AGITATE! EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!

AGITATE! EDUCATE! ORGANIZE! American Labor Posters
Lincoln Cushing; Timothy W. Drescher

An ILR Press Book

$24.95t paper
2009, 216 pages, 8 1/8 x 10 1/2, 268 color photographs
ISBN: 978-0-8014-7427-9.
In Agitate! Educate! Organize!, Lincoln Cushing and Timothy W. Drescher share their vast knowledge about the rich graphic tradition of labor posters. Lavish full-color reproductions of more than 250 of the best posters that have emerged from the American labor movement ensure that readers will want to return again and again to this visually fascinating treasury of little-known images from the American past. Some of the posters were issued by government programs and campaigns; some were devised by unions as recruiting tools or strike announcements; others were generated by grassroots organizations focused on a particular issue or group of workers-all reveal much about the diverse experiences of working people in the United States.

See review by Michael McGrorty.

Workers Memorial Day-April 28

Each year, thousands of workers are killed and millions more are injured or diseased because of their jobs. The unions of the AFL-CIO remember these workers on April 28, Workers Memorial Day.

The first Workers Memorial Day was observed in 1989. April 28 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the day of a similar remembrance in Canada. Every year, people in hundreds of communities and at worksites recognize workers who have been killed or injured on the job. Trade unionists around the world now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning.

Paycheck Fairness Act Call from Michele Leber

Paycheck Fairness Act Call from Michele Leber

Indianapolis librarians use patience to win union battle - 04/20/09

Indianapolis librarians use patience to win union battle - 04/20/09

UC System Restarts Salary Talks With Librarians

"The message is that libraries and librarians need to be a much higher priority for UC management."

The Daily Californian Online
UC System Restarts Salary Talks With Librarians
By Robert Gandapermana
Monday, April 20, 2009

The university met with a union representing about 400 UC librarians on Friday to negotiate salary and professional development funding.

The meeting was the second mediated session since an impasse was declared in February, after salary negotiations between the American Federation of Teachers and the university resumed last November.

The two parties have not come to an agreement, and negotiations will continue, said Howard Pripas, UC director of labor relations.

"What we've been trying to do with the librarians is to try to help them on the lower end of the salary scale," he said, referring to agreements ratified last April that included equity increases for lower-paid librarians.

But Michelle Squitieri, a local representative of the union, said since November the university has offered a 1 percent increase in professional development funding, with no increase in salary.

Squitieri said UC librarians want equal pay with librarians in the California State University system, but have proposed a slightly lower salary scale in negotiations.

"The reality is that UC librarians make on average about 17 percent less than Cal State librarians, who are in the same type of work," said Harrison Dekker, local president of the union.

At present, salaries for librarians in the UC system are between $55,000 and $120,000, according to union officials. Pripas said librarians in the CSU system are not appropriate for comparison, and steps have been made toward pay equity.

Squitieri said UC librarians have launched a statewide campaign to raise awareness for their cause.

"The message is that libraries and librarians need to be a much higher priority for UC management," she said.

Pripas said that the university is trying to appropriately compensate all employees, including unionized workers under AFSCME Local 3299, which reached an agreement in January.

Lillian Castillo-Speed, head librarian of the UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Library, said the university's actions have helped galvanize the union's efforts.

"Our bargaining team was told we were not a priority," she said. "They're saying if they have money to spend they're not gonna spend it on librarians."
Tags: librarians, contract negotiations


Article Link: http://www.dailycal.org/article/105336

High Road or Low Road? Job Quality in the New Green Economy

In "What if Green Jobs Don't Pay," by
Brady Yauch in the 4/19/20 Washington Post


The green jobs initiative gets even stickier when it comes to unions -- a major supporter of the Obama administration and his fellow Democrats. The Good Jobs First report noted that few workers at wind and solar jobs were backed by collective bargaining agreements. And in at least two cases, the company leaders were found to have run aggressive anti-union campaigns, aided by union-busting consultants.

As lawmakers and business leaders across the country battle over the Employee Free Choice Act (which would make it easier to unionize workplaces), that fight is likely to get heated. But as money from the stimulus plans starts to make its way to the coffers of green companies, the importance of the union in the nation's manufacturing heartland will flare up once again.

See: High Road or Low Road? Job Quality in the New Green Economy
by Philip Mattera et al. (February 2009)

As the federal government prepares to spend billions of dollars promoting the creation of green jobs as part of the huge economy recovery bill, this report warns that the jobs already being created in climate-friendly sectors of the economy do not always measure up in terms of wages and other terms of employment. The report was commissioned by Change to Win, the Sierra Club, and the Teamsters and Laborers unions.

Archie Green Called to Labor. Librarian, Laborlorist

Julie Ardery writes in Daily Yonder:

Archie Green was a scholar of what he called “laborlore” – the expressive culture of working people. For five decades he studied hillbilly music and pile-drivers’ tales. He made inventories of “tin men” – the showpieces of sheet metal workers -- and analyzed sailors’ slang. He recorded songs by millworkers and miners’ wives. Working on until just months before his death, he wrote countless articles, both academic and popular, and five books, including Only a Miner, his landmark study of coal-mining music...

Archie studied library science at University of Illinois (training that shows throughout his immense, impeccable archives, now at the University of North Carolina). At University of Pennsylvania, he earned a folklore degree, writing the dissertation that would become Only a Miner.

He lobbied hard and successfully for the creation of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.In 2007, the Library honored him as a “Living Legend.”

See: Fund for Labor Culture and History

[Thanks to Sanford Berman}.

Suffolk County Riverhead Library Association is Organized by New York State United Teachers

Thousands join NYSUT family
By Bernie Mulligan - New York Teacher - April 17, 2009.

Article features 17 new local unions or bargaining units that now have a stronger voice on the job as members of New York State United Teachers. Noted: In Suffolk County, NYSUT recently organized the Riverhead Library Association work force.

Women's Labor History Timeline

Women's Labor History Timeline: 1765 - Present Day
New York Teacher - March 3, 2009.

[Thanks to Sanford Berman].

Labor Films and Festivals

Labor Films and Labor Film Festivals.

Labor Film Database.

Labor Film Festivals Database.

[Thanks to Sanford Berman and Steve Fesenmaier].

Can My Boss Do That?

Can My Boss Do That?
Kari Lydersen writes: "The user-friendly site covers a comprehensive range of the most common workplace related legal terms and situations, providing explanations and answers in clear and concise terminology that breaks down nuances without overwhelming the already-stressed out worker with too much text or extra detail."

Can My Boss Do That?

[Thanks to Sanford Berman].

Bargaining Unit 21 [CA] votes to whether to dump SEIU

The state sent ballots Wednesday to about 600 librarians and educational consultants that make up tiny Bargaining Unit 21. They will decide whether to stick with Service Employees International Union Local 1000, switch to a newly formed union or go with no representation at all.

(State government deals with 21 union-represented bargaining units when negotiating contracts. SEIU now represents nine, including Bargaining Unit 21.)

The Association of Education Consultants and Librarians, which hopes to take over for SEIU, pushed for the vote.

AFSCME MEMBERS MAKE LIBRARIES HAPPEN

The banner that is now hanging on the front window of AFSCME's DC office is on the AFSCME website. It says "AFSCME Library Workers Make America Happen" and notes that National Library Worker Day is April 14th.

Celebrating Frances Perkins and Her Commitment to Social Justice

Launch celebration in Washington, D.C. for the new Frances Perkins Center, based at her family homestead in Newcastle, Maine:Celebrating Frances Perkins and Her Commitment to Social Justice

Frances Perkins Center: Honoring and Learning from the First Woman Appointed to a U.S. Cabinet.

Today, as in 1933, the nation faces serious economic uncertainty. As we struggle to find new answers, we look to the example of Frances Perkins, labor secretary during Franklin Roosevelt’s administration, for inspiration.

Perkins is best known for creating much of the social safety net that protects the elderly, young and those experiencing hard times. She is credited with creating Social Security, unemployment insurance and the system that became Aid to Dependent Children.

Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor March 4, 1933 to June 30, 1945, was appointed by Roosevelt; was the first woman Cabinet member. Led the battle against the Great Depression: the Wagner-Peyser Act revitalized the U.S. Employment Service, the Fair Labor Standards Act set a floor under wages and a ceiling over hours, the Wagner Act protected workers' right to organize. She established the Labor Standards Bureau. Through effective relationships with the state governments, she strengthened labor law enforcement by the states. She was also the principal architect of the Social Security Act.

New book by Kirstin Downey, The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience,

Department of Labor Headquarters named after Frances Perkins in 1980. Inducted into the Labor Hall of Fame in 1988.

Discuss Union Books

A group for readers and writers of labour books.


LabourStart has launched a group on UnionBook (the social networking website for trade unionists) to discuss union books. If you've read a book other trade unionists should know about, tell them there. If you're an author and have written a book specifically aimed at trade unionists, go there to talk it up. If you think there's a book
that should be LabourStart's book of the week, use the tools in this group to let us know.

UNIONBOOK-
Where trade unionists get together to talk about books other trade unionists should be reading. See LabourStart's book of the week feature on its home page. Suggest books here that we should be promoting. Authors - tell us about your books. Readers - tell us about books you've read.

You need to be signed in to UnionBook to do this.)

*Book of the Week*-for Labor and Unionists

LabourStart

From Eric Lee at Labour Start:
I think there's never been a more important time for trade unionists to
read books. And not just any books -- I'm talking about books that will
help us do a better job as trade unionists and as activists.

Over the years, LabourStart has teamed up with unionized booksellers,
publishers and authors to help bring some of these books to the
attention of union members.

See new *Book of the Week* feature on LabourStart's home page.
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Teen Room at South Portland Library [Maine ] Emptied of Books; Teen Position Eliminated - AFSCME Will Respond

The city has been locked in a contract dispute with library workers, who voted three years ago to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Tom Werley, the children's librarian and union president, said this week that AFSCME is preparing a response to the layoffs but declined to comment further.

After the South Portland Library [ME] closed on Saturday, March 14, and staff went home, the locked teen resource room was emptied of books. When the library re-opened the following Monday, employees discovered the books for teens had been moved upstairs to the adult library.

They have yet to find out who moved the books and why the transfer was done in secrecy.

The mysterious after-hours transfer of the teen books followed the abrupt closing of the popular Young Adult Room and the layoffs of library clerk Monica Dubay and Reta Nappi, the librarian who managed the teen room. Although the two women had a total of 40 years working for the city, the library's directors have yet to meet with staff to explain the cutbacks or how operations should proceed.