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Monday, July 18, 2011
 UCS News Service: Luxury Automaker BMW Takes Cheap Shot in L.A."BMW Wants L.A. to Lose" read the banner flown over L.A. Dodgers-Anaheim Angels baseball games in early July. Teamsters were protesting BMW’s plan to fire almost all its employees at the Ontario, Calif. BMW plant later this summer and re-open the facility the next day with a cheaper, inexperienced work force. … An extended version of this article is available from the UCS weekly union news service, ripped-from-the-headlines news reports produced for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Click here for info about the service and how to subscribe. Labor Video: Target’s Anti-Union Ad Backfires Badly  Target’s anti-union video is not only terminally cheesy, it stars union member Ric Reitz, who’s not on board with the spot’s message. -- Click here to view the video. Member Tip: Wages and Hours The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law setting the minimum wage and standards for overtime pay. Administered by the Department of Labor, this law is far-reaching. Keep in mind, though, that when a state or local law -- or, of course, your union contract -- sets more favorable standards, those will govern. Workplaces must display a poster informing you of your FLSA statutory rights. The minimum wage set by federal law is only a fraction of the amount that, according to the government’s own calculations, is needed to live above the poverty level. (That’s why in dozens of jurisdictions around the country, labor-community coalitions already have succeeded in requiring that, at the local level, a “living wage” must be paid by companies that receive local government contracts, subsidies or tax breaks.) The FLSA also requires payment at one and one-half times your regular rate of pay for all hours worked beyond forty in a workweek. This law doesn’t set any maximum number of hours that can be worked in a day or a week, though, or regulate holiday pay, shift differentials, or anything like that. Any such restrictions or entitlements -- and the special pay provisions attached to them -- will be found in your union contract. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer  Labor Joke: The Union-buster and the PuppyThe majority of you (41%) knew it was Sam Goldwyn who said “I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs,” though Donald Trump was a close runner-up at 36%. Also, current Alaska Governor Sean Parnell was the clear winner in last week’s vote for who else should join the already-jammed field of Republican presidential candidates. This Week’s Contest: What's the difference between a union-buster and a puppy? Click here to submit your punchline and you could be a winner! Steward Tip: Inform, Don’t Instruct, When Advising Workers in Trouble When informing a member of his or her rights, the contract language, and the possible consequences of his or her actions, do not tell your member what to do: only he or she can decide that. Your job is to tell him or her what the rules (or contract language) say about his or her situation and the consequences of his or her actions. Good advice informs and explains, it doesn’t direct. Let’s look at the paragraph that covers drug and alcohol testing in Joe’s contract: “Consistent with the Company’s Drug Free Workplace Policy, a urine test to determine the presence of drugs and/or alcohol will be administered if reasonable suspicion exists to warrant said test. Reasonable suspicion is defined as any accident involving personal injury, any accident where property damage is judged to be in excess of Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00), or any situation where an employee, in the judgment of his or her immediate supervisor, displays erratic, unusual, or dangerous behavior. Failure of the employee to submit to the drug/alcohol urine test when required to do so by his or her supervisor may result in immediate suspension and termination.” So, how would you advise Joe? First, show him the contract language and read it aloud. Then you can discuss his options and possible consequences. The idea is to inform Joe of his options, help him understand the process, and let him decide. Meanwhile, keep good notes on the incident just in case you have to file a grievance. That’s what Joe pays his dues for. Not so you can tell him what to do every time he gets into a jam, but so that when he does, your good advice and representation can help him make up his own mind what to do.  -- Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten Labor Quote: Obama on the Path to Politics "Politics didn't lead me to working folks; working folks led me to politics." -- Barack Obama, President of the United States This Week In Labor History July 18 The Brotherhood of Telegraphers begins an unsuccessful three-week strike against the Western Union Telegraph Co - 1883 35,000 Chicago stockyard workers strike - 1919 Hospital workers win 113-day union recognition strike in Charleston, S.C. - 1969  July 19Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, N.Y. Delegates adopt a Declaration of Women's Rights and call for women's suffrage – 1848 (In I Knew I Could Do This Work: Seven Strategies That Promote Women’s Activism and Leadership in Unions, Amy Caizza notes that although nearly half of union members in the United States are female, little more than one leadership position in five is held by a woman. This report is designed to promote women’s activism and leadership within unions across the country at the local, state, regional, and national levels. The report outlines seven strategies that unions can use to encourage women’s increased participation in a workforce that is increasingly female. In the UCS bookstore now.) An amendment to the 1939 Hatch Act, a federal law whose main provision prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity, is amended to also cover state and local employees whose salaries include any federal funds - 1940 July 20 New York City newsboys, many so poor that they were sleeping in the streets, begin a two-week strike. Several rallies drew more than 5,000 newsboys, complete with charismatic speeches by strike leader Kid Blink, who was blind in one eye. The boys had to pay publishers up front for the newspapers; they were successful in forcing the publishers to buy back unsold papers - 1899 Two killed, 67 wounded in Minneapolis truckers' strike -- "Bloody Friday" - 1934  Postal unions, Postal Service sign first labor contract in the history of the federal government - 1971 July 21 Local militiamen are called out against striking railroad workers in Pittsburgh. The head of the Pennsylvania Railroad advises giving the strikers "a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread." Instead, the militiamen joined the workers. Meanwhile, federal troops are sent to Baltimore, where they kill 10 strikers and wound 25 - 1877 Compressed air explosion kills 20 workers constructing railroad tunnel under the Hudson River - 1880 IWW leads a strike at Hodgeman's Blueberry Farm in Grand Junction, Mich. - 1964 Radio station WCFL, owned and operated by the Chicago Federation of Labor, takes to the airwaves with two hours of music. The first and only labor-owned radio station in the country, WCFL was sold in 1979 - 1926  A die-cast operator in Jackson, Mich. is pinned by a hydraulic Unimate robot, dies five days later. Incident is the first documented case in the U.S. of a robot killing a human - 1984 (Flint, Mich. native son Michael Moore’s Stupid White Men -- 2002’s best selling non-fiction book – still hits home today. Equal parts biting humor and penetrating insight, Moore expounds on everything from George W. Bush ("Thief-in-Chief") to How Women Can Survive Without Men to calling for African Americans to place WHITES ONLY signs over unfriendly businesses. In the UCS bookstore now.)July 22 Newly unionized brewery workers in San Francisco, mostly German socialists, declare victory after the city’s breweries give in to their demands for free beer, the closed shop, freedom to live anywhere (they had typically been required to live in the breweries), a 10-hour day, six-day week, and a board of arbitration - 1886  A bomb was set off during a "Preparedness Day" parade in San Francisco, killing 10 and injuring 40 more. Tom Mooney, a labor organizer, and Warren Billings, a shoe worker, were convicted of the crime, but both were pardoned 23 years later - 1916 July 23 Anarchist Alexander Berkman shoots and stabs but fails to kill steel magnate Henry Clay Frick in an effort to avenge the Homestead massacre 18 days earlier, in which nine strikers were killed. Berkman also tried to use what was, in effect, a suicide bomb, but it didn't detonate - 1892 Northern Michigan copper miners strike for union recognition, higher wages and eight-hour day. By the time they threw in the towel the following April, 1,100 had been arrested on various charges and Western Federation of Miners President Charles Moyer had been shot, beaten and forced out of town - 1913 Aluminum Workers Int'l Union merges with The United Brick & Clay Workers of America to form Aluminum, Brick & Clay Workers - 1981 July 24 The United Auto Workers and the Teamsters form the Alliance for Labor Action (ALA), later to be joined by several smaller unions. The ALA's agenda included support of the civil rights movement and opposition to the war in Viet Nam. It disbanded after four years following the death of UAW President Walter Reuther - 1968 The U.S. minimum wage increases to $6.55 per hour today. The original minimum, set in 1938 by the Fair Labor Standards Act, was 25 cents per hour - 2008 U.S. minimum wage rises to $7.25 per hour, up from $6.55 – 2009 |
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Monday, July 11, 2011
Multiple choice this week: Who said “I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.” Was it Groucho Marx, Sam Goldwyn or Donald Trump? Click here if you think you know the answer! This Week’s Contest: Vote here for these suggested Republican Presidential candidates and they could be on the ballot next year! Alaska Governor Sean Parnell (hey, it worked for Sarah Palin!); Arnold Schwarzenegger (it’d really give the Birthers something to chew on); Rumplestiltskin (because everybody needs to believe in a good fairy tale); A Transformer (because they're never what they at first appear to be). -- AFGE 476 Former Chief Steward Jonathan Strong beat out some tough competition to emerge as this week’s Labor Joke Contest Winner. His punchline for what former NY Rep. Anthony Weiner’s shop steward said to him when the news of his Twitter indiscretions broke – “If you want to know what's really hard, try finding a job” – narrowly bested “Is that your support documentation in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” Congrats to Brother Strong: a labor music CD is on the way!  Labor Website of the Week: CQ Money LineCQ Money Line is a place to discover who (your boss, perhaps?) gave what to which Federal candidates. Click here to view the website. UCS News Service: Detroit Plant Closing Called “Corporate greed gone amok” Calling it “another example of corporate greed gone amok,” UAW President Bob King blasted American Axle and Manufacturing (AAM) for closing its Detroit plant after wringing concessions from workers. The company announced the closing in late June… An extended version of this article is available from the UCS weekly union news service, ripped-from-the-headlines news reports produced for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Click here for info about the service and how to subscribe. Labor Quote: Bill Clinton on Jobs  "About half our problems would go away overnight if everybody in this country who wanted to work had a job." -- Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States Member Tip: Your Role in Arbitration At all stages of the grievance/arbitration process, your role is to assist your union representatives in pursuing and processing the case. It’s not enough simply to file a grievance and then figure that the union will do the necessary work to win it. As a very practical matter, you are likely to be familiar with facts that your union representatives are not, so you need to stay involved at all stages so that you can provide important input. You also owe it to yourself and to the union to be involved every step of the way, so that you can have a realistic outlook if the question of settlement comes up at any stage of the processing of the case. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer  Labor Video: Pete Seeger’s Banks of Marble The classic "workers' rights" tune from the 1950's – sung here by Pete Seeger – has gained new resonance in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial meltdown. Click here to watch the video. Steward Tip: The Union and E-mail In a court case, which reflects the dramatically changing landscape of union activities, an NLRB administrative judge overturned a representation election loss by 2,000 insurance agents and staff. The reason: the bosses had blocked the union from using the company’s computer network to distribute pro-union material, even though it used the network to campaign against the union, creating a kind of electronic parking lot where campaign “leaflets” were distributed. So don’t believe your supervisor when you’re told to get out of the system -- or else! A variety of management lawyers have been especially clear about the rights of workers under the NLRB to use electronic communications for union activities. -- Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten This Week in Labor History July 11 Striking coal miners in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho dynamite barracks housing Pinkerton management thugs - 1892 A nine-year strike, the longest in the history of the United Auto Workers, began at the Ohio Crankshaft Division of Park-Ohio Industries Inc. in Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio. Despite scabs, arrests and firings, UAW Local 91 members hung tough and in 1992 won a fair contract - 1983  July 12Bisbee, Ariz. deports Wobblies; 1,186 miners sent into desert in manure-laden boxcars. They had been fighting for improved safety and working conditions - 1917 (A Job and a Life: Organizing & Bargaining on Family Issues is a step-by-step guide for union leaders, activists, negotiating teams and organizers, providing the tools needed to advance a successful work and family agenda. Want to negotiate for child care at work? Need to find out how other unionists have confronted family leave issues? Want to learn the best way to rally your members and your community around your work/family concerns? This is your book. In the UCS bookstore now.) The Screen Actors Guild holds its first meeting. Among those attending: future horror movie star (Frankenstein’s Monster) and union activist Boris Karloff - 1933 July 13 Southern Tenant Farmers' Union organized in Tyronza, Ark. - 1934  Detroit newspaper workers begin 19-month strike against Gannett, Knight-Ridder - 1995 July 14 The Great Uprising nationwide railway strike begins in Martinsburg, W.Va. after railroad workers are hit with their second pay cut in a year. In the following days, strike riots spread through 17 states. The next week, federal troops were called out to force an end to the strike - 1877  Woody Guthrie, writer of "This Land is Your Land" and "Union Maid," born in Okemah, Okla. – 1912 (For more on Woody’s amazing life, check out Woody Guthrie: A Life, by Joe Klein. This is an easy-to-read, honest description of Guthrie’s life, from a childhood of poverty to a youth spent "bummin’ around" to an adulthood of music and organizing -- and a life cut short by incurable disease. Guthrie’s life and work inspired millions while he lived and continues to do so through musicians such as his son Arlo, Bob Dylan -- who as a teenager visited and sang for Guthrie as death approached -- friend and contemporary Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg and Bruce Springsteen, to name just a few. In the UCS bookstore now.)Italian immigrants and anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are convicted in Massachusetts of murder and payroll robbery – unfairly, most historians agree – after a two-month trial, and are eventually executed. Fifty years after their deaths the state's governor issued a proclamation saying they had been treated unfairly and that "any disgrace should be forever removed from their names." - 1921 July 15 50,000 lumberjacks strike for eight-hour day - 1917 Robert Gray, an African-American sharecropper and leader of the Share Croppers Union, is murdered in Cap Hill, Alabama - 1931 A half-million steelworkers begin what is to become a 116-day strike that shutters nearly every steel mill in the country. Management wanted to dump contract language limiting its ability to change the number of workers assigned to a task or to introduce new work rules or machinery that would result in reduced hours or fewer employees - 1959 July 16 Ten thousand workers strike Chicago's International Harvester operations - 1919  Martial law declared in strike by longshoremen in Galveston, Texas - 1920 San Francisco Longshoreman's strike spreads, becomes four-day general strike - 1934 July 17 Two ammunition ships explode at Port Chicago, Calif., killing 322, including 202 African-Americans assigned by the Navy to handle explosives. It was the worst home-front disaster of World War II. The resulting refusal of 258 African-Americans to return to the dangerous work underpinned the trial and conviction of 50 of the men in what is called the Port Chicago Mutiny - 1944 |
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Tuesday, July 5, 2011
 UCS Labor Graphics Service: Contract ViolationsA healthy dose of humor can help your members get through the day, which is why you need the UCS Labor Graphics Service. Each weekly packet includes at least a half-dozen top-quality, union-oriented art and graphics tools, from editorial and humor cartoons to illustrations, union "message" spots, headlines, clip art and lots more. Click here for details and to sign up today! Labor Video: Reich on What’s Wrong  Progressive economist Robert Reich offers an entertaining two-minute explanation of what’s wrong with the economy. Click here to watch the video. UCS News Service: Hermes & Hamburger How the economy is doing depends on whether you’re buying Hermes or hamburger. Sales of $5,000 Hermes handbags and $700 Jimmy Choo shoes are up at Saks Fifth Avenue, while customers at Walmart are bypassing the clothing aisles to concentrate on hamburger and chicken, and in smaller packages than usual…An extended version of this article is available from the UCS weekly union news service, produced for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Click here for info about the service and how to subscribe.  Member Tip: Holidays and Leave Covered in Your Union ContractYour union contract probably spells out what holidays are observed. It also will outline the various types of leave -- sick and vacation, perhaps parental and bereavement leave, even time off for jury duty -- saying how much you’re entitled to and under what circumstances, and detailing procedures you may have to follow to use your leave. You may discover that there are types of leave contained in the union contract -- such as the option of taking unpaid time off or adjusting your work schedule so that you can go back to school -- that are used so seldom you weren’t even aware of them. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer Labor Quote: Van Jones on Doing Well "You do well IN America, you should do well BY America.” -- Activist Van Jones on wealthy corporations that avoid paying federal taxes. Labor Joke: Weiner’s Grievance  What did former NY Rep. Anthony Weiner’s shop steward say to him when the news of his Twitter indiscretions broke? Click here to vote for one of the following punchlines:If you want to know what's really hard, try finding a job; Is that your support documentation in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Sorry, there’s no chance you’ll sell this one as a “past practice” grievance; This stretches the definition of Member communications; Well, this will certainly push the envelope on labor board-approved use of social media. This Week’s Contest: With dozens of possible contenders already jostling for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination we got to wondering if any other viable candidates had been overlooked (Daffy Duck springs to mind, for example). To submit your potential nominee, CLICK HERE by noon EDT July 7 and you could be a winner of a labor music CD! Be sure to include your name and union affiliation. -- Charles McGurk, NALC Branch 546 in Columbus, GA is this this week's Labor Joke Contest winner. His punchline for what the hardworking but unappreciated retiree said when the company president presented with a wristwatch and a framed picture of company headquarters -- “I've never seen you before, do you work here?” -- collected the most votes. Congrats to Brother McGurk: a labor music CD is on the way!  Steward Tip: Dealing With Negative Bosses A couple of ideas about how to handle bosses whose favorite word is “NO”:
Today in Labor History July 04 Albert Parsons joins the Knights of Labor. He later became an anarchist and was one of the Haymarket martyrs - 1876 AFL dedicates its new Washington, D.C. headquarters building at 9th St. and Massachusetts Ave. NW. The building, still standing, later became headquarters for the Plumbers and Pipefitters - 1916 Five newspaper boys from the Baltimore Evening Sun died when the steamer they were on, the Three Rivers, caught fire near Baltimore, Md. They are remembered every year at a West Baltimore cemetery, toasted by former staffers of the now-closed newspaper - 1924 With the Great Depression underway, some 1,320 delegates attended the founding convention of the Unemployed Councils of the U.S.A., organized by the U.S. Communist Party. They demanded passage of unemployment insurance and maternity benefit laws and opposed discrimination by race or sex - 1930  Two primary conventions of the United Nations' International Labor Organization come into force: Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize – 1950 (Organizing for Social Change is an organizer’s Bible: a comprehensive, real-world tool for organizers of all stripes determined to create attention and affect change. Compiled by leaders of the Midwest Academy, a respected training ground for serious union, community and nonprofit organizers since 1973, the book deals with everything from tactics to the mechanics of how to track a campaign, from coalition-building to using the media to supervising less experienced organizers. In the UCS bookstore now.) July 05 During a strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company, which had drastically reduced wages, buildings constructed for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago's Jackson park were set ablaze, reducing seven to ashes - 1894  Battle of Rincon Hill, San Francisco, in longshore strike. 5,000 strikers fought 1,000 police, scabs and national guardsmen. Two strikers were killed, 109 people injured. The incident, forever known as "Bloody Thursday," led to a General Strike - 1934National Labor Relations Act, providing workers rights to organize and bargain collectively, signed by President Roosevelt - 1935 July 06 Two strikers and a bystander are killed, 30 seriously wounded by police in Duluth, Minn. The workers, mostly immigrants building the city’s streets and sewers, struck after contractors reneged on a promise to pay $1.75 a day - 1889 Two barges, loaded with Pinkerton thugs hired by the Carnegie Steel Co., landed on the south bank of the Monongahela River in Homestead, Penn. seeking to occupy Carnegie Steel Works and put down a strike by members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron & Steel Workers - 1892 Rail union leader Eugene V. Debs is arrested during the Pullman strike, described by the New York Times as "a  struggle between the greatest and most important labor organization and the entire railroad capital" that involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states at its peak - 1894Transit workers in New York begin what is to be an unsuccessful 3-week strike against the then-privately owned IRT subway. Most transit workers labored seven days a week, up to 11.5 hours a day - 1926 July 07 Striking New York longshoremen meet to discuss ways to keep new immigrants from scabbing. They were successful, at least for a time. On July 14, 500 newly arrived Jews marched straight from their ship to the union hall. On July 15, 250 Italian immigrants stopped scabbing on the railroad and joined the union - 1882 Mary Harris "Mother" Jones begins "The March of the Mill Children", when, accompanied part of the way by children, she walked from Philadelphia to President Theodore Roosevelt's h  ome on Long Island to protest the plight of child laborers. One of her demands: reduce the childrens' work week to 55 hours – 1903(For more on this working class hero, check out Mother Jones Speaks: Speeches and Writings, a comprehensive collection of her speeches, letters, articles, interviews and testimony before Congressional committees. In her own words, Mother Jones explains her life, her mission, her passion on behalf of working people. Here are her fiery speeches to crowds of striking miners, textile workers, railroad workers and others; her correspondence with political and union leaders of her era -- even newspaper accounts of her activities that include confrontations with police and militia. Available now in the UCS bookstore.) Cloakmakers begin what is to be a two-month strike against New York City sweatshops - 1910  Some 500,000 people participate when a two-day general strike is called in Puerto Rico by more than 60 trade unions and many other organizations. They are protesting privatization of the island's telephone company - 1998July 08 First anthracite coal strike in U.S. - 1842 Labor organizer Ella Reeve "Mother" Bloor born on Staten Island, NY. Among her activities: investigating child labor in glass factories and mines, and working undercover in meat packing plants to verify for federal investigators the nightmarish working conditions that author Upton Sinclair had revealed in "The Jungle" - 1862 The Pacific Mail Steamship Co. fires all employees who had been working an eight hour day, then joins with other owners to form the "Ten-Hour League Society" for the purpose of uniting all mechanics "willing to work at the old rates, neither unjust to the laborers nor ruinous to the capital and enterprise of the city and state." The effort failed - 1867  Founding convention of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W., or Wobblies) concludes in Chicago. Charles O. Sherman, a former American Federation of Labor organizer, is elected president – 1905(Solidarity Forever: An Oral History of the IWW is a wonderful collection of IWW members’ oral histories interspersed with the authors’ comments about this fascinating and vitally important piece of American and labor history. Includes more than 50 photos and cartoons. Originally published in 1985, now in its fourth printing and available now in the UCS bookstore.) July 09 The worst rail accident in U.S. history occurred when two trains pulled by 80-ton locomotives collided head-on at Dutchman’s curve in west Nashville, Tenn. 101 people died, another 171 were injured - 1918 New England Telephone "girls" strike for seven-hour workday, $27 weekly pay after four years' service - 1923 New York City subway system managers in the Bronx attempt to make cleaning crews on the IRT line work faster by forcing the use of a 14-inch squeegee instead of the customary 10-inch tool. Six workers are fired for insubordination; a two-day walkout by the Transport Workers Union wins reversal of the directive and the workers’ reinstatement - 1935 United Packinghouse, Food & Allied Workers merge with Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen - 1968 Five thousand demonstrators rally at the state capitol in Columbia, S.C. in support of the "Charleston Five," labor activists charged with felony rioting during a police attack on a 2000 longshoremen's picket of a non-union crew unloading a ship - 2001 July 10  Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and civil rights activist, born - 1875 14,000 federal and state troops finally succeed in putting down the strike against the Pullman Palace Car Co., which had been peaceful until July 5, when federal troops intervened in Chicago, against the repeated protests of the Governor and Chicago’s mayor. Some 34 American Raily Union members were killed by troops over the course of the strike - 1894 A powerful explosion rips through the Rolling Mill coal mine in Johnstown, Pa., killing 112 miners, 83 of whom were immigrants from Poland and Slovakia - 1902 The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce holds a mass meeting of more than 2,000 merchants to organize what was to become a frontal assault on union strength and the closed shop. The failure of wages to keep up with inflation after the 1906 earthquake had spurred multiple strikes in the city - 1916 Sidney Hillman dies at age 59. He led the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and was a close advisor to Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt - 1946 |
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Monday, June 27, 2011
 UCS News Service: Need a Doc? Rob a Bank.Republicans attacking the Affordable Care Act might want to consider the case of James Richard Verone, who robbed a bank in early June so he could get medical attention... -- An extended version of this article is available from the UCS weekly union news service, produced for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Click here for info about the service and how to subscribe. Labor Joke: What George Said George had worked hard for Bushcorp Inc. for 42 years, never missing a day. His loyalty had gone unrewarded, however, with no promotion or raise in all those years. At his retirement lunch down at Arby's, George was presented with a Casio wristwatch and a framed picture of Bushcorp headquarters. Apparently overcome with emotion, George accepted the watch and photo, turned to his boss, and said… Click here to vote for one of the following punchlines: This goes into the garbage with my sandwich wrap; For 42 years you've been filling up, but I’m still coming up empty; I've never seen you before, do you work here?; Take this job and shove it; Wow, this is more than I could possibly have wished for! I can’t wait to hang it in it’s proper place: my bathroom. This Week’s Contest: What did former NY Rep. Anthony Weiner’s shop steward say to him when the news of his Twitter indiscretions broke? To submit your punchline CLICK HERE by noon EDT June 23 and you could be a winner of a labor music CD! Be sure to include your name and union affiliation. -- Bill Huiss, Shop Chairman at IAMAW lodge 21is this week's Labor Joke Contest winner. His punchline for what the new Megabucks Lottery winner said to her boss -- “I just bought the company, now you get the coffee.” -- was the clear winner. Congrats to Bill: a labor music CD is on the way! Steward Tip: Responding to Sexual Harassment Issues Stewards should give the following advice to workers if they experience sexual harassment:
 Labor Quote: Joe Hansen on the “deeply disturbing” Supreme Court Ruling“Today’s decision is deeply disturbing. The highest court in our nation has turned its back on collective remedy for workers facing widespread injustices.” -- UFCW President Joe Hansen on the Supreme Court’s ruling that as many as 1.6 million women who are current or former Wal-Mart employees cannot sue for pay discrimination in a class-action suit. Member Tip: Workers’ Compensation Almost all American workers are now covered by workers’ compensation. This is an automatic type of insurance program, based on a no-fault concept: if you are injured or disabled in connection with your job, you receive a set payment for your loss and reimbursement for any medical expenses, and you are eligible for weekly disability payments. Workers’ compensation is a mixed blessing for workers. On the one hand, the uniform laws and set schedules for payment increase the chances of getting mandatory compensation for your loss, and can cut down on the need for time-consuming and expensive litigation. On the other hand, these laws take away your right to sue your employer for negligence and to recover damages for pain and suffering. This means that you may not end up receiving the amount of compensation that you deserve. Time limits are extremely important in pursuing some of your rights under workers’ compensation laws, so consult with your union steward immediately if you’re hurt on the job. When in doubt about whether your injury is work-related, ask questions: you may learn, for example, that even some injuries that occur during your commute to or from work may be covered by the law. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer Labor Video: Empty Chairs  Management bargains with itself over YOUR pay and benefits in this funny video about collective bargaining. -- Click here to watch the video. Today in Labor History  June 27Emma Goldman, women's rights activist and radical, born in Lithuania. She came to the U.S. at age 17 - 1869 The Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the "Wobblies," is founded at a 12-days-long convention in Chicago. The Wobblie motto: "An injury to one is an injury to all." - 1905 Congress passes the National Labor Relations Act, creating the structure for collective bargaining in the United States - 1935 A 26-day strike of New York City hotels by 26,000 workers – the first such walkout in 50 years – ends with a five-year contract calling for big wage and benefit gains - 1985  A.E. Staley locks out 763 workers in Decatur, Ill. The lockout was to last two and one-half years – 1993 (Staley: The Fight for a New American Labor Movement chronicles one of the most hard-fought struggles in recent labor history. Authors Steven K. Ashby and C.J. Hawking explore how Allied Industrial Workers Local 837 responded to the company’s full-scale assault by educating and mobilizing its members, organizing strong support from the religious and African American communities, building a nationwide solidarity movement, and engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at the plant gates. In the UCS bookstore now.)June 28 Birthday of machinist Matthew Maguire, who many believe first suggested Labor Day. Others believe it was Peter McGuire, a carpenter - 1850 President Grover Cleveland signs legislation declaring Labor Day an official U.S. holiday - 1894 The federal government sues the Teamsters to force reforms on the union, the nation's largest. The following March, the government and the union sign a consent decree requiring direct election of the union's president and creation of an Independent Review Board - 1988  June 29What is to be a 7-day streetcar strike begins in Chicago after several workers are unfairly fired. Wrote the police chief at the time, describing the strikers’ response to scabs: "One of my men said he was at the corner of Halsted and Madison Streets, and although he could see fifty stones in the air, he couldn't tell where they were coming from." The strike was settled to the workers’ satisfaction - 1885 An Executive Order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes the National Labor Relations Board. A predecessor organization, the National Labor Board, established by the Depression-era National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933, was struck down by the Supreme Court - 1934 IWW strikes Weyerhauser and other Idaho lumber camps - 1936 Jesus Pallares, founder of the 8,000-member coal miners union, Liga Obrera de Habla Esanola, is deported as an "undesirable alien." The union operated in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado - 1936 The Boilermaker and Blacksmith unions merge to become International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers - 1954 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in CWA v. Beck that, in a union security agreement, a union can collect as dues from non-members only that money necessary to perform its duties as a collective bargaining representative - 1988 June 30 Alabama outlaws the leasing of convicts to mine coal, a practice that had been in place since 1848. In 1898, 73 percent of the state's total revenue came from this source. 25 percent of all black leased convicts died - 1928 The Walsh-Healey Act took effect today. It requires companies that supply goods to the government to pay wages according to a schedule set by the Secretary of Labor - 1936 The storied Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, a union whose roots traced back to the militant Western Federation of Miners, and which helped found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), merges into the United Steelworkers of America - 1967  Up to 40,000 New York construction workers demonstrated in midtown Manhattan, protesting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s awarding of a $33 million contract to a nonunion company. Eighteen police and three demonstrators were injured. "There were some scattered incidents and some minor violence," Police Commissioner Howard Safir told the New York Post. "Generally, it was a pretty well-behaved crowd." - 1998 July 01 Steel workers in Cleveland begin what was to be an 88-week strike against wage cuts - 1885 Homestead, Pennsylvania steel strike. Seven strikers and three Pinkertons killed as Andrew Carnegie hires armed thugs to protect strikebreakers - 1892 The Amalgamated Assn. of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers stages what is to become an unsuccessful three-month strike against U.S. Steel Corp. Subsidiaries - 1901 One million railway shopmen strike - 1922 Some 1,100 streetcar workers strike in New Orleans, spurring the creation of the po’ boy sandwich by a local sandwich shop owner and one-time streetcar man. "Whenever we saw one of the striking men coming," Bennie Martin later recalled, "one of us would say, ‘Here comes another poor boy.’" Martin and his wife fed any striker who showed up - 1929 Nat'l Assn. of Post Office & General Service Maintenance Employees, United Fed. of Postal Clerks, Nat'l Fed. of Post Office Motor Vehicle Employees & Nat'l Assn. of Special Delivery Messengers merge to become American Postal Workers Union - 1971 International Jewelry Workers Union merges with Service Employees International Union - 1980 Graphic Arts International Union merges with International Printing & Graphic Communications Union to become Graphic Communications International Union, now a conference of the Teamsters - 1983  Copper miners begin a years-long long, bitter strike against Phelps-Dodge in Clifton, Ariz. Democratic Gov. Bruce Babbitt repeatedly deployed state police and National Guardsmen to assist the company over the course of the strike, which broke the union – 1983 (Strikes Around the World: Case Studies of 15 Countries examines whether strikes are going out of fashion or are an inevitable feature of working life. This unique study draws on the experience of fifteen countries around the world -- The United States, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Argentina, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Covering the high and low points of strike activity over the period 1968–2005, the study shows continuing evidence of the durability, adaptability and necessity of the strike. In the UCS bookstore now.)Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers Union merges with International Ladies' Garment Workers Union to form Union of Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees - 1995 International Chemical Workers Union merges with United Food & Commercial Workers Int'l Union - 1996 The Newspaper Guild merges with Communications Workers of America - 1997 United American Nurses affiliate with the AFL-CIO - 2001 July 02 President Johnson signs Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, forbidding employers and unions from discriminating on the basis of race, color, gender, nationality, or religion - 1964 The Labor Dept. reports that U.S. employers cut 467,000 jobs over the prior month, driving the nation’s unemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent - 2009 July 03  Children, employed in the silk mills in Paterson, N.J., went on strike for 11-hour day and 6-day week. A compromise settlement resulted in a 69-hour work work week - 1835 Feminist and labor activist Charlotte Perkins Gilman born in Hartford, Conn. Her landmark study, "Women and Economics", was radical: it called for the financial independence of women and urged a network of child care centers - 1860 More info & ammo for unionists is available online from Union Communication Services. PLUS: Now you can get daily labor history updates on Twitter: follow us at UCSBigLabor! |
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Monday, June 20, 2011
 Labor Joke: What the Megabucks Lottery Winner Said to Her BossWhat did the new Megabucks Lottery winner say to her boss when she called him Monday morning? Click here to vote for one of the following punchlines: I'm calling in "rich" today; I just bought the company, now you get the coffee; I’ll be in late today, how does never work for you? This Week’s Contest: George had worked hard for Bushcorp Inc. for 42 years, never missing a day. His loyalty had gone unrewarded, however, with no promotion or raise in all those years. At his retirement lunch down at Arby's, George was presented with a Casio wristwatch and a framed picture of Bushcorp headquarters. Apparently overcome with emotion, George accepted the watch and photo, turned to his boss, and said… To submit your punchline CLICK HERE by noon EDT June 23 and you could be a winner of a labor music CD! Be sure to include your name and union affiliation. -- Rick Cassar, AFT Local 1931 in Southern California, is this week's Labor Joke Contest winner. His punchline for the response by the laid-off steelworker bartender to Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Michelle Bachman walking into the bar – “So that's one White Russian, one cup of tea and 3 large bags of hot air?” was the narrow winner, by just one vote. Congrats to Rick: a labor music CD is on the way! UCS Mailbag: Stocking a Progressive Library “These guys, and their publications list, have helped me create a progressive library in my union office,” writes Jason Rosin on FaceBook. “Members can check out books on organizing, stewardship and coalition building.” Click here to check out the UCS bookstore, where you can order a copy of our free printed catalog! UCS News Service: Walmart Workers Organizing Informally  Thousands of Walmart workers are getting organized. Just don’t call it a union. OUR Walmart -- Organization United for Respect at Walmart -- has signed up thousands of Walmart workers across the country in recent months... An extended version of this article is available from the UCS weekly union news service, produced for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Click here for info about the service and how to subscribe. Member Tip: Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the existence of rights on a page somewhere means that you’ll always be able to count on those protections. Rights that aren’t exercised can in fact disappear over time; you can lose what you don’t protect. So you need to know where your rights come from, and how to use your union to protect them. In practical terms, this means that when your employer breaks the rules, you need to make sure that your union steward knows about it. A steward’s job is to be the “eyes and ears” of the union, but a steward can’t be everywhere at once, and that’s why individual members have the responsibility to alert the steward if they see a problem. That way, the union/employer structures that are in place can be used to prevent changes for the worse in the day-to-day conditions of the workplace. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer  Labor Quote: Schuler on Declining Union MembershipUnion membership numbers aren’t a popularity poll, nor a reflection of a declining need for unions -- just a sad reflection of how incredibly difficult it is for workers to form unions in our modern corporate environment. -- AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Schuler Steward Tip: Arbitration: The End of the Line Unlike the steps of the grievance procedure, in which a series of closed-minded management representatives can just say no, an arbitration results in a decision being issued by someone who isn’t connected financially or organizationally to either side. Private sector arbitration awards, and most public sector awards as well, are final and binding. For all practical purposes, there’s usually no appeal of an arbitration award. Resolving a dispute through arbitration is almost always quicker, easier and less expensive than taking a case to court. After a hard-fought legal battle, a formal outside finding that the employer has violated your contract rights packs a punch that a grievance settlement lacks. But it’s important to recognize the limitations of arbitrating cases, as well. -- Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten Labor Video: Chaplin’s Lunch Classic  Charlie Chaplin’s classic take on the perils of automation is as side-splittingly funny today as it was when Modern Times was released in 1936. CAUTION: may cause uncontrollable laughter; eat or drink while watching at your own risk. Click here to watch the video. Today in Labor History June 20 The American Railway Union, headed by Eugene Debs, is founded in Chicago. In the Pullman strike a year later, the union was defeated by federal injunctions and troops, and Debs was imprisoned for violating the injunctions - 1893  Henry Ford recognizes the United Auto Workers, signs contract for workers at River Rouge plant – 1941Striking African American auto workers are attacked by KKK, National Workers League, and armed white workers at Belle Isle amusement park in Detroit. Two days of riots follow, 34 people are killed, more than 1,300 arrested - 1943 The Taft-Hartley Labor Management Relations Act, curbing strikes, is vetoed by President Harry S Truman. The veto was overridden three days later by a  Republican-controlled Congress – 1947 (for more on U.S. labor laws, check out A Primer on American Labor Law, an accessible guide written for nonspecialists including local union officers and management representatives, stewards, rank-and-file activists and students of labor. Covers such topics as the National Labor Relations Act, unfair labor practices, the collective bargaining relationship, dispute resolution, the public sector, and public-interest labor law. In the UCS bookstore now)Oil began traveling through the Alaska pipline. Seventy thousand people worked on building the pipeline, history's largest privately-financed construction project – 1977 Evelyn Dubrow, described by the New York Times as organized labor's most prominent lobbyist at the time of its greatest power, dies at age 95. The International Ladies' Garment Workers Union lobbyist once told the Times that "she trudged so many miles around Capitol Hill that she wore out 24 pairs of her Size 4 shoes each year." She retired at age 86 - 2006 June 21  In England, a compassionate parliament declares that children can't be required to work more than 12 hours a day. And they must have an hours' instruction in the Christian Religion every Sunday and not be required to sleep more than two in a bed – 1802 (The Worst Children’s Jobs in History takes you back to the days when being a kid was no excuse for getting out of hard labor. This British book – which will strike a chord with youngsters around the world -- tells the stories of all the children whose work fed the nation, kept trains running, and put clothes on everyone’s backs over the last few hundred years of Britain’s history. In the UCS bookstore now)10 miners accused of being militant "Molly Maguires" are hanged in Pennsylvania. A private corporation initiated the investigation of the 10 through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested them, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. "The state provided only the courtroom & the gallows," a judge said many years later - 1877 The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the right of unions to publish statements urging members to vote for a specific congressional candidate, ruling that such advocacy is not a violation of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act - 1948 100,000 unionists and other supporters march in solidarity with striking Detroit News and Detroit Free Press newspaper workers - 1997 June 22 Violence erupted during a coal mine strike at Herrin, Ill. Thirty-six were killed, 21 of them non-union miners - 1922  June 23Charles Moyer, president of the Western Federation of Miners, goes to Butte, Mont. in an attempt to mediate a conflict between factions of the miner’s local there. It didn’t go well. Gunfight in the union hall killed one man; Moyer and other union officers left the building, which was then leveled in a dynamite blast - 1914 Congress overrides President Harry Truman's veto of the anti-worker Taft-Hartley Act. The law weakened unions and let states exempt themselves from union requirements. Twenty states immediately enacted open shop laws and more followed - 1947 OSHA issues standard on cotton dust to protect 600,000 workers from byssinosis, also known as "brown lung" - 1978  The newly-formed Jobs With Justice stages its first big support action, backing 3,000 picketing Eastern Airlines mechanics at Miami Airport - 1987 A majority of the 5,000 textile workers at six Fieldcrest Cannon textile plants in Kannapolis, N.C., vote for union representation after an historic 25-year fight - 1999 June 24 Birth of Albert Parsons, Haymarket martyr - 1848  Birth of Agnes Nestor, president of the International Glove Workers Union and longtime leader of the Chicago Women's Trade Union League. She began work in a glove factory at age 14 - 188017 workers are killed as methane explodes in a water tunnel under construction in Sylmar, Calif. – 1971 (for more on job safety, check out Tools of the Trade: A Health and Safety Handbook for Action, a valuable resource for those who want to promote worker health and safety while building their unions and community groups at the same time. In the UCS bookstore now) June 25  More than 8,000 people attend the dedication ceremony for The Haymarket Martyrs Monument in Chicago, honoring those framed and executed for the bombing at Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886 - 1893Fair Labor Standards Act passes Congress, banning child labor and setting the 40-hour work week - 1938 At the urging of black labor and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph, Franklin Roosevelt issues an executive order barring discrimination in defense industries - 1941 Congress passes the Smith-Connally War Labor Disputes Act over Pres. Franklin Roosevelt’s veto. It allows the federal government to seize and operate industries threatened by strikes that would interfere with war production. It was hurriedly created after the third coal strike in seven weeks - 1943 21 workers are killed when a fireworks factory near Hallett, Okla. explodes - 1985 Decatur, Ill. police pepper-gas workers at A.E. Staley plant gate one year into the company's two and one-half year lockout of Paperworkers Local 7837 - 1994 June 26 Members of the American Railway Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, refuse to handle Pullman cars, in solidarity with Pullman strikers. Two dozen strikers were killed over the course of the strike - 1894 |
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Monday, June 13, 2011
 Absolutely nothing, of course. But a dose of humor can help your members get through the day, which is why you need the UCS Labor Graphics Service. Each weekly e-mailing includes six to nine top-quality, union-oriented art and graphics tools, from editorial and humor cartoons to illustrations, union "message" spots, headlines, clip art and lots more -- a total of 30 to 35 pieces per month. Whether you need something to lighten up your local's newsletter, meeting and other membership flyers, organizing, political and special event leaflets, special brochures and pamphlets or bulletin board postings, you'll find it here, with great material by some of North America's best labor artists, including Huck & Konopacki, Carol * Simpson, Bulbul and more. For a free sample email David@unionist.com with "Graphics Sample" in the Subject line. To subscribe CLICK HERE.  Labor quote: Bush tax cuts"I got a bigger boat than I used to have. The problem is it was built in Italy." -- Dennis Mehiel, CEO of U.S. Corrugated, Inc., explaining that while the Bush tax cuts made him and other wealthy Americans even richer, the cuts didn't help the American economy. Member tip: Keeping Your Employer Honest Arbitrations can be quite time consuming, and can eat up large chunks of the union treasury. So, all things being equal, it’s almost always better if problems can be tackled and resolved right when they arise: the results are quicker and less costly, and you and your co-workers get to enjoy whatever benefits result more quickly. But it will always be necessary to take at least some grievance cases to arbitration. Sometimes the employer just won’t give in at the outset. So if a problem is important enough, the union needs to have the resolve to take the case all the way to a final arbitration decision. Also, it’s necessary from time to time to fight a case to the end -- and win it -- to keep the employer honest the next time a workplace grievance arises. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer Labor Joke: Sarah, Newt & Michelle Walk into a Bar Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Michelle Bachman walk into a bar. The bartender, a laid-off steelworker, looks at them and says... Click here to vote for one of the following punchlines: Sorry. We don't serve tea; Michelle has to buy the beer, since Sarah and Newt don't have jobs; OK, So that's one White Russian, one cup of tea and 3 large bags of hot air?; I've worked with steel beams that had higher IQ's than Sarah and Michelle combined and more personality than Newt; I'll buy you all a beer if you promise to make it take-out; Sorry, the asylum's next door. This Week’s Contest: What did the new Megabucks Lottery winner say to her boss when she called him Monday morning? To submit your punchline CLICK HERE by noon EDT June 16 and you could be a winner of a labor music CD! Be sure to include your name and union affiliation. -- Susan Flashman (IBEW Local 26) is this week's Labor Joke Contest winner. Her punchline for the union ironworker's response to Donald Trump -- "You can't fire me, I'm a Journeyman Ironworker, not an Apprentice! -- was the runaway favorite last week with a whopping 50 percent of the votes. Congrats to Susan: a labor music CD is on the way! Labor video  Legendary United Mine Workers President John L. Lewis testifies before Congress with full oratorical force following the 1947 Centralia, Ill. mine disaster that killed 111. -- Click here to watch the video Steward tip: Help with Grievance Recordkeeping Imagine that you’re working on three big, complicated grievance cases. You’ve done your research and you’re well prepared. For each case, you have ten to twenty-five individual pieces of paper -- documents, notes, letters, affidavits from eyewitnesses -- which you keep in file folders. Paperwork in hand, you’re walking down the hallway to meet with your local union officials, your International representative, the company human resource people, and the grievants. But just as you enter the meeting room you drop all your folders. Papers go flying to the floor, all mixed up. You’ll have to read every piece to get it back in the right folder. Everyone’s looking on, and you’re feeling a little foolish. Too late, it hits you: Straightening up this mess would be so much easier if each document had a number in the upper right-hand corner showing which case it belongs to. -- Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten Today in labor history June 13 American Railway Union, headed by Eugene V. Debs, founded – 1893  Tony Mazzocchi born in Brooklyn, N.Y. An activist and officer in the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union, he was a mentor to Karen Silkwood, a founder of the Labor Party and a prime mover behind the 1970 passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act - 1926 (Read more in The Killing of Karen Silkwood, Richard Rashke's groundbreaking book about the death of union activist Karen Silkwood, an employee of a plutonium processing plant, who was killed in a mysterious car crash on her way to deliver important documents to a newspaper reporter in 1974. In the UCS bookstore now.) June 14 The first commercial computer, UNIVAC I, is installed at the U.S. Census Bureau - 1951 June 15 The Metal Trades Department of what is now the AFL-CIO is founded - 1908 The Congress of Industrial Organizations expels the Fur and Leather Workers union and the American Communications Association for what it describes as communist activities - 1947 Battle of Century City, as police in Los Angeles attack some 500 janitors and their supporters during a peaceful Service Employees International Union demonstration against cleaning contractor ISS. The event generated public outrage that resulted in recognition of the workers' union and spurred the creation of an annual June 15 Justice for Janitors Day – 1990  June 16 Eight local unions organize the International Fur Workers Union of U.S. and Canada. The union later merged with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen - 1913 Railroad union leader and socialist Eugene V. Debs speaks in Canton, Ohio on the relation between capitalism and war. Ten days later he is arrested under the Espionage Act, eventually sentenced to 10 years in jail - 1918 (read more in The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene V. Debs, Ray Ginger's biography of Debs, founder of one of the nation’s first industrial unions, the American Railway Union, who went on to help launch the Industrial Workers of the World -- the Wobblies. In the UCS bookstore now.) National Industrial Recovery Act becomes law, establishes the right to unionize, sets maximum hours and minimum wages for every major industry, abolishes sweatshops and child labor - 1933 Inacom Corp., once the world's largest computer dealer, sends most of its 5,100 employees an e-mail instructing them to call a toll-free phone number; when they call, a recorded message announces they have been fired - 2000 June 17 Susan B. Anthony goes on trial in Canandaigua, N.Y. for casting her ballot in a federal election the previous November, in violation of existing statutes barring women from the vote - 1873  Mary Harris "Mother" Jones leads a rally in Philadelphia to focus public attention on children mutilated in the state's textile mills. Three weeks later the 73-year-old will lead a march to New York City to plead with President Theodore Roosevelt to help improve conditions for the children - 1903Twelve trade unionists meet in Pittsburgh to launch a drive to organize all steelworkers. It was the birth of the United Steelworkers of America (then called the Steel Workers Organizing Committee). By the end of the year 125,000 workers joined the union in support of its $5-a-day wage demand - 1936 June 18 Union and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph and others meet with Pres. Roosevelt about a proposed July 1 March on Washington to protest discrimination in war industries. A week later, Roosevelt orders that the industries desegregate - 1941 (Read more in A. Philip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait, the fascinating biography of a great American hero who was not only the most famous African American labor leader of his time, but also a key figure in the civil rights movement. In the UCS bookstore now.) June 19 Eight-hour work day adopted for federal employees - 1912 AFL President Sam Gompers and Secretary of War Newton Baker sign an agreement establishing a three-member board of adjustment to control wages, hours and working conditions for construction workers employed on government projects. The agreement protected union wage and hour standards for the duration of World War I - 1917 The first important sit-down strike in American history is conducted by workers at a General Tire Co. factory in Akron, Ohio. The United Rubber Workers  union was founded a year later – 1934The Women’s Day Massacre in Youngstown, Ohio, when police use tear gas on women and children, including at least one infant in his mother's arms, during a strike at Republic Steel. One union organizer later recalled, "When I got there I thought the Great War had started over again. Gas was flying all over the place and shots flying and flares going up and it was the first time I had ever seen anything like it in my life..." - 1937 ILWU begins a four day general strike in sugar, pineapple, and longshore to protest convictions under the anti-communist Smith Act of seven activists, "the Hawai’i Seven." The convictions were later overturned by a federal appeals court - 1953 |
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Monday, June 6, 2011
Labor Joke: Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Michelle Bachman walk into a bar... |
| Our mailing address is: Union Communication Services, Inc. 165 Conduit St Annapolis, MD 21401Copyright (C) 2011 Union Communication Services, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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Monday, May 30, 2011
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| Our mailing address is: Union Communication Services, Inc. 165 Conduit St Annapolis, MD 21401Copyright (C) 2011 Union Communication Services, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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Monday, May 23, 2011
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| Our mailing address is: Union Communication Services, Inc. 165 Conduit St Annapolis, MD 21401Copyright (C) 2011 Union Communication Services, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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Monday, May 16, 2011
Labor Joke: Scott Walker and a Polar Bear What does Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker have in common with a polar bear? Readers came up with some terrific suggestions for the punchline, including “The cold has numbed both their brains,” “They are both endangered species (but we will try to save the polar bears),” “He's on thin ice,” “Both have a Koch and a smile,” "Both will pick your bones clean," and “They are both out of touch with the rest of the world.” Click here now to vote for your favorite! This Week’s Contest: What’s the difference between Walmart and your neighborhood hardware store? Click Here to submit your punchline and you could be a winner!  Poor, Poor BillionairesPity America’s poor billionaires. So much money, so little time. Sixty-one of America’s billionaires gathered at the Miraval Resort in Tucson, Ariz. in early May to share tips on how to give away money. -- An extended version of this article is available from the UCS weekly union news service, produced for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Click here for info about the service and how to subscribe. Labor Quote: Terry O’Sullivan on “No movement too militant!" "Just as the men and women of Haymarket stood united and stood fearless in the face of corporate terror, today we must stand united and stand fearless in the face of corporate tyranny. Instead of bein’ at the wrong end of a Pinkerton’s baton, working men and women today are at  the wrong end of a lawmaker’s gavel or a governor’s pen – targets of wealthy special interests who don’t want us standing in the way of their greedy agenda. When we’re fighting just to hold onto our very lives, there is no movement too radical and there is no movement too militant!"-- Laborers Intl. Union President Terence O'Sullivan, during the 125th anniversary of May Day commemoration in Chicago’s Haymarket Square. Member Tip: Your Role in Organizing There are two reasons for you to become personally involved in organizing activity outside of your workplace. First, a healthy, effective union is one in which the members pitch in to do the work, greatly increasing the people-resources of the union. Second, no matter how skilled professional union staff may be -- if there is one at all -- there is an extra measure of credibility when an already-organized employee speaks directly to an unorganized worker about day-to-day experiences. The successes of member-to-member organizing are clear: one study issued by the AFL-CIO, for example, documents that unions win representation elections in 73 percent of the organizing drives conducted by ordinary members but in only 17 percent of those conducted by professional staff. -- Excerpted from The Union Member’s Complete Guide: Everything You Want – and Need – to Know About Working Union  Labor Video: Experience MattersWithout proper training, you can make a serious, serious mess. Click here to check out USWA’s "Experience Matters," one of the five finalists in LabourStart second annual labor video competition. Click here to see all the Labour Video of the Year 2011 contest finalists and vote by May 31. Steward Tip: Effective Listening People’s brains process thoughts approximately four times faster than they do the spoken word. It’s very easy to skip ahead in a conversation, using your assumptions and extraneous thoughts to fill in for what has yet to be spoken. Don’t run away with your thoughts. If you slow down and resist the urge for quick analysis, you will be better focused on what is actually said, and better able to respond appropriately and knowledgeably. Take the time to get the full story. It’s a good idea to wait until the speaker is done before responding. That way, you’ll be acting on the maximum amount of information, while validating the speaker’s right to unimpeded communication. -- Excerpted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd edition This Week In Labor History  May 16Minneapolis general strike backs Teamsters, who are striking most of the city’s trucking companies - 1934 U.S. Supreme Court issues Mackay decision, which permits the permanent replacement of striking workers. The decision had little impact until Ronald Regan’s replacement of striking air traffic controllers (PATCO) in 1981, a move that signaled antiunion private sector employers that it was OK to do likewise - 1938  Black labor leader and peace activist A. Philip Randolph dies. He was president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and first black on the AFL-CIO executive board, and a principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington – 1979 (for more on Randolph, check out A. Philip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait in the UCS bookstore) May 17 First women’s anti-slavery conference, Philadelphia - 1838  Supreme Court outlaws segregation in public schools - 1954Twelve Starbucks baristas in a mid-town Manhattan store, declaring they couldn’t live on $7.75 an hour, signed cards demanding representation by the Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies. Management roadblocks continue to deny the workers their union to this day - 2004 (For more on the IWW, check out Solidarity Forever: An Oral History of the IWW in the UCS bookstore) May 18 In what may have been baseball’s first labor strike, the Detroit Tigers refuse to play after team leader Ty Cobb is suspended: he went into the stands and beat a fan who had been heckling him. Cobb was reinstated and the Tigers went back to work after the team manager’s failed attempt to replace the players with a local college team: their pitcher gave up 24 runs - 1912 Amalgamated Meat Cutters union organizers launch a campaign in the nation’s packinghouses, an effort that was to bring representation to 100,000 workers over the following two years - 1917 Big Bill Haywood, a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (the Wobblies), dies in exile in the Soviet Union - 1928 Atlanta transit workers, objecting to a new city requirement that they be fingerprinted as part of the employment process, go on strike. They relented and returned to work six months later - 1950 Insurance Agents International Union and Insurance Workers of America merge to become Insurance Workers International Union (later to merge into the UFCW) - 1959  Oklahoma jury finds for the estate of atomic worker Karen Silkwood, orders Kerr-McGee Nuclear Co. to pay $505,000 in actual damages, $10 million in punitive damages for negligence leading to Silkwood’s plutonium contamination – 1979 (for more on Silkwood, check out The Killing of Karen Silkwood in the UCS bookstore) May 19 Explosion in Coal Creek, Tenn. kills 184 miners - 1902 Shootout in Matewan, W. Va. between striking union miners (led by Police Chief Sid Hatfield) and coal company agents. Ten died, including seven agents - 1920 Gas explosion in a Mather, Pennsylvania, coal mine kills 195. - 1928 The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, formed by the Congress of Industrial Organizations, formally becomes the United Steelworkers of America - 1942 31 dockworkers are killed, 350 workers and others are injured when four barges carrying 467 tons of ammunition blow up at South Amboy, New Jersey. They were loading mines that had been deemed unsafe by the Army and were being shipped to the Asian market for sale - 1950  May 20The Railway Labor Act took effect today. It was the first federal legislation protecting workers’ rights to form unions - 1926 9,000 rubber workers strike in Akron, Ohio - 1933 May 21 Italian activists and anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, widely believed to have been framed for murder, go on trial today. They eventually are executed as part of a government campaign against dissidents – 1921 The "Little Wagner Act" is signed in Hawaii, guaranteeing pineapple and sugar workers the right to bargain collectively. After negotiations failed a successful 79-day strike shut down 33 of the territory’s 34 plantations and brought higher wages and a 40-hour week - 1945 Nearly 100,000 unionized SBC Communications Inc. workers begin a four-day strike to protest the local phone giant’s latest contract offer - 2004  May 22 Eugene V. Debs imprisoned in Woodstock, Ill. for role in Pullman strike - 1895 (for more on Debs, check out The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene V. Debs in the UCS bookstore) Civil Service Retirement Act of 1920 gives federal workers a pension - 1920 White firemen on the Georgia Railroad strike against the hiring of blacks. A New York Times correspondent reports that there is much violence against the black firemen, coming not from the strikers but from "citizens along the line of the road, who object to the preference given negroes over white men." -1909 The Congress of Industrial Organizations’ (CIO’s) Steel Workers Organizing Committee is disbanded at a Cleveland convention and immediately succeeded by the workers’ new union, the United Steel Workers of America. - 1942 |
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Monday, May 9, 2011
 UCS News Service: Fire Fighters, Flight Attendants Remember 9/11 FallenFirefighters and flight attendants remembered fallen comrades after the May 1 announcement that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden. -- An extended version of this article is available from the UCS weekly union news service, produced for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Click here for info about the service and how to subscribe. Labor Joke: Out to Lunch The length of lunch breaks is directly proportional to…Click here for the punchline. Labor Joke Contest: Kretzchmar’s “NUBS” Wins Congratulations to John Kretzchmar, whose entry was the hands-down winner in last week’s Labor Joke Contest. An overwhelming majority of votes were cast for “Non-Union Brother & Sister” (NUBS) as the best name for a worker who enjoys all the benefits of the union but refuses to pay his fair share of dues. “The old style of intimidating and humiliating non-members until they give in and join is a losing battle,” says Kretzchmar, who’s the Director of the William Brennan Institute for Labor Studies, College of Public Affairs and Community Service, University of Nebraska at Omaha. “You only get the dues, and you feed all the ugly stereotypes of unions that are already out in society. NUBS is both a term and a ‘frame of mind’ that is better suited to building union power.” “Highest-paid welfare recipient” was second and BUMS (bargaining unit member) and U-Moochers tied for third. Kretzchmar wins his very own copy of the “Rebel Voices” CD, including Utah Phillips and others performing songs of the IWW such as The Boss and Power in the Union. This Week’s Book: Organizing for Social ChangeThis organizer’s Bible provides a comprehensive, real-world tool for organizers of all stripes determined to create attention and affect change. Compiled by leaders of the Midwest Academy, a respected training ground for serious union, community and nonprofit organizers since 1973, Organizing for Social Change deals with everything from tactics to the mechanics of how to track a campaign, from coalition-building to using the media to supervising less experienced organizers. The book outlines specific steps, lists and charts to help organizers move through the phases of a campaign, a solid index to help readers zero in on a specific topic or problem, and a great list of resources. More than 60,000 copies have been sold since the first edition was published in 1991. -- Click here for more on other great labor books available from UCS! Member Tip: Influence Inside and Outside the Workplace For every employee, both those in the public and private sector, what goes on in the world of politics has a direct connection to the union’s ability to advance and protect the members’ interests. As is being made vividly clear this year, legislatures pass and enforce laws that can make it easier or harder for unions to organize, to protect members’ health and safety, to bargain for reasonable health care coverage, and to improve countless other aspects of working life. What is won at a bargaining table can be taken away with a stroke of a pen by elected officials who are not worker-friendly, or by appointed or elected judges. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer Labor Quote: Catholic Bishops on the Right to Organize "No one can deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself. Therefore, we oppose organized efforts such as those regrettably now seen in this country, to break existing unions and prevent workers from organizing." -- Statement, "Economic Justice for All," issued by the U.S. Catholic Bishops in 1986 Labor Video: Joe the dog tries to change the world  Doggone it, unions can help change things for the better! -- Click here to watch the video. Steward Tip: Prior Records and Discipline While a worker’s past record offers no guarantees, good or bad, on what will happen if a case goes to arbitration, the following examples give a sense of how arbitrators may respond. * A foreman was dismissed after a traffic accident. In arbitration the company said the termination was not just because of the accident, but because the foreman had violated a seat belt rule as well. The company hadn’t cited the seat belt issue at the time of termination, however…. * A machinist was seen sleeping on the job and was fired. During the hearing, the company raised an earlier misconduct problem for which the machinist had been disciplined…. -- Click here to find out how the arbitrators ruled in these cases. Steward Update Newsletter is an easy, inexpensive way to give your rank-and-file leaders the skills and counsel they need -- and make them more effective advocates for the union. Click here to find out how you can get a free sample copy! This Week In Labor History Click here for the full complement of Labor History items.  May 9Longshoremen’s strike to gain control of hiring leads to general work stoppage, San Francisco Bay area - 1934 Hollywood studio mogul Louis B. Mayer recognizes the Screen Actors Guild. SAG leaders reportedly were bluffing when they told Mayer that 99 percent of all actors would walk out the next morning unless he dealt with the union. Some 5,000 actors attended a victory gathering the following day at Hollywood Legion Stadium; a day later, SAG membership increased 400 percent - 1937 4,000 garment workers, mostly Hispanic, strike for union recognition at the Farah Mfg. Co. in El Paso, Tex. - 1972  May 10 Thanks to an army of thousands of Chinese and Irish immigrants, who laid 2,000 miles of track, the nation’s first transcontinental railway line was finished by the joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines at Promontory Point, Utah – 1869 A federal bankruptcy judge permits United Airlines to legally abandon responsibility for pensions covering 120,000 employees - 2005 May 11  Nationwide railway strike begins at Pullman, Ill. 260,000 railroad workers ultimately joined the strike to protest wage cuts by the Pullman Palace Car Co. - 1894May 12 Laundry & Dry Cleaning International Union granted a charter by the AFL-CIO - 1958 May 13 The Canadian government establishes the Department of Labour. It took the U.S. another four years - 1909 10,000 IWW dock workers strike in Philadelphia - 1913 Thousands of yellow cab drivers in New York City go on a one day strike in protest of proposed new regulations. “City officials were stunned by the (strike’s) success,” The New York Times reported - 1998 May 14 Milwaukee brewery workers begin 10-week strike, demanding contracts comparable to East and West coast workers. The strike was won because Blatz Brewery accepts their demands, but Blatz was ousted from the Brewers Association for “unethical” business methods - 1953 May 15 The Library Employees’ Union is founded in New York City, the first union of public library workers in the United States. A major focus of the union was the inferior status of women library workers and their low salaries - 1917 The first labor bank opens in Washington, D.C., launched by officers of the Machinists. The Locomotive Engineers opened a bank in Cleveland later that year - 1920 Wall Street Journal reporter Jonathon Kwitney reports that AFL-CIO President George Meany, Sec.-Treas. Lane Kirkland and other union officials are among the 60 leading stockholders in the 15,000 acre Punta Cana, Dominican Republic resort. When the partners needed help clearing the land, the Dominican president sent troops to forcibly evict stubborn, impoverished tobacco farmers and fishermen who had lived there for generations, according to Kwitney’s expose - 1973 |
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Monday, May 2, 2011
 UCS Launches "Unions Now, More Than Ever” Contest: Union Communication Services has launched its "Unions Now, More Than Ever” Contest, with $2,500 in prizes for videos, graphics, cartoons and songs speaking to that theme. “We keep hearing that unions really aren’t necessary any more,” says UCS publisher David Prosten, “but in the current economic climate and with increasing attacks on workers and their unions, it’s clear that workers need unions now, more than ever.” Submissions can be made in three categories: VIDEO (2 minute maximum length, must be posted on YouTube); GRAPHIC/CARTOON (jpg format, 300 DPI); SONG (3-minute maximum length in MP3 format). All entries must include the tagline “Unions Now, More Than Ever” and must be English-language. Email entries to contest@unionist.com Deadline for entries is August 1; winners in each category will be announced the week before Labor Day. A total of $2,500 in prizes will be awarded: three 1st prizes of $500 (one in each category) and four 2nd prizes of $250 (at least one in each category).UCS News Service: Labor Educators Targeted by Right-wing Provocateur Right-wing provocateur Andrew Breitbart -- best-known for his selectively-edited videos attacking ACORN in 2009 -- is now going after labor educators and has already cost one his job. -- An extended version of this article is available from the UCS weekly union news service, produced for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Click here for info about the service and how to subscribe. Labor Joke: Get Up Offa That Neck  What's the unlikely result when you cross James Brown with a blood-sucking vampire? Click here for the punchline. Labor Joke Contest: Another Name for Free-riders? We got plenty of responses -- some unprintable -- to our request last week for what to call a worker who enjoys all the benefits of the union but refuses to pay his fair share of dues. We’ve narrowed the list down to six -- Flab, BUMS, NUBS, Sponge Bob Fair-Scants, U-Moochers and the highest-paid welfare recipients in the world -- and now you get to decide the winner. Click here to vote; the winner will be announced next week. Thanks to everyone who sent in responses!  This Week’s Book: UCS Labor Books Catalog“I have found the UCS Labor Books Catalog to be an excellent source of materials for those interested in learning more about the labor movement,” says Laborers Director of Education Kathleen Conlan. “I have provided copies of the catalog and recommended books within it to many of the union leaders who participate in LIUNA’s leadership education classes. I have also been able to locate sources of information when responding to inquiries from the field on a variety of topics.” Member Tip: Educate Yourself If you’re going to participate in the union decisions that affect your workplace life, you should do so intelligently. This means taking the time to learn about the union and the issues it is dealing with on behalf of the members. If you don’t have a copy of the union contract, get one and look through it, at least enough to get a good idea about what topics are covered and what the specifics are. Make a mental note not only of what rights the union is already in a position to protect but also what improvements you’d like to see in the next round of bargaining. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer. Labor Quote: Keynes on Nasty Capitalism Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of reasons, will somehow work for the benefit of all. -- British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) Steward Tip: Equality Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), stewards and union officers have a protected legal status. This means that when engaged in representational activities, stewards and union officers are considered to be equals with management. Behavior that could otherwise result in discipline must be tolerated. The National Labor Relations Board describes the equality rule this way: The relationship at a grievance meeting is not a “master-servant” relationship but a relationship between company advocates on one side and union advocates on the other side, engaged as equal opposing parties in litigation. -- Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten. Labor Video: Maine’s Labor Mural, Revised  Remember how the right-wing governor of Maine ordered the removal of a mural showing the history of working people in the state? This video offers an alternative: a mural honoring the best and brightest of capitalism's biggest ripoff artists, complete with details of their crimes. Click here to watch the video. This Week In Labor History Click here for the full complement of labor history items.  May 02Chicago's first Trades Assembly, formed three years earlier, sponsors a general strike by thousands of workers to enforce the state's new eight hour day law. The one-week strike was unsuccessful - 1867 First Workers’ Compensation law in U.S. enacted, in Wisconsin - 1911 Pres. Herbert Hoover declares that the stock market crash six months earlier was just a "temporary setback" and the economy would soon bounce back. In fact the Great Depresssion was to continue and worsen for several more years - 1930 In Germany, Adolph Hitler issues an edict abolishing all labor unions, part of his effort to ban any political opposition - 1933 May 03 Four striking workers are killed, at least 200 wounded, when police attack a demonstration on Chicago’s south side at the McCormick Harvesting Machine plant. The Haymarket Massacre is to take place the following day - 1886 Pete Seeger, folksinger and union activist, born in Patterson, N.Y. Among his songs: “If I Had A Hammer” and  “Turn, Turn, Turn” - 1919May 04 Haymarket massacre. A bomb is thrown as Chicago police start to break up a rally for strikers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. A riot erupts, 11 police and strikers die, mostly from gunfire, and scores more are injured - 1886 May 05 Some 14,000 building trades workers and laborers, demanding an eight-hour work day, gather at the Milwaukee Iron Co. rolling mill in Bay View, Wisc. When they approach the mill they are fired on by 250 National Guardsmen under orders from the governor to shoot to kill. Seven die, including 13-year-old boy - 1886 Heavily armed deputies and other mineowner hirelings attack striking miners in Harlan County, Ky., starting the Battle of Harlan County - 1931  John J. Sweeney, president of the Service Employees Intl. Union from 1980 to 1995, then president of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009, born in The Bronx, N.Y. - 1934Lumber strike begins in Pacific Northwest, will involve 40,000 workers by the time victory is achieved after 13 weeks: union recognition, a 50 cent per hour minimum wage and an eight-hour day - 1937 The U.S. unemployment rate drops to a 30-year low of 3.9 percent; the rate for blacks and Hispanics is the lowest ever since the government started tracking such data - 2000 May 06 Works Projects Administration (WPA) established at a cost of $4.8 billion -- more than $72 billion in 2011 dollars -- to provide work opportunities for millions during the Great Depression - 1935 400 black women working as tobacco stemmers walk off the job in a spontaneous revolt against poor working conditions and a $3 weekly wage at the Vaughan Co. in Richmond, Va. - 1937 May 07  Two die, 20 are injured in “Bloody Tuesday” as strikebreakers attempt to run San Francisco streetcars during a strike by operators. The strike was declared lost in 1908 after many more deaths, including several in scab-operated streetcar accidents - 1907Philadelphia’s longest transit strike ends after 44 days. A key issue in the fight was the hiring and use of part-timers - 1977 May 08 Jerry Wurf, who was to serve as president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) from 1964 to his death 1981, born in New York City. The union grew from about 220,000 members to more than 1 million during his presidency - 1919 12,000 Steelworker-represented workers at Goodyear Tire & Rubber win an 18-day strike for improved wages and job security - 1997 |
| Our mailing address is: Union Communication Services, Inc. 165 Conduit St Annapolis, MD 21401Copyright (C) 2011 Union Communication Services, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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Monday, April 25, 2011
Labor Joke: Of Bankers & Bank Robbers  What's the difference between a Wall Street banker and Bonnie & Clyde? Click here for the punchline. NEW! Labor Joke Contest: Got Punchline? What do you call a worker who enjoys all the benefits of the union but refuses to pay his fair share of dues? Send in your suggested punchline and you could be a winner! We’ll put the best responses up for a vote next week and the winner will get a labor music CD. Email your punchline to ucs@unionist.com by midnight (EST) April 27. UCS News Service: Wisconsin GOP Senator Leaves District -- And Family -- Behind Wisconsin Democrats fled the state earlier this year in an attempt to derail anti-worker legislation, but Republican state senator Randy Hopper has apparently gone them one better, permanently leaving his district, and his wife and two young kids. -- An extended version of this article is available from the UCS weekly union news service, produced for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Click here for info about the service and how to subscribe.  Steward Update Newsletter: Drawing a Line in the SandAs many employers in both the public and private sector become more aggressive about gutting our contracts, it’s time for stewards to bring their members together to defend all we’ve struggled for. “Drawing a Line in the Sand” is the cover story in the latest Steward Update Newsletter, now available from Union Communication Services. “A strong steward can make a huge difference,” explains writer Bill Barry. “You are, after all, the first line of defense for union conditions and are confronted daily with the changes -- some dramatic, some sly -- that the bosses try to impose.” Click here for a sample Steward Update Newsletter, find out what some of the most common changes are and get details on how to order! Member Tip: Talkin’ Union One of your union steward’s responsibilities is to greet new employees and fill them in on the union. But as a rank-and-file member you can help out very effectively by making a point of talking to newly hired workers about your own personal experiences with the union, and urging them to sign up. Having the union talked up by someone who is not a union official can go a long way toward showing members that the union is “us,” not some separate organization. Your role as an unofficial union ambassador is perhaps even more critical outside the workplace, where there are a lot of popular misconceptions about what unions are and what they do. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer  Labor Video: Mother Jones Speaks!In the only known film footage of the labor heroine branded "the most dangerous woman in America," Mother Jones, the legendary union organizer and hell-raiser, speaks briefly at her 100th birthday celebration in 1930. Click here to watch the video. Steward Tip: If At First You Don’t Succeed… Here are a few helpful tips about what to expect when you become a steward:
 This Week’s Book: Two by Mother JonesMary Harris Jones – better known as “Mother Jones” -- was the most dynamic woman ever to grace the American labor movement. Here are two great books in honor of her upcoming birthday on May 1 (see The Week’s Labor History below). In The Autobiography of Mother Jones you’ll hear, in her own words, Mother Jones’ story of organizing in steel, railroading,  textiles and mining; her crusade against child labor; her fight to organize women; even her involvement in the Mexican revolution. Mother Jones Speaks: Speeches and Writings assembles a comprehensive collection of her speeches, letters, articles, interviews and testimony before Congressional committees. See why employers and politicians around the turn of the century called her “the most dangerous woman in America” and rebellious working men and women loved her as they have never loved anyone else.Labor Quote: Trumka on the Grassroots Revolt "It didn’t start with the AFL-CIO or unions calling this, it started by workers saying you’ve gone too far, taking away our rights is wrong, you’re elected to create jobs, not destroy jobs." -- AFL-CIO Pres. Richard Trumka on the massive worker demonstrations protesting the gutting of public employee bargaining rights This Week in Labor History Click here to see the full complement of labor history items for this week. April 25 The New York Times declares the struggle for an eight-hour workday to be “un-American” and calls public demonstrations for the shorter hours “labor disturbances brought about by foreigners.” Other publications declare that an eight-hour workday day would bring about “loafing and gambling, rioting, debauchery and drunkenness” - 1886  The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy and 100 others are arrested while picketing a Charleston, S.C. hospital in a demand for union recognition – 1969April 26 The U.S. House of Representatives passes House Joint Resolution No. 184, a constitutional amendment to prohibit the labor of persons under 18 years of age. The Senate approved by the measure a few weeks later, but it was never ratified by the states and is still technically pending - 1924 With the official national unemployment rate standing at 9 percent, some 60,000 union members and other activists march in Washington, D.C., to demand jobs for all Americans - 1975 April 27 James Oppenheim’s poem “Bread and Roses” published in IWW newspaper “Industrial Solidarity” - 1946  April 28 Coal mine collapses at Eccles, W.Va., killing 181 workers - 1914 119 die in Benwood, W.Va. coal mine disaster – 1924 Congress creates OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The AFL-CIO sets April 28 as “Workers Memorial Day” to honor the hundreds of thousands of workers killed and injured on the job every year - 1970. First “Take Our Daughters to Work Day,” promoted by the Ms. Foundation, to boost self-esteem of girls with invitations to a parent’s workplace - 1993  April 29Coxey’s Army of 500 unemployed civil war veterans reaches Washington, DC – 1894 April 30 An explosion at the Everettville mine in Everettville, W. Va., kills 109 miners, many of whom lie in unmarked graves to this day - 1927 May 01 Mary Harris “Mother” Jones born in County Cork, Ireland - 1830  Eight-hour day demonstration in Chicago and other cities begins tradition of May Day as international labor holiday – 1886 Mother Jones’ 100th birthday celebrated at the Burgess Farm in Adelphi, Md. She died six months later - 1930 New York City’s Empire State Building officially opens. Construction involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, and hundreds of Mohawk iron workers. Five workers died during construction - 1931 Rallies in cities across the U.S. for what organizers call “A Day Without Immigrants.” An estimated 100,000 immigrants and sympathizers gathered in San Jose, Calif., 200,000 in New York, 400,000 each in Chicago and Los Angeles. In all, there were demonstrations in at least 50 cities - 2006 |
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Monday, April 18, 2011
Union stewards are the latest GOP scapegoat for budget woes. Republican lawmakers in Connecticut said in mid-April that union shop stewards shouldn’t be paid to do union work during business hours... -- An extended version of this article is available from the UCS weekly union news service, produced for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Click here for info about the service and how to subscribe.  Labor Joke: Corporate Efficiency How many corporate executives does it take to screw in a light bulb? Click here for the punchline. Member Tip: Unwritten Laws Besides what’s in the contract, or in the employer’s handbook or government regulations, every workplace has its unwritten rules. Just as in everyday life, there are ways of doing things in the workplace that may not be on a page anywhere to read but are accepted by everyone. When you’re waiting to get on an elevator, where is it written that you are required to make way for a parent with a toddler? Nowhere, but people understand that that’s the way it should be, so that’s the way it usually is. Similarly, it may not be written anywhere that it’s okay to knock off a little early on Christmas Eve, or that a phone call to check on your children at home is allowed, but that may have developed into the “law of the shop” in your workplace.  -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer Labor Quote: Warren Buffett on Class Warfare "If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning." -- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett Steward Tip: Conducting Workplace Meetings A lot of stewards find that the best way to deal with a workplace issue -- or to just see what’s on everyone’s mind -- is to call a meeting. If you do it, you want to do your best to make sure it’s a fun, action-oriented event that will get people more involved and make the union stronger. -- Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten  This Week’s Book: The Union Steward’s Complete GuideThis week’s story about how the Connecticut GOP is going after union stewards shows why every steward in North America should own a well-thumbed copy of The Union Steward’s Complete Guide. First published in 1997, the Guide -- edited by UCS publisher David Prosten -- quickly became the workplace bible for tens of thousands of stewards across North America. Fully illustrated and indexed, this second edition’s eleven chapters offer hands-on counsel on problems and concerns ranging from the basics of grievance handling to dealing with difficult supervisors or co-workers to ways of increasing membership involvement in the union. New material includes counsel on workplace concerns ranging from computer and privacy issues to a new chapter dealing with the changing workplace, including the growing number of workers from other nations and cultures. The chapter on Handling Common Grievances and Disciplines has been greatly expanded and is sure to be of help to overworked stewards, and the revised format of the book itself will make for even easier reading. Designed for new stewards and veterans alike, the Guide is based on the popular Steward Update newsletter, read regularly by more than 70,000 stewards across North America. The original edition won praise from leading labor educators and in publications ranging from the AFL-CIO’s America@Work magazine ("provides lively details on the range of stewards’ duties") to SEIU Action ("thorough and very readable"), to the Milwaukee Labor Press ("the ultimate handbook...it contains everything you need to know about being on the union’s front line") and the Detroit Labor News ("an outstanding resource for new and veteran union activists"). Contributors include Pat Thomas, George Hagglund, Jim Young and Ken Margolies.  Labor Video: Seemed Like a Good Idea at The Time Things don’t go according to plan during a lunchtime diversion on a British construction site. Click here to watch the video. This Week in Labor History Click here to view all items in this weeks labor history. April 18  West Virginia coal miners strike, defend selves against National Guard - 1912Some 200,000 CWA telephone workers strike the Bell System. The strike ended after 18 days, with workers winning wage and benefit increases totaling nearly 20 percent over three years - 1968 April 19 An American domestic terrorist’s bomb destroys the Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168 people, 99 of whom were government employees - 1995 April 20  10,000 demonstrators celebrate textile workers’ win of a 10-percent pay hike and grievance committees after a one-month strike, Lowell, Mass. - 1912 Ludlow massacre: Colorado state militia, using machine guns and fire, kill about 20 people -- including 11 children -- at a tent city set up by striking coal miners - 1914 An unknown assailant shoots through a window at United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther as he is eating dinner at his kitchen table, permanently imparing his right arm. It was one of at least two assassination attempts on Reuther. He and his wife later died in a small plane crash under what many believe to be suspicious circumstances - 1948  Eleven workers are killed, 17 injured when BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico. Lax, profit-focused procedures "that saved ... significant time and money" for BP and other companies were found to blame. An estimated 5 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf before the well was capped after 85 days - 2010April 21  New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller signs Taylor Law, permitting union organization and bargaining by public employees, but outlawing the right to strike - 1967 Some 12,500 Goodyear Tire workers strike nine plants in what was to become a three week walkout over job security, wage and benefit issues - 1997 April 23 Death of Ida Mae Stull, nationally recognized as the country’s first woman coal miner - 1980 United Farm Workers of America founder Cesar Chavez dies in San Luis, Ariz., at age 66 - 1993 April 24 The International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union halts shipping on the West Coast in solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Philadelphia journalist whom many believed was on death row because he was an outspoken African-American - 1999 |
| Our mailing address is: Union Communication Services, Inc. 165 Conduit St Annapolis, MD 21401Copyright (C) 2011 Union Communication Services, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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Monday, April 11, 2011
 Labor Quote: Larry Cohen on Mobilizing"We’re mobilizing as we haven’t in decades.” -- CWA President Larry Cohen, speaking of labor's mass April 4 "We Are One" demonstrations UCS News Service: Poll Says More Americans Back Unions Than Governors Where’s the mandate? A recent Gallup poll found that more Americans back unions than governors in the ongoing political battles over state budgets and collective bargaining. The poll undermines the governors’ claim to be acting on a voter mandate to slash union power, wages and benefits…Click here for the rest of the article from this week’s UCS Local Union News Service, the weekly union news service for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Subscribe today! Labor Joke: Overeducated A young man was hired by a supermarket and reported for his first day of work. The manager gave him a broom and said, "Son, your first job will be to sweep out the store." "But I'm a college graduate," the young man replied indignantly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that," said the manager…Click here for the punchline. Member Tip: Show Solidarity It’s pretty easy to understand in the abstract the notion that “an injury to one is an injury to all.” And it’s also not too complicated to grasp that if you don’t speak up when someone else is being mistreated, that person isn’t likely to be there for you when you need some support. But what’s needed, of course, is for each of us to “walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk.” So if your co-workers on the night shift are getting cheated out of their differential, the test is whether you and your co-workers on the day shift make it your business to make sure that the union can do what’s needed to take on the employer. --Adapted from The Union Member's Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer Labor Video: Copy That  The hidden hazards of the photocopier room. Click here to watch the video. Steward Tip: Steward-Member Confidentiality As a steward, you’re constantly defending members against accusations by management. So here’s an important question: Do stewards have with members the same confidentiality protections that lawyers have with their clients? Can you legally refuse to tell your employer facts about a workplace situation that are disclosed to you by a member? Here’s an example where confidentiality could become an issue. Let’s say one or both of the parties to a workplace shoving match comes to you for advice. The next day, the employer, investigating the scuffle in order to decide whether someone should be disciplined for it -- maybe suspended or even fired -- asks you what you know about it. Not only does he ask you, in fact, but he demands to know. Can you refuse to reveal that information? The answer is almost always yes. Check with union higher-ups if you're ever in doubt." -- Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten  This Week’s Book: Strike!The current wave of worker rebellion across the country is rooted in a rich history of worker struggle few of us learned from our school history books. Jeremy Brecher’s Strike! is an inspirational history of how working Americans for the past 125 years have used the strike again and again to win a degree of justice and fair play. More than simply history, however, Strike! is a virtual “how-to” handbook for modern mobilizers and organizers who can trace current struggles back to the nation’s great strikes and the social and political climates from which they grew. Strike! illustrates that, throughout recent history, no matter how all encompassing or industry-specific the strike, “The real issue is an attempt by workers to wrest at least a part of the power over their lives away from their employers and exercise it themselves.” Click here for more on “Strike!” and other great labor books. This Week in Labor History Click here for a full listing of the Labor History events for this week. April 11 Jackie Robinson, first black ballplayer hired by a major league team, plays his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbetts Field - 1947 United Mine Workers President W. A. "Tony" Boyle is found guilty of first-degree murder, for ordering the 1969 assassination of union reformer Joseph A. "Jock" Yablonski. Yablonski, his wife and daughter were murdered on December 30, 1969. Boyle had defeated Yablonski in the UMW election earlier in the year -- an election marred by intimidation and vote fraud. That election was set aside and a later vote was won by reformer Arnold Miller - 1974  Some 25,000 marchers in Watsonville, Calif. show support for United Farm Workers organizing campaign among strawberry workers, others - 1997April 12 A group of "puddlers" -- craftsmen who manipulated pig iron to create steel -- met in a Pitsburgh bar and formed The Iron City Forge of the Sons of Vulcan. It was the strongest union in the U.S. in the 1870s, later merging with two other unions to form what was to be the forerunner of the United Steel Workers - 1858 April 13  Labor leader and Socialist Party founder Eugene V. Debs is imprisoned for opposing American entry into World War I. While in jail he ran for president, received 1 million votes - 1919 April 14 More than 100 Mexican and Filipino farm workers are arrested for union activities, Imperial Valley, Calif. Eight were convicted of “criminal syndicalism” - 1930 John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” published - 1939  April 15A. Philip Randolph, civil rights leader and founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, born in Crescent City, Fla. - 1889 Start of ultimately successful six-day strike across New England by what has been described as the first women-led American union, the Telephone Operators Department of IBEW - 1919 April 16  Employers lock out 25,000 New York City garment workers in a dispute over hiring practices. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union calls a general strike; after 14 weeks, 60,000 strikers win union recognition and the contractual right to strike - 1916 500 workers in Texas City, Texas die in a series of huge oil refinery and chemical plant explosions and fires - 1947 An estimated 20,000 global justice activists blockade Washington, D.C. meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund - 2000 April 17 The Supreme Court holds that a maximum hours law for New York bakery workers is unconstitutional under the due process clause of the 14th amendment - 1905 |
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Monday, April 4, 2011
LOVE that site. It's one of the few places you can buy books for kids about the labor movement. I actually received my son's birthday present in the mail today from them.” Anna was responding to an AFL-CIO post of our popular labor history feature. One of a dozen great offerings on the Big Labor pages of our website, www.unionist.com.UCS News Service: Collective Bargaining Battles Update Ohio Bill Guts Worker Rights; Wisc. Gov. Walker Defies Judge; Indiana Dems End Walkout; Doublespeak from Mich. Gov. Snyder… Click here for the rest of the article from this week’s UCS Local Union News Service; the weekly union news service for union editors who want the latest labor news from around the country for their print newsletter, website or email newsletter. Subscribe today! Labor Quote: Naomi Klein on Who Pays? "What this fight is really about is not unions vs. taxpayers, it’s a fight about who’s going to pay for the crisis that’s been created by the wealthiest elite in this country. Is it going to be regular working people or is going to be the people who created the crisis." -- Author Naomi Klein  This Week’s Book: Martin Luther King & the March on WashingtonWritten for 5 to 8 year-olds, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the March on Washington is a very nice introduction to Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Author Frances Ruffin uses the watershed event in the fight for civil rights as a point of reference as it talks about segregation in America and the battle for equal rights. Photos and illustrations help make real not just that dramatic day, at which Dr. King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, but also the harsh societal realities that led up to that dramatic moment in history. Member Tip: Interest-based Bargaining The interest-based bargaining style of negotiation is based on the belief that the parties to a collective bargaining relationship have a joint interest in sharing information and in working together cooperatively to come up with mutually satisfactory resolutions to the issues before them. Because of the cooperation that underlies interest-based bargaining, negotiations that conclude successfully using this model often lead to a less confrontational and more productive relationship between the employer and the union long after the contract is signed. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer Labor Joke: Man of Few Words  A young man joins a very strict monastery, the rules of which include a ban on speaking more than two words every ten years. After ten years the young monk goes to the Abbott and says: "Food stinks." Ten years later he goes to the Abbott and says: "Bed hard." After another ten years after that he goes to the Abbott and says: "Work boring." After yet another ten years he goes to the Abbott and says: "I quit." The Abbott says…Click here for the punchline. --Thanks to Saul Schniderman Steward Tip: Organizing Information and Grievance Record-keeping In processing a grievance, it is not uncommon to end up with a great big stack of paperwork. Letters, information requests, notes from meetings, witness statements, and grievance forms are just some of the many kinds of documents that will find their way into the process. And the person who must keep track of all that paperwork is you. It isn’t an easy job. You’ll need to develop a systematic method for tracking this material, or it will overwhelm you. And you’ll discover that a good system not only helps you win grievances, but can provide valuable information for your negotiating committee when they sit down to bargain the next contract. -- Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten Labor Video: Jon Stewart on Taxing Hypocrisy  Jon Stewart is shocked – SHOCKED! – to discover hypocrisy in the response by Republican politicians and business leaders when it comes to the tax system and how it treats corporations and working people. Viewer Alert: You'll have to sit through a brief commercial before the video. Click here to watch the video. This Week in Labor History Click here to check out the complete weekly UCS labor history postings. April 04  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, where he has been supporting a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of this tragedy, riots break out in many cities, including Washington, DC - 1968April 05 14,000 teachers strike Hawaii schools, colleges - 2001  A huge underground explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, W. Va. kills 29 miners. It was the worst U.S. mine disaster in 40 years. The Massey Energy Co. mine had been cited for 2 safety infractions the day before the blast; 57 the month before, and 1,342 in the previous five years - 2010 April 06 The first slave revolt in the U.S. occurs at a slave market in New York City’s Wall Street area. Twenty-one blacks were executed for killing nine whites. The city responded by strengthening its slave codes - 1712 Birth of Rose Schneiderman, prominent member of the New York Women's Trade Union League, an active participant in the Uprising of the 20,000, the massive strike of shirtwaist workers in New York City led by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in 1909, and famous for an angry speech about the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire: “Every week I must learn of the untimely death of one of my sister workers…Too much blood has been spilled. I know from my experience it is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by a strong working-class movement” - 1882 What was to become a two-month strike by minor league umpires begins, largely over money: $5,500 to $15,000 for a season running 142 games. The strike ended with a slight improvement in pay - 2006 April 07 15,000 union janitors strike, Los Angeles - 2000  April 08 The Works Progress Administration (WPA) is approved by Congress. President Franklin Roosevelt proposed the WPA during the Great Depression of the 1930s when almost 25 percent of Americans were unemployed. It created low-paying federal jobs providing immediate relief, putting 8.5 million jobless to work on projects ranging from construction of bridges, highways and public buildings to arts programs like the Federal Writers' Project - 1935 April 09 IWW organizes the 1,700 member crew of the Leviathan, then the world’s largest vessel - 1930 April 10 Birth date of Frances Perkins, named Secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, becoming the first woman to hold a cabinet-level office - 1880  Birth of Dolores Huerta, a co-founder, with Cesar Chavez, of the United Farm Workers - 1930 Dancers from the Lusty Lady Club in San Francisco’s North Beach ratify their first-ever union contract by a vote of 57-15, having won representaion by SEIU Local 790 the previous summer. The club later became a worker-owned cooperative - 1997 Tens of thousands of immigrants demonstrate in 100 U.S. cities in a national day of action billed as a campaign for immigrants’ dignity. Some 200,000 gathered in Washington, D.C. - 2006 |
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Monday, March 28, 2011
Steward Update Newsletter: Challenging Production Standards "Wall Street bonuses are just one more example of how shared sacrifice only applies to the middle class, not corporate CEOs. While executives on Wall Street fret over the size of their bonuses, the rest of the country is worried about how they will put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads." -- AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka UCS News Service: Maine Governor Targets Art Depicting Workers  First they take your rights, then they take your art. Maine governor Paul LePage has ordered a mural removed from the state’s Department of Labor building in Augusta. The mural depicts Maine workers, including colonial-era shoemaking apprentices, lumberjacks, a shipyard “Rosie the Riveter” and a 1986 paper mill strike. After several business official complained, LePage deemed the scenes too one-sided in favor of unions, reported Steven Greenhouse in The New York Times... Click here for the rest of the article from this week’s UCS Local Union News Service, for union editors who need a few more good articles, pieces of art or humorous items like this to fill out their newsletter, or who are looking for a regular, reliable selection of items with a national or a feature flair. Labor Video: Charlie Sheen on the Chain Gang  Just in case you’ve not yet had quite enough of Charlie Sheen, we offer "Workin’ on the Chain Gang," from the movie Cadence. Click here to watch the video. Member Tip: Union Constitution and Bylaws Your union has a constitution and bylaws. These may exist for your local union, your international union or for another intermediate level. Generally, these documents outline the structure of the union, and say how the union is governed. They will, for example identify the various officers of the union and their authority as well as lay out different election or appointment mechanisms. Procedures dealing with how union meetings are called and how the meetings are conducted will be detailed, as well as what member voting rights are in place for union business such as ratifying a collective bargaining agreement. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer  Today’s Book: Robert’s Rules in Plain EnglishAt last, a book on parliamentary procedure that everyone can understand! If you’ve ever had to run a meeting according to parliamentary procedures you know just how difficult it is to keep track of all the rules, much less follow them. Figuring out what to say and how to say it seems an impossible task. Robert’s Rules in Plain English is the solution to that problem, providing essential, basic rules in simple, straightforward English, and includes sample dialogues so you can see exactly how those rules work in practice. Using summaries, outlines, charts and forms, Robert’s Rules in Plain English provides you with all you need to know to run a meeting successfully and to keep it on track. PLUS: two other related titles: 10 Days to More Confident Public Speaking is a no-nonsense, to-the-point book packed with sound advice and simple tips, all to help you become a relaxed, effective and commanding public speaker; Parliamentary Procedure and Effective Union Meetings is a very helpful guide for how to run or participate in a union meeting -- not just the formal procedures, but the realities, like how to set an agenda, how to deal with people who just love to hear themselves speak, and how to boost attendance. Labor Joke: Smart Radio I bought a new Ford Ranger pickup and returned to the dealer yesterday because I couldn't get the radio to work. The salesman explained that the radio was voice activated. "Nelson," the salesman said to the radio. The radio replied, "Ricky or Willie?" "Willie!" he continued and "On The Road Again" came from the speakers. Then he said, "Ray Charles!", and in an instant "Georgia On My Mind" replaced Willie Nelson. I drove away happy, and for the next few days, every time I'd say, "Beethoven," I'd get beautiful classical music, and if I said, "Beatles," I'd get one of their awesome songs. Yesterday, some guy ran a red light and nearly creamed my new truck, but I swerved in time to avoid him. I yelled out, "Asshole!" Immediately the radio responded with…Click here for the punchline -- Thanks to Mike Eisencher for passing this along UCS News Service: Hightower on Armani-clad Bank Robbers The popular perception is that bank robbers wear ski masks when doing their jobs, but a lot of modern-day bank robbers are wearing Armani suits and Gucci loafers. The New York Times recently ran a story on such hold-up men, including showing mug shots of five who've been making big hauls. The photos looked as though they were taken at a police lineup, except for one significant difference: all five of these robbers had big smiles on their faces. That's because they are the chief executives of some of America's biggest banks, and they've just pulled off a major job that'll put more sacks of riches in their private stashes. Click here for the rest of Jim Hightower’s column from this week’s UCS Local Union News Service, for union editors who need a few more good articles, pieces of art or humorous items like this to fill out their newsletter, or who are looking for a regular, reliable selection of items with a national or a feature flair. Steward Tip: Grievance Interviewing Skills Here are some tips to make your grievance interviews as effective as possible:
Click here to check out the complete weekly UCS labor history postings. March 28 Martin Luther King, Jr., leads a march of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn. Violence during the march persuades him to return the following week to Memphis, where he was assassinated - 1968  March 29Sam Walton, founder of the huge and bitterly anti-union Wal-Mart empire, born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He once said that his priority was to “Buy American,” but Wal-Mart is now the largest U.S. importer of foreign-made goods—often produced under sweatshop conditions - 1918 March 30 At the height of the Great Depression, 35,000 unemployed march in New York’s Union Square. Police beat many demonstrators, injuring 100 - 1930 March 31 Cowboys earning $40 per month begin what is to become an unsuccessful 2 1/2 month strike for higher wages at five ranches in the  Texas Panhandle - 1883Cesar Chavez born in Yuma, AZ - 1927 April 01 More than 2,000 workers strike the Draper Corp. power loom manufacturing plant in Hopedale, Mass., seeking higher wages and a nine-hour workday. Eben S. Draper, president of the firm -- and a former state governor -- declares: "We will spend $1 million to break this strike" and refuses to negotiate. The strike ended in a stalemate 13 weeks later - 1913  Longest newspaper strike in U.S. history, 114 days, ends in New York City. Workers at nine newspapers were involved - 1963Major league baseball players begin what is to become a 13-day strike, ending when owners agreed to increase pension fund payments and to add salary arbitration to the collective bargaining agreement - 1972 April 02  The Supreme Court declares unconstitutional a 1918 Washington, D.C. law establishing a minimum wage for women - 1923 April 03 Martin Luther King Jr. returns to Memphis to stand with striking AFSCME sanitation workers. This evening, he delivers his famous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech in a church packed with union members and others. He is assassinated the following day - 1968 |
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Monday, March 21, 2011 Table of Contents
Global unions are reaching out to Japanese workers and their families following the massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan, likely claimed more than 10,000 lives and left half a million people homeless, reports Mike Hall on the AFL-CIO Now blog. You can send a message of support and solidarity here and click here to see other messages from workers around the world. Updates from Japanese trade unions in the quake and tsunami areas are available here. Labor Quote: “Why I became a librarian” "I won’t apologize for making a living wage, for being able to visit a doctor when I need one, or for choosing a job that will help me build adequate retirement savings. I deserve and expect those things….But that isn’t why I became a librarian….I became one because I wanted to give." -- Audrey Barbakoff, a librarian at the Milwaukee Public Library  Today’s Book: The Fire that Changed AmericaOne hundred years ago, on March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle shirtwaist factory in New York City. Within minutes it engulfed three upper floors, burning to death -- or causing to jump to their deaths -- 146 workers, 123 of them women, some as young as 15. David Von Drehle’s gripping book, Triangle: The Fire that Changed America, vividly recounts the tragic fire but also tells us of life in the city during the early 1900s and brings us into the stories of the young women who lost their lives in the blaze. The author tells of their struggles against oppressive, inhumane conditions and poverty-level wages -- work lives not that different from many of today’s immigrant workers. “Reads like a rich and tragic novel,” says Carl Hiaasen. “The impact is more powerful because every word is true.” -- Click here for more great resources from labor’s bookstore! Labor Joke: Who’s Kidding Whom? Reaching the end of a job interview, the personnel officer asked the new graduate, “And what starting salary were you looking for?” The new grad replies, “In the region of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package.” The interviewer asks, “What would you say to five weeks of vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company retirement fund, and a company car, say, a red Corvette?” Click here for the punchline. This Week’s Graphic: Remembering the Triangle Fire  Courtesy of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition website: http://rememberthetrianglefire.org/ Member Tip: Two Types of Strikes Economic Strikes: This type consists of the “garden variety” effort by unions to win a contract with more money and better working conditions. A company may not fire striking workers, but it may lawfully “permanently replace” them. So unless the union can negotiate a wholesale return to work at the end of the strike, each striker is placed on a waiting list for future job vacancies as they arise. Unfair Labor Practice Strikes: These are strikes that are triggered not by economic or contract demands of the union, but by a union protest over certain unlawful actions taken by the company. In unfair labor practice strikes a company may hire substitute workers, but only on a temporary basis. Even if the union does not win the strike, if the union declares that the workers are ready to go back to their jobs, the company must take them back. -- Excerpted from The Union Member’s Complete Guide: Everything You Want -- and Need -- to Know About Working Union, by Michael Mauer News Service: Oddball Interview Questions “If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?” Answer this question correctly and you could be working for investment banker Goldman Sachs. Which explains a thing or two about how Wall Street got us into this mess. Click here for the rest of the story. --Excerpted from the UCS Local Union News Service, for union editors who need a few more good articles, pieces of art or humorous items like this to fill out their newsletter, or who are looking for a regular, reliable selection of items with a national or a feature flair. Steward Tip: Ask Nonmembers Directly to Join In survey after survey, union members in open shops say they joined because someone they knew approached them. And nonmembers say the leading reason they don’t join is because no one ever directly asks them to. No matter how effective your plan may be, it won’t accomplish your objective -- getting nonmembers to join up -- unless you ask them directly, one-on-one, to join. -- Excerpted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd edition, edited by David Prosten  Labor Video: Dangerous JobsIf you're going to watch this, wear a hard hat... and be very, very thankful we have OSHA. Click here to watch the video. This Week in Labor History “Thank you for the reminder of past struggles and hard fought battles!” wrote Terri Lee Morrison Hurst in one of the many responses to recent UCS labor history posts on the AFL-CIO’s Facebook page. “We should never forget and always remind others!” In addition to being picked up by the AFL-CIO, the popular "Today in Labor History" feature is also being used by Labor Neighbor Radio. “I have been taking selections from your ‘Today in Labor History’ for my Thursday report which is played on KBCS here in Puget Sound every Thursday around 4pm.” Using UCS material in creative ways? Let us know at ucs@unionist.com! Check out the weekly UCS labor history postings here. March 21 American Labor Union founded - 1853 March 22  Mark Twain, a lifelong member of the International Typographical Union (now part of CWA), speaks in Hartford, Conn., extolling the Knights of Labor’s commitment to fair treatment of all workers, regardless of race or gender - 1886 March 23 Five days into the Post Office’s first mass work stoppage in 195 years, President Nixon declares a national emergency and orders 30,000 troops to New York City to break the strike. The troops didn’t have a clue how to sort and deliver mail: a settlement came a few days later - 1970  March 24Groundbreaking on the first section of the New York City subway system, from City Hall to the Bronx. According to the New York Times, this was a worker’s review of the digging style of the well-dressed Subway Commissioners: "I wouldn't give th' Commish'ners foive cents a day fer a digging job. They're too shtiff" - 1900 March 25 First “Poor People’s March” on Washington, in which jobless workers demanded creation of a public works program. Led by populist Jacob Coxey, the 500 to 1,000 unemployed protesters became known as “Coxey’s Army” - 1894 March 26 San Francisco brewery workers begin a 9 month strike as local employers follow the union-busting lead of the National Brewer’s Assn. and fire their unionized workers, replacing them with scabs. Two unionized brewers refused to go along, kept producing beer, prospered wildly and induced the Association to capitulate. A contract benefit since having unionized two years earlier, certainly worth defending: free beer - 1868 March 27 U.S. Supreme Court rules that undocumented workers do not have the same rights as Americans when they are wrongly fired - 2002 |
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Monday, March 14, 2011 Table of ContentsLabor Joke: “Scott: God called, he wants his job back" News Service: Honest Abe's Jump on History Labor Video: Support Your Fire Fighters Member Tip: What Happens in a Strike? Today’s Book: Welcome to the Union This Week’s Graphic: Wisconsin Power Blend Labor Quote: Sucker Punched Steward Tip: Writing Up a Grievance This Week in Labor History  Labor Joke: “Scott: God called, he wants his job back"Protestors in Madison, Wisconsin have employed creativity and humor on their picket signs, many of which target union-busting Gov. Scott Walker: "Scott: God called, he wants his job back"; On a picket sign with picture of Uma Thurman: "Kill This Bill" …Click here for more funny signs. News Service: Honest Abe's Jump on History The legislators in Wisconsin and Ohio who have decamped to Illinois to forestall votes on anti-union legislation in their states are in good company. Turns out that in 1840, Abe Lincoln, the GOP’s first president -- but a Whig from Illinois at the time, sort of like a Democrat in today's world -- took a powder... Click here for the complete story. --Excerpted from the UCS Local Union News Service, for union editors who need a few more good articles or pieces of art to fill out their newsletter, or who are looking for a regular, reliable selection of items with a national or a feature flair. Labor Video: Support Your Fire Fighters  With dramatic footage showing their members at work, the Firefighters union pushes back against Right Wing attacks. Click here to view the video. Member Tip: What Happens in a Strike? Private sector workers, and many public employees, have the right to strike. Usually, strikes are called either to get a first contract for a newly organized workplace or to pressure the employer to agree to a more favorable settlement after a contract expires. Unions do not decide lightly to call a strike. This decision is reached after an analysis of the situation and a strike vote by the members indicate that this is the most likely way for the workers’ interests to prevail. Strikes are riskier than they used to be. Over the years, both private sector companies and public employers have become much more aggressive in their responses to strikes. Both have tried more and more to get rid of strikers and do what they can to continue to conduct business as usual. -- Excerpted from The Union Member’s Complete Guide: Everything You Want -- and Need -- to Know About Working Union, by Michael Mauer  Today’s Book: Welcome to the UnionCopies of our popular Welcome to the Union pamphlet are flying off the shelves. "It’s a great way to introduce people to the union," reports Jerry Archer of IBEW Local 1613 in Kansas City, Mo. “We’re putting a copy in every New Member packet," adds C. Haley at the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen in Front Royal, Va. And IUOE Local 564’s R. Terrill in Richwood, Tex. says the easy-to-read, solidarity-building introduction to unionism – available in both public and private sector editions -- has been “a real help to us; the new guys coming into the union really appreciate receiving it." Per copy cost can be as little as 52 cents when ordering multiple copies; click here for full details! This Week’s Graphic: Wisconsin Power Blend  Social justice artist Ricardo Levins Morales’ powerful poster is just the thing to show your solidarity with Wisconsin workers and wake up the boss. Click here for details on how to add this image to your website or order the full-color poster. Labor Quote: Sucker Punched "You feel punched in the stomach." -- Erin Parker, a high school science teacher in Madison, Wis., on verbal jabs against teachers. -- The New York Times Steward Tip: Writing Up a Grievance Some stewards are more comfortable with the spoken word than with the written one. But unless your union has a policy that only chief stewards or staff representatives can write up grievances, you should try your hand at this essential part of the grievance process. Your contract will specify time limits for you to follow. Be aware that often the clock starts ticking from the time the incident or situation that sparked the grievance occurs. Failure to follow the time limits will usually lose the case. If you find you don’t have time to investigate thoroughly, write up the grievance anyway and keep on digging. The union can always withdraw the grievance at any time. Some contracts allow for extension of time limits by mutual consent or simply by notification. You can take a time extension, but it sends a message to management that the union delays. Since most managements delay, the union can put them on the defensive by not taking time limit extensions. -- Excerpted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd edition, edited by David Prosten This Week in Labor History Click here for all of this week’s labor history posts!  March 14The Movie "Salt of the Earth" opens. The classic film centers on a long and difficult strike led by Mexican-American and Anglo zinc miners in New Mexico. Real miners perform in the film, in which the miners’ wives – as they did in real life – take to the picket lines after the strikers are enjoined - 1954 March 15 Supreme Court approves 8-Hour Act under threat of a national railway strike - 1917 Bituminous coal miners begin nationwide strike, demanding adoption of a pension plan - 1948 March 16 The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is formed in New York, to represent New York City public school teachers and, later, other education workers in the city - 1960  March 17 The leadership of the American Federation of Labor selects the Carpenters union to lead the eight hour movement. Carpenters throughout the country strike in April; by May 1, some 46,000 carpenters in 137 cities and towns have achieved shorter hours - 1890  March 18Police evict retail clerks occupying N.Y. Woolworth’s in fight for 40-hour week - 1937 Wal-Mart agrees to pay a record $11 million to settle a civil immigration case for using illegal immigrants to do overnight cleaning at stores in 21 states - 2005 As the Great Recession continues, Pres. Obama signs a $17.6 billion job-creation measure a day after it is passed by Congress - 2010 March 19 In an effort to block massive layoffs and end a strike, New York City moves to condemn and seize Fifth Avenue Coach, the largest privately owned bus company in the world - 1962 March 20 Michigan authorizes formation of workers’ cooperatives. Thirteen are formed in the state over a 25-year period. Labor reform organizations were advocating "cooperation" over "competitive" capitalism following the Civil War and several thousand cooperatives opened for business across the country during this era. Participants envisioned a world free from conflict where workers would receive the full value of their labor and freely exercise democratic citizenship in the political and economic realms - 1865 |
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Monday, March 7, 2011 Table of Contents
Free News & Graphics Service Offer  Attention union editors: now you can try the UCS Local Union News and Graphics Services FREE for a month! The News and Graphics Services provide you with the latest labor news from around the country, along with camera-ready art, perfect for your hard-copy newsletter, website or email newsletter. The services deliver this great content to you every Friday via email, providing a handy way to fill out your local’s publication and easily keep your members up to date. To get your FREE 1-month trial subscription, just email freesample@unionist.com, put “Free news and graphics” in the subject line, and be sure to include your name and union in the body of the email. Labor Quote: Burning Down the House "It's like trying to fix a small leak in your roof by burning your house down." -- Madison, Wisc. police union leader Brian Austin on Governor Scott Walker's inflammatory proposal to outlaw most public employee bargaining as a way to "balance the budget." Public Sector Battles Continue, Spread Across Country March came in like a lion as public sector workers and their allies continued to mobilize across the country. Major demonstrations were organized in every state capital on Saturday, February 26 by unions and their supporters, worried that if Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker succeeds in abolishing collective bargaining rights, so will some two dozen other states… Click here for the complete story. -- Excerpted from the UCS Local Union News Service, for union editors who need a few more good articles or pieces of art to fill out their newsletter, or who are looking for a regular, reliable selection of items with a national or a feature flair.  Today’s Book: Live Working or Die FightingIn Live Working or Die Fighting, How the Working Class Went Global Paul Mason tells the two-hundred-year story of the global working class and its many struggles for justice. The stories in the book come to life through the voices of remarkable individuals: child laborers in Charles Dickens’ England, visionary women on the barricades of Paris, gun-toting railway strikers in America’s Wild West, and beer-swilling German metalworkers who tried to stop the First World War. Blending exciting historical narrative with reporting from today’s front line, Mason links the lives of nineteenth-century factory girls with the lives of teenagers in a giant Chinese mobile phone factory. -- Click here for more great resources from labor’s bookstore! Labor Video: Union Spirit in Wisconsin  Great music-backed video from OneWisconsinNow shows the spirit of union members and their supporters protesting GOP Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to break public employee unions. Click here to view. Member Tip: How Dues are Determined Sometimes dues are set at a flat dollar amount. If your union uses this approach, then you and all your co-workers pay the identical amount in dues, regardless of the fact that your earnings vary by quite a bit. Rather than setting dues at a dollar amount, some unions establish dues as a percentage of salary. When this method is used, everyone in the bargaining unit pays dues based on the same percentage. Your union may use a variation, with the amount of union dues determined by brackets of earnings. -- Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer Labor Joke: That’s How the Cookie Crumbles A Wall Streeter, a union member and tea partier are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies. The Wall Streeter grabs 11 cookies and wolfs them down. He then turns to the tea partier and says... Click here for the rest of the Labor joke. Steward Tip: Managing Your Time We can’t do everything. Much of what we do as stewards is beyond our control. If you can’t find balance in your union work, nothing will get done and you will burn out. You need to set your priorities when you begin your work as a steward. Inevitably, you will be torn between many tasks. Set yourself the golden rule that you will take on the most important things first. Grievances with time limits should be a priority. Certain safety issues may merit immediate attention. Attending union meetings is basic. Other issues may be important, for sure, but not ones to tackle first. Take the union bulletin board, for example. Every time you pass it, you see it needs attention. But if you are hurrying to an important meeting, make a note and get back to it when there is time. It’s not going anywhere. -- Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten This Week in Labor History Highlights from our weekly labor history feature; click here for all of this week’s postings! March 07 3,000 unemployed auto workers, led by the Communist Party of America, braved the cold in Dearborn, Mich. to demand jobs and relief from Henry Ford. The marchers got too close to the gate and were gassed. After re-grouping, they were sprayed with water and shot at. Four men died immediately, 60 were wounded - 1932  Musicians strike Broadway musicals and shows go dark when actors and stagehands honor picket lines. The strike was resolved after four days - 2003March 08 Thousands of New York needle trades workers demonstrate for higher wages, shorter workday, and end to child labor. The demonstration became the basis for International Women’s Day - 1908 César Chávez leads 5,000 striking farmworkers on a march through the streets of Salinas, Calif. - 1979 March 09 The Westmoreland County (Pa.) Coal Strike – known as the "Slovak strike" because some 70 percent of the 15,000 strikers were Slovakian immigrants – begins on this date and continues for nearly 16 months before ending in defeat. Sixteen miners and family members were killed during the strike - 1912 March 10  U.S. Supreme Court upholds espionage conviction of labor leader and socialist Eugene V. Debs. Debs was jailed for speaking out against World War I. Campaigning for president from his Atlanta jail cell, he won 6 percent of the vote - 1919 United Farm Workers leader César Chávez breaks a 24-day fast, by doctor’s order, at a mass in Delano, California’s public park. Several thousand supporters are at his side, including Sen. Robert Kennedy. Chavez called it “a fast for non-violence and a call to sacrifice” - 1968 March 11 Luddites smash 63 “labor saving” textile machines near Nottingham, England - 1811  March 12Greedy industrialist turned benevolent philanthropist Andrew Carnegie pledges $5.2 million for the construction of 65 branch libraries in New York City -- barely 1 percent of his net worth at the time. He established more than 2,500 libraries between 1900 and 1919 following years of treating workers in his steel plants brutally, demanding long hours in horrible conditions and fighting their efforts to unionize. Carnegie made $500 million when he sold out to J.P. Morgan, becoming the world’s richest man - 1901 The Lawrence, Mass. "Bread and Roses" textile strike ends when the American Woolen Co. agrees to most of the strikers’ demands; other textile companies quickly followed suit - 1912 March 13 A four-month UAW strike at General Motors ends with a new contract. The strikers were trying to make up for the lack of wage hikes during World War II - 1946 |
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Monday, February 28, 2011 Table of Contents
Support Grows for Embattled Public Workers
Labor Joke: Seven-figure Salary Member Tip: Practical Aspects of Union Membership
--Adapted from The Union Members Complete Guide, by Michael Mauer
--Adapted from The Union Steward’s Complete Guide, 2nd Edition, edited by David Prosten This Week in Labor History February 28  Members of the Chinese Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in San Francisco’s Chinatown begin what is to be a successful four-month strike for better wages and conditions at the National Dollar Stores factory and three retail outlets - 1938
In response to the layoff of 450 union members at a 3M factory in New Jersey, every worker at a 3M factory in Elandsfontein, South Africa, walks off the job in sympathy - 1986. March 01 After five years of labor by 21,000 workers, 112 of whom were killed on the job, the Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam) is completed and turned over to the government. Citizens were so mad at Pres. Herbert Hoover, for whom the dam had been named, that it was later changed to Boulder Dam, being located near Boulder City, Nev - 1936The federal minimum wage increases to $1.00 per hour - 1956 March 02 More than 6,000 drivers strike Greyhound Lines, most lose jobs to strikebreakers after company declares “impasse” in negotiations - 1990 March 03 Congress approves the Seamen’s Act, providing the merchant marine with rights similar to those gained by factory workers. Action on the law was prompted by the sinking of the Titanic three years earlier. Among other gains: working hours were limited to 56 per week; guaranteed minimum standards of cleanliness and safety were put in place - 1915 The Davis-Bacon Act took effect today. It orders contractors on federally financed or assisted construction projects to pay wage rates equal to those prevailing in local construction trades - 1931 March 04 President Franklin D. Roosevelt names a woman, Frances Perkins, to be Secretary of Labor. Perkins became the first female cabinet member in U.S. history - 1933 UAW workers win sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, forcing General Motors to recognize the union. In the 40-day action, the strikers were protected by 5,000 armed workers circling the Fisher Body plant - 1937
March 05 March 06 With the Great Depression underway, hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers demonstrated in some 30 cities and towns; close to 100,000 filled Union Square in New York City and were attacked by mounted police - 1930 President Jimmy Carter invoked the Taft-Hartley law to halt the 1977-78 national contract strike by the United Mine Workers of America. The order was ignored and Carter did little to enforce it. A settlement was reached in late March - 1978The U.S. Dept. Of Labor reports that the nation’s unemployment rate soared to 8.1 percent in February, the highest since late 1983, as cost-cutting employers slashed 651,000 jobs amid a deepening recession - 2009 |
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Monday, February 21, 2011 Table of Contents
News Service: Wisconsin Workers Battle “Hosni Mubarak Walker” Labor Video: Angry Workers Overwhelm Wisconsin Statehouse
Steward Tip: Effective Listening Labor Quote: The Wal-Mart Economy Today In Labor History February 22 William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner began publishing articles on the menace of Japanese laborers, leading to a resolution in the California legislature that action be taken against their immigration - 1904 Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” following a frigid trip -- partially by hitchhiking, partially by rail -- from California to Manhattan. The Great Depression was still raging. Guthrie had heard Kate Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” and resolved to himself: “We can’t just bless America, we’ve got to change it” – 1940 Following voter approval for the measure in 2003, San Francisco’s minimum wage rises to $8.50, up from $6.75 - 2004 February 24 Women and children textile strikers beaten by Lawrence, Mass. police during a 63 day walkout protesting low wages and work speedups - 1912 February 25 February 26 A 20-week strike by 70,000 Southern California supermarket workers ends, with both sides claiming victory - 2004
Birth of John Steinbeck in Salinas, Calif. Steinbeck is best known for writing “The Grapes of Wrath,” which exposed the mistreatment of migrant farm workers during the Depression and led to some reforms - 1902 450 Woolworth’s workers and customers occupy store for eight days in support of Waiters and Waitresses Union, Detroit - 1937 The Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes, a major organizing tool for industrial unions, are illegal - 1939 Mine disaster kills 75 at Red Lodge, Mont. - 1943 |
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Monday, February 14, 2011 Table of Contents
Labor Joke: Tagged News Service: Jobless Need Not Apply in New Jersey Labor Quote: Leo Girard on Making America the Best
Member Tip: Union Stewards, First to be Asked Labor Video: Walmart Funnies Steward Tip: Equality This Week in Labor History Striking workers at Detroit’s newspapers, out since the previous July, offer to return to work. The offer is accepted five days later but the newspapers vow to retain some 1,200 scabs. A court ruling the following year ordered as many as 1,100 former strikers reinstated - 1996 February 15 U.S. legislators pass the Civil Works Emergency Relief Act, providing funds for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which funneled money to states plagued by Depression-era poverty and unemployment, and oversaw the subsequent distribution and relief efforts - 1934 February 16 Rubber Workers begin sit-down strike at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. - 1936 February 17 Unions at Yale University strike in solidarity with teaching assistants - 1992 February 18
The U.S. Supreme Court decides in favor of sales clerk Leura Collins and her union, the Retail Clerks, in NLRB v. J. Weingarten Inc. – the case establishing that workers have a right to request the presence of their union steward if they believe they are to be disciplined for a workplace infraction - 1975 February 20 United Mine Workers settle 10-month Pittston strike in Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia – 1990 |
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Monday, February 7, 2011 Table of Contents
Steward Tip: Asking for Help from Members Governor Sued for Union-Busting
Member Tip: Not a Spectator Sport Labor Joke: Under the Mattress?
Labor Quote: David Bonior on the China trade deal This Week In Labor History
February 09 February 10 February 11 February 12 February 13 |
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Monday, January 31, 2011 Table of Contents
Spidey on B’way: Unsafe at Any Speed? Labor Video: There's no biz like show biz UCS Labor History Expands Audience: Our popular daily labor history items are now being carried on the AFL-CIO’s Facebook page, where they’re generating a lively stream of comments from labor history fans. Check it out and weigh in! Labor Joke: Words to the Wise Labor Quote: Playing on an Uneven Field Free Online Steward Training Offer: Steward Update is an easy, inexpensive way to give your rank-and-file leaders the skills
Steward Tip: Who was Mother Jones?
This Week in Labor History Highlights from our popular feature; click here to see all of the week’s labor history items  January 3112,000 pecan shellers in San Antonio, Tex. – mostly Latino women – walk off their jobs at 400 factories in what was to become a three-month strike against wage cuts. Strike leader Emma Tenayuca was eventually hounded out of the state - 1938 Union and student pressure forces Harvard University to adopt new labor policies raising wages for lowest-paid workers - 2002 February 01 The federal minimum wage increases to $1.60 per hour - 1968 February 02 February 03 February 04 Unemployment demonstrations take place in major U.S. cities - 1932 February 05 President Bill Clinton signs the Family and Medical Leave Act. The law requires most employers of 50 or more workers to grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a family or medical emergency - 1993 In what turns out to be a bad business decision, Circuit City fires 3,900 experienced sales people because they're making too much in commissions. Sales plummet. Duh. - 2003 February 06 |
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Monday, January 24, 2011 Table of Contents
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Monday, January 17, 2011 Table of Contents
"(T)he public is being sold a big lie -- that our problems owe to unions and the size of government and not to fraud and deregulation and vast concentrations of wealth. Obama's failure is that he won't challenge this Republican narrative, and give people a story that helps them connect the dots and understand where we're going." -- Economist Robert Reich; Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton Umps Make the Call for Union  It was an easy call for 200 minor league umpires, who are now members of the Association of Minor League Umpires (AMLU)/OPEIU Guild 322, a division of the Office, Professional and Technical Workers International Union. Although the minor league umps call strikes and balls for the love of the game and the dream of making it as major league baseball umpires, the reality is they’re away from family for six months of the year, earn very little money and have no security or stability. -- Excerpted from the UCS Local Union News Service, for union editors who need a few more good articles or pieces of art to fill out their newsletter, or who are looking for a regular, reliable selection of items with a national or a feature flair. Labor Joke: OSHA Notice The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has determined that the maximum safe load capacity on my butt is two persons at one time, unless I install handrails or safety straps... Click here for the rest of the joke. Steward Update Preview: Leaving a Paper Trail Let’s face it. There isn’t a steward in the world who wouldn’t love to be able to resolve workplace problems in a single face-to-face meeting. No formal grievances filed. No hearing. Grievant made whole. Record clean. If only it worked that way. In the upcoming edition of the Steward Update -- now in production -- Robert Wechsler takes a look at why it’s often necessary to use the written word in letters or electronic mail. “There are many reasons for committing our opinions and requests to paper,” Wechsler says. “Chief among them is that the grievance procedure is a process that involves time and a number of individuals.” Make sure you get the full story on why and how to leave a paper trail by subscribing now to Steward Update and take advantage of our special offer of free seats in our online |
The 
President Kennedy signs a law mandating equal pay to women who are performing the same jobs as men (
Organizations
May 30
Farm workers under the banner of the new 
A 
May 23
Thousands of unemployed WWI veterans arrive in Washington, D.C. to demand a bonus they had been promised but never received. They built a shantytown near the U.S. Capitol but were burned out by U.S. troops after two months - 1932
May 29
U.S. Steel yields, recognizes the 
Machinists strike Eastern Airlines are soon joined by flight attendants and pilots in the nationwide walkout. 
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Today’s Book: Union Strategies for 
February 23
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1937 sitdown strike that gave the union bargaining rights at the automaker. The mission: send a message that “blue collar” workers deserve the same respect as their management counterparts. One of the day’s traditional rules: Don’t get your shirt any dirtier than the boss gets his. The 44-day strike was won in 1937 but the tradition didn’t begin until 1948, at the suggestion of Local 598 member Bert Christenson - 1948
and counsel they need -- and make them more effective advocates for the union, and now you can expand those skills with our online Steward Training course, for free! UCS is offering up to five slots in our eight-part online course absolutely free for six months (a $350.00 value) with new subscriptions to Steward Update. It's our way of saying thanks for supporting Steward Update and underscores our commitment to providing you, your stewards and members with the tools and ammo they need on the job. To reserve your free slots in the online course, just email 
January 24