Rank and File Rejection At UPS

The rank and file members at UPS have rejected a concession-riddled contract negotiated by Teamsters' management.  According to Labor Notes, Teamsters for a Democratic Union(TDU) was able to mobilize members to vote down the contract at the regional and local levels.

Read the Labor Notes story here:

http://www.labornotes.org/2013/06/vote-no-movement-sends-ups-bargainers-back-table

In Solidarity,

Joseph 

American University Food Service Workers Get a Fair Contract

I was elated to see that the hard working employees at my university have reached a fair contract.  They can now take culinary classes and get paid for doing so, and prepare meals from scratch.  This means that there will be much better food coming out of TDR, and that is a good thing.

You can read the whole story from Labor Notes here:

http://labornotes.org/blogs/2013/01/campus-workers-win-training-hours-cook-better-food#comment-4712

In Solidarity,

Joseph

NUHW-CNA: A Real Match Made In Heaven

Some time ago, I wrote about the proposed affiliation between the International Association of Machinists(IAM) and the National Union of HealthCare Workers(NUHW).  While that proposed partnership never came to fruition, NUHW and the California Nurses Association(CNA) recently made their affiliation public.

I always held the opinion that CNA was a much better fit for an affiliation with NUHW than the Machinists, for various reasons.  The most obvious is that CNA is a healthcare union that would help bridge the gap between organizing professional and non-professional employees.  The partnership with NUHW sort of fills the doughnut hole, if you will. Secondly, as much as IAM would have liked to assist NUHW in the upcoming Kaiser election re-runs, I don't believe they would have brought as much to the table as CNA does.

For NUHW, this partnership brings two very big benefits:

1. By affiliating with an AFL-CIO member union, NUHW is protected by Article 20 of the AFL-CIO constitution.  Article 20 protects member organizations from being raided by other AFL-CIO affiliated unions.  While this won't help to keep SEIU from trying to raid their chapters, it is one less thing to worry about.  On a side note, I believe this clause makes the split between SEIU and the AFL-CIO almost permanent.

2. This partnership will bring much needed resources to NUHW in their ongoing struggle against SEIU.  They will certainly need CNA's organizing and financial assistance if they hope to have a chance to be victorious in the Kaiser fight.

I believe that this is a pivotal moment in the history of the American labor movement.  The Kaiser election will help to shape the direction of the labor movement for years to come.  Only time will tell which way it will go.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

The Great Disappearing Act

No, I'm not referring to Candidate Obama, or Medicare under Paul Ryan's budget.

I'm referring to the phenomenon that occurs with the staff of labor organizations every time there is an election.  If you are a union member, have you ever noticed that your union representation becomes as hard to find as a unicorn during election season?  The local office is as empty as a church on Sunday morning - unless it is being used as a campaign office.

 

The reason for this is one of the worst kept secrets in the world of organized labor.  Every election cycle, in direct conflict with FEC law, union staff are forced to "volunteer" for whoever the Democratic candidate happens to be.  In presidential election cycles, this can start as early as September, and in mid-term or special elections, it can start in October.

I experienced this firsthand during my time with a certain purple entity during the Senate Bill 5/Issue 2 election.  Instead of representing our members as we should have, we were required to work exclusively out of a campaign office.  Everything else became secondary, unless you had an actual arbitration hearing.  In full disclosure, the S.B. 5 recall was somewhat justified, as it directly affected almost a third of the members of our local who were state employees.  However this is commonplace in presidential and statewide races where this is not the case. So, if you happen to have a contract that might be coming up for negotiation, it might be a little concerning if all of the sudden, everyone is off doing political work instead of representing members. 

This is not limited to SEIU.  This is standard procedure with virtually every major labor union, with the exception of the United Electrical Workers(UE) and the National Union of HealthCare Workers(NUHW),  who prefer direct action to wasting its time with PACs.

I'm not saying the unions should not be involved in the political realm.  It is necessary and important, as elected officials have direct influence on the livelihood of union members.  What I am saying is that a union's involvement in politics should not come at the expense of member representation, which is almost always the case.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

What Closed Door Bargaining Actually Looks Like

The National Union of HealthCare Workers released a copy of the tentative agreements(TA's) reached by Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition of KP Unions - an organization almost completely controlled by SEIU.

This document shows exactly what happens when your union turns away from militant action and operates on a business model: They essentially become part of the company itself.

I recommend checking this out:

http://www.nuhw.org/storage/doc/documents/Annotated_TAs.pdf

In Solidarity,

Joseph

The Dirty Truth Behind Closed Contract Negotiations

If you ask your average rank-and-file UFCW or Teamsters member when they last attended a contract bargaining session, they'll likely tell you that they've never been to one.  What's the reason for this?  One of the unfortunate truths of the labor movement is that many unions do not permit their own members to attend the negotiation sessions of their own contract.

I asked several Kroger members for an update during their contract campaign last year.  The answer was identical from everyone I talked to.   They could attend a regional meeting to receive an update, but they were never informed of negotiating session locations, or invited to attend.  When I asked several Teamsters from the facility in which I work, they responded that only the Shop Steward was permitted to attend negotiations.

So why is this a big deal?

For starters, and probably most importantly, it's your contract.  I don't know about you, but there is no way in hell that I'm going to let someone negotiate the terms of my employment without me being present so I can witness and approve of what they agree to.  I have always believed that someone who has the opportunity to attend negotiations, and refuses to do so has no right to complain about the shortcomings of their collective bargaining agreement.

If your union doesn't encourage you to attend negotiations, or tries to discourage you from attending, this should be a major red flag.  Ask yourself this question - Why don't they want me to attend?

So why don't unions want their members at negotiations? 

There are two very big secrets that many unions do not want their members to know that contribute to this strategy:

1. Having open negotiations has the potential to show the weakness of the bargaining unit if nobody shows up.  Of course, if a union is doing its job, then it will have the bargaining unit mobilized for negotiations.  Most unions do not spend enough time or resources on this sort of action.  Therefore, it is in their interest to have closed negotiations to keep the employer in the dark.

2. Having closed negotiations allows the union to make whatever deals it wants to make without the members knowledge.  I call this the SEIU strategy.  SEIU has become famous for its backroom deals with employers.  While I mentioned earlier that my local had open negotiations, I was trained to figure out what the members would swallow without going on strike, then to make a deal with management without the members knowing to settle the contract.  Sadly, many unions follow this playbook and negotiate weak contracts instead of organizing their bargaining units into a militant force that can fight concessions.

The bottom line is: It's your contract, your job - Fight for it!

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Giant and Safeway Looking For Scabs

Just a thought for anyone who shops at Safeway or Giant:

As the UFCW contract nears its expiration date, both of the aforementioned companies have begun to look for anyone without a conscience who is willing to be the lowest form of life on the planet - a scab.

Here's the full story:

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/blog/real-estate/2012/03/giant-safeway-hiring-as-potential.html

I have mentioned how I feel about scabs here:


http://virtualpicketline.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-is-scab.html

If you are in the Baltimore or DC region and would like to organize a picket outside the scab hiring location, please send me an email at unionanswers@gmail.com.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

Back In Action

So...it's been a few weeks since my last post.  I've been tied up in contract negotiations in Eastern Kentucky, where management is utilizing what I like to call The Crystal Ball Theory.  That's when your company has made money, but you think you may possibly not make as much money, so let's punish the workers based on hypotheticals.  You'd think I'm joking, but I'm not. 

That aside, it's been a crazy world in the labor community in the last month.  I got to be a part of collecting a record number of petitions to get a referendum on Ohio Senate Bill 5.  I'm preparing for officer elections next month, which is one of my favorite parts of the union business - democracy in action, and to top it all off, my fellow SEIU/1199 WV/KY/OH staff members made history by ratifying our 1st staff union contract.  I'll be sure to have a lengthy post on that tomorrow.

Enough with the lull in posts, I'm back in action!

In Solidarity,

Joseph

General Electric(GE) and the United Electrical Workers(UE) Return to the Table

If you ever want to see the difference between the way a corporation thinks, and the way a union thinks, look no further than the ongoing negotiations between GE and UE.  This was made very evident in the opening statements, where GE brought the same old song and dance about how rough they have it, and how workers must "share the burden" when there are losses.  Of course, now that GE has rebounded from the financial crisis, they are unwilling to "share the profit" with their workers.  This point was not lost on UE President John Hovis, who stated, 


"Certainly the company has “rebounded strongly” from the financial crisis, said Hovis and is therefore “in a position to address positively the issues that concern our members.” He noted GE’s 2010 gross profit of $14.2 billion last year, ranking it sixth among the Fortune 500. “Just last month,” Hovis added, in reporting first quarter results, “Mr. Immelt reported $82 billion of cash on the company’s balance sheet, the third dividend increase to stockholders in the past year, and a record backlog of orders going forward.”


It is this fundamental difference in worldview that debunks the myth that unions have somehow outlived their relevance.  As long as companies rely on their workers to turn a profit and refuse to share the spoils, there will always be a need for workers to form unions to get their fair share.


More on these negotiations to come...


In Solidarity,


Joseph