NALC: Republican slips anti-union provision into FAA bill
Anti-union forces are using every angle they can find in their attempts to weaken the labor movement—even counting votes that don’t exist.
This week, Rep. John Mica (R-FL) quietly slipped an amendment into a routine Federal Aviation Administration bill that would turn back the clock on union rights. Mica’s amendment would count any railroad or airline worker who doesn’t cast a vote in a union representation election as a “no” vote. Mica is chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over the FAA.
It’s a bit like declaring that all the eligible voters who don’t show up to the polls on Election Day count as Republican votes.
It may astonish you, but that’s how it worked for many years when railroad and airline workers voted on whether they should be represented by a union. That ended last year when the National Mediation Board sensibly changed the rules so that a simple majority of workers who cast votes would prevail. Mica wants to overturn that decision and stack the deck against unions again.
“I expect this is only the beginning,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Senate’s labor committee and opponent of Mica’s provision. “I think we’ll see a lot of amendments this year—probably on every bill we consider—that will chip away at the basic rights and protections that help middle-class working families get by.”
The House is expected to vote on the bill today, and it could strip Mica’s amendment from the bill before passing it. The AFL-CIO is calling on union members to contact Congress now to oppose this measure.
The White House said yesterday that Obama would veto the bill if it passed with the anti-union provision.
source: NALC Activist Alert!
Corporate-Financed Politicians’ Assault On Working People Must Be Stopped Now!
NALC President Fredric V. Rolando outlines union’s national commitment to the cause of workers across the country.
NALC to play prominent role in defending, promoting labor
“The economic crisis—triggered by decades of reckless deregulation and an out-of-control financial sector—caused the economy to crash, unemployment to soar, tax revenues to plummet and pension funds to tank in value,” Rolando said. “The notion of ‘shared sacrifice’ and asking those who really caused the crisis to help close the budget deficits is entirely absent from the national debate. We have to change that.”
Following an emergency strategy planning meeting of the AFL-CIO Executive Council on March 2, Rolando outlined labor’s strategy to help turn back this assault on working people and their unions, and the role the NALC will play:
—The NALC Executive Council has authorized a substantial contribution to a national media and voter canvassing campaign.
—The union also will provide dozens of full-time activists to work in several states to resist the ideological assault on unions.
—And the NALC will join with the entire labor movement for a national day of action on April 4 to mobilize public support for the rights of all workers to organize and collectively bargain in both the private and public sectors.
“April 4 is the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., who died in Memphis trying to help the sanitation workers of that city win dignity and bargaining rights on the job,” Rolando said.
Details will be provided on the NALC website. Members can also keep up with the very latest news and activities related to the national campaign via the NALC’s Activist Alert blog at nalcactivistalert.com.
In the coming weeks, the NALC also will recruit volunteer activists to help with the single biggest union-organizing campaign now underway in the United States. Through this month and next, nearly 50,000 transportation security officers who work at the nation’s airports will be voting in a union-recognition election.
A letter from the AFL-CIO Executive Council, encouraging local branches from all unions to step up their participation in central labor councils and state federations of labor, is posted at nalc.org.Rolando urged all NALC branches to join local CLCs and state federations as resources permit. “If the corporate-financed politicians, think tanks and special interests succeed in stripping state and local workers of their rights, it will be only a matter of time before they turn their sights on postal employees and our rights,” the president said. “Let us join together and stop them now. Let’s use the energy and solidarity of the fights in Wisconsin and elsewhere to strengthen our union and to spark an historic drive to rebuild the labor movement in the private sector as well.
Governor’s Attack on Wisconsin Workers Must Serve as a Wake-Up Call
“When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and 18 Republican state senators rammed through a bill in the dead of night that strips public workers of their right to collective bargaining, they sent a clear message,” said union President Cliff Guffey. “I hope it serves as a wake-up call for APWU members and all working people.
“They are determined to destroy the right of nurses, teachers and librarians to have a voice at work,” the union president said, “and they have dealt a major blow to democracy. The action of the governor and state senators was an abuse of power and an affront to all working Americans,” he said.
Late on Wednesday, March 9, the governor and Republican state senators passed a bill that attacks middle-class families in Wisconsin by stripping public workers of their right to a voice at work, with a vote of 18-1; no Democratic senators were present.
The bill effectively destroys collective bargaining for state workers, Guffey said. “The bill’s passage jeopardizes the fundamental American values of freedom, fairness, and the right to negotiate for a better life.”
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It also poses a threat to other public workers — including APWU members. As the union continues talks with the Postal Service in an attempt to reach agreement on a new contract, Guffey said other states will follow Wisconsin’s lead — “and our right to negotiate may not be far behind,” he warned.
“These anti-labor actions are not unique to one state or sector of the working class,” Guffey said.
While the Wisconsin Senate requires a quorum to vote on any issues that involve spending, Republican lawmakers extracted proposals from Walker’s bill that targeted workers’ right to bargain. A special conference committee — which included only one Democratic House member — approved the revised bill late Wednesday night with no advance notice.
“This is a slap in the face to the middle class, and a major attack on the rights we won over years of struggle,” Guffey said. “Wisconsin lawmakers abused their power, and have denied hard-working people their basic rights in the workplace.
“It is now apparent that legislators never intended to fix a phony budget crisis. They planned to destroy collective bargaining from day one,” the union president said.
Despite this setback, Guffey urges APWU members to continue to show solidarity with embattled workers in Wisconsin and other states where similar actions are being introduced.
“It is more important than ever that we show solidarity,” Guffey said. “We must protect unions — they are our best defense against the assault on working Americans.”
NALC denounces Wisconsin ambush on worker rights
‘This is not over, we will win at ballot box’
NALC President Fredric Rolando decried the actions of the governor of Wisconsin and his allies in the Wisconsin state senate in approving legislation to strip collective-bargaining rights from Wisconsin’s state and local government employees Wednesday night.
“Leaving aside the deceit and the bad faith bargaining displayed over the past several days, what the Wisconsin GOP and Governor Walker did last night was shameful,” Rolando said. “Using a state budget crisis caused by a great recession created on Wall Street to attack the fundamental rights of Wisconsin public employees to bargain for middle-class wages, benefits and working conditions is just plain wrong.”
After three weeks of calling the union-busting portion of the so-called budget repair bill “essential” to closing the state’s budget deficit, and after promising not to act on the legislation without the Democrats’ participation, Wisconsin’s Republicans violated the state’s open meetings law and used a parliamentary maneuver to force a rushed vote in favor of the measure while the Democratic caucus remained out of state in protest of the bill’s provisions. The legislation to strip state and local employees of their right to bargain collectively was approved by a vote of 18-1 by the GOP caucus in the state senate. The state assembly is expected to follow suit soon.
President Rolando is urging NALC members to prepare for a long struggle: “We may have lost this battle, but the fight has just begun. The attack on worker rights in Wisconsin has ignited the labor movement nationwide like nothing else in years. This is not over; the unions will fight this in the courts and at the ballot box. Our members in the state and around the country will do everything we can to fight back, beginning with recall elections that will seek to remove those politicians who have unfairly voted to strip Wisconsin’s public employees of their fundamental rights. As our colleagues in the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO have vowed, ‘this will not stand’.”
Wisconsin GOP bypasses Dems, cuts collective bargaining rights
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Senate succeeded in voting Wednesday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers, after Republicans outmaneuvered the chamber’s missing Democrats and approved an explosive proposal that has rocked the state and unions nationwide.
“You are cowards!” spectators in the Senate gallery screamed as lawmakers voted. Within hours, a crowd of a few hundred protesters inside the Capitol had grown to several thousand, more than had been in the building at any point during weeks of protests.
“The whole world is watching!” they shouted as they pressed up against the heavily guarded entrance to the Senate chamber.
All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget-repair bill” – a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.
The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spends money. But Republicans on Wednesday took all the spending measures out of the legislation and a special committee of lawmakers from both the Senate and Assembly approved the revised bill a short time later.
The unexpected yet surprisingly simple procedural move ended a stalemate that had threatened to drag on indefinitely. Until Wednesday’s stunning vote, it appeared the standoff would persist until Democrats returned to Madison from their self-imposed exile.
“In 30 minutes, 18 state senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin. Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten,” said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller. “Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people.”
The state Assembly previously approved the original proposal and was set to consider the new measure on Thursday. Miller said in an interview with The Associated Press there is nothing Democrats can do now to stop the bill: “It’s a done deal.”
APWU:The Battle in Wisconsin: ‘Are We Next?’
An Urgent Video Message From APWU President Cliff Guffey
“I want to make sure that every APWU member understands the importance of what is happening in Wisconsin,” says union President Cliff Guffey in a video message. The nurses, teachers, firefighters and police of Wisconsin are fighting for the fundamental right to have a voice at work…“for the American values of freedom, fairness, and the right to speak, organize, and negotiate for a better life.”
“If Gov. Walker succeeds in taking away the rights of middle-class working people, other states will follow his lead — and attacks on our right to negotiate will not be far behind,” Guffey says.
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He asks: “If we fail in Wisconsin, who’s next? Are we next?”
APWU members across the country are showing solidarity with embattled public workers in Wisconsin, attending rallies and declaring, “Stop the War on Workers.” Members are encouraged to attend events in their area.
Click here for information about rallies on Feb. 26. Click here for a list of rallies on subsequent days. Please send high-resolution photos or video clips from local demonstrations to Sally Davidow, APWU Communications Department Senior Manager, at sdavidow@apwu.org.
‘Right-to-work’ (for less) battle—Wisconsin Gov. Walker losing support
As the battle to preserve collective bargaining rights continues to rage in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R) is beginning to find himself losing supporters, as well as justification.
First, his counterparts in other states are distancing themselves from his stance. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R), a potential GOP presidential contender, went so far as to say, “I’m not sending the state police after anybody… For reasons I’ve explained more than once I thought there was a better time and place to have this very important and legitimate issue raised.”
A poll released Monday demonstrates that the public supports unions over the Gov. Walker’s proposals. The poll, conducted jointly by the AFL-CIO and Change to Win, shows that 50 percent of those surveyed disapprove of Walker’s job performance, and less than a third support eliminating collective bargaining rights for public employees.
In addition to the lack of support from fellow Republican governors facing similar situations, Gov. Walker’s proposal could cost the state of Wisconsin $46 million in federal funds. Known as “Section 13 arrangements,” this federal labor law provision causes states to lose federal funds if they eliminate collective bargaining rights that existed when the state first received federal assistance. If the governor’s proposal passes, $46 million of the $74 million that Wisconsin received in federal transit funds would be at risk.
Unions pride themselves on compromise and equity, concepts that seem foreign to Gov. Walker. As the tide turns against the governor, hopefully he can take time away from his soapbox and work toward a real solution to the problems facing Wisconsin – a solution that doesn’t punish working families.
APWU Stands in Solidarity with Embattled Wisconsin Workers
As embattled state and local workers in Wisconsin protest legislation that would attack public employees’ rights to bargain collectively, the APWU urges members to stand in solidarity with those who would be affected by the bill.
“We know if they succeed in Wisconsin, we and other workers will be next,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey. “We must stand in solidarity with the workers in Wisconsin.”
On Feb. 12, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) introduced legislation that is being called an “attack on basic rights” by labor leaders across the country. Walker’s legislation would destroy collective bargaining for state workers, undermine middle-class jobs by lowering wages, shrinking benefits, and weakening unions.
Among other assaults on the working class, Walker’s bill would block academic staff and faculty from being represented by a union in collective bargaining, and state employee unions would only be allowed to negotiate over wages. This would take away employees’ ability to file grievances and bargain over benefits such as health care, job security, and workplace protections.
Walker’s proposals sparked a massive uprising in the state capital of Madison starting on Feb. 14. Tens of thousands of employees and labor activists have flooded the Capitol in a demonstration of solidarity against the governor’s attack on public workers. Activists accuse Walker of using a phony budget crisis as an excuse to weaken unions and the middle class.
Similar legislation that would jeopardize collective bargaining for public employees has been introduced in other states, including Ohio, Tennessee, and Indiana.
On Feb. 18, 14 Democratic representatives from Wisconsin departed the Capitol to deny the state Senate a quorum so action on the legislation could not go forward until public hearings are held.
The APWU has joined the AFL-CIO and other labor unions across the country in pledging solidarity with state employees in Wisconsin and Ohio in the “We Are One” campaign. Click here to visit the AFL-CIO’s campaign page and to add a “We Are One” graphic to your Facebook or Twitter account.
“We need to ask ourselves what would happen if Walker’s attacks were successful and unions did not exist,” Guffey said. “Unions are our best defense to stop the assault on the middle class and protect workers.”
source: APWU
Postal Pundit Says Postal Unions Will Certainly Blast USPS Efforts To Reduce Labor Costs
From the Washington Post via PostCom:
The Washington Post recently posted an editorial on the Postal Service regarding the commencement of contract talks between two of the major postal unions and the U.S. Postal Service. The following is a letter to the editor written by Professor Murray Comarow, a long-time student of things postal:
Your editorial [Mail drop, 9-7-10] supporting the Postal Service’s efforts to reduce labor costs, will surely be blasted by the postal unions. William Burris is president of the American Postal Workers Union, the first of the four postal unions to negotiate a new labor contract. He said to delegates at a recent convention: “We can point with pride to the fact that our members were shielded from the tragic effects of layoffs and downsizing.”
The editorial refers to the Postal Service as “company.” It is not. It is, in the words of a July 29, 2010 report from the Congressional Research Service, “a self-supporting government agency that covers its operating costs with revenues generated through the sales of postage and related products and services.” USPS is not supported by taxpayers.
You refer to a “panel” of arbitrators that takes over when these is a management/union impasse. That is technically correct, but one panel member is selected by the union and one by management. The Chairman rules. His unappealable decision directs the distribution of almost 80 percent of postal revenues. To use the FY 2009 figure of $68.1 billion in revenues, that would amount to about $53.5 billion at his sole discretion of an individual who is not accountable to anyone.
No other federal agency, and to my knowledge, no major corporation, is forced by law to entrust most of its revenues to an arbitrator’s notion of fairness. A statute requiring the arbitration to take the service’s finances into account is not a “vital reform.” It’s more a feel-good provision, to which I would not object, but how would it be enforced? A survey of former arbitrators might be fun. “Did you consider the Service’s financial condition when you made your decision?” Response: “Of course. Both parties laid the situation out.”
The favored position of postal unions in respect to health premiums and life insurance is more extreme than the editorial indicates. USPS employees pay 20% of their health care premiums; other feds pay 28 percent. Life insurance is free for USPS employees; other feds pay 33% of the premium. What theory of poublic policy can support this?
The Postal Service may not be doing itself or its customers justice by its negotiating stance. Its chief labor executive, Anthony Vegliante, recently remarked that the last thing the USPS wants is arbitration becuase “then a third party is making decisions for you and your business.” Don’t think for a minute that the unions won’t exploit that. Their members reportedly average more than $80,000 a year in wages and benefits. It will take skill and determination to bring this down, even moderately.
The Postal Board of Governors has never formally recommended legislation that would revoke the arbitration provision, nor have mailers, to my everlasting astonishment. Both should have done so years ago.
source: Postcom.org
OIG Criticizes USPS Oversight Of Grievance Settlements And Questions Payments to Union Officials
Recent audit report from the USPS Office of Inspector General :
Most Postal Service bargaining unit employees are represented by one of the four major unions. The national agreements signed by senior-level management and the four union presidents include grievance-arbitration procedures that Postal Service management, bargaining unit employees (also referred to as craft employees), and union representatives must follow. These procedures provide guidance for resolving workplace disputes, differences, disagreements, and complaints. The Postal Service pays millions of dollars in grievance settlements; in fiscal year (FY) 2008 and FY 2009 they paid $250 million and $179 million respectively. As a result, it is important to ensure the Postal Service has appropriate internal controls in place.
Conclusion
Management controls over grievance settlements and disbursements need to be strengthened. We found that grievance payments were often not supported by adequate documentation and, as a result, we identified at least $27.8 million in unsupported questioned costs. We also found that oversight of the grievance settlement process was not consistent among the districts and that union representatives received grievance payments to which they may not have been entitled. The weakness in the control environment makes it difficult to determine the propriety of settlement amounts, and
payments to employees and union officials who represent bargaining unit employees.Documentation to Support Grievance Settlements and Payments
We reviewed 600 randomly selected grievances2 and found that 234 (or 39 percent) were not adequately supported by required documentation. The missing documentation included signed Grievance Arbitration Tracking System (GATS) decision letters that document the reason for the settlement; the Grievance Form, which explains the original grievance; and documentation that explains how management determined the amount of the payment. As a result, there is no assurance that at least $27.8 million in grievance settlement payments were justified or warranted.
Human resources managers and labor relations officials at six of the 10 districts in our sample stated that supervisors are not required to copy and maintain supporting documentation used to settle informal grievances because they can settle them verbally. Management at the remaining four districts stated the documentation was missing due to poor recordkeeping by supervisors and individuals who prepared the grievance payments.
The Postal Service requires management to maintain documentation supporting grievance files and appeals for 7 years. In addition, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) developed standards for internal controls. These standards require agencies to assess the level of risk associated with specific activities and develop nternal controls to mitigate these risks. One internal control activity includes documenting all transactions and other significant events and making the documentation readily available.
Payments to Union Representatives
We also found that union representatives received excessive payments from grievance settlements. Union representatives in four districts (Colorado/Wyoming, Alabama, Mid- America, and Capital) were involved with the allocation of class-action grievance settlements for six grievances that resulted in union representatives receiving payments that were significantly more than other members of the class. Specifically, union representatives received $33,447 (or 24 percent) of $141,639 in settlements for these six grievances. One union representative in the Mid-America District received as much as 35 percent of a grievance settlement, while other payees received less than 1 percent.
This occurred because the Postal Service has not established procedures for reviewing the allocation of settlements to ensure that payees whom the union identifies are part of a class action. Once the Postal Service negotiates a settlement, they often have no involvement with its allocation. As a result, union representatives may be receiving payments to which they are not entitled.
Inconsistent Oversight of Grievance Settlements
We identified inconsistencies in the oversight of grievance settlements among the districts we reviewed. Specifically:
- Six of the 10 districts did not encourage or expect management representatives to seek higher-level consultation during the grievance process.
- Four of the 10 districts had not established dollar thresholds indicating when consultation or approval was required. Thresholds varied among the six districts that did have established thresholds.
There was no requirement or nationwide methodology for monitoring grievances through GATS. District officials stated they each used one or more GATS reports, and seven of the 10 stated they used one or more alerts in GATS to monitor settlement amounts or prevalent issues.
We found that these inconsistencies existed, because supervisors are authorized to settle grievances at any amount; and although some Postal Service managers had implemented a consultation process, others believe oversight of grievances before settlement and documentation of any consultation would violate union contracts.Without consistent procedures and appropriate oversight, management has no assurance that grievance settlements and disbursements are appropriate. According to GAO, internal controls provide reasonable assurance that funds are safeguarded and laws and regulations are complied with and support effective and efficient operations.
Without sufficient internal controls, the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse is high.