Labor Updates (5/14/08)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Hundreds of MontCo Workers Protest Rollbacks of Pay
Raises: Over 300 county workers “packed a [Montgomery] County
Council hearing room” to protest attempts by Councilmembers Phil Andrews and
Duchy Trachtenberg to revoke promised pay increases for thousands of County
workers, reported C. Benjamin Ford in Friday’s
Gazette. “The suggestion that county workers should volunteer to pare down
contractually established pay increases not only ignores the financial realities
of living and working in one of the most expensive areas in the country, it also
undermines the collective bargaining process,” said MCGEO/UFCW Local 1994
President Gino Renne in a letter to the editor in Saturday’s
Washington Post. The dispute comes as labor’s influence continues to grow
in the County. “Over the past two decades, the influence of the unions
representing public employees in the county has grown dramatically,” reported
Ann E. Marimow in Sunday’s
Washington Post. Government officials “say Montgomery's bargaining system
-- along with labor's political clout -- gives workers as strong a voice, if not
stronger, than taxpayers in budget talks.” Still Time to Join CLUW
Team to Beat Cervical Cancer: This Friday is the deadline to sign
up for the Coalition of Labor Union Women team for this year’s “Walk to Beat
the Clock” against cervical cancer on Saturday, May 17. “Although [it] is
too late to be counted for the grant, [union members] can still sign up online
until 5P on Friday, May 16,” reports Carolyn Jacobson of CLUW. Members of any
union, including men, can join the CLUW team. Click
here to register.