By Doug Cunningham

Twenty thousand workers at ten University of California campuses and hospitals could strike as soon as June 4th. Many of the workers are in poverty and qualify for public assistance. The workers want better wages and benefits and they’ve been negotiating with UC for ten months. Lakesha Harrison is President of AFSCME Local 3299

[Harrison]: “This whole fight is not about resources, it's about priorities. UC has the money to do what's right by the workers and they refuse to do it. If UC really values the workers and the workforce and the patient care folks they need to pay a wage that'll help sustain that workforce and pay the wage that needs to be paid - which is at least 25 percent more than what they pay now."

By Doug Cunningham

AFSCME President Gerald McEntee says he will continue to push for an AFL-CIO endorsement of Senator Hillary Clinton for president in the wake of her big wins in Ohio and Texas. He says about 52 percent of the federation’s unions now back Clinton, but a two-thirds majority is needed.

[McEntee]: “That’s very difficult. It’s like pushing a rock up the side of a mountain.”

Despite denials from the Obama campaign and from Canadian officials, McEntee says there’s still serious concern in the labor movement over whether Obama’s economic advisor said one thing in private to Canadian officials about NAFTA while Obama’s campaign may have been saying something different to voters.

By Doug Cunningham

Hundreds of workers and their unions from a broad spectrum of public and private sectors rallied in Wisconsin’s capital Wednesday in support of adequate state funding of public services. Wisconsin is the only state in the nation without a new budget because Republicans are blocking any increases in public services. AFSCME’s Marty Beil says this budget battle transcends so-called partisan “bickering”.

[Beil]: “There's huge differences in terms of values between the Democratic view of continuing the values and what the future lies for Wisconsin and the Republicans and what they think the values ought to be. So it isn't mere bickering. It's not kids fightin' with each other. We're battling for the heart and soul of Wisconsin."

By Jesse Russell

The union representing home child care providers in Iowa is seeking health insurance for its 5,500 members. Because they are not state workers, they won’t be able to buy into the state health insurance plan, something the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees hopes to change with legislation. In the meantime, AFSCME is hoping to find a different route to health insurance as the organization negotiates with the Iowa Department of Human Services. Potentially the state could work with the providers to find private insurance or federal grants. Negotiations continue this weekend.

By Doug Cunningham

As labor unions endorse and ponder endorsements of presidential candidates, AFSCME’s Gerald McEntee says that although the AFL-CIO has not reached a two-thirds consensus on which candidate to back, individual unions are involving their rank and file members more than ever before when they endorse candidates.

[McEntee]: “They really should – must – go through a process and a procedure where they’re really talking to their members, where they’re really holding meetings, where they’re really bringing these candidates in. And thus far, that process is being followed by unions.”

By Doug Cunningham

Workers at Resurrection Catholic Hospitals in Chicago fighting to organize a union released a report Monday revealing wages as low as $9 an hour for housekeeping, laundry and food workers at the hospitals. AFSCME's Roberta Lynch:

[Lynch]: "Patient support staff earn wages that keep them mired in poverty, unable to support their families - and in some cases relying on public assistance."

Shirley Brown is working at Resurrection while battling cancer.

[Brown]: "I work hard. I work at a Catholic hospital. Our CEO made more than a million dollars in 2006. Enough is enough. We deserve a fair day's pay for a fair day's work."

By Jesse Russell

As the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees held their leadership forum Tuesday, the Democratic Presidential candidates attempted to strut their union credentials. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson first proposed the idea of having a union leader nominated as secretary of labor with New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama suggesting that they would also support such an idea. Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards tapped into his labor roots saying it was time for a President of the United States who would stand on the White House lawn and explain why “unions matter in America.”

By Doug Cunningham

Two thousand activists and leaders from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) are meeting in Washington, D.C. to plan and mobilize a political and legislative strategy to advance workers interests. Ethan Rome is AFSCME Public Affairs Director.

[Rome]: "This conference is about bringing two thousand of our activists from all across the country together to make battle plans to keep the Congress in Democratic, pro-worker hands, to win the presidency, to win Democratic governors and statehouses all across the country."

AFSCME plans to field an activist army of 40,000 people in the 2008 elections. Rome says the leadership of Congress is committed to being pro-worker, but with an anti-worker president and just a slim Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate more work has to be done in 2008 to take back the country for working families.

By Doug Cunningham

Fifteen people were arrested at UC-Davis this week in a protest against outsourcing of food service jobs on campus. Activists, including the public employee union AFSCME, are demanding that UC-Davis end the outsourcing and make food service workers university employees. To support them in this effort to end outsourcing at UC-Davis, you can call Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef at (530) 752-2065. That’s area code (530) 752-2065.

By Doug Cunningham

It took nearly two years and a wide-ranging campaign of civil disobedience and boycotts, but AFSCME Local 3299 in California this week won pay equity for custodians at the University of California. AFSCME’s Debra Grabelle.

[Grabelle 1]: “In this struggle we had three different civil disobedience actions. Over ninety-one people have gotten arrested during it. Danny Glover, Senator John Edwards, Bill Clinton, Congresswoman Barbara Lee all honored and actively supported a boycott of the university."

The custodians involved in the pay equity fight will get a pay raise of $1.75 an hour and the university has agreed to an additional fifty cents an hour for custodians statewide.

By Doug Cunningham

At UC Davis Wednesday, WIN spoke with American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 3299’s William Schlitz during the occupation of a building there protesting outsourcing of university food service jobs.

[William Schlitz]: “I'm in UC-Davis' campus in Mrak Hall, which is the main administration building. And students and community supporters have taken over a room in Mrak to demand that UC end their practice of outsourcing on campus jobs and make those persons that are performing those food service jobs university employees."

By Doug Cunningham

What would Jesus do? Workers struggling to form a union to improve their wages and working conditions at Catholic-owned Resurrection Health in Chicago believe he would be with them in their fight for a union and justice on the job. Shirley Brown has been a housekeeper at Resurrection Health for eleven years and makes $10.70 an hour.

[Shirley Brown 1]: “You're workin' short-staffed, you get yelled and screamed at, you get disrespected. You don't have a voice in the workplace at all, period. The disrespect and intimidation and harassment - it is real and that is what is happening in these hospitals. And it shouldn't be that way."

By Doug Cunningham

The United Auto Workers and AFSCME have organized 40,000 Michigan home child care workers in a joint venture called Child Care Providers Together Michigan. Bargaining for a first contract starts soon with the state. Alice Norris is a home child care worker in Detroit making $1.88 per hour per child with no health benefits.

[Norris 1]: “It's just so awesome to have the union, just knowing that you have somebody responsible and capable of being on your side and working with you and for you. That's awesome!"

Better pay and benefits will be sought by the unions as the first contract is negotiated. The workers won union representation through a card check majority certification process.

American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees President Gerald McEntee.

[McEntee 1]: “America took its red hot anger and turned it into blue votes in precinct after precinct. And today is a new day in America.”

McEntee says labor was instrumental in Democratic victories nationwide and expects Congress to stand up for working families on a range of issues.

[McEntee 2]: “We’re counting on this new slate of leaders to help workers just as we helped them achieve so many victories. AFSCME and the AFL-CIO played an instrumental role in yesterday’s outcome. The house of labor helped elect many strong pro-worker leaders. We’re gonna hold them accountable.”

By Doug Cunningham

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) are joining forces in Arizona in a drive to organize 42,000 state workers. CWA Local 7000 President Linda Hatfield says the unions must win the right for state workers to collectively bargain – but the power to win those rights comes from organizing.

[Linda Hatfield]: "If you have numbers in the workplace there's a lot power to be able to accomplish better working conditions or wages, benefits - whatever their issues are."

The CWA and AFSCME are rallying at Arizona’s state capitol today as they kick off their joint effort this week.

By Doug Cunningham

Wisconsin’s American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees is working to defeat a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Wisconsin AFSCME People Conference Political Director Brian Weeks says such a ban could legally wipe out all domestic partner benefits negotiated by unions.

[Brian Weeks]: “It attacks workers’ rights. It attacks labor unions’ rights to collectively bargain.”

By Jesse Russell

Temp workers in San Mateo County California now qualify for limited benefits. The workers, organized by the SEIU and AFSCME last year will receive holiday pay, medical benefits and raises under a contract approved on Tuesday.

By Doug Cunningham

A robust union organizing effort nationwide is aimed at home child care workers, and that effort could ultimately add hundreds of thousands of new union members. The biggest success so far was in Illinois where 49,000 workers were organized by SEIU. Ten thousand were organized in Washington state by SEIU. In California and Pennsylvania, SEIU and AFSCME are cooperating in a unified child care organization. Efforts are also underway in Iowa, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Oregon, and Maryland. There are roughly 550,000 child care workers nationwide who could potentially be organized.

By Jesse Russell

Iowa has become the most recent state to open the doors to organizing home childcare providers. Governor Tom Vilsack signed legislation this week that orders the Department of Human Services to meet with the union that wins representation of the workers. Both the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union are vying for the opportunity to represent the nearly 13,000 workers. The two unions recently signed a two-year pact that prohibits either union from raiding, decertifying or interfering with member representation rights.

By Doug Cunningham

The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees is defending the poor against billions of dollars in cuts to social services like Medicaid, housing and food stamps that Congress will act on in December. Ron Kent with Wisconsin AFSCME says as much as $50 billion could be cut while providing $21 billion in tax relief for the wealthy.

[Ron Kent] : "Things that are being cut for children are things like eyeglasses, hearing aids, dental care and even crutches for children who are disabled. This is from the Congressional Budget Office. So if people don't believe us they can check with the CBO and they will confirm that the budget reconciliation bill is doing exactly that. It's a cruel and almost Scrooge-like set of cuts."