Yale workers ratify contracts, return to work

By Shinzong Lee

Sept. 19— Union members nearly unanimously ratified eight-year contracts Friday afternoon, officially ending a three-week strike and one of Yale’s most protracted labor disputes.

Members of locals 34 and 35, the clerical, technical, service and maintenance workers’ unions, will return to work Sunday and Monday. About half the members of each union voted on the packages at membership meetings Friday, where they nearly unanimously approved the contracts and expressed relief at the settlement. Local 35 members voted 535-11 for the deal, while Local 34 members approved the contract 765-10.

The eight-year contracts — the longest in Yale’s history — were tentatively settled Thursday after 19 months of bargaining. The previous contracts expired in January 2002, though they were extended monthly until last March. Workers have not received raises since February 2001.

Union members, who chanted “V-I-C-T-O-R-Y” as they walked into their respective membership meetings, said they were pleased with the new contracts.

The contracts, which will expire in January 2010, will address both the University’s call for a lengthier contract term and the unions’ demand for better pensions.

The agreement nearly doubles monthly pensions by raising the typical pension multiplier from about 1.08 to 1.48. The pension multiplier, which takes into account years of service and salary at retirement age, will be 1.5 on the first $30,000 of final salary, 1.4 on the next $25,000 and 1.3 on salary above $55,000.

Workers will also receive across-the-board raises by January 2009 that will total 43.6 percent for Local 34 and 32.3 percent for Local 35.

Under the accord, union members will earn retroactive pay equal to two-thirds of the amounts due to them, with a minimum payment of $1,500. The average retroactive compensation will add up to over $2,500.

Yale officials said they were optimistic that the two sides could work towards a better relationship over the next eight years.

Yale’s chief negotiator, Brian Tunney, the University’s director of labor relations, said the contracts mark the first time that Yale and union negotiators have worked out a plan that will take specific steps to improve the two sides’ tumultuous relationship. The University will provide $200,000 to begin a program that addresses best practices.

“We got a framework where, if both sides apply themselves, we can actually accomplish something,” Tunney said.

Local 35 President Bob Proto agreed.

“If we do the work in this contract, we can avoid a repeated cycle of banging our heads against each other,” Proto said.

As union members return to work, Yale administrators are preparing to help union members and students adjust.

Interim Associate Vice President for Administration Janet Lindner said University officials will hold discussions with managerial and professional staff members on how to welcome back workers. She said the administration will also work with union leadership to help union members settle back into their jobs.

But some Local 34 members who went on strike said they anticipated some awkwardness when returning to work, since a large portion of the union — 65 percent by University estimates; 40 percent according to the unions — did not strike.

Elizabeth Johnson, who works at Sterling Memorial Library, said some union members are resentful that workers who went to their jobs during the strike will receive the same contract benefits as those who participated in the walkout.

“There’s a lot of anger,” Johnson said. “If we got this good a contract with one-third to one-half of the people out, we could’ve maybe done better or had a shorter strike.”

With contracts settled, leaders for locals 34 and 35 said they will turn their attention to helping 150 dietary workers at Yale-New Haven Hospital, who are also on strike and still do not have contracts.

Source: Yale Daily News

Norwegian farmers face boycott over ‘slave wages’

Sept. 22— Three major grocery store chains are threatening to boycott Norwegian farmers who pay “slave wages” to seasonal workers, most of whom come from eastern Europe. Some farmers have been caught paying workers as little as $10 for a 13-hour workday.

Norway’s farmers rank among the best-paid in the world, largely because they are heavily subsidized and able to charge high prices for their goods because of government policies that protect the country’s agricultural industry.

Norwegian consumers have long been accustomed to paying $2 for a small bunch of parsley, or $3 a pound for tomatoes, but that hasn’t stopped some farmers from allegedly abusing the system. Last summer, a farmer on Notteroey south of Oslo was caught cheating snow-pea pickers. Now a major farmer in Toten is in trouble, too.

Newspaper Aftenposten reported over the weekend that Magne Kristian Dyste, who runs vegetable producer Lundstad Groent along with two of his sons, has paid some seasonal laborers from Lithuania and Ukraine as little as $10 for a 12 to 13-hour workday.

Dyste also has been charged with housing the workers in substandard barracks, where nearly 30 workers have been forced to share one toilet and two showers.

Dyste, who is supposed to pay workers a minimum of $11 per hour, blames the workers themselves, calling them “lazy” and “unreliable.” He says they haven’t met quotas for bunching carrots, for example, because they’ve spent too much time smoking or talking among themselves.

The workers charge that both conditions on the farm and the quality of the vegetables are poor. They claim it isn’t possible to bunch enough carrots, for example, because many of those harvested aren’t useable.

The controversy has alarmed retailers that belong to a group dedicated to ethical trade. They claim they won’t buy products from farmers who don’t pay the required hourly minimum to workers.

Labor officials, meanwhile, are so alarmed that they’re threatening to report non-compliant farmers to the police. The farmers are allowed to hire foreign workers because there’s a shortage of Norwegians willing to work in the fields.

Source: Aftenposten

Philippine university workers go on strike

By Ronilo Ladrido Pamonag

Philippines, Sept. 20— Classes at the University of San Agustin (USA) were stopped Friday after members of the USA Employees Union staged a strike to push for their share in the tuition hike. Flaviano Manalo, spokesperson for the 600-strong Union, said the strike, said to be the first ever in USA’s history, commenced at around 7:40am.

But at around 9am, a cease-and-desist order (CDO) was issued to them. None of the union members, however, acknowledged receipt of the order. Almost immediately, they hung streamers and posters at the school’s main entrance stating their demands. An estimated 100 union members were seen at the strike zone just outside the main gate.

As of 5pm Friday, already close to 200 members were gathered in the strike zone.

“We have no option left. They [[administration] pushed us into this,” Manalo said.

But Carlos Labrador, OIC of the university student council, said their teachers should immediately report back to their classes. Their right to quality education, he said, is being affected by the work stoppage and the deadlock in the negotiations for the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

“We are being deprived of our right to education,” he said, adding that they are paying costly tuition for an Augustinian education.

A check by reporters shows that all of the classrooms in the campus were empty Friday.

Labrador said they advise the union and the administration to enter anew into negotiations to stop the strike.

But the students remain neutral, he said. “We take no sides for now.”

Reacting to the students’ demand, Manalo said, “They should ask the administration. They are not paying directly to us, they are paying to the administration.”

He added that students should ask, “Where are our teachers? Why are they outside when we are paying our tuition?”

Moreover, Manalo said they have a right to hold a strike.

Despite the order issued by Labor Secretary Patricia St. Tomas, the union members continued with their protest.

“It’s as if we have received no order. It was not even served to us, they just posted it on the gate,” Manalo said.

Fr. Bong. Delariarte, administration spokesman, told reporters that whether or not the union members go back to work is their option.

The union members are answerable to the Department of Labor, not to us, he said.

But he revealed that they are looking into hiring substitute teachers, preferably from other Augustinian schools.

Jigger Latoza, executive assistant to the president, said, “Of course, we can demand that they go back to work. But that is their prerogative. If they will not work, there will be no pay.”

Latoza explained that the problem lies on where the union’s share in the tuition increase will be channeled.

The union wants their share to be included in their benefits. Manalo explained that they will be able to enjoy the increase if it is incorporated in their benefits because it is not subject to income tax.

The administration, on the other hand, wants the increases to be added to their salaries.

“That is a deliberate attempt to evade taxes,” Latoza said on the union’s proposal.

USA is one of the biggest educational institutions in the region. It has about 10,000 students.

Source: Sunstar.com