BY Alex Lubben

– The Northwestern football team’s union drive has garnered national press attention since Kain Colter announced that he and the Wildcats would seek representation from a players union in January. And the media aren’t the only ones paying attention—college sports’ “powers that be” are also taking notice.

On the eve of Northwestern’s union vote, which took place this morning, the NCAA expanded meal coverage for all athletes in what seemed to be an attempt to curry favor with players. Now, both scholarship athletes and walk-on players are entitled to receive unlimited meals and snacks; only athletes on full scholarship had previously been provided three meals a day or a food stipend.

But the impact of the Northwestern Wildcats’ imminent union vote is being felt far beyond the NCAA. Legislators in Ohio inserted a terse clause in the budget they passed last week stipulating that college athletes in their state cannot be considered university employees. Meanwhile, Connecticut legislators have come out on social media—largely in response to a widely publicized comment made by UConn basketball star Shabazz Napier that he sometimes goes to bed “starving” while playing for the school’s Huskies—pledging to help athletes at their state schools organize.

If Northwestern football players vote to unionize and their status as employees is deemed legal—a process that may take years and may have to pass the scrutiny of federal courts—all student athletes at private institutions would be eligible to join unions if they so chose. The reactions in both the Ohio and Connecticut legislatures indicate that state-funded institutions are watching Northwestern closely as well, even if the outcome of their unionization effort won’t affect them directly.

Connecticut state Reps. Matt Lesser (D) and Patricia Dillon (D) spoke with Working In These Times Wednesday and reiterated their commitment to athlete rights. Both expressed serious concerns about the NCAA as a governing institution: Borrowing esteemed civil-rights scholar Taylor Branch’s phrase, Lesser characterized the Association as a “cartel,” while Dillon expressed concern over the lack of medical coverage provided to student athletes.

Rep. Lesser believes the most effective way to help athletes unionize is to change the definition of “employee” in Connecticut’s collective bargaining statues to include athletes who receive scholarships to play revenue-generating sports at state-funded institutions.

Rep. Dillon is, for now, more cautious. She and research staff see a number of options besides making student athletes employees as viable ways to ensure that college athletes are afforded their due rights, including the Northwestern route of unionization, the passing of Congressional legislation to reform NCAA or compensating players for their work as athletes. “Those three [options] are still out there on the table,” she explained. “I’m sure there are more possibilities.” Rep. Dillon emphasized that her staff was still in the early stages of researching the issue.

Given that Connecticut’s legislative session ends in two weeks, a solution is unlikely to be proposed before January, according to Rep. Lesser. And it remains unclear whether actions taken in state legislatures can have meaningful effects over student-athlete unionization.

Meanwhile at the heart of the unionization battle in Evanston, Northwestern has doubled down on its commitment to keeping athletes from organizing. In an email to the team, coach Pat Fitzgerald employed relatively standard anti-union rhetoric: “Understand that by voting to have a union,” he cautioned, “you would be transferring your trust from those you know—me, your coaches and the administrators here—to what you don’t know—a third party who may or may not have the team’s best interests in mind.”

At the first practice following Peter Ohr’s NLRB March ruling that declared college football players university employees, each Northwestern football player was mysteriously given a free iPad. The university claims that the gifts had nothing to do with the ruling. The administration also created a 21-page document for the players intended to “inform” the voting decision.

The school seems to have convinced at least a few athletes that it is in their best interest to vote against unionization. Former running back Venric Mark has described the union effort as Kain Colter’s movement, while other players have said that they stand behind their coach.

Public opinion is also split on whether athletes should be treated as employees. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found opinion on the matter is divided along racial lines: while a meager 24% of white respondents supported paying college players, 51% of respondents who were also people of color were in favor.

We may not know the outcome of the Wildcats’ secret ballot vote for months, as the results of the election will remain secret until the NLRB makes a final decision on the University’s appeal. But regardless of whether Northwestern Football chooses to unionize, they’ve started a movement that’s gained traction nationally. Students at the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and the University of Miami have reportedly already been in touch with Ramogi Huma, the founder of the College Athletes Players Association, the would-be players’ union.

If NU doesn’t unionize soon, it’s likely that players at another school will.

Source – http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/16612/legislators_take_notice_as_northwestern_votes_on_athlete_unionization

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– 12 Workers Die on the Job Every Day in the United States
Workers’ Memorial Day Events over the Next Few Days Emphasize Safe Jobs for All

Harrisburg, PA – Over the next several days there will be thousands of people participating in Workers’ Memorial Day observances throughout Pennsylvania in remembrance of fallen co-workers, friends, and family as they renew their commitment to making their workplaces safer.

Labor, clergy, community, and elected officials will help in leading the observances which include: the reading of names of deceased and injured workers, the tolling of memorial bells, candlelight vigils, memorial services and remembrances. Members of the public and the survivors of victims of workplace injuries and death have been invited to attend and participate. These events are being carried out by Local Unions, Area Labor Federations, and Central Labor Councils along with other organizations committed to safe jobs and protecting human life. Dramatic visuals for still and video news photographers will be available at many of these events. These events can be accessed on our Pennsylvania AFL-CIO web-site, www.paaflcio.org.

“Safety laws and regulations don’t kill jobs – but unsafe jobs do kill workers,” Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale said. “Our elected officials should be making sure that all workers are protected, by keeping safety standards and regulations up to date and enforced. They should also be strengthening the voice of workers to advocate on their own behalf for safer jobs, not attacking their rights to advocate effectively for themselves, their families, and all workers,” Bloomingdale said.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder stated, “virtually every safety and health protection on the books today is there because of working men and women who joined together in unions to win these protections. We must do more to fight back against corporate interests that stand in the way of our rights to create safe jobs. We consider one life lost one too many. Our fight will continue until every worker can go to work and return home safe and healthy at the end of the day,”
Snyder said.

Workers’ Memorial Day, observed on April 28, the anniversary of the signing of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, (OSHA), over 4 decades ago, has been designated as the time to remember fallen workers and surviving families and to emphasize the promise of safe jobs.

With the signing of OSHA, was the promise of the right to a safe workplace. In spite of this promise, and the commitment and efforts of both workers and enlightened employers, 12 workers die on-the-job every day in the United States. In fact, a total of 150 U.S. workers die each day, (more than 50, 000 workers each year) as a result of exposure to health and safety hazards on the job.

Source: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=3967&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

by Laura Clawson

– Fast food workers. Software engineers. NFL cheerleaders. These are just a few of the groups of American workers who are suing over forms of wage theft, the umbrella term for the long list of ways employers cheat workers out of money they’ve earned. In recent months, NFL cheerleaders—most recently four former cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills—have been filing lawsuits alleging that they were misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees, then paid amounts that worked out to below minimum wage.

Independent contractors are, by definition, supposed to be able to exercise at least some independence; one of the key measures of misclassification is how much control the employer exerts over the worker. The former Bills cheerleaders’ lawsuit reports the team and the management companies it retained to oversee the cheerleading program exerting extensive control over every aspect of their appearance and behavior while on the job:

In addition to the rules previously cited, defendants also provided the Jills with rules regarding general hygiene and body maintenance (a list of 17 rules), appearance etiquette (17 rules), conversation starters for appearances and general etiquette, etiquette for formal dining (25 rules), and rules for communicating with people with disabilities (17 rules).

The extensive rulebook set forth by defendants includes, inter alia, rules on how much bread to eat at a formal dinner, how to properly eat soup, how much to tip restaurant waiters, wedding etiquette, how to properly wash “intimate areas,” and how often to change tampons.

Following these rules, showing up for appearances, allowing themselves to be groped and harassed, was not exactly a ticket to wealth:

Jills were not paid for working game days. Neither were they paid for the mandatory biweekly practice sessions that usually lasted eight hours in total, according to the suit. On average, the cheerleaders involved in the suit averaged only a few hundred dollars per season, the highest amount being $1,800, the lowest $150. Not surprisingly, the lady who made $150 didn’t cheer the next year.

The Bills are the third NFL team to face such a lawsuit; the Oakland Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals have similarly been sued for paying cheerleaders amounts that worked out to well below minimum wage. And remember, this all is going on in an incredibly profitable industry that rakes in huge public subsidies.

Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/23/1294007/-NFL-cheerleaders-join-the-fight-against-wage-theft-suing-over-minimum-wage-violations

– Philly Jobs with Justice is turning fifteen. They will be celebrating with their founding supporters at their annual Jobs with Justice Solidarity Awards Dinner On May 7th at 5:30pm,

That’s fifteen years of fighting for worker justice

The event will be At The William Way LGBT Community Center at 1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia
and will honor some of their founding member organizations including:

• AFSCME 1199c
• AFSCME DC 33
• AFSCME DC 47
• CWA District 2-13
• SEIU 32BJ Local 1201
• USW 10-1

Along with two special individuals:

• Liz McElroy, former Philadelphia Jobs with Justice labor co-chair

• John Braxton, Philadelphia Jobs with Justice founder

For ticket info, Go to: http://www.phillyjwj.org/

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

– Contracting out public services—which aims to help state and local governments save tax dollars—often has a harmful effect on the community, including worsening inequality and lowering wages.

A recent study, “The Decision to Contract Out: Understanding the Full Economic and Social Impacts,” finds that the savings of outsourcing varies widely and often diminish over time. The study, by Daphne T. Greenwood of the Colorado Center for Policy Studies at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, concludes that contracting out undermines our democratic principals by leading to corruption and less control over public funds.

“While reducing costs is most often the motive for outsourcing, a growing body of research documents that savings are minimal, on average,” the report says. “It is also not unusual for total costs to be greater when performed by private contracting firms than they were in-house.”

Studies show that contracting out typically leads to short-term savings of 5 to 10 percent. Over time, the savings often diminish because of a lack of competition and other factors.

Governments cite insufficient savings 52 percent of the time when they explain their decision to abandon contracts. In 61 percent of cases, governments cancel contracts because of inadequate services.

The Economic and Social Costs of Contracting Out

The savings of contracting out are usually achieved by lowering the wages and benefits of workers. That occurs at a great cost for the community, including:

• a decline in retail sales

• a worsening of the wage disparity between men and women, and between blacks and whites

• a reduction middle-class jobs and

• an increase in the dependency public services.

The push for contracting out began decades ago. The Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, was one of the earliest proponents of shifting public assets and spending to the private sector.

States and municipalities picked up the practice in the late 1970s and the 1980s.

Municipalities contact out an estimated 35 percent of services. The federal government has doubled the amount it spends on contracts since 2000, with most of the spending on services.

While contractors reduce costs by paying front-line workers less, their administrative costs are typically higher than in the public sector, where managers often earn less. But the managers of private companies tend to spend less in the community, leading to a siphoning off of profits and taxes elsewhere.

“More money usually flows out of the local economy,” the report says. “That means less spending, especially in retail and dining establishments.”

In many instances, contractors pay their workers so little that they must rely on public assistance for housing, food and medical care. In California, for instance, school cafeteria workers employed by contractors receive an average of $1,743 in public benefits each year.

The report describes a number of indirect effects of outsourcing on government, the economy and the workforce.

Historically, the public sector has provided a ladder into the middle class for women and minorities. They are disproportionately hit by the contracting out of public-sector work.

“Women of all races, along with African-American males, sought out public employment for more equal treatment than they often found in the private sector,” the study says. “Outsourcing public jobs often lowers wages, takes away benefits and reduces opportunities for advancement up the job ladder—and disproportionately affects the groups who have struggled most to get a foothold in the labor market and the middle class. Maintaining ladders of opportunity is an important part of the promise of America that public decisions can help to maintain.”

Private sector companies have spent decades attacking unions, cutting back on health-care benefits and eliminating pensions. Now contracting out has become a weapon for eliminating “good jobs”–jobs with decent pay and benefits–in the pubic sector. Indeed, city officials in Colorado Springs described escaping long-term pension obligations as one of the reasons for contracting out there.

Comprehensive information about the workplace safety and health record of state and local contractors is not available, but substantial documentation exists on the record of federal contractors.

A recent U.S. Senate inquiry found that nearly 30 percent of the top violators of federal wage and health laws were federal contractors. The violations resulted in the deaths of 42 workers between 2007 and 2012.

One instance involved a worker who died after being sucked into an industrial dryer at a Cintas Corp. facility in Tulsa. The worker got caught in the dryer while he tried to untangle stuck clothes; he was spun around inside the dryer for 20 minutes at 300 degrees. Cintas had $3.4 million in federal contracts in 2012.

Weakening Accountability

Decades ago, the civil service system was established to combat nepotism, cronyism and corruption. Contracting out undermines civil service by funneling tax dollars to the private sector, where there is less transparency and accountability of tax dollars.

“In addition to having rights to privacy that collide with traditional expectations of transparency and accountability, private providers are generally not subject to conflict-of-interest laws, nepotism statues or ordinances, ethics codes or whistleblower protection for their employees, or restrictions on political involvement,” the study says.

Three examples of these problems:

• When Chicago considered contracting out its parking meter service for 75 years at a possible cost of $2 billion, it held three days of evaluation without public discussion.

• Denver awarded a company a contract to run a parkway for 99 years. The contract allows the company to object to mass transit projects and new and improved roads even though the life spans of streets are 45 years.

• The online posting of a contract for a Texas charter school contained blacked-out paragraphs in 100 of its 393 pages, according to a New York Times article cited by the study.

“The evidence for public control just keeps on piling up,” said Donald Cohen, executive director of In The Public Interest, a resource center on privatization and responsible contracting, commenting on the University of Colorado report. “What we need now at every level of government are policies that reflect what the evidence makes clear and that helps us prevent economic and social harm to our communities.”

Source – http://www.thenewcrossroads.com/2014/04/14/contracting-out-public-services-worsens-inequality-and-lowers-wages/