Union Labor News: September 2001

• Bakery Workers Union Election Set for Sept. 6
  More than ninety workers at the Village Hearth bakery will vote soon after Labor Day on having a voice in the workplace. Workers in the high-tech bakery located in a Sun Prairie industrial park will have an opportunity to vote Union Yes, September 6, for representation with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Interna... [More]
• Conditions, Hours Lead to Village Hearth Vote
  Manuel arrived at the union open house hardly able to stand, having just come off a 24-hour shift. The only time off he had recently was a two-day suspension earned because he couldn't work all the overtime the company wanted. Manuel told his supervisor he couldn't work more than his scheduled ten-hour shift the next day because of a commitment. His... [More]
• Student Activists Win Partial LTE Solution
  A breakthrough victory was won recently in the battle to win permanent jobs with benefits for Limited Term Employees, or LTEs, on the UW campus. A provision in the proposed state budget creates a two-year pilot program at UW-Madison to create permanent jobs for at least fifty workers based on how long they have been on the UW's payroll as LTEs... [More]
• Some Wins & Losses Since Last Labor Day
  BY JIM CAVANAUGH SCFL PRESIDENT A lot of people's lives are organized around the calendar year. About mid-December they begin to get reflective about the fading year and start making plans (or at least resolutions) for the new year. My year runs from Labor Day to Labor Day. This is the time of... [More]
• UW Task Force Adopts SSN 'No-match' Policy
  In response to community outcry that racial profiling led to the termination of close to 30 Latino workers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison last April, new policies have been established to help the school avoid similar situations in the future. A Task Force of university officials, labor representatives and Latino co... [More]
• Why Defend the Rights Of Immigrant Workers
  What Union Members Should Know About . . . The AFL-CIO Policy on Immigration -- Building Understanding, Creating Change The AFL-CIO proudly stands on the side of immigrant workers. Immigrant workers are an extremely important part of our nation's economy, our nation's union movement and our nation's communities... [More]
• 'New' Democrats Keep Labor at Arm's Length
  By Harry Kelber There appear to be two major centers of power in today's Democratic Party: the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), which likes to think it supplies the "brains," and the AFL-CIO, which knows it supplies the "brawn." Al Gore and Joe Lieberman, the DLC leaders who headed the national ticket in 2000, effective... [More]
• Bush's Sham Commission Threatens Social Security
  By Mark Weisbrot and Dean Baker Not since Gary Condit ran for office with the slogan "Setting a Good Example" has the public been presented with an image that begged so much to be tarnished. The "President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security" is anything but that, and its interim report--released last month--is truly... [More]
• On Labor Day Celebrate The "Union Difference"
  David Newby, President Wisconsin State AFL-CIO On this day that celebrates American workers and their work, unions take the lead in the celebrations. And we have every reason to do that--because there is a "union difference"! Union workers have a voice at work through their union. Non-union wo... [More]
• AFL-CIO Calls for Global Justice Week of Action
  At its recent Executive Council meeting, the AFL-CIO adopted the following resolution, in support of the week of international actions against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, D.C.--Sept. 26 - Oct. 1. The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO is planning to charter a bus to bring Wisconsin... [More]
• Life of Peter McGuire, 'Father' Of Labor Day
  By Sharon K. Williams Labor Day is different from the other holidays of the year. Most holidays are to some degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation or another. Labor Day is devoted to no man, living or dead; no sect,... [More]
• Habitat ReStore Opens In Madison on Sept. 21
  A pallet of new, unused bricks in a dumpster. Leftover plywood and lumber stacked and ready to be taken to the dump. Windows, doors, hardwood flooring, cabinets--all thrown away with a remodel demolition job. Materials stored for years in a corner of the warehouse, finally tossed into the landfill. Discarded construction ma... [More]
• Labor's Gentle Giant Bob Kelly Dies
  BY JOHN MATTHEWS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MADISON TEACHERS INC. Robert C. (Bob) Kelly, who devoted both his life and his law practice to championing the rights and causes of organized labor, died July 31, 2001. Prior to his career in labor law, Kelly had been a paratrooper in WWII, one of the f... [More]