Maryland State Workers Gain Voice on the Job with AFSCME
by Jeff Pittman | March 19, 2013
Nearly 1,500 Maryland state workers have won a voice on the job with an overwhelming vote to join AFSCME Council 3.
The workers are employed in the state Office of the Comptroller, Department of Education, Retirement and Pension System and Transportation Authority. Nearly 7 out of 10 workers cast ballots for AFSCME.
The Maryland General Assembly passed a bill last April that authorized collective bargaining rights to workers in these four previously excluded agencies – rights previously granted to other state public service workers. AFSCME members lobbied hard for this bill.
“State workers deserve the same right to vote for collective bargaining if we choose to that most other workers already have,” said state employee Jody Curry, a new, proud AFSCME member. “Nearly 70 percent of my co-workers and I voted yes, for AFSCME 3 and collective bargaining.”
Council 3 Pres. Patrick Moran said the decisive victory came at a significant time in the new council’s history.
“We were founded in December, so to come out of the gate with this significant organizing victory shows that unions are very much here for workers and workers are responding to that,” Moran said.
Workers nationwide are winning a voice on the job through AFSCME. See some of our latest victories here.
Invisible but Important: Unseen Sequestration Cuts Put All at Risk
by Elaine Snyder | March 20, 2013
Few people love bureaucrats. When they hear that word they think of red tape and faceless people in grey suits sitting in windowless offices rubber stamping paperwork. Well, let me tell you: I am a bureaucrat and I’m proud of it.
I work in the Bureau of Justice Assistance at the Department of Justice. I work for the American people and I am worried about the dangerous effects sequestration will have on the projects that I help make happen.
The Justice Department awards grants to local governments. Those grants are used to keep our communities safe. I’m talking about bully prevention programs in our schools, support for victims of violent crimes and training for local police forces. When sequestration cuts hit us, the projects we work with will not receive the support they need, funds will dry up and our communities will suffer.
So many politicians in Washington claim the sequester cuts are invisible cuts. Well, some of the most important things we do at the Department of Justice are designed to be invisible.
Take for example one project we fund that targets Internet predators. We have law enforcement officials scour the Internet to catch predators trolling in online chat rooms and other websites to prey on children. You may never meet these law enforcement officials; in fact if you do, it means you were doing something wrong.
But when your kid logs on to Facebook or starts tweeting, you want to know that someone is there keeping the bad guys at bay. These invisible crime fighters are in front of their computers protecting our kids from the very real threat of online predators. The Internet is a big place and slowing their work or asking them to do more with less will leave us all more vulnerable.
Sometimes it’s the things we can’t see that we really need the most.
Elaine Snyder, a member of AFSCME Council 26, works for the Bureau of Justice Assistance with the Department of Justice. She lives in Frederick, Md.
AFSCME Applauds President Obama’s Labor Secretary Appointment: Thomas E. Perez
by Clyde Weiss | March 18, 2013
Thomas E. Perez, nominated today by Pres. Barack Obama to be the nation’s next Secretary of Labor, will stand strong for America’s workers whose rights in the workplace are continually threatened by corporate leaders and lawmakers who do their bidding, said AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders.
“Workers are under attack and deserve a true advocate,” said President Saunders. “Corporate-backed politicians are attacking fundamental American rights on the job, from collective bargaining to workplace safety to retirement security.”
Perez’s “experience, and his deep respect for working men and women, makes him an excellent choice for Secretary of Labor,” President Saunders added. In addition to his background as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Perez also was a Justice Department attorney for 12 years, prosecuting civil rights cases. The Harvard-educated lawyer also was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration and a former secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
As a first-generation Dominican American, Perez also would become the only Latino in President Obama’s Cabinet at this time. That is no small matter in a nation where the Latino community is increasingly important to the nation’s economic growth.
With so much at stake, President Saunders said, “we urge his swift confirmation.”
Workers Rally for Immigration Reform in San Diego
by Cynthia McCabe | March 16, 2013
SAN DIEGO – Workers tired of the nation’s 11 million immigrants being exploited for labor then left out of the American Dream came from across Southern California to raise their voices and call for comprehensive immigration reform.
“The time is now to fix our broken immigration system,” Pres. Lee Saunders told the cheering crowd gathered outside a local church for an afternoon of activism and testimonials from immigrant workers and students. Joining him were Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Rep. Juan Vargas of California. Saunders urged the hundreds in attendance Saturday to demand action from Congress. “We’ve got to be on the frontlines of this fight to bring 11 million aspiring citizens out of the shadows.”
Rally participant Gilbert Leos, a home care provider in San Diego with United Domestic Workers/AFSCME Local 3930, is also a former border patrol agent. In both his current and former profession, he saw the desire of immigrants to come to this country to improve their own lives and to make a contribution.
“I saw what the needs are for immigration reform,” said Leos. “People just want to have a better life and make a decent living.”
Members of the United Domestic Workers, University of California Local 3299, Local 127 (Council 36) and United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals stood in solidarity with their sisters and brothers from the AFL-CIO San Diego and Imperial Counties Central Labor Council and Unite Here at the event.
The afternoon’s events were part of an ongoing cross-country tour mobilizing activists. Future stops include northern California, New York, New Jersey and Chicago. AFSCME Sec.-Treas. Laura Reyes, who sits on the National AFL-CIO Immigration Reform Task Force, recently appeared at a rally in Anaheim, Calif.
On Saturday, waving signs that read, “The time is now,” attendees echoed the message that immigrant workers want to join in the fight for a voice on the job, good wages and better working conditions. But they can’t speak out and join the fight if they’re denied the basic right to citizenship in the country where they labor in service.
“We have to pull together as a community to make this reform happen,” UDW Executive Director and AFSCME International Vice President Doug Moore said. His fellow International Vice President Johanna Hester pointed out that this effort will come from just such a collaboration. “We are seeing labor joining with our progressive allies, faith-based groups and community members with a new sense of urgency and commitment.”
Also participating were Maria Elena Durazo, chairwoman of the AFL-CIO Immigration Reform Task Force and Lorena Gonzales, Secretary-Treasurer of the Central Labor Council. At a prayer service preceding the rally, immigrants shared their stories of struggle and fear under the current system.
Help Arrives for Newtown, Conn., Workers Affected by Tragedy
by Pablo Ros | March 13, 2013
A charitable fund was created yesterday in Connecticut to help cover the mental health costs of workers traumatized by the Newtown school tragedy, including first responders and other public employees who are AFSCME members.
Gov. Dannel Malloy signed the bill into law establishing the Sandy Hook Workers Assistance Fund after it was unanimously approved by both chambers of the state General Assembly.
The fund will complement the state’s workers’ compensation benefits, which do not include coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder or other emotional or mental trauma. And it is intended for all workers affected by the tragedy – from first responders to teachers and custodians.
“We commend General Assembly leaders for uniting in a bipartisan fashion to help workers who suffered great emotional trauma from responding to the massacre,” said Salvatore Luciano, an AFSCME International vice president and executive director of AFSCME Council 4, which represents 35,000 employees, many of them in Connecticut state and local government. "We must continue working together to honor the brave children and workers who died that horrible day, and to help the Newtown community heal.”
First responders who walked into the horrific scene inside the school on Dec. 14 – after a gunman shot and killed 20 children and six adults – were traumatized by the experience. And many of them received health services from the Connecticut Council of Police Unions (AFSCME Council 15), which also encouraged them to attend peer-support team meetings.
But because workers’ compensation does not cover injuries resulting from mental trauma, many who needed help the most were left to fend for themselves. Unable to return to work, they depleted sick and vacation time before being forced to choose between fully recovering and earning a paycheck.
“This fund will now take care of their immediate needs,” said Jeffrey Matchett, executive director of AFSCME Council 15, which includes members of the Newtown Police Department. “It’s going to make up for some lost wages and copays for insurance, and it’s going to fill the short-term void left by workers’ compensation.”
The new law will allow those eligible to receive financial assistance for uncompensated leave from their job, and pay for related medical expenses not covered by their own health insurance. The program, which will limit each claim to one year of benefits, will be privately funded and administered by the state’s Office of Victims Services.
AFSCME applauds this effort, as well as a separate bill yet to be signed into law that would require Connecticut’s workers’ compensation system to cover mental or emotional illness resulting from workplace trauma.
New Orleans Cab Drivers Seek Fair Treatment on the Job
by Kate Childs Graham | March 13, 2013
Dolores Montgomery has been a taxi cab driver in New Orleans for 17 years. She knows the city inside and out. She gets people – tourists and residents alike – to the places they need to go safely and efficiently. And she does it all with a warm smile on her face.
Montgomery says she’s never had a bad experience with the people she serves. However, the drivers are currently losing their independence and their voice on the job, and “We have to stop it,” she said.
Cab drivers in New Orleans are currently considered independent contractors. They have no right to collective bargaining. The City of New Orleans controls every aspect of their work. Yet, the workers themselves have no voice to challenge their working conditions.
To engage the community they serve in their struggle, drivers are partnering with AFSCME Council 17 and meeting with progressive organizations across the city to drive home their message: All workers in New Orleans deserve a voice.
When taxi drivers have a voice, the community will prosper.
“We provide a quality and necessary service to the people of New Orleans and to the whole tourism industry,” Montgomery said.
New Orleans' tourism industry brings in $5.5 billion per year, accounting for 40 percent of New Orleans’ tax revenues. From the pick-up area at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to the shuttling of tourists between the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, the tourism industry relies heavily on quality cab services.
Right now, with the help of AFSCME Council 17, drivers are working to remind Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the City Council of how a safe, stable tax system in New Orleans benefits everyone.
“In the taxi cab industry, you meet so many people from around the country and around the world,” Montgomery said. “You get to talk to these people and get to know where they come from. I’ve had everybody in my cab from the hustlers to the CEOs. I treat everyone the same.”
Now, it’s time for Montgomery and her fellow New Orleans cab drivers to get fair treatment on the job.
Shutdown of New Jersey Centers Likely to Upset Lives of Most Vulnerable
by Pablo Ros | March 07, 2013
Despite all the odds against her, Catherine O’Brien, a resident of the Woodbridge Developmental Center in New Jersey, has made it this far.
The daughter of Donald and Virginia O’Brien, Catherine is in her 50s but functions at the level of a seven-month-old. She suffered severe brain damage at birth, cannot talk or verbally communicate her needs, is subject to seizures, requires a special diet, and must be transported in a wheelchair.
Yet despite all this, Catherine is “contented and happy” at the publicly run facility, according to her parents, who write: “She receives the best of care there. The professional doctors, nurses, social workers, therapists, personal care assistants and many other employees on staff provide a high quality of life for Cathy and all the residents.”
This is why it is so upsetting to the parents and guardians of the more than 700 residents at the Woodbridge and North Jersey developmental centers that state officials are trying to shut them down ever since a government-appointed task force last year decided so. It issued a legally binding recommendation for shutting down the facilities.
According to a survey in 2012, 96 percent of parents or guardians of the severely intellectually disabled individuals who live there oppose the closing and the transfer of their loved ones to privately run community homes.
But because of Gov. Chris Christie’s political agenda – with an emphasis on privatization, despite evidence that publicly run centers provide better care – the parents of Catherine and others may soon have to travel more than 100 miles to see them. This sudden change in the lives of individuals who lack the tools to understand the decisions made for them may prove to be extremely disruptive.
Catherine “is classified as not being a candidate for living in a community home by the professional staff inter-disciplinary team,” her parents write. “She becomes very upset by change and needs frequent contact with us to keep her stable and happy.”
Not only do the Woodbridge and North Jersey centers fulfill the needs of their residents, they are the only facilities of their kind in the northern part of the state. Privately run facilities often have little oversight and have been known to reap millions of dollars from Medicaid. And there are proven dangers to individuals who are transferred from developmental centers to community homes.
Today, the hopes of those affected by this short-sighted decision are pinned on legislation introduced recently by Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle that would keep at least one developmental center in each region of the state. Also, state Sen. Joseph Vitale plans to introduce legislation that would keep both centers open.
AFSCME is leading a coalition of families, friends and caregivers to keep all the state’s seven care centers open, “as a life-saving choice for our most severely intellectually disabled individuals and their families.” The group has a Facebook page.
Please help keep open the Woodbridge and North Jersey centers by signing this online petition.
Mother Jones’ Hit Job on Unions: With Friends Like These...
by Anders Lindall and Chris Policano | March 06, 2013
It may be true that, in the words of The Godfather’s Michael Corleone, it’s important to keep your enemies closest. But, as Mother Jones recently proved, you have to keep your friends close, too.
On Feb. 22, the progressive magazine published on its website an article that took AFSCME and other unions to task for “furthering America’s addiction to mass incarceration.”
Mother Jones is an important voice, normally outside of the mainstream media’s anti-union chorus.
But boy did they get this one wrong.
In reality, the issue of “mass incarceration” never entered the Tamms prison debate – which itself was part of a much wider debate about Illinois prison closures over the past year. The pro-closure side of that debate argued five prisons should be shuttered because the state couldn’t afford them.
AFSCME Council 31 – which represents Illinois corrections officers – argued that it was wrong and dangerous to close any prison at a time when the state’s all-time high population of more than 49,000 adult inmates is crowded into prisons built for just 32,000. Our case was for the safety of workers, the dignity of inmates and the security of the general public.
Mother Jones neglected to mention Council 31’s efforts to prevent the closure of the Dwight Correctional Center for women and three secure halfway houses known as Adult Transition Centers. These facilities offer programs that have been uniquely successful in reducing recidivism, and in speaking out to keep them open, the union has been joined by the state’s leading inmate advocacy group, the John Howard Association. The union and inmate advocates agree that the closures would worsen overcrowding, violence and inmate living conditions throughout the rest of the state prison system.
The authors of the piece also failed to note the union’s support for legislation passed last year to reinstate the awarding of good-time credits for inmates. AFSCME supported this legislation because it could be a positive first step toward relieving dangerous and degrading overcrowding. Moreover, when responsibly administered, good-time incentives are a crucial tool to encourage the completion of rehabilitative programs that reduce recidivism and reward safe comportment and good behavior.
Efforts to limit overcrowding, preserve rehabilitative programs and reinstate good-time credits may be a lot of things, but “furthering America’s addiction to mass incarceration” they’re not.
In reality, incarceration rates are driven by criminal statutes and sentencing laws, not by our union’s insistence on maintaining safe conditions in the prisons where our members work or our advocacy for the rehabilitative programs they administer.
Make no mistake, there are significant problems plaguing America’s corrections system. Chief among them, the danger posed to our communities, inmates and our nation’s corrections workers by turning public prisons into private, profit-making institutions. Corrections Corporation of America last year sent a letter to our nation’s governors offering to buy their prisons in exchange for a 20-year guarantee that the prisons would remain 90% occupied. As shocking as this is, so-called “bed guarantees” are not uncommon. If you want to figure out what’s driving our nation’s addiction to mass incarceration, follow the money.
Mother Jones would better serve its readers by shining a light on prison privateers’ toxic agenda, not by inaccurately attacking those of us who work every day to help our communities.
AFSCME Members Rally for Immigration Reform
by Kate Childs Graham | March 06, 2013
Just a few weeks ago, responding to President Barack Obama’s call to fix our broken immigration system, AFSCME President Lee Saunders and Sec.-Treas. Laura Reyes said, “Immigrant rights are worker rights, and AFSCME will be on the frontlines of the march toward comprehensive immigration reform.”
Since then, AFSCME has indeed been on the frontlines. First, AFSCME members lobbied more than 50 members of Congress on the issue during its Legislative Conference. Now, AFSCME is co-sponsoring a series of events across the country calling for fair and comprehensive immigration reform.
The message is clear: We need our members of Congress to pass common-sense immigration legislation that creates a roadmap to citizenship for aspiring Americans. Currently, there is an underground economy where employers pay immigrants workers next-to-nothing and have them work in dangerous conditions. Plus, these employers avoid paying taxes. This lowers standards for all workers and deprives our communities of much-needed revenue. A clear path to citizenship would raise wages for all workers – no matter where they were born.
This past weekend, hundreds of workers and community allies came out to affirm that message at AFSCME-sponsored rallies in Orlando, Fla., Haines City, Fla. and Union, N.J.
In Orlando, Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), a key champion on Capitol Hill for immigrant rights, spoke. He said, “The moment for immigration reform is now. The Latino community…with your massive voter turnout…along with union allies like AFSCME, SEIU and UNITE HERE will make it happen. Sí, se puede!”
More events are scheduled for the tour on Thursday in Chicago, Ill., on Saturday in Houston, Texas, March 16 in Chula Vista, Calif., and March 17 in northern California. Check back here for event details.
Federal Minimum Wage Doesn’t Go Far Enough for Workers
by Joye Barksdale | March 05, 2013
What can you buy for $7.25? Let’s see…
Seven items from your local dollar store, not including sales tax.
An Angry Whopper with a side order of French fries.
Two packages of F.M. Brown’s Extreme Select Seeds for your hamster.
Not bad, perhaps, if you like bargains, fast food and small, furry pets. But if $7.25 – the federal minimum wage – is your hourly pay, what you can’t buy is a decent living.
Sen. Tom Harkin (IA) and Rep. George Miller (CA) want to raise the federal minimum wage. They plan to introduce a bill that would raise it to $10.10 an hour and provide for automatic future increases based on the cost of living.
“It is more apparent than ever that working families struggling to make ends meet on today’s minimum wage…need and deserve a raise,” they said in a jointly issued statement. “By acting now to raise the minimum wage we will lift families out of poverty while simultaneously giving a significant boost to our economy. An increase in the minimum wage is long overdue.”
President Obama in his State of the Union address called for raising the federal minimum wage for the first time since a legislated increase five years ago, from $7.25 to $9 an hour. Ultra-conservatives immediately criticized his proposal and argued that it would lead to higher unemployment. But many economists dismissed their concerns, believing that raising the wage would stimulate the economy because the lowest-paid workers would have more money to spend on products and services.
Aside from stimulating the economy, a higher minimum wage would help address growing inequality, particularly for women because they constitute a majority of the workers who would benefit, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
The federal minimum wage was last raised five years ago. Since then, several states have adopted higher minimum wages. (The highest minimum wage in the nation is Washington State’s, which is set at $9.19 an hour.) But in nearly half the states, the minimum wage is the same as the federal wage.
“If we want the fruits of economic growth to benefit the vast majority, we will have to adopt a different set of guideposts for setting economic policy, as the ones in place over the last several decades have served those with the most income, wealth and political power,” wrote Lawrence Mishel, president of the EPI. “Establishing a higher minimum wage is an important piece of what is needed.”
