September 2014 NOLJ

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SAFE T Y F IRS T ME ANS AC T ING FAS T.

Nothing is more important to Con Edison than your safety. So here are some things you can do to keep yourself and your loved ones a little safer. If you smell gas or suspect a leak, leave the area immediately and call 911, 1-800-75-CONED or your local gas utility. (Remember, you can report leaks anonymously.) If you see a downed power line, keep your distance and, again, call Con Edison. Last but not least, if you see steam from a Manhattan manhole, just let us know and we’ll check it out. For more safety information, visit conEd.com and follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

National Organized Labor Journal • September 2014www.NATOLJ.com 3

Dear Friends of Labor, Fall is upon us, and according to climate scientists, fall may not exist a mere half-century from now. Does that mean it’s

time to start the long goodbye, or put aside our differences and bite the pricey bullet that will sustain this planet for generations ahead? Labor is divided on the issue, but here at NOLJ, we unequivocally advocate a comprehensive economic effort to address climate change while there is still time to slow it down without resulting catastrophe. Members of the AFL-CIO have been particularly anti-climate change legislation, since they see it as reducing job opportunities over the short-term. Is it not time to look long-term? Is it not time to reject using fossil fuels to perpetuate the greenhouse effect? Is it not worth short-term loss for long-term gain? Climate change legislation is not the problem. Congress and a culture of greed and desperation are the problem. Due to our insufficient government resources, individuals have no choice but to work low-wage, no-benefit jobs just to partially support themselves and their families—supplemented by food stamps and Medicaid, of course—and they are understandably against any policy that cuts jobs. The problem is that climate change legislation can mandate that jobs be cut. This bears repeating: The problem is that climate legislation can mandate that jobs be cut. The fault lies with our live-and-die-by-the-sword-of-Milton-Friedman attitudes. In some psychological theories it is believed that changing an action can change a thought—thus, changing the legislation to protect Earth from climate change can change labor’s mentality. However, these psychological theories are based on a premise that the results of the change are seen quickly, and the intended results of this legislation will not only not be seen (after all, the ideal result is that nothing changes, i.e., worsens), but they will be felt adversely if the structure of the economy is not changed simultaneously. Simply put, if corporations devote resources to slow global warming, they will initially lose profit—but if they restructure their business model to not only accommodate but benefit from the changes, they will prosper even more. How is that possible?, one may ask. The answer is two-fold: first, structure business around a model that is environmentally-friendly, while at the same time adding jobs and paying workers more, both in terms of salary and benefits. While there is still time, labor must align with the plight of the long term question of humanity instead of playing into the hands of short term greed.

Sincerely,Stephanie TellerEditor-in-Chief

Letter From The EditorContents

page 4

page 4

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR • 3

National • 4

MTA Talks Partly Derailed • 4

Behind Closed Doors . . .• 4

UAW: Williams Picks Up Where King Left Off • 6

Special Focus • 7

Meet Climate Change: Labor’s Newest Cause • 7

Economy • 7

Trimming The Hedges • 7

But Does It Serve The Merger? • 8

No Deal For Workers In Retail • 9

Pension & Welfare • 9

Taxi Alliance: Hard To Hail Good Jobs • 9

15 Proposals, But A Contract ‘Aint One • 10

Local • 10

Atlanta Orchestra Signals Off Note In Negotiations • 10World • ?

World • 12

A French Missed Connection • 12

The Last Word • 12

Dismantling Labor, Case By Case • 12

page 8

National Organized Labor Journal • September 2014 www.NATOLJ.com4

MTA Talks Partly Derailed

Fearing a strike on the Long Island Rail Road, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that it had expanded its offer to union leaders, granting “everything

that they’ve asked for,” with raises of 17 percent over seven years. But shortly after the proposal was unveiled, Anthony Simon, the leader of the railroad’s largest labor group, criticized the offer, which was presented as “way below” what the unions had requested. The unions have called for 17 percent raises, but over six years, not seven. The authority’s proposal also requires new employees, hired after the potential ratification, to contribute 4 percent of their salaries towards the cost of their health insurance. Current employees would be asked to contribute 2 percent. Under the expired agreement, employees did not contribute any of their salaries to health care. New hires would also be asked to contribute to their pensions for longer than veteran employees, and the offer did not include changes to work rules. Anita Miller, the authority’s director of labor relations, said that the authority had repeatedly improved its offer over the last several months. “The Long Island Rail Road unions have not modified their position one cent,” she said. In February, railroad workers voted to authorize a strike. It could take place as early as July 20, potentially stranding around 300,000 daily riders and creating an election year headache for New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. Since December, two federal mediation panels have rejected the authority’s contract proposals for rail workers. The most recent ruling, delivered in May by a three-member board appointed by President Obama, called union leaders’ offer of a 17 percent raise over six years “the most reasonable.” The authority offer at the time had called for an 11 percent raise over six years—a deal modeled after an agreement that subway and bus workers ratified last month, according to the authority. The latest offer, according to officials, was based on the parameters laid out by the federal mediation panel. Mr. Simon suggested that the change in course from the authority, which had previously said it could not afford such large increases, raised doubts about its credibility. “Their strategy has changed every single step of the way,” he said. “They just look like liars.” Ms. Miller said it would be a “grave mistake” for the railroad workers to strike. Adam Lisberg, a spokesman for the authority, said that possible contingency plans, including a shuttle bus system, could carry only a small fraction of the railroad’s ridership. “Nothing can accommodate them all,” Mr. Lisberg said. “That’s why there is a Long Island Rail Road.”

In just a few weeks, the Long Island Rail Road strike could force tens of thousands of commuters onto clogged roads and overstuffed buses. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is urging employers to be flexible if contract negotiations break down and one of the nation’s busiest commuter railroads grinds to a halt. The authority is asking employers to consider letting employees work at home or from satellite offices or use vacation time. “It’s just going to be a nightmare,” said Andrew Schmidt, a 50

year-old construction worker who relies on the LIRR to get to job sites from his home in Oceanside. “There is no staying home, and if you don’t get in, you don’t get paid.” More than commuter hassles hang in the balance as the MTA locks horns with LIRR unions. Both sides are playing a high-stakes game that involves a test of their clout and trade-offs among competing uses of scarce cash. The MTA estimates that its latest offer to LIRR employees will cost an additional total of $197 million through 2016, according to disclosures to investors who buy the authority’s bonds. That

figure assumes Metro-North Railroad employees agree to similar terms as those offered to LIRR workers. The authority, after backing down from its earlier stance against higher net labor costs, says it will have to pay for wage and benefits increases with money it had planned to use for financing repairs and construction projects. Reduced capital funding promises to further strain the MTA’s finances as it prepares to hammer out a five-year spending blueprint for major projects later this year. The authority has been finishing a subway line along Second Avenue, extending the 7 line to Manhattan’s west side and building a new LIRR station underneath Grand Central Terminal. Performing routine fixes and major repairs could also become tougher. “It’ll make it harder—no question about it,” said Richard Ravitch, who was MTA chairman from 1979 to 1983. “The problem isn’t just the labor negotiations—the problem is they need another revenue source to service any debt they would incur in order to rebuild the system.” An MTA deal with the LIRR is unlikely to dent the authority’s credit rating or increase its borrowing costs in the near future, according to Matt Fabian, the managing director at Municipal Market Advisors, a municipal financial research and consulting firm. The MTA’s latest offer would give some 5,400 LIRR employees 17% raises in a deal that covers seven years and includes retroactive pay going back to 2010. Concessions sought by the authority include requiring current LIRR employees to contribute 2% of their regular pay toward their health care coverage.

NATIONAL

The National Domestic Workers Alliance is an innovative group that is successfully organizing “a workforce that is, by definition, the most atomized on the earth,” according

to Karen Nussbaum. Since 2007, NDWA has worked to organize nannies, housekeepers and caregivers—many of whom work in a one-or-two employer/one-employee relationship, behind closed doors in private homes. Mariana Viturro, deputy director of the nonprofit organization, said that the alliance has focused on “worker-led

grassroots campaigns.” “A lot of the success has been having workers share stories with legislators, really lifting up their voices through a communications strategy that’s been most effective way to get bills through,” she said. By advocating for state-level bills of rights for domestic workers—first in progressive states like California, Hawaii and New York—the 10,000-plus members have been able to “legislate terms of employment that other workers are able to bargain for through contracts.” By effectively “bargaining with the state on setting some standards for domestic work” their efforts have included ensuring basic

Behind Closed Doors . . .

[continued on page 6]

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NATIONAL

The UAW has elected Dennis Williams as its 11th president in a landslide, putting him in charge of a union that is struggling to regain bargaining leverage, rebuild its

finances, and restore political clout. “I am excited for our union. I feel the energy, the power of our unity,” Williams said shortly after he was elected. “I am looking forward to taking on the challenges we have.” As secretary-treasurer, Williams was part of developing a long-term strategy for the union, supporting the membership and organizing the foreign-owned automakers in the United States. Williams was instrumental in turning around the relationship with Navistar Inc., bringing major investments into UAW facilities as well as organizing the Tulsa Bus plant. His union experience has carried him through the many diverse sectors of the UAW, giving him broad knowledge and understanding that few have the chance to accomplish. Williams joined UAW Local 806 in 1977 at J.I. Case where he was a salvage welder. He was elected to the bargaining committee as chairman. In 1988, Williams was appointed an international

representative and assigned to the National Organizing Department. He negotiated the first contract at Mitsubishi Motors North America and assisted in organizing Indiana state employees. In 1992, Region 4 Director Bill Stewart assigned Williams to service locals in various sectors throughout the region, including Agricultural Implements, Independent Parts and Supplier (IPS) and Technical, Office and Professional (TOP). In 1995, Williams was appointed as the assistant director of Region 4 by Regional Director Paul Korman. In 2001, he was elected UAW Region 4 Director at a special convention. He was reelected in June 2002 and June 2006 at the UAW Constitutional Convention in Las Vegas. The union is facing contract talks with the Detroit Three in 2015, and expects to wield influence in electing a Democratic president in 2016. “We have a huge imbalance in this society and we plan on taking on that fight,” said Williams, who received 3,215 votes to 49 votes cast for Gary Walkowicz, a dissident from UAW Local 600. “Dennis has always been somebody I can trust to talk about the issues at hand,” said Joel Morel, a delegate from UAW Local 145 in

“What we’re trying is sort of new.”- Mariana Viturro, Deputy Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance

UAW: Williams Picks Up Where King Left Off


Behind Closed Doors . . .[continued from page 4]rights (like paid leave) but also shifting cultural perceptions regarding the value of work. To connect with workers in a sector where collective-bargaining is not an option, Viturro explained, organizers often go to local parks, book stores, libraries, senior centers and the bus lines on which the domestic workers commute. “We’re still grasping what the organizing model looks like—and trying to innovate on what will make the workers connect with the organization, through specific services and benefits,” she said. State member groups organize rallies, marches, mobilization and lobbying campaigns in support of relevant legislation. The alliance aims to organize not only workers, but potentially employers who want to do right by their employees. The organization mostly receives its funding from foundation grants, but does get some revenue through individual and organizational membership dues. It too is exploring various new ways to become self-sustaining. But, Viturro said, things are still in an experimental stage. “What we’re trying is sort of new: legislation with the enforcement mechanism that can advance the organizing, create revenue for organizing, building individual worker organizations to get us to a different scale, and trying to influence an entire industry and new market players around domestic work and care work. We’ll see how all those things land.” In addition to her own group, Viturro identified the National Guestworkers Alliance as an organization organizing “some really exciting campaigns” outside the collective bargaining structure. And, like the domestic workers, the guestworkers’ group has seen some real success in organizing and protecting one of the economy’s most vulnerable groups: workers from outside the country with temporary work visas. Saket Soni, executive director of the alliance, said that guestworkers represent what amounts to a crystal ball for the future of the economy. As economic shifts have brought more and more contingent work, left fewer workers tied to a particular place or employer, and

made it easier and easier for businesses to distance themselves from the conditions of the people at the bottom of the supply chain. In these workers, “one can see the future of work in the new economy,” where worker power is undercut and so is any form of safety net. Captive to employers who control their visas, guestworkers have, in many cases, been abused with labor camp conditions that the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as “close to slavery.” After the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice successfully improved the conditions of guestworkers and others in post-Katrina New Orleans, the organization decided to expand nationally. In 2006, according to Soni, it started “pilot experiments in

organizing and policy in cities across the country, to really figure out how workers themselves can shape the future of work.” So far, he noted, there have been some great successes. “We’ve had workers in small, tiny factory floors in the heart of Louisiana go on strike and redefine themselves as Walmart workers because they were part of Walmart’s supply chain, and subcontracted workers like in Minneapolis say they want to bargain not only with the people who sign their paychecks but the people who control the overall economy—the Target Corporation and their executives.” The alliance is currently funded by foundations and donors. Soni does not expect self-sustainability to come immediately. “I think it’ll be several years of social movement building until the energy and momentum of that social movement is translated into strong

institutions that monetize and can self-sustain. It’s gonna be a while,” he added. “In the meantime, people are gonna have to pool together. A host of people across the country will really have to give out of their own pockets to nourish and sustain a movement that can end up eventually setting policy, generating revenue and rebuilding civil society. It’s gonna be a long journey.” He remained optimistic that a “broad-based movement” will one day “take off and gather steam in order for institutions to be created that sustain millions of workers.”


NATIONAL

Montgomery, Ill., who nominated Williams. “Dennis has always been a champion of social justice.” Williams, who endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama in 2007 when he was a little-known candidate in Democratic presidential primaries, has close ties to the White House. “We don’t talk every day. But I consider the president to be a friend,” Williams said. “He is somebody who I got to know while he was in the Illinois Senate.” Williams also developed a long-term strategy for the union, which includes continuing efforts to organize foreign-owned automakers. He has said that his goal is to win

UAW: Williams Picks Up Where King Left Off[continued from page 6]

wage increases for members at the Detroit Three in 2015. Those hired before 2007 have not had a raise in nine years. He also wants to close

the wage gap between workers hired before and after 2007 when the UAW agreed to lower pay rates for new workers. “I am concerned, and I think everybody should be concerned about certain elements in our country that are trying to diminish people’s rights to vote,” Williams said. “So we will always do the best job we can at the bargaining table. But there is a side of us that I think has a higher calling to reach out and make sure that we have justice in this country.” Williams is the first UAW president to have served as secretary-treasurer and the

first to come out of the union’s agricultural implements department, which represents workers at companies like John Deere and Caterpillar.

SPECIAL FOCUS

Meet Climate Change: Labor’s Newest Cause

Demonstrators, frustrated by the lack of international action on global warming, descended on New York City in late September, marching through the heart of

Manhattan with an alarming message for world leaders who would gather for the United Nations summit meeting on climate change. The march was organized in part by a dozen labor groups. All the way through Midtown, from Columbus Circle to Times Square and the Far West Side, the People’s Climate March was a spectacle even for the normal-that-is-spectacular in New York. The march was joined in solidarity by demonstrations across the globe, from Paris to Papua New Guinea. “I’m here because I really feel that every major social movement in this country has come when people get together,” said Carol Sutton of Norwalk, Conn., who is the president of a teachers’ union. “It begins in the streets.” From scientists holding an oversize chalkboard to the Hurricane Sandy victims who toted life preservers, the march was both self-inclusive and self-conscious, with the organizers making a very big tent, which they hoped would hammer home the relevance of climate change and its effects. The march attracted leading lights in the environmental movement, most notable Vice President Al Gore. It also drew the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, who will oversee the United Nations climate summit meeting. Also in attendance was Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, who was fresh off his announcement

that he was committing the city to an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses by 2050. It was also an event for concerned civilians, many of whom are veterans of climate change efforts, and others who are relative newcomers. From the Bronx to Rome, demonstrators came in large numbers. At one point early in the afternoon, the march was stopped

because the entire 2.2 mile route was full, and more than two hours into the procession, people were still setting out from the march’s starting point, near

Columbus Circle. Organizers used data that was provided by 35 crowd-spotters that was analyzed by a mathematician from Carnegie Mellon University to estimate the number of people on the route. The estimated number was 311,000. The signs that marchers held were as varied as the movement itself. “There Is No Plan B,” “Forests Not For Sale” and “Jobs, Justice, Clean Energy.” The diversity of the protesters made for interesting juxtapositions. On West 58th street, a mini inflatable mosque floated next to a wooden replica of Noah’s Ark. Close by were Capuchin Franciscan monks in brown robes, mingled with nuns, as a group flying a pagan flag beat a drum. The climax of the march was in the early afternoon. All along the route the crowds had been quieted for a moment of silence. On Avenue of the Americas at 57th street, there was a silence as marchers raised their arms and looked down. Then, exactly at 1p.m., a whistle was heard, and a huge cacophony was set off to be a message of collective

“I’m here because I really feel that every major social move-ment in this country has come when people get together.”- Carol Sutton, President, Teachers Union-Norwalk, Conn.

ECONOMY

Once upon a time, hedge funds were the domain of the rich. Today it is the teachers, firefighters and other public employees in America’s biggest pension funds who are

among the industry’s main investors. When the California Public Employees Retirement System—the nation’s largest pension fund—said that it planned to eliminate all $4 billion of its hedge fund investments over the next year, the industry watched closely. “More institutions have been getting on the bandwagon and

getting into hedge funds,” said Rodger F. Smith, a managing director at Greenwich Associates. “The fact that Calpers is jumping off is an important time for reflection.” For the $2.8 trillion that is the hedge fund industry, the size of the Calpers investment is tiny. But losing it means a great deal because Calpers is used to being a trendsetter among public pension plans, and the reasons for its decision resonate with many public workers, retirees and the plan’s trustees. Hedge funds are just too complicated and expensive.

Trimming The Hedges



“A lot of the employees’ labor unions will applaud this.” - Christopher J. Ailman, Chief Investment Officer,

California Teachers Union

ECONOMY

Trimming The Hedges

“A lot of the employees’ labor unions will applaud this,” said Christopher J. Ailman, chief investment officer of California’s biggest pension fund for teachers. He claims that organized labor is wary in general of Wall Street. There are big fees for hedge fund managers that are likely to have been siphoned away from public workers. His rival, Ted Eliopouls, chief investment officer at Calpers, indicates that he expects the decision to have a ripple effect. “We certainly had a very thoughtful and deep conversation with our peers in the institutional investor network, as well as a variety of talented active external managers, and considered those opinions in forming our own conclusion,” he said. Public pension funds make plans that assume that in total

their investments will earn returns of 7 to 8 percent each year. If they fall short, it causes political problems because local taxpayers must be called on to replace the missing money. Recently, some public plans added hedge funds to their portfolios after traditional stocks and bonds missed the target.

The Calpers decision pushed the fee issue to the forefront. Hedge funds follow a “2 and 20” model, which means they charge investors 2 percent of their total investment and 20

percent of any profit. “It’s no secret it is one of the concerns within the institutional investor community,” said Mr. Eliopoulos. The prospect of paying 20 percent on top of any profit serves as an incentive to have big returns. Some fear, however, that it may promote excessive risk-taking, especially due to the fact that managers that use conventional and conservative investment approaches tend to earn a lot less.

[continued from page 7]

No Deal For Workers In Retail

At this point, the hardships ensured by retail employees at clothing stores across New York City are very familiar: the scramble to get assigned enough hours to earn a

living on painfully low wages; the ever-changing, on-demand schedules that complicate childcare arrangements, college schedules and efforts to find second jobs. Workers and government officials across the country are pushing for change. For an example of more humane workplaces, there is no need to go to Sweden or Denmark or Jupiter. One need only look to Midtown Manhattan, and no farther than Herald Square. For more than two decades, Debra Ryan, a sales associate in the Macy’s bedding department, has guided shoppers on the hunt for bedroom décor, helping them distinguish between medium-weight and lightweight comforters, goose-down and synthetic pillows, and sheets and blankets in many colors. What is truly remarkable, given the current environment in retail: Ms. Ryan knows her schedule three weeks in advance. She works full time and her hours are guaranteed. She has never been sent home without pay because the weather was bad or too few customers showed up. “I’m able to pay my rent, thank God, and go on vacation at least once a year,” Ms. Ryan said. “There’s a sense of security.” What makes the Macy’s store so different? Its employees are represented by a union, which has insisted on stability in scheduling for its members. Union workers have similar scheduling arrangements at the Bloomingdale’s, H&M and Modell’s Sporting Goods stores in Manhattan.) The term “union” is a dirty word in most areas, even in this city, where labor has a lot of clout and has catapulted many workers into the middle class. No one can deny that the union workers savor something that is rare in the retail industry right now: guaranteed minimum hours—for part-time and full-time employees—and predictable schedules. “The biggest issue for workers today is scheduling,” said

Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which negotiated contracts for workers at the Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, H&M and Modell’s stores. “It’s not just about how much they’re paid per hour,” Mr. Appelbaum said, “but how many hours a week they get to work.” To think about what life is like when one does not have those guarantees, just go across the street to 34th to the Zara clothing store, where Sonica Smith has worked as a sales associate for around two years. Ms. Smith is a 26-year-old single mother of two who loves working in retail. She loves clothes and dressing customers, but her unpredictable work schedule and relentless struggle to get enough hours wreaks havoc on her life. Some weeks, she is assigned 24 hours of work; other weeks,

she gets only 16. There are no guaranteed minimums and there are never enough hours to get close to full time. “At work, all I’m thinking about is: How am I going to pay the rent for the month?” said Ms. Smith, who earns $11 an hour. “How am I going to pay the person who is caring for my kids today?”

She said her last check was for only $396 for two weeks of work. “I nearly cried.” There is no surprise to anyone who works in retail. In a report scheduled to be released at the

end of September, Stephanie Luce, an associate professor of labor studies at the City University of New York, and the Retail Action Project, a workers’ advocacy group that is financed by foundations and Mr. Appelbaum’s union, surveyed 236 retail workers in Manhattan and Brooklyn and found that only 40 percent had set minimum hours per week. The good news is that some retail companies are promising to be different. Starbucks had vowed to improve the “stability and consistency” of the work schedules of its 130,000 baristas. The company was responding to a New York Times article that chronicled the enormous strains that unpredictable scheduling places on workers. At Zara, employees have demanded more predictability, and the company has given workers more notice of coming shifts, even though they are still pressing for guaranteed minimum hours. Government officials are trying to curb the harsh scheduling practices.

“The biggest issue for workers today is scheduling.” - Stuart Appelbaum, President,

Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union


PENSION & WELFARE

Taxi Alliance: Hard To Hail Good Jobs

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance was formed in 1998, hoping to improve conditions for one of the city’s most atomized communities. Executive director Bhairavi Desai

has said that the group’s success—its membership now includes 17,000 of New York City’s tens of thousands of yellow taxicab drivers—has come from “mobilizing, organizing drivers, bringing our fight into the public domain and out in the street where members of the public can really see the inner workings of the exploitative nature of the industry.” In 2011, the AFL-CIO recognized the National Taxi Workers Alliance, which now includes the NYTWA and groups in Philadelphia, PA and Austin, TX, as well as an affiliate organization. Because New York considers taxi workers to be “independent contractors,” they are not permitted to collectively bargain. With the help of a pro-industry regulatory commission, Desai lamented, “slowly the industry has found ways of privatizing the wealth and socializing the risk on the backs of the drivers.” Organizing workers who are in their car for most of their waking hours and prohibited from using a cell phone has not been an easy task. “The partition is both practical and symbolic, people remain very hidden in front of it. It’s reflective of how drivers as a workforce have been treated politically. To break that isolation has been important,” she said. To accomplish this, Desai and other organizers spent 70 to 80

hours a week talking to drivers in the field. “Literally 12-hour days, just at the two airports, and restaurants and neighborhoods. Drivers tend to live near each other, different buildings like Brighton Beach in Brooklyn has a massive Pakistani community, parts of the Bronx have a huge Bangladeshi community,” she said. “In one apartment building, we could have a meeting

in one driver’s apartment with 20 to 30 drivers. It was tiring but also really exhilarating. By using tactics including driver strikes, demonstrations and public presence, the commission has gradually been forced to take the group seriously. Desai has said that even without collective bargaining rights, by uniting the group can collectively negotiate and has achieved better regulatory outcomes. Still, she said, “We’ve not been able to negotiate an industry-wide contract with the trade association, but I think that’s only a matter

of time. No group of workers should have to be in the predicament where you have to fight for so many years of recognition.” Desai has said that 80 percent of the group’s budget comes from its membership: “We’ve grown slowly, through the years, as that dues base developed. We’re really proud of that growth. We’re about to open up a new office ten times the size of our last office. We’ll soon have 11 staff people, including a staff attorney. We’ll have an education and training center for drivers and families, a number of services, a meeting hall that members can rent out for special family events and monthly clinics on legal rights, affordable housing [and] financial empowerment. “Everything old is new again,” Desai added. “This is how the labor movement started [when] the [collective bargaining] law didn’t exist. Workers throughout time have worked to defend themselves.”

ECONOMY

But Does It Serve The Merger?

Customer service agents for the merger between American Airlines and US Airways have overwhelmingly favored union representation, according to the National Mediation

Board. The 14,500 agents will be represented by the Communication Workers of America or—in various cases—the Teamsters. Even though the US Airways agents were not previously unionized, the larger group of agents from American were not. The workers include reservation agents, the first airline employees that passengers deal with at the airport, and those operating check-in counters and boarding gates are members of the union. Around 86 percent of those who voted elected to join, with 9,640 agents in favor and 1,547 voting against. The voting took place over four weeks, and votes were placed either electronically or over telephone. What ended up happening was very significant for the almost-9,000 service agents from the former American Airlines—where they had been trying to unionize for nearly a decade. After the merger, the effort was renewed, as organizers pointed to federal rules that permit votes such as these after a major change in the culture of the company. Both airlines closed the airline in 2013, but they still operate like separate carriers. They are working to put together the operations and integrate the groups of work. The parent company, which is American Airlines Group, is trying to get its sole operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration by the middle of 2015 and to complete the merger of its reservation systems by the end of next year. The Communication Workers of America had tried to organize American’s agents two years ago after making the carrier hold an election after a long court battle. The union lost the bid by around 150 votes of some 6,000 that were cast. Members of the union since 2000, US Airways agents are familiar with the union style. Workers from America West, which

merged with US Airways in 2005, have organized with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 2004. Those workers will still be represented by the Teamsters, and the other workers will be represented by the Communications Workers. Nearly 75 percent of the agents at the combined airlines work in Texas, North Carolina, Florida or Arizona, according to the Communications Workers of America. Leaders of the union said that organizational efforts now focused on American’s largest hubs in the South, including Dallas/Fort Worth, where the airline is based, and Florida. This February, the United Automobile Workers had a big loss when it pushed to try to expand to the South when Volkswagen workers voted against the unionization effort in Chattanooga, Tenn. “This is a big deal because this is the South,” said Larry Cohen, president of the Communication Workers of America. Unions are gaining footholds among airline workers who had never before been represented. The industry is coming out of a decade of bankruptcies and consolidations of workers and business, where managers tried to cut costs, salaries and benefits. Since the airlines are a profitable business, the new union representation could mean more demands for better wages for workers, as well as higher costs for the airlines. This August, Virgin America flight attendants voted in favor of union representation by the Transport Workers Union of America. The vote was the first time a group of workers at the airline had voted to unionize. The union received 58 percent of the votes. Pilots at JetBlue Airways rejected unions twice since 2009, but they recently changed their tune, voting to be represented by the Air Line Pilots Association. Many of the airline’s 2,529 pilots took part in the vote, and around 70 percent of them voted to join the association, which is the largest pilots’ union in the United States.


PENSION & WELFARE

15 Proposals, But A Contract ‘Aint One

When the average American thinks of a labor union, they may envision hard working blue-collar workers who are fighting for good wages, safe working

conditions and fair treatment in the workplace. That was the 1940s. Now, not so much. Today, most union members are government employees with desk jobs and benefits that are greater than that of many private sector workers. Far from exercising discretion and understanding in their negotiations, many modern labor unions are demanding more and more privileges from employers or agencies, even when those employers or agencies cannot bear the cost of those privileges. One example of this is the Amalgamated Transit Union’s intentional delay of the collective bargaining process with Portland, Oregon’s TriMet and their illegal and unreasonable demands of the company. TriMet made significant concessions to the union during bargaining, but ATU was anything but conciliatory, even when their demands would have caused substantial financial hardship for TriMet. The ATU refused to comply with state collective bargaining statues that govern negotiation procedures, and TriMet filed an Unfair Labor Practices charge against the union. “Collective bargaining statutes clearly state how the parties should move through the negotiation process and maximize the opportunities for settlement,” TriMet Executive Director of Labor Relations and Human Resources Randy Stedman said. “Over TriMet’s consistent objection, the ATU has acted in bad faith by including in its Final Offer proposals that are either illegal or permissive subjects of bargaining.” The ULP filing comes one day after ERB ruled across-the-board that the ATU violated state collective bargaining statutes by intentionally delaying collective bargaining and unlawfully demanding that TriMet agree to permissive subjects of bargaining. TriMet’s Final Offer includes 15 proposals that reflect substantial movement toward the ATU. “It is fair and equitable to our employees and taxpayers with a focus on realigning benefit costs to be in line with peers and putting TriMet on long-term sustainable financial footing,” said Stedman. “We wish the ATU had made similar movement toward us.

Instead, they submitted virtually all of their 70-plus original proposals.” Stedman noted that the ATU’s Final Offer cost summary does not disclose millions in annual expense that TriMet would incur if ATU proposals were implemented. “This approach of ‘hiding the ball’ confuses rather than clarifies the true cost of their proposal and it certainly does not move the parties toward settlement.” After nearly 40 negotiation sessions with no progress on healthcare costs, TriMet declared impasse in negotiations. State Statutes require specific next steps in the strike-prohibited bargaining process. This includes a requirement that both sides submit a Final Offer, with proposed contract language and a cost summary within seven days of declaring impasse. The 2014 Secretary of State audit found that TriMet’s “most serious and looming concern” is related to the cost of retiree healthcare. TriMet is working to reform these benefits through contract negotiations to be in line with peer agencies. The valuation of the retiree healthcare liability, known as Other Post Employment Benefits, shows that the unfunded liability is $950 million, which is around twice the size of the agency’s annual operating budget. The ATU represents 2,100 of the agency’s employees. Far from being an isolated incident, this is part of a larger trend in which many government agencies and companies have suffered under the increasing burden of union privileges. Gompers’ nonpartisan approach led the American Federation of Labor to become the most powerful labor union in the country during a political climate that was at best skeptical of unions. Now, modern leaders seem to think that by moving in the opposite direction, towards more partisanship, unions can win over a general public that is again suspicious of them. Combine the ideas of out-of-touch, radical left-wing union bosses, modern labor unions’ incredibly unreasonable demands of employers, and the abuses that the union rank-and-file experience at the hands of the power-hungry elite, and no one can see the need for real reform of organized labor’s leadership. Advocacy groups for workers will always be needed, but when the advocacy groups not only unreasonably burden companies and government agencies, but do harm to workers as well, they must be reformed or replaced.

LOCAL

Atlanta Orchestra Signals Off Note In Negotiations

Since the days when it was led by Robert Shaw, the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra has redeemed a reputation outside the South for its tours and Grammy Award-winning

recordings. It continues to win accolades under the musical leadership of Robert Spano. In recent years, the orchestra has won a less enviable reputation for troubled finances and labor woes. After a lockout in 2012, its musicians accepted pay cuts and a shorter work year to shore up the orchestra’s balance sheet, and with that contract set to expire soon, less than three weeks before the orchestra’s 70th season is supposed to begin, players and management are involved in tense negotiations that threaten to reprise the old acrimony. Mr. Spano took a step that music directors rarely take, and weighed in on negotiations. He and Donald Runnicles, the orchestra’s principal guest conductor, wrote a letter in which they said, “We ask the board and management to acknowledge the sacrifice the musicians have already made, and to examine other ways and areas to establish sustainability.” When the musicians agreed to give up their 52-week work year in 2012, it reduced their take-home pay by 14 to 15 percent: a cut the players viewed as a one-time concession to help the organization get its finances under control. Those cuts—the size of the orchestra was reduced and musicians were paid for only 42 weeks last season—helped the orchestra decrease its annual deficits, but it did not eliminate them.

It ran a $2 million deficit in 2013 and its endowment has dwindled to around $70 million, from $98.5 million in 2007. At the end of the summer, management proposed a four-year contract that would reduce the take-home pay of the players further, according to someone involved in the negotiations who was granted anonymity because the proposals were supposed to be private. That offer called for a four-year contract with no raise the first year, 1 percent raises in the second and third years, and a 1.5 percent raise in the fourth year—but it also required the players to contribute more to their healthcare, which virtually erased those small raises and led to another net reduction in take-home pay. The negotiations are complicated because the orchestra is only one constituent of the Woodruff Arts Center, a nonprofit organization that has to balance the needs of the ensemble with the needs of its other divisions, which include the Alliance Theater and High Museum of Art. After Mr. Spano issued the statement, the orchestra’s management responded, saying it agreed that a work stoppage would not be in anyone’s best interests. “But neither is the continuation of operating deficits that have been going on for 12 years, nor the consequences they bring,” it read. Associate principal violist Paul Murphy is also the president of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Players Association. He said that, “After agreeing to a deeply concessionary contract just two years ago, the musicians of the A.S.O. are seeking an honorable contract that will maintain, and grow, the great legacy and tradition that is the hallmark of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.”

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The Supreme Court has narrowly ruled that some government employees do not have to pay any fees to labor unions representing them, although the court

decision did not strike down a decades-old provision that required many public-sector workers to pay union fees. Writing the majority 5-4 decision, Justice Samuel Alito Jr. concluded that there was a category of government employee—a partial public employee—who can opt out of joining a union and not be required to contribute dues to that labor group. Justice Alito wrote that home-care aides who are usually employed by an ill or disabled person with Medicaid paying their wages would be classified as partial public employees, which would not be the same as public-school teachers or police officers who work directly for the government. Because states often set wages for partial public employees such as home-care aides and because unions usually do not conduct collective bargaining for them, these aides cannot be required to pay union fees, Justice Alito wrote. He also wrote that to require these home-care aides to pay would be a violation of their First Amendment rights. The case, Harris v. Quinn, was brought by eight Illinois workers who provided home healthcare to Medicaid recipients. They asked the court to overrule a 1977 decision that declared that government employees can be required to pay fees to unions for representing them and administering their contracts even if they disagree with the union’s positions. The majority did not overrule that fundamental decision, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education—which was a move that could have cut significantly into the membership and treasuries of public-sector unions. Illinois and many other states require government workers, whether or not they opt to join a union, to pay “fair share” fees to finance a union’s collective bargaining efforts to prevent freeloading and to ensure labor peace. However, the court in Abood held that workers could not be mandated to help pay for activities that were purely political, such as a union’s lobbying the legislature or campaigning for particular candidates. The question in Harris v. Quinn was just where that line should be drawn. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation represented the Illinois workers and had argued that the state was violating the First Amendment by requiring that government workers pay compulsory fees to unions even when they disagreed with the unions’ positions. The foundation argued that most of what public-sector unions

did was inherently political, partly because they rely on the government to pay their members’ wages, pensions and other benefits. The Service Employees International Union and the Obama administration had urged the court to uphold the legality of “fair-share fees.” Ever since the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, labor leaders had voiced fears that a decision that banned such dues could badly weaken public-sector unions and their treasuries by causing a million or more government workers nationwide to opt out of paying any representation fees to the unions at their workplaces. During oral arguments in January, Justice Elena Kagan said the position that was taken by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation “would radically restructure the way workplaces across this country are run.” Justice Anthony Kennedy asked whether it would be constitutional for a union to “take money from an employee who objects to the union’s position on fundamental political grounds.” In a decision in 2012, Justice Alito opened the door to the current ruling. In that case, Knox v. Service Employees International Union, the union required workers to pay a special midyear assessment to finance campaign activities on two California ballot measures—although the union gave workers the right to opt out. Writing for the majority, Justice Alito ruled that the ability to opt out was not enough. “This aggressive use to power by the SEIU to collect fees from nonmembers is indefensible,” he wrote. “When a public-sector union imposes a special assessment or dues increase,” he added, the union “may not exact any funds from nonmembers without their affirmative consent.” He wrote that the union must send a notice “allowing nonmembers to opt in to the special fee rather than requiring them to opt out.” In that case, Justice Alito voiced discomfort with the court’s previous objections to so-called free-riders—preventing nonmembers from benefiting from the union’s collective bargaining activities without paying for them. He wrote that concerns about free-riding “are generally insufficient to overcome First Amendment objections” and are “something of an anomaly.”

Dismantling Labor, Case By CaseTHE LAST WORD

DisclaimerNeither this Newspaper nor the Organization speak for the AFL-CIO,

the Teamsters or any other Labor Union, and any account representative saying

or implying that this group does, has not been authorized by management.

A French Missed ConnectionWORLD

Air France has canceled around half of its flights, interrupting travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers. The airline had warned that disruptions

would likely worsen after a strike by pilots. The airline is part of the French-Dutch group Air France-KLM. It said it expected to cancel around 60 percent of flights in the face of its dispute with French pilots over the group’s plans to shift a lot of European operations to a low-cost subsidiary where most crew members would be paid less and be based in other European countries. Pilots’ unions have threatened to strike indefinitely. Alexandre de Juniac, the chief executive of Air France-KLM, has expressed frustration over the lack of progress in talks with pilots and warned that a long dispute is threatening the airline’s tentative recovery and risking damaging the brand of Air France. “Air France should be profitable this year if this strike does not impact its progress,” Mr. de Juniac said. He added that the airline was already anticipating losses of 10

million euros to 15 million, or around $13 million to $19.5 million, for each day of the walkout. Air France-KLM is Europe’s third-largest airline by number of passengers, after Ryanair and Lufthansa, and it has announced plans to double the size of Transavia, its budget airline, by 2017. Transavia’s fleet would increase to over 100 planes from around the current 50, with a goal of carrying 20 million passengers a year. The move is aimed at building the unit into a top unit on intra-European routes, better able to compete with Ryanair and EasyJet, which have a lower cost base. Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline, recently made a similar move, transferring many of its European or short-distance flights to two low-cost subsidiaries. Workers at those affiliates are paid less than their counterparts at Lufthansa, and many are on temporary contracts. Pilots at Lufthansa’s hub in Frankfurt have planned an eight-hour walkout, the next in a series of recent strikes by the airline’s flight crews. Pilots are protesting reductions to early-retirement benefits. The cuts are part of a three-year restructuring at Lufthansa that is aimed at eliminating around $2.5 billion in costs by the end of 2015.

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September 2014 NOLJ