Workplace Issues Today
Daily News for Monday, November 23, 2009
Selected by the Catherwood Library Reference Staff each Monday through Friday, excluding University holidays, WIT is a free alert service, providing abstracts and links to workplace-related news stories covered in the major media. Subscribe to WIT »
Established in 1999, this service also includes a searchable archive.
Stalemate strike finally ends in secret ballot
After eleven weeks of heavy tensions and strike, Unison union members voted Monday morning to accept a revised offer from the Leeds City Council. The strike began on September 7th, in a dispute over pay cuts proposed by the City Council. Both sides remained unyielding throughout October, with the City Council refusing to negotiate while the strike continued, and the union members refusing to accept the pay cuts from the original agreement. In late October, a first revision of the original contract was presented to the union, and voted down in a landslide - 92%. In the ninth week of the strike, talks began again, with City council members meeting in person with union officials. By that time, over 100 desperate strikers had returned to work, and some Leeds residents reported that their trash had not been picked up in two months. The City Council's second revision was accepted today in a secret ballot.
See “Strike prompted by bitter pay dispute,” by Louise Hosie, BBC News Online, Nov 23 2009 (JKW)
Ongoing unionization battle happens, stays in Vegas
In a continuation of its years-long battle to unionize 13,000 employees at Station Casinos, the Culinary Union issued a report on the company's bankruptcy proceedings, accusing insiders of caring more about accumulating personal wealth - as evidenced by the $660 million that went to insiders in the company buyout, and claiming that with more responsible management the Casinos could have avoided bankruptcy entirely. The report theoretically allies the union with the Station Casino creditors, who have expressed similar beliefs. The Culinary Union, given its long history of anti-corporation campaigns and union-as-moral-opposites ideals, is no stranger to "strange bedfellows" however. Casino spokespeople have called the report 'silly,' and 'a waste of time,' and said that is has nothing to do with the union. The Culinary union has countered by saying it is their job to protect all workers.
See “Culinary Union sides with Station Casino's creditors,” by Michael Mishak, Las Vegas Sun, Nov 23 2009 (JKW)
Florida's green economy receives Federal grant money
The US Department of Labor awarded a $1.25 million federal grant to the Agency for Workforce Innovation in the state of Florida, as part of the recent economic stimulus. The grant will be used to 'define and classify' green industry jobs in Florida, a task which will be undertaken by the Agency's 'Labor Market Statistics Center.' The agency plans to survey 60,000 Florida business and create a profile of green jobs in Florida, and the skills needed to possess them, specifically the skills associated with clean energy jobs. The survey report will then be used to develop training programs for job seekers interested in work in green technology, etc. The grant also provides for the creation of a 'green jobs portal' in the Employ Florida Marketplace online job posting site (www.employflorida.com).
See “State work force agency receives $1.25 million grant,” Bizjounals.com, Nov 23 2009 (JKW)