UTU News Digest - Thursday, April 8, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Thursday, April 8, 1999

WASHINGTON: 26 states join campaign for equal pay for working families

WASHINGTON -- In 26 states, unions have joined forces with women's, civil rights, religious, and community organizations to introduce equal pay legislation which will close the wage gap between women and men.

"Equal pay for working families is one of the top priorities on the AFL-CIO's Agenda for Working Families statewide legislative campaign. It's not just a women's issue -- it's a bread-and-butter issue for America's working families," said Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice-President of the AFL-CIO.

The 26 states participating in the legislative campaign include: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Iowa, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas will introduce legislation within the next few weeks. Three states -- Maine, Rhode Island, and West Virginia -- already have equal pay laws on the books and will be working on regulations, funding, and a pay equity study, respectively. Kentucky has pre-filed to introduce equal pay legislation in the next legislative session.

The legislation responds to what many women describe as a pressing problem. More than 94 percent of working women in the AFL-CIO's 1997 Ask A Working Woman Survey described equal pay as "very important." Two of every five cited pay as the biggest problem women face at work, and one-third of all women -- half of African-American women -- said that they do not have equal pay in their jobs.

"This legislation will move working families a huge step forward by giving women and people of color an important weapon to battle wage disparities and to help close the wage gap that's hurting every working family, " said Chavez-Thompson.

A new study conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research and the AFL-CIO confirms what women across the country have believed for a long time: that working women and working families pay a steep price for unequal pay.

Nationwide, working families lose more than $200 billion each year because of wage discrimination on the job-- an average of loss of more than $4,200 for each working woman's family, even after adjusting for age, annual hours of work, and geographical location.

Poverty rates among the nation's married and single women-- as well as single working mothers -- would be cut in half if working women were paid the same wages as men with the same knowledge, skills, and training who sit in the cubicles next to them.

Across the nation, women earn 74 cents for every dollar earned by men. Some states appear to do better than the national average. However, the primary reason for women's relatively better economic status is that the wages of minority men are so low.

Workers who do what traditionally has been viewed as "women's work" -- clerical workers, cashiers, librarians, child care workers and others in jobs in which 70 percent or more of the workers are women -- typically earn less than workers in jobs that are not dominated by women.

It's not just women and their families who stand to benefit from equal pay. Men who work in female-dominated jobs would see annual raises of $6,259 per year; minority men would gain an average of $4,778.

Union representation is a proven tool for raising workers' wages, particularly for those most subject to labor market discrimination: women and minorities. Among full-time workers, women represented by unions earn an average of $157 more per week than women with nonunion jobs. The gain for men with union jobs averages $140 more per week.

Minority women with union jobs earn $135 more each week for full-time work than minority women in nonunion jobs. Minority men in union jobs earn $177 more than their nonunion counterparts.

PENNSYLVANIA: Railroad gets $3 million from state

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge released $3 million for major infrastructure improvements to the main line of the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad, which runs for 54 miles between Tyrone, Blair County, and Lock Haven, Clinton County.

"Railroads play a growing role in the transportation of Pennsylvania products," Gov. Ridge said. "This public investment is an investment in jobs, in highway safety and in getting our Pennsylvania-made products to the world."

Transportation Secretary Bradley L. Mallory said the capital budget funds are being awarded to the SEDA-COG Rail Authority, which owns the railroad.

Mallory said the grant will help cover the cost of the installation of 20 miles of continuous welded rail. This infrastructure upgrade is necessary to support the operation of Conrail coal unit trains. The project cost is estimated at $6.2 million.

Mallory noted rail volume on the line is expected to increase by 2,000 cars annually. Using the railroad to transport materials will keep off local roads 40,000 trucks that otherwise would serve employers along the line. The Nittany and Bald Eagle main line serves 17 industries with 2,300 jobs in Blair, Centre and Clinton counties.

Pennsylvania leads the nation with 70 operating railroads. The state, with 5,600 miles of track, ranks fifth in track mileage in the country.

WASHINGTON: Overnite denies Teamsters' charges

WASHINGTON -- Overnite Transportation Co. is disputing a charge by the Teamsters that it is trying to revoke pay increases from employees at its unionized terminals. The union, which is waging an organizing campaign at the less-than-truckload trucking company, filed an unfair labor practice contending the company is revoking pay hikes since March 15.

"This company has not withdrawn and will not withdraw 1999 wage and mileage rate increases as charged by the union," said Ira Rosenfeld, company spokesman. "These allegations by the union are just the act of last desperation by a group that does not have the support of our people even at the locations they represent."

The NLRB recently denied a decertification petition at Overnite's Sacramento terminal. Mr. Rosenfeld had no comment on that action, saying the petition was filed by employees and not the company. He said decertification petitions have been filed at six other of the 21 unionized terminals. Overnite has 166 terminals in its system.

WASHINGTON: News from the AFL-CIO

VICTORY'S IN THE BAG—In Massachusetts largest organizing win this decade, some 2,000 workers at Shaws Supermarket chain won card-check recognition with Food and Commercial Workers Local 1445 March 29. Local 1445 President Paul Dufault said both workers and management will benefit. "Its been proven time and time again that in union workplaces, labor-management relations are more stable, morale is higher, productivity is higher and workers are more fairly compensated," he said. The cashiers, customer service workers, baggers and clerks work in the chains central Massachusetts stores.

HEALTH WORKERS PRESCRIBE AFGE—Some 1,900 doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, therapists and other professional employees at four Veterans Health Administration medical centers voted to join AFGE in March. Workers cited decreasing job security, poor pay, increasing workloads and reduced staffs as some of the reasons they sought a voice in the workplace. The wins came at VHA medical centers in Palo Alto, Calif. (1,300 workers); Dayton, Ohio (250 workers); Lake City, Fla. (200 workers); and Pittsburgh (150 workers).

ORGANIZING GOOD THERAPY—More than 700 psychologists, social workers and mental health counselors at Kaiser-Permanente mental health facilities in Northern California won voluntary recognition with SEIU Local 535 last month. In other SEIU wins, 550 Santa Clara County, Calif., courthouse workers chose Local 715 representation, while 130 group home workers at Fidelity House in Lawrence, Mass., voted for Local 509. Also, 100 aides and service workers at Grand Park Nursing Home in Los Angeles voted for Local 399, and a unit of 70 subcontracted dietary workers employed by Hospital Dietary Services at Crittendon Hospital in Rochester, Minn., voted for Local 79.

THE UNION SIDE OF SEARS—More than 200 workers at Focus Distribution Center in Olive Branch, Miss., are now members of Electronic Workers Local 282FW following a March 24 election. Abusive supervisors and complaints about management’s attitude toward the workers at the Sears Roebuck Co. subsidiary were the workers main concerns, said Willie Rudd, president of IUE Furniture Workers Division.

UNITE FOR DIGNITY—The joint UNITE-SEIU Florida nursing home organizing campaign--Unite for Dignity-- scored a pair of late March wins. Workers at Avante Nursing Home in Lake Worth voted 56-13 for SEIU, and Titusville Nursing Home workers voted for UNITE by a 50-13 margin.

SWEET VICTORY—Maybe they were trying to change their image, but the union busters hired by Sodexho Marriot at Grossmont Hospital in San Diego, Calif., couldn’t sway workers with an ice-cream social or with the cookies, muffins and other treats offered at captive meetings. Hungry for justice, not sweets, the 130 service workers voted Feb. 26 to join United Health Care Employees, NUHHCE 1199/AFSCME.

UNION BUILDING IN N.Y.—One of the first priorities of Denis M. Hughes, newly elected president of the New York State AFL-CIO, is the Solidarity Project, a new organizing program. "The initiative will bring together all of the organizing directors of all our affiliates to plan and implement a cooperative, coordinated and integrated organizing strategy to bring the benefits of union membership to working men and women in our state who are currently unorganized," he said. The 48-year-old Hughes, an Electrical Worker, was elected by the state feds executive council March 23 to replace Ed Cleary, who retired in March as leader of the 2.5 million-member New York AFL-CIO.

CAR HAULERS RALLY—Growing rank-and-file unity is the key element in the campaign for a good contract for some 12,000 Teamster car haulers who deliver new cars and trucks from the manufacturers to the dealers, IBT President James Hoffa told more than 500 rallying union members and their supporters in Detroit March 28. "The industry is making money. They should share the wealth with those who do the heavy lifting--the car haul drivers, mechanics, office workers and yard workers," he said. UAW President Steve Yokich and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) also addressed the crowd. The car haulers contract with 17 companies expires May 31.

JOB SECURITY TOPS UAW AGENDA—Job security and outsourcing, especially at General Motors, will be the major issues in bargaining later this year between the UAW and the Big Three automakers. Delegates to the unions bargaining conference approved resolutions to expand and extend previous job security protections. UAW President Stephen Yokich said job security at GM is threatened by the giant automakers plan to use "modular assembly" techniques, in which outside companies construct modules and ship them to GM for assembly. Yokich said it is "just another word for outsourcing." Some 400,000 UAW members are covered by the contracts with Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler that expire in September. The 2,000 conference delegates also set bargaining goals for UAW contracts outside the auto industry.

WAGING JUSTICE—A two-and-a-half-year campaign by labor unions, religious groups and community activists for a living wage in Madison and Dane County, Wis., paid off for thousands of workers last month when city and county lawmakers passed new wage laws. Jim Cavanaugh, president of the South Central Federation of Labor, said the county law provides a $7.91 an hour wage (or 100 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of four) for county and county-contractor employees. Madison’s wage law begins at 100 percent of the poverty level and increases to 105, then to 110 percent the following two years.

MINERS MEMORIAL DAY—On April 2, tens of thousands of coal miners represented by the Mine Workers honored the 100,000 coal miners who have lost their lives on the job and focused attention on serious issues that jeopardize today’s coal miners. UMWA President Cecil Roberts also called the special Memorial Day to highlight several issues that threaten jobs, including the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for huge U.S. greenhouse gas emission reductions--costing as many as 1.3 million jobs, some studies show--while allowing other large polluting nations off the hook. A proposed ban on certain types of mining under consideration in West Virginia also threatens miners jobs, Roberts said. At events across the country, miners called for stronger action on black lung disease, which kills 1,500 miners a year, and the protection of pensioners’ health care benefits, which recently have come under attack from coal companies.

UC DAVIS VOTES NEXT—Following an overwhelming win at UCLA late last month, teaching assistants at the University of California at Davis will vote May 25-27 on representation by the Student Association of Graduate Employees, a UAW affiliate. Meanwhile, the California Faculty Association, affiliated with the NEA, the California State Employees Association and SEIU, authorized a strike unless agreement is reached over the issue of merit pay at schools in the California State University system. "We are moving in the direction of a statewide walkout if we don’t get a contract, but wed rather have a contract than a strike," union spokesperson Jim Smith told the San Francisco Chronicle. The union also is exploring other possible nonstrike job actions. CFA represents 20,000 Cal State faculty members.

WHO GOT RICHER?—When the Dow Jones industrial average closed at more than 10,000 last week, guess who got richer? The rich, a new study shows. Almost 90 percent of the value of all stocks and mutual funds owned by households are held by the wealthiest 10 percent. But the inflation-adjusted net worth of the median household (half are above, half are below the median) fell from $54,600 in 1989 to $49,900 in 1997, and 20 percent of households have more debt than in years past. Shifting Fortunes: The Perils of the Growing American Wage Gap, a new study by United for a Fair Economy, provides an up-to-date look at the worsening distribution of wealth and income, home ownership, pensions, savings and debt and offers recommendations for action. The report is available for $6.95. Call 617-423-2148 or e-mail to stw@stw.org. Excerpts from the report are on the UFE website at www.stw.org.

CHÁVEZ REMEMBERED—Farm Workers, other union members and Latino groups honored the memory of UFW founder César Chávez last week. He would have been 72 March 31. "The greatest tribute to my father is seen in the continuing work of the movement he founded," said his son, Paul Chávez. The younger Chávez noted that since UFW President Arturo Rodriguez launched a major organizing drive in 1994, the union has won 18 straight elections, signed 22 new contracts with growers and has seen its membership jump by 7,000, to 27,000 members. More than 1,000 union members, Latino activists and community allies led by UFW Secretary-Treasurer Dolores Huerta staged the third annual César Chávez March for Justice to benefit the UFWs Scholarship fund in San Antonio March 27. In Austin, on Chávezs birthday, marchers rallied on the steps of the state Capitol to urge the Texas House of Representatives to pass a bill (already approved by the state Senate) declaring March 31 a state holiday. That action would "say we are going to make a state and a nation that live by the values of César Chávez...a land where everyone is treated with respect and fairness, regardless of how they look, the language they speak, the dreams they dream," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson told the crowd.