Bill Bumpus an injury to one is an injury to all

On September 16, 2,200 clerical, blue collar, and professional workers in the Santa Cruz County chapter of Service Employees Local 415 walked out. Their employer was long committed to substandard wages, and now planning layoffs in response to a fiscal crisis. And there was only one solid pro-union vote on the county Board of Supervisors.

Hyatt Regency Waikiki workers staged a one-day strike on Thursday. Jesse Russell reports.

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By Doug Cunningham

Honeywell is continuing its lockout of United Steel Workers members at a uranium conversion plant in Metropolis, Illinois. It’s one of just two plants in North America that converts uranium ore to UF-6 gas for use in nuclear power plants. USW Local 7-669’s Steven Lech says in June Honeywell locked out 230 United Steel Workers members when they refused to agree to major concessions – even though Honeywell is a profitable company.

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By Doug Cunningham

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With Strike Averted – Tonight’s 5 PM Pre-Strike Rally is Now a Celebration. Massachusetts Nurses Association, September 2, 2010 Marathon negotiations over the last two days have lead to a tentative agreement this morning between the Massachusetts Nurses Association bargaining unit and the North Adams Regional Hospital. Due to the tentative settlement the strike scheduled for September 3 has been averted, Negotiations over the contract between the 102 registered nurses and the hospital have been going on since January. The primary outstanding issues had been the hospital’s concessionary proposals that the nurses believe would have been disastrous ... Marathon

North Adams Transcript, September 2, 2010 North Adams - Registered nurses at North Adams Regional Hospital reached a tentative contract agreement this morning at 10:15 and averted a strike, the local union of the Massachusetts Nurses Association has reported. "We're happy," said Ruth O'Hern, chairwoman of the nurses' negotiating committee. "Our shifts are protected, and we have a two-year agreement." The settlement came after a 24-hour marathon negotiating sesson. The nurses have been without a contract since March 31 and had planned to strike Friday at 6 AM. A support rally planned for 5 PM today at Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Parish Center will now be a victory celebration, O'Hern said. The public is invited.

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North Adams Transcript, September 2, 2010 North Adams - Registered nurses and management at North Adams Regional Hospital remained at an impasse over contract talks late Wednesday night, but both sides continued to negotiate as they hoped to avoid a nurses’ strike on Friday. "We’re prepared to go to midnight or as long as it takes to get a contract," said Ruth O’Hern, chairwoman of the bargaining committee for the local union of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Hospital officials have declined to comment on the negotiations until they are complete. Meanwhile the local union, which has 103 members, plans to stage a support rally today at 5 PM at Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Parish Center.

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Glenn Drohan, Berkshire Eagle, September 1, 2010

North Adams - As a strike Friday by registered nurses continues to loom for North Adams Regional Hospital, bargaining talks between the nurses union and hospital management remained at impasse late Tuesday night after a full day and night of negotiations.

"As of right now, the strike is still on," said Ruth O'Hern, chairwoman of the local unit of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "They've asked us to postpone it, to allow them to work out what they need to work out while we continue to go to work, but I don't see that happening."

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Employer says cuts must be made to retiree benefits. Katie Johnston Chase, Boston Globe, August 31, 2010 Following a ruling by the state labor board in favor of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, Cambridge Health Alliance and union representatives are headed back to the bargaining table in an attempt to hash out retiree health benefits for more than 325 nurses at Cambridge Hospital. The nurses are already declaring victory, but the Alliance said cuts to employee retirement benefits remain necessary to keep the financially struggling hospital group afloat. ... Cambridge

It’s no secret that House Republican leader Rep. John Boehner (Ohio) and his colleagues are tight with their corporate chums. They even defend poor little old BP from the meanies working to hold petroleum giant accountable for the Gulf oil spill.

One of Boehner’s trusted lieutenants, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), even went so far as to claim the Obama administration’s efforts to persuade BP to establish a $20 billion recovery fund for Gulf Coast residents was a “shakedown.”  How dare they pick on BP like that?

To remind voters in Boehner’s home district of his loving relationship with BP and Big Oil, our friends at Act Blue have erected a second billboard, with our help and that of People for the American Way, that notes the golf-loving Boehner’s affection for BP is “Par for the Course.” Click here for more on Boehner and his golf jones.

Be sure to visit BeatBoehner.com and click here to find out more about Justin Coussoule who is running with labor’s support to unseat Boehner in Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. He is a West Point graduate, a former Army captain, a lawyer and a small business owner.

Boehner’s so-called job creation strategy is to return to the Bush policies of tax cuts for the wealthy and big business and free rein on Wall Street. Tuesday in St. Louis, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka summed up Boehner’s jobs program.

His idea of job creation is to hire a second caddy.

Corporations that lead the way in creating fair working environments prosper–but too many employers and governments around the world are abusing workers’ rights, according to the findings of three reports released in time for Labor Day. You can check out all the reports on our Labor Day 2010 web page here.  

•  “Labor Day List: Partnerships that Work,” by American Rights at Work, profiles eight companies that promote positive labor-management relationships in the clean energy industry. The companies and union employees featured in the report are leading the way toward a sustainable economy in which businesses thrive, the planet prospers, and workers share in the success they help create.

• A  Human Rights Watch  (HRW) report reveals that many European companies which publicly embrace workers’ rights and follow global labor standards at home sometimes undermine workers’ rights in their U.S. operations. The 130-page report, “A Strange Case: Violations of Workers’ Freedom of Association in the United States by European Multinational Corporations,” details how some European multinational firms have carried out aggressive campaigns to keep workers in the United States from organizing and bargaining, violating international standards and, often, U.S. labor laws.
• The HRW report cites T-Mobile USA  as one company that operates on this double standard. This summer, T-Mobile USA workers visited Germany to tell shareholders at the company’s parent, Deutsche Telekom (DT), how the company denyies its U.S. employees the freedom to join a union. In many countries around the world, DT follows internationally recognized labor and human rights, including the freedom of association and the freedom to form a union. But not in the United States. Here, the German company allows management to harass and intimidate workers who want to join a union.
•  A Freedom House report found that the rights of working people and trade unions are under serious duress throughout much of the world, and authoritarian regimes are using increasingly sophisticated methods of control.  The Global State of Workers’ Rights: Free Labor in a Hostile World, found that one-third of the global population lives in societies in which workers’ rights suffer a significant degree of repression.

John Commins, HealthLeaders Media, August 31, 2010 Cambridge Health Alliance CEO Dennis D. Keefe says the nonprofit health system is reviewing legal options in the wake of a state labor board ruling that struck down CHA's unilateral cuts to health benefits for retired nurses at Cambridge Hospital. Massachusetts' Commonwealth Employment Relations Board ruled that CHA violated state labor laws and failed to demonstrate sufficient financial need when it declared an impasse in negotiations and cut health benefits for retired nurses by 40%. The unilaterally imposed cuts raised retirees' share of health insurance to 50%, up from 10%. ... Labor