Labor Notes - public sector

'Why Privatize? We Can Run It Better!'

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:35:28 -0500

Author(s):
Dave Cohen

Excerpt:

That’s the question United Electrical Workers Local 274 and the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) asked when their wastewater treatment plant was threatened with privatization....

Body:

“Why privatize? We can run it better!” That’s the question United Electrical Workers Local 274 and the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) asked when their wastewater treatment plant was threatened with privatization.

The city council—called a Selectboard—in Montague, Massachusetts, a town of 8,500 in the western part of the state, was concerned about the treatment plant because it had lost a large industrial customer. But the Selectboard never thought to ask the people who worked there what to do.

Instead, it solicited bids to privatize the plant in hopes of saving the town money. Soon four companies had handed in proposals, most of which promised big savings. Because of intense pressure from union members, none of the proposals called for layoffs or wage cuts (except, perhaps, cuts in management).

Available Online:
Yes

Day 1 - Is SWU Bad for the Public Sector?

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:43:45 -0500

Once I got my food I had a really interesting conversation at the lunch table with several rank-and-file SEIU members. I was sitting next to a woman from 1199 New York who remarked that this convention, her fourth one, lacked energy. The man sitting next to her commented on all the security.

Another delegate started talking about Bruce Raynor, president of UNITE HERE, who spoke right before lunch. He said he had some differences with Raynor’s assessment of the Service Workers United (SWU) alliance that SEIU has with UNITE HERE. According to him, “SWU has been terrible for us. It undermines our wages.” He explained that he is a public sector worker, and that there is contracting out in his building. The workers at Sodexo doing this contracted work make a lot less than he does, even with the union. And because the union has been focused on organizing the Sodexo workers they have been softer about fighting the privatization of public jobs in the same buildings.

New York School Aide Booted from Ballot

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:16:15 -0600

Author(s):
Mischa Gaus

Excerpt:

Tripping up an insurgent campaign among school aides, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 372 disqualified in mid-November a dissident candidate for the union’s executive board. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Help Mexico Teach North Carolina About Unions

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:13:35 -0600

Body:

North Carolina is under new scrutiny for its poor labor standards, this time from a foreign government. Under a side accord in NAFTA called the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, the Mexican government is challenging the state to implement collective bargaining rights for public sector workers. It has also requested a progress report on a recent inquiry by the International Labor Organization (ILO) into the state’s prohibition against bargaining.

Earlier this year, the ILO ruled that North Carolina’s failure to comply with “freedom of association principles...has resulted in grievous working conditions for many public sector workers.” It called on the U.S. to ratify and adhere to the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which includes collective bargaining.

Expiration Date:
Mon, 12/31/2007 - 10:59pm

The Loyal Opposition in New York's Teachers Union Collapses After Making Deal with Unity Caucus

Mon, 17 May 2004 11:38:15 -0500

Author(s):
Marian Swerdlow

Excerpt:

Recent elections in New York’s United Federation of Teachers -- the nation’s largest teachers union local -- marked a sea change in the union’s internal politics.

In the short term, no serious challenge is posed to the Unity caucus, an efficient monolith which has dominated the UFT for decades and rewards members with jobs outside the classroom. But in the long term, these elections may signal a revitalization of opposition to Unity within the UFT.

Available Online:
Yes

Union Leaders Suspended for Being Part of Reform Caucus

Tue, 29 Feb 2000 23:00:00 -0600

Author(s):
by Leah Samuel

Excerpt:

The top elected officers of a major section of the California State Employees Association/SEIU Local 1000 have been suspended from membership. CSEA President Perry Kenny suspended the leaders of CSEA's Civil Service Division, charging them with creating a competing union. Those suspended are members of an internal union group, the Caucus for a Democratic Union.

Available Online:
Yes