The Voice

UUPers and their family members can apply for an AFL-CIO scholarship through the federation’s Union Plus Scholarship Program. The deadline to apply is Jan. 31. The Union Plus Scholarship Program, sponsored by the Union Plus Education Foundation, is open to students attending or planning to attend a four-year college or university, a community college or a technical college or trade school. Graduate students are now eligible. Since 1992, the Union Plus Scholarship Program has awarded more than $2.4 million to students of working families who want to begin or continue their post-secondary education. The program is open to members, spouses and dependent children of unions participating in any of the Union Plus programs. Members are not required to purchase any Union Plus products or participate in any Union Plus program to apply. The amount of the award ranges from $500 to $4,000. This is a one-time cash award sent to individual winners for undergraduate study beginning in the fall of the same year.

Political action once again pays off, as public employees in Massachusetts discovered recently when Gov. Deval Patrick — elected in November 2006 with the strong support of labor, including AFT Massachusetts — signed into law legislation that permits public-sector employees to become unionized through a “card check” written authorization. The law in Massachusetts is a modified state version of the national Employee Free Choice Act, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in March but failed to secure the 60 votes in the Senate needed to invoke cloture and allow a vote on the bill. Patrick signed the bill in September at the state AFL-CIO’s convention in Marlborough, Mass. Notably, the state Legislature originally approved the car-check authorization in 2005, but the bill was vetoed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney. Massachusetts is the latest in a number of states that have passed majority authorization (including New Hampshire and Delaware) or that have approved collective bargaining for state employees.

Affiliate news: AFT wins $8 million grant for Africa AIDS project —
UUP’s national affiliate has secured a new $8 million grant for its
Africa AIDS program in South Africa.

The grant to the AFT is from President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a U.S. international health initiative that combats HIV/AIDS around the world. The union's legislation and international affairs departments worked together to foster congressional discussions, and earned an eventual endorsement from U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), chair of the Africa and Global Health Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, whose support was critical to the new funding. The project, launched in 2005, is a partnership between the AFT and the South African Democratic Teachers Union and other education unions in South Africa to provide workplace peer education, HIV testing, counseling and antiretroviral treatment for more than 2,000 educators. The project will be led by the Education Labour Relations Council, the unit that bargains with the South African government on teachers’ conditions of service, and will be supported by the U.S.-based Academy for Educational Development.

A panel of experts in an international journalism contest this fall honored UUP’s communications efforts with awards for writing, content and design.

The union’s membership magazine, a 30-second TV advertisement, Web site and annual legislative brochure were honored by the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA) for projects produced in 2006.

UUP’s TV spot “Making a Good University Great” won top honors in the broadcast category. The ad featured UUPers in various settings making the case for hiring more full-time faculty.

“Upbeat; good compositions, active backgrounds that convey a bustling educational setting,” the judges commented. “A lot of information is conveyed — both through verbal and visual means — in 30 seconds.” UUP Director of Communications Denyce Duncan Lacy oversaw production.

Other awards include:

• Saul Miller Award for best election coverage, second place, December 2006 issue of The Voice, by staff writers Donald Feldstein and Karen Mattison.

Workers at an Enterprise Rent-A-Car facility in Boston saw their jobs subcontracted out while they were trying to form a union.

Now, the local community and Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry are rallying behind the workers as they launch a local boycott of Enterprise over its anti-union tactics.

On June 4, the workers filed for a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election for union representation. The action came a year and a half after management failed to address workers’ concerns over wages, promotions, workplace safety and job discrimination.

Nine days after filing with the NLRB, workers were told their jobs would be contracted out to a Houston staffing company.

Said Kerry: “It’s outrageous that Enterprise fired dedicated employees simply because they wanted to organize. We shouldn’t and we won’t allow union busting in our state.

UUP is now accepting nominations for three service awards: the Nina Mitchell Award for Distinguished Service; the Fayez Samuel Part-timer Member Award for Courageous Service; and the Outstanding Active Retiree Award.

Mitchell award — This award recognizes UUPers who have served the union with distinction. Recipients’ service must reflect extensive and significant contributions to UUP at both the chapter and statewide levels.

Nominations must come from either a chapter executive board or the statewide Executive Board.

The deadline is April 30.

Samuel award — This award recognizes UUP part-timer members who have served the union with courage and distinction, and whose service reflects contributions to UUP at either the chapter or state level.

Nominations must come from either a chapter executive board or the statewide Executive Board.

The deadline is April 30.

Bus drivers in Woodland, Ill., will get their jobs back this fall, thanks to a deal struck by the Lake County Federation of Teachers/AFT.

Under an agreement ratified by the school board earlier in February, more than 90 former drivers whose jobs were outsourced will get $1,000 in damages for every year the district had employed them, and drivers who worked less than a year will get $100 for every month.

Starting pay for drivers will be $15.25 an hour, and those with more than 16 years in the district will earn $21 an hour — overall, slightly more than the drivers were earning from the private contractor. Full-time drivers also will receive retirement and insurance benefits, which they were not getting from the contractor. In addition, seniority and sick leave will be restored.

The Woodland school board voted in 2004 to outsource the bus drivers’ jobs, despite the workers’ offer to cut their top wage by $7 an hour. After the outsourcing, many of the Woodland drivers took lower-paying jobs with the private bus contractor.

The Center for Union Facts has launched an anti-teacher union ad campaign in Newark, N.J., focusing on the theory that tenure protects bad teachers. The campaign has begun in Newark, but the sponsors are threatening to take it to other cities.

The ads are appearing on buses, mobile billboards and in the Newark Star Ledger. The ads blame unions for failing children in Newark and around the country.

The center is led by Richard Berman, who orchestrated attacks against a higher minimum wage and regulations on smoking.

The AFT is working with its New Jersey affiliates on countering this attack. Members who believe the center is moving its attack into their states should contact Chuck Porcari, the AFT’s director of public affairs, at cporcari@aft.org or at (202) 879-4482.