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SPOTLIGHT: Labor & Economic News Across the Country
A Day Off to Vote
The 400,000 members of United Auto Workers will have plenty of time to cast ballots, drive voters to the polls and do last-minute lobbying on Election Day, thanks to a rare benefit negotiated by union leaders last year.
The UAW is getting a paid holiday on Election Day this year and in 2002. Most of the workers are in Michigan and Ohio, states that have played a pivotal role in recent presidential elections.
UAW President Stephen Yokich told The New York Times that the union’s goal is to elect more candidates who care about workers’ issues, regardless of their political party. He said the union will encourage members to vote, and not treat the time off as an extra vacation day. “It’s not a holiday,” he said. “It’s a day to show you’re a good American citizen.”
A 1995 study by the Bureau of National Affairs found that only 6 percent of the country’s unionized workers had half or all of the day off on Election Day.
Rags and Riches
The 1980s were supposed to be the “greed” decade, but the number of billionaires in the United States soared in the 1990s. So did the number of people living in poverty.
According to United for a Fair Economy, an independent, nonpartisan research group, the country had 61 billionaires in 1989 and 31.5 million people living below the poverty line. Last year, there were 268 billionaires and 34.5 people in poverty.
The economy remains as divided as it’s been since the pre-Depression days of the 1920s: One percent of the country’s households have more wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined, researchers said.
“The rising tide has lifted the yachts to tremendous heights, but many Americans are still bailing out their boats after decades of sinking real wages and wealth,” the group said. “Average workers are earning less, adjusted for inflation, than they did a quarter-century ago. The lifeboats of homeless shelters and food banks are overflowing with people caught in the undertow.”
The study, “Divided Decade; Economic Disparity at the Century’s Turn,” is available on the Internet at www.stw.org.
Road Safety Warriors
A grassroots campaign by union members has helped bar unsafe Mexican trucks from U.S. highways.
Under provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), restrictions on Mexican trucks and buses were to be lifted Jan. 1, allowing them unfettered access to U.S. borders.
Teamsters and members of the Amalgamated Transit Union persuaded members of Congress to ask President Clinton to keep the border closed, citing concerns about American jobs, as well as health and safety. Unlike the United States, Mexico doesn’t have vehicle maintenance standards, a safety rating system or restrictions on the number of hours a trucker can drive. Federal officials say Mexican trucks will continue to be restricted to specific U.S. border commercial zones until Mexico addresses U.S. safety concerns.
Governor Bucks Politics, Backs Unions
Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton got a chilly reception from state politicians after he called on them to support collective bargaining for public employees.
“If a majority of the employees of any public employer want a union, then, just like in the private sector, they ought to have the right to one,” Patton said in his “State of the Commonwealth” speech in January.
Patton, a Democrat, called for a bill giving public workers the right to unionize and said the state’s job grade system and pay structure badly need to be overhauled. Kentucky workers are far behind their peers in other states, he said.
Workers should be prepared for a fight, however. Kentucky House Speaker Jody Richards, a Democrat, and Senate President David Williams, a Republican, said they don’t expect legislative support for collective bargaining.
Union Beats Wal-Mart In Las Vegas
Wal-Mart, infamous for fighting unionization, won’t be able to build a “SuperCenter” in Las Vegas, thanks to the efforts of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
The union led a community campaign against the discount giant, which would have sold groceries — in addition to everything else under the sun — at the proposed store. Wal-Mart tried to persuade residents that food prices go down in towns where SuperCenters go up, but a study by the Nevada Council of Senior Citizens disproved the claim.
“Wal-Mart destroys jobs, neighborhoods and businesses,” said Rebecca West, president of UFCW Local 711.
Wal-Mart’s problems don’t end in Las Vegas. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court decision finding Wal-Mart liable for the racial harassment of a Hispanic contractor — a $300,000 verdict. In another case, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a $157,000 judgment against the company for denying work to a man with a prosthetic arm.
The 400,000 members of United Auto Workers will have plenty of time to cast ballots, drive voters to the polls and do last-minute lobbying on Election Day, thanks to a rare benefit negotiated by union leaders last year.
The UAW is getting a paid holiday on Election Day this year and in 2002. Most of the workers are in Michigan and Ohio, states that have played a pivotal role in recent presidential elections.
UAW President Stephen Yokich told The New York Times that the union’s goal is to elect more candidates who care about workers’ issues, regardless of their political party. He said the union will encourage members to vote, and not treat the time off as an extra vacation day. “It’s not a holiday,” he said. “It’s a day to show you’re a good American citizen.”
A 1995 study by the Bureau of National Affairs found that only 6 percent of the country’s unionized workers had half or all of the day off on Election Day.
Rags and Riches
The 1980s were supposed to be the “greed” decade, but the number of billionaires in the United States soared in the 1990s. So did the number of people living in poverty.
According to United for a Fair Economy, an independent, nonpartisan research group, the country had 61 billionaires in 1989 and 31.5 million people living below the poverty line. Last year, there were 268 billionaires and 34.5 people in poverty.
The economy remains as divided as it’s been since the pre-Depression days of the 1920s: One percent of the country’s households have more wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined, researchers said.
“The rising tide has lifted the yachts to tremendous heights, but many Americans are still bailing out their boats after decades of sinking real wages and wealth,” the group said. “Average workers are earning less, adjusted for inflation, than they did a quarter-century ago. The lifeboats of homeless shelters and food banks are overflowing with people caught in the undertow.”
The study, “Divided Decade; Economic Disparity at the Century’s Turn,” is available on the Internet at www.stw.org.
Road Safety Warriors
A grassroots campaign by union members has helped bar unsafe Mexican trucks from U.S. highways.
Under provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), restrictions on Mexican trucks and buses were to be lifted Jan. 1, allowing them unfettered access to U.S. borders.
Teamsters and members of the Amalgamated Transit Union persuaded members of Congress to ask President Clinton to keep the border closed, citing concerns about American jobs, as well as health and safety. Unlike the United States, Mexico doesn’t have vehicle maintenance standards, a safety rating system or restrictions on the number of hours a trucker can drive. Federal officials say Mexican trucks will continue to be restricted to specific U.S. border commercial zones until Mexico addresses U.S. safety concerns.
Governor Bucks Politics, Backs Unions
Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton got a chilly reception from state politicians after he called on them to support collective bargaining for public employees.
“If a majority of the employees of any public employer want a union, then, just like in the private sector, they ought to have the right to one,” Patton said in his “State of the Commonwealth” speech in January.
Patton, a Democrat, called for a bill giving public workers the right to unionize and said the state’s job grade system and pay structure badly need to be overhauled. Kentucky workers are far behind their peers in other states, he said.
Workers should be prepared for a fight, however. Kentucky House Speaker Jody Richards, a Democrat, and Senate President David Williams, a Republican, said they don’t expect legislative support for collective bargaining.
Union Beats Wal-Mart In Las Vegas
Wal-Mart, infamous for fighting unionization, won’t be able to build a “SuperCenter” in Las Vegas, thanks to the efforts of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
The union led a community campaign against the discount giant, which would have sold groceries — in addition to everything else under the sun — at the proposed store. Wal-Mart tried to persuade residents that food prices go down in towns where SuperCenters go up, but a study by the Nevada Council of Senior Citizens disproved the claim.
“Wal-Mart destroys jobs, neighborhoods and businesses,” said Rebecca West, president of UFCW Local 711.
Wal-Mart’s problems don’t end in Las Vegas. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court decision finding Wal-Mart liable for the racial harassment of a Hispanic contractor — a $300,000 verdict. In another case, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a $157,000 judgment against the company for denying work to a man with a prosthetic arm.