Worker Solidarity Action Network

1 week ago

Eleven rail labor groups maintain their support for Norfolk Southern management
www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/eleven-rail-labor-groups-maintain-their-support-for-nor…
By Bill Stephens | April 26, 2024

An activist investor’s proxy fight has split the rank-and-file, with engineers and maintenance-of-way unions urging management change and the other unions pledging support for CEO Alan Shaw

Crew member walks across front of locomotive as another train passes on adjacent track.jpeg
After performing a roll-by inspection, a Norfolk Southern conductor boards his train at Besco, Pa. Chase Gunnoe
WASHINGTON — Well, you can bet there will be interesting discussions going on in Norfolk Southern locomotive cabs today.

Just hours after the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen reversed course and said it would back activist investor Ancora Holdings in its bid to oust Norfolk Southern management, the SMART-TD union that represents conductors said it continues to stand by NS CEO Alan Shaw.

And minutes after the conductors’ union issued its statement, the other 10 labor unions that represent NS workers chimed in and affirmed their support for current management.

But the proxy contest has created a split in the ranks. The BLET and Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, which announced its support for Ancora yesterday, represent 41.5% of Norfolk Southern’s unionized workforce, according to NS employment data. The other 11 unions represent 58.5% of the railroad’s craft workers, including conductors, shop workers, dispatchers, signal workers, clerks, and yardmasters.

“In our view, Ancora’s business plan to reduce Norfolk Southern’s operating ratio while improving safety and service is not only unrealistic but runs contrary to their stated intent,” the 11 unions said in a statement. “Railway labor unions, shippers and federal regulators have all warned that Ancora’s plans will jeopardize the safety and service improvements that Norfolk Southern has made since the 2023 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. We further believe that Ancora’s plans for increasing profits are nothing more than short-term cost-cutting to artificially lower the operating ratio – all at the expense of its customers, long-term investors and ultimately the U.S. economy. For these reasons alone, we believe that Ancora’s proposed strategy is not ‘fit for purpose,’ and we therefore urge shareholders not to support the Ancora director nominees.”

Ancora has proposed a majority slate for the board of directors and wants to name former UPS executive Jim Barber Jr. as CEO and former CSX operations boss Jamie Boychuk as chief operating officer. They would implement a full-blown implementation of the low-cost Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model and ultimately target a 57% operating ratio.

Shaw advocates an operational resilience strategy that balances service, productivity, and growth with safety at its core. The railroad relies on a Precision Scheduled Railroading operating plan, Shaw says, and aims for a sub-60% operating ratio. But Shaw’s plan would take a year longer to reach its operating ratio goals.

“CEO Alan Shaw and his management team have focused on creating a resilient carrier. They have made a conscious effort to diverge from the operating ratio-obsessed mentality that has degraded rail service and safety since 2017, and have made safety, employees, and customers their priority,” the union said in a statement.

“The recent announcements by the BMWED and BLET unions that they are willing to roll the dice with a group wanting to re-implement an operating mode that contributed to a national supply-chain crisis and puts safety and employee well-being at risk is puzzling,” SMART-TD said.

The unions backing NS include the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Rail Division; Transportation Communications Union; Brotherhood of Railway Carmen; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers; Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen; American Train Dispatchers Association; SMART-TD; SMART-Mechanical Mechanical; National Conference of Firemen & Oilers; and the Transport Workers Union.

The proxy contest is headed toward a May 9 shareholder vote at the railroad’s annual meeting. … See MoreSee Less

Eleven rail labor groups maintain their support for Norfolk Southern management – Trains

www.trains.com

WASHINGTON — Well, you can bet there will be interesting discussions going on in Norfolk Southern locomotive cabs today. Just hours after the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen reverse…

Worker Solidarity Action Network

4 weeks ago

The Crisis In Heatlhcare & Nursing. NNU & The Shift Change Slate
soundcloud.com/workweek-radio/ww-4-17-24-the-crisis-in-heatlhcare-nursing-the-shift-change-slate
The ongoing and deepening crisis in healthcare and the effect on nurses is address by a National Nurses United Shift Change slate.
They discuss the use of traveling nurses and massive monopolization of the hospital industry and the failure to have a democratic process and union education so members can participate, debate and confront the challenges facing nurses and healthcare in the US.
This interview was done on 4/17/24
Additional Media:
NNU-CNA Sutter Alta Bates Hospital Nurses Fed Up & Strike Against Concession Contracts
youtu.be/TrwWdQOPxkQ
More Information:
Shift Change
www.shiftchangennu.org
Production of WorkWeek
soundcloud.com/workweek-radio … See MoreSee Less

Shift Change

www.shiftchangennu.org

Don’t forget, ballots go out to members April 5th, must be received in Oakland by May 17. Don’t forget, ballots go out to members April 5th, must be received in Oakland by May 17. SHIFT CHANGE Adv…

Worker Solidarity Action Network

4 weeks ago

S.F. reaches tentative deal with major unions, making a strike less likely
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/s-f-reaches-tentative-deal-with-unions-strike-19404726.php
By J.D. Morris
April 15, 2024
San Francisco library workers, union members and supporters hold a rally on April 9 outside the San Francisco Main Library calling for increased security at every branch.
San Francisco library workers, union members and supporters hold a rally on April 9 outside the San Francisco Main Library calling for increased security at every branch.
Jana Asenbrennerova/Special to the Chronicle
San Francisco has reached tentative labor contracts with several of its largest unions, reducing the chances of a widespread public-sector strike as the city tries to close a huge budget deficit during a mayoral election year.
Full details of the agreements were not immediately available, but SEIU Local 1021, San Francisco’s largest public-sector union, said its contract would establish a $25 per hour minimum wage for city workers, among other provisions. The lowest hourly pay rate for SEIU members is currently $20.25, according to the union.
Django Rampley, center, holds a sign from the back of a vintage San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798 engine as unions gather for a rally outside City Hall to kick off contract negotiations with the city on Jan. 17.
Django Rampley, center, holds a sign from the back of a vintage San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798 engine as unions gather for a rally outside City Hall to kick off contract negotiations with the city on Jan. 17.
Stephen Lam/The Chronicle
It’s too soon to tell how much the deal will cost the city or exactly how it will impact the upcoming budget negotiations, though officials said they’ve factored the labor talks into their financial projections. Mayor London Breed previously ordered her departments to plan for 10% spending cuts in the coming fiscal year.
The city is still negotiating with some unions, including those representing nurses and transit operators. But the tentative agreements with SEIU and some other unions cover more than 20,000 of San Francisco’s 36,600 employees, according to Breed’s office. Union members still need to ratify the contracts, and they must also be approved by the Board of Supervisors.
San Francisco unions have been threatening to strike this year as they push for raises and better working conditions. City workers haven’t gone on strike in decades, but provisions in the City Charter that forbade them from doing so were recently gutted by a state employment board.
While the city appealed that ruling, the possibility of a strike created a political headache for Breed, who is trying to close a projected $789.3 million two-year deficit just months before she hopes to defeat several challengers to win another term.
“Mayor Breed has been clear that a key component of San Francisco’s ability to deliver high quality and necessary services to the public involves investing in our workforce,” Breed spokesman Jeff Cretan said in an email Monday.
Cretan said city officials are “working closely” with the unions that don’t have agreements yet, hoping to promptly “bring discussions to amicable resolution.” He said the tentative contracts already agreed to will “help ensure the stability and continuity of city services” throughout their three-year terms. He also noted that the contract negotiations were included as part of the city’s budget planning process and promised that Breed will deliver a balanced budget to supervisors this summer.
Kristin Hardy, San Francisco regional vice president for SEIU 1021, said in a statement that the $25 minimum wage her union secured in the deal would “immediately help bring over 1,000 of the City’s lowest-paid employees out of poverty.” Hardy said the union also secured “new protections against contracting out in this agreement that we believe can start to disrupt this disturbing pattern of throwing taxpayer dollars to outside companies with little to no oversight.”
“We believe the agreement will help us protect and improve the public services S.F. needs as it rebuilds post-pandemic,” Hardy said in her statement.
But she said SEIU’s work isn’t finished yet, noting that the nurses and transit workers who don’t have tentative agreements with the city yet “face huge challenges around staffing and contracting out, among other issues.”
“We hope to reach agreements with the City for them, too, but all options up to and including a strike are still on the table until we do,” Hardy said.
Rudy Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer for the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council, said his members also don’t have a deal with the city yet, nor do plumbers, engineers and electricians — and a strike remains possible for them, too.
“We aren’t playing some game for fun,” Gonzalez said in a text message. “We are fighting for the city we love. Let’s hope it comes together.”
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, who’s running for mayor against Breed, said he thought “cooler heads prevailed” as leaders of the major unions and the mayor’s office negotiated.
“The leadership and the rank and file of San Francisco’s largest employee organizations care about the city’s financial position and are realistic about it, and I think that we dug as deep into our pockets as we reasonably could,” Peskin said. “It’s still gonna be a tough budget season, but I think we will make it work.”
Reach J.D. Morris: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com; X/Twitter: @thejdmorris … See MoreSee Less

S.F. reaches tentative deal with major unions, making a strike less likely

www.sfchronicle.com

S.F. reaches tentative deal with major unions, making a strike less likely as mayoral election looms

Worker Solidarity Action Network

4 weeks ago

Teamsters union, which led strike against Post-Gazette, accepts settlement and agrees to dissolve
www.wesa.fm/economy-business/2024-04-11/post-gazette-strike-teamsters-union-settlemnt-dissolve

90.5 WESA | By Oliver Morrison
Published April 11, 2024 at 12:50 PM EDT

Building that reads Pittsburgh Post-Gazette along the top
Katie Blackley

90.5 WESA
The settlement by Teamsters Local 211/205, which represents Post-Gazette truck drivers, has set off a firestorm among the four other unions who remain on strike, including the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh.
The local Teamsters union that has led a more than year-and-a-half-long strike against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has voted to accept payment and dissolve itself as part of a settlement with the parent company, Block Communications.

The settlement by Teamsters Local 211/205, which represents Post-Gazette truck drivers, has set off a firestorm among the four other unions who remain on strike, including the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. The Guild represents the editorial staff, including reporters and photographers, and was pressured to join the strike in support of the Teamsters and the two other newspaper production unions at risk of losing its own union charter.

"After 18 months on strike, standing on the picket lines all day and late into the nights with Teamster drivers represented by Local 211/205, it's extremely disappointing to see this unit fall for the company's divide and conquer strategy," said Zack Tanner, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh president, in a press release.

Tanner estimated that the new settlement agreement would decrease the total number of workers on strike at the Post-Gazette from between 80 and 90 to just over 60 members, including 31 active members from the Newspaper Guild.

Joe Barbano, a trustee and business agent for the local Teamsters 211/205, said his union was backed into a corner. The union’s membership had fallen from around 150 when the Post-Gazette was still publishing seven days a week (the Post-Gazette cut publication to five days in August 2018 and three days in fall 2019), to just 30 in 2022 when the union first went on strike. Barbano said only 23 members were left as of this week and a majority of them voted to accept a severance payment and dissolve itself.

“A majority of them said we would take some type of a settlement, we'll move on with our lives,” Barbano said. “And that's what we did.”

Barbano denied the accusation that the Teamsters had let down the Newspaper Guild, which voted to go on strike and support the Teamsters two weeks after Teamsters announced their strike in 2022. Barbano said it was the Guild’s membership that had undermined the strike.

“To be honest with you, the Guild, [around] 50% of their membership crossed the picket line,” Barbano said. “And they wrote for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and they were able to get a paper out because of that.”

Tanner said the members who did go on strike have been fully supportive. “I can say that personally on Teamster picket lines, I was bear-sprayed. Cops have physically dragged me around on the picket line,” he said. “There was a fight that a News Guild member broke up famously where a member had his jaw broken last year.”

Barbano said that there were rumors the Post-Gazette will cut its delivery schedule to one day a week. “We have no future if they cut another day of print, which they were hinting that they are,” he said. “We are out of business.”

The four unions still on strike chafed at how the local Teamsters negotiated a settlement on their own. “By selling out in secret, the Teamsters have not only damaged their own credibility but have also jeopardized the possibility of a fair settlement for all the unions involved,” said Mike Davis, the vice president of CWA District 2-13, one of the unions still on strike.

Barbano said that the local Teamsters union had presented the idea for this settlement about six months ago to the other unions but the other unions didn’t move on it, so the Teamsters decided to move forward on their own. The reason the Teamsters negotiated in secret from the other unions on strike was because that was a requirement made by the Post-Gazette, he said.

“The Post-Gazette wanted to keep it that way,” he said. “And in order for us to get a deal done, we needed to do that.”

Barbano said it was a local decision to settle but that his boss agreed. He didn’t share details of the amount each member would be paid but said it would be based on their years of service and would differ from member to member. The settlement agreement is not yet official, he said.

The Post-Gazette and Block Communications didn’t issue a press release. However, a business reporter for the Post-Gazette who chose not to go on strike with the majority of the Guild in 2022, wrote an article about the settlement, saying he received a statement from Post-Gazette management.

“The Post-Gazette and Teamsters Local Union 211/205 have amicably settled their strike, which began October 6, 2022,” the reporter wrote, saying it came from a Post-Gazette statement. “The parties ended the strike by executing a Labor Dispute Settlement Agreement. The Labor Dispute Settlement Agreement resolves, to the satisfaction of the Local Union and the Post-Gazette, substantially all strike-related issues and health care, including any outstanding National Labor Relations Board actions.”

Allison Latcheran, the director of marketing for the Post-Gazette, said the paper did not have any comment beyond what was published in the Post-Gazette story.

The Post-Gazette has hired replacement employees during the more than 18-month strike. Some local politicians, including Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, have chosen not to give interviews to the Post-Gazette until its labor dispute is resolved.

Tanner said the union membership was extremely disappointed by the Teamster’s decision but that they were positive they would reach a successful outcome to the strike.

“This is a fight for the workers and this is a fight for the community,” he said. “And we are in this, and I think we're going to see a win, a big win soon.” … See MoreSee Less

Teamsters union, which led strike against Post-Gazette, accepts settlement and agrees to dissolve

www.wesa.fm

The local Teamsters union has voted to accept payment and dissolve itself as part of a settlement with Post-Gazette parent company, Block Communications.