Union In The News – Weekly Highlights
Gerawan Farming settles 2013 labor charge with UFW
By Robert Rodriguez, October 24, 2016, Fresno Bee
Gerawan Farming, the United Farm Workers union and the Agricultural Labor Relations Board have entered into a settlement agreement over a 2013 charge that the Fresno County farming company violated state labor law. The Fresno County tree fruit grower has been at odds with the union over representing its workers. In 2013, the grower was accused by the UFW of not supplying accurate employee contact information to the union. A second and third complaint were later filed, accusing the grower of the same problem. The ALRB investigated the allegations and concluded Gerawan had violated the state Agricultural Labor Relations Act by not supplying accurate employee contact information. (read article)
California: Minimum wage hike, state-run retirement savings plan
By Mark Gruenberg, October 21, 2016, People’s World
A big minimum wage hike that will benefit one-third of the state’s workers and a state-run retirement savings plan that forces companies without pension plans or 401(k)s to enroll workers in retirement accounts head the list of California pro-worker legislation passed this year. The measures are important as the Golden State, which is home to one of every eight people in the U.S., is often a trend-setter for the rest of the country. And the California Labor Federation’s legislative success there shows what can aid workers when they join together to elect pro-worker governors and legislators. They’re also continuing to do so. Despite lopsided pro-worker majorities in the state Assembly and the state Senate, they’re not veto-proof, and the state fed wants to make them that way. (read article)
Why business groups aren’t fighting California’s tobacco and income tax hike initiatives
By Liam Dillon, October 20, 2016, San Diego Union Tribune
Four years ago, business leaders financed a multimillion-dollar campaign to oppose an initiative to raise income taxes on California’s highest earners. The same year, the California Chamber of Commerce was featured prominently in television advertisements against a ballot measure to increase the cigarette tax. Now, with new versions of both the income and tobacco taxes on the statewide ballot, money from the business community isn’t there and neither is the same level of opposition. Instead, many business groups are reluctantly resigned to an extension of the higher income tax rates and, in some cases, are even promoting the cigarette tax hike. (read article)
California’s largest state worker union to vote on strike
By Adam Ashton, October 19, 2016, McClatchy Washington Bureau
State government’s largest union is edging closer to a strike. SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker has called for a strike vote of the union’s 95,000 members beginning next week, according to a statement on the union website. The union is trying to get a bigger raise than the 2.96 percent pay hike Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is offering. Brown’s proposal would raise SEIU salaries by 12 percent over four years, but also require its members to begin paying a contribution toward their retiree health care costs. “We still believe the state can do better,” Walker wrote in a message to SEIU members. Walker wrote to union members that SEIU has been in negotiations with the state for the past six months. In July, union leadership voted to authorize a strike vote. The next step toward a strike would be a vote by union members. (read article)
Can Teachers Unions Bargain for Better — or Fewer — Charter Schools?
By Rachel M. Cohen, October 18, 2016, The American Prospect
In cities across the country, teachers unions have been strategizing ways to broaden the demands they bring to the negotiating table. Organizing under the banner of “bargaining for the common good,” educators and their community allies have started to challenge a legal regime that for too many years left unions solely focused on wages and benefits. One window of opportunity that teacher unions are exploring is charter authorizing—the process of opening, closing, and monitoring charter schools. Though laws vary from state to state, 90 percent of the nation’s roughly 1,000 charter authorizers are local school districts. (read article)
Labor unions, tech firms step up political spending, far more than 2012
By Gina Hall, October 18, 2016, Orlando Business Journal
Labor unions and Silicon Valley have stepped up spending in Washington, D.C. at a remarkable rate during the past year. Labor unions contributed almost $110 million in election spending from January 2015 through August 2016. That marks a 38 percent increase from $78 million at the same point in the 2012 election, and double the 2008 total during the same time frame, according to The Wall Street Journal. The union donations are largely headed to the Clinton campaign and to races that would give Democrats a majority in the Senate. Almost every major union is contributing to the cause. The AFL-CIO spent $11.4 million funding outside political groups so far this election cycle, compared to $5 million at this point in the 2012 election, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The National Education Association has spent $14 million, up from $7.7 million in 2012. (read article)
Labor Leaders Support the Dakota Access Pipeline—But This Native Union Member Doesn’t
By Brooke Anderson, October 18, 2016, YES! Magazine
As clashes over the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline continue in North Dakota, a related battle is brewing in the halls of organized labor. In a statement issued September 15, the nation’s largest federation of trade unions threw in its support for the controversial oil pipeline. Thousands of people, including members of over 200 tribes, have been camped at the construction site for months to stop the pipeline, which would move 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day across four states, threatening the water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. As the controversy heated up, four unions representing pipeline workers denounced the water protectors, claiming they were illegal protesters who were committing dangerous actions while Illegally occupying private land. The AFL-CIO, which represents 55 unions and 12.5 million members, quickly followed suit. (read article)
Unions bet big on the Senate
By Gigi Douban, October 18, 2016, Marketplace.org
There’s been big spending by labor unions in this election — and even more in the last couple weeks. The powerful AFL-CIO has spent millions on 2016. Of course, labor unions have long supported Democrats, but this year they’re looking beyond the presidential race to the Senate and even farther down the ballot. Union reps are already in battleground states from Ohio to Wisconsin doing what they do best: knocking on doors, making calls, handing out leaflets at factories. And over the coming weeks, voters in those states can expect an even bigger push. (read article)
Four East Bay construction unions oppose project approvals in bid for developer concessions
By Roland Li, October 18, 2016, San Francisco Business Times
Members from four East Bay construction labor unions have united in an attempt to block at least five approved Oakland projects unless developers agree to implement local hiring requirements, commit to paying union wages and provide other concessions. The new group, East Bay Residents for Responsible Development, won a victory on Tuesday as the Oakland City Council is set to delay a vote for a second time on an appeal of developer Wood Partners’ 262-unit housing project at 226 13th St., according to multiple sources. Construction unions are frequently allied with developers and depend on project approvals to stay employed. But members of the new group feel that the region’s economic boom hasn’t benefitted them. The group has over 100 members who see developers shipping in workers from outside the Bay Area and paying wages that they say aren’t enough to live in the region. (read article)
CTU Delegates Overwhelmingly Support Tentative Labor Agreement
By Matt Masterson, October 18, 2016, Chicago Tonight
The Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates on Wednesday evening overwhelmingly recommended a tentative labor agreement with Chicago Public Schools, paving the way for the union’s full membership to issue a binding vote on the deal next week. Nearly 500 CTU delegates participated in a non-binding advisory vote Wednesday at the River North Holiday Inn. Of those, approximately 350 stood in favor of the labor contract, according to union President Karen Lewis. “We have a completely bona fide process,” she told media following the vote, “and there’s always discussion, there’s always people that have completely different points of view, but the key is that we acknowledge that.” With Wednesday’s recommendation, the contract will now be reviewed and voted on by the union’s full membership for final approval. That will take place inside CPS schools on secret ballots Oct. 27 and 28. (read article)
Labor Unions Step Up Presidential-Election Spending
By Brody Mullins, October 18, 2016, The Wall Street Journal
U.S. labor unions are plowing money into the 2016 elections at an unprecedented rate, largely in an effort to help elect Hillary Clinton and give Democrats a majority in the Senate. According to the most recent campaign-finance filings, unions spent about $108 million on the elections from January 2015 through the end of August, a 38% jump from $78 million during the same period leading up to the 2012 election, and nearly double their 2008 total in the same period. Nearly 85% of their spending this year has supported Democrats. Almost every large union is spending more than has been seen in modern elections, financing rallies, canvassing efforts and ad campaigns to bolster Democrats. (read article)