Steelworkers, PACE Boards Vote For Merger

PITTSBURGH, Pa. and NASHVILLE, Tenn. (PAI)--Culminating more than a year of increasingly close cooperation on everything from accident probes to politics to "rapid response" to issues, the boards of the Steelworkers and Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers (PACE) voted to merge their two unions. If approved by delegates to their conventions, both scheduled for Las Vegas in mid-April, the combined union would have more than 1.25 million active and retired members. The unions' active membership totals more than 850,000. But there won't be immediate changes. "There will be a fairly extensive transition period" after the merger occurs, if delegates approve it, explained USWA spokesman John Duray.

See Merger, Page 6.

W elcome to the inaugural edition of the Unit 09 Newsletter. This will be the first in what we hope to be many issues of the newsletter.

We intend to provide you with information about what is going on in the Unit, Local, and Interna-tional Union. We will publish articles about events that may affect you and the labor move-ment. We hope that you find the newsletter in-formative and enjoyable to read.

In Solidarity Kelly Ray Hugunin

Unions Blast GOP Missouri, Indiana Governors For Dumping Collective-Bargaining Rights

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (PAI)--Saying the move was not unexpected, the heads of Missouri’s state employee unions blasted new GOP Gov. Matt Blunt for dumping collective bargaining rights for 9,000 public workers. And the American Federation of Teachers leveled similar criticism at new Indiana GOP Gov. Mitchell Daniels, a former Bush Office of Management and Budget director. Daniels' order affected 23,000 workers. Both moves came in the GOP governors' first two days in office in January. The governors, elected over union opposition, re-versed executive orders from Democratic predeces-sors that let public workers bargain collectively. Such a reversal was Blunt’s "first campaign prom-ise," said Ken Jacob, executive director of AFSCME Local 72 in the Missouri's capital, Jefferson City. "Our position is that we have a contract through 2006, but he says the underlying law is gone, so there goes the contract as well," Jacob added. "We're waiting to see if they'll honor the contract. If they don't, then we'll have to make a decision" on how to fight for it, he adds. AFSCME Local 72 and St. Louis-based Service Employees Local 2000 to-gether represent the Missouri workers. AFT President Edward McElroy was equally blunt after Daniels’ action. He said Bush’s ex-aide "erased the rights of 23,000 Hoosiers (including 14,000 AFT members) employed by state government. This is a dark day for the people of Indiana." The Indiana workers' contracts run through mid-2007.

See Governors, Page 6.

United Steelworkers of America

Local Union 1999 Unit 09

Spring 2005 Volume 1, Issue 1 March 24, 2005

2

Index Page 3 - President’s Mes-sage Page 5 - Crossword Page 8 - Kelly’s Kolumn Page 9 - Contract Spotlight Page 9 - Indiana E-Activist Network Page 10 - Sports Page 15 - Crossword Solu-tion

USWA Local 1999 218 S. Addison St. Indianapolis, Indiana 46222 Phone: 639-1479 Fax: 639-1138 E-Mail: uswa1999@iquest.net

EDITOR: Kelly Ray Hugunin E-Mail: hugunin@tds.net CONTRIBUTORS: Kelly Ray Hugunin Chuck Jones USPA

Your Union Leadership District 7 Direc-tor: Jim Robinson Sub-District 3 Director: Randy McKay International Staff Representa-tive: James Adcock Local Union 1999 Officers President: Chuck Jones Vice President: Steve Davis Business Agent: Bruce Reed Financial Secre-tary: Allen Johnson Recording Secre-tary: Markeya McDaniel Treasurer: Pat Baker

Trustee: Linda Bennington Trustee: Larry Silcox Trustee: Mike Biggs Inside Guard: Greg Rippy Outside Guard: Steve Combs Guide: Bruce Reed Legislative Com-mittee: Allen Johnson Civil Rights Com-mittee: Dewayne Graham Bill Ford Unit 09 Officers Unit President: Kelly Ray Hugunin Unit Vice Presi-dent:

Bill Ford Grievance Com-mittee: Kelly Ray Hugunin Bill Ford Andy Engle Stan Perkins Mike McDonald Stewards: Jason Benge Derrick Morris Tony Phillips Curtis Rainey Mark Schulz Safety Commit-tee: Bill Ford Randy Coombs Chris White (alt.) Leroy Robinson Civil Rights Com-mittee: Kelly Ray Hugunin Bill Ford Stan Perkins Andy Engle Legislative Com-mittee: Kelly Ray Hugunin Bill Ford

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From the desk of Chuck Jones.

Privatizing Social Security For those who don’t know, the Union Local is in the process of a major cam-paign. The issue before us is Privatization of Social Secu-rity. Privatizing Social Se-curity means adding trillions of dollars to our nation’s deficit that we can’t afford. Our children and grandchildren will be dealing with the effects for years to come. I don’t want my chil-dren paying for a debt that was generated so Wall Street Investors could get rich. When the average worker retires today. Social Security replaces 42% of his

income. Under this pro-posed plan, it will only re-place 18% by 2075. Not much of a future for a child born today, is it? Investment risk, inter-est rate risk, inflation risk, the risk of living too long, and the risk of disability or early death; today these risks are on the government in the Social Security System. With privatization these risks are on you and me alone. I’ve got a pension, some savings, and Social Se-curity. These will allow me to live comfortably in retire-ment. If they privatize So-cial Security, they take away my comfortable retirement

and give me risk instead. So, please take a few minutes and write a letter to your Senators and Congress-men. Or if you would like, ask your Union Representa-tives for copies of a pre-written letter. (The Local will do the mailing.) Either way, we need to let our elected officials know where we stand on this issue of Pri-vatization of Social Security. Fraternally,

Chuck Jones Charles J. Jones President

U. S. Senators

Evan Bayh - (D - IN) 463 Russell Senate Office Build-

ing Washington, DC 20510

Richard Lugar - (R - IN)

306 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510

U.S. Representatives

Dan Burton - (R – IN) 2185 Rayburn HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Steve Buyer - (R – IN) 2230 Rayburn HOB

Washington, DC 20515

U.S. Representatives

Julia Carson - (D - IN) 1535 Longworth HOB Washington, DC 20515

4

the broken asbestos tort system. Provisions that call for a return to (it) if certain deadlines are not met...are unacceptable and could increase the cost of the program by tens of billions of dollars," he charged.

Seminario pointed out that injured workers must prove they were exposed to asbestos for 15 years be-fore they can send claims to the proposed asbestos victims' trust fund. Engler's testimony prompted the only asbestos vic-tim, testifying later, to tell senators not to leave him and his co-workers out in the cold, starting all over again. His mesothelioma, the man told senators, can kill him in 18 months.

Opposition to helping injured workers, including plans by business and its insurers to backtrack upon previous agreements to help victims, which were worked out with lawmakers in the last Congress but not approved, angered Seminario. Last year’s version of the asbestos bill established a trust fund, but the amount stayed in dispute. But that bill also said if the asbestos trust fund became inade-quate, its administrator "could make contingent calls requiring substantial additional contributions from the fund participants," Seminario noted. "And, if the fund were ultimately unable to satisfy all claims, the system would revert to the courts. Re-sponding to the cries of the defendant and insurer communities, Sen. (William) Frist (R-Tenn.) pro-posed eliminating the contingent calls and instead creating a fund that would give contributors greater certainty by fixing their contribution levels," she said.

"The trade-off was that if the fund ran out of money, claimants would return to court. This is the system embodied by" the draft legislation the panel consid-ered, she pointed out.

The federation did not particularly like that

sequence, but reluctantly supports it, Seminario told the committee. Engler opposed it. He demanded

See Asbestos, Page 14.

Bush, Business Bash Asbestos Victims’ Compensation Bill By Mark Gruenberg, PAI Staff Writer

WASHINGTON (PAI)--George W. Bush and his big business backers teamed up to bash proposals for compensating the 300,000-600,000 victims of asbes-tos-caused cancer, saying legislation to help them would cost too much. That drew AFL-CIO ire, since the federation has worked for at least a decade on plans to create a trust fund, financed by the asbestos producers and their insurers, to help pay for the victims’ pain, suffering and medical costs. In a speech in Macomb County, Mich., home to a large group of asbestos victims, Bush blasted reli-ance on lawsuits to win money for their ills. But he proposed no solution, other than throwing the work-ers out of court. "The volume of asbestos lawsuits is beyond the ca-pacity of our courts to handle, and it is growing," Bush said. "More than 100,000 new asbestos claims were filed last year alone."

Bush claimed trial lawyers get most of the money when courts handle asbestos cases. Trial lawyers, who defend workers harmed by asbestos and other corporate crimes, are a top GOP and Radical Right target. They respond that only 50 cases are tried yearly. Former Michigan GOP Gov. John Engler, now head of the National Association of Manufacturers, was more specific. He told the Senate Judiciary Commit-tee on Jan. 11 the victims’ compensation fund should be capped at $140 billion. The AFL-CIO says that’s too little. New committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) wants to craft a bill fast.

Engler also declared that "the funding schedule, es-pecially in the first five years, must be reasonable." He did not define "reasonable." AFL-CIO Occupa-tional Safety and Health Director Peg Seminario, tes-tifying for workers, noted most of the asbestos claims would come during the first 5-6 years.

Engler also advocated banning workers from the courts. "An asbestos bill must completely shut down

5

ACROSS 2. slang for old hands 5. where meetings are generally held (2 words) 9. something you do in secret 10. what unions are built on 13. the Bush tax cut is this 16. those who cross picket lines 17. a principle of working with a union 19. affirmative vote 20. bad jobs make you feel like this 22. you will feel this in a steel mill 23. some supervisors make workers feel like this 25. can't find something in your union book, look at this table 26. "Energize, Mobilize, _________"

DOWN 1. a USWA Vice President 3. a union retirees group 4. where the International Head-quarters is located 6. we work toward this 7. add more mix or you may feel this 8. the top officer in a local 11. they want it free, we want it fair 12. accustomed 14. good workers should be consid-ered this 15. too many of us worry only about this person 18. the USWA wants this for all workers 21. a brake sysytem 24. not any 27. the kids designer 28. power for work

Solution: Page 15

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Governors, From Page 1. "While it’s within his power to take away their right to bargain fair contracts, he had to cancel an execu-tive order that has existed for 15 years. This execu-tive order provided front-line state employees the opportunity to improve public services while secur-ing fair treatment on the job. Eliminating this execu-tive order is not good government," McElroy said.

Seniority rights, vacation pay, grievance procedures and more are all scotched by Daniels' decision, news services said. "Given Daniels’ action, the state’s workers need the protection of collective bargaining "now more than ever," McElroy declared. "This union is not going away because the state’s need for quality services is not going away." Jacob said "we believe the right to organize is funda-mental for all working people, regardless of who they work for." Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

journalists in Nashville, in the USWA "rapid re-sponse" program on issues, which PACE joined, and in PACE accident investigation teams, which USWA joined.

"By joining forces with the USWA, PACE members will have greater bargaining power, because this merger creates a larger union presence in our core industries and gives us more leverage at the bargain-ing table. Once merged, our union will immediately be a major presence in North America's core indus-trial sectors and that strength of diversity will both protect and promote our bargaining agendas," Young said. "PACE members will have access to a $150 million defense fund so we can take on employers who make unreasonable demands at the bargaining table. Fur-thermore, with an organizing budget of over $30 mil-lion per year, we will have the ability to strategically organize workers in our core industries," he added. "Our unions share a commitment to innovative bar-gaining strategies that protect our members in many ways, while maintaining and building the produc-tive capacity of the companies they work in," Gerard added. "We're also pledged to using our successes with our joint Rapid Response and political programs to challenge anti-worker forces bent on undermining the futures of our active and retired members." If approved, the merged union will be the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied-Industrial and Service Workers Inter-national Union.

Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Merger, From Page 1. For now, he added, the unions will keep their sepa-rate headquarters in Pittsburgh (USWA) and Nash-ville (PACE). USWA did the same thing when it ab-sorbed the Ohio-based Rubber Workers several years ago, with USWA’s Rubber and Plastics Conference re-taining a separate headquarters there.

Merger talks started several months ago, involving USWA President Leo Gerard, PACE President Boyd Young and their top staffers, as the two unions found themselves cooperating on a wide variety of causes, and sharing the same values.

"As joint activities grew in number and we devel-oped a close relationship, it made sense" to talk merger, Duray added. "At a certain point, it became an obvious fit."

Collaboration was most evident in a joint conference of women organizers in Washington--USWA hosted it and PACE came--at a joint conference of union

7

WASHINGTON (PAI)--Not content with killing overtime pay for up to 8 million workers, George W. Bush plans to push two more anti-overtime plans, comp time and flex time, the AFL-CIO says. Citing reports from Bush big business backers and his campaign speeches, the federation added on Jan. 7 that Bush would again try to cut workers' overtime through those pieces of legislation. Even the GOP-run Congress balked at them before. The comp time plan would let bosses order workers to toil overtime without pay, on the promise of future "comp time" off--at the employer's discretion. Bush says "comp time" is "family friendly" but women's' rights groups say it's not. Flex time would let employees work 80 hours over a 2-week period, as present law permits, but without overtime pay if they work longer than 40 hours in

WASHINGTON (PAI)--George W. Bush’s scheme to partially privatize Social Security would actually bring the system to a financial crisis 20 years sooner than the present problem dates of 2042 or 2052, top Social Security advocates say. But right now, contrary to Bush’s Jan. 11 claim that Social Security is "bankrupt," the system is finan-cially solvent, they add. They want it to stay that way. In a telephone press conference, responding to Bush’s push, Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), Roger Hickey of Campaign for America’s Future and Bar-bara Bailey Kennelly of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare said Bush’s plan would bring the crunch two decades closer. "Right now, we have a gap 40 years to 50 years out," between Social Security’s income--from payroll taxes, interest and eventually cashing in its govern-ment bonds--and its payments to 48 million people, Levin said. But that time frame shrinks if Bush’s plan to divert $2 trillion of Social Security’s payroll tax revenues

Social Security Advocates: Bush Scheme Imperils System 20 Years Sooner

either week, as long as they work an equivalent amount less in the next week. "The 'flex' in this is all for the employer," Penn State economics professor Lonnie Golden told the Eco-nomic Policy Institute. "Not only would this exacer-bate the current trend of most workers' wages falling behind inflation, but it is also more likely to intro-duce unwelcome irregularity to employees’ lives. The proposed bill does not grant employees any power to determine which additional days or hours they will work or have off or even when they start or stop their workday." Bush's campaign remarks prompted AFL-CIO Presi-dent John J. Sweeney to say Bush's plan "is really about giving corporations the flexibility to cheat their workers out of overtime pay after 40 hours a week."

Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

AFL-CIO Predicts Bush To Push Comp Time, Flex Time Again

to Wall Street-managed private investment accounts, passes, he adds. "In 2018, there would be an immediate cash flow problem," Kennelly said. Right now, that's just the date where the system must start using some of its bond interest to pay benefits. Currently, it banks the interest and has yet to touch the bonds. "There are several moving parts to this (privatization plan), including cutting benefits" for retirees, she warned. Levin, Hickey, Kennelly and their groups said their first task is to bury Bush’s scheme. They began with town meetings in New York, Michigan and Wash-ington state.

Those groups, their allies in a broad coalition--including the AFL-CIO--and congressional Democ-rats will soon expand their campaign to detail the real truth, solvency, of the nation’s retirement sys-tem, the three said.

"It’s hard to believe that if, in fact, we do our job,

people will not come aboard" and bury Bush’s plan, See Social Security, Page 8.

8

Social Security, From Page 7. Kennelly said. Then, afterwards, there can be a real, honest debate on Social Security’s future, to help solve problems now instead of in 2042.

"He’ll have his controlled meetings, but ours will be with regular folks and they’ll demand to meet their members of Congress," Hickey said.

Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

I hope that you are enjoying the newsletter so far. Since I volunteered to publish a newsletter for Unit 09 I have had to wear another hat as the editor. I’ve had to learn some new skills in order to accomplish this. Recently I attended a work-shop by the United Steelworkers Press Association (USPA) for Local Union editors. I learned quite a bit about putting a newsletter together and writing and editing articles for it. I will use this new knowledge to publish a newsletter that will pro-vide you with information that I hope you will find useful. I welcome anyone who would like to con-tribute something to the newsletter to be pub-lished. You may have a story, a picture, or just a tid-bit. Please feel free submit it to me. I look forward to publishing the next issue.

In Solidarity

Kelly Ray Hugunin Unit 09, President

32nd International Convention Delegates

On January 27th the election for the seven Local 1999 International Convention Delegates was held at the Local Union Hall. Linda Bennington (Carrier), Steve Davis (Carrier), Lene’ Davis (Carrier), Pam Presley (Rexnord), Bruce Reed (Rexnord), Steve Combs (Rexnord), and Greg Rippy (Carrier) were elected as delegates to the conven-tion. Julie Heaton (Rexnord) and Larry Silcox (Rexnord) were elected as alternates. The seven delegates will represent the Local along with Local President Chuck Jones who had been selected to be a delegate automatically by a motion passed at the December Local Union meeting. Turnout was higher than in the past election with 278 ballots cast. The International Convention will be held April 11 through April 15, 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bruce Reed Elected Guide

On January 16th the Local 1999 Executive Board elected Bruce Reed to fill the vacancy of Guide. Bruce is currently the Business Representa-tive for Local 1999. Bruce has been a Steelworker for 39 years, working 37 ½ years for the Link Belt Chain Company and 1 ½ years for Diamond Chain. Both Companies are Units in Local 1999. Bruce has served his Local Union as President, Recording Secretary, Chairman of the Incentive Committee, Chairman of the Job Evaluation Committee, and Shop Steward, as well as serving on the Grievance Committee, Legislative Committee, Community Services Committee, Delegate to the Central Indiana Labor Council, and the Mayor’s Labor Advisory Committee in Indianapolis. He has been the Local Union Education Coordinator providing training for our Grievance Committees and Stewards. In 2001 Bruce worked for the International Union as a Staff Representative servicing the southeastern section of Indiana. He has also warked as an Organizer for the International Union. The Guide office was left vacant after Mike Biggs was elected to the office of Trustee. The International Constitution does not allow the same person to hold both offices at the same time.

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Article XI, Paragraph 11.7 Overtime Assignments There has been a lot of confusion in the past few months as to what overtime hours are counted and when for the 8 hour and 16 hour overtime rules. The contract states that when an employee has worked 8 hours of overtime in a workweek any involuntary overtime will be in the reverse order of seniority be-ginning with the most junior employee who has not worked 8 hours of overtime. It goes on to say that once an employee has worked 16 hours of overtime, within a workweek that employee may refuse over-time for the remainder of that workweek. To under-stand the language we must first look at the con-tract’s definition of the workweek. Article IX, Para-graph 9.1 says that 40 hours of work divided into days of 8 hours of work shall constitute the standard workweek and workday. In 1999 in an Arbitration over the 16 hour rule, Arbitrator Mark L. Reed ruled that the standard workweek was 40 hours divided by 8 hours equals 5 days. So the workweek is 5 days and a 6th & 7th day fall outside the standard work-week. What this means is that the hours worked on a 6th or seventh day cannot be counted towards the 8 or 16 hour rule. For example, an employee who works Monday through Friday and a 6th day on Sat-urday. He doesn't work any overtime until his 6th day on Saturday. He cannot count the 8 hours he has worked on that day and he cannot use the 8 hour rule. Another example would be an employee who works Tuesday through Saturday and also works a 6th day on Sunday and he works 4 hours of overtime on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On Friday and Saturday he counts 12 hours of overtime and cannot be forced to work over on those two days unless all the other employees in the department have worked 8 hours of overtime or take a refusal of overtime. On Sunday, the 6th day, if there is daily overtime he can count the 12 hours of overtime he worked on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but he cannot count the 8 hours he has worked that day. He cannot claim 20 hours of overtime and use the 16 hour rule to refuse the daily overtime. He can only claim 12 hours and use the 8 hour rule.

INDIANA AFL-CIO E-ACTIVIST NET-WORK!

As you are aware the political climate for organized labor in Indiana has changed, therefore it is extremely important that we make our voice heard. Along with fighting for working men and women we are in effect fighting for our existence. Probably at no time in recent history has a legis-lative session been as important as this one will be.

The Indiana AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions along with the independent unions have collectively decided to join forces to fight back damaging legislation against Indiana's working families. Therefore, they are in the process of creating an E-Activist network that will allow them to directly communicate with union members 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 cam-paigns. 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!

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Congratulations to our team from Unit 09 for winning the Dis-

trict 7 Bowling Tournament! The team of Andy Engle, Robert Apple, William Cooley, Carl Bendler, and Scott Wagner won first place in the tournament held February 5th at Olym-pia Lanes in Hammond In. The team won $500 and team jackets. Way to go! The Sub-District 3 Bowling Tour-nament was held on March 19th and 20th at Clancy’s Village Bowl in Muncie In. Results were not in at the time of publication.

Sub-District 3 Bass Fishing Tournaments

The fishing tournaments will be held on: April 23rd and 24th

June 18th and 19th October 1st and 2nd

The deadline for entries in the tourna-ment in April is Noon, Friday, April 8th. The Tournaments will be held at Mill Creek Park in Marshall, Illinois. See Kelly Ray Hugunin for an entry form.

Basketball Tournament It has been announced that Sub-District 3 will not be holding a basket- ball tourna-ment this year. How-e v e r , plans are underway for Local 1999 to host its own basketball tournament. At this time a date has not been set for the tournament. Please watch for com-ing announcements concerning the tournament.

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JONQUIERE, Quebec (PAI)--In yet another indica-tion of how Wal-Mart mistreats its workers, the giant retailer declared it would close its store in Jonquiere, Quebec, rather than submit to mandatory binding arbitration for a contract with its 200 workers, as provincial law requires. The United Food and Com-mercial Workers and the Canadian union movement are launching a broad grassroots action against Wal-Mart in response to the retailer’s announcement it will close its first North American unionized store rather than accept binding arbitration in contract bar-gaining. Nearly 200 workers at a Wal-Mart in Jonquière, Quebec, chose a voice at work with UFCW Local 503 last fall. After Wal-Mart refused to bargain in good faith over issues, including work schedules, seniority clauses and employee status, the union asked the Quebec Ministry of Labor to impose bind-ing arbitration on contract negotiations, as Canadian law provides. On Feb. 9, just hours after the Ministry of Labor an-nounced its approval for the arbitration request, Wal-Mart Canada declared the store was unprofitable and planned to close it this spring. This latest action by Wal-Mart demonstrates, once again, the company’s systematic abuse of working families,” said UFCW President Joseph Hansen. “This is a company that prefers to spend millions and millions to dress up its image on TV, rather than treat workers with respect.” Not the First Time Wal-Mart Shut Down Opera-tions After Workers Join a Union The announced closure of the Jonquière store follows a similar Wal-Mart action in 2000 when 11 Wal-Mart workers in Jacksonville, Texas, chose a voice at work with the UFCW. Wal-Mart eliminated the meat cutter positions and switched to selling pre-packaged meat. In June 2003, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge ruled the company had broken labor law and ordered it to restore the meat cutting duties and bargain with the union over the effects of the change.

See Wal-Mart, Page 12

Wal-Mart To Close Quebec Store After Pro-Worker Ruling

Wal-Mart Workers Continue Their Fight for Jus-tice Across the United States and Canada, Wal-Mart workers continue their struggle for a voice at work. In late January, the Denver director of the NLRB ruled that nearly 20 Wal-Mart auto service workers in Loveland, Colo., have the right to vote for repre-sentation by UFCW Local 7. Wal-Mart had argued that the union had to organize all 480 workers at the store, but the board said auto service employees work independently. In St.-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Wal-Mart workers chose a voice with UFCW Canada Local 501 in January. An application for a bargaining unit has been submitted by one-third of the Quebec store, and the UFCW has applications in process in some dozen locations through Canada. The Feb. 9 announcement drew expressions of dis-gust and anger from both the United Food and Com-mercial Workers, whose Local 503 won representa-tion through a card-check majority--again following Quebec law--and the AFL-CIO. After the vote, Local 503 sought to open bargaining on such issues as work schedules, seniority clauses and employee status, but Wal-Mart refused. The provincial labour ministry stepped in with its manda-tory arbitration order. That's when Wal-Mart said it would close the allegedly "unprofitable" store. "This latest action by Wal-Mart demonstrates, once again, the company's systematic abuse of working families,” said UFCW President Joseph Hansen. "This company prefers to spend millions and mil-lions to dress up its image on TV, rather than treat workers with respect." UFCW said it would start a grass-roots campaign across Canada--which the AFL-CIO pledged to join--demanding Wal-Mart keep the store open and obey provincial labour law. Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Workers Challenge Wal-Mart Canada Store Closure

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Wal-Mart In More Hot Water Over Child Labor By Mark Gruenberg, PAI Staff Writer

WASHINGTON (PAI)--Wal-Mart is more hot water over the discovery that it broke child labor laws, with state and federal investigations under way--and the union movement launching a mass e-mail campaign about its abuses. Responding to a demand from Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the Labor Department's Inspector General said on Feb. 21 he would open his own probe into what Miller and others called "a sweetheart deal" be-tween the department and the company. The nation's largest retailer, which employs more than a million workers, signed an agreement with the Labor Department in mid-January--which wasn't dis-closed for a month--promising to end child labor vio-lations in Connecticut and two other states. And since 20 of the 24 counts of child labor viola-tions were in Connecticut, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal started his own probe of the firm--and filed a Freedom of Information Act de-mand for a copy of DOL's agreement with Wal-Mart. DOL fined Wal-Mart more than $135,000 for using workers as young as 14 on hazardous devices, such as balers, barred to them by law or by federal rules. One teenager was injured when a machine sliced through his thumb, DOL said. But the Bush DOL also agreed to give Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., 15-day advance notice of any probes of wage and hour violations, not just child labor laws. That angered Senate Labor Committee ranking De-mocrat Edward M. Kennedy, the Child Labor Coali-tion--a National Consumers League affiliate--and the United Food and Commercial Workers. "Wal-Mart had the minors operating cardboard bal-ers and chainsaws--among other dangerous equip-ment--which are the most dangerous pieces of ma-chinery in the retail industry," the union said. "Maiming, amputations, and death are not uncom-mon occurrences for workers who operate balers." "Advanced notice clearly undermines compliance,

and enables Wal-Mart managers to simply re-assign underage workers before an inspection, to avoid vio-lations," the union and the NCL added.

NCL has campaigned against use of child labor for more than 100 years, while UFCW is trying to or-ganize Wal-Mart, and hitting rampant company labor law-breaking as a reaction. NCL and UFCW demanded Wal-Mart immediately stop abuses of child labor by simply giving different badges to its teenage workers, so managers can keep them from hazardous assignments. UFCW and NCL also started an e-mail campaign to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao dump "the sweetheart deal" with Wal-Mart. The campaign is on the union's website: www.ufcw.org. Miller demanded Chao disclose if she consulted the Bush White House about the sweetheart deal. UFCW and Kennedy were more caustic. "Wal-Mart may be the world's largest corporation and biggest White House political contributor, but that gives the company no right to sweetheart deals and arrangements that put children at risk," the union commented. "The Labor Department shamefully abdicated its re-sponsibility by acquiescing in Wal-Mart's continuing violation of child labor laws and other worker pro-tections," Kennedy said. "Even worse, it conspired with Wal-Mart to conceal this sweetheart deal from the public. The department is there to enforce the law, not to be muzzled by America's largest em-ployer." Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

Wal-Mart, from page 11. “Unfortunately, workers in Canada are finding out the hard way what many Wal-Mart workers in the United States already know—that Wal-Mart won’t negotiate to provide a basic, fair employment pack-age for its workers,” says AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney.

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Steelworkers Rally At Statehouse

On February 1, 2005 three hundred plus members of the USWA, PACE, and SOAR rallied in solidarity at the statehouse in Indianapolis to fight against pend-ing anti-worker legislation. These Union activists spent the day lobbying their repre-sentatives in the Indiana House and Senate. They lobbied against bills such as House Bill 1050, the “Right To Work” bill, in the House of Representatives. This is an Anti-Union bill that would es-sentially make every Union shop an open shop. Workers in Union shops would not be required to join the Union or pay dues. The Union would still be required to represent these non-members as if they were dues paying members.

This would weaken the bargaining power of the Unions in Indiana severely. Also states with these laws are at the bottom rung of the social and economic scale com-pared to states that maintain a fair bargaining atmosphere for their citizens. Another, Senate Bill 78, that was lobbied against, would have given Employers the ability to make payroll deductions (charges) for more items than they are allowed to now under the law. Under this bill, deductions could be made for uniforms, tools and equipment, and tuition repayment. House Bill 1184, also lob-bied against, would allow contrac-tors to not pay a common con-struction wage to workers when

working on a public works project with a total cost of less than $250,000. They are required to pay the common wage now if the total cost is over $50,000. We were told by our brothers and sis-ters in the construction Unions that most of these public works projects would fall below that $250,000 mark. That would mean that most of these projects would not be protected by the common wage law and contractors could lower wages in order to submit a lower bid on the project. Thanks to our brothers and sisters who came out to this rally and those who continue to work against anti-worker legislation, none of these bills have become law.

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Asbestos, From Page 4. asbestos victims be barred from court. Seminario blamed the business community’s stand on the 2004 election returns. She said letters and statements from companies and insurers oppose the bill. "Apparently, these groups read the results of the No-vember election as license to back track on previous agreements, and to renege on their commitments made to fairly compensate asbestos victims. If, in-deed, business groups are not prepared to stand be-hind their agreements, it will...destroy any possibility of passing asbestos compensation legislation," she warned.

On December 19, 2004 Mike Biggs was elected by the Executive Board of Local 1999 to fill the va-cancy for Trustee. Mike had previously served as the Local’s Guide. Mike has been a steelworker for over 23 years and has been a Union member since 1957 in different International Unions including Teamsters and the U.A.W. He has served in many different positions over the years including Shop Steward, Grievance Committee Person, Local Vice Presi-dent, and Local President. Mike is currently the Unit President at Holcombe & Hoke, Unit 18, where he has been employed since 1981. The Trustee position was left vacant due to the retirement of Nancy Engle. Nancy retired after 30 years at Diamond Chain, Unit 13.

E-Board elects Mike Biggs

Say a good word about your Union.

Bush’s anti-victim stand angered AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney. "Bush missed an opportunity to show genuine compassion for the victims of asbestos disease and support for responsible relief for busi-nesses struggling with asbestos claims by failing to endorse the creation" of the trust fund, he said. "Contrary to (Bush's) comments, the crisis we are facing is not a litigation crisis, it’s a disease crisis."

Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

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If there’s a Wal-Mart in your area, chances are you’re paying: