PrintGOVERNORS REPEAL BARGAINING RIGHTS
Retraction of state employee collective bargaining rights was the first order of business for newly inaugurated Republican governors in Indiana and Missouri.
In Indiana, Gov. Mitch Daniels rescinded collective bargaining rights and contracts for 23,000 state employees, including 14,000 workers represented by the Unity Team, a joint local of AFT Public Employees and the United Auto Workers. Missouri’s new Republican Gov. Matt Blunt also repealed his predecessor’s executive order granting bargaining rights to state employees. About 9,000 state employees are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union in the state.
Indiana state employees gained collective bargaining rights in 1989 through an executive order signed by Gov. Evan Bayh. Every governor since has honored that order, which permitted state employees to negotiate pay, benefits and work rules.
AFL-CIO president John Sweeney said the actions in Indiana and Missouri are not limited to those two states and just to state employees. The actions “echo a message coming from the White House down to men and women on the frontlines of our struggles against poverty, disease, crime and terrorism all across our country: We expect first-class devotion, service and sacrifice, but we will treat you like second-class citizens.” Sweeney pledged that the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions “will redouble our efforts to guarantee all workers in our country the fundamental freedom to join and form unions to improve their lives.”
NEW LOCAL PRESIDENTS ELECTED IN DADE AND D.C.
Participation was high in the widely watched United Teachers of Dade (UTD) runoff election, and results announced in early December show that high school teacher Karen Aronowitz will take the helm as president of the AFT-affiliated local in Florida.Aronowitz, an English teacher at Miami Southridge Senior High School, received more than 52 percent of the vote in the two-person presidential runoff. Turnout was heavy, with 60 percent of eligible voters casting ballots.
The election was seen as a major step in restoring health and faithful governance to the local. The AFT discovered the theft or misappropriation of at least $3 million by former president Pat Tornillo, who is currently serving a prison sentence for the crimes, and in 2003 placed UTD in receivership. A new UTD constitution and bylaws were adopted in the wake of the scandal, and more than 3,000 members have been signed up. The AFT administratorship will end on April 30.
Meanwhile, members of the Washington Teachers Union (WTU) also elected a new leader, narrowly choosing junior high school teacher George Parker as president in a January runoff. As in Dade, the WTU election will bring to a close the AFT’s two-year administratorship of the local, which was also dealing with problems related to misappropriation of union funds by several former officers and staff. In October, union members approved amendments to the local’s constitution to improve its operating and oversight functions and to be in compliance with the national AFT constitution. Parker and his winning slate will serve through June 2007.
AFT HOSTS BRIEFING ON SCHOOL WELLNESS
when the federal child nutrition law—which includes the school lunch program—was reauthorized last year, a new mandate was included that requires districts to develop a local wellness policy by July 2006. In January, the AFT hosted a briefing for congressional staff, federal officials, child nutrition advocates and others to discuss the new policy.
The law says that, minimally, local wellness policies should include goals for nutrition education; physical activity and nutrition guidelines for all foods available on each campus; a plan for measuring implementation of the wellness program; and a plan to involve parents, students, representatives of the school food authority, the school board, school administrators and the public in developing the school wellness program.
“We really can transform the ways kids eat at school,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who was a strong advocate for the wellness policy and spoke at the briefing. “Poor eating habits learned early in life follow you through life.”
School districts should begin developing their policies this year because the end product will have to go through the formal process used by the district for policy development. This is a great way for PSRP unions and their food service members to take the lead on an important issue. More information on the new policy is available at www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Healthy/wellnesspolicy.html.
