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Carpenters
Unions Passes Child Care Resolution
United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America passed a resolution
on child care at their 38th General Convention in August 2000. It resolved
that: Union affiliates become active in their communities to help secure
and locate funding for affordable, high quality childcare that is available
during working hours; and work with employers to encourage flexibility
to meet the needs of working parents. In addition, the International Union
will serve as a clearinghouse to disseminate news and information about
efforts of local unions and other labor organizations to meet the childcare
needs of our members.
(United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America)
Nurses Limit Mandatory Overtime
California Nurses Association (CNA) and the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) successfully negotiated drastic limits on mandatory overtime. CNA negotiated no mandatory overtime in many of their contracts with exceptions for government declared emergencies. MNA won limits by utilizing volunteers from on or off the unit and if necessary, no nurse will work more than 12 consecutive hours. Nurses may refuse overtime for fatigue or illness. (CNA, MNA and various employers)
More Work/Family Benefits for CWA and Verizon
Communication Workers of America won a number of work/family provisions in their recent contract with Verizon:
- Dependent Care Fund: In the Northern Region, it was increased to
$1.65 million a year for 3 years (a 10% increase). (It also includes
IBEW Local 2213.) In the Southern Region, it was increased to $1.6 million
a year. The Fund covers reimbursement for dependent care for employees
with household incomes up to $50,000. It also sponsors Kids in the Workplace
programs at 30 sites (care during school holidays) and other programs.
- Adoption Assistance: Increased from $5000 to $10,000.
- Job Sharing: CWA 1400 in the Commercial Division negotiated a job
sharing clause with no loss of full time jobs.
- Fertility Treatments: The employer will cover "advanced reproductive
technologies and fertility treatments" for an employee, covered
spouse or domestic partner, up to $10,000 a year, with a $20,000 lifetime
maximum.
- Gradual Return to Work: Employees may work a reduced schedule for
up to 12 months after having a baby, returning to the same status as
before the leave. This was negotiated in the Southern Region (it already
existed in Northern Region).
(CWA
and Verizon Communications - see Fall 2000 newsletter for limits on mandatory
overtime)
People in Action
UAW, Ford Motor Co, and Visteon (formerly part of Ford) are developing Family Service and Learning Centers, negotiated in 1999 under the union theme "Bargaining for Families". The Centers recall the unions of the 1930's when the union was a hub of social and family support activities. The Centers will offer a wide range of programs for workers and with a strong emphasis on multi-generational programs as well as links to the larger community.
The Centers will offer a range of services, programs and resources to all Ford and Visteon workers, (UAW represented and non-represented) families and retirees. Programs and services include:
Family
Education and Services:
Family services, adult education, teen programs and health and wellness.
Classes may include parenting, home repair, financial planning as well
as before and after school programs, fitness and weight loss programs,
summer and holiday camps and intergenerational activities.
Early
Childhood Education Services:
By September 2003, 13 on site child care centers will be developed where
there are large concentrations of workers - Detroit metro area, Cleveland,
Chicago, Louisville, and Kansas City. The centers will be open 24 hours,
seven days and include back up care, and care for mildly ill children.
The Centers will also develop networks of community child care, including
family child care homes. They will provide training to improve quality
and accessibility of child care in the community.
Community
Service Education and Outreach:
A major component of the Centers will be a Volunteer Support Network to
support volunteer activities and provide volunteer training and coordination.
The program will link community groups with volunteers to do mentoring,
tutoring, support for shut-ins and other community work.
Some level of programs will be offered at every Ford/UAW and Visteon/UAW
location but will vary depending on needs. Other communities served, besides
the cities listed aboveinclude: Cleveland, Indianapolis, St Louis, Minneapolis/St.
Paul, Atlanta, Tulsa, Nashville, Buffalo, Norfolk, Edison, NJ, and Sharonville,
Lima, Sandusdy, Batavia and Maumee, Ohio, Monroe, MI, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Tetersboro, NJ and Dallas.
For more information, check out the website at: www.familycenteronline.org
Unions Respond to Shiftwork
For
better or for worse, the United States has embraced the 24-hour economy.
The move toward non-standard shifts, covering both nights and weekends
has forced families to juggle work and family responsibilities twenty-four
hours a day/seven days a week. With more than 42% of shift work found
in the service sector where lower-paid jobs prevail, finding a work/ family
balance is an increasingly stressful challenge.
For workers covered by a union contract, the shift change is often accompanied
by hard won benefits which can make the change a little easier on the
employee. Unorganized workers, however, are not so well protected from
the changing demands of management.
In her article "Non-standard Work Schedules and Marital Instability," Harriet Presser shows how the stress of working non-standard hours can increase marriage instability. Her figures also illustrate how widespread non-standard work hours have become:
- Approximately
one in six employees are shift workers
- Among 2-earner couples, one in four has at least one shift worker
- Approximately one in three employed Americans works weekends
Presser
found that night and rotating shifts increased marital instability for
families with children. Men with children working nights, married less
than five years, were six times more likely to divorce than men working
days. For women with children, the likelihood of marital failure was three
times more likely. Presser noted that the effect on marriages without
children was negligible which gives the impression that the added burden
of child care responsibilities increases the stress within the home.
For the most part, Presser states, employees do not choose to work non-standard
hours but do so as a result of employer demand, an idea echoed in "Not
Just 9 to 5: The Problems of Nonstandard Working Hours", an article
in Working USA by Peggy Kahn and Linda Blum. Looking at non-standard hours
in the service sector Kahn and Blum found that a unionized workforce did
have certain advantages over their nonunion counterparts. Although management
can still change the work schedule in a union setting, it is constrained
by the terms of the bargaining contract. For example, contracts may require
that workers have regular schedules and consistent start and finish times
for a certain period of time. Contracts can also contain language that
requires a notice period of any changes to a work schedule. In contrast,
Kahn and Blum found that workers in nonunion settings were often subject
to working irregular and unpredictable hours, sometimes not knowing shift
hours until one week before which can greatly increase employee stress.
Endicott Microelectronics is an IBM subsidiary with a non-union workforce.
In October, it introduced mandatory 12-hour shifts for the 500 workers
employed there. The shifts include weekends and holidays as scheduled
workdays. Since its introduction, workers have reported high levels of
fatigue and stress in trying to balance work with family responsibilities.
Organized workers have fared much better than their non-union counterparts.
Unions have successfully negotiated contract language securing certain
benefits for members who have to work such shifts. This year, IBEW Local
1060 successfully won "non-traditional shift" contract language
that gives members who work weekends, doing preventative maintenance,
40 hours of pay for 36 hours of work. For six years, Thomas Industries
has pushed the idea of a workweek that included weekends. The union was
adamant that the long-term employees who made up the maintenance department
were not going to be forced to work weekends. In April the union negotiated
the new shift. "During this period machines were breaking down regularly
and we definitely needed regular preventative maintenance work,"
Pam Darling, President/ Business Manager of IBEW Local 1060 explained.
"We knew the Company was desperate for a weekend shift of some kind,
as workers had been subject to at least five hours of mandatory overtime
every Saturday for a while. So we proposed the nontraditional shift and
the Company jumped on it." Employees on this schedule work 12-hour
days Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and are protected from mandatory overtime.
Voluntary overtime on Monday is at time and a half, Tuesday overtime is
compensated at double time.
Working this non-traditional shift is a voluntary decision, "Our
maintenance staff are long-term employees; some have been here for 20
years. The Union made it clear that the weekend shift would not be forced
on any current employees but should be filled from the outside."
Recognizing that some employees had come to rely on the weekend overtime,
and since there was enough weekend work available, the union included
language for five hours of voluntary overtime on Saturdays for those wanting
it.
Moving to a non-traditional shift means a change not just for the employee
at work but also at home where family responsibilities are rearranged
to meet the new schedule. IBEW Local 1060 was able to find a solution
to management demands for a weekend shift while successfully protecting
the existing work hours of current employees.
With non-traditional hours now firmly established in the U.S. workplace,
we are able to see its effects as families struggle to meet the new time
demands at work and still maintain a family life. The change in work hours
is not usually an individual choice but, for the most part, an employer
demand. In reaction, unions have bargained for benefits such as higher
pay differentials and less work hours for members who are required to
work the nontraditional shifts, limits on mandatory overtime and the ability
to swap shifts. Unorganized workers are left to the mercy of the employer
and the demands to be competitive in the new 24-hour economy.
RESOURCES
Pocket Guide to the Family and Medical Leave Acts. Produced by the California Public Employees Program. A clear, concise reference for employees, union officials and labor relations managers, it covers the FMLA as well as the California Family Rights Act. Specifically written for the public sector, it covers eligibility, calculating leave, record keeping and notice requirements. Cost: $8.00 plus shipping and handling. Lower rates for bulk orders. To order, contact: jorders@ucpress.ucop.edu. Online orders: www.ucpress.edu/journals/
What Unions Can Do: Domestic Violence. Produced by the Family Violence Prevention Fund and AFSMCE and adapted from "The Workplace Responds to Domestic Violence: A Resource Guide for Employers, Unions and Advocates". Covers domestic violence as a union issue, union training, workplace safety plans and collective bargaining language. To order the complete guide or for more information, contact the Family Violence Prevention Fund at (415) 252-8900.
Status
of Women in the States. The Institute for Women's Policy Research
has released the third edition of a series of reports that examine the
status of women across the nation. They rank each state relative to its
region and the nation as a whole for women's political, economic, social,
and health status. To order your state's report or a national overview,
contact IWPR at (202) 785-5100 or the website at www.iwpr.org.
Labor Family News is published quarterly by:
Labor Project for Working Families
2521 Channing Way #5555
Berkeley, CA 94720
Ph: 510-643-7088
Fax: 510-642-6432
lpwf@berkeley.edu
www.working-families.org
Netsy Firestein
Editor
Jenya Cassidy
Managing Editor
Reprints Permitted With Acknowledgement. Call
us for an email version.
