BY Rand Wilson

– Wisconsin is now the 25th state to adopt a so-called “right-to-work” law, which allows workers to benefit from collective bargaining without having to pay for it.

It joins Michigan and Indiana, which both adopted right to work in 2012. Similar initiatives, or variants, are spreading to Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico and West Virginia—and the National Right to Work Committee and the American Legislative Exchange Council probably have a well-developed list of additional targets.

Without aggressive action, the right-to-work tsunami will sweep more states. To defeat it, the first step is committing to fight back, rather than resigning ourselves to what some say is inevitable.
Everyone’s Interests

We’ll have to go beyond what we’ve mostly been saying so far, which is that right to work is “unfair” or “wrong.”

That argument certainly works for most union households and many of our community allies. But the real challenge is to convince a much broader public that a strong (and fairly-funded) labor movement is in their interest and worth preserving. Clearly most Americans aren’t yet convinced.

Many unions over the last few years have undertaken important campaigns along these lines. For example, teachers unions have positioned themselves as defenders of quality public education. Refinery workers have struck for public safety.

Nurses and health care unions have fought for safe staffing to improve the quality of care. And most notably, the Service Employees (SEIU) and others have waged the “Fight for $15” for fast food and other low-wage workers.

In its own way, each union is working hard to be a champion of the entire working class. Yet with the exception of SEIU’s Fight for $15, each is essentially focused on the issues of its core constituency at work. This still limits the public’s perception of labor.

Supporters of right to work cynically play on the resentment many workers feel about their declining standard of living. Absent a union contract, the vast majority have few, if any, ways to address it. To most, organizing looks impossible and politics looks broken.

Workers’ understandable frustration is fertile ground for the far right, which promises to improve the business climate and create more jobs by stripping union members of their power.

Thus, when we anticipate right to work’s next targets, the best defense should be a good offense—one that clearly positions labor as a force for the good of all workers.
‘Just Cause for All’

Here’s one approach that would put labor on the offensive: an initiative for a new law providing all workers with due process rights to challenge unjust discipline and discharge, “Just Cause for All.”

Such a law would take aim at the “at-will” employment standard covering most non-union workers in the U.S. At-will employees can be fired for any reason and at any time—without just cause.

While such a major expansion of workers’ rights as Just Cause for All would be unlikely to pass in most state legislatures—Montana did it in 1987, but it’s still the only one—it could become law in states that allow ballot initiatives.

A well-orchestrated attack on the at-will employment standard would force the extreme, anti-worker, and big business interests who back right to work to respond. If nothing else, imagine how competing initiatives would force a debate. On one side, extending due process protections and increased job security to all workers: a real right-to-work bill. On the other side, taking away fair share contributions for collective bargaining.

This strategy isn’t untested. When the Coors beer dynasty backed a right-to-work ballot initiative in Colorado in 2008, labor collected signatures for a counter-initiative, “Allowable Reasons for Employee Discharge or Suspension,” which would have overturned at-will employment. (Labor also supported a proposal that would have provided affordable health insurance to all employees and a measure to allow workers injured on the job to sue for damages in state courts.)

Fearing that the just cause proposal might pass, centrist business people offered a deal. In exchange for labor withdrawing its proposal, they provided financial support and manpower that helped labor defeat right to work in Colorado. (For more on this story, read Raymond L. Hogler’s “The 2008 Defeat of Right to Work in Colorado: Is it the End of Section 14(b)?” in Labor Law Journal.)

While it’s unfortunate that the labor initiative didn’t go before Colorado voters, the result was still encouraging—and instructive. By championing the interests of all workers, labor split business and blunted the right-to-work effort.

To win back “fair-share” participation in the three new right-to-work states and stop further attacks, we’ll need well-planned campaigns that include grassroots mobilization, direct action, paid and earned media, and focused electoral work.

Just Cause for All campaigns should be part of the strategy. Even if we lose, campaigns for due process and job security for all will help shift the debate on right to work, leave the labor movement stronger—and make labor and its allies once again the champions of the “99%.”

Source – http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17770/unions_cant_beat_right_to_work_just_by_calling_it_unfairthey_must_fight_for

By Sean Kitchen

– Last month, Mike Folmer, Scott Wagner of other Republicans senators introduced Right to Work legislation. Save the shock for another time, but the bill they introduced happens to be extremely similar to the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) model Right to Work legislation. On top of drafting model Right to Work Legislation, the organization has drafted model legislation on repealing prevailing wages and passing “paycheck protection,” which happen to be legislative priorities.Listed below are some parts of Senator Folmer and Senator Wagner’s bill and ALEC’s model legislation.

On “labor organizations”

“Labor organization.” An organization, or an agency or employee representation committee, plan or arrangement in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers, public or private, concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment or conditions of work. (SB 650)

The term “labor organization” means any organization of any kind, or agency or employee representation committee or union, that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning wages, rates of pay, hours of work, other conditions of employment, or other forms of compensation. (ALEC)

On “dues”

Dues, fees and charges.–No person shall be required to pay or refrain from paying dues, fees or charges of any kind to a labor organization or to a charity or other third party in lieu of the payments to a labor organization as a condition of employment or continuation of employment.

to pay to any charity or other third party, in lieu of such payments, any amount equivalent to or a pro-rata portion of dues, fees, assessments, or other charges regularly required of members of a labor organization; or

Becoming to remaining a member?

Membership.–No person shall be required to become or remain a member of a labor organization as a condition of employment or continuation of employment

(A) to resign or refrain from voluntary membership in, voluntary affiliation with, or voluntary financial support of a labor organization;

(B) to become or remain a member of a labor organization;

Violations?

Section 5. Violations.

(a) Offense defined.–A person violates this act if the person:

(1) directly or indirectly imposes on another person a requirement or compulsion prohibited by this act;

(2) makes an agreement, written or oral, express or implied, to directly or indirectly impose on another person a requirement or compulsion prohibited by this act; or

(3) engages in a lockout, layoff, strike, work stoppage, slowdown, picketing, boycott or other action or conduct, the purpose or effect of which is to impose on any person, directly or indirectly, any requirement or compulsion prohibited by this act.

Any agreement, understanding, or practice, written or oral, implied or expressed, between any labor organization and employer that violates the rights of employees as guaranteed by provisions of this chapter is hereby declared to be unlawful, null and void, and of no legal effect. Any strike, picketing, boycott, or other action by a labor organization for the sole purpose of inducing or attempting to induce an employer to enter into any agreement prohibited under this chapter is hereby declared to be for an illegal purpose and is a violation of the pro-visions of this chapter.

Source – http://www.ragingchickenpress.org/2015/03/24/senate-right-to-work-bill-is-an-alec-ripoff-bill/

BY David Moberg

– If Douglas Hunter succeeds with his plans on April 15, the public’s attention this year may be diverted from grumbling about taxes to demanding higher wages for millions of low-income service workers—including many who earn so little at their jobs that they need public subsidies for a minimal standard of living.

Hunter, 53, is a leader nationally and in Chicago of the Fight for $15, an ambitious campaign that New York City fast food workers launched two-and-a-half years ago. But other cities picked up the call, then other occupations, from retail workers and childcare providers to adjunct professors. It has caught the imagination of the public as well and notched some notable victories, such as a $15 minimum wage in Seattle and Seatac in Washington state, as well as in San Francisco.

“We can’t wait. Jewel isn’t waiting. People’s Gas isn’t waiting,” he says, referencing a Chicago grocery chain and natural gas utility, respectively. “We need higher wages to support our families. Many people thought we were crazy two years ago when we walked off our jobs in New York and demanded $15 an hour. They don’t think we’re crazy now.”

Workers’ right to form a union free from employer interference, the second goal of the campaign, often gets less attention than the pay hike, and the protest actions have not yet produced a formal national or local union recognized as a bargaining agent by McDonald’s or any other fast food employer. But the movement is already becoming a de facto union through its organizing of workers into aggressive and effective direct action, its attraction of widespread labor and community support and its legal challenges to employer abuse of the franchise model of business organization.

On Tuesday, Hunter, a member of the national organizing committee, led a press conference in Chicago announcing plans for the April 15 protest, billed as “the largest low wage worker mobilization in modern history.” Organizers also describe the event as a strike for many workers, but the planned rallies will involve many who will not actually walk out of their jobs, including community groups, student organizations, social justice advocates (such as #BlackLivesMatter, raising the slogan than “black workers’ lives matter”), and faith organizations (such as religious activists who “fasted for 15” last weekend in Chicago).

Actions are planned for about 200 cities in the U.S. and for allied demonstrations around the world in countries such as Italy, Switzerland, France, New Zealand, Brazil, Japan and Bangladesh, many organized with help from the International Union of Foodworkers, a global union federation.

The low-wage workers beyond the fast food business had distinct complaints but identified with the problems fast food workers have with low pay, unpredictable hours, bad working conditions and unsympathetic managers—circumstances compounded for students who face growing debt for school as they simultaneously work for inadequate pay.

The April 15 rally will include students for the first time from more than 170 universities. “The fight for 15 on April 15 is not just about fast food workers,” Montserrat Cazeres, a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who is also a retail worker. “It’s about the future for students like myself. It becomes difficult when you have to choose between what you need for your class or if you’re going to pay your bills.”

Even after graduating, a growing share of university instructors are part-time, insecure, ill-paid adjuncts, such as Matt Hoffman, who divides his teaching among several universities. “Almost one third of us part-timers live near or below the poverty line,” he says. “Faculty across Chicago and across the nation have drawn a lot of inspiration from fast food workers in the Fight For 15. Contingent faculty are in the same boat. We struggle with our bills, we have no benefits, and we have little job stability.”

Many of these conditions have worsened, but what’s remarkable is that this dismal state of affairs has persisted so long with so little protest. Hunter says he can understand how people can change, from grudging acceptance of a miserable lot to a desire for change. An African-American from the city’s west side, Hunter is the single father and sole financial supporter of a 16-year-old daughter. For the past four years, he has worked at McDonald’s, now earning $9.25 an hour.

Hunter only joined the Fight For 15 a year ago. “I didn’t want to join. It took some time. I was committed to my job. I thought I was doing what I was supposed to do. But in reality I was not.” Managers discouraged him from getting involved: “Don’t be part of it,” they said. “They’re wasting their time.”

But his daughter changed his way of looking at the world.

“My daughter and I were having a discussion one night,” Hunter said. “I was complaining about what I wasn’t able to do. But she said, ‘What are you doing?’ I thought about it long and hard. I went to work the next day. The organizers came around, and I said, This is something I can do. I want to have a say. And my daughter supported me 100 percent. Now it feels good every day. She feels proud of me. “

As organizers explained his legal rights, and he saw that other strikers returned to their jobs, he grew more confident. He won recognition from other workers, winning positions of leadership, as well as from his daughter and her friends. He also developed a new sense of morality, a view that justified opposition to injustice and challenge to illegitimate authority. The movement also helped open up his social universe and expand his sense of solidarity with workers around the world—which is what Douglas says so excites him about the April 15 actions.

“I remember when we were out at Oak Brook last year,” he said. He was part of a protest on the McDonald’s Chicago suburban corporate campus that involved a sit-in blockade of a street leading to the office complex and arrests for the acts of civil disobedience.

“It was the first time I was arrested for doing something right.” For Duncan, the Fight for 15 has turned into a fight not just for money or a union, but a fight for meaning in his life and a moral community. That fight is part of what will continue to grow on April 15.

Source – http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17801/workers_say_the_fight_for_15_isnt_just_about_raisesits_a_fight_for_meaning

By Gregory Korte

– President Obama vetoed a congressional resolution seeking to overturn new unionization voting rules Tuesday, keeping in place procedures that will allow a more streamlined process for workers to vote to unionize.

Republicans said those new rules would allow for “ambush elections,” and tried to roll back the new National Labor Relations Board rule with a congressional resolution of disapproval.

It’s the second veto of the year for Obama, and the fourth of his presidency. More vetoes are sure to come: the White House has issued 17 specific veto threats on bills working their way through Congress, and several others still being drafted in committee.

With Congress out of session for its Easter recess, Obama issued a “pocket veto” of the resolution. But as he’s done twice before, he also sent the Senate a veto notice “to leave no doubt that the resolution is being vetoed.”

The resolution passed the Senate 53 to 46 and the House 232 to 186, with all Democrats and three Republicans voting no. Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress could still override the veto, although Republicans are well short of the two-thirds majorities necessary.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the veto shows that Obama is passing up opportunities to work with the Republican-controlled Congress to help the economy.

“Ambush elections don’t help workers. Instead, they bully workers into accepting unionization as fast as possible. That’s not pro-worker. That’s pro-union, and there’s a big difference,” McCarthy said in a statement.

But Obama said the new rules were “common-sense, modest changes to streamline the voting process for folks who wanted to join a union.” If workers want to join a union, “they should be able to do so, and we shouldn’t be making it impossible for that to happen,” he said.

Obama also announced he would hold a summit on worker’s rights at the White House this fall. “Part of what we want to do is to make sure that we give workers the capacity to have their voices heard, to have some influence in the workplace, to make sure that they’re partners in building up the U.S. economy, and that growth is broad-based, and that everybody is benefiting just as everybody is contributing,” he said.

Source – http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/31/obama-nlrb-unionization-ambush-election/70718822/

– THE PHILADELPHIA COALITION OF LABOR UNION WOMEN: ANNUAL BENEFIT FOR WOMEN AGAINST ABUSE

When – Tuesday, March 31, 2015 – 5:30 p.m.

Where – WORKERS UNITED: 22 S. 22nd Street, 2nd floor, Joint Board Room, Philadelphia, PA 19103

(Some parking available in building garage after 5:00 p.m.)

In honor of Women’s History Month, we are hosting a workshop on “Why Courts Matter”. There are three levels of the Federal Court System: District Court, Circuit Court and Supreme Court. The Supreme Court only reviews 80 cases a year, which leaves the majority of cases to the District and Circuit Courts. Electing Judges who represent the general population is essential. Courts make decisions on workers’ rights, protected class discrimination, campaign financing and many other issues critical to workers and women.

This is our 17th annual benefit for this UAW-staffed shelter for women and children in crisis. Due to space limitations, only these items can be accepted by the agency – all items must be NEW! Financial donations are especially needed as public funding continues to drop. Please consider running a donation drive at your union or workplace.

Women’s Winter coats, jackets, hat, gloves & shoes/boots; Backpacks & school supplies; Muslim garb for women; Gift cards (No Wal-Mart!); Diapers (all sizes), pull-ups, wipes, formula; baby pacifiers; Toddlers Clothing for ages 1-5; Toiletries (toothpaste, shampoo, etc.); Tampons, pads; Tea; Hand Lotion; Nail Polish; Colored Pencil Sets; Bookmarks; Tote bags; 2015 planners; USB drives, portfolios, blank cards for thank you notes, journals, stress balls; children’s DVDs.

Checks should be made payable to Women Against Abuse, and mailed to CLUW, 1606 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 or brought to the event. Please ask your Union to donate too! If you would like to donate but cannot come to the event, you may bring your items, prior to the event, to AFSCME DC47, 1606 Walnut Street.

Refreshments will be served. 50/50 Raffle. The event is free and open to the public. To RSVP or for more information, call or e-mail CLUW, 215-893-3770, cluw.philly@gmail.com.