District 9 Information:
CALIFORNIA LABOR FEDERATION, AFL-CIO
SACRAMENTO SCORECARD Jan 16,2004
Stop State
Funds For Job Outsourcing
According
to President Bush the economy is recovering. But are workers getting their fair
share? Corporate America's profits are surging, American workers are more
productive than ever, yet no new jobs are being created. The Chamber of Commerce
and other Big Business
interests cry about jobs fleeing the state, but the Question to ask is, "Where
are they going?" Are they going to other states because of California's high
Workers' Camp costs, as businesses claim, or are they going to India, Eastern
Europe, and China In a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions?
We've witnessed hundreds of thousands of good jobs in the manufacturing
sector leave the U.S. because of free trade policies like NAFTA. Now, retailers,
banks, airlines, hotels, hospitals, and even government agencies are all sending
jobs off shore. A recent UC Berkeley study reports as many as 14 million service
jobs are at risk of being sent overseas. Even more outrageous, California's
taxpayer funds are subsidizing these outsourcing practices. Most recently, the
Los Angeles Times and the Costa
Times reported that our state's food stamps hotline is staffed by workers in
Mexico and India that are paid as little as $2 to $4 an hour. Public dollars in
Wisconsin, Maryland, Washington, and New Jersey have also been used to export
jobs. These outsourced jobs take good union jobs away from California and create
poorly paid jobs in other countries. Corporations are now having workers in
Pakistan read patient x-rays that AFSCME members used to process at UC San
Francisco.
The Federation is working with CWA, ILWU, AFSCME, SEIU, and the national
AFL-CIO in shaping legislation to curb the outsourcing of California jobs. We're
putting together a package of legislation to stop corporations from using
taxpayer dollars to export our jobs, secure outsourced medical and other private
records, and require corporations to disclose jobs that they take from
California's workers and ship offshore. If your union is seeing your jobs
getting outsourced and you want to get involved in this package, contact Angie
Wel at the Labor Federation (awei@calaborfed.org)
Join Mobilization Across the State to Support the Strikers
The fight of the 70,000 striking/locked out UFCW brothers and sisters in Southern California is reaching a turning point. If the grocery workers are going to win, they need the help of every union member, from north to south, in escalating their fight for health care that will Effect ALL of us.
Major mobilizations will take place around the state throughout the month of January. In keeping with the spirit .and work of Martin Luther King, Jr., union members will engage in civil disobedience actions to win justice for these workers throughout the month of King's birthday. Please join in solidarity with the strikers at the following mobilizations sponsored by Central Labor Councils.
San Jose
-
Saturday,
January 17
3:30 pm gather at the San Jose
Convention Center for a
March to Safeway. For information
call (408)
266-3790.
Orange
County -
Saturday, January 17
2 pm
mass march &
rally at Vons at 9852 Chapman Ave" Garden Grove (Chapman & Brookhurst).
For information call (714) 385-153~.
Santa Cruz - Saturday,
January 17
12 noon
rally at the Mission St Safeway
in
Santa Cruz.
Monterey
- Monday, January 19 (MLK Day)
10 am at the Fremont & Casanova Safeway in Seaside/Monterey. For more
information on the 17th or 19th events, call (831) 633-1869.
San Francisco - Saturday
January 24
1 pm rally at Church and Market Safeway. For information
Call (415)
~40-4809.
Alameda County -Saturday
January 31
2 pm rally at Mosswood
Park MacArthur @ Broadway in
Oakland. For information call
(510) 632-4242.
Los
Angeles
- Saturday January 31
12 pm rally at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood and March to Vons. For
Information call
(213) 381-5611
Weekly actions are being planned throughout the state. For details of activity in your area please call your local Council or the Labor Federation at 510-663-4010 or see full event listings at www.calaborfed.org.
Wal-Mart
Shifts Its Health Care Costs to Taxpayers
PBS' "NOW with Bill Meyers"
revealed last month that taxpayers are footing the
bill
for Wal-Mart's failure to provide
affordable health insurance for its workers. The program cited a study by the
Institute for Labor and Employment at UC-Berkeley that found "Wal-Mart workers
in California relied on 50% more taxpayer-funded health care per employee than
those at other large retail companies." As a result, "taxpayers subsidized $20.5
million worth of medical care for Wal-Mart in California alone
For a full transcript of the report go to
www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript247_full.html.
California
Alliance
For Retired Americans Founding
Convention
After two years of
hard organizing work, more than 250 activists participated in the Founding
Convention of the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) in Los
Angeles this past November. Since the Federation passed a motion to
establish the
California Alliance last year, union retiree representatives have been working
tirelessly on issues such as prescription drug benefits, Medicare privatization,
SB 2, and political campaigns.
CARA is the National Alliance's 15th state affiliate.
New officers include Nan Brasmer, President; Frank Souza, Treasurer; Shirley
Bierly, Secretary; and 18 vice presidents from the largest retiree unions and
community based organizations throughout the state. The Federation looks forward
to working closely with these veteran warriors. For more information on
affiliating your retiree club affiliated with CARA, call Jodi Reid at
415-515-2156
Labor
Dept. Gives OT Avoidance Tips
The
U.S. Department of Labor
has advised
employers on how to avoid
paying
overtime to low-income workers who
may gain
eligibility under proposed new overtime rules. The advice was contained in a
March 2003 summary of the
new rules that
are estimated to take away overtime pay protection
from 8 million private-sector workers. In
promoting its scheme to change the nation's Fair Labor Standards Act, the Bush
administration has stressed the proposal would enable some low- income workers
to receive
overtime pay protections for
the first time. But the Labor Department's advice,
the
summary says,
would result "in
virtually
no, or only a minimal increase, in
labor costs" to employers.
CNA and SEIU Sign Pact
Two of
the largest health care unions have signed a pact to support each other on
organizing, collective bar- gaining and legislative issues. The accord enables
CAN and SEIU to cooperate to improve workplace conditions
and assist each other in bargaining campaigns with common employers. Among the
joint efforts listed in the agreement are: opposition to healthcare
budget cuts and to the repeal of SB 2 (which requires more employers to provide
health coverage for their workers), and support for other efforts to
expand access to healthcare.
Union Wins Around the
State
The Tehama
County Employees association representing 600 workers in various
classifications, voted Dec. 5 to affiliate with AFSCME.
*
Last month, 140 workers at Pacific Coast Care Center in
Salinas, joined SEIU Local 250 via a card- check.
A
majority of the 46 workers at Katherine
Healthcare Center also voted for Local 250, bringing all Salinas nursing home
workers into the union