"Women of Steel" Meet in Pittsburgh

The United Steelworkers International Women's Conference is underway at the Convention Center through Wednesday. U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will address the group this afternoon. President Leo Gerard delivered the keynote address this morning.

Gerard says there's no doubt that electing Democrats is in the interest of ordinary working people. He says there was a bill in the Senate to give a tax break to companies that bring jobs back and to remove the tax incentive for moving jobs offshore--legislation he says would be good for the country and create jobs for Americans, yet not a single Republican voted for it. Gerard says Republicans want Obama to fail so they can win the presidency in 2012.

Saying labor has no better friend than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Gerard cited victorious votes in the House that she brought to the table, like a public option in the health care bill, the Employee Free Choice Act to simplify union organizing, funding for jobs, and extension of unemployment benefits.

Gerard says members of the local Chamber of Commerce in Erie support Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper, but the national Chamber of Commerce funds ads against her, saying she cost jobs and bailed out Wall Street, when in fact George W. Bush was in office for the Wall Street bailout and the Wall Street collapse.

Classes Resume in Allegheny Valley

94 teachers in the Allegheny Valley School District ended their 20 day strike and returned to the classrooms today. Under state law, the teachers had to go back to work today in order for the students to get the minimum 180 class days by June 15, 2011. The old contract expired June 30 of this year. District supervisors have been teaching seniors the last 10 days so they can graduate on time.
Now the school district and the teachers union enter into nonbinding arbitration and teachers cannot resume their strike during that period that could last 40 days. Union spokesman Butch Santicola of the Pennsylvania State Education Association says that could help....
"The positives are the inclusion of outside people to evaluate the situation. It's a positive but also a gamble because you don't know what the third party is going to determine."
Unless the nonbinding arbitration results in a contract, the teachers could strike again.

Negotiations Resume Despite Charges & Counter Charges

Giant Eagle has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Local 23 of the United Food and Commercial Workers. The company alleges that Local 23 is using "unlawful tactics" including entering stores and interfering with employees as they attempt to do their job. The company also says the union is withholding relevant documentation critical to contract talks. A spokesman says the company provides ample opportunity for the union to engage workers in stores but away from the sales floor. Earlier this week, the union filed chargers with the NLRB claiming the company uses intimidation tactics. The current contract for 6,000 workers in 36 Giant Eagle stores expires June 26. Contract talks resume today.

Union Files NLRB Charges Against Giant Eagle

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23 leaders filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board today against Giant Eagle today saying the company is intimidating workers and trampling on their right to free speech. Union local president Tony Helfer says the company has admitted that it is taping conversations between workers and union leaders, threatening them with firing if they wear union stickers on the job, and threatening workers who talk to other workers about union activity while on the job with disciplinary action. Helfer says he would have preferred to not file the charges while the company was still at the contract barging table but he felt the company had gone too far and the situation needed to be addressed. The current contract covering about 6,000 workers in 34 stores in western PA and two stores in WV expires June 26th. Helfer says talks are scheduled for both Thursday and Friday. He says pay and benefits are the top issues to be resolved. Helfer says the health insurance being offered by the company is unaffordable for recent hires. The pay scale has a top pay for employees hired after 2004 of $9.30 per hour. About half of the union members make that rate or less. Helfer says the company is pushing the burden of taking care of its workers onto the state through enrolment in food stamps and state assisted healthcare.

USW ALCOA Reach Deal

Pittsburgh based Alcoa says it has reached a tentative deal with the United Steelworkers on a new 4-year labor contract covering 5,400 workers at 10 manufacturing locations in the United States. Union members must still ratify the deal. “We are pleased to have a tentative agreement that is both fair to employees and addresses our cost concerns,” says Mick Wallis, president of Alcoa North American Rolled Products and chair of the Company’s Employee Relations Council. Contract talks began may 17th and strike votes had been taken at the plants. Wallis says, “We have spent the last two weeks working through some tough issues, and feel that this tentative agreement creates a future for good paying jobs at these plants. We hope for a successful outcome after the local unions have had the opportunity to talk to employees.” The previous contract expired last night but an extension kept the workers at their stations today. Union leadership has not commented on the deal. Members are expected to see the contract details soon.

Union Membership Slips in PA

The percentage of workers in Pennsylvania covered by a union contract dipped in 2009. The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 782,000 Pennsylvanians belonged to a union last year and that accounts for 15.0% of the workforce. That is down from 15.4 % in 2008. BLS Regional Commissioner Sheila Watkins says the number was nearly 21% in 1989 when the Bureau started to keep track and it slowly fell to a low of 13.6% in 2006. Watkins says while the percentage of union members has held stead the types of jobs they hold has changed. She says in recent years manufacturing and other heavy industry have continued to fall while service industry and education jobs that use union labor have increased. Pennsylvania’s union membership runs ahead of the national average of 12.3% but Watkins says the trends are the same.

USW Endorses Onorato for Governor

United Steelworkers have endorsed Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato for Pennsylvania governor. USW President Leo Gerard says he and Onorato see eye-to-eye, and says Onorato will invest in the future of manufacturing and labor. Gerard says “he’s a kid from the North Side, and he’s never forgotten that.”
Onorato says that those in labor are very important to him, and he says his endorsement from the USW will boost him in the governor’s race. He reflects on his six years as county executive, and looks to that work when seeing what he can do for the state in the future, not just the region.