Convention Addresses Workers’ Rights

67th National UE Convention Daily Summaries: Monday: UE Convention affirmed the right of all workers to bargain, strike and organize through resolutions and a spirited march on the North Carolina capitol.

Raleigh, NC

67th National UE Convention Daily Summaries Monday, September 16th, 2002

Improvements in living and working conditions – and militant struggle in the workplace to advance and defend conditions – dominated the discussion in the first regular convention session. Immediately following the session, delegates took part in a march and spirited rally at the state capitol to demand collective bargaining rights for public employees.

The Convention opened at 9 a.m. Monday with a letter of solidarity and best wishes from Japan’s militant, million-plus-member National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), read by General President John Hovis. The Zenroren message expressed Japanese unionists’ admiration for UE’s commitment to peaceful relations among the world’s nations.

Hovis turned the podium over to the co-conveners of the Resolutions Committee, Carl Rosen, District 11, and Jonathan Kissam, District Two. Rosen offered "heartfelt thanks" for the work of the committee and the staff who assisted the committee.

The first resolutions considered by the Convention put improvements and defense of living and working conditions front and center: "Collective Bargaining," which laid out a comprehensive negotiating program," and "Shop Floor Struggle," which emphasizes the importance of collective action in the workplace.

David Kitchen, Local 506, told delegates the inside story of how "aggressive shop-floor struggle" sharply limited General Electric’s plans to eliminate 925 jobs. "Members see that shop-floor struggle works," he said. Membership involvement made the difference for Local 1111 in recent negotiations with Rockwell Automation, said Bob Rudek, District 11. These were no ordinary negotiations, with Rockwell threatening to eliminate 540 jobs, so Local 1111 members recognized "we had to do things different than the ordinary, Rudek said. This included community outreach. Denny McLaughlin, Local 506, said the results of these struggles are an example to the different locals, in the Erie, Pennsylvania area and across of the U.S., the importance of this approach.

Chairman Hovis then introduced "a leader of a struggle that is still an inspiration" – Ken Riley of the Charleston Five. Riley, president of International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1422, brought "greetings from South Carolina, a place that seems like another country." Anti-union sentiment is strong in that state, with its "Third World conditions" and competition with North Carolina for the lowest union density in the United States. South Carolina and the Southeast generally are sites of foreign-owned plants; the southeastern states, Riley pointed out, represent the fourth largest economy in the world. Local 1422 members handle large numbers of exports – "the trade deficit does not apply to the Charleston docks," Riley said.

Local 1422 found itself in a major fight when the Nordana Shipping Lines demanded a major rollback in wages and benefits that would have undermined industry standards. "We couldn’t let that happen," the union president said. Nordana turned to scab dockers, Local 1422 set up picket lines every time a Nordana ship docked. Riley had a good working relationship with law enforcement agencies and three protested dockings took place without incident. But the fourth time, Attorney General Charles Condon directed a military response to crush the union. It was as if authorities were responding to a Russian invasion, Riley said. Six hundred heavily armed riot cops were assisted with snipers, gunboats, tanks and armored vehicles. The overwhelmingly African-American dockers were deliberately provoked with racial slurs. After a successful attempt to achieve calm, Riley was singled out and beaten; troops fired rubber bullets on union members and surrounded the union hall. Dockers’ leaders faced felony charges and house arrest; this was beginning of the Charleston Five case.

Careful organization, extensive community outreach, broad union support across the country and around the world eventually led to dismissal of the charges. Condon crossed a line by comparing the dockers with the September 11 terrorists in remarks on talk radio, leading to the collapse of his political ambitions and career. International solidarity was indispensable to settlement of the underlying contract dispute, Riley explained. When Spanish dockers refused to unload Nordana ships, the company suddenly became interested in a settlement. Local 1422 had a contract three days later, Riley said The longshoremen’s leader took issue with those in the labor movement who say there’s no longer needs for picket lines. Taking to the streets, Riley said, "That’s the only way we can educate the public and show our discontent."

Riley called on national unions to organize the South. "This is the new battleground," he said. "They don’t have to go to Mexico, or the Philippines, they have Third World conditions right here." He pointed out that no unions are organizing the new plants operating in the South. And he declared, "There is a need for public employees to have collective bargaining rights." Brother Riley received a standing ovation.

Returning to the resolution discussion, Tom George, Local 645, described the difficult circumstances behind his local’s recent negotiations. "This is the heart and soul of what unionism is all about," declared Ray Pompano, Local 243, who urged locals to fully implement the resolves in the collective bargaining resolution. Willam Newsome, Local 150, said, "We’re here to fight for collective bargaining for all public sector employees. It’s a disgrace that we are treated as we are, without respect." Without collective bargaining, budget-cutters in Iowa government would have simply taken away money from state workers, said Bill Austin, District 11. Local 893 members voted by a 6 to 1 margin to reject a wage cut masquerading as an early retirement proposal, a scheme to which the largest state employee union agreed, he pointed out.

Resolution Committee member Lise Vandervoort, Local 896, read the resolution "Strikers’ Rights." The resolution backs continued use of strike weapon, restoration of legal right to strike, and solidarity with the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU), which is threatened with Bush Administration intervention. Ray Pompano, Local 243, is still irked that the labor movement did not take a stand in 1981 when President Reagan fired the striking air traffic controllers. During last year’s Coach and Car strike in Chicago, reported Carl Rosen, District 11, UE frustrated the company’s attempt to recruit a scab crew by taking the fight directly to the temporary agencies used by the employer. Lynda Leech, Local 618, declared that "this is a right we should not give up willingly."

Dave Adams, Local 506, read "Collective Bargaining Rights for Public Employees" on behalf of the Resolutions Committee. It was adopted without discussion.

The resolution "Health Care for All," read by Jonathan Kissam, lays out the nature of the health crisis and details its solution: the single-payer system envisioned by the Labor Party’s Just Healthcare plan. The resolution also directs UE locals, in the meantime, "to fight for the best possible employer-paid health-care plan," indicating nine key features of negotiated insurance. The resolution also urges UE "to withhold support from any candidate in any race who refuses to endorse and actively campaign on a platform that prioritizes the need for a state-based and a national single-payer healthcare system."

Peter Knowlton, District Two, addressed the problem of mid-contract changes in insurance. "We should not allow them to unilaterally make changes," he said. "Insurance companies do not govern our contracts, we do." If employers will not support the single-payer solution they should be expected to pay as much as it takes to provide UE members with decent insurance. Knowlton urged locals to search out campaigns for state single-payer programs and join coalitions. Speaking from personal experience, Dennis Crawford, Local 506, insisted that health professionals, not insurance companies, should make decisions about our health care. Sean Lynch, Local 506, proposed that candidates be held accountable on this issue. Judy Hice, Local 1004, directed attention to insurance companies that raise premiums but not what they pay for the services. She pointed out that healthcare workers have some of the worst benefits.

Carl Rosen read "Rank-and-File Political Action," a resolution that urges defeat of Republicans in November’s Congressional and state legislative elections, while supporting the Labor Party and third party efforts as a long-term strategy, and affirms policy of grassroots political action on the issues of concern to working people.

Sean Lynch, Local 506, shared his experiences as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Erie city comptroller.

The union’s major political action work of last year was securing and protecting jobs of UE members, said Chris Townsend, UE political action director, in his report to the Convention. A 10-month campaign against fast-track trade promotion authority was lost by a handful of votes. UE members "waged a proud fight," he said, with phone calls and emails to Congress. Free trade, suggested Townsend, means that Congress feels free to trade our jobs for campaign contributions.

The past year saw a significant increase in state-level political action, with members responding to ongoing budget crises in Iowa and North Carolina, defending jobs and services and crafting alternative budgets that show that layoffs and service cuts are not necessary, Townsend said. In the state capitols of Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, UE members addressed the broken-down health care system; in Wisconsin and Ohio, the emphasis was on the loss of manufacturing jobs in those states. "We are establishing ourselves as a political force in all of these states," Townsend asserted.

The UE delegation to the Labor Party’s Second Constitutional Convention helped to direct a course of rebuilding the party’s trade union base, he said.

"Next year’s political action work will begin the moment we leave this Convention," Townsend said. First on the agenda is the November elections, with the fate of Congress and state legislatures hanging in the balance. Reviewing the corporate scandals and their political ramifications, Townsend said we have a simple question for lawmakers and candidates, "What are you doing to confront the menace of corporate power?" A "massive clean-up" is necessary but Congress is incapable of responding with the necessary "immediate crackdown on this white collar crime wave." Adapting the observations of the Roman historian Tacitus, Townsend proposed that "the more corrupt a government becomes, the fewer laws it actually enforces." Before Enron, etc., corporate executives seldom paid any penalty for their lawbreaking. Never mind the "weapons of mass destruction" that supposedly worry President Bush, Townsend said – what about the "bosses of mass destruction" mass layoffs, mass fraud.

Kim Peniska, Local 1187, said the majority needs "to get out and vote and change this country." General Secretary-Treasurer Klipple encouraged an expansion of state-level political activity in every district and further use of the Internet as a tool.

The resolution was adopted.

In the Monday afternoon session, delegates received a packet of 14 resolutions, which as Chairman Hovis explained, will be voted on as a group, without discussion, later in the week, unless any delegate requests an opportunity to discuss any one of them.

The second partial credentials report was given by John Lambiase, District Six.

The report of the Organizing Committee, "Organize the Unorganized: The UE National Organizing Plan," was presented to the Convention by the committee’s conveners, John Lambiase, District Six, and Barbara Prear, with the help of committee member Annie Dove, Local 150.

In his address to the Convention, Director of Organization Bob Kingsley described how unorganized workers are demanding their rights, with the assistance of UE staff and rank-and-file volunteers.

Kingsley recognized the more than 200 volunteer organizers of the past year, many of them in the convention hall, and the work of the Regional Organizing Council. At a time when paid staff are fewer and need is greater, he said, the volunteers give "credibility and punch to organizing drives."

The UE officer also recognized the members present from North Carolina, who are building the union in a state with the nation’s lowest percentage of union members, where collective bargaining is denied to public employees by law, where not long ago it was illegal to join a union. Only five years ago, Kingsley pointed out, "UE had exactly zero dues-paying members." Today UE Local 150 is more than 1,000 members strong, with a fighting presence in numerous workplaces; "We’ve come a long, long way!" he exclaimed, as delegates rose to their feet, applauding and chanting.

The theme of this year’s convention – "protecting, expanding our rights" is timely, not only because of actions taken by the Bush Administration and Congress, but also because of what is happening in U.S. workplaces, Kingsley said. He gave delegates several examples from UE’s organizing experiences over the past year that offer chilling examples of denial of basic rights, to declare that if we are not free from fear, not free to assemble, not free to communicate, not free from discrimination, we are not free to organize, and our rights are denied. The denial of rights has "gone past dangerous to reach truly disastrous proportions." This, he said, is "a key underlying cause of the decline of the American labor movement." That, in turn, threatens democracy and gives rise to corporate crime and the upward redistribution of wealth. We are witnessing the truth of the adage, "The less we are organized the more we will be exploited."

The good news, Kingsley said, is that a growing number of Americans see corporations as dangerous and don’t trust employers, while a majority (54%) would vote for a union if they had the choice. The "other good news" is that UE and its members continue to fight back. The union’s biggest gains in the past year came in Virginia, where workers at Western State Hospital, Eastern State Hospital and the College of William and Mary joined the union through new Local 160. Statewide Local 150 in North Carolina expanded. Workers in Chicago fought their way out of a corrupt union and into UE. On the eve of the Convention, workers at a TDI/Gillette warehouse in California voted on UE representation, but the results are clouded by a dispute over voter eligibility. The good news also includes first contracts settled in Vermont and Pennsylvania.

The union broke new ground when Local 1111 successfully tested a new National Labor Relations Board ruling giving union members access to non-union plants owned by the same company. Unorganized Rockwell Automation workers have expressed interest in the union as a result of the Local 1111 "special access rights" visits. Just two weeks ago UE won reinstatement of all 29 workers fired by National Tissue during an organizing campaign. The union had contact with more than 300 unorganized workplaces during year. Major campaigns involving many hundreds of workers are reaching critical stages as the Convention meets.

"Overall, this was a thin year for us," Kingsley said. While UE scored some key wins, those gains " were insignificant to cover our losses, losses through the back door." The Organizing Plan before the Convention is similar to that adopted last year, continuing a diverse approach with organizing across economic sectors. The plan allows for the testing of new organizing models, and calls for expansion of ROCs with the addition of new roles and training programs. "We will go forward this year to undertake our organizing mission with lowest levels of staff in some time," Kingsley said. "We’re going to need your help more than ever."

But while the future of our union is tied to organizing, this is more than ever a matter of survival, the UE officer said. It is also a matter of justice. "Organizing is the answer. to replenish ranks, to restore our strength, to push back the bosses and take back our country," Kingsley declared. "The union that will take us there is UE, of, by and for the people, that just gets tougher in the toughest of times." Delegates signaled their agreement with a standing ovation.

Delegates again arose with applause and cheers as a sizeable Local 150 delegation proceeded to the dias. "We have come a long way," said International Representative Saladin Muhammad. "We don’t have a right to bargain but we do have a right to fight." Delegates heard from a new member, David Kirsch, a clinical nurse specialist at the John Umstead Center in Butner, who vowed to build the union to see that justice is done for employees and clients. Patricia Harris, president of the Local 150 chapter at the Caswell Center, expressed thanks to UE "for coming to our rescue." She made it clear, however, that by filing grievances and participating in the Local 150 "State of Emergency" campaign, Caswell workers are taking their destinies into their own hands.

Field Organizer George Waksmunski reported that 225 workers at Western State Hospital in Staunton, Virginia have become dues-paying members to fight mandatory overtime and understaffing and to fight for livable wages. More than 100 workers have joined UE at Eastern State Hospital. Local 160, a statewide union," gives people the hope of a better tomorrow," he said. They want a way to fight back and run their own organization." Allen Layman, a new member from Western State, described his longstanding admiration for UE and how he appreciates the union’s "bulldog tenacity to grab the boss by the throat." Reginal Carpenter from Eastern State said he had tried to organize a union 11 years ago. "We’re living in poverty, and working for the state, that’s bad. With UE I hope we can get on the ball and be like 150." Director of Organization Kingsley presented the brothers with the charter of Local 160.

Field Organizer Leah Fried introduced two of the new UE members at Azteca Foods in Chicago, who stood up to a corrupt union and to their employer, a major contributor to the Democratic Party with connections to Chicago’s political machine. These workers, mostly immigrants from Mexico, have been fighting to establish a democratic union for more than three years and are now in a tough struggle for a first contract. Declared Isac Cortez, "All we want to do is improve our wages and benefits, and more than anything, we want respect." Rene Matamoros, a member of the organizing and negotiating committees, reported that in response to the company’s concessions and unwillingness to grant better benefits, the new UE members have picketed, marched, and demonstrated. UE members have obtained assistance from community organizations, the Catholic church and Congressman Gutierrez. In particular, Matamoros said, he asks for the help of UE locals, in demonstrating against Azteca at grocery stores on October 5. Director of Organization Kingsley presented the brothers with the charter of Local 1159.

A constant struggle within Berlin Health and Rehabilitation, a media strategy, the involvement of the Vermont Workers’ Center, a relentless effort to keep the nursing home under the scrutiny of Vermont officials and international solidarity were all components of the successful fight for a first contract with the home and its multinational, Canadian-based owner, said International Representative Kim Lawson. Crystal Breer, a licensed nurses aide, took part in this struggle from its inception. As president of Local 254, Breer told delegates, "It feels good to be here as first- time delegate with a contract!" That first contract contains pay raises of almost $2 an hour for the lowest-paid staff, an 11% increase overall, frozen insurance costs, and a strong grievance procedure. Chief Steward Bruce Jewett said management is learning, "if they go over line, I’ll be right there waiting for them."

Norm Yeargers, introduced by International Representative Marion Washington, explained to the delegates how after his independent union at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children voted 54-7 to affiliate with UE, the intervention of the school and another union forced a Labor Board election prior to a contract settlement. The contract raised wages by between 16 and 19%, limited class sizes, and provided a $10,000 retirement payment. As a teacher, Yeargers said, he has come to believe that being an active UE member is also "a noble profession."

In an emotional conclusion to the discussion on organizing, delegates heard from International Representative Deb Gornall and UE Local 684 members who after three years are still fighting for a first contract with The Electric Materials Company(TEMCO) in North East, Pennsylvania. "We are fighting an evil employer who would stop at nothing," said Crystal Pratt, whose layoff last September is an example of TEMCO’s vindictive, unionbusting conduct. Chief Steward Roy Bolinger declared, "Despite TEMCO’s disregard for workers’ rights, Local 684 is still fighting and holding on," while waiting for a ruling from a Labor Board administrative law judge. To be self-sufficient, Bolinger explained, Local 684 members are paying union dues and have opened up a union office across from the plant. Every day going to and from TEMCO, management has to look at four prominent UE signs. "These signs are a symbol of workers’ resolve for fair treatment and a first contract," he said. With them was Chief Steward Dale Wilkinson.

Peter Knowlton, District Two, proposed the passing of the hat for the Local 684 delegates. Delegates enthusiastically agreed. John Lambiase, District Six, spoke in support of the resolution, which was adopted. Chairman Hovis presented Crystal Pratt with $839, the proceeds of the collection, prompting a standing ovation. The Organizing Committee was dismissed with the thanks of the Convention.

Resolutions Committee Co-Convener Jonathan Kissam, District Two, read "Support the Jobs with Justice Movement," a resolution which states that this organization "is where the best of the labor movement comes together with the best social activists in the U.S." The resolution cites UE’s connections with JwJ and points out that "Today more than 50 Jobs with Justice chapters function on the local level, mobilizing union and community support for workers’ struggles of every sort." Carl Rosen, District 11, advocated UE participation in JwJ’s national conference. The resolution was adopted.

As Committee Convener, Carl Rosen read "Build the Labor Party." The resolution encourages UE members to join the Labor Party, and calls on UE "to promote and renew support for the Labor Party" within the union’s ranks and labor movement generally. General Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Klipple averred that "the Labor Party is not on the verge of expiring. It’s still the only game in town, the only answer to the failure of the two-party system."

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