August 17, 2005

Reporting organizing wins in ...

Connecticut, where a unit of 41 North Haven police officers voted to join Council 15, the state's largest police union, in the New Hampshire town of Weare, whose 13-member police force has voted to organize with Council 93. They plan to negotiate their first contract this fall; and in Ohio, where 137 clerical employees and 305 service and maintenance employees at Cuyahoga County Metropolitan Housing Authority formed a union with Council 8 after. (SEIU "declined interest" in the Ohio unit after a strong majority expressed interest in AFSCME.)

Take that, raiders!

In its struggles with SEIU, AFSCME International has not yet reached a no-raid agreement, but in Riverside County, Calif., it has produced a decisive no-raid result. A smashing 93 percent of Riverside home care workers voting last Saturday ratified a UDW contract that gives them a 13 percent increase in wages and benefits. The ratification marks the first big contract victory for UDW since the International placed the affiliate under administratorship and took charge of day-to-day operations, including contract negotiation. Declared Felice Conolly, an AFSCME/UDW member who served on the contract committee, "Solidarity is powerful, and that is what AFSCME is all about."

Up and up

Washington state Council 28's new contract has become a membership magnet: So far, 29,148 workers — a majority of those it represents — have chosen to become full, dues-paying members. The net gain is about 10,000 dues-paying members. Another 3,000 workers may be joining the fold: They have yet to turn in their dues or agency-fee cards, which the contract requires, but the union has extended the July deadline for doing so.

Clock keeps ticking

New Mexico State University workers are getting more time to join up. The university's Labor Board agreed to give them 18 months — twice what NMSU management wanted — to sign and submit enrollment cards to form a union with Council 18. Seeking to organize about 2,300 professional and classified employees statewide, the union began collecting cards last fall. The extension stretches the organizing period to March 1, 2006.

Parity at last

They nearly went out on strike, but now almost 400 health care workers at 23 Illinois state prisons — members of Council 31 — have ratified a new, three-year contract they can be proud of. The health care professionals, including nurses and pharmacists, had voted 365-5 for a early- July strike against Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources Inc., which was paying substandard wages. The workers had even ordered up portable toilets and tents when the state ended its $83 million contract with Wexford and hired Health Professionals Ltd. Bargaining then resumed. Council Regional Director Buddy Maupin says the contract achieves the goal of establishing statewide, unified pay scales; even with similar levels of experience at the same jobs, workers at various prisons previously were subject to different pay rates. The contract also includes wage hikes, retroactive to July 5, that range from 2 percent to more than 20 percent, depending on seniority and other factors. In January, employees will get a 3 percent increase, then 2.5 percent the next year and 2 percent in 2008.

Two scores for CSEA

After working without a contract for more than a year, about 175 custodians, nurses, clerical employees, bus drivers and mechanics of New York's Penn Yan Central School District have overwhelmingly ratified a three-year, retroactive agreement. It provides wage hikes of 3.6 percent per year, increases longevity payments and maintains current health insurance contribution levels.

In the Town of Southold, a 160-member, wall-to-wall unit ranging from clerical workers to constables has approved a contract that includes a 10 percent wage increase, retroactive to January 2005, followed by 3.5 percent in 2006 and 3.75 percent in 2007. The town agreed to pay 100 percent of the costs for dental and optical coverage, up from the previous 70/30 split, and to cap worker's out-of-pocket costs for doctor visits and prescriptions. A labor/management committee was established to monitor future changes in the health insurance situation.

C.O. murdered in Tennessee

In a tragedy that made national headlines, AFSCME CO Wayne "Cotton" Morgan was killed while escorting a shackled Tennessee state inmate from a courthouse hearing in Kingston. Morgan was shot, and another officer fired upon, by the inmate's wife. The 56-year-old CO, secretary-treasurer of Local 2173, had worked at the Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex for 28 years. He leaves behind his wife, Viann, two grown children, two grandchildren and his mother.

Pension-board wins

The number of AFSCME members serving on pension boards has reached about 50. In Maryland, Sheila Hill, a CO and longtime president of Patuxent Institution Local 1319, has been re-elected to the State Retirement Board, defeating two other candidates. In California, Yves Chery, a Council 36 parole officer (and treasurer of Local 685) was elected to the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association; he is the first AFSCME member to join the panel.