SEIU brutality concerns California nurses union

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee tonight condemned a brutal assault by busloads of purple cloaked staff of the Service Employees International Union who smashed into a conference of union members Saturday night in Dearborn, Mi. and physically assaulted women and union members who stood in their path.

"I am deeply concerned about this heightened attack on women and nurses, directed by SEIU President Andrew Stern," said CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro, who was scheduled to speak about the campaign for genuine healthcare reform at the banquet.

DeMoro cancelled her appearance at the event to coordinate support for CNA/NNOC leaders in California after Stern and SEIU began sending roving bands of staff to the homes of CNA/NNOC RN board members in California Thursday and Friday, stalking and harassing them.

Video: "Ohio SEIU organizers visit CNA Board Member"



"There is an ugly pattern here of physical abuse and tactics of intimidation that have no place in either our labor movement or a civilized society," DeMoro said.

Video: "RNs Condemn Violent SEIU Attack at Conference"



In Dearborn Saturday night, at least seven busloads, carrying up to 500 SEIU staff in purple jackets and T-shirts drove up to the Hyatt Regency Hotel where the banquet was being hosted by the magazine Labor Notes culminating a weekend conference on topics including union democracy, health care reform, and encouraging the resurgent growth of labor.

Upon unloading from the buses, the hundreds of picket-sign wielding staff stormed the hotel and pushed their way through doors to break into the ballroom where the event was being held.

While breaking in the building, the SEIU staff, now joined by SEIU staff inside the building, physically assaulted a group of union members and activists at the door.

At least one woman, a retired auto worker and former business manager for Labor Notes, was injured and went to the hospital after being pushed to the floor and hitting her head on a table.

As the SEIU staff broke into the hall, some three dozen CNA/NNOC nurses and leaders, there to attend the conference, including Malinda Markowitz, RN, a member of CNA/NNOC's Council of Presidents, who was scheduled to speak in DeMoro's place, were whisked out the back of the hall for their safety, leaving in vans. The atmosphere was so tense that hotel cooks tried to climb into the vans to join them for fear of their own safety.

The evening assault at Labor Notes followed a day of disruption by SEIU staff at workshops throughout the day at which various CNA/NNOC members were on panels or participants.

"I am disgusted with the tactics of SEIU and their total disrespect for what was going on here -- members from multiple unions who were discussing an agenda to fight the increased corporate attacks on working people," said Markowitz. "It's clear their only agenda here was to disrupt and try to divide labor and workers. Physical violence is absolutely unacceptable."

"I am absolutely appalled, to have a union coming in here with tons of people ramming down doors. If they have these kind of resources, why aren't they using them to help people in the trenches rather than attacking nurses and other working people," said Danielle Magana, RN, an NNOC member from San Antonio, Tex.

"If I were a nurse here I would not join such an aggressive union," said Prudencia Mweemba, an RN from Zambia who is a PhD candidate at Kent State who was attending the conference. "What they did today showed me they are irresponsible. I don't see how they can represent people with such an attitude."

"Had I not seen this with my own eyes I would not have believed it," said Kimberly Helmick, an Ohio RN. "SEIU did a big injustice to all the labor movement people who were here."

DeMoro noted that irony of the attack on a conference, in which union democracy was a major topic, coinciding with growing efforts by Stern and SEIU International to suppress dissent in his own union and signing contracts with employers that limit the voice of SEIU members at the workplace.

SEIU contracts with nursing home chains, for example, have limited the ability of caregivers to protest and report unsafe conditions. Within SEIU, Stern has been engaged in targeting dissenters and seeking to limit participation at his international convention in June.

Another example, she noted, was SEIU's pact with a Catholic hospital chain in Ohio where SEIU had the employer file for an election to impose SEIU as its handpicked union for RNs and other staff. The deal also barred employees from discussing the election or the union. Ultimately, Stern and the employer cancelled the election when the deal was exposed in part because of CNA/NNOC criticism of the deal, the pretext of the Michigan attack Saturday night.

For more information about SEIU's efforts on behalf of employers, see http://www.ServingEmployersInsteadofUs.org.

(foxbusiness.com)

Dem Rx: No secret-ballot elections for workers

Business and labor groups have taken last year’s expensive lobbying fight over secret ballots and unions to campaigns across the country, as both sides highlight research suggesting candidates would be better off embracing their positions. A coalition of business groups is pressing a new poll that concludes Sens. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) could be boosted by their votes last year against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would allow workers to form unions without a secret ballot. Both are seeking reelection this year against tough Democratic opponents.

The polling also concludes Rep. Mark Udall’s (D-Colo.) vote in favor of EFCA could handicap him in his race for the Senate seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Wayne Allard. It was commissioned by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), an alliance that includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers , both of which lobbied hard against EFCA last year.

CDW’s results show that 41 percent of households in Minnesota and 44 percent in Colorado are “less likely” to vote for a senatorial candidate who supports the EFCA. Only 13 percent in Colorado and 11 percent in Minnesota feel “more likely” to vote for a supporter of the act.

Labor groups dismiss that poll, and are pushing their own research that says EFCA support will help candidates in the fall. They say McLaughlin & Associates , which is led by a Republican pollster, posed questions in a way that would make respondents skeptical of EFCA’s merits.

“The questions [in CDW’s poll] are loaded questions to give a particular outcome,” said Mary Beth Maxwell, executive director of American Rights at Work , a nonprofit group that receives funding from labor unions. She said the CDW poll is getting little attention because it is not credible.

If EFCA became law, workers could form unions as long as a majority of employees sign cards designating a labor group as their bargaining representative. Business groups charge that this would eliminate the secret-ballot system, allowing union supporters to bully and intimidate workers into joining unions. Union representatives counter that the present system allows employers to get rid of union organizers and threaten and intimidate workers into voting against forming a union.

Both sides agree the bill would make it easier for workers to unionize. Since unions are a consistent financial backer of Democratic campaigns, increasing their membership would favor that party.

The House approved EFCA in a 241-185 vote in 2007, but the measure failed to get enough support in the Senate to break a filibuster led by GOP senators. Every Democratic senator with the exception of the absent Sen. Tim Johnson (S.D.) voted to proceed to the bill. Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) was the only GOP senator to vote in favor of moving forward.

Democratic leaders are expected to bring the bill up again in the next Congress if they maintain their majorities. If a Democrat is elected president, a handful of Senate Republicans could be the last barrier to the measure becoming law.

Both Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.), the two Democrats battling for their party’s nomination, voted for EFCA last year, while Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive GOP nominee, voted against it.

The CDW poll suggested union households were less likely to support candidates if they favored EFCA, a conclusion disputed by labor. In union households, 37 percent in Minnesota and 44 percent in Colorado said they were less likely to vote for a candidate who backed EFCA. Only 20 percent of the union households in Minnesota and 11 percent in Colorado were “more likely” to support such a candidate.

The business group highlighted that 80 percent of those polled agreed that secret-ballot elections “are the cornerstone of democracy and should be kept for union elections.” Four hundred union and non-union households were polled in Colorado and Maine, and 500 in Minnesota.

“It’s clear that opposing the private ballot for workers is a political liability for candidates, particularly those running in tight races,” said Brian Worth, vice president of the Independent Electrical Contractors Inc. and a member of CDW, in a press release.

Stewart Acuff, organizing director at the AFL-CIO, said other research suggests Americans will back politicians who support EFCA.

“Our polling indicates 69 percent of Americans think workers should have the benefits of legislations like the Employee Free Choice Act,” Acuff said.

(thehill.com)

Leftists shocked by SEIU's rowdy disgrace

In its latest deplorable action, the Service Employees International Union bused in hundreds of its purple clad staff to break up a conference of union members and activists Saturday night in Dearborn, Mich. Ironically enough, union democracy and empowering workers was one of the themes of the conference, sponsored by the magazine Labor Notes, that SEIU and its President Andrew Stern attempted to close down.

With this latest act of physical aggression, SEIU escalated its campaign against registered nurses and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, many of whose RN leaders were at the conference, and whose executive director Rose Ann DeMoro was the scheduled speaker at the dinner attacked by SEIU.

"There is an ugly pattern here of physical abuse and tactics of intimidation that have no place in either our labor movement or a civilized society," DeMoro later said.

DeMoro canceled her appearance at the event to coordinate support for CNA/NNOC leaders in California after Stern and SEIU began sending roving bands of staff to the homes of CNA/NNOC RN board members in California Thursday and Friday, stalking and harassing them.

In Dearborn Saturday night, at least seven busloads, carrying up to 800 SEIU staff in purple jackets and T-shirts drove up to the Hyatt Regency Hotel where the banquet hosted by Labor Notes was culminating a weekend conference on topics including union democracy, health care reform, and encouraging the resurgent growth of labor.

Upon unloading from the buses, the hundreds of picket-sign wielding staff stormed the hotel and pushed their way through doors to break into the ballroom where the event was being held.

While breaking in the building, the SEIU staff, now joined by SEIU staff inside the building, physically assaulted a group of union members and activists at the door.

As Labor Notes themselves noted in a press release: A recently retired member of United Auto Workers Local 235, Dianne Feeley, suffered a head wound after being knocked to the ground by SEIU International staff and local members. Other conference-goers--members of the Teamsters, UAW, UNITE HERE, International Longshoremen's Association, and SEIU itself--were punched, kicked, shoved, and pushed to the floor.

As the SEIU staff broke into the hall, some three dozen CNA/NNOC nurses and leaders, there to attend the conference, including Malinda Markowitz, RN, a member of CNA/NNOC's Council of Presidents, who was scheduled to speak in DeMoro's place, were whisked out the back of the hall for their safety, leaving in vans. The atmosphere was so tense that hotel cooks tried to climb into the vans to join them for fear of their own safety.

The evening assault at Labor Notes followed a day of disruption by SEIU staff at workshops throughout the day at which various CNA/NNOC members were on panels or participants.

"I am disgusted with the tactics of SEIU and their total disrespect for what was going on here -- members from multiple unions who were discussing an agenda to fight the increased corporate attacks on working people," said Markowitz. "It's clear their only agenda here was to disrupt and try to divide labor and workers. Physical violence is absolutely unacceptable."

"I am absolutely appalled, to have a union coming in here with tons of people ramming down doors. If they have these kind of resources, why aren't they using them to help people in the trenches rather than attacking nurses and other working people," said Danielle Magana, RN, an NNOC member from San Antonio, Tex.

"If I were a nurse here I would not join such an aggressive union," said Prudencia Mweemba, an RN from Zambia who is a PhD candidate at Kent State who was attending the conference. "What they did today showed me they are irresponsible. I don't see how they can represent people with such an attitude."

"Had I not seen this with my own eyes I would not have believed it," said Kimberly Helmick, an Ohio RN. "SEIU did a big injustice to all the labor movement people who were here."

The attack on a conference, in which union democracy was a major topic, coincides with growing efforts by Stern and SEIU International to suppress dissent in his own union and signing contracts with employers that limit the voice of SEIU members at the workplace.

SEIU contracts with nursing home chains, for example, have limited the ability of caregivers to protest and report unsafe conditions. Within SEIU, Stern has been engaged in targeting dissenters and seeking to limit participation at his international convention in June.

Another example, she noted, was SEIU's pact with a Catholic hospital chain in Ohio where SEIU had the employer file for an election to impose SEIU as its handpicked union for RNs and other staff. The deal also barred employees from discussing the election or the union. Ultimately, Stern and the employer cancelled the election when the deal was exposed in part because of CNA/NNOC criticism of the deal, the pretext of the Michigan attack Saturday night.

(huffingtonpost.com)

Violent outbreak tarnishes unions, Dems

An attempt to organize nurses in Ohio is pitting two of the nation's largest labor groups against each other. The confrontation underscores divisions within the labor movement just as unions are trying to coordinate efforts to help elect a Democrat to the White House. Indeed, one union recently urged its locals to withhold dues typically used for voter turnout. More significantly, such fighting could tarnish the image of unions, which have been trying to stem the decline in membership and attract more workers, say labor experts.

The dispute between the Service Employees International Union and the California Nurses Association, which belongs to the AFL-CIO, stems from an effort by both unions to organize 8,000 nurses at nine Catholic Healthcare Partners hospitals in Ohio. The two unions are also battling for members in California.

The fight pits John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, against Andy Stern, president of the SEIU, who led a movement by several unions to leave the AFL-CIO in 2005.

On Saturday, a scuffle broke out between members of the SEIU and participants in a labor solidarity conference in Detroit at which the executive director of the California Nurses Association was scheduled to speak. One attendee was sent to the hospital after cutting her head on a table, according to Chris Kutalik, editor of the magazine Labor Notes, which organized the conference.

Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the 66,000-member nurses' association, decided not to appear at the conference because of tensions between the unions. "Our folks are extremely upset about what happened," she said. "This is a nasty campaign."

Mr. Sweeney condemned the confrontation. "There is no justification -- none -- for the violent attack orchestrated by SEIU," he said in a statement. Mr. Sweeney called on leaders of both unions to meet to resolve their differences.

Mr. Stern, president of the 1.7 million-member SEIU, denied that his union orchestrated an attack and said his protesters were "assaulted" by conference attendees. He said Mr. Sweeney should prevent AFL-CIO members from interfering in the SEIU's Ohio organizing attempt. "John Sweeney has the power to solve this problem," Mr. Stern said.

Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor expert at Cornell University, said such disputes are hurting unions' ability to attract young people. "It could have huge repercussions," she said.

(online.wsj.com)

Barack promises to boost union organizers

Barack Obama spent Tuesday courting union workers and veterans, both important constituencies in Pennsylvania, which holds its Democratic primary next Tuesday. Obama, addressing the Building Trades National Legislative Conference in Washington, said, "Your voices will be heard."

The Illinois senator promised that if he's elected he will support union measures not backed by the Bush administration: the Employee Free Choice Act, giving unions more power to organize (by denying workers an NLRB-supervised secret-ballot unionization election); federal government use of "project labor agreements," and tax policies to discourage sending jobs overseas and reward the creation of U.S. jobs. He said federal infrastructure projects should use union laborers who were paid prevailing wages and good benefits.

At a meeting with veterans and military families later in Washington, Pa., Obama repeated promises to improve mental-health care and brain-injury treatment for veterans.

His rival Hillary Clinton on Tuesday laid out an ambitious agenda for the first 100 days of her presidency, if she's elected, that includes signing legislation that President Bush vetoed, seeking a moratorium on home foreclosures and beginning the process of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

Speaking at an American Society of Newspaper Editors luncheon in Washington, Clinton said that she would ask Congress to eliminate some of Bush's tax cuts -- replacing them with reductions targeting the middle class -- and press Canada and Mexico to renegotiate parts of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Clinton said she would start with bills that Bush had vetoed, including measures to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the use of embryonic stem cells for research.

Clinton told the editors that she would convene a meeting of mortgage lenders, banks, community organizations and regulators to negotiate an immediate freeze on foreclosures.

She vowed to restore ''fiscal sanity'' to Washington by cutting taxes for middle-class families by $100 billion a year and ending tax breaks for oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies and Wall Street firms, saving $55 billion annually.

On climate change, Clinton said she would convene a summit within her first 100 days to negotiate an international climate-change treaty.

On Iraq, she vowed to convene a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other Pentagon officials to begin drawing up plans to withdraw troops starting within 60 days of her inauguration.

She also promised to close the detention center at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which is housing terrorism suspects.

(miamiherald.com)

Bitter Barack runs for Union President

"I'm tired of playing defense all the time," Barack Obama said Tuesday morning. "I want to play some offense." It's a line the candidate has used many times in speaking to labor groups. But it felt a bit different today. Obama has spent much of past few days back on his heels, absorbing furious punishment from the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and John McCain over his "bitter" remarks in San Francisco.

Tuesday, Obama was back in Washington, speaking to about 3,000 union members, gathered here for the Building & Construction Trades Department's annual legislative meeting. Clinton gets her chance tomorrow. The department has not yet endorsed a candidate for president, although many of the individual trade councils that compose the group have.

Obama spent much of the speech focused on the sort of labor-friendly issues that elicited extended applause: opposing "right to work" laws, encouraging union organization, and remaining skeptical of global trade deals.

But eventually he addressed the tempest of the moment, his statements regarding small-town America. In Obama's most recent equation, also road-tested Monday night in Pennsylvania, "bitter" now means "angry" which when coupled with "hope" equals "Obama."

"I said people were bitter," Obama said. "People seemed to misunderstand. Yes, people are angry. If you've been filling up your gas tank, you're angry.


"You've got to feel some frustration. You've got to feel some anger," he said, "when you get the sense that the American way of life for so many people is slipping away."

But, he said, that was "not a reason to give up hope."

And in his most direct shot at Clinton, whom he never mentioned, he said, "If anyone denies that people are frustrated and angry and yes, sometimes bitter, then they are out of touch."

He reserved most of his criticism, though, for McCain, whom he criticized for reversing his stand on repealing President Bush's tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

Obama was introduced by Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, who made much of Obama's common touch, speaking well-worn lines about Obama turning down a job on Wall Street after graduating from Harvard Law School to become a community organizer in Chicago. and about how he and his wife took years to repay student loans.

"He turned down the big money," McCaskill said. "He went to do what was right for our country."

In that vein, Obama told the crowd, "You can trust me. Politics didn't lead me to working people. Working people led me to politics."

After the speech, a group of painters from a council comprised of union members from Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee said that Obama had made short work of the "bitter" controversy.

"I thought he handled that real well," said painter Robert Liphard.

"He's done it right," said fellow union member Jarrell Miskenen. "He got right back on it."

The painters' international union endorsed Clinton last December, when she was the clear front-runner in the race. But "that could change," Liphard said.

But he added later, "What I'd like to see is a combined ticket." He said who was first or second on that ticket didn't matter.

(weblogs.baltimoresun.com)

SEIU to rebate dues extorted from non-members

This one is interesting. The SEIU was ordered by a California judge to rebate assessments charged non-union members who were charged fees by the union that were used to fight a political campaign against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

We get the story from the Sacramento Bee.

Judge Morrison England, in a decision Thursday, ordered Service Employees International Union Local 1000 to send notices to the workers who opted out of union membership. The union must issue refunds, with interest, to those non-union members who object to the special assessment. The rebate would amount to $135 plus interest for a worker who made $4,500 a month in 2005.

The special fee raised $12 million to fight Schwarzenegger’s agenda, about a quarter of which was paid by state workers who chose not to join the union.

But, how is it that this union was able to extort money from non-members in the first place, you might ask? It’s only because of the cozy relationship that the union has with the state that allows even non-union members to be ripped off by the union. Thanks to the stupidity of the state of California, even non-members have to pay money into the union! In any other situation this would be called theft. But, when a state government that bends over backwards for unions is involved, it’s called law.

Naturally, the SEIU thinks this is a bad ruling because it limits their “free speech.”

“We feel it’s a bad decision,” Zamora said. “It really hurts free speech” and the union’s ability to respond to issues that affect its membership.

Uh, no. It might put a crimp in the union’s extortion scheme, but it does nothing to “hurt free speech.”

As mentioned in the past, court rulings like this are beginning to happen more often. Let’s hope such cases end up protecting workers who don’t want to belong to or be forced to pay for unions against their will.

(stoptheaclu.com)

American Airlines pilots strike

American Airlines planes were cleared to fly over the past weekend, but their pilots took to the picket lines on Tuesday at Queens's LaGuardia Airport, to protest what they call bad customer service by the airline.

The pilots said the demonstrations were planned before last week's massive cancellations to fix faulty wiring. The pilots' union said American had more than 250,000 late or cancelled flights last year and ranked below-average in customer surveys. They hope the company can turn things around.

"We're optimistic that we believe that this is an excellent company, and with the attention of management if they would apply the money that they're taking in bonuses towards spare parts, and their employees helping out, and their customer service can increase and get better and better," said American pilot Frank Rose.

Pilots set up a website for passengers to share their travel stories, at TellUsYourAAStory.com.

In response to the picketing, American’s Senior President of Human Resources Jeff Brundage released a statement, saying, "It should be clear that the future of American Airlines is wholly dependent on the continued trust and patronage of our customers. We believe our energy would be better spent strengthening the company, serving our customers and fighting the competition.

(ny1.com)

Catholic teachers on strike v. Pope

Teachers in the New York Archdiocese high schools in New York and the Mid-Hudson Valley went on strike Tuesday morning to protest the lack of movement on a new contract with the Catholic Church. Teachers manned picket lines at John S. Burke Catholic High School in Goshen and at Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie.

In what the teachers’ union felt was a good settlement proposal, it suggested a new contract offer to the Archdiocese on Monday, reducing their demand from four to three years, said union President John Fedor, a teacher at Burke. The lawyer for the archdiocese told him he was not authorized to discuss the offer. “They were will to accept the strike. Why? We don’t’ know. Maybe it was something bigger than just trying to get the thing settled. Maybe it was trying to break union. We don’t know.”

Fedor said he is unsure if Pope Benedict XVI, who is in the US, will be aware of the strike, but the bishops and cardinals who are in the country will know about it.

He hopes the strike won’t take as long as a 17 day job action that took place in the fall 2001.

No one from the Archdiocese returned a call for comment Tuesday.

(catskillsnews.com)

Union official: Privatization leads to poverty

A Pinckney (MI) Community Schools union official said the district's 27 custodians will be further reduced to "poverty-level" income if school officials move to privatize the service — a possibility the administration said is becoming increasingly likely.

The district's custodial union on Monday presented an offer to keep the service within the district that didn't take into account a $1.9 million budget shortfall for next school year, Superintendent Dan Danosky said.

The next bargaining meeting is scheduled for April 30, just days before the district will need to decide whether to move forward with privatization in early May, Danosky said.

"We would target to privatize by the first of July," he explained.

The district has already solicited bids for private services, and a few are being considered, he added.

Union President Mike Lepkowski said many custodians are the only source of income for their families.

Lepkowski said the most recent offer to keep custodial services in-house is a "mirror image" of compensation expected under a private contract.

"We feel our group is already working at a poverty-level wage. I can only hope that they can continue to provide for their families," he said, adding that he expects few to stay on board if a private contract is signed.

"They'll be losing their homes, and that's not an option," Lepkowski added.

District custodians plan to picket at Thursday's meeting of the Pinckney Community Schools Board of Education.

Danosky said Monday's proposal — which he said didn't realistically address wages and benefits — will likely pave the way to privatization.

"What they gave us didn't even (address) the issue of the budget shortfall we've been sharing with them and everyone else. I was really disappointed with what they gave us," Danosky said.

Lepkowski said his group is willing to make equal sacrifices other district employees are making, but nothing more.

The district stands to save as much as $430,000 through custodial privatization. Under a private contract, the district would only pay for the service, and save benefit, retirement and other costs custodians receive as district employees.

The employees would most likely earn less if the service remains within the district and possibly retain retirement benefits, Danosky said.

The board will discuss other potential cost-cutting measures at Thursday's meeting.

(dailypressandargus.com)

Mashantucket Nation appeals UAW election

As promised, attorneys representing Foxwoods Resort Casino have appealed a judge's decision issued in early March recommending certification of a vote by dealers in favor of union representation. The 33-page appeal was filed with the National Labor Relations Board in Washington of March 25. Table game and poker dealers voted 1,289 - 852 in favor of union representation by the United AutoWorkers Nov. 24, 2007.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns and operates Foxwoods, had filed several objections relating to the election, which questioned why ballots were not translated into traditional and simplified Chinese and also raised concerns about the conduct of union officials.

Administrative Law Judge Raymond Green discounted each of the objections filed by the tribe in his decision, which was issued March 14.

While those objections are still prominent in this appeal, the tribe is again raising the issue of jurisdiction and whether the NLRB has jurisdiction over a sovereign nation. The tribe also disputes the applicability of the National Labor Relations Act.

In a footnote on the first page of the appeal, attorneys for the MPTN state that the tribe "has participated in these proceedings only to challenge the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board over the [Mashantucket Pequot] Gaming Enterprise."

The appeal also alleges that the NLRB did not conduct a fair election by not providing translated ballots, despite a request by the tribe.

The appeal states that the election should be overturned because union officials, or members of the employee organizing committee, were polling dealers about how they voted.

The attorneys argue in the brief that according to case law "keeping a list of employees who have voted ... has been found to interfere with an election and is grounds for setting aside the election when it can be shown or inferred from the circumstances that the employees knew that their names were being recorded."

The attorneys argued that because the union presented no evidence to dispute the actions, the board "should draw an adverse inference against the union and accept the evidence as true."

The UAW did not comment on the filing of the appeal.

If the labor board in Washington agrees with Green's decision, the election will be certified, and under the NLRA, Foxwoods will have an obligation to bargain collectively with the union.

If Foxwoods fails to bargain, the UAW can file an unfair labor practices complaint with the regional NLRB.

The case would then go to a hearing with an administrative law judge, who would most likely send the case to NLRB headquarters, which would most likely issue an order to bargain.

Then at that point, the tribe could file a petition of the court of appeals.

When Green's decision was made public, an attorney representing the tribe vowed to fight on, stating that the appeals process could very well lead the tribe into federal court.

It is a "lengthy path," said Richard Hankins, an attorney representing the tribe. "But it appears to be the path that we're on."

(indiancountry.com)

Union dogs Colorado worker-choice advocate

The city of Aurora (CO) attorney's office filed a motion Monday to dismiss a lawsuit against Councilman Ryan Frazier. Resident Foster Hines filed the suit because Frazier did not respond to his open-records request. Hines is seeking documents concerning Frazier's campaign contributions.

Hines says board members of Carollo Engineers donated about $1,500 to Frazier's campaign on the same day last year that the council approved a $10 million contract with the firm for the Prairie Waters Project. Frazier, who has supported a right-to-work ballot initiative, said Hines is backed by a pro-labor group.

The motion, filed by City Attorney Charlie Richardson on Frazier's behalf, said the request was vague and should have been filed with the city, not Frazier.

A hearing is scheduled for May 15 in Arapahoe County Court.

(denverpost.com)

Bechtel nukes non-union construction workers

The AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), and all affiliated international unions of the BCTD, and Bechtel Construction Company (Bechtel) today announced their commitment to negotiate a project labor agreement for Bechtel's scope of work in the construction of a proposed third reactor at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland.

Under the agreement, to be signed by the end of 2008, the BCTD will commit to provide qualified, skilled craft workers to the Calvert Cliffs project, and Bechtel will commit to provide fair wages, fringe benefits, and working conditions for all craft workers. The proposed plant would create 4,000 new jobs during peak construction and 360 permanent jobs once the new reactor is operational.

"We are proud of the long-standing partnership we enjoy with Bechtel Construction Company," said Mark Ayers, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO. "Once UniStar would make a decision to build, we look forward to being the first to build the first new generation AREVA EPR in America and making the Calvert Cliffs project a successful model for labor-management partnership, and one that will be desired for all future nuclear facility construction. We are especially grateful to UniStar Nuclear Energy for its confidence in the BCTD and Bechtel to take on this herculean project."

"The alliance between the BCTD and Bechtel reflects our joint commitment to helping the nation meet its growing energy needs," said Jim Reinsch, president of Bechtel's Nuclear Power division. "When the third partner in the effort, the federal government, approves loan guarantee contracts, the Calvert Cliffs project and others throughout the country can begin their critical contribution to the country's economic future."

According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the average nuclear power plant generates $430 million in total output for the local community and nearly $40 million in local labor income. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects as many as 22 license applications could be submitted by 2010 to build 33 new nuclear power units.

(mydd.com)

Union democracy suffers under Stern's SEIU

The troubles in the Service Employees International Union, and within SEIU Local 1021 in San Francisco, share a similar theme. How much do individual locals direct their work in the face of the international's set agenda? And more important, how do union members themselves direct the vision, use of resources, and work of both their local and international union? What is union democracy and how is it made real?

Active members in Local 1021 learned a painful lesson recently when we discovered that senior 1021 staff ran a clandestine campaign during a member election to choose delegates to SEIU's quadrennial convention this June. These same senior staff demanded that their junior staff remain completely neutral and uninvolved in the election.

A key tenet of union democracy is recognition by all parties that the union staffers work for the members, whose dues pay for their salaries and benefits, their offices, and the programs run by the union.

Local 1021's governing bodies were appointed by Andy Stern, president of the international, at the time of the merger of 10 locals into one. Next year, Local 1021 holds its first officer and executive board elections. It is essential that we lay out bylaws and an election process guaranteeing that the direction of our local union will be led by its members.

We are at a vital juncture. Do we allow the programs and process to be driven by the international, Stern, and his loyalist staff — or do we assert ourselves as members, examine the issues for ourselves, and choose how we prioritize the work to be done?

At stake is not just the true empowerment of our union, but its credibility. We demand a sense of fair play from the employers we bargain with and consistently take a hard line against managerial favoritism.

In practically every contract campaign, there is a battle over the definition of our union and our very identity. We put forth photographs of our members, use their quotes in the press, and otherwise say to the public, the press, and elected officials that "these people are the union — the nurses, transit workers, librarians, road crews and others who serve our community."

Meanwhile, management — as well as anti-union lobbies, officials, and think tanks — speak in more pejorative terms of "union bosses" and "big labor," conjuring images of bureaucrats who cut deals, make the real decisions, and are disconnected from their rank-and-file membership.

It is critical that we don't prove our opponents right. If the boss-like behavior of our leaders and the manner in which they govern this union promotes double standards, favoritism, and a lack of local autonomy, we only make it easier for anti-union forces to drive a wedge between our members and their union.

Nobody has more at stake in SEIU than the members who pay the bills and whose wages, benefits, and working conditions are being negotiated. Without the international showing respect for local autonomy or democratic empowerment at the local and worksite levels, we cannot hope for existing members to feel like stakeholders in their union, or to inspire prospective members to join us in the future.

- Mary C. Magee, RN, works at San Francisco General Hospital. Roxanne Sanchez works for Bay Area Rapid Transit. They are members of SEIU Local 1021.

(sfbg.com)

Recessionary card-check unionism

This old strike line