,000 women and children into the U.S. alone for sexual exploitation. The report evaluates the efforts made by individual countries to combat this industry which involves profits of $7 billion annually, and found that Greece, Russia and Saudi Arabia are countries which are not making substantial improvements. At the report?s release, Secretary of State Colin Powell committed the U.S. to following through on legislation passed by Congress that will permit economic sanctions against countries found not to be meeting or working towards minimum standards in next year?s report.
See State Department Releases Human Smuggling Report, Warns Laggards., MAE M. CHENG, Newsday, Jun 5 2002
A recently released study by Britain?s Office for National Statistics found that in the past four years the number Britons working out of their homes increased by sixty-five percent to 2.2 million in 2001. Experts on working conditions and environments point to the increased popularity and use of e-mail, and workplaces where cubicles and open space replace individual offices, as major factors enabling telecommuting, and necessitating it for certain jobs, respectively. Although the report found that one in fourteen British workers telecommutes, and almost one in four could conceivably do so, organizational behavior and personnel experts point out that the necessity of human contact and face-to-face dealing often outweigh the efficiencies of avoiding long commutes
See Telecommuting Increases in Britain., DAVID TURNER, Financial Times, Jun 5 2002
Over 100,000 New York City teachers and students attended a rally today at which Hip-Hop Summit organizer Russell Simmons, and numerous top names in the hip-hop recording industry, joined with United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Randi Weingarten to protest NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's treatment of the city's teachers and schools. Mr. Simmons and other speakers urged Mayor Bloomberg to stop holding out on a teachers contract in his attempt to gain complete power over NYC's schools from the City Council (see WIT for May 13, 2002), condemned the possibility of drastic budget cuts to the City's already under funded schools, and made it clear that "We're here to stand up for schools, teachers and kids." Among the celebrities who spoke out at the demonstration, urging students to fight for their right to an adequately funded school system and teaching staff and the future opportunities that a decent education open up, were L.L. Cool J, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, P. Diddy, Chuck D., Reverend Run, Erykah Badu, Big Tigger and Wyclef Jean.
See Hip-Hop Artists Join NYC Teachers at Massive Rally, Condemn Mayor., JOSH GETLIN, Los Angeles Times, Jun 4 2002
The nearly 6,000 Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) members at US Airways have offered to take an average pay cut of twenty-six percent for the next seven year and further cuts in benefits that would save the struggling airline a total of $328 million annually, the union announced yesterday. ALPA has also agreed to contract changes that would allow the company to more than double the number of small local jets it uses, and cross-link routes, connections, frequent flyer miles and tickets with other companies---measures which could yield as much as $500 million in new revenues annually. As the June 28 deadline to apply for federal loan guarantees for airlines approaches, US Air and ALPA continue to negotiate over the cuts in labor costs vital to securing the loan guarantees approved by Congress in the wake of 9/11.
See Pilots' Union Offers Concessions to US Air to Keep Company Flying., Reuters, The New York Times, Jun 4 2002
As the Washington Post celebrated its 125th anniversary today, the vast majority reporters, photographers and artists at the newspaper withheld their bylines as planned to protest management's latest contract offer (see WIT for May 31, 2002). The only signed article on the The Post's front page today was written by management, and the words "By a Washington Post Staff Writer" replaced well-known names throughout the paper as every foreign correspondent, National, Style, Sports and Metro writer withheld their name from their articles. The byline "strike" will continue tomorrow, as the members of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, Local 32035 of the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America show their displeasure with company offers that have been characterized as union busting, and peanuts.
See Most Post Articles Anonymous as Staff Goes On Byline "Strike"., FRANK AHRENS, The Washington Post, Jun 4 2002
Following the breakdown of contract talks with the German construction firm federation this past weekend, German construction workers? union IG Bau has announced that it will hold a strike vote on June 15. The union has announced that if its 340,000 members grant authorization, the first strikes in the industry in over fifty years could begin as early as June 15 and would likely be focused in the Berlin and Frankfurt areas. At issue in the dispute are the union?s demands for a 4.5 percent raise and wage parity between employees in eastern and western Germany---demands which employers in Germany?s faltering construction industry have characterized as dangerous to strike over.
See German Construction Union Calls Strike Vote., HUGH WILLIAMSON, Financial Times, Jun 3 2002
Seeking to put average pay for its members on level with local pay scales---and regain losses in pay relative to non-supervisory employees in recent years---British mine supervisors trade union Nacods is planning to strike UK Coal a week from today. The announcement comes as the British government is debating whether to give further aid to the mining group, which lost over $38.5 million last year in spite of $30 million in state aid. Although UK Coal has claimed that eighty-five percent of its employees were willing to accept its two percent pay raise offer for the year, Nacods General Secretary Ian Parker has said that eighty-two percent of the union’s membership voted to hold a one-day strike and support further industrial action if necessary.
See Supervisors to Strike at Troubled British Mining Company., MATTHEW JONES, Financial Times, Jun 3 2002
In a massive attempt to correct discrepancies in its files, the Social Security Administration is sending out almost seven times as many letters to employers this year informing them of mismatches between employees’ names and Social Security Numbers. The agency---which has no prosecutorial powers and is prohibited from sharing records with such agencies as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which do---is informing employers that many of the discrepancies may be the result of recent marriages and simple bookkeeping errors. Immigrant advocacy groups and industry organizations, however, are warning that the firmly worded letters are causing many employers to insist that implicated employees provide valid cards---an impossibility for the undocumented immigrants that many businesses rely on.
See Undocumented Immigrants Stand to Lose Jobs as SSA Seeks to Verify Records., OSCAR AVILA and STEPHEN FRANKLIN, Chicago Tribune, Jun 3 2002
A recent study of working women by Penn State labor economist Elizabeth Hill revealed an unexpected correlation between college education and working past retirement age. While Ms. Hill had suspected that for economic reasons high school-educated women would work later in life than college-educated women, it turns out that almost twice as many college-educated work past the age of seventy. The study also revealed that the driving force behind continued workforce participation beyond the age of retirement is the greater job flexibility available to women with higher-educations.
See Among Women, Higher Education Leads to Longer Workforce Participation., Monitor Staff, The Christian Science Monitor, Jun 2 2002
Irish pilots union Impact, and management at Irish government-owned airline Aer Lingus, agreed yesterday to listen to recommendations by Ireland's Labor Relations Commission in order to end a labor dispute that has many in Ireland?s important tourist industry warning about potential damage to the country?s economy. The Commission?s recommendations would require pilots to abide by most of the company?s post-9/11 financial survival plan, but would scale back the more intense flight schedule?required of pilots under the plan?that led to a one-day strike last Thursday (see WIT for May 30, 2002). Although Aer Lingus management accepted the Commission?s proposal later yesterday, Impact has not yet agreed to the recommendations and management has extended at least through Tuesday a grounding of all its aircraft initiated in response to the union?s one-day strike.
See Everything Still Up in the Air at Aer Lingus., Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Jun 2 2002
The Recoding Artist Coalition, representing over 100 top names in the music industry filed a legal brief yesterday opposing a settlement with the managers of the health-care and pension fund for members of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists union (AFTRA). The settlement would have provided only a few hundred dollars apiece to most of the 20,000 artists who feel that they have been cheated out of millions that the major record companies owed to the fund, but that the fund?s managers never collected on. AFTRA?which is a separate organization from the fund?has also opposed the settlement, and accused the health and retirement fund of failing to provide a fair deal to the artists.
See Musicians, Singers Oppose Settlement Offer in Benefits Case., CHUCK PHILIPS, Los Angeles Times, Jun 2 2002
For the first time in almost fifteen years, the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild is asking Washington Post employees to voluntarily exercise their right to withhold their names from their articles, photographs and drawings. The byline “strike” is scheduled for June 5 and 6 and is meant to draw public attention to stalled contract negotiations---a goal which recently retired twenty-two year Post employee Frank Swoboda said will certainly be achieved by the tactic. The 1,400 members of the Guild who work at the Post have been without a contract since May 18 and have already held three informational pickets to protest management’s demands for contract concessions that could severely weaken the union’s finances and membership base
See Washington Post Writers to Hold Byline “Strike.”, FRANK AHRENS, The Washington Post, May 30 2002
Earlier this year, Los Angeles school officials announced that teachers at ten struggling school districts would be required to sign commitment forms and abide by a dress code that, among other provisions, made ties mandatory for all male teachers and pantyhose mandatory for all female teachers. Following a wave of teacher outrage and plans by United Teachers-Los Angeles to hold protests at affected schools today, LA Schools Superintendent Roy Romer announced yesterday that these controversial measures will not be implemented at seven of the ten schools. At this time it is unknown if protests will be held at the three schools where the District still intends to force teachers to abide by the new requirements.
See LA Teachers Outraged by ?Loyalty Oaths,? Dress Codes., DUKE HELFAND, Los Angeles Times, May 30 2002
Passed by the State Assembly last year but killed in the Labor Committee of the Republican controlled State Senate, a $1.60 an hour increase in New York State?s minimum wage may be a very real possibility this year. The legislation---which would put NYS?s minimum wage on par with the $6.70 and $6.75 an hour state minimum wages in Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively---has already passed the Assembly and the Senate Labor Committee this year, and is being sponsored in the State Senate by Republican Nicholas A. Spano. The combination of vigorous lobbying by the Working Families Party and state and local unions, and Republicans? election-year efforts to gain labor votes, may be enough to overcome the massive efforts by business lobbyists to defeat the bill in the State Senate.
See Higher Minimum Wage a Possibility for NYS., STEVEN GREENHOUSE, The New York Times, May 30 2002
The California Assembly passed legislation yesterday that, if passed by the state senate as written and approved by Governor Gray Davis, will offer tax cuts to smaller movie and television productions as an incentive to remain in California. The fifteen percent credit against state wage taxes is an attempt to stem the outflow of productions to Canada that cost California 18,000 film and television industry jobs---twelve percent of the employment in these industries statewide---last year alone. The proposed credit applies to productions with at least half of production in state and wage costs between $200,000 and $10 million, and is California?s answer to the lower labor costs and government subsidies that have caused many small scale productions to move to Canada in recent years (see WIT for Dec. 5, 2002).
See California Assembly Takes Action to Prevent Runaway Productions., MIGUEL BUSTILLO and CARL INGRAM, Los Angeles Times, May 29 2002
California State officials who took over the Watts Health Foundation last year in response to the organization?s mismanagement and growing financial crisis, are now facing a potential labor relations crisis at the managed health-care company. 200 nurses, clinical assistants and clericals at the Foundation?s five clinics went out on a three-day strike yesterday, protesting a new contract proposal that would require the health care workers to make co-payments for their own medical care. State regulators insist that the concessions are necessary to save the 96,000 subscriber HMO which is currently struggling under a debt load of almost $60 million.
See Health-Care Workers Strike to Maintain Benefits., CLAIRE LUNA, Los Angeles Times, May 29 2002
Suffering from a sharp drop off in business caused by increased competition in recent years and compounded in the past months by the post-9/11 drop in air travel, Ireland?s state owned air line Aer Lingus has recently laid off almost one third of its workers and cut many of its routes. The company has also attempted to implement a recovery plan including new flight schedules that cut recovery time for pilots between flights---resulting in pilots trade union Impact calling a one-day partial strike for today following the suspension of seven of its members who refused to fly under the new schedule. In response, the company has cancelled all of its flights to four major US airports at least through the weekend---a move condemned by the pilots as a crisis purely of the airline?s own making.
See At Aer Lingus Pilots Call One Day Strike, Management Cancels US Flights through Weekend., Associated Press, The Boston Globe, May 29 2002