New Members reported in this week's WiP: 4,012
New Members reported in WiP, 1999: 146,575

LA DOCS TREATMENT PLAN — Nearly 800 doctors employed by Los Angeles County voted May 28 to join the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, an AFSCME affiliate. "This election was about maintaining a competent and compassionate public health care system for the people of L.A. County," said Dr. Dan Lawlor, a key organizer in the effort. "As the bottom line becomes paramount to public hospital management, services are cut back and patient care suffers....Los Angeles County residents now have powerful advocates for the right treatment, high quality treatment, in a timely manner," said AFSCME President Gerald McEntee. The doctors include about 550 university teaching physicians at the areas three medical schools and physicians in the countys public health clinics, childrens and AIDS services plus the sheriffs and coroners offices.

THEY'RE SAFE! — Vendors at the new Safeco Mariners Field in Seattle finished on top of the standings when they chose Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 8 last month. Volume Services America, the stadiums concession operator, had accepted a neutrality and card-check agreement. Rev. John Boonstra, a member of the Washington State Jobs with Justice Workers Rights Board, verified the signatures, which showed 80 percent support. When the Mariners move from the Kingdome to Safeco Field in mid-July, the unit will include approximately 800 employees.

GETTING EXTRA HELP — The last of four units of 1,400 "extra help" employees working for Santa Clara County, Calif., won card-check recognition for SEIU Local 715 May 22. (The other units were recognized in April.) They now are headed for the bargaining table, where they will press the county for jobs and benefits for the so-called "temporary" workforce. The "extras" work alongside 6,500 Local 715 members employed in administrative, public health, clerical and blue-collar capacities, yet receive no benefits. Six Local 715 member-organizers took the lead in helping the workers organize. Meanwhile, on May 14, a unit of 530 employees of Stephens Hospital in Edmonds, Wash., won card-check recognition for SEIU District 1199NW.

THEIR AIM IS TRUE — More than 450 workers at the Ames Department Stores distribution center in Columbus, Ohio, scored a big win when they overwhelmingly chose UNITE to represent them and Ames recognized the union May 20. The workers began their organizing drive in April after the company acquired the Columbus distribution facility as part of its purchase of another department store chain. The new UNITE members said they were seeking respect, a voice in the workplace and better working conditions. UNITE represents about 1,400 workers at two other Ames centers.

GOING TO KANSAS CITY — The 16 workers at Penske Logistics in Kansas City, Kan., voted to join UAW April 30. Penske is a subassembly contractor for General Motors.

ON TIME THIS TIME — The National Mediation Board certified a 16-0 vote for Transport Workers Local 500 representation of flight dispatchers at Airtran Airlines. The board called the second election because ballots for an earlier vote never were delivered to workers.

JUST LOOKING FOR A LITTLE RESPECT — The Toledo (Ohio) City Council took a stand for workers when it unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center to respect its employees right to choose a union. The resolution also urged the center to adopt a neutrality policy in the UAWs campaign to organize some 3,000 registered nurses, support staff, medical professionals, medical technicians and skilled maintenance workers at the center. Organizers say the centers administrators have hired an anti-worker consultant to spread fear and confusion among the workers.

IBT, CAR HAULERS KEEP TALKING — Teamsters negotiators and representatives from the carhaul industry were still bargaining June 1, after extending talks past the master agreements May 31 expiration. IBT reported a significant victory when management pulled from the table its proposal to give Mexican trucking firms and drivers a share of the U.S. carhaul market. About 12,000 Teamsters are involved in the delivery of new cars and trucks from manufacturers to dealers.

AFGE, VETS STAGE HOLIDAY PROTEST — Thousands of AFGE members and Disabled American Veterans staged rallies at 120 sites on Memorial Day to protest the inadequate federal funding that has jeopardized health care at Veterans Administration medical centers. Years of tight-fisted budgets have forced VA hospitals to cut services and lay off staff, and current budget proposals could eliminate some 8,000 jobs, AFGE charged. Veterans' groups estimate that it would take about $3 billion more than current funding levels to stave off health care "disasters that threaten the lives and health of veterans." AFGE President Bobby L. Harnage said, "Our veterans should not be warehoused into substandard health programs to save money. Our veterans are not a product—they are the foundation of this great country."

FLORIDA TEACHERS UNITE — Floridas two teacher unions have completed one more step toward a merger that will bring together 250,000 teachers and school staff. Delegates at a special convention of the AFT affiliate Florida Education Association/United voted May 22 to join with the Florida Teaching Profession/NEA, a National Education Association affiliate, effective May 2000. "The eventual merger will allow us, as an organization, to focus all of our attention on raising student achievement, improving teacher quality, reducing class size and restoring discipline to the schools that need it," said Pat Tornillo, FEA/United president.

ALLEGHENY ROLLS ON — Four out of the seven union members on the ballot, and 10 of the 15 Allegheny (Pa.) County Labor Council-endorsed candidates, won their primary races for county council seats and the county executive post May 18. The CLC this year established its Working Families 2000 Project to build working families political strength in the county. "We talked to our members in their workplaces, on their front porches and through the mail," said CLC President Jack Shea. "Labor was united like never before in this race, and it showed in the results." The general election is in November.

JERSEY POLS PUT ON NOTICE — New Jersey state workers joined AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and New Jersey AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech in urging GOP Gov. Christine Todd Whitman to bargain a fair contract for the states 56,000 workers. Whitman is backing sweeping changes in workplace rules. The state legislatures "record on these and other key issues will guide the union movements involvement in this falls assembly elections," Trumka said in Trenton May 25. A voter registration drive that day at the Department of Environmental Protection garnered more than 1,000 new voters. State workers belong to AFSCME, AFT, Communications Workers and Professional and Technical Engineers. For more information, see http://www.cwa-union.org/.

CÉSAR CHÁVEZ HOLIDAY — The Texas legislature approved bills making March 31 a state holiday in honor of Farm Workers founder César Chávez. It also designated a section of state Highway 44 as César Chávez Memorial Highway. Texas Gov. George Bush has indicated he will sign the bills. The holiday bill enables state employees to take César Chávez Day off with pay in lieu of any other state holiday. The section of highway renamed for Chávez is between Corpus Christi and Robstown, Texas, where the late UFW leader led a march 30 years ago on behalf of migrant workers.

NEW GROCERY DEAL IN THE BAG — In Michigan, members of Food and Commercial Workers Local 951 ratified an agreement covering some 31,000 Meijer Inc. workers at 70 locations through 2003 and 2004. The new deal for the retail, warehouse, transportation and property service workers contains wage and pension increases and maintains current health care coverage.

UN-APPEALING RULING — The Communications Workers are considering an appeal of a May 28 federal court decision overturning a 1997 representation election victory for more than 10,000 reservation and gate agents at US Airways. The union, which was close to completing negotiations for a first contract with the carrier, said it would "continue to bargain for a first contract and fairness at the airline," vowing that CWA "will pursue any legal and procedural steps necessary to bring this contract to a conclusion." In 1997, the National Mediation Board ruled that US Airways had interfered with the workers free choice in an earlier election and ordered another election, in which the workers chose CWA.

REAL DEAL ON DAVIS-BACON — Critics of the Davis-Bacon Act have it wrong. Paying the prevailing community wage on federally funded construction projects, which the act requires, does not inflate wages or costs, according to a recent study. The analysis of wage rates in seven Virginia counties shows annual wages under Davis-Bacon almost always are lower than average income for all workers in the community. "The Davis-Bacon Act has been the subject of a mud slide of misinformation. This analysis helps set the record straight," said Robert A. Georgine, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department, which conducted the study. For a copy of the report, call Lenny DiJames at BCTD, 202-347-1461, or check the website (after June 2) at http://www.bctd.org/.

CONTINENTAL APPEAL — The Steelworkers escalated the campaign against German tire-making giant Continental AG by introducing a proposal at the companys annual shareholder meeting seeking the removal of the management board unless it adopts a corporate code of conduct. The code must be based on the International Labor Organizations conventions, including the right to form unions, collectively bargain and strike. USWA Local 850 has been on strike at Continentals Charlotte, N.C., plant for nine months, and a delegation of members traveled to the meeting in Germany.

HANDS ACROSS THE BORDER — SEIU Local 1877 signed a partnership agreement with the Mexican Telephone Workers Union (STRM) that will boost organizing and mobilization efforts on both sides of the border. The pact recognizes the burgeoning Latino presence in the U.S. workforce, "which is often victimized by labor law violations and poverty wages," according to SEIU. The agreement is the latest milestone in a relationship that saw STRM janitors demonstrate at Hewlett-Packard offices in Mexico City in 1996 to support workers efforts to organize at H-P in Sacramento, Calif.

WORKING SAFELY — Vice President Al Gore presented the Laborers and the Operating Engineers with the first-ever National Occupational Research Agenda Partnering Award May 14 for their success in decreasing worker exposure to asphalt fumes. The award, given by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, honors the unions and a coalition of contractors and government agencies for reducing fumes from asphalt pavers by 80 percent with new ventilation systems in all highway-class pavers manufactured after 1997.

FORMER ATU PRESIDENT DIES — Dan Maroney, who led the Transit Union for eight years, died April 29 at age 77. He began his union career in Charleston, W.Va., in 1948, helping to organize Local 1493 at his employer, Atlantic Greyhound. He later was elected president of the local, was elected international vice president in 1965 and became union president in 1973. He is survived by his wife, Mary Louise, and five children.

VOICE@WORK, JUNE 19-25—freedom to choose a union.