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Thursday,
November 20, 2008
Bargaining at
Work Tip of the Week -
Interested in
upcoming contract expirations? Use the
Contracts Calendar on
Bargaining at Work to see the month's
upcoming contract expirations, and use the
"previous month" and "next month" links to
scroll through additional contracts that have
expired or are slated to expire over 2008. The
information is also available as a PDF
document for convenience sake.
Jobs and the
Economy -
The ranks of
Americans getting by on unemployment insurance
are rising fast. The number of people who
filed new claims last week surged to the
highest levels in 16 years, and the number
of people continuing to collect benefits
neared a 26-year high, according to government
data. The U.S. Department of Labor reported
that initial filings for state jobless
benefits increased by 27,000 to 542,000 for
the week ended Nov. 15. This marks the third
time in 16 years that initial claims have
exceeded 500,000.
Auto Industry
- The
plan to give U.S. automakers billions of
dollars in aid is
on life support, leaving the fate of
hundreds of thousands of workers and Detroit's
once-venerable car companies hanging in the
balance. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.,
canceled plans for a vote on a bill to carve
$25 billion in new auto industry loans out of
the $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund.
°
The leaders of the 100,000-member Retail,
Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU-UFCW)
pledged their support for Congressional
efforts to save the beleaguered U.S. auto
industry.
Pensions -
Several of
the nation's biggest companies are pushing
Congress to
roll back rules passed as part of the
Pension Protection Act of 2006 that require
them to put more money into their pension
funds. The total value of company pension
funds is thought to have fallen by more than
$250 billion since last winter. Lawmakers from
both parties seem receptive to the idea, and
there was talk of adding a pension relief
provision to the broad fiscal stimulus package
Congress considered for this week's lame-duck
session.
Top News -
Some 35,000
members of the International Alliance of
Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) agreed to a
tentative three-year contract with the
major Hollywood studios. The current agreement is set to expire in August 2009. The
proposed replacement agreement was modeled on
similar pacts negotiated by writers (WGA),
directors (DGA) and the American Federation of
Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), that
established pay terms for programs streamed on
the Web. Mediated talks between the Screen
Actors Guild (SAG) and the studios begin
today. °
UNITE HERE Local 11
filed unfair labor practice complaints on
behalf of workers at the Long Beach Hilton,
who have allegedly been subjected to a
campaign of harassment and intimidation since
they began organizing to form a union at the
hotel this summer.
°
Buffalo, NY city workers, represented
by AFSCME Local 264, reached a
nine-year tentative contract agreement
with the city that would give raises averaging
20 percent to blue-collar workers who haven't
seen pay hikes since 2001.
°
Toledo, Ohio city workers,
represented by AFSCME, are trying to
block a moneysaving proposal from Mayor
Carty Finkbeiner to have some city employees
take three unpaid days off before the end of
the year.
Organizing,
Bargaining Rights and Union-Busting - First
Student bus drivers and mechanics in Vermont
and Pennsylvania
voted to join the Teamsters in two
elections this week. Pleasant Valley,
Pennsylvania bus drivers and mechanics voted
by a nearly 17-1 ratio to join Teamsters Local
773. In Brattleboro, Vermont First Student
drivers voted 25-4 to join Teamsters Local
597.
Global Unions
-
Civil unrest
stemming from economic concerns flared in
southwestern
China when several hundred taxi drivers in
Chongqing
went on strike over a government plan to
put more cabs on their district's
roads. "There is so much competition from
unlicensed taxis," said Yang Zhihua, a
cabdriver in Chongqing, in Sichuan province.
"We call on the government to punish them
severely and leave us more space for
business," he added.
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