Union Labor News: January 2003

• Whole Foods Fires Two Union Leaders
  It may be the season of giving, but all Whole Foods is giving out lately is a stocking full of harassment and retaliation. Two Whole Foods Market workers, Debbie Rasmussen and Julie Thayer, who have been integral to the union organizing drive at the University Ave. store, were fired November 20--ostensibly for violating the store's "no free product" policy. Rasmussen... [More]
• Workers' Rights Center Experiences Busy Start
  In the few short weeks following its opening, staff and volunteer advocates at the new Workers' Rights Center confirmed that, in fact, its services are in very high demand. The Workers' Rights Center, a project of the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice located in the Villager Mall on South Park St., has been up and running since the community celebrated its opening, November... [More]
• Interfaith Group Holds Second Annual Clergy-Labor Luncheon
  Members of labor and faith-based organizations are invited to the second annual Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice's Clergy-Labor Luncheon to hear about the growing alliance and the connections between faith and labor. The luncheon, with a panel discussion Faith at Work: How Local Faith Groups are Responding to Worker Issues will be held Wednesday, January 29, from 11:45 a.m.-1:... [More]
• What are the connections between labor and faith?
  The connection between faith and labor is as historic as it is current. Names such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and Dorothy Day may come to mind as examples of historical links between faith and labor in worker rights movements. In Madison, many religious organizations have allied with the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice, working tirelessly for the rights of low-wage w... [More]
• Labor Gears Up For All Union Food Drive
  Madison area unions are gearing up for an all-union food drive to restock area food pantries for the final months of winter. Unions will be encouraging members to donate nonperishable food items, personal care products (i.e., soap and shampoo), and necessities like diapers--as well as financial contributions--at union meetings and worksites during January and early February. "... [More]
• MARC Workers Protest County's Stingy Funding
  Workers from the Madison Area Rehabilitation Center (MARC) braved frigid temperatures to make some noise about meager pay increases and the need for more agency funding to keep pace with skyrocketing health care costs. Close to fifty job coaches, independent living aides and other MARC employees picketed outside the City County Building on Martin Luther King Blvd., crying "Shame on... [More]
• 'W' Attacks Federal Workers, Who's Next?
  BY JIM CAVANAUGH, SCFL PRESIDENT In the month following the November elections, George W. Bush has come after federal government employees with a vengeance and from several angles. He cut their pay raises while announcing his intention to resume bonuses for the political appointees who boss them. He announced his intention to explore privatizing half their jobs. And, he got Congres... [More]
• Spring Labor History With a Bite! Line Up
  Labor history struggles with special relevance to the labor movement in Madison today will highlight this spring's award winning dinner/lecture series, Labor History - With a Bite. This spring's topics will explore the leading role immigrant workers have played historically and continue to play today, and the stories of women organizers who fought for their unions in places close... [More]
• CUNA Exacts Concessions
  Instead of holiday bonuses, this year 59 employees at CUNA Mutual got pink slips while the rest took pay cuts. The layoffs announced December 11, which followed a similar number of cuts to the manager ranks, are part of cost-cutting measures CUNA Mutual says are needed given the slumping economy. "Many employees at CUNA Mutual are naturally upset that coworkers with decades of exper... [More]
• Jensen Stalls State Pacts
  While members of the State Assembly will automatically get a 3 percent raise at the start of 2003, their leaders are refusing to do anything for state workers who have been without a contract since 2001. After months of exhaustive negotiations, state bargainers on Thanksgiving weekend finally reached a tentative 2001-2003 agreement with negotiating teams for the Wisconsin State Employees... [More]
• Painter Exposes Boss On Lead Paint Danger
  When Mark Zakula refused work involving dangerous methods of removing toxic lead paint last August, his employer Jim Schluter simply brushed off his concerns. Zakula thought it odd that non-union Schluter Painting's trailer, which normally would have been parked prominently as free advertising for the company, was instead parked behind the job site and covered to conceal the employer... [More]
• Union and UW Hospital Agree on 2-yr. Contract
  AFSCME Local 1942 which represents about 2,200 blue collar, technical, and administrative support employees at UW Hospital & Clinics, reached an agreement with the hospital early in December on a new two-year contract expiring in July, 2004. Union members approved the agreement, December 11, by a vote of... In addition to improved and clarified contract language, the following... [More]
• Dockworkers Reach Tentative Agreement
  The tentative contract agreement reached Nov. 24 by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) will benefit workers, the shipping industry, consumers and the economy, according to union leaders. Following a 10-day employer shutdown of the ports in September and President George W. Bush's use of Taft-Hartley Act provision to reopen them,... [More]
• Unions Provide Strong United Way Support
  Union members have always been known for generously giving back to the community and this past year was no exception. United Way of Dane County announced that in its 2002 fundraising campaign raised more dollars than at any time in history, and union members made much of the difference. The workplaces contributing most generously received awards at the annual United Way Campaign Celebrat... [More]