JwJ News 02-05
FEBRUARY 2005
- Portland JwJ Aids Mental Health Worker Victory
- ESSN/Eugene JwJ Mediates in Lane County Transit Dispute
- Long Island SLAP GROWs!
- Vermont Workers' Center/JwJ Holds 3rd Annual Health Care Action Summit
- 25,000 Indiana Workers Lose the Right to Union Representation
Portland JwJ Aids Mental Health Worker Victory
Parry Center workers won a hard fought and important victory recently with critical assistance from Portland Jobs with Justice. Parry Center workers provide treatment for severely emotionally disturbed children. The child treatment specialists are required to have a college degree, yet top pay prior to the strike was $9.28/hour. The new 3-year agreement includes a wage increase, union security, fully paid employee health insurance, and return to work for all strikers. The employer's proposals which drove the strike were a 3-year wage freeze and elimination of the union security provision. "The contract is a victory for the Parry Center workers, the labor community, and the kids," said Parry Center worker Sarah Saffir. Portland JwJ was involved in many steps of the contract campaign, focusing public pressure on the company that runs the Center as well as on elected officials who control the funding the center receives through County and State contracts.
Portland JwJ reached out to engage the faith community in this struggle . Prior to the strike, JwJ worked with SEIU Local 503 to visit every member of Trillium Family Services, the non-profit which owns Parry Center, and sent a delegation of Workers' Rights Board members to visit CEO Kim Scott. After the strike began, JwJ mobilized for a number of large-scale events in support of the workers. On December 10 th , International Human Rights Day, JwJ organized a Festival of Lights for Rights which included faith leaders from several denominations speaking out for justice, lighted picket signs, and a raucous picket line. On December 21 st , JwJ mobilized for a downtown action on a Trillium Board member's office. Activists could not get inside the building, so they sat on the sidewalk blocking the doorways for almost an hour. Although the police were present, there were no arrests. In January, JwJ organized a religious community strategy session which was attended by 8 faith leaders. Those leaders decided to spearhead a faith community letter to the governor and the County Commission, taking assignments to get their peers to sign on to the letter. Three days later the letter was hand-delivered to the governor's office with 23 clergy signatures. Finally, on January 21 st , JwJ mobilized for a civil disobedience action at another Trillium Board member's office. 150 people sat down in the lobby of the building and eventually 13 people went up to the Board member's office and were arrested there. The 13 included 3 faith leaders and a JwJ activist as well as workers and staff from Local 503. Through all of these activities, the relationships with the faith community were deepened and broadened.
Because Parry Center gets the majority of its funds from public sources through contracts with the County and the State, the role of elected officials was also key in gaining the victory. The Multnomah County Commission wrote to Trillium Family Services several times to urge them to remain neutral in the contract negotiations in accordance with the County's policies. The governor, in response to pressure from local 503, the state AFL-CIO, and much JwJ-generated community pressure, held up a Trillium contract which was due to be renewed at the end of December for more than10 days and assigned an ex-legislator to investigate and try to drive a settlement. This was key to the settlement achieved on January 26th .
ESSN/Eugene JwJ Mediates in Lane County Transit Dispute
As an impending shutdown of the county transit service loomed over the community, Eugene/Springfield Solidarity Network/Jobs with Justice jumped into the middle of the contract dispute between Lane Transit District (LTD) and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 757. ATU and LTD have been unable to come to an agreement on a new contract, and the shutdown of county transit services threatened to create a crisis not only for the transit workers who would be walking a picket line, but also for the thousands of workers who rely on the bus to get to their jobs every day. It was out of this concern that ESSN brought together concerned community members and representatives of those who would be most affected by a shut down of bus service in the LTD/ATU Community Committee.
When the mediation process was ended by LTD, the Committee offered both parties an alternative to a shutdown of service. The Committee formally asked both sides to continue the "cooling-off" period and to contribute to the cost of an independent neutral audit of the proposals of both LTD and ATU. In addition, the Committee offered to provide a neutral space for mediation of the crisis. To their great credit, the membership of the ATU voted to accept the Committee's offer and to hold off on their scheduled strike. When the buses showed up on schedule the next morning, drivers found themselves being physically embraced by overjoyed and relieved bus passengers. By even temporarily averting a strike, the Committee has given the community a chance to remedy this crisis without causing economic hardship for workers across the county.
Unfortunately, LTD did not respond as favorably to the community's plea to keep bargaining. On Tuesday, February 1 st , the LTD followed through on its notice to implement their "last best offer." In particular, LTD unilaterally moved all union employees onto a new cost-shifting health care plan that had been rejected by the ATU at the bargaining table. This action was a great disappointment to the Committee and the community at large. In spite of this setback, the committee is moving ahead with its work.
The LTD/ATU Community Committee intends to gather facts by costing out proposals and collecting testimony, evaluate the issues keeping the two sides from a settlement, and recommend possible solutions. The ATU has been happy to cooperate with the Committee and has thanked it for the opportunity to publicly air their side of this dispute. So far the LTD Board has refused to officially cooperate with the Committee. It remains to be seen how this decision will affect the work of the Committee, which is determined to give both sides the same opportunity for a fair hearing. However, ESSN/JwJ is hopeful that the LTD Board will recognize how much is at stake for Lane County residents and join in this community effort.
The LI Grassroots Organizing Weekend (GROW) was a big success! 30 students and young workers attended representing 7 schools and 5 organizations. The diversity of opinion, experience, ethnicity, and sexual identity was particularly inspiring. Toni Lyn, a Graduate Student Employee Union (GSEU) representative at Stony Brook University, said she has already applied lessons about strategy, targets, and campaign development in the GSEU campaign to win a new contract with the University. The host organizations, the Youth Worker Center and Long Island Jobs with Justice, are now planning an ambitious demonstration of student/young worker power during the National Student Labor Week of Action.
Vermont Workers' Center/JwJ Holds 3rd Annual Health Care Action Summit
The Justice for Health Care Workers Committee of the Vermont Workers' Center/JwJ brought together health care workers and advocates on February 10th to discuss the crisis in the health care system and plans for action in 2005. The group laid out legislative priorities for the year, including a bill to ban mandatory overtime for health care workers and another bill to disclose staffing levels in hospitals and other facilities. Health care workers also spoke out to legislators on the conditions they face each day and the reforms they need to improve patient safety and working conditions. Over 20 legislators attended the Summit and many pledged to take action.
25,000 Indiana Workers Lose the Right to Union Representation
On January 11, newly elected Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels eliminated the collective bargaining rights of nearly 25,000 state workers represented by three unions, eliminating their right to negotiate pay, health benefits, and work rules. He declared existing contracts with the unions null and void. He was able to do this because the Indiana state workers' collective bargaining rights were not part of state law (state and local government workers are not covered by the National Labor Relations Act), but had been established by a previous governor through an executive order.
The affected state workers include 8,638 employees represented by AFSCME 62 (including direct care workers, social service caseworkers and professional health care workers), 14,654 workers represented by Unity Team Local 9212 (a UAW-AFT team including blue collar workers and secretaries), and 1,377 Indiana State Police troopers and other law enforcement officers represented by IUPA Local 1041.
State workers are angry about this assault on their basic right to have a voice in the workplace, and they are fighting back. Although their contracts no longer are honored by the state, the unions have responded by re-training their stewards and activists to represent workers under the state's new rules. They recognize that it will take a major effort to force Gov. Daniels to change his mind, and they are preparing for a long term campaign to restore the workers' rights. Jobs with Justice local coalitions in Indiana have pledged to support state workers and their unions in this struggle.
