UCAN TRAINING COMING JANUARY 2010

UCAN Workshop sets 2010 schedule:

Rochester, N.Y.--  The Rochester Labor Council, AFL-CIO, the United Way of Greater Rochester and the Cornell University ILR School present the Union Community Assistance Network educational program called, "Preparing Labor Leaders for Challenging Times."

The UCAN training is a 2-day workshop. The sessions will be Tuesday, January 19, and Monday, January 25, 2010, at NYSUT, 30 North Union Street, Rochester, NY 14607, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.

Bess Watts, CSEA Local 828 president, encourages Unit Presidents to attend.  If you would like to participate in this unique educational opportunity, Watts suggests you contact her or Barb at the CSEA Local 828 office during business hours, 585.328.5250.

Participation fee is $100 per participant and includes meals and materials. To register, contact Mark Miller (585) 242-6491 or mark.miller@uwrochester.org .

LIBRARY WORKERS VOLUNTEER AT WXXI

City of Rochester library workers and WXXI volunteers
left to right:

Margaret Chatterton (Central) and Renee Kendrot (Central)

Rochester, N.Y.-- On Tuesday evening, December 8th, workers from CSEA Local 828 City of Rochester Library Workers Unit 7420 volunteered to operate the phone banks at WXXI studios for their annual membership drive.  Margaret Chatterton and Renee Kendot, both who work at the Central Library, say that volunteering for WXXI is not hard work.  Chatterton says talking to the community is "alot of fun."  Kendrot takes it one step further by saying, "I think it's very important to give back to WXXI because their programming has enriched all our lives, and I want to thank them for that." 

CSEA, the Rochester Public Library and WXXI have developed a strong collaborative relationship over several decades, dating back to the days of Monroe County Library System and Rochester Public Library Director Harold Hacker.  Mr. Hacker was a co-founder of WXXI. He made his mark on our community by helping residents of Monroe County persue a life of knowledge, inquiry and reading.  In his honor, the library workers donate volunteer hours every year on his behalf.  Mr. Hacker passed away in October of 2006.

When Hacker took over the Rochester Public Libraries and Monroe County Library System, boundaries between the library systems made it difficult for patrons to take advantage of all the resources in the region. 

It was no small task to get more than a dozen library boards to come together and devise a system that allows patrons to access collections of all public libraries in Monroe County, but Mr. Hacker persisted.

Today, residents of towns with smaller libraries can easily take advantage of the more than one million books, videos, cassettes and other materials found, for example, at the Central Library downtown. Smaller libraries with rare materials can share with people across the county who are interested in them.

Hacker didn't stop with libraries. He was a public broadcasting visionary who fought to secure a local channel for public broadcasting, even before the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio had been created by the federal government. The result was Channel 21, which was launched in 1966. Since then, WXXI has grown to five television channels and four radio stations.

In this spirit of cooperation, CSEA is proud to carry on the traditions of community service and volunteerism in the name of our late Director Mr. Harold Hacker.  This community should see much more of Harold's kind of commitment to educating the public. Additionally, local community, political and labor leaders should remember his spirit of cooperation. By working together, we can create a better community.

ENDA IS ON LABOR'S RADAR

LOCAL LABOR LEADERS TO CALL ON CONGRESS

posted by Ove Overmyer

Rochester, N.Y.--  The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity for civilian nonreligious employers with over 15 employees.

While current federal law protects working people from firing or penalization based on race, religion, national origin, gender and/or physical ability, there is no federal law to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers from being victimized in the workplace. This means that in 31 states, it is legal to fire someone for being lesbian, gay or bisexual. In 39 states, it is legal to fire someone because they are transgender. 

Right now, initiatives to outlaw such unfair treatment are gaining ground in the union movement.  This includes the AFL-CIO, AFSCME and CSEA.  Along with Pride At Work, a constituency group of the AFL-CIO, all these organizations and many other unions are making unprecedented efforts to support this legislation.

ENDA has been introduced in every Congress, except the 109th, since 1994, albeit without gender identity protections, but gained its best chance at passing after the Democratic Party broke twelve years of Republican Congressional rule in the 2006 midterm elections. However, some sponsors believed that even with a Democratic majority, ENDA did not have enough votes to pass the House of Representatives with transgender inclusion, and dropped it from the bill, which passed and subsequently died in the Senate.

In 2009, on the heels of the 2008 elections that strengthened the Democratic majority, and after the debacle of the 2007 ENDA divisions, only a transgender-inclusive ENDA has been introduced by House representative Barney Frank. President Barack Obama supports the bill's passage unlike his Republican predecessor, who threatened to veto the measure.

In the coming weeks, the fate of ENDA will be decided. Right now there's been a delay in the House of Representatives taking it up in committee, so it's critical that your elected officials hear from you TODAY. We must ensure that all LGBT people are protected from workplace discrimination.

CSEA Local 828 President Bess Watts says, “As a union, it is important that all workers be judged by the work they do not for who they are or what they believe. Employment discrimination of any kind is immoral and denies workers the dignity, respect and equality they deserve in the workplace."

She adds, "In many states you can be fired because of your sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, and this is simply wrong. ENDA should have passed ages ago and in my opinion is long overdue.  We encourage all members to contact their representatives before the Christmas break.”

PENSION REFORM WHACKS NEW EMPLOYEES

NYS Retirement System Gets Major Overhaul with Tier V

Albany, N.Y.-- Incoming NYS public employees that pay into the retirement system have an even larger target on their back these days.

On December 2, lawmakers approved with no debate a massive pension reform bill which sailed through both houses of the state legislature. Governor Paterson says the bill does not go far enough to get us out of our fiscal mess, but vows to make it happen anyway.

Under a three-way agreement with the Governor, Assembly and the Senate, the measure established a new Tier V. Advocates say it will cut over $2.7 billion for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. State lawmakers also say that it is expected to save taxpayers over $48 billion over the next three decades. To read the NYS Assembly Extraordinary Session Bill A 26, click here. To read the senate spin machine on passing this bill, click here.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), says the legislation applies to both uniformed and non-uniformed employees and significantly reforms the pension system. Silver also says the legislation sets the stage for the long term financial stability for state and local governments and that a new public employee classification is vital to the state's fiscal wellness. That remains to be seen.

Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson said in a press release this legislation is an absolute necessity for putting our fiscal house on sound footing. He added, "The Tier V reforms represent a major step forward to help bring pension costs under control.”

Critics argue that creating a new Tier does nothing to immediately address the fiscal woes of the state. In a September 27 Huffington Post article titled, Tier V: Part of the Universal Conspiracy on Pensions, a Room Eight author says this bill adds greed to greed without understanding what it might do to vital public services New York citizens expect and deserve.

CSEA WNY Region 6 President Flo Tripi says, "We made an agreement with the Governor back in late spring not to oppose a Tier V. Do we like it? No. Did we want this to happen? No. However, when you are balancing the lives of 9,000 workers who might be let go against the Tier V system for new employees, it was a concession in the best interest of CSEA and the state."

Tripi also states that negotiations will be made to improve the retiree benefits of the new Tier V employees represented by CSEA, if any are hired at all. She added, "This bill is completely unfair to new workers who will be paying into a system that won't reward them for many years to come. Lawmakers don't want to be asked how this bill could possibly help this present fiscal disaster that is going to gut public services, given the fact that we will probably not see any new hires for quite some time anyway."

Many pundits also contend that the only reason the Equal Marriage Bill came up for a vote in the Senate on the same day as the deficit reduction plan is to deflect any attention away from the serious consequences of passing such drastic legislation. Watch the senate marriage debate here.
Lawmakers would prefer answering constituient questions about how they voted on the marriage bill rather than address how and why vital services continue to erode around us. Additionally, legislators also do not want the public to ask them about the debate that didn't occur. Here we have a current generation of lawmakers who basically stuck their finger in the eyeball of every future CSEA member in New York State.
Major elements of the plan include:
*$1.6 billion in cuts and temporary cash transfers from agencies to the general fund, already ordered by Governor Paterson. The cuts include 11 percent to most state agencies, which are asked to avoid layoffs.

*$391 million in federal stimulus funds for education that will not be dispersed. These funds were targeted for fiscal year 2010-2011.

*$250 million projected to be collected under a new tax amnesty program.

*More than $600 million in cuts to several programs, including healthcare, that supposedly will not eliminate jobs.

*The plan also includes some so-called revenue raisers, including $200 million anticipated from video slot machines at Aqueduct race track.

Paterson complained that the legislature rejected the toughest measures. He said that lawmakers are afraid of the "powerful" public employee unions who are protecting their turf.

The legislation also puts a cap on the amount of overtime that can be used in calculating pension benefits. Pension payments are traditionally based on an employee’s final average salary.

These changes do not affect existing employees because of state constitutional prohibitions against reduction of benefits for existing pension system members.

RICHARD TRUMKA SPEAKS OUT

AFL-CIO PRESIDENT COMMENTS ON JOBS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Allentown, Pa.-- There is no bottom in sight for working families who are struggling to keep their jobs, health care and homes and they know that our leaders must take immediate action to create and save jobs. Jobs -- good jobs -- are what it's all about. Now it's time for leaders in Washington to understand that too -- and thankfully many do. Today's jobs forum is an important opportunity to gather the best ideas for job creation. But it can't substitute for action. The summit will only mean something if it triggers an urgent round of actions to create American jobs. It's simply wrong that people who worked hard are paying for the sins of Wall Street with their jobs, and we can't sit back and hope it takes care of itself.

I'm taking the AFL-CIO's 5-point plan to the summit today. In the weeks ahead, we will be working every day with business leaders and elected officials at every level, mobilizing and helping the White House and Congress get something done. Where there’s obstruction, we’ll expose it and push through it. Where there’s leadership, we’ll do everything we can to help them succeed.

The 5 actions we think have the greatest promise to create and save 2 million jobs are:

1. Extend the lifeline for jobless workers. Unless Congress acts now, supplemental unemployment benefits, additional food assistance and expansion of COBRA health care benefits will expire at the end of the year. They must be extended for another 12 months to prevent working families from bankruptcy, home foreclosure and loss of health care. Extending benefits also will boost personal spending and create jobs throughout the economy.

2. Rebuild America’s schools, roads and energy systems. America still has at least $2.2 trillion in unmet infrastructure needs. We should put people to work to fix our nation’s broken-down school buildings and invest in transportation, green technology, energy efficiency and more.

3. Increase aid to state and local governments to maintain vital services. State and local governments and school districts have a $178 billion budget shortfall this year alone—while the recession creates greater need for their services. States and communities must get help to maintain critical frontline services, prevent massive job cuts and avoid deep damage to education just when our children need it most.

4. Put people to work doing work that needs to be done. If the private sector can't or won't provide the needed jobs, the government should step up to the plate, putting people who need jobs together with work that needs to be done. These should never be replacements for existing public jobs. They must pay competitive wages and should target distressed communities.

5. Put TARP funds to work for Main Street. The bank bailout helped Wall Street, not Main Street . We should put some of the billions of dollars in leftover Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to work creating jobs by enabling community banks to lend money to small- and medium-size businesses. If small businesses can get credit, they will create jobs.

For more information, click here or view the Spotlight On Jobs video.