With national bargaining less than 15 months away, General Electric is already preparing its themes – and it’s not too soon for union members get ready.
That was the message delivered by UE leaders to local officers and stewards at a meeting of the UE-GE Conference Board here Feb. 20.
The University of Vermont shuttle service will remain in-house, saving the jobs of shuttle drivers represented by UE Local 267. The university administration informed the union of its decision on Feb. 15.
The UE local and students had launched a campaign that demonstrated wide campus and community support for the drivers. More than 1,100 students, staff, faculty and community members signed a petition supporting retention of the shuttle service.
The administration concluded that the shuttle service provided by UE members was the best product for the best price.
UE Genl. Pres. John Hovis has called on Brazilian authorities to thoroughly investigate the burglary of the offices of the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT), Brazil’s largest labor federation. The break-in – by men wearing police uniforms – occurred hours following approval of a national strike to protest regressive labor legislation. This raid also follows a series of assassinations of labor movement leaders.
Union members from across Iowa took proposals for a citizens’ budget to the State Capitol on Jan. 15, stressing that cuts in services and layoffs are no solution to the State’s budgetary crisis. UE represents more than 6,000 working families in Iowa, largely in the public sector.
Call it on-the-job training: for fully one-third of the UE General Executive Board, including the national union’s financial officer, the meeting here Jan. 17-19 was their first. Not that any of the new board members were unfamiliar with the issues facing the union. Each brought years of UE membership and experience to the table.
Launched February 1st, the UE web has a new feature designed to bring more news, frequently updated, to our members and website visitors. It’s called “UE News Update.” The new service will function much like a news wire, displaying headlines and stories in the order they were posted on our website. The most recent UE News Update headlines will be displayed on our main UE News Online page.
On Jan. 29, the mostly women workers at Berlin Health and Rehabilitation made history again – by gaining a first contract after an extraordinary, 15-month struggle.
Berlin workers made history in August 2000 by becoming the first nursing home employees in Vermont to organize, and the first U.S. employees of CPL/REIT to gain union recognition.
The largest owner/operator of nursing homes in Canada, where it is based, CPL/REIT owns 20 nursing homes in the United States. Ninety-five percent of the Canadian facilities are unionized, none in the U.S. – except for Berlin.