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Center for Labor Education and Research |
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University level education programs for workers and their representatives |
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CLEAR Report |
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Does your mother have a Facebook page? Has your mechanic asked you to follow him on Twitter? Did your co-worker share a YouTube video with you or email a link to the photos of the house fire across town? |
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Social Media: Changing the way we view and share news. |
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Social Media: can unions ignore them? |
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Volume 31, issue 1 |
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Upcoming Programs |
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Make Social Media Part of Your Union Communication Mix. Monday, March 15, 2010. Social Media cannot be ignored if you want to make sure you are using all the most effective ways to communicate with your members. It seems everyone is tweeting, friending, and blogging. Come and discuss these topics: What are social media? How are others using them? How can you use them to communicate effectively? If you have one, bring your laptop with you to this workshop for an interactive session. The workshop will be held at CLEAR, Jefferson State, from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The cost is $75. Questions? Call (205) 856-8033 or email mizard@jeffstateonline.com. Register by calling (205) 856-8030. The Laws Protecting Workers. Thursday and Friday, April 29-30, 2010. A new administration is in place. The FMLA has new regulations. The Americans with Disabilities Act has been amended. Two new employment laws are now on the books. On Thursday we will review the basics of labor and employment law. On Friday we will meet representatives from the government agencies that enforce the laws. Come join us! The workshop will be at CLEAR, Jefferson State, from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. both days. Cost is $150. Questions? Call (205) 856-8032 or email jlking@jeffstateonline.com. Register by calling (205) 856-8030. Safety and Health Meetings. The second Friday of each month. For over 30 years, members of the United Steelworkers have met every month at CLEAR to discuss safety and health topics. These programs are open to members of all unions – just drop by! We meet from 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.; pay $4 at the door. See our web page – www.jeffstateonline.com/clear -- for topics and photos. February 12: CPR and Using the AED. March 12: Looking Ahead: Daniel Flippo, District Director, USW April 9: Mobile Equipment Safety May 14: Anatomy of a Disaster: The Texas City BP Explosion. |
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To remove your name from our mailing list, please click here. Questions or comments? E-mail us at csturgis@jeffstateonline or call (205) 856-8030 |
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Workshops meet in the Fitzgerald Student Center in the Conference room on the 4th floor. |
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Federal law sets minimum standards for the way union representatives must treat the workers they represent. This standard is called the “duty of fair representation (DFR),” and unions that breach this duty can find themselves the target of claims filed with the National Labor Relations Board or lawsuits. |
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Duty of Fair Representation: A Refresher for Stewards |
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46% of online American adults 18 and older use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, up from 8% in February 2005. |
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Newsletter Spotlight |
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Does your mother have a Facebook page? Has your mechanic asked you to follow him on Twitter? Did your co-worker share a YouTube Video with you or email a link to the photos of the house fire across town? Even if you have declared that you “don’t do Facebook,” you can’t ignore its influence. We have a President who successfully harnessed the power of social media to get elected, and every candidate who follows has learned that message. Even news now comes to the public via social media. After the Mumbai terror attack last year, the first reports came not from traditional news sources, but from people at the scene using Twitter to broadcast the breaking news. Feeling a little out of touch? Consider these numbers: · 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to microblog or to read others’ updates about themselves. 1 · 19% of internet users have posted political or social material online, or they’ve used a social networking site for some sort of civic or political engagement. 2 · 62% of adult internet users have watched videos on video sharing sites – up from 33% who reported this in December 2006. 3 · The median age of a Twitter user is 31. LinkedIn median age is 39, down from 40. Facebook median age is 33, up from 26 in May 2008. 4 · 46% of online American adults 18 and older use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, up from 8% in February 2005. 5 So, are Social Media total time-wasters? In Twitter Power, Joel Comm defines social media as “content that has been created by its audience.”6 Social media include blogs, membership sites, photo sites, social networking sites, microblogs, and video sharing. They represent a shift in how we discover, read and share information: we have moved from a monologue (one to many) to a social dialogue (many to many), with people tweeting and re-tweeting, linking, pushing the content and adding their two cents worth of comments on the original post. We also use social media to directly influence companies and politicians. Consider the story of Dave Carroll, a hapless passenger on United Airlines. He was flying to Nebraska with his band when his Taylor guitar was badly damaged. United didn’t deny the damage, but refused to pay for repairs. Frustrated with United’s lack of response, he vowed to write 3 songs and put them on YouTube for everyone to see.7 You can search for “United Breaks Guitars” to see the videos that some speculate may have cost United $180 M.8 But union members don’t use this stuff, right? If you think your members aren’t already using social media, you’re probably mistaken. The real question: Is your local at least considering some social media strategies to reach your members? The AFL-CIO, international unions, and even CLEAR now have blogs on their websites or pages on Facebook and other sites. What about the potential to reach the public about your issues by uploading videos to YouTube? Is it time for you to learn more? If you’re curious, come to CLEAR on March 15 and we’ll help you “Make Social Media Part of Your Union Communication Mix.” Here’s your chance to discover how others have used social media successfully and to explore how you might get information to your members via social media. Grab your laptop and join us! —Melody Izard
1“Portrait of a Twitter User: Status Update Demographics”, Oct 21, 2009, PewInternet.org 2“ The Internet and Civic Engagement”, Sept 1, 2009, PewInternet.org 3“The Audience for Online Video-sharing Sites Shoots up”, July 29, 2009, PewInternet.org 4“Twitter and Status Updating: Fall 2009”, October 2009, PewInternet.org 5“Adults on Social Network Sites”, October 8, 2009, PewInternet.org 6Twitter Power: How to Dominate your Market One Tweet at a Time; Joel Comm; 2009; Wiley 7“United Breaks Guitars Song 2: The Saga Continues, August 18, 2009, Mashable.com 8“Dave Carroll Gets His Revenge on United Airlines”, July 23, 2009, RealBusiness.co.uk |
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Social Media: can unions ignore them? |
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Duty of Fair Representation: A Refresher for Stewards |
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Federal law sets minimum standards for the way union representatives must treat the workers they represent. This standard is called the “duty of fair representation (DFR),” and unions that breach this duty can find themselves the target of claims filed with the National Labor Relations Board or lawsuits. In our litigious society, anyone with a little money and an ax to grind can file a DFR claim. This makes stewards and other union representatives nervous: can we be sued for making a mistake when handling a grievance? Luckily, meeting the duty of fair representation is usually just a matter of common sense. The Supreme Court handed down its guidelines for the duty of fair representation in a case known as Vaca v. Sipes [386 U.S. 171, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967)]. The Brotherhood of Packinghouse Workers in Kansas City refused to take a discharge grievance to arbitration; the grievant then sued the union and the company. The Court upheld the right of the union to drop the grievance at the final step as long as its decision to do so was not arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bad faith. What do these terms mean? · Arbitrary means that you have no reason for your decision, or the decision is based on your person opinion, rather than on facts. · Discriminatory means that you are treating a person or group differently and unfairly, in a way that is worse than the way people are usually treated. This discrimination could be based on race, gender, ethnicity, age, disability – or the fact that the grievant is not a member of the union. · Bad faith implies an attempt to mislead or gross negligence. In the first case, you are intentionally trying to harm someone with your advice. In the second, you are not merely making a mistake; you are recklessly ignoring the process, time limits, or procedures. Avoiding DFR claims requires the thorough and conscientious consideration of grievances that we stress in steward training classes. Here are some reminders: 1. Do not miss grievance deadlines! Doing so can automatically signify negligence. 2. Represent everyone with the same level of respect and concern. 3. Base your grievance decisions on facts, not personal opinions. 4. Do not discriminate based on personal characteristics, or because the grievant is not a member of the union. 5. Investigate every grievance, complaint, or claim. 6. Keep a record of what you do in each case; a dated handwritten note should be sufficient. 7. Keep the grievant informed of what you are doing at every step. If you decide not to advance the grievance, or if the case has no merit, tell the grievant as soon as possible. 8. Make sure the grievant understands the process: the steps of the grievance procedure; how long it will take at each step; and the rights under the contract, the union constitution and bylaws to appeal a decision. Following these guidelines will produce the best results for you, the grievant and the local – and may save you lots of time and trouble down the road. —Marc Cryer |
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Those in the labor movement already know this, but the general public might be surprised to learn that their perception of the typical union worker as a guy in a hard hat is a little out of date. |
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The changing face of labor |
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The changing face of labor |
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Those in the labor movement already know this, but the general public might be surprised to learn that their perception of the typical union worker as a guy in a hard hat is a little out of date. In a new study (www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/changing-face-of-labor), the Center for Economic and Policy Research chronicled the changes in the unionized workforce1 over the past 25 years. Comparing union workers from 1983 to those in 2008, they found that: · Women, who comprised 35% of the unionized workforce in 1983, now account for over 45% of that workforce and, the authors speculate, could become a majority before 2020 (p. 4). · White workers are now 69% of the unionized workforce, down from over 78% in 1983. African-American members have held steady at about 13%. Latinos and Asians, meanwhile, have seen a dramatic increase, now accounting for 12.2% and 4.6% of the unionized workforce, respectively (p. 5). · More-educated workers are now more likely to be unionized than are less-educated. Among unionized workers, 37.5% hold college degrees, up from 20% in 1983. Union workers, in fact, are slightly more educated than the workforce in general (p. 13) · About half of the unionized workforce now works in the public sector, compared to 34% in 1983. Only eleven percent of union workers now come from manufacturing – down dramatically from 30% in 1983 (p. 17). This decline mirrors the loss of manufacturing jobs as the economy shifted to service industries. · The typical union worker is now 45 years old, about seven years older than the average union worker in 1983. The entire workforce is aging, however: the typical employee, union or non-union, is also seven years older than in 1983. Workers aged 45-54 (29.4%) are most likely to be in unions (p. 12). · One would be most likely to find unionized workers in the Northeast (27.4%), the Midwest (25.7%), and the Pacific states (22.7%). Although the South employs over one-third of the country’s workers, only 18.7% of those workers are covered by a union contract. The face of labor has changed many times over the course of the nation’s history. One thing does not change, however: regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, education, age or region, workers benefit from the higher wages, better benefits, and protections of collective agreements. —
1The authors collected data on the unionized workforce: that is, those who were members of, or represented by, unions at their workplaces. |
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Our Parting Shot this issue comes from Steve Monk, Executive Vice-President of CWA Local 3902, Birmingham. In the November 2009 edition of his local’s newsletter, The Transmitter, Steve wrote a column that we feel is particularly timely. |
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Parting Shots |
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Our Parting Shot this issue comes from Steve Monk, Executive Vice-President of CWA Local 3902, Birmingham. In the November 2009 edition of his local’s newsletter, The Transmitter, Steve wrote a column that we feel is particularly timely. In his column, Steve describes a man with whom he worked early in his own career with the telephone company. This fellow employee, Jack, was a good and helpful worker, as well as a wounded World War II veteran whose injuries sometimes flared up. Wrote Steve: “Shortly after Jack returned to work [after a hospital stay], his boss pulled him to the side and told him, ‘Jack, don’t get sick again.’ The message was loud and clear: get sick again and you are gone. The Family and Medical Leave Act didn’t exist then. Jack could very well have been fired for being sick. “The Family and Medical Leave Act is one of those ‘government programs’ some decry so loudly as anti-American. Had it been law when Jack needed it, this special man would not have endured that indignation. Corporate America fought FMLA mightily. “Jack’s generation fought and won a World War. The overlapping generations of that era gave us Social Security and our nation’s first real labor laws… Our generation so far has the [FMLA] to our credit. We owed that to Jack. But it is not enough. We owe the next generation, too. “It is the American way and duty for each generation to make life better for the generations that follow. We are on track to be the first generation to leave our children with less than we had. Health care for all will clean the slate. It is the one thing we can do to help make American competitive for generations to come. We owe this, too.” Thanks to Steve for allowing us to use his words. |
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Parting Shots |
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CLEAR at Jefferson State Community College csturgis@jeffstateonline.com |