DOCTORS IN THE HOUSE — With an overwhelming vote, attending physicians at New York Citys Lincoln Hospital chose representation with SEIU Local 1957/United Salaried Physicians and Dentists Feb. 11. The unit of 280 doctors began organizing in November 1997 after Lincoln Hospital, a public facility, began contracting services from St. Barnabas Hospital, a private facility that recently had slashed its staff by 40 percent, prompting concerns about quality of care there. A separate group of Lincoln resident doctors are already represented by the Committee of Interns and Residents, an SEIU affiliate. In other recent SEIU wins, 107 technical workers at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle joined Local 6 Feb. 5, while 58 school bus drivers in Bellevue, Neb., will be represented by Local 226 after an election with just one "no" vote cast. Fifteen alcohol counselors at Eastern Long Island (N.Y.) Hospital and 17 LPNS and RNs at Monclair Nursing Home in Glen Cove, N.Y., joined SEIU 1199 New York following recent election wins.

BIG LITTLE ROCK WIN — Eighty workers at a National Linen laundry facility in Little Rock, Ark., won card-check recognition Feb 10. They join 3,600 other National Linen workers at 36 sites who have become UNITE members during the unions nationwide organizing drive.

TIME TO VOTE AT UCLA — Rejecting the universitys stalling tactics, the California Public Employment Relations Board has scheduled a representation election March 9-11 for graduate assistants at UCLA. The board rejected the University of Californias request to go to court over the issue. The decision follows a week-long strike in December 1998 by the UAW-affiliated graduate student unions at all eight UC campuses. "This is the end of the road for UCs wasteful litigation campaign to stall our collective bargaining rights," said Connie Razza, spokeswoman for UCLAs Student Association of Graduate Student Employees/UAW.

ORGANIZED FOR ORGANIZING — Putting the theme of "changing to organize" to work, on Wednesday the New Jersey State AFL-CIO will host the first meeting of its Statewide Organizing Advisory Committee. More than 150 trade unionists from across New Jersey are expected to attend the conference, where UNITE Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Raynor and National Labor Relations Board Region 22 Director Bill Pascarell will speak. "Organizing is a priority nationally and in our state," said Laurel Brennan, secretary-treasurer at the state fed. "The advisory committee will support organizers and organizing."

RSI, ERGO STANDARDS — After years of congressional roadblocks by lawmakers friendly with big business, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has released a draft proposal of ergonomic rules designed to reduce the 650,000 annual repetitive stress injuries (RSI) and other worker injuries that result from poorly designed workplaces and procedures. The proposed rules are "much more limited than we would like to see, but are a step forward," said Peg Seminario, AFL-CIO director of Occupational Safety and Health. For years the GOP-controlled Congress banned OSHA from spending funds to develop ergonomic standards, but that ban was not included in last years spending bill. Business groups have vowed to continue their fight to halt or slow OSHAs efforts to reduce worker injuries through the new standards. The rule-making process is expected to take several months.

UNITY TRIO — More than 3,000 Auto Workers, Machinists and Steelworkers heard President Clinton yesterday ask for their help in protecting and strengthening Social Security, raising the minimum wage and passing a Patients Bill of Rights. Delegates are attending the three unions first Unification Legislative Conference that runs through Wednesday in Washington, D.C. They will help develop a grassroots issues agenda and mobilization program for working families. When the unification of the three unions is complete, it will create the nations biggest industrial union, with 2 million active and 1 million retired workers.

THE LONG RUN — A two-year campaign to mobilize and educate working families before the 2000 elections and an exploration of recent organizing battles and future organizing goals were the focus of last weeks AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in Miami. The education and mobilization effort will spread the word about key working family issues--such as Social Security, Medicare, good jobs, the minimum wage and trade--through worksite visits, member-to-member contact, mailings, phone calls and events. This member outreach model proved highly successful in last falls election and the defeat of Prop 226 in California. A massive voter registration drive, a get-out-the-vote effort aimed at union households and allies in the Latino, African American and Asian-Pacific Islander communities and the AFL-CIOs 2000 in 2000 campaign to elect union members to office are other key components. On the organizing front, the council looked at the success of affiliates that are devoting more resources to organizing, training new organizers and developing new strategies such as building community and political support for workers right to organize. The council also examined the growing resistance and new tactics used by the corporate community against workers.

SOLIDARITY BANG — An intense bargaining campaign by Teamsters Local 1150 in Stratford, Conn., recently produced a new contract for nearly 4,000 workers at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. that raises pay 9 percent over three years, adds two early-retirement programs and averts planned layoffs. The six-week campaign featured printed weekly bargaining updates, a website and a telephone hotline to keep members informed. The media reported on negotiation progress every day. A plant-gate rally the final week drew more than 300 Teamsters and community leaders. On the final day of bargaining, a "Solidarity Bang," where workers stopped work to bang on barrels and tables, was phoned in to the bargaining room so management could hear the level of solidarity. Management improved its offer, and workers approved it by 85 percent.

GETCHA SCORE CARDS HERE — Do the money managers who invest union members $350 billion in pension and retirement funds do so in a way that supports corporate accountability and helps develop the skills and human capital of their workforce? Or are union members funds supporting runaway executive compensation and shortsighted strategies that cost jobs and destroy communities? Now you can find out, thanks to the Center for Working Capitals 1998 Key Votes Survey of 106 investment firms. It tracks how they voted on 40 shareholder resolutions in 1998, ranging from executive pay to independence of boards of directors to workplace civil rights and corporate political spending. The annual survey shows 28 firms scored 100 percent and seven tallied zero. For copies, call the AFL-CIO Office of Investment at 202-637-3900.

BONUS PLAN — The Air Line Pilots and the Machinists joined with United Airlines management to unveil a system linking the bosses bonuses and incentive compensation to employee satisfaction. The new evaluation process, along with customer satisfaction surveys, will be used to set the levels of half the incentive pay for all eligible managers at the worlds largest employee-owned business.

NEEDLE SAFETY — As part of its campaign to stop deadly needlestick injuries, SEIU launched a grassroots legislative campaign last week to spur needle safety legislation in 19 states. About 1 million health care workers are injured each year by potentially contaminated needles, putting them at risk for hepatitis B and C, HIV and other deadly diseases. The proposed state laws will be patterned after Californias safe needlestick law, which takes effect Aug. 1 and requires needlesticks with safety features such as protective shields or mechanisms that automatically draw the needle back into the barrel after use.

SAME OLD TIRED SONG — Five of the Senates most anti-worker members introduced a national "right-to-work" bill Feb. 11. The bill (S. 424) would deny workers the right to include union security clauses in collective bargaining agreements. Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.) sponsored the bill, and Sens. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), Robert C. Smith (R-N.H.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) are co-sponsors.

SAVE THOSE CALVIN KLEINS — UNITE won the first round in its fight to save 550 jobs at three Calvin Klein Jeans- wear facilities the owner, the Warnaco Group, planned to close. Outerwear manufacturer Aris Industries agreed to assume operation of the Bedford, Mass., distribution center, allowing 230 UNITE members to keep their jobs. UNITE is continuing its campaign to keep open two other Warnaco manufacturing plants in Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

OVERNITE PROTEST — About 250 Teamsters and other union supporters held a two-hour rally Feb. 16 in front of the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., to protest the agencys inadequate attention to Overnite Transportation, which IBT calls "the most profound violator of labor laws in a generation." The NLRBs proposed settlement of the latest round of complaints filed against the trucking firm includes no admission from Overnite that it did anything wrong; this means, the union charges, "it will have virtually no enforcement power to prevent Overnite from continuing with its past practice." It also grants workers only a portion of the back pay IBT says members are due. Although the union has won elections and bargaining orders for some 45 percent of the companys workforce, many workers have waited years for the right to negotiate contracts; illegally discharged workers also have waited for reinstatement and back pay.

STEELING FOR ANOTHER ROUND — The Steelworkers joined several major steel companies to file complaints with the U.S. Commerce Department against countries that dump certain specialized steel products in the United States or unfairly subsidize their domestic industries. The action follows the governments preliminary findings that hot-rolled steel also has been dumped, the subject of complaints filed by the union and steel companies last fall. USWA says 10,000 steel jobs have been lost since June, propelled by the Asian financial crisis.

HOLD THE PICKLES — Mt. Olive Pickle Co. is on the AFL-CIOs "Do Not Buy" list. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee has been organizing migrant farm workers in North Carolina who harvest cucumbers for Mt. Olive, the nations second-largest pickle company. Over the past two years, more than 2,000 workers have signed union cards, and at least 60 religious, labor and community groups have urged Mt. Olive President Bill Bryan to bargain with FLOC. The pickle company has refused. The union plans to kick off public activities promoting the boycott on Mar. 17. To pitch in, e-mail Bryan at bbryan@mtolivepickles.com and let him know you wont be buying Mt. Olive pickles until the firm recognizes FLOC.

TWO FOR NLRB — President Clinton renominated John C. Truesdale Feb. 11 to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board. Truesdale has been serving a recess appointment as chairman and member of the board. Clinton also nominated Leonard R. Page, UAW associate general counsel, as the general counsel of the NLRB. Both must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

IN MEMORY — Long-time labor activist Robert L. Kasen, 64, died Feb. 15 in Washington, D.C. Kasen worked as organizing director for the Chemical Workers, an organizer for AFSCME and special projects director for the Teamsters. He also helped found the national Labor Party. Veteran labor journalist Robert B. Cooney, 74, died in Illinois Feb. 9. Cooney was editor of Press Associates, a labor news service, and former associate editor of the AFL-CIO News.