A Quarterly Newsletter

Local 1999, Unit 09

Summer 2006 June 30, 2006 Volume 1, Issue 2

Local 1999 Election Results in E-Board Change

Members of Local 1999 Unit 09 cast their votes at Quemetco

INFORMER

O n April 19th, 2006 the general election for USW Local 1999 officers was held. All offices

were elected to a three year term. Local President Chuck Jones (Rexnord) was re-elected to a third term. Linda Bennington (Carrier) was elected Vice Presi-dent. Linda ran unopposed for the office. She pre-viously served as Trustee for the Local. Markeya McDaniel (Sumco) also was unopposed and was re-elected Recording Secretary. This will be her second term in the office. Allen Johnson (Carrier) was also re-elected Financial Secretary. He will be serving his third term in this office for Local 1999. Pat Baker (Diamond Chain) continues as Treasurer for the Local being elected with no opposition. She will also be serving her third term. Mike Biggs (Holcomb and Hoke), Larry Silcox

(Rexnord), and Maurie Wilkerson (Carrier) were all elected as Trustees for the Local. Mike has formerly served the Local as Trustee and Guide. Larry will be serving his third term as Trustee. Maurie was previ-ously the Outside Guard for the Local. Kelly Ray Hugunin (Quemetco) was elected Outside Guard. This is the first time he has served on the Ex-ecutive Board. Greg Rippy (Carrier) was re-elected inside guard. Benny Porter (Carrier) was elected Guide. Benny ran unopposed to win his first term. This is the new Executive Board for Local 1999 for the next three years. They will decide the adminis-trative, financial, and political direction of the Local. For Unit 09 Kelly Ray Hugunin and Bill Ford were re-elected as Unit President and Vice President. Both ran unopposed. The Unit President is automati-cally the Chairman of the Grievance Committee.

See Election, Page 13.

2 Summer 2006

Your Union Leadership

Dist. 7 Director: Jim Robinson

Sub-Dist. 3 Director:

Randy McKay

Int. Staff Representative: James Adcock

District 7 Sub-District 3

President: Chuck Jones

Vice President:

Linda Bennington

Local Union Rep.: Bruce Reed

Financial Secretary:

Allen Johnson

Recording Secretary:

Markeya McDaniel

Treasurer: Pat Baker

Trustee:

Maurie Wilkerson

Trustee: Larry Silcox

Trustee:

Mike Biggs

Inside Guard: Greg Rippy

Outside Guard:

Kelly Ray Hugunin

Guide: Benny Porter

Legislative Com-mittee Chairman:

Allen Johnson

Safety Committee Chairman:

Open

Civil Rights Committee

Co-Chairmen: Dewayne Graham

Bill Ford

Local 1999

Unit President: Kelly Ray Hugunin

Unit Vice President: Bill Ford

Grievance

Committee: Kelly Ray Hugunin

Bill Ford Andy Engle

Mike McDonald Stan Perkins

Stewards:

Jason Benge Derrick Morris Tony Phillips Curtis Rainey Mark Schulz

Safety Committee:

Bill Ford Randy Coombs Leroy Robinson

Chris White (alt.)

Civil Rights Committee:

Kelly Ray Hugunin Bill Ford

Andy Engle Stan Perkins

Legislative Committee:

Kelly Ray Hugunin Bill Ford

Unit 09

Kelly Ray Hugunin, Editor

USW Local 1999

218 South Addison Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46222

Phone: 639-1479 Fax: 639-1138

E-Mail: uswa1999@iquest.net

The Local 1999, Unit 09 Informer is an official publica-tion of the United Steelworkers,

Local 1999, AFL-CIO, CLC.

Submissions from members are always welcome.

To Submit:

Mail to: PO Box 79 Clayton, Indiana 46118 Phone: 317-539-4698 Email: hugunin@tds.net

Local 1999, Unit 09

INFORMER

USW UNION LABEL

AFL-CIO-CLC

1999

Informer 3

USW Wins At Medco, Beating 49-Day Lockout LAS VEGAS (PAI)--Prodded by the possibility that unions nationwide could shift their business to an-other pharmaceutical benefits manager, executives at Medco agreed to a new contract covering their work-ers in Las Vegas, the Steelworkers said. The 580 pharmacy technicians there are USW mem-bers who were formerly with the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers before the two unions merged. Medco locked them out of its Las Vegas plant on April 5. They ratified the new 3-year pact on May 23 and started returning the plant after that. The pact, retroactive to last Sept. 1, provides for a medical and dental plan that cannot be altered or changed, and restores life insurance, disability insur-ance and the 401(k) plan that management yanked and refused to bargain about--until the looming loss

of union business, one-fourth of Medco’s revenues, changed Medco’s mind. It gives the workers a lump sum of $2,100 on ratifi-cation, a 3.5 percent raise now, and further 3.5 per-cent hikes this September and next September. It ends Sept. 1, 2008. Workers will also get $850 lump sum bonuses in each of the last two years. Negotiations are underway between USW and Medco for the 800 workers at its mail-order phar-macy in Columbus, Ohio and the 300 call center workers in Tampa, Fla. The Tampa contract expired May 20, but it was extended for 45 days. The Co-lumbus contract expires May 31. USW represents more than 5,100 Medco workers nationwide. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Delphi Bankruptcy Hearing Postponed As Unions, Firm, GM Reach Tentative Pact NEW YORK (PAI)--A hearing on the demand by bankrupt Delphi Auto Parts to dump its union con-tracts with the Auto Workers, IUE/CWA, the Steelworkers and other unions was delayed until Aug. 11, as the unions, the company and General Motors reached a tentative pact calling for further Delphi buyouts of workers. The new tentative buyout plan would cover all union workers at Delphi, 24,000 of whom are represented by UAW. IUE-CWA has most of the other 8,000-9,000, while USW has a Delphi plant in Ohio. The oth-ers are scattered units. GM is in the talks because part of the buyout plan, which expands a plan Delphi and the unions reached March 22, lets some Delphi workers transfer to GM. Delphi, GM’s biggest auto parts supplier, was a part of the financially reeling auto giant until GM spun it

off seven years ago. The UAW said that as of June 9, 1,105 Delphi workers have agreed to return to GM

under the March 22 buyout plan. “Two additional options will be available to all eligible workers at Delphi: A buyout option and a pre-retirement option for those with 26 years but less than 27 years of credited service,” UAW President Ronald Gettelfinger and Vice President Richard Shoemaker said in a letter to lo-cal leaders. Workers with “at least 26 years of credited service but less than 27 years of credited service as of

July 1,regardless of age, are now eligible for” the buyouts, which stretch out over time. If they do, their monthly gross wage would be $2,750. “UAW-represented Delphi employees will (also) be offered buyouts to sever all ties with Delphi and GM except vested pension benefits,” they added. Delphi workers who dump all ties immediately--the second

See Delphi, Page 16.

4 Summer 2006

Every 23 Minutes, Someone Is Fired at Work for Trying to Form a Union While you are reading this, or sometime not long af-ter, a worker will be fired for doing something per-fectly legal and supposedly protected by the nation’s labor laws—trying to join with their co-workers to form a union in their workplace. Bob Boyle, Brian Breining and Brian Smith are three of more than 20,000 workers fired every year—about one every 23 minutes—because they want to join a union.

The workers say they were fired for trying to win USW International Union’s (USW’s) representation in two workplaces. Speaking at a special Capitol Hill forum on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) sponsored by the Americans for Democratic Action, they told how management harassed and intimidated them and their co-workers, eventually firing the three men. The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 1696 and S. 842) would make the process of choosing a union more fair and eliminate the routine and often vicious anti-union campaigns mounted by many employers. It would strengthen workers’ rights to choose repre-sentation by requiring employers to recognize a un-

ion after a majority of employees sign authorization cards. It also would provide for mediation and arbi-tration of first-contract disputes and authorize stronger penalties for violation of labor law when workers seek to form a union. In Dover, Ohio, Breining and Smith were both active in trying to win a voice at work with the USW at Cultured Stone Co., an Owens Corning subsidiary. They say the safety conditions at the 70-year-old manufactured stone warehouse were “tragic,” with holes in the floor, windows falling out of their frames, huge leaks in the roof. Medical premiums were soaring. Management showed favoritism to some employees and harassed others. There were huge wage gaps between workers doing the same job. Says Smith, a former employee of the month: The reason we wanted a union wasn’t what most people typically think. It was to have a grievance procedure, for accountability to management, to have an up-to-date handbook, equal opportunity, so two identical situations wouldn’t be handled in different ways depending on who you are—favoritism or har-assment, depending on which individual you are…. But when the workers began to organize, Breining says: It didn’t work because the company spread anti-union propaganda. They slandered us. And they gave everyone a 3 percent pay increase across the board….They ran a campaign to shoot us down….We put our organizing committee together. It wasn’t long after that when I was fired. That was-n’t the reason they gave, but that’s what happened. Jan. 24, 2006, was my last day with the company. I’d been the safest guy on the floor for four years. I was a fork lifter. In one week’s time, I went from a spot-less record, never being reprimanded, never having a safety incident, to being fired. It was as simple as that. I got fired over trumped-up safety viola-tions….Since then, things have been terrible. How do you pay your bills? What do you put on your re-sume when you’ve been railroaded out of a job for doing nothing wrong but standing up for your rights? If EFCA gives employees any kind of voice in the workplace, if we can look out for our rights as citi-

See 23 Minutes, Page 9.

Brian Breining (left) and Brian Smith were fired be-cause they wanted to join a union. Another 19,998 workers face the same plight every year.

Informer 5

Successful Fifth National Rapid Response Conference Held In Washington D.C.

Members from Local 1999 met with Representative Julia Carson while in Washington D.C. Julia Carson is a true supporter of labor in Congress.

International President Leo Gerard addresses 800 Steelworkers at the Rapid Response rally on capital

Last week was an exciting one in Washington D.C., where the Fifth National Rapid Response Conference was held. More than 800 local union Rapid Re-sponse activists from around the country came to-gether for the first time since the merger of the USWA and PACE. The Conference opened on Tuesday evening, June 20. USW International President Leo Gerard con-gratulated the activists in attendance for their amaz-ing work on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and other issues. Delegates also heard moving pres-entations on globalization from Charles Kernaghan, Director of the National Labor Committee and Lori Wallach from Global Trade Watch. In addition, delegates were presented with an overview of new legislation to stop sweatshop goods from being im-ported into the U.S. On Wednesday morning, after the delegates listened to educational panels on the EFCA and health care, they headed to Capitol Hill to lobby their legislators on USW issues. Also on Wednesday afternoon, President Gerard presented the USW Wellstone Award to Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. John Con-yers at a USW rally near the Capitol. This award, named after the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, is in recog-nition of legislators who fight for labor and have the same principles as the Steelworkers, as did our friend

Paul Wellstone. Also speaking at the rally were vari-ous Congresspersons who support the USW. On Wednesday evening after their lobbying visits, conference delegates attended a dinner held in tribute to Special Counsel Bernie Kleiman on his retirement. President Gerard Called Bernie “the most important person ever hired by our union.” He has spent 50 years as a Steelworker attorney, many of those years

as General Counsel; has negotiated the toughest agreements for the union; and his reputation as “tough as nails” negotiator for the union is legen-dary. The conference ended Thursday with a day of nuts and bolts workshops on how to build Rapid Re-sponse at the local union level. Delegates left Wash-ington D.C. with energy and enthusiasm and are ready for action! For more information and photos on the conference, please visit the Rapid Response section of www.usw.org.

United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard present-ing award to U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy

6 Summer 2006

States see more jobs despite wage hike

U.S. figures counter objections that increase in minimum hourly rate causes job losses

MIKE DRUMMOND mdrummond@charlotteobserver.com

States that have boosted their minimum wages far above the federal floor of $5.15 have seen job growth keep pace with, if not exceed, national aver-ages, federal data show. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures poke holes in a key business lobby argument, even as they raise questions over how the wage should be adjusted at the national level. The N.C. House and Senate on Thursday approved raising the hourly minimum wage to $6.15, from $5.15. Assuming they iron out their differences and approve the final plan, the state would join a growing number to exceed the federal minimum wage. In Congress and the Carolinas, business interests have argued for nearly a decade that rais-ing the wage would kill jobs, as employers would halt hir-ing or drastically reduce hours. The National Federation of Independent Business is one of the strongest opponents of raising the minimum wage. Gregg Thompson, the trade organization's N.C. director, said the proposed increase would cost employers an addi-tional $1.30 per employee when workers compensation, taxes and other wage-related costs are factored. Raising the state's minimum wage, he says, "will cause job losses." As of this month, 20 states and the District of Co-lumbia have minimum wages higher than $5.15. Only a handful of states had their own minimum wage laws a decade ago. The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday OK'd raising that state's minimum wage to $8.25 an hour, which would be the highest in the nation. It also would join four other states that tie or will tie the minimum wage to inflation.

Those states -- Florida, Vermont, Oregon, and Wash-ington -- have seen jobs grow since they raised their minimum wages, Bureau of Labor Statistics show. In Florida, Oregon and Washington, overall job growth was hotter than in North Carolina in 2004 and 2005, where jobs grew at 1.3 percent and 2 per-cent respectively. Vermont's job growth was 1.5 per-cent and 1.2 percent during those years. The hottest was Florida, which saw the number of

jobs jump 3.4 percent and 4 percent in those two years. The national average was 1.1 percent and 1.5 percent during that time. It's unknown whether job growth would have been even more brisk in those other states if they had not raised the minimum wage. But data suggest that the market has an ability to create and sustain jobs for a growing population. "Raising the minimum wage seems to have no negative ef-fect on jobs," said Mike Wald of the Bureau of Labor Statis-tics in Atlanta. Moreover, those states have seen growth in service and hospitality sectors, areas that business interests say are vul-nerable to minimum wage in-

creases. With the exception of one year after 9-11 -- when many sectors took hits -- restaurant and bar employ-ment in Washington state increased 7.9 percent be-tween 1999 and 2005, according to the most recent report from that state's Employment Security Depart-ment. As more states have lifted minimum wages, more attention has fallen on the federal government, which last raised the wage floor about nine years ago -- the longest span between increases since the minimum wage's inception in 1938.

See Wage Hike, Page 12.

Informer 7

Labor Leads Drive To Put Minimum Wage Hike On Missouri Fall Ballot By The St. Louis Labor Tribune, and Press Associates

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (PAI)--More than doubling the number of signatures required to put an increase in the minimum wage on the November ballot, AFL-CIO union members helped deliver a decisive show of support when 210,000 signatures for the measure were submitted to the Missouri Secretary of State on May 7. If approved by voters, the proposal would raise Mis-souri's minimum wage to $6.50 an hour, more than the current federal and state minimum of $5.15, and index it for inflation. The referendum would also add Missouri to the ever-lengthening line of states that have grown tired of waiting for the GOP-run Congress to raise the minimum. Congress has not hiked the minimum wage in nine years and unions and their allies have instead turned to the states for action. Other recent minimum wage hikes were passed by the GOP-run Michigan legisla-ture--which sidetracked a labor- and Democratic-backed ballot initiative Republicans feared could in-crease Democratic turnout this fall--and the Arkansas legislature. The Missouri campaign was built around the demand to “Give Missourians a Raise,” and drew a broad coalition of unions, faith-based organizations, com-munity groups and concerned citizens. Hundreds of Missouri union members reached out in their work-places, neighborhoods and local shopping centers to help collect the signatures, which far surpassed the required 93,345 signatures. “Organized labor was involved in the signature cam-paign, as were many other groups and organiza-tions,” said Missouri AFL-CIO President Hugh McVey. “We (labor) were a big part of it, but it took everyone’s involvement and hard work.” The num-ber of signatures was seen as an indication of strong support for the raise among people from all back-grounds. “There are too many families in Missouri who are living in poverty, struggling just to put food on the table,” said Father Jack Schuler of Our Lady of Gua-dalupe Catholic Church in Ferguson. “Raising the

minimum wage will make a profound difference in the lives of these families and our community as a whole.” The hike would directly raise the wages of 42,000 Missourians and indirectly bump up the wages of thousands more workers. “Union members, churchgoers, people of all stripes in Missouri recognize that minimum wage workers deserve a raise,” said McVey. “This is not just an economic issue--it’s a moral issue too. It’s not right that some hard-working Missourians can’t get ahead because their paycheck isn’t enough to live on. It’s common sense. If we are truly going to value work and the workers who keep our economy going, we need to reward that work with a wage that they can support their families on.” A raise in the minimum wage also is seen as a poten-tial shot in the arm for Missouri’s economy. The state calculates the raise would generate between $3.3 million and $4.3 million each year in revenue, and it would pump more than $21 million in new spending into the economy. The lack of action in Congress in nine years has let inflation erode the federal minimum wage to a real value equal to 32 percent of the average American wage, the lowest level since 1955. That led labor and its allies to turn to states for minimum wage hikes, to directly improve the lives of low-income workers and boost local economies. "Minimum wage workers in Missouri and across the country are long overdue for a raise, and we're going to do everything in our power to make sure their hard work is rewarded this year," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

Besides Missouri, AFL-CIO members and activists in Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Pennsyl-vania, Ohio and other states are working to support ballot initiatives or legislation that would increase state minimum wages.

See Missouri Ballot, Page 18.

8 Summer 2006

Memo: Wal-Mart Pressuring Suppliers To Join Front Group WASHINGTON (PAI)--An internal Wal-Mart memo, released by the labor-backed WakeUpWal-Mart.com, shows the monster retailer is pressuring its suppliers to join a Wal-Mart funded front group. The memo, written by Terry Nelson, a key Bush campaign operative in 2004 who now works for the front group, named Working Families for Wal-Mart, urges the retailer’s suppliers to join the organization. "Wal-Mart is under attack, and Wal-Mart and Sam's Club suppliers have the power to do something about it and help protect their business,” the key sentence says. The Wal-Mart memo to its suppliers is not the first instance where the retailer used its financial weight to force them to toe the line. Previously, it ordered suppliers to cut their own prices drastically when selling to Wal-Mart, forcing them to run in the red, cut their workers’ wages and eliminate benefits, or move to China. And Wal-Mart not only provides all of the money for the “working families” front group, but also bank-rolls a retail association in Maryland that is challeng-ing that state’s new law forcing all firms in the state with at least 10,000 workers to pay at least 8 percent of payroll for their workers’ health care, or contrib-ute an equivalent amount to the state fund that pays for health care for poor children. Of the four Maryland firms that meet the 10,000-worker threshold, the only one that flunks the 8 per-cent standard is the one that paid for the retail asso-ciation that challenges the standard: Wal-Mart. The Maryland law is the first such statute in the U.S., and the union movement is pushing others nation-wide. The “working families” group is headed by Andrew Young, President Carter’s former UN ambassador and a former Democratic congressman from Atlanta and civil rights leader. He told the Associated Press in February that his current consulting firm, Good-Works International, has a contract from Working Families for Wal-Mart for consulting work. Neither Young nor Wal-Mart would say how much his firm

is paid. "This just exposes what a sham Wal-Mart's publicity stunts have become. Wal-Mart has become so des-perate it is even willing to cross the line and intimi-date its suppliers to try and salvage Wal-Mart's fal-tering public image," said Paul Blank, campaign di-rector for WakeUpWalMart.com “Wal-Mart's memo to suppliers makes no mention of the fact that Wal-Mart's image is declining because the company pays poverty level wages, provides unaffordable health care, helps ship U.S. jobs overseas, is being sued for discrimination, and continues to get caught for child labor violations,” WakeUpWalMart added. “Rather than address these serious issues, Wal-Mart is now using its own personal Right-Wing front group to try and deceive people. The group, in con-junction with two right-wing firms is running a ‘smoke and mirrors’ campaign, complete with paid steering committee members and canvassers, to cre-ate a false impression that there are people willing to defend the indefensible.” Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law." —Tucson, Ariz., Nov. 28, 2005 We got the best workforce in America—in the world." —Washington, D.C., Dec. 2, 2005 "I think we are welcomed. But it was not a peaceful welcome."—Philadelphia, Dec. 12, 2005, on the reception of American forces in Iraq I think younger workers—first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government—promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is."—Washington, D.C., May 4, 2005

George W. Bush

Informer 9

23 Minutes, from Page 4. zens of the United States, I’m all for it. It should have been automatic. After 17 years as a painter at Osterling’s Sandblast-ing and Painting Co. in Butler, PA., Boyle, 57, was summarily fired over his support for the USW. He wanted a strong union that would end the company’s practice requiring Boyle to pay for his own work-place respirator. “A simple card-check system is actually more de-mocratic” than the current National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) election process, Cornell Univer-sity historian Jefferson Cowie said at the forum, which included a panel of labor experts. In an April 27 column on Common Dreams Cowie explains: EFCA promises to take what is now a nasty, bruis-ing, and hopelessly lawyer-dominated organizing process and turn it into a simple and equitable matter of getting a majority of employees to sign union cards. In addition to simple “card-check” or majority verification, EFCA provides mechanisms to prevent employers from starting a war of attrition against

workers once they have selected a union by sending the issue to mediation if 90 days pass without a con-tract. It also contains several protections for workers including treble back pay for the discriminatory dis-charge of union organizers. Former NLRB member and AFL-CIO legal counsel Sarah Fox told the forum audience that employers have a fearsome sword to wave over workers’ heads during a union campaign—their jobs: Employers have a huge amount of latitude in our sys-tem. An employer can fire because they don’t like the color of your hair. Members of the AFL-CIO union movement have signed up a bipartisan group of Employee Free Choice Act co-sponsors—215 in the House, three short of a majority—and 42 in the Senate. But Re-publican lawmakers aren’t likely to allow a vote on the legislation even if it does gain majority support. A more likely scenario would bring a vote on legisla-tion backed by Big Business and anti-worker law-makers that would ban the majority sign-up process. by Mike Hall

Report: Crime At Wal-Mart Stores, Parking Lots Significantly Higher Than At Comparable Stores

DeKALB, Ill. (PAI)--There’s a Wal-Mart store at 2300 Sycamore Boulevard in DeKalb, Ill. In 2004, the latest year for which comprehensive local crime data is available, police were called there to handle 844 “incidents,” which could range from shoplifting on up. That’s more than two incidents a day, 365 days a year. Two blocks away, at 2555 Sycamore, is another, similar “big box” store: Target. The number of “incidents” there in 2004: 108. That’s not two a day, that’s two a week. Unfortunately, the high rate of criminal incidents at Wal-Marts compared to similar Target stores in the same areas is not just found in DeKalb, a new report says. The report, by WakeupWalMart, a pro-union group dedicated to telling shoppers and workers the whole story about the world’s largest retailer, found

unusually high rates of crime at Wal-Marts nation-wide compared to nearby Target stores. Worse, it said, Wal-Mart executives were told they had a crime problem a decade ago and have done little about it--even as police complained publicly about the increased workload they shoulder when a Wal-Mart moves into town. Wal-Mart’s crime rates are one tool activists are us-ing to try to stop the “big box” retailer from invading their cities and towns. They also point out Wal-Mart pays far-below-market wages, breaks labor laws, dis-criminates racially and sexually, refuses to provide workers health insurance, imports most of its goods from China and costs more jobs than it brings to communities.

See Crime, Page 10.

10 Summer 2006

Crime, From Page 9. The 32-page Crime and Wal-Mart: Is Wal-Mart Safe? draws on official police reports of incidents--from shoplifting to murder--at a geographically di-verse sample of 551 of Wal-Mart’s 3,857 stores. Po-lice reported 148,331 service calls to them and each took an average of two hours of an officer’s time. To provide a control, the analysts also compared in-cident data at the 32 most incident-heavy Wal-Mart stores, with incidents at 30 nearby Target stores. The Target stores, also “big boxes,” were each within eight miles of the nearest Wal-Mart, with two of the Targets--in Coral Springs, Fla., and Albuquerque--near two Wal-Marts each. A wider comparison was impossible due to the huge amount of data and the lack of nearby Tar-get stores at all 551 Wal-Marts. The DeKalb stores were sixth in the nation in the dif-ference in number of incidents be-tween Wal-Mart and the nearby Target store. The widest gap was at the top of the list: A Wal-Mart in Dallas had 1,173 criminal incidents in 2004. The Target store in the suburb of Mesquite, four miles away, had 186. And that Dallas Wal-Mart wasn’t the worst in the nation, just the worst with a Target store nearby. The three worst Wal-Marts for police “incidents” in 2004 were all in Florida: in Hialeah Gardens, near Miami (1,875 incidents), Fort Pierce (1,593) and Tampa (1.582). Not every police call to a Wal-Mart was a serious or violent crime, but there were 2,909 such crimes at 460 of the 551 Wal-Marts the 2004 police reports covered. At the other 91, data was misleading or in-complete. More than 2,100 of the crimes were as-sault, assault with a deadly weapon, or car theft.

Wal-Mart, the report adds, did not increase security at the stores, even though a top company official ac-knowledged the crime problem a decade ago. “In 1996, Dave Gorman, then vice president of Loss Prevention for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., publicly ac-knowledged a 1994 test project of ‘roving security patrols’ effectively reduced incidents of crime at high crime Wal-Mart stores to near zero,” the report notes. Gorman cited a 1994 internal Wal-Mart sur-vey that “determined that 80 percent of Wal-Mart crime occurred in store parking lots. “Since 1996, Wal-Mart has yet to publicly adopt a national crime deterrent policy that would include security measures, such as manned security cameras and roving security patrols at all stores. The most recent public statements by Wal-Mart in 2000 state only 17 percent of its stores have roving security pa-trols. “Given the large number and type of police incidents that were reported at just a sample of Wal-Mart stores in 2004, it would appear that Wal-Mart could, as it determined in its own study in 1994, signifi-cantly reduce police incidents, as well as deter future incidents, through more active security measures.

“More importantly, since Wal-Mart estimates 151 million consumers--70 percent of them women--shop at Wal-Mart each week, and given that its own inter-nal reviews in 1996 show that crime is a factor in store performance, it is fair to state that improve-ments to Wal-Mart security would provide a safer shopping experience for consumers while also help-ing minimize taxpayer costs” for police patrols and crime investigations at Wal-Marts. “We already know Wal-Mart has cut corners by pro-viding inadequate healthcare benefits for its employ-ees,” Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum told a New York press conference on May 9, releasing the report. “Now we learn they are also cutting corners on public safety. We cannot allow a multi-billion dollar company like Wal-Mart to put New York City back in the days of high-crime and disturbing statistics, and will con-tinue the fight to keep them out of our city.” Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Informer 11

Wal-Mart Strikes Out Again In St. Louis Suburbs By The St. Louis Labor Tribune, Special to PAI

HILLSBORO, Mo. (PAI)--In yet another indication of rising national resistance to the rapacious anti-worker retailer, Wal-Mart struck out again in the southern St. Louis suburbs, in a 3-0 vote by Jefferson County commissioners against the firm’s proposed supercenter in High Ridge. Rejection of Wal-Mart’s demand for a zoning vari-ance for its monster store marked another win for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 of St. Louis and for the national WakeUpWalMart.com campaign exposing the retailer’s abuses. The nationwide campaign has succeeded in New York, Chi-cago, Los Angeles and else-where in preventing the anti-worker, anti-union behemoth from moving in and destroy-ing well-paying local jobs, including union jobs, and businesses. In Jefferson County, Wal-Mart’s developer, THF Re-alty, sought 12 zoning vari-ances, including sidestepping requirements on a steep hill-side behind the proposed su-percenter and a cut in parking spaces from 950 to 915. The county board not only turned the variances down, but commissioner Ed Kemp said area resi-dents were also concerned with noise and lighting issues the mega-store would have brought. . “It’s quite a victory,” said UFCW Local 655 Presi-dent Jim Dougherty. “It was a combination of our efforts and those who fight against the economic downfall that comes when Wal-Mart moves in. We recently joined forces with a joint labor/ management committee with Dierbergs, Schnucks and Shop ’N Save that greatly helped to fight this proposed Wal-Mart.” Those three area grocers, all unionized, also traveled

with Local 655 to the state capital of Jefferson City earlier this year to lobby against tax breaks and state subsidies --called Tax Increment Financing plans (TIFs)--that would give Wal-Mart, the world’s big-gest and most-profitable retailer, an unfair financial advantage over them. Dave Cook, Local 655’s Secretary-Treasurer, and area coordinator for the Wake-Up Wal-Mart group, thanked the commission for standing up to the retail giant. “Members at Schnucks, Dierbergs, Shop ’N Save would have their jobs jeopardized if Wal-Mart

builds. You stood up for thousands of workers in Jef-ferson County,” he said. About 100 union workers attended the commission meeting in early May, hold-ing signs that encouraged commissioners to choose "jobs over Wal-Mart." The proposed Wal-Mart Su-percenter was to be built on a 94-acre site at Hwy. 30 and High Ridge Blvd, by devel-oper THF, High Ridge Home Development, LLC., but be-cause the retail giant wanted to ignore certain zoning re-quirements, the commission

told them to follow the rules as they stand--or don’t come back. “You need to understand. I spent 30 years in the Jef-ferson County Sheriff’s Department,” said Kemp, who represents the area where Wal-Mart wants its super-center. “Wal-Mart wants to build, but wants to build the (stores) a certain way.” Kemp said Wal-Mart could build now if it followed the rules, but whether they come back depends on how much they can modify their plans. “They won’t be building as long as they continue to ask for the variances they wanted,” he added.

See Strike Out, Page 13.

12 Summer 2006

W ell it looks like another contract year is fast approaching. A lot of you have been asking me what we are going after in negotiations this time. The best answer that I can give anyone at this point is that it is up to the membership. I know that everyone has their own personal “wish list” for the next contract. Whether it be pension, 401K, insurance, or just plain money we all have our priorities. How do we decide with everyone wanting different things? That is where the contract surveys come in. In late July or early August you will all receive an opportunity to make your voices heard. At that time you will be given a survey to complete and return to the union. The survey is very impor-tant to the upcoming negotiations. This is your way of communicating what you feel is impor-tant to the negotiating committee. Please take the time to fill out the survey and turn it in. The survey will ask you what you feel are the most important issues for your next contract. There will be questions about your benefits and what you think they should be. There will also be a section on the survey for you to add your own comments. Please use that section even if your comment does not relate to a specific benefit but is just a general comment as it may be of use during negotiations to let the company know your feelings. The results of the survey will be published in the next edition of the Unit 09 Informer.

In Solidarity

Kelly Ray Hugunin

Kelly Ray Hugunin USW, Local 1999

Unit 09, President

Wage Hike, From Page 6. "States have been taking action because the federal government hasn't," says Liana Fox, a policy analyst with the liberal Economic Policy Institute in Wash-ington. She advocates raising the national wage, perhaps to $7.25. She adds that tying the minimum wage to in-flation would depoliticize the issue. Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., mean-while, has pushed for minimum wage increases throughout the country as he repositions himself for a presidential run in 2008. He also advocates index-ing minimum wages to inflation. Indexing the wage resonates with Rep. Alma Adams, D-Guilford, who has lobbied for increasing the mini-mum wage since the mid-1990s. This year she's closer than ever to achieving her goal, with backing from Gov. Mike Easley and state Treasurer Richard Moore, both of whom are Democrats, among others. Yet even at $6.15, a wage earner in a household of two, working full time five days a week for 52 straight weeks, still would make less than the federal poverty level.

See Wage Hike, Page 13.

Informer 13

Strike Out, From Page 11. Kemp also ruled out the county subsidies, including TIFs, even if Wal-Mart should follow the zoning rules. “Jefferson County has never granted a TIF, and I would never vote for a TIF,” Kemp said, re-sponding to questions of whether Wal-Mart had asked that taxpayers front the money to build the big box. “The situation in Jefferson County is well- known that we don’t do TIFs and we don’t do emi-nent domain”--government capture of property fol-lowed by turnover to developers. “We have rules, and they’re going to follow them,” Kemp said of Wal-Mart. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Wage Hike, From Page 12. The math is even worse for a wage earner in a house-hold of four, who would have to make about $9.61 an hour just to touch the poverty line. Adams ideally would like to see the minimum wage at $10.50. Yet she's willing to take her time. "It's not right yet," she said of the proposed state raise to $6.15 an hour. "But it's a step in the right di-rection. You have to continue to give people hope." In Other States • Florida voters raised the state's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour in 2004, and annual inflation adjust-ments put it at $6.40 an hour today. As of April, the number of jobs in Florida totaled 8.06 million, more than at any time in the last 10 years, and a 7.2 percent increase since April 2004, according to the BLS. • Vermont raised its minimum wage three times since October 1997, most recently this year. It's now at $7.25 an hour, and will be indexed to inflation be-ginning in 2007. The total number of jobs in Ver-mont in April was 304,100 -- a historic high for that month, but down slightly from the end of 2005. • Total number of jobs in Oregon in April was 1.7 million, up about 7.8 percent since April 2002, the year the state authorized indexing the minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index, and the highest number of jobs in that state ever. • Washington state has raised its minimum wage eight times since 1999, to $7.63 from $5.70. Total non-farm jobs numbered 2.848 million in April, the highest in history and up 8.6 percent since the same time in 1999 -- the height of the dot-com era when Seattle and Silicon Valley slugged it out for high-tech bragging rights.

Election, From Page 1. Andy Engle, Bill Ford, and Stan Perkins ran unop-posed by virtue of being the only candidates nomi-nated to meet eligibility requirements and were re-elected to the Grievance Committee. We had one Grievance Committee position left open after the eligible candidates were elected. Their were two ineligible nominees and an election was held between them. Mike McDonald was the winner of that race. Former Quemetco employee Curtis Jones was elected Unit President at Sumco. New officers were sworn into office at the May Lo-cal Union meeting.

ELECTION RESULTS

LOCAL PRESIDENT

Chuck Jones 989 Danny Mims 738

FINANCIAL SECRETARY Allen Johnson 940 Steve Davis 709

INSIDE GUARD

Greg Rippy 884 George Gann 695

OUTSIDE GUARD

Kelly Ray Hugunin 617 Lene’ Davis 593 Bo Strange 405

TRUSTEES (3)

Mike Biggs 980 Larry Silcox 975 Maurie Wilkerson 970 Douglas White 595

UNIT 09 GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE

Mike McDonald 38 Selmon Brown 34

14 Summer 2006

Sub District 3 2006 Dates of Events

October 7 and 8 -- Bass Tournament

Sub-District 3 Golf Day

The Sub-District 3 Golf Day was held June 16th at the Legends of Indiana Golf Course in Franklin, Indiana. The Local sent 24 golfers to the event. Charles Arthur, Carl Bendler, Rob Bowling, and De-shay Keener were chosen to attend by a lottery draw.

Lawmakers Clear Mine Safety Bill WASHINGTON (PAI)--Setting some sort of speed record, and pushed by deaths in the nation’s mines, the GOP-run Congress cleared an important mine safety bill on June 7 and sent it to GOP President George W. Bush for signature. The 381-37 House vote on the Senate-written bill--without changes--came only three weeks after four top senators hammered it out and introduced it on May 16. The bill is designed to solve some of the problems in mine safety exposed by the Sago mine collapse in West Virginia just after New Year’s Day and subse-quent mine disasters. More than 30 miners, includ-ing 12 at Sago, have died in 2006. The disasters also exposed lack of provision of emer-gency oxygen, lack of training, poor communications among rescuers, delays in sending rescue teams and other problems with mine safety. The Mine Workers campaigned for the improve-ments. Meanwhile, data showed the Bush Mine Safety and Health Administration is lax in enforce-ment. After thanking lawmakers for pushing the bill through quickly, UMW President Cecil Roberts--

himself a West Virginian--said credit should go to miners and their families who lobbied for it. The West Virginia delegation led the way in crafting the bill. "Their determination and willingness to come to Washington, to get in the faces of members of Con-gress and demand improvements in mine safety is the real reason this legislation was passed so quickly,” Roberts said. He urged Bush to sign it fast. When Bush does, “It will be incumbent upon the Mine Safety and Health Administration to quickly promulgate the regulations it requires, and then vig-orously enforce them as well as the laws and regula-tions already on the books,” Roberts said. While the new legislation is “a step towards making mines safer, miners cannot afford… for upper man-agement at MSHA to continue its coddling of mine operators who violate the law,” he warned. To make sure MSHA got the message, UMWA sued it in federal court in D.C. the same day the House passed the bill, seeking tougher enforcement of pre-sent federal mine safety rules. Among other things, it wants immediate random checks of miners’ emer-gency oxygen respirators and immediate training of

See Mine Safety, Page 18.

Informer 15

This just in. The Citizens for Responsibility and Eth-ics in Washington (CREW) has uncovered a “close and supportive” relationship between Bush’s Depart-ment of Labor and a front group that purports to pro-vide facts on unions but whose goal is to completely discredit and undermine them. Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) law-suit, CREW forced the Labor Department to release documents showing its connections to the group, The Center for Union Facts. Today, CREW posted 108 pages of documents it re-ceived from the Labor Department showing the de-partment’s contacts with Richard Berman, founder and executive director of the Center and instigator of sleazy PR campaigns like the one he ran against Mothers Against Drunk Driving on behalf of the al-cohol industry. Berman also is behind the Employment Policies In-stitute, which SourceWatch, a Project of the Center for Media & Democracy, describes as “a think tank financed by business” that runs websites opposed to increasing the minimum wage and living wages. S o u r c e W a t c h says the living wage website: “…attempts to portray the idea of a living wage for workers as some kind of insidious conspiracy. ‘Living wage activists want nothing less than a na-tional living wage,’ it warns (as though there is something wrong with paying employees enough that they can afford to eat and pay rent).” CREW sent the FOIA request after The Washington Post reported the Labor Department’s Office of Pub-lic Affairs publicized the Center and its website to employees of the department as “dedicated to provid-ing information on labor unions and their expendi-tures.” The Union Facts website in fact is an amal-gam of distortions. Because the Labor Department refused to comply with the FOIA request by CREW, the group in April

Anti-Union Group Has Close Ties to Bush’s Labor Department sued the department, compelling it to provide the re-cords. The documents include an e-mail indicating Labor Department public liaison aide Lynn Gibson (formerly with the Heritage Foundation) set up a meeting between Berman and department staff. In another, Gibson tells a Berman staffer she will send e-mails related to his organization to her “network.” The documents include an e-mail to Gibson from a Union Facts staffer transmitting one of the Center’s attacks on the AFL-CIO (subject: “Thought you might get a kick out of this: feel free to pass it along”), anti-union blogs and newsletters routinely received by Labor Department staff, as well as an e-mail with a Berman article attacking unions that was sent from a top Labor Department official to other high-level department political appointees. Claiming privilege, the Labor Department “has with-held e-mail correspondence, including correspon-dence from Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, that di-rectly refer to Berman and his organizations.” CREW will litigate this issue and press for the re-lease of all documents responsive to its request.

Our original information on Berman’s funding, which sources say includes $8 million to attack the nation’s unions and their working members, indi-cated involvement by the State Chambers of Com-merce National Conference. Since February, when Berman launched his latest slime group, the organization has bought expensive, full-page ads in newspapers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times. The ads include slams against the president of UNITE HERE, whose unions are involved in hotel contract negotiations, so odds are good the hotel industry is chipping in a wad of cash.

The center for Union Facts Logo as seen in newspapers

16 Summer 2006

Ohio Unions Pushing Workers Comp Restoration Vote TOLEDO, Ohio (PAI)--Ohio unionists are avidly seeking signatures for a referendum this fall to reverse the drastic cuts the GOP-run legislature and GOP Gov. Bob Taft made in workers’ compen-sation. Facing a June 30 petition deadline, the unionists need 193,000 signatures statewide to get the initiative on the November ballot, UAW Regional Director Lloyd Mahaffey told his area’s convention delegates in May. If put on the ballot, Ohio voters would get a chance to approve or dis-approve the new workers’ comp law. Its prime provision is a cut in the maximum number of weeks an in-jured worker could draw payments, from the present 200 down to 26.

After that, a worker is considered “maximum medi-cally improved” and payments stop. The new law also redefines “pre-existing conditions,” making it easier for employers to avoid workers’ comp judgments. Taft signed the law March 28. “Larger employers like Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are self-insured, so a $50 million increase” in work-ers’ comp premiums due to the new law “doesn’t affect them,” Mahaffey said. “But a $50 million increase in premiums for small employers comes out of the pot that we negotiate for our members…But this doesn’t affect just UAW workers or union workers, but every worker” in the state, he

added. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

CEO-Minimum Wage Ratio Soars

In 2005, an average Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was paid 821 times as much as a minimum wage earner, who earns just $5.15 per hour. An average CEO earns more before lunchtime on the very first day of work in the year than a minimum wage worker earns all year. This extreme compensa t ion ratio reflects both the extraor-dinary growth of CEO pay and also the dimin- ishing value of the federal mini- mum wage that has not been raised since 1997: adjusting for inflation, the p u r c h a s i n g power of the minimum wage is now at its lowest since 1955. The ratio wasn't always so extreme. As recently as 1978, CEOs were paid only 78 times as much as minimum wage earners. Written by Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Lawrence Mishel.

Delphi, From Page 3. option--will get a $140,000 lump sum if they have 10 years of seniority or credited service, or $70,000 if they have under 10 years. A much smaller group, “hired under the supplemental new hire agreement prior to March 22, are eligible for a buyout payment prorated to $40,000,” the leaders added. Had the court approved Delphi’s contract-dumping plan, Delphi would close 21 of its 29 U.S. plants, fire 20,000 of its union workers, and cut the pay of the rest from a top rate of $28 an hour to a top rate of $12.50 an hour, or less. “As the UAW has maintained from the beginning, Delphi’s (bankruptcy) motions and the ensuing hearings have functioned as an im-pediment to negotiation of the difficult issues at hand. Delphi’s decision to adjourn the hearings is step in the right direction and the UAW supported the request for an adjournment,” Gettelfinger and Shoemaker said. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Informer 17

Enron Workers Cheer Guilty Verdicts For Execs, Continue Battle For Pensions By Paul Hill and Tim Wheeler, The People's Weekly World and Press Associates

HOUSTON (PAI)--Enron workers who lost billions in pension benefits when the company collapsed are voicing satisfaction that at last top Enron executives have been found guilty of a long list of crimes that plunged the company into bankruptcy. But they, and AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, still make the point that the convictions of former company chairman Ken Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling won’t bring the workers’ jobs, pensions or retirement accounts back. On May 25, a federal court jury in Houston con-victed the two executives of multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy. Lay was convicted in two separate trials on 10 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud and for making false state-ments to banks. The jury found Skilling guilty on 19 of 28 counts. Lay faces a maximum of 165 years in jail and Skilling faces a maximum of 185 years. Their conspiracy and fraud not only brought Enron down with a crash, but also wiped out the pensions and 401(k) accounts of Enron workers, which were virtually all invested--by company mandate--in En-ron stock. The two execs kept lying about the value of the stock even as the company was going down the tubes. Both non-union workers at Enron and its unionized workers in Houston and in Portland, Ore.-based Pa-cific Gas & Electric lost all their retirement money. Thousands also lost their jobs. Charles Priestwood, 67, who spent 33 years as an Enron pipeline worker, is one of thousands of plain-tiffs in a class action lawsuit asking the court to order Enron to pay their pension benefits. His retirement package, once $1.3 million, is now worthless. “I used to spend half an hour a month paying off every bill,” Priestwood said in a phone interview from his home outside Houston. “Now I spend 30 days every month trying to find the money to pay my bills.” He said he and many other ex-Enron workers followed the trial and gave a little cheer when a jury found both Lay and Skilling guilty.

“I helped build Enron,” Priestwood said. “I kept the pressure in the pipelines steady all those years. Ninety-nine percent of the workers out in the field were honest. It was just that little cream at the top, the CEO and his cronies, who destroyed Enron. It was the most hurtful thing I’ve ever lived through.” Priestwood says now he looks back at his life and sees “one big void.” The collapse of Enron four years ago put over 4,000 people out of work. Thousands lost their life savings. The AFL-CIO helped a number of Enron’s former employees with the transition back to work and ad-vocated for decent benefits and a share of what re-sources were left. Conviction of Lay and Skilling exposed “the culture of greed that permeates corporate America,” Sweeney said. It also showed the two “cannot lie their way out of the mess they created. However, it must be remem-bered the collapse of Enron did irreparable harm to working people, and no amount of jail time can fix that.” Richard Shaw, Secretary-Treasurer of the Harris County AFL-CIO, which includes Houston, was ac-tive in support of the Enron workers. He told the World the verdict pleased him because “finally, the top people at Enron are going to be held accountable for the massive loss of jobs and pensions they caused.” “There might be some justice in the end for these workers. But we still have a long way to go with the appeals process,” Shaw warned. And while justice may have been meted out to Lay and Skilling, it still has yet to reach the rank and file, Priestwood said. He is angry that Enron workers “are still waiting for our day in court” five years after the company went bankrupt. “The defendants got their money. They want to keep our claims quiet and never let them come out in a

See Guilty. Page 18.

18 Summer 2006

INDIANA AFL-CIO E-ACTIVIST NET-WORK!

The Indiana AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions along with the independent unions have joined forces to fight back damaging legislation against Indiana's working families. Therefore, they have created an E-Activist network that allows them to directly communicate with union mem-bers about possible damaging legislation or other vital labor union news.

Members who register for the Indiana AFL-CIO E-Activist network can update their profiles, access the tell-a-friend web page, locate their legislators and send them an email, and check on any email alerts or advocacy campaigns. Through the E-Activist Network you can watch and listen to the Indiana General Assembly.

To sign up, go online and visit the IN AFL-CIO website at www.inaflcio.org. Bookmark the site in your web browser to stay informed and prepared to take action. Please sign up today! And, tell a friend so they can sign up and be informed!

Missouri Ballot, From Page 7. But the push for the hike is still going in Washing-ton, too, even though the GOP-run Senate has twice defeated Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) when he tried to raise the minimum wage, first to $7.25 an hour in three steps, and then to $6.25 in two. Both votes saw few GOPers supporting the raise. The national AFL-CIO's e-activism campaign prompted 15,000 people to send letters to the GOP-run House asking lawmakers to sign a “discharge petition” to force a vote on raising the minimum wage. The petition, a rarely used device, forces a vote on a bill when a majority--218--of the 435-member House demands it. House GOP leaders re-fuse to even hold hearings on increasing the mini-mum wage, much less a vote. And almost 30,000 people are "citizen co-sponsors" of Kennedy's mini-mum wage bill. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Mine Safety, From Page 14. miners for use of the respirators--called self-contained self-rescuers (SCSRs)--“in event of a real mine emergency.” "There have been too many reports of faulty SCSRs in the mine tragedies we've experienced this year to ignore," Roberts said. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Guilty, From Page 17. trial. We were lied to all the way down from the fed-eral level. They were telling us Enron stock should be trading at $144 to $150 a share. It turned out to be 40 cents a share,” he added. Priestwood also blasted obscene salaries and bonuses reaped by corporate CEOs. “These salaries are so out of whack, like one who is paid $123 million a year. Exxon-Mobil CEOs get salaries that are as sick as they were at Enron. We need laws and regulations to protect people against that kind of greed.” Democrats on the GOP-run House Financial Services Committee forced a hearing May 25--it started the hour the verdicts came down--on excessive CEO pay, but no action is expected. And a Wall Street

See Guilty , Page 19.

Informer 19

Guilty, From Page 18. Journal survey, released June 1, said total cash com-pensation for the highest-paid executives rose 45 per-cent from 2004 to 2005. A 63 percent rise in average annual cash bonuses per executive, to $3.886 mil-lion, more than offset a 0.1 percent decline in straight pay, to $1.277 million. The verdict against Lay and Skilling also did not touch on one of its key misdeeds that robbed workers and consumers: Behind the cover of deregulation, Enron “gamed” the California energy market with rolling blackouts to buttress its phony claims of “energy shortages.” Enron and its accomplices gave this scam code names like “Fat Boy” and “Get Shorty.” Lay met with GOP Vice President Dick Cheney and persuaded him to stop the Federal Energy Regulatory

Sweeney: Enron Convictions Show Corporate ‘Culture Of Greed’ WASHINGTON (PAI)--Conviction of Enron’s top two executives, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, of massive fraud in the company’s collapse reiterate the existence of a corporate “culture of greed,” AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney says. And though Lay, a close personal and political pal of George W. Bush, could face 165 years in jail, Sweeney says no prison term will bring back the jobs and pensions that Lay’s crimes robbed from Enron workers. Skilling could face 185 years. On May 25, a federal court jury in Houston con-

victed the two. When Enron collapsed, the AFL-CIO—though its unions represented few Enron workers outside Portland, Ore.--led the fight for money and justice for all of Enron’s victims. Sweeney said Enron’s collapse “exposed the culture of greed that permeates corporate America, often in wanton disregard of workers' and investors' rights and interests.” He said the verdict showed execu-tives “cannot lie their way out of the mess that they created,” Sweeney warned. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Commission (FERC) from intervening in the Califor-nia power market. That cost Californians billions of dollars and gave Enron a windfall. GOP President George W. Bush was known to be very fond of Lay, whom he called “Kenny Boy.” Lay’s family donated about $140,000 to Bush’s po-litical campaigns. Bush flew around the 2000 GOP primary campaign trail on Enron’s corporate plane. With Lay’s encouragement, Enron employees gave Bush about $600,000 in campaign contributions. Enron executives were major advisors to Cheney’s secret Energy Policy Task Force that pushed for across-the-board deregulation of gas and electric utilities. And Lay was given virtual veto power over FERC nominees. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Workers File Racial Discrimination Suit VS. Restaurant Chain BERKELEY, Calif. (PAI)--In a scene reminiscent of the “back of the bus” that African-Americans were forced to sit in before the civil rights movement, a national restaurant chain, McCormick & Schmick’s, is banishing both its African-American workers and customers to the back of the restaurant, a new law-suit says. Two workers filed the racial discrimination suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco on May 11. Law-yers seek class-action status for all African-American workers at the 61-restaurant chain. The suit follows a year-long probe by the Lawyers Com-mittee for Civil Rights of conditions at half of the

chain’s restaurants, said their attorney/spokesman, former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Bill Lann Lee. One of the workers, 27-year-old Juanita Wynn, is the only African-American among 30 servers at the spe-cific restaurant, Spengler’s Fresh Fish Grotto in Berkeley, Calif., targeted at first in the suit. She’s assigned to the back of the house, with smaller tables--and that’s where all the African-American custom-ers are sent, too, she said. Her customers notice the discrimination and she notices her lower pay and smaller tips.

See Discrimination, Page20.

20 Summer 2006

Discrimination, From Page 19. The other worker, fully qualified bartender Dantae Byrd, was rejected without any reason when he sought a job at the restaurant. Lee said such dis-crimination is illegal. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Pressure Forces Bush Labor Dept. To Establish Back-Pay Website CHICAGO (PAI)--It took four years of agitation and work, a freedom of information request and--finally--a lawsuit, but the Bush Labor Department has estab-lished a website to help workers deprived of back pay, and to show which companies may owe it, a pro-worker pro-union group that lobbied for the website says. The website was the idea of Chicago-based Interfaith Worker Justice, formerly the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, in 2002, says executive director Kim Bobo. But it took a lot of tugging and hauling for DOL to agree, she adds. The need for the website is obvi-ous. Even DOL’s own data, not broken down by firm, showed its Wage and Hour Division recov-ered $134.24 million in back pay for over 241,000 workers in fis-cal year 2005, which ended last Sept. 30. And Bobo urged workers to use the website to file back pay claims. She noted companies send unpaid back wages to the government, which waits for workers to claim them. If they don’t do so within three years, the money goes into the Treasury. "The saying 'justice delayed is justice denied' is par-ticularly true for wages owed workers from back wage settlements,” Bobo added. The amount of unpaid back wages jumped 26 per-cent in four years, Bush’s DOL claimed. The num-ber of workers receiving back wages rose by 11 per-cent since fiscal year 2001, it added. Of the $134 million, 86 percent was in cases where employers paid workers straight time when they should have paid overtime, and the rest was in cases where em-ployers broke the minimum wage law and underpaid workers. And the employers’ abuses of back pay continue. DOL noted on May 8 that George's Processing Inc., of Cassville, Mo., agreed to pay $1,235,000 in back

wages to 5,482 current and former workers. They toiled at its poultry plant from Nov. 19, 2000 through April 15 of this year and had that much uncompen-sated overtime. The Cassville workers were not paid for time spent putting on and taking off protective clothing and other gear, and walking to and from the changing area to their work stations. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last September that workers must be paid for that time in donning and doffing the clothes and gear.

Interfaith Worker Justice first suggested the need for the web-site in 2002. When DOL “began to express technological con-cerns about getting the website established” the pro-union group offered to set up a site structure--and did so with a small grant from the Chicago Community Trust. But when the site structure was ready, Bush’s DOL balked again and would not provide the names of workers owed money. That forced Interfaith Worker Justice

to file a freedom of information request for the names. When that didn’t work, it sued. Interfaith Worker Justice dropped the suit when Bush’s DOL agreed to provide the names and said it would hire an independent contractor to create the website. "This searchable website will help thou-sands of low-wage workers receive monies owed them,” Bobo said. The site is already up and run-ning. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Informer 21