Tag Archives: AFSCME

WI Students and AFSCME Members Fighting for Human Rights

10 Dec

Great letter to the editor in the University of Wisconsin’s student paper, The Badger Herald, about the Student Labor Action Coalition and AFSCME Local 171 standing together in protest of the privatization of food services at a new facility on campus:

Wisconsin Idea corrupted by WID privatization move

By Letters to the Editor
Wednesday, December 8, 2010 5:00 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, December 8, 2010 11:17:37 p.m.

When students and workers protested the opening of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery last week, they did so after a semester-long campaign and as part of a carefully planned escalation strategy.

The issue at hand is the privatization of food service at the WID. As such, the employees of these restaurants are not guaranteed the same benefits or wages as every other campus employee.

The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 171 represents over 1,600 blue-collar workers on campus and has fought to guarantee them a living wage, affordable health care and fair representation. In contrast, Food Fight, the private company contracted to run the WID restaurants, pays their employees barely above minimum wage and offers an unaffordable health care plan. Working families cannot support themselves on $8.50/hour.

The exploitation of workers on campus is absolutely unacceptable. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation defends this privatization of food service through a plethora of legal technicalities and in doing so merely proves that they are willing to exploit Madison workers in an effort to turn a greater profit.

The WID validates these actions through the facts that it is part of a “public-private partnership” and that 70 percent of the building is controlled by private interests. The logic that the WID can gerrymander the building into areas where they can disregard the ethics and governing principles of the University of Wisconsin is extremely questionable and becomes even more debatable when the unionized janitorial staff services 100 percent of the building.

The Student Labor Action Coalition and AFSCME understand that these arguments might hold up in court; our outrage is not in regards to legality, but rather, to basic human rights.

SLAC and AFSCME have been running the campaign to stop the privatization of campus jobs for the past four months and are well aware of the legal arguments, despite The Badger Herald’s assertions.

SLAC knows this campaign will not be easily won, but also knows that this fight is critical because it is emblematic of the problems of the public-private partnership model which Chancellor Biddy Martin touts in her mysterious Badger Partnership.

The fact that the WARF is able to blatantly ignore the ethical standards of the university, from which it receives the totality of its funding, demonstrates that the privatization of the UW will result in a destruction of the university’s mission and values.

The Badger Herald argues that the restaurants should be privately run because “Union food sucks.” As logically sound as this argument may appear, the food quality is not dependent on the treatment of the worker who makes it. The WID could easily allow Food Fight to make the food while also requiring that it employ public workers. It could just as easily allow the Wisconsin Union to manage the restaurants while requiring a new menu.

AFSCME and SLAC demand that the WID hires public, unionized employees, because if we allow the WID to trample on workers’ rights, we are sanctioning the corruption of the Wisconsin Idea and the distortion of social justice on this campus.

Jonah Zinn (jzinn@wisc.edu) and Xander Gieryn (gieryn@wisc.edu) are members of the Student Labor Action Coalition.

MN Student Workers now UNION

2 Aug

Great news out of Minnesota late last week, the state mediation board ruled that student workers at public colleges are public employees and deserve all the benefits of a union contract including a significant raise and additional job security.  By bringing the student workers into the various bargaining units, AFSCME Council 5 is ensuring the quality of campus services and protecting their current membership by reducing the economic incentive for college administrators to contract out bargaining unit work to cheaper student workers.  It also helps student workers begin to understand themselves as workers in a global marketplace that is driving the price of labor to the lowest possible level while the top 1% continues to accumulate out-sized, undeserved profits.  Here’s the story from AFSCME Council 5:

Ruling Adds Student Workers to Bargaining Units

Submitted by AFSCME Council 5 on July 28, 2010 – 9:32am.

An estimated 900 student workers at the University of Minnesota will be eligible for AFSCME membership because of a ruling that says they are public employees under state law.

Council 5 raised the issue in 2009, after the university began hiring students to fill vacant clerical and technical positions. The students were doing the same work as AFSCME-represented employees. However, the students were paid $3-$4 an hour less. They also weren’t receiving contractual protections and benefits, including health insurance and paid vacation.

The state Bureau of Mediation Services ruled July 13 that hundreds of students are indeed public employees with a right to union representation. The ruling will take effect on July 1, 2011. Most of the students would wind up in Locals 3800, 3801 and 3937.

The ruling covers full-time students, age 21 or younger, who work at least 14 hours a week and 100 days a year. The ruling specifically excludes students whose jobs are part of federal work-study grants.

Videos of Young Workers Fighting

2 Jul

ITUC Young Workers’ Solidarity Picket.
During the International Trade Union Confederation General Assembly meeting a few weeks ago, young workers from around the world joined their Canadian brothers and sisters in picketing at Hertz.  COPE (Canadian Office & Professional Employees Union) were on strike for five-months and just earlier this week came to a fair contract.  Maybe it was the support of all these young workers that made the difference:

Young Trade Unionists Join Forces.
In late March, the IBEW reached out to the Young Trade Unionists in Baltimore and asked what they could do to help the future of the labor movement.  The result was an effort to show the world the great work of the Young Trade Unionists, here is the video.  Watch it, then send it around:

AFSCME Generations.
Earlier this week, we posted on AFSCME Next Wavers being featured with their Retirees program at their International Convention this week.  Here is a great video they put together showing how the generations can learn a lot from each other:

AFSCME Bringing Generations Together

30 Jun

This week is AFSCME International’s 39th Convention, while much of the attention has been on the race for the next Secretary-Treasurer, yesterday the convention celebrated AFSCME’s efforts to involve young workers through the Next Wave program… this is from the “Convention Daily“:

AFSCME’s Generations Come Together

AFSCME retirees laid the foundations for our union, and Next Wavers – members age 35 and younger – are building upon that legacy. Tuesday, representatives of both groups met on stage to highlight the commitment of AFSCME activists across the board.

Retirees Phyllis Zamarripa (CO Chapter 76) and Howard Van Kleef (OH Council 8), along with Next Wave activists Tamika Nared, Local 1439 (PA Council 13), and Elvyss Arguetta, Local 88 (OR Council 75) starred in a video showing their recent cross-country trip visiting local affiliates.

Their goal: to experience AFSCME through its history, activism, lobbying and organizing efforts. The camaraderie they displayed showed how generations of AFSCME leaders can learn from each other to improve the lives of working people.

Union on “Life Support” Needs Younger Generation

1 Jun

AFSCME Local 1733 Vice President Rodriquez Lobbins listens intently during the first of a series of forums to discuss garbage pickups, including whether the now city-provided service should be privatized. At the onset, he said, “This is not something you want,” alluding to increased costs. (Photo and Caption: Tri-State Defender)

The former president of AFSCME Local 1733, which represents nearly 500 Memphis sanitation workers, challenged the younger generation to become more involved in their union, register to vote, and connect with the International union as the only way to keep the union alive during a town hall meeting on May 25. The internal dynamics facing these workers is especially poignant because this was where Dr. King gave his life; fighting for these workers to have decent pay, benefits, and to be treated with the respect they deserve as human beings.

Joseph Trotter, a former President of 1733, told the crowd that if the younger generation does not step-up, “this is a thing that’s going to fade away.”

Memphis sanitation workers went on strike in 1968 after two workers were crushed in the back of a truck. They carried signs that stated, "I AM A MAN."

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr., looking to take advantage of the weakened internal dynamics of the local and the economic crisis, is threatening to privatize the entire department.  The sanitation workers have seen their ranks shrink over the last several years as the number of days for trash collection has reduced and parts of their workload have been privatized.  Newly-elected 1733 President, Warren Cole, has said that staff reductions and privatization has certainly taken a toll: “The ramifications are here.”  The town hall was the first in a series for the union to “hear what the citizens’ concerns are, their complaints are.”

Strengthening the next generation of leaders, reminding them of the sacrifices of the prior generation, is the only way to really rebuild and regain the full strength of the labor movement.

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