Custodians at Saint Michael’s College Unionize
by Kate Childs Graham | December 17, 2012
Pope John Paul II called unions an “indispensable element of social life.”
Yet, for too many workers at Catholic institutions of higher education, that which the pope deemed indispensable is actually invisible. Of the 230 Catholic colleges and universities, hardly any have collective bargaining agreements with their workers.
That was the case with St. Michael’s College in Vermont, an institution whose mission promises “policies that are consistent with the principles of the Catholic faith.” But it took more than a mission statement to bring a union for the workers of St. Michael’s. It took a group of dedicated custodians who wanted a union for the same reasons many do: fair pay, good health insurance and a secure retirement.
The custodians had gone without a pay increase for years. This year, the college gave them an increase of about nine dollars per week, while other employees got a raise of $2,500 or more. The custodians saw this as evidence of inequality and a threat to the solidarity of their community – both of which have been cited as injustice by Catholic bishops.
And so, they began to organize.
Many of their fellow custodians were eager to join the effort. Some took more work to convince.
In a flyer distributed to workers before the vote to unionize, union opponents resorted to scare tactics. It read, “SMC will eventually have no choice but to outsource your job to a staffing agency.”
According to Tom Kingston, a custodian and organizer of the union drive, St. Michael’s president also opposed the union and that negatively influenced his professional staff.
“Many employees viewed union activism as opposition to the Church,” Kingston shared.
While the clergy on campus remained silent, the students spoke out for the workers.
Six years ago, the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM) formed to pressure St. Michaels to bring its policies in line with Catholic values. Previously, they ran a campaign to get products made in sweatshops out of the college bookstore.
The students of SLAM stood in solidarity with the custodians from the start of the campaign. They made statements of support. They held coffee breaks for the custodians. They provided refreshments at the union meetings. They gathered petition signatures. And they offered ideas and encouragement to the custodians’ cause.
“A Catholic college like St. Mike’s embodies certain social values,” senior Jerry Carter told a local news outlet. “It’s very important to treat with respect and dignity the people who work here. It’s important to pay them a livable wage and to ensure they have a healthy work environment.”
On November 14, the custodians voted in favor of unionizing and joining AFSCME. Now, they are focused on negotiating a fair contract. The students are looking to their next organizing drive. And St. Michael’s is one step closer to having policies “consistent with the principles of the Catholic faith.”
Reflecting On Today’s Tragedy
December 14, 2012
A message from Diann Woodard, President of the American Federation of School Administrators, AFSA, AFL-CIO.
Brothers and Sisters,
We have been informed that our sister, Dawn Hochsprung was one of the many victims of today’s unthinkable tragedy. Hochsprung is described as a leader and innovator by those who knew her in her community. Our deepest thoughts and prayers go out to her family.
As principals, we consider the students who pass through our hallways and sit in our classrooms as our own, and Hochsprung was no different. It is clear in the way that she proudly tweeted only days before about students rehearsing for their upcoming winter concert. She loved her career and her students, just as she loved her family.
When a parent sends their child to school, they should never have to wonder whether or not they will return home safely. When a teacher steps into their classroom, they should never need to wonder if they will have to block a child from being shot in the middle of an algebra lesson. When a principal welcomes students arriving in the morning, they should never have to wonder if they will later be ushering these same students outside to escape an armed killer.
Moving forward as school administrators, we must come together more than ever and demand that our legislatures take action in response to this atrocity. We must ensure that proper safety measures are put into place to protect our students, teachers, and principals. Above all, we must take care of one another.
In Unity and Solidarity,
Diann Woodard
In Memory of a Working Class Hero
December 14, 2012
Juanita Rodriguez
AFSCME this month mourns the passing of Juanita Rodriguez, Assistant Regional Director of the East Region, a champion for workers’ rights, social justice and human rights.
Rodriguez’s work in AFSCME inspired many. She organized the unorganized and helped thousands gain the voice and respect in the workplace that they deserve. Her deeply held passion for the labor movement was pure. She believed as we all do that every worker deserves a voice.
Born in Piedras Niegras, Mexico, and raised in Del Rio, Texas, her childhood ingrained in her a few unwavering principles: love of family and friends, and unwavering loyalty and commitment. She worked incredibly hard and she understood sacrifice. She knew from personal experience what it means when working people sacrifice in order to feed their families; and she knew what it meant to sacrifice for something bigger than oneself.
Thirty-six years ago, she married her high school sweetheart, Juan. They had two children, Michelle and Johnny, and two grandsons, Jaxon and Orion.
Rodriguez began organizing with AFSCME as a volunteer member organizer in Louisville. It was clear from this first assignment that she had what it took to be a great organizer: strong work ethic, commitment and a connection with the workers she was organizing. She wasn't just talking to someone to get them to join the union. She felt and understood their struggle.
Rodriguez also built special relationships with her fellow organizers. Her trust and loyalty made her a natural mentor.
Sister Rodriguez lived life to the fullest and when you look at her family, her friends and co-workers, or the thousands of workers she has inspired, there is no doubt that she left this world a better place as a result of her actions.
Michigan Battle Extends Beyond Labor
by Kate Childs Graham | December 13, 2012
By now you’ve heard of our battle in Michigan. Corporate-backed politicians have rammed through right-to-work legislation, which will devastate both unions and Michigan’s economy. These lawmakers are following the anti-union agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – the source of much of this legislation.
Their allegiance to ALEC’s agenda extends beyond attacks against unions. Anti-woman, anti-LGBT, pro-gun and anti-education bills are also on the table in Michigan. Here is a round-up of those attacks:
House Bills 5763 and 5764: These bills, which have cleared committee and are headed to the statehouse, would allow adoption agencies to deny an adoption placement based on that agency’s moral or religious beliefs. While they are designed to prohibit adoption by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples, they will really hurt the 14,000 children who are seeking a safe home. Equality Michigan is collecting petition signatures to stop this legislation. Click here to sign.
Senate Bills 612, 613 and 614: These bills, which have been passed in the Senate, will prevent all insurance plans in Michigan from covering abortion unless a woman would die without the procedure. They do not include exceptions for rape or incest. This is model legislation from Americans United for Life (AUL), an organization which works closely with ALEC. There is also a bill passed by the House which would effectively shut down reproductive health clinics and one passed by the Senate that would allow health care providers to use a “moral objection” standard to refuse service to patients.
Senate Bill 59: This bill, which has been passed by the Senate, would eliminate county gun boards and allow people who receive extra training to carry concealed weapons in “gun-free” zones, including schools, hospitals, daycare centers and churches. ALEC, which maintains a strong relationship with the National Rifle Association, has model legislation which amends criminal codes to remove prohibitions to carry handguns on campuses.
Senate Bill 1358 and House Bill 6004: These bills, which have been introduced by the House and Senate and endorsed by Gov. Snyder, would expand the authority of the Education Achievement Authority (EAA), a separate and statewide school district. The EAA would be overseen by a governor-appointed chancellor, sapping local communities of their power. The Michigan Education Association is encouraging advocates to contact Michigan legislators.
House Bill 5923: This bill, which has been introduced by the House, would create charter or virtual schools, run by corporations, which could specify the type of children they want to serve. Education activists have criticized it as a voucher system. ALEC strongly supports voucher programs.
Make no mistake: ALEC and their allies want to wipe out the entire progressive movement. These attacks are as concerted as they are sinister.
We must respond to their strikes with solidarity.
Call Congress to Protect the Middle Class – I Did
December 12, 2012
Richard Gorsuch
This post is from Richard Gorsuch, Road Maintenance Crew in Carbon County, Montana (Local 3526) and Vice President of AFSCME Council 9.
Do you have two minutes to make a phone call? That’s how long it just took me to leave a message for my elected representatives in Washington, and I need you to do the same.
Here’s what I said: Keep your promise to America’s middle class. Don’t cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or any other programs that people need. Don’t hold tax cuts for the middle class hostage to protect tax cuts for millionaires.
For 23 years, I have worked on the road maintenance crew in Carbon County, Mont. Whether I am driving the snow plow or the grader, my job helps keep the roads safe for my neighbors and my family. I have a wife and five children, and spend as much time as possible on my Harley.
For almost as long as I have worked on the road crew, I have been active in my union. It’s not about strikes or unreasonable wages, it’s about fairness. Our union keeps employers and workers honest.
These are the values that should guide our elected leaders who are trying to close the deficit. Working men and women pay the bills of this country and we deserve a fair shake.
Politicians should stick to what they told the people they were gonna do – help hardworking, middle class Americans. If you agree with me, take a couple of minutes to call your representatives today.
Mich. Emergency Financial Manager Law: The Saga Continues
by Kate Childs Graham | December 12, 2012
Earlier this year, members of AFSCME Council 25 deliver petitions for a ballot initiative to repeal the Emergency Financial Manager Law. (Photo by Jim West)
Fresh off their divisive attack ramming right-to-work legislation into law in Michigan, corporate-backed politicians are trying to bring back a law that we already defeated: the Emergency Financial Manager Law, more aptly called the Local Dictator Law.
The law allows an unelected “local dictator” to tear up any union contract, displace any employee or elected official and even abolish a city or a school district.
AFSCME members in Michigan collected more than 200,000 petition signatures to put the law – Public Act 4 – to a citizens’ vote. But two members of the Board of State Canvassers decided that the petitions used the wrong font size on the petition titles, and therefore, were invalid. The state Court of Appeals ruled in favor of ballot access, and the Supreme Court this summer upheld that ruling.
In the months leadings up to the election, AFSCME members knocked on doors and made phone calls, encouraging their neighbors to vote “No!” on the Local Dictator Law - known as Proposal 1 on the ballot. On Election Day, voters repealed the law 53 to 47.
Despite the referendum, eight cities and school districts remain in the control of local dictators, under the auspices of Public Act 72, a precursor to Public Act 4. This is being challenged in court. However, on December 5, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina ruled that Public Act 72 survived in its entirety and remains in effect, despite the November vote.
To add insult to injury, Gov. Rick Snyder announced his intentions to seek a replacement for Public Act 4 during this lame duck session. Senate Bill 865 (H-5) will likely be considered by both the House and the Senate this week.
According to an analysis of the bill by AFSCME Council 25, “The bill reenacts many of the worst provisions of PA 4, in effect negating much the decision made by the people of the State of Michigan.”
Join the workers of Michigan in their fight for justice. Call your friends and neighbors in Michigan. Ask them to tell Gov. Snyder that local dictators are wrong for Michigan.
Thousands Protest Michigan’s Right-to-Work (for Less) Bills
by Clyde Weiss | December 11, 2012
According to news reports, an estimated 10,000 people crowded outside the Michigan state Capitol, with another 2,500 inside the building.
Lansing, Mich. – Thousands of Michigan citizens descended on the state Capitol on Tuesday to show their outrage over efforts by corporate-driven legislators to pass a divisive right-to-work (for less) measure that Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law this afternoon.
Despite suffering the indignity of being pepper-sprayed by police officers, the crowd of demonstrators refused to back down. An estimated 10,000 people crowded outside the Capitol, with another 2,500 inside the building, according to news reports. See videos of the demonstration here.
Chants of “This is our house!” and “Kill the bill!” echoed loudly throughout the morning as demonstrators urged lawmakers to reject the measures. Their energy was sustained not only by their determination to stop Michigan from following in the footsteps of Wisconsin and Indiana – where workers’ rights have also been trampled upon – but also by the hot dogs and energy bars dispersed from an AFSCME tent set up outside the Capitol.
Yet Republican majorities of both houses rammed through two separate bills to create a right-to-work law for both public and private-sector unions. Each was approved by House votes of 58-51, and 58-52, respectively.Governor Snyder signed the legislation behind closed doors, and only after protesters who had filled the Capitol all day headed home after the long day of action.
Pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Council and the billionaire Koch brothers, so-called right to work (RTW) laws do not guarantee a right to work. Instead, they “make it illegal for a group of unionized workers to negotiate a contract that requires each employee who enjoys the benefits of the contract terms to pay his or her share of costs for negotiating and policing the contract,” wrote Heidi Shierholz and Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute in a report on the negative economic impact of such laws on workers.
Gov. Rick Snyder and his Republican supporters in the Legislature claim that this measure is intended to improve the state’s economy, and pointed to Indiana, which he said “had a strong experience” after passing similar legislation. But data “suggests that there is little reason to think RTW has significantly impacted job growth,” according to a new Economic Policy Institute report.
When President Barack Obama said Monday that this debate has nothing to do with economics, he was stating an obvious truth. Collective bargaining improves wages and benefits, putting more money into the hands of working families so that they can feed, clothe and house their children and buy the merchandise – including Detroit’s automobiles – that make it possible for a state’s economy to prosper.
Snyder insisted his goal “isn’t to divide Michigan, it is to bring Michigan together.” But we see through that subterfuge, and so do many of the state’s lawmakers. This debate isn’t about improving the state’s economy. Rep. Steven Lindberg, D-Marquette, put his finger directly on Snyder’s real purpose. “This bill is about breaking unions,” he said.
Lawmakers who vote against workers’ rights can be defeated at the polls, but our union will not be broken by right-wing extremists. AFSCME will keep on fighting for the rights of the working middle class, including the basic right to collective bargaining. It’s our mission, and our promise.
President Obama: Michigan Right-to-Work Bill is All About Politics
by Clyde Weiss | December 10, 2012
President Obama speaks in Redford, Mich.
President Barack Obama put the fight over Michigan’s right-to-work legislation into crystal clear perspective on Monday, declaring that such anti-worker laws “have nothing to do with economics – they have everything to do with politics. What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money.”
Speaking in Redford, where he came to give a speech about the looming fiscal cliff at a Daimler Detroit Diesel plant, the President added, “What we shouldn’t be doing is trying to take away your rights to bargain for better wages and working conditions.” He pointed to Michigan auto workers, whom he said were “instrumental in reviving the auto industry, to see how unions have helped build not only a stronger middle class but a stronger America.
“We don’t want a race to the bottom, we want a race to the top!” he affirmed.
The President’s darts, thrown directly at Gov. Rick Snyder’s efforts to ram a right-to-work law through the Legislature, were bulls-eyes. He’s right that this legislation will only make it easier for employers to drive down wages and benefits.
Right to work laws weaken the ability of workers to bargain collectively for their wages and benefits by driving a wedge between those who join a union and pay dues, and those who benefit from a union’s contract but choose not to pay their fair share for that representation.
Right-to-work laws drive down wages for all workers by an average of $1,500 a year, whether they are in a union or not.
On Tuesday, thousands of Michigan citizens – union members and allies, including members of the faith community, will make their own voices heard on this debate during a rally at the state Capitol in Lansing. They will send a clear message to Governor Snyder that we will not stand for the working middle class being attacked to benefit corporate CEOs.
The Detroit Free Press, in an editorial published Monday, urged the governor to back off and let the voters decide. The paper added, “Snyder has pulled one of the more offensive bait-and-switches in recent political memory. During his campaign and since his election, has said right-to-work was too divisive for Michigan and that it wasn’t on his agenda. Then last week, he did a monumental skin-back on that position.”
Why the rush to push this divisive bill into law? President Obama called it politics, and that’s just what it is – politics of the worst kind. Republicans, who are pushing the measure, now control 64 of the House’s 110 seats in a lame duck session that could end this week. That majority will decline to 59 next year. So Governor Snyder has decided to press while the political iron is hot.
That’s no way to run a government that depends on the good will of both parties to govern effectively for all the people of Michigan. In an effort to defuse this volatile situation, a group of senior Democrats met with the governor behind closed doors on Monday. They called for him to either veto the measure if passed in a final vote expected Tuesday, or to at least put off the vote to let lawmakers debate it.
They also threatened to delay action on other legislation to protest the Republican’s right-to-work scheme.
This deteriorating situation didn’t have to happen. Even Governor Snyder knew how divisive it would be. But he has become a puppet to corporate-driven groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and the Michigan Freedom Fund, which is spending $1 million on TV ads supporting this initiative.
This is all part of a larger initiative by the right-wing and corporate CEOs to silence the voices of the working middle class. That’s why AFSCME will do whatever it takes to save workplace democracy and the American Dream. Nothing is off the table when it comes to how we do it.
A Competition with Very Few Winners
by Pablo Ros | December 06, 2012
The New York Times this week published an investigation in which it found that state and local governments all over the country are competing against each other to lure companies expected to create jobs in a race that is needlessly costing taxpayers $80 billion a year.
Needlessly, because this “race to the bottom,” as The New York Times termed it in an editorial, is a zero-sum game. If only the states and localities agreed with each other to end incentives for businesses that don’t need them, the money they’d save could be better spent on priorities that benefit the middle class.
The incentives began three decades ago but have intensified in recent years. And they come in various forms: cash grants and loans; sales tax breaks; income tax credits and exemptions; free services; and property tax abatements.
State and local governments in Texas and Ohio “have lavished millions of dollars in tax breaks on corporate giants like Samsung and the Big Three automakers—even as they faced budget deficits and were forced to cut spending on critical services,” The Times wrote. New York spends as much money on film credits every year as the cost of hiring 5,000 public-school teachers.
Our elected leaders are betting these businesses will help create local jobs (and they’ll benefit by claiming credit), but that promise isn’t always fulfilled. General Motors has topped the list of companies that receive such incentives, with $1.76 billion since 2007, yet it “subsequently closed dozens of facilities in state and towns that gave it money,” according to The Times.
This would be unacceptable in any historical context. But what is especially troubling is the thought that it happens even as middle-class families struggle through the worst recession in memory and elected leaders balanced state and local budgets on the backs of public workers.
Since federal money is used in state and local budgets, this should also be a matter of concern to the federal government, currently involved in negotiations to address the fiscal deficit.
Michigan Anti-Union Advocates Want to Undermine the Middle Class
by Clyde Weiss | December 06, 2012
Working people pack the Capitol to protest anti-worker legislation.
The corporate-driven, right-wing effort to undermine workers’ rights by pushing so-called “right to work (for less)” laws is moving ahead at full speed in Michigan. The Michigan House and Senate today approved the measure this afternoon after Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican lawmakers put it on a fast track.
Let there be no mistake. Those lawmakers who follow the anti-union agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – the source of much of this legislation – will be held accountable when voters get a chance to speak their own minds.
State Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer called for working people to pack the Capitol today in even larger numbers than the hundreds who crowded inside the Capitol in protest of the expected legislation yesterday. That demonstration is reminiscent of what happened in Wisconsin in 2011 when union members and allies took over that state’s Capitol to protest the loss of collective bargaining rights.
While the fight continues to restore workers’ rights in Wisconsin, we’ve already won key battles. Several lawmakers who supported Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-worker legislation lost their recall elections, resulting in a loss of Walker’s working majority in the state Senate. In Ohio, where Gov. John Kasich launched an attack on workers’ rights, the people overwhelmingly rejected his Senate Bill 5 legislation in a citizens’ referendum last fall.
The corporate forces behind this “right-to-work (for less)” legislation in Michigan came out of hiding Monday when the Michigan Chamber of Commerce announced support for the legislation, ending its neutrality on the issue. Another pro-business group called the Michigan Freedom Fund also announced this week that it is spending $1 million on TV ads supporting this initiative. The group’s president is Greg McNeilly, who managed the failed 2006 gubernatorial campaign of Dick DeVos, an heir to the Amway business fortune who’s estimated net worth is $5.1 billion, according to Forbes.
The proponents argue that this is about workplace fairness and equality, that it does not change collective bargaining, that it is not anti-union – that it’s a matter of fairness. But right-to-work a misleading term that hides what its proponents really want to do: weaken the voices of workers through their unions.
Such laws do not guarantee a right to work. Instead, they allow workers who enjoy the benefits negotiated by a union to avoid having to pay their fair share of the costs of representation.
Studies have shown that workers in right-to-work states lose economically compared to those in non right-to-work states. That’s why we call them right-to-work (for less) states. Read more here.
Delegates to AFSCME’s 40th International Convention in Los Angeles this year approved a resolution declaring that the union and our affiliates will “continue to counter the lies advanced by those individuals and organizations determined to weaken and destroy labor unions, by educating the public and elected officials about the real purpose and effect of these laws.”
AFSCME will fight this dangerous legislation in Michigan and wherever it raises its ugly head. This is a fight for the working middle class.
“This is a fight for the middle class, for workers’ rights and dignity,” says AFSCME Council 25 Pres. Al Garrett. “Those politicians who want to protect the power of the 1 percent over the 99 percent are using this right-to-work legislation as a club to get us to surrender. They’re up to their same old political tricks. Those attacks didn’t work in the last election, which saw President Obama re-elected on the vow to rebuild the middle class, and it won’t work now. We will fight in the streets and in the Statehouse, and like the Wisconsin battle, our voices will be heard.”
