bargaining

  • How to Bargain Concessions (If You Must)
    Richard de Vries
    May 15 2012 - 4:10pm

    Can concessions save jobs? Almost always they cannot, and certainly not in the big picture. Concessions can’t fix a collapsed market or stop offshoring, nor the 1%’s relentless assault on the working class. But concessions may save jobs in the short term if the union bargains hard in areas not traditional to our thinking and gets specific, concrete guarantees.

  • UAW Dissidents Push Second-Tier Workers into Contract Talks
    Jane Slaughter
    Sep 6 2011 - 5:16pm

    Auto worker dissidents are claiming progress in their campaign against the two-tier system that pays new hires half a wage, as UAW President Bob King now says a pay boost for these workers is his top priority.

  • Big Organizing Challenge Remains After Temporary Truce at Verizon
    Steve Early
    Aug 22 2011 - 3:27pm

    As the unions at Verizon enter the uncharted waters of what could still be an intermittent strike, continued mobilization is needed to keep maximum pressure on Verizon.

  • Democrats Join the Raid On Union Bargaining Rights
    Howard Ryan
    May 23 2011 - 9:34am

    Rarely have labor-backed Democrats targeted the right of public employees to collectively bargain. That’s now changing. In several states, Democrats are betting they can cut into public employee rights and still win union backing.

  • From Breakfast Club to the Big Time
    James Fouts, Scott Ranney, Chuck Norris-Brown
    May 21 2011 - 2:51am
    ** Print only

    Two years ago the bus drivers and mechanics of Teamsters Local 597 were about as disconnected as they could be from our union. Negotiations with the Chittenden County Transportation Authority in northern Vermont were going on, but no one was seriously involved.

  • Small Local Stands Up, and After 18 Months, AT&T Backs Down on Some Concessions
    Charles Borchert, Jr.
    Sep 24 2010 - 11:24pm

    We at CWA Local 1298 got the message when an AT&T executive put out a company-wide memo two years ago: “We are not Verizon.”

  • Bargain to Organize, Organize to Bargain
    Matt Luskin
    Sep 22 2010 - 10:00pm

    The labor movement has long debated its priority: organize new members or represent the ones we have? We've had to do both, or we could do neither. Our local has found that we grow because of the strength of current members.

  • Make Technology Work For—Not Against—Us
    Charley Richardson
    Aug 13 2010 - 8:49am

    New technologies can affect the number of jobs, the skills needed, training issues, monitoring, pace of work, intensity of work, control over the work process, and even the ability to do our work well. What should we do about technology? What do we need to know? We do have rights, but we need to take the initiative.

  • Bargaining for Health Insurance
    Peter Knowlton
    Jun 18 2010 - 6:17am
    ** Print only

    One of a negotiating committee’s biggest challenges is holding on to affordable health insurance. The latest attempt to chisel our coverage is “lower-cost” high-deductible plans and Health Savings Accounts—which make us pay huge up-front deductibles.

  • Health Care Bill's Hidden Pitfalls

    The version of health insurance legislation that passed the House of Representatives Sunday will affect workers in ways both obvious and not so obvious.