July 28, 2005

 

Full speed ahead in Iowa

Two years of persistent efforts by Council 61 to organize 2,500 home care providers brought a grand reward July 4: Governor Vilsack (D) issued an executive order granting the workers the right to organize — and for their union to bargain with the state. During the campaign, SEIU attempted to interfere with the organizing efforts, but an impartial AFL-CIO Umpire sided with AFSCME. And on July 15, Council 61 was certified by an independent third party as the providers' exclusive representative by verifying majority support through card check. Vilsack's order notes that "individual providers work in the homes of consumers throughout Iowa and therefore cannot effectively voice their concerns about ...the terms and conditions of their employment without representation." Next step: build union strength and prepare to negotiate with the state.

Another Council 61 development: Staff representative Dan Homan was elected president during the union's biennial convention. He replaces IVP Jan Corderman, who served for 10 years.

Reporting organizing wins in ...

West Virginia, where the lack of collective bargaining rights for public employees didn't stop Council 77 from launching a successful organizing drive: 315 new members in a 100-day period through July 20. Despite a small staff and limited budget, the union used site visits, one-on-one meetings, targeted mailings, e-mail, phone calls and its website. The campaign continues; and in New York, where a unit of 45 employees at St. Johnsville Central School District has won voluntary recognition with CSEA/AFSCME Local 1000. Twelve police officers in the Town of Lakewood also joined the union.

Two-time winner

Sheila Hill, a Maryland CO and the president of Patuxent Institution Local 1319 (Council 92), has been re-elected to the State Retirement Board. Running against two other candidates for a four-year term, she received 50.7 percent of the vote. Hill sits on the council's executive board and chairs the Maryland AFSCME Corrections Steering Committee.

Every 1 percent matters

Nearly 100,000 members of New York's DC 37 will soon get an extra 1 percent in their paychecks. The additional money (about $300 for the average worker, based on June 2004 salaries) stems from a 2002-05 contract agreement that the city would add the 1 percent on condition that a joint union-city committee could find productivity savings worth at least $40 million. The committee did. It increased "civilianization" in the police department, replaced outside contractors with city employees in many clerical and computer positions, and agreed to mutual efforts to reduce the use of paid sick leave. The extra 1 percent brings the total raise that came July 1 of last year up to 3 percent.

Signing ends strike

Some 185 employees of Philadelphia's Golden Slipper Uptown Home for the Aged called off a six-day walkout after ratifying a five- year contract that's similar to those approved a week earlier by other members of NUHHCE/AFSCME Local 1199C. Those contracts, which run through June 2010, cover some 10,000 LPNs, service and maintenance workers, and professional and technical staff at Philadelphia-area hospitals, behavioral health centers and nursing homes. Wages of mental health and nursing home employees will increase by $2.05 over a five-year period; hospital workers will get annual 3 percent hikes over the same period. The deal includes an increase in the employer contribution to health insurance and other benefits.

More $, better choices

About 100 city employees in Muncie, Ind., members of Local 3656 (Council 62), have unanimously approved a three-year contract with raises of 1.5-percent in 2006, 2 percent the next year and 2.5 percent in 2007. In addition, employees will get more health insurance choices at what's anticipated to be a lower cost.

Schooled in negotiating

About 900 Duke University employees have a new three-year contract. Members of North Carolina Local 77 ratified an agreement that provides an annual 2.5-percent wage increase for housekeeping, campus dining, grounds and animal care workers. The deal, reached after 26 negotiating sessions that began in May, also establishes a minimum starting wage of $10 per hour — which means an immediate pay increase for about one-third of the current employees. The previous contract expired last month.

Win contract, then grow

A three-year contract with the University of Florida/Gainesville, covering more than 400 operations-unit employees, has been settled. It includes a 3.6-percent wage increase, effective Aug. 1, plus a merit raise based on salary and tenure, retroactive to this February. A wage re-opener kicks in next year. Council 79 now plans an internal organizing drive to take advantage of its bargaining success.

In memoriam

J. Thomas Chellel, 58, president of Rhode Island Council 94 for more than a quarter-century, died July 13 at his Pawtucket home. Well known for his political savvy and active to the last, he recently delivered a ringing address at a state-budget rally of 3,000 held in front of the capitol. Donations in Chellel's memory may be made to "The Jimmy Fund," c/o the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 1 Harvard St., Brookline, Mass. 02445.