Richard Pyle, Associated Press, August 11, 2008 New York - Verizon Communications Inc. and two unions representing 65,000 workers who had threatened to strike within hours agreed Sunday on a new three-year contract that provides 10.5 percent wage increases and changes in retirement benefits. The pact, which must be ratified by union members, was hailed as a "breakthrough agreement in many ways" by Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen. The deal "provides a framework for growth at Verizon and a good standard of living with careers for our members," Cohen said. ... Verizon

Nationwide contract expires Saturday; 9,200 workers in NE affected. Jon Chesto, Patriot Ledger, July 30, 2008 Boston - At least 2,000 Verizon workers are expected to attend a rally at Post Office Square on Thursday night in front of Verizon’s New England headquarters as they attempt to pressure the company to reach a new contract agreement. Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America voted earlier this month to authorize union leadership to call for a strike after their current contracts expire at the end of the day on Saturday. ... Verizon

David L. Wilson, Monthly Review, July 20, 2008 The huge meatpacking plant had been cited by government agencies for numerous violations of environmental and labor laws and for "acts of inhumane slaughter" of animals. New inquiries were under way into allegations of wage violations and the illegal employment of minors. A large national union was trying to organize the factory's 970 workers. But all this was put on hold the morning of May 12, 2008. Helicopters, buses, and vans encircled the western part of the tiny community where the plant was located. Hundreds of government agents surrounded the facility and then arrested 389 workers ... Union-busting

Tom Gilroy, Daily Labor Report, July 15, 2008

Los Angeles - A two-day hearing being conducted by the Service Employees International Union aimed at deciding whether to put all California long-term health care workers into one union local is a "kangeroo court" whose outcome ultimately will not matter, the president of one of the affected unions told a crowd of union members July 14.

Michael D. Yates, David Bacon, Warren Mar, Stephen Lerner & John Borsos, Monthly Review, July 14, 2008 Michael D. Yates: Over the past several years, a vigorous debate has taken place within organized labor and among its allies over how best to rebuild a dying labor movement. Much of the is debate has centered around the actions and arguments of the leaders of the nation's largest union, The Service Employees International Union or SEIU (sic). MRZine has encouraged debate and dialogue over this matter ... SEIU

Report of the July 10, 2008, Hearing  at First Congregational Church, Greenfield Re Unsettled Labor Contract of  Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) and Baystate Franklin Medical Center (BFMC) Panel of the Western Massachusetts Workers’ Rights Board ... PDF

John Hovis & Chris Townsend, Portside, July 11, 2008 Over time, fads come and go, yet for organized labor certain basic principles hold true. In the "big picture" search for answers to the problems faced by labor today, outspoken contemporary labor leaders and well-meaning academics either inadvertently overlook, or chose to dismiss, the obvious reality: namely, there is likely to be no meaningful revival of the labor movement until rank-and-file members have a fundamental role in running their unions. Those who ignore - or choose to ignore - this truth, instead promoting union mergers, creating gigantic mega-locals ... Rank

Labor's Silence on Union Media Democracy.
Martin Fishgold, Portside, July 9, 2008

On Thursday July 10 a panel of the Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board will take the testimony of nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield and issue a report on collective bargaining there. The hearing will be 6:00-7:30 PM at First Congregational Church, 43 Silver Street, Greenfield. The public, the press, and the employer are invited. Attendees are asked to come fragrance-free.

Across the US, Workers’ Rights Boards act as “the conscience of the community” regarding labor relations, exposing employers' misconduct and also helping workers form unions and reach collective bargaining contracts. There is more information at http://www.jwj.org/projects/wrb.html.

David Tuller, New York Times, July 8, 2008 Karen Coughlin, a psychiatric nurse in Taunton, Massachusetts, remembers the evening four years ago when her 14-year-old son asked her if any patients had tried to kill her that day. “I was astounded, but he was serious because he’d heard about co-workers going to the hospital for injuries,” Ms. Coughlin said. “I’ve been hit, I’ve been kicked and spit on. I’ve had a knife pulled on me. I love what I do and many of the patients I work with, but I don’t love the conditions I work in.” ... Nurses

Anne Zieger, FierceHealthcare, July 8, 2008 In recent times, nurses have begun to draw more attention to the often-dangerous conditions in which they work - though the going has been slow. There's no question that nurses face big risks: according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurses and other personal care workers suffer 25 injuries annually resulting in days off from work for every 10,000 full-time workers. That's 12 times the rate of the overall private sector. But often, they say, healthcare leaders don't take it seriously. ... Nurses

Gale Scott, Crain's New York Business, July 6, 2008 Nursing has long been a ladder up for minority women, but a new state study shows that in New York City, black nurses get paid less than their white counterparts. The Center for Health Workforce Studies at the State University of New York in Albany compared the salaries of nurses with similar experience and credentials and found that black nurses made less in almost all cases. For example, black nurses with 30 or more years of experience earned an average annual salary of about $81,000, while white nurses with the same experience earned an average of almost $90,000 - 11% more. ... Black

They Want A Fair Deal. Steven Greenhouse, TPMCafé, July 1, 2008 Soccer moms step aside. In this year's campaign working-class voters have elbowed you aside as the demographic group that candidates covet most. As Barack Obama and John McCain seek to outmaneuver each other in wooing John and Jane Punchclock, the question that leaps to the fore is, what do working-class voters want? Some answers to that question became clear to me when I was interviewing hundreds of workers for my new book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. In many ways, working-class voters want what Harry Truman was promising: A Fair Deal, or at least a Fairer Deal. ... What

Mark Brenner, Labor Notes, July 2008 Carrying a message of union democracy, reformers left their mark on the 2008 Service Employees (SEIU) convention, which took place May 30 to June 4 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Opposition to SEIU top leaders’ plans to dramatically restructure the union coalesced around the newly formed caucus SEIU Members for Reform Today (SMART) and the large bloc of delegates from United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW), the 140,000-member California local at odds with the International since February. ... SEIU

David Cohen, Labor Notes, July 2008 The question of raiding - one union convincing members of another union to decertify and join the competitor - has been a hot-button issue once more this year in the labor movement. In one of the largest flash points, the California Nurses Association and the Service Employees have been trading blows over an escalating series of raids conducted by both sides. Much of this recent raiding is done in the name of building “union density,” which is narrowly described as all the union members in a profession or industry belonging to the same union, and perhaps the same union local. ... Raiding