Good afternoon and Happy Monday, everybody! Here's a quick round-up of what's been going on around the union the past week. The labor update includes organizing and protest highlights from the International and SEIU Local 26, Local 1000, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, 32BJ and UHW.
- Hollywood producing record profits....and more poverty-wage jobs: Hollywood is still playing the race card. And it's not just with its actors....Check out SEIU's new report, "Reel Profits, Real Poverty: How Major Hollywood Studios Are Leaving Security Officers Behind."
Twin Cities janitors vote to strike: Hundreds of SEIU Local 26 janitors, representing their over 4,000 co-workers who clean major office buildings throughout the Twin Cities voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to to call a strike over unfair labor practices, if necessary. Many of the full-time janitors have had their income cut by as much as 25 percent, and the inadequate health insurance coverage has left many with thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs.- Confirm Becker to NLRB: Craig Becker, past legal council for SEIU and the AFL-CIO, will have a hearing before the Senate HELP Committee on Tuesday on his nomination to the National Labor Relations Board. Becker was re-nominated to the NLRB this month after John McCain placed a hold and forced the Senate to return the initial nomination to the White House. McCain's chief complaints with Becker? That he favor workers' rights, including the Employee Free Choice Act. More at FDL.
- The state of the U.S. Workforce: Last week at a Center for American Progress (CAP) event, SEIU President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger made the case that both business and elected officials have failed working families. Watch the full video of the event and learn more about the steps they outlined to create a new 'Contract with America', including SEIU's jobs plan, holding banks accountable and systemic financial reform.
- The truth about state workers' pensions: In California, three ballot initiatives are being circulated in a misleading effort to reduce the retirement security of all state employees hired in the future, and use the ballot box to undermine the collective bargaining process in separate jurisdictions throughout CA. In addition, Gov. Schwarzenegger is supporting a separate plan to scale back benefits for future state employees to 1999 levels. More at www.seiu1000.org.
- Just like Lilly, Evelyn too deserves justice: An editorial in last week's New York Times highlights a 2007 Supreme Court decision that denied years of unpaid overtime wages to retired home care worker, Evelyn Coke. Mrs. Coke passed away this summer, but "Mr. Obama should instruct his Labor Department to undo the companionship exemption" and support to extend federal overtime and minimum-wage requirements to home care workers in her memory.
- Minnesota Governor's forum:
SEIU Healthcare MN members from across the state gathered together on Jan. 27th to meet with 10 of the Gubernatorial candidates. Members were able to sit down w/ candidates and have their questions answered, to see how the candidate, if elected as governor, would work to solve their issues. Photo slideshow here. - The merger between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch has been a disaster from the start, but more than bad news for stockbrokers, it has hurt working families. Thirty BofA security guards lost their jobs and 130 lost their health care coverage when Ken Lewis and company took over Merrill Lynch's Manhattan office buildings, and are standing together with SEIU Local 32BJ to win their jobs and benefits back. A Thurs. Marketplace report details how this fight is part of a broader effort to help workers whose jobs can't be off-shored form unions.
- Work sick or lose your job?: DC's Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act of 2008 law requiring companies to offer up to seven paid sick days took effect in November 2008--but Mayor Adrian Fenty's administration has delayed publishing the final rules to implement the measure. In a letter to Fenty published in The Washington Post from SEIU Local 32BJ VP Valarie Long, Long writes that without the regulations D.C. workers "are still being forced to choose between coming to work sick or losing their jobs."
Picketing for quality care: Community leaders, including State Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), joined SEIU-UHW healthcare workers to picket Community and Mission Hospital of Huntington Park on Jan. 29th. The owner of the hospital, Karykeion Inc, is in the process of selling the hospital to Avanti Health Systems in an agreement that would impose severe contract changes on the healthcare workers--ranging from salary cuts to immediate termination--which could have a profound effect on the care and services provided at the facility.
Got news or recent photos/video from the work your SEIU Local has been doing? Share it with us for SEIU's Blog by emailing us at newmedia[at]seiu[dot]org.
