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SEPTEMBER 2006 UPDATE

• NLRB Rules in KY River Case - Act Now to Defend Workers Rights
• JwJ Responds to Rash of Anti-Immigrant Ordinance
• Vermont Workers' Center/JwJ Helps Launch Burlington Livable City Campaign
• Record Number of Missouri Congregations Preached on Workers’ Issues This Labor Day Weekend
• Welcome Central Illinois Jobs with Justice!
• State Workers Defend Washington Health Care Standards; Negotiate a Fair Contract
• Chalk it Up for Health Care!

NLRB Rules in KY River Case - Act Now to Defend Workers Rights

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) voted on October 3rd to crush longstanding Federal labor laws protecting workers' right to join a union.  The NLRB ruled on three cases, collectively known as "Kentucky River", but it is their decision on Oakwood Healthcare, Inc which could have a devastating impact on workers’ right to join a union. 

The board’s ruling essentially enables employers to make a supervisor out of any worker who has the authority to assign or direct another and uses independent judgment. They ruled that any worker can be classified as a supervisor if he or she spends as little as 10-15% of his or her time overseeing the work of others.  Under current Federal labor laws, supervisors are prohibited from forming unions.  The ruling could deny up to 8 million workers the right to choose union representation.

ACT NOW TO DEFEND WORKERS' RIGHTS

Overview of this Bush NLRB decision – The "Kentucky River" Decision:

The NLRB ruled on three cases referred to as the "Kentucky River" because they serve to clarify issues left open by the Supreme Court's Kentucky River decision in 2001.  The Board's decision to broadly interpret who is a "supervisor" could allow employers to strip the right to join a union from up to 8 million more workers, simply by manipulating titles and job descriptions.

Until now, the NLRB has always ruled that only people who have the authority to hire, fire, discipline, evaluate, or promote employees are ineligible to join a union because they are supervisors.  The NLRB's decision in the Oakwood Healthcare, Inc. case significantly expands the definition and enables employers to make a supervisor out of any worker who has the authority to assign or direct another and uses independent judgment.  The board also ruled that a worker can be classified as a supervisor if they spend as little as 10-15% of their time overseeing the work of others.  Workers without any authority over working conditions, staffing levels, pay, or any other management power could lose their right to union representation.

The impact is likely to be particularly dramatic in the health care industry, in construction, and in other skilled occupations where it is common for higher skilled workers to play a role in directing the work of lower skilled employees.  For example, registered nurses who tell nurses aides to do certain things for particular patients and journeymen/building trades workers who work with apprentices and helpers on a crew could suddenly find themselves ineligible for union membership. Nurses, construction workers, newspaper and television employees, port workers and many others could be prohibited from forming unions. What's more, longtime union members could suddenly lose union representation when their contracts run out.

More than 60 cases currently pending at the NLRB could be directly impacted by this case, and countless others could follow.

Read reaction from the labor movement about the decision here.  Read the actual decision here.

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JwJ Responds to Rash of Anti-Immigrant Ordinances

Hazleton, PA is a former steel town of 31,000 people about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia. In early July, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta passed one of the most draconian anti-immigrant laws our nation has ever seen, the "Illegal Immigration Relief Act". The law will force businesses to fire suspected 'illegal' immigrants, prevent city government from providing any services in any language besides English, force landlords to evict undocumented immigrants, and require that all people living in Hazleton acquire a 'residency card.'

Mayor Barletta has lashed out against the city's Latinos due to what he cites as a rise in crime. In fact, the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports show that despite the influx of more than 10,000 immigrants in the last decade, crime has actually fallen. Since the immigrant workers have arrived, Hazleton has seen their declining economy rebound, and housing values have more than doubled.

The immigration debate has divided the town, and unfortunately Barletta's law has brought out the worst in a segment of the town’s population. A Philly JwJ human rights delegation to Hazelton found vandalized Latino businesses, graffiti proclaiming the presence of the "KKK" and condemning "spics." There were signs on the front of local bars and night clubs warning local Latinos to "Speak English or Leave," and that the businesses would serve "Legals Only."

Some Latino city residents tell JwJ that many of their neighbors have already moved out. Three hundred workers have already been fired from the American Pork Plant and VanHoekelen Greenhouses. Latino-run businesses already report that business has declined by as much as 50% because their customers fear congregating in public areas. When the law takes effect, whole families will be forced into homelessness. The Hazleton Latino community faces being denied vital public services in Spanish such as health care and voting material. Children will be denied access to education. This is a human, civil, and worker rights crisis that is being compared to moments in the Civil Rights Era. Will this small Pennsylvania town become the modern day equivalent of Montgomery, Alabama in 1955?

Philadelphia Area Jobs with Justice has been working to bring attention to this outrageous legislation and to bring a message of solidarity and compassion to the town's immigrant residents. On Sunday, September 3rd, Philly JwJ helped to bring more than 400 people held an interfaith vigil at Memorial Park in Hazleton. Philly JwJ focused mainly on outreach to the faith and labor communities around Hazleton, coordinating conference calls with interfaith regional leaders and organizing more than 20 Hazleton-area faith and labor leaders to attend the vigil. Philly JwJ also helped to develop materials, talked to the media, and recruited people to ride buses from Philadelphia to Hazleton.

Amongst the supporters at the rally were members of SEIU 32BJ, AFSCME Local 2187 DC47, The Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) of Scranton, Casa Dominicana, and the Hazleton Area Latino Association. Speakers included Rabbi Michael Michlin of Hazleton’s Beth Israel Temple, Rev. Doug McKeeby of Hazelton’s Trinity Lutheran Church, Rev. Pat Sullivan of King’s College, Rev. Miguel Rivera of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leadership, Anna Arias, President of Hazleton Area Latino Association, and Dr. Agapito Lopez. Participants were led through prayer and song by the coalition of interfaith representatives while Jobs with Justice organizers made connections with folks form Hazelton’s immigrant community.

Unfortunately, a handful of small towns across the country have begun to pass laws based on or similar to the Hazleton ordinance.

St. Louis Area JwJ has been organizing to oppose a Hazleton-like ordinance in Valley Park, MO, about 20 miles southwest of St. Louis. Long Island Jobs with Justice mobilized in response to a similar bill in Suffolk County, where county executive Steve Levy pushed through a bill to require businesses, charities, governments and others with county contracts to certify each year that their employees are eligible to work in the U.S. Although the bill was passed, JwJ and allies were able to insert a powerful anti-discrimination clause, and will challenge the bill in court.

JwJ coalitions in The ACLU and Latino Legal Defense Groups are challenging the constitutionality of the Hazleton ordinance, and the town has so far agreed to delay implementation of the law. Philly JwJ is continuing to assess the situation and is developing a strategy to move forward in the coming months.

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Vermont Workers' Center/JwJ Helps Launch Burlington Livable City Campaign

On the evening of Aug. 24, the Vermont Workers’ Center/JwJ convened an unusual meeting in Burlington. Teachers, construction workers, University of Vermont faculty, service and maintenance workers from both UVM and Burlington public schools, and union representatives from the Burlington Electric Department, Chittenden County Transportation Authority, UPS, City Market and Burlington schools paraeducators sat down together to discuss how to make Burlington a "real livable city" for working people. Burlington has been touted as one of the “top 10 most livable cities” in the country, but Burlington labor leaders see a different picture: soaring health care costs, no affordable housing, and the cost of living going up faster than wages.

This broad coalition of Burlington unions will work together through the VWC/JwJ to win fair contracts and livable wages for workers throughout the city in different industries. Burlington teachers have already won a fair contract with the support of this coalition, and now the group will focus on fighting for a fair contract and livable wages for UVM Service & Maintenance Workers, Burlington Electric Department workers and Burlington Firefighters, both fighting for fair contracts, and the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) at UVM and their fight to establish livable wages for all UVM workers and contracted workers, for Responsible Contractor and Freedom to Organize polices at UVM.  Finally, the coalition will also fight for livable wages for all Burlington School employees, and at the same time continue to do large scale community outreach, to find other ways we can make this a true livable city for everyone, where working people can afford to work, live and raise healthy and happy families.

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Record Number of Missouri Congregations Preached on Workers’ Issues This Labor Day Weekend

Each Labor Day weekend in cities across the country, thousands of congregations participate in Labor in the Pulpits / on the Bimah / in the Mimbar.   The goals of Labor in the Pulpits are to educate congregations about connections between faith and work, inspire new friendships between people in religious communities and unions, present congregations with opportunities for acting on the social teachings of their faith groups, and give union members a deeper experience of their faith in action.

This year a record number of  Missouri congregations preached on worker justice issues on Labor Day Weekend.   Many faith traditions acknowledge wages as a reflection of the dignity of workers. Work with poverty wages is therefore an affront to our belief in the value of all working people. 

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Justice for Smithfield Hog Processing Plant Workers!

Poverty wages, brutal conditions, crippling injuries--5,500 workers in Tar Heel, North Carolina face this every day at the world's largest hog processing plant. Cited by Human Rights Watch for violating international human rights standards, Smithfield Packing has created an environment of intimidation, racial tension, and sometimes violence for workers who want a voice on the job.

Massachusetts JwJ has been working with UFCW local 1445 to educate Boston activists and consumers about Smithfield’s worker abuse. JwJ helped organize a rally to launch the Justice at Smithfield campaign in June, organized forty visits to grocery stores that carry Smithfield products, organized a successful Labor Day action around the campaign, and organized a successful action targeting the Smithfield CEO on his visit to Boston in September. In the coming months, JwJ will organize more community delegations to stores, help bring the campaign to the Boston city Council, and engage SLAP activists in the campaign.

New York JwJ and DC JwJ have also worked with UFCW to support the Campaign for Justice at Smithfield, supporting the June 20th launch rally in NY, a shareholders meeting rally in DC, and mobilizing for a rally at NY corporate headquarters on September 29th.

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Welcome Central Illinois Jobs with Justice!

Central Illinois Jobs with Justice is the newest coalition to officially join the JwJ family! People in Champaign-Urbana formed an organizing committee last year. With support from Chicago Jobs with Justice and National JwJ's Midwest Field Organizer, the folks in Champaign-Urbana were able to successfully and wuickly organize a coalition that meets the national JwJ charter requirements. Congratulations and welcome!

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State Workers Defend Washington Health Care Standards; Negotiate a Fair Contract

After community rallies and pickets and workplace actions to protest attempts to double monthly worker health benefit fees, state worker unions succeeded in maintaining quality, affordable health plans that directly impact more than 100,000 workers and their family members.  This victory indirectly impacts many more state residents as the low-income Basic Plan and many other private and public sector employer plans are influenced by changes in the state worker plan. 

Washington State Jobs with Justice prioritized this sweeping struggle and worked closely with the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) to mobilize the broader community to support state workers holding the line for all.  Hours before a major rally at the Governor's Town Hall meeting in Puyallup, state managers made peace on the healthcare issue.  Management withdrew attempts to raise monthly worker healthcare fees, agreed to reimburse workers for their previous over-garnishing of wages, and converted the 2005 wage bonus of 1.6% into a permanent raise. 

Within a few weeks of this victory, more than 60,000 state workers in a number of different unions negotiated contracts that go fully recommended to a membership vote now in progress.  Not all unions have reached tentative agreement yet, so Washington State JwJ will continue to support these workers. Stay tuned for action alerts!

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Chalk it Up for Health Care!

JwJ coalitions in Salt Lake City, Portland, St. Louis, and Toledo participated in the “Chalk it up for Health Care" rallies organized by Americans for Health Care in August.

In St. Louis, the rally was more fun for participants than it was for the various building managers. Headed by Service Employees International Union local 1, several contracted cleaners with help from St. Louis area Jobs with Justice and Missouri’s Progressive Vote members set the stage for some unforgettable fun. Fox2 News was on hand to record the event. The intention of the demonstration was to point the finger at contractors whose workers were hired to clean several buildings in the downtown areas of St. Louis and Clayton Missouri who receive little to no health coverage. Participates jumped out of painted crime scene vans, outlined each other in chalk to simulate the death of health care for the cleaners. A crime scene was created with yellow crime scene tape and flyers with images of outlined bodies were passed out to passerby’s that were curious to what was going on. One of the building managers yelled, “Who’s going to clean this up!” and the reply was “Get more responsible contractors!” It was a great success and much needed fun for the demonstrators.

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