AFL-CIO Now Blog

Affordable Care Act Means Premium Rebates for Consumers

superuser — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:31:00 -0500

1912 San Diego Free Speech Fight Has Lesson for Today

superuser — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:20:00 -0500

Ariz. Merit System Under Attack as Anti-Collective Bargaining Bill Stalls

superuser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:18:00 -0500

Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

Nick Martin of TPM reported this week that one of the worst in a package of anti-union bills before the Arizona Legislature was “on life support.”

“Senate President Steve Pierce and Senate Whip Frank Antenori expressed serious doubt that there were enough Republicans in the upper chamber willing to pass a bill ending collective bargaining,” the Guardian reported. Antenori described the bill’s chances as “questionable.”
Still, it’s probably too early for unions in Arizona to declare victory. At least two other bills designed to restrict their impact in the state are likely to pass, the senators told the political news website.

While the collective bargaining bill delay is welcome news for public-sector workers here, there’s another big attack on state workers here that isn’t getting the kind of national attention that the Wisconsin-style union bills are. Gov. Jan Brewer wants to do away with Arizona’s merit-based employment system for state workers. (Contact Arizona lawamkers now and tell them to vote NO on Brewer’s personnel bill and bills in the Senate that would take away collective bargaining rights for workers. Click here to take action.)

Some 80 percent of state workers are under the current system, in which managers must show cause to fire employees. The merit system is considered very important to a lot of state employees because it protects whistle-blowers and workers falsely accused of violations. It also means the people performing the important public services Arizonans rely on are dedicated public servants and not cronies or patronage hires. Brewer’s plan is to offer employees a one-time pay increase in exchange for voluntarily leaving the merit system (a move critics call a bribe) and to weaken protections for employees who remain covered by it.

Sheri Van Horsen, president of AFSCME Local 3111, exhorted supporters to contact the governor and their legislators on Facebook:

We do not need a return of political patronage in state government and wiping out the merit system Republicans put into place to stop corruption and cronyism in state government should not be rushed through!

Van Horsen is right: Republicans had the good sense to create the merit system for Arizona four decades ago but today’s Republicans are in the thrall of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Goldwater Institute. Goldwater’s Mark Flatten says the ”sweeping civil service reforms” are necessary because it’s too difficult to fire “unruly, inept and ineffective state workers.”

Naturally, Flatten cites an investigation, conducted by none other than the Goldwater Institute, to bolster his claims. I’m sure Boss Tweed would approve.

A House of Representatives special committee meeting has been set for Thursday to discuss Brewer’s 275-page “reform” proposal.

Arizona Legislature Wants to Pay Young Workers Less than Minimum Wage

superuser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:18:00 -0500

Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

Raise your hand if you were supporting yourself and maybe helping to support your family when you were 18. I know I was, so I can’t fathom what the Arizona Legislature is thinking by putting forth a ballot
referendum that would allow employers to pay workers under 20 years of age substantially less than the state’s minimum wage. Currently it is at $7.65 an hour but this recent measure, if approved by voters, would allow businesses to pay teens and young adults as little as $4.65 an hour.

Proponents argue that it would only apply to those working less than 20 hours a week or for a duration of 90 days or less and that Arizona’s minimum wage stifles job creation. The assumption behind this is that young people who work part time live at home or are otherwise supported by their parents and don’t really need the income. This ignores the harsh economic reality of many families in Arizona, where every working member’s income is needed to keep a roof overhead and dinner on table. And oftentimes part-time work is all that is available to young people. It’s also incredible that the Legislature would propose this at the same time they are seeking to raise tuition at Arizona’s colleges an average of $2000 per student.

“What happened to equal pay for equal work?” asked Wyatt Manoil, a college student who works part-time to help pay his living expenses at school.

I’m barely making it as it is. I don’t even think I could afford to work if that’s all I was making.

Indeed, it’s hard to understand how anyone could think that paying workers less than subsistence wages would benefit Arizona’s economy. No one, not even supporters, expects the referendum to pass at the ballot box. Voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative in 2006 that raised Arizona’s minimum wage higher than the federal rate and indexed it to inflation despite intense negative campaigning by the restaurant and other industries. So this is basically tea party legislators wasting our time rather than taking tangible steps to balance the budget and bring good jobs to Arizona.

AZ House Committee Passes Jan Brewer’s Patronage Plan

superuser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:18:00 -0500

Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

After a four-hour hearing described by Arizona Capitol Times reporter Jeremy Duda as “testy” on his Twitter feed, the Employment and Regulatory Affairs Committee of the Arizona House of Representatives approved Gov. Jan Brewer’s plan to remove civil service protections from state workers and make them at-will employees. It was a 6-3 party line vote with Republicans for and Democrats against, proving (once again) that elections have consequences.

Several representatives of AFSCME, AFL-CIO, and public safety unions spoke against the measure. They were countered by the usual assemblage of Chamber of Commerce and Goldwater Institute people who are invariably behind every attack on public workers in Arizona. One Democrat on the committee, Rep.
Daniel Patterson, noted that all of the evidence cited in support at the hearing came from (surprise!) a 2010 Goldwater Institute report on the need for personnel reform.

Jazz Musicians Faced Historic Abuse

superuser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:18:00 -0500

Jazz musicians have been—and continue to be—among the most abused of professional performers, writes Todd Bryant Weeks in a Black History Month feature for the latest edition of Allegro, the magazine of American Federatoin of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) Local 802 in New York.

From the days of traveling vaudeville and tent shows through to the civil rights movement and beyond, jazz musicians—especially black musicians—have been subjected to second-class citizenship, particularly in the Deep South.

Some of the greatest figures of the past century were among the most exploited, or were effectively discarded when they grew old and could not earn a living.

Managers, promoters, agents, producers and club owners regularly stole from performers by claiming writing, arranging and other recording credits, shorting players on royalties and other payments, Weeks writes. In 1938, the legendary Joe “King” Oliver,

perhaps the most influential American jazz musician before Louis Armstrong, a renowned performer with an international reputation, was discovered in Atlanta, destitute and working as a street vendor.

But even today, jazz musicians continue to face hardships. In New York City, jazz club owners, who are beneficiaries of a tax relief bill championed by Local 802 that was expected to be used to help fund musicians’ pensions and other benefits, have refused to put the money toward benefits.

Read Weeks’ entire article here and find out more at Justice for Jazz Artists here.

New Study Shows Labor-Management Partnerships Improve Patient Care

superuser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:18:00 -0500

Patient care improves and costs come down as a result of labor and management partnerships, according to a new Cornell University study.

The report, “How Labor-Management Partnerships Improve Patient Care, Control Costs, and Labor Relations,” profiles joint work involving front-line staff, unions and management at Kaiser Permanente’s San Rafael and San Diego medical centers in California, Fletcher Allen Health Care in Vermont and the Contact Center at Montefiore Medical Center’s Care Management Corporation (CMO) in New York.

At the four facilities studied, joint labor-management activities have resulted in:

Improved turnaround time for test results
Increased awareness about workplace safety
Improved patient satisfaction scores
Quicker access to home care services
Less staff turnover

Peter Lazes, director of Cornell’s Healthcare Transformation Project says:

Reforming our health care system to be accessible and provide high-quality services has been at the core of many recent national and state initiatives. This report provides a roadmap for how to structure union-management partnerships in a healthcare setting. These activities, encouraged by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s initiative Partnership for Patients to Improve Care and Lower Costs for Americans, are, in fact, making a difference.

The report was prepared by the Healthcare Transformation Project at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) School. Click here for the executive summary. The full report will be available online Feb. 21

Trader Joe’s Latest Food Chain to Sign Pact to Protect Tomato Pickers

superuser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:18:00 -0500

Oil Workers Rally for Jobs

superuser — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:40:00 -0500

AFL-CIO Backs Bahrain Democracy Movement

superuser — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:12:00 -0500

The AFL-CIO Solidarity Center sends us this report.

One year ago today, a peaceful demonstration massed in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, with tens of thousands of men, women and children joining the call for greater social justice in their country. By exercising their rights to free speech and free assembly, the brave protesters provided their government with the chance to address issues of equality and democracy.

Instead, they were met with harsh retaliation. Working people were fired from their jobs, detained or even imprisoned. The independent unions and associations representing workers were and still are under attack. Healthcare workers were punished for helping those injured during the government crackdown.

The AFL-CIO today marks this sad anniversary by standing in solidarity with Bahraini workers and the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU). Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a letter to the GFBTU:

The hopes of Bahrain’s majority for a more inclusive and democratic Bahrain expressed in those demonstrations unfortunately were met early on with brutal repression, turning what could have been an opportunity for national unity into a painful and dangerous rupture between the government and its people.

Throughout the year, the AFL-CIO has stood in solidarity with the GFBTU in its struggle to protect labor and human rights—and Trumka told the GFBTU the AFL-CIO will continue to do so as Bahraini workers brave ongoing threats to their dignity, economic stability and humanity.