Compiled by Steven Wishnia and Neal Tepel
Cuomo Seeks to Make 1,000 PEF Members Nonunion
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration on Dec. 15 informed about 1,000 members of the Public Employees Federation that the state has applied to reclassify their jobs as nonunion managerial positions. The jobs, at more than three dozen state agencies, include attorneys, auditors, parole hearing officers and tax-law judges. “Be assured we will be fighting this,” union President Susan Kent told members in an e-mail later in the day. The state Public Employment Relations Board previously ruled that the jobs did not qualify as nonunion, and the state lost a court challenge to that decision. Some speculate that the Cuomo administration is retaliating for that or the PEF’s endorsement of the governor’s challenger in last September’s Democratic primary. Read more
Chicago Raises Minimum Wage to $13—By 2019
The Chicago City Council on Dec. 4 approved a bill to raise the city’s minimum wage from $8.25 an hour to $13—which would be the second-highest minimum in the nation, but it won’t reach that level until 2019. The bill, backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, would eventually mean raises for almost a third of the city’s workers, but to less than the $15 striking fast-food workers have been demanding. “The workers I've been with chant, 'Show me $15,' not '$13 by 2019,'” Alderman Bob Fioretti said in a statement. "That means fighting for a $15-an-hour minimum wage today, which will both lift up Chicago working families and stop the state from limiting our ability to do the right thing." Read more
S.F. Airport Restaurant Workers Strike for Two Days
After working without a contract for more than a year, nearly 1,000 workers at San Francisco Airport went on strike Dec. 11, shutting down 55 restaurants there for 48 hours. “When restaurants slash our healthcare, or deny us job security, we just can’t get by,” said Jesse Johnson, a bartender at the Buena Vista Café and a member of UNITE HERE Local 2’s executive board. “The restaurants at SFO bank huge money from airline passengers.” The workers, who make an average of about $24,000 a year, are resisting restaurant owners’ efforts to freeze their health-care payments—a proposal that would likely result in them having to pay up to $4,200 per year for coverage. They also want to get first crack at any other jobs open when airport concession outlets close. Read more
Vermont Gov Urges FairPoint Strike Settlement
After FairPoint Communications customers in Vermont lost broadband Internet service, and a previous outage disrupted much of the state’s 911 system, Gov. Peter Shumlin wrote to company CEO Paul Sunu Dec. 12 and urged him to “Come back to the table; listen; and compromise. I will urge the unions to do likewise.” A FairPoint spokesperson responded that the company had made its final offer in August, and “it is the unions who chose to go on strike.” Mike Spillane, business manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2326, called her “a liar,” saying that the two unions on strike had offered $212 million in concessions, but the company has refused to take anything less than $700 for months. The strike began Oct. 17. Read more
Wisconsin Legislators Plan to Pursue ‘Right-to-Work’ Bill
Wisconsin state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Dec. 4 that he plans to act quickly to enact a bill outlawing the union shop when the legislature resumes in January. Republican state Rep. Chris Kapenga has said he will introduce a similar bill, and Lorri Pickens, a former official of the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, announced the formation of a group called Wisconsin Right to Work Dec. 1. “We'll fight this every step of the way,” said state AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt. Democrats are too small a minority in both houses to stop such a bill, but Gov. Scott Walker may be reluctant—he’s supported similar legislation since 1993, but says that a fight on the issue now would be a distraction. Read more
Miami Con-way Freight Drivers Vote to Join Teamsters
Workers at Con-way Freight’s facility in Miami Lakes, Florida, voted Dec. 11 to join Teamsters Local 769. The vote is a victory for the Teamsters’ campaign to organize drivers at “less-than-truckload” shipping companies like Con-way and FedEx Freight. “The drivers and dockworkers at Con-way, like the workers at FedEx Freight, are fed up,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters general president. The company, however, may accuse the union of improper tactics and challenge the vote, as it did when the Teamsters won elections at locations in Los Angeles and Laredo, Texas. Read more
VW Recognizes UAW at Tennessee Plant
United Auto Workers Local 42 has been certified as a minority union to represent workers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, the first time the UAW has been recognized at foreign-owned auto factory in the South. An audit announced Dec. 8 found that more than 45% of the about 1,500 workers had joined Local 42, winning it the right to meet biweekly with company management and executives. The UAW, which lost an election at the plant in February, still hopes to win the 50% needed to get exclusive bargaining rights. Read more
NLRB Moves to Speed Up Union Elections…
The National Labor Relations Board on Dec. 12 published regulations intended to enable workers to vote more quickly on whether they want to join a union. The new rules do not set a specific timetable, but require that the election be held at “the earliest date practicable.” The board says it now takes an average of 38 days to hold a union election. Business groups say the changes will allow “ambush” elections in as little as 10 days, but AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said they will “reduce unnecessary delay,” while SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said “corporate bosses will have fewer opportunities to cheat you out of your right to join together.” Read more
…And to Let Workers Use Work E-Mail to Organize
Employers have to let workers use company e-mail addresses to discuss grievances and talk about union organizing, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Dec. 11. In a complaint brought by the Communications Workers of America against a California company, the board said that e-mail has “effectively become a natural gathering place pervasively used for employee-to-employee conversations” and thus employers could not prohibit communications protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB reversed its 2007 holding, saying that given the rise in telecommuting and Internet use since then, “e-mail’s effectiveness as a mechanism for quickly sharing information and views increases its importance to employee communication.” Read more
Illinois Asks State High Court for Quick Pension-Law Hearing
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has asked the state Supreme Court to accelerate hearings on a legal challenge to its pension-cut law. The law, enacted in December 2013, reduces and suspends cost-of-living increases for pensions and raises retirement ages. Sangamon County Court Judge John Belz, responding to five lawsuits brought by public-employee unions and retiree groups, ruled Nov. 21 that the law violated a constitutionally protected promise to state workers about their pension benefits. The state is appealing, and in a motion filed Dec. 4, Madigan asked the court to schedule oral arguments as soon as Jan. 22 and no later than March 10. Read more
