Feb - UPTE-CWA

In the newsOrganizing atLivermore LabUPTE members at the Lawrence LivermoreNational Lab have seen the losses thatemployees at the Los Alamos National Labsuffered last year when that formerly UCrunDepartment of Energy (DOE) lab wascontracted out to a private company. At LosAlamos, many were forced out of UC’s pensionplan, and are now being laid off or havebeen given dramatically changed duties.The same process is about to start forLivermore, but employees there want adifferent future. To help protect their jobsand benefits, UPTE members have starteda campaign for union representation, circulatingcards for employees to sign whichdesignate UPTE as their collective bargainingagent. With a union, the employer mustnegotiate many of the transition changesinstead of implementing them unilaterally.Extremely positive response“The initial response to our effort tocollect signatures has been very positive,”said Jeff Colvin, a physicist at Livermoreand an executive board member of the Societyof Professionals, Scientists and Engineers,UPTE’s local there. The SPSE/UPTElocal has held a series of lunchtime talksand discussions with excellent turnouts – upto 500 employees at some.Colvin says that a union contract canprovide important protections. “Our mainconcern is the loss of job security, as we’llall become “at-will” employees in the transitionto new management, and we couldlose our UC pensions and retirement.”DOE is set to announce the result ofthe management bidding process in March.Newspaper workerswin $2.5 million onovertime, breaksAfter a three-year legal struggle,newspaper workers at the Chinese DailyNews were awarded $2.5 million for violationsof basic labor standards.A federal jury found that the newspaperhad failed to pay overtime or allowrest and meal breaks to 200 employees atits Monterey Park office. The Daily News,also known as the World Journal, is oneof the largest Chinese-language papers inCalifornia and has offices in Los Angeles,San Francisco and New York.The workers are represented by theCommunications Workers of America,UPTE’s national union.Virtually all the workers are first-generationimmigrants from Taiwan, China,Hong Kong and Vietnam. “For new immigrantshere surviving is not easy,” saidLynne Wang, a former Daily News reportertold the press. “We all feel very lucky tohave a job, and we don’t know the law,”she added.The reporters regularly worked 12hours a day, and often six days a week.Federal law requires overtime after 40hours worked in a week, and state law aftermore than 8 hours in a day.The company did not keep records ofhours for reporters or salespeople. Employeeswho did have timecards were toldnot to fill in more than eight hours a day,and some were told to record break timesthey did not take, according to the workers’lawyer, Cornelia Dai. She noted that thevictory “is important because foreign-basedcompanies come here and do business,and a lot of their employees don’t speakEnglish. They’re taken advantage of.”Governor cuts UClabor studies againFor the fourth time since his 2003election, Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggerhas launched an attack on the UCLabor Institute. The institute, with officesat UC Berkeley and UCLA, was foundedin 2000 to provide research and training onworkers’ issues. It offers the only Spanish-languagetraining program for unionleaders in the state.Responding to his business backers,the governor first attempted to eliminatethe institute’s $6 million budget shortlyafter coming into office. That effort wasdefeated after a lengthy fight. His latestbudget proposal again eliminates the $6million funding. Democratic Assemblyspeaker Fabian Nunez has pledged torestore the funding and wants to make itpermanent.Noting that business schools are longestablishedand much better funded at theuniversity, UCLA Labor Center directorKent Wong criticized the governor’s action.“The University also has a legitimaterole, not to just serve corporate interests,but to provide services to unions andworkers,” Wong told reporters.To learn more, see .Institute named for Latino leaderMeanwhile, at their January meeting,the regents agreed to name the Labor Instituteafter labor leader Miguel Contreras.Contreras, a former farm worker, wasexecutive secretary-treasurer of the LosAngeles County Labor Council when hedied in 2005.Contreras’ widow, Maria ElenaDuraso, told the regents, “The UniversityUPTEC W A 9 1 1 9nA F L C I OUniversity Professional& Technical EmployeesCommunications Workers of AmericaLocal 9119, AFL-CIOPO Box 4443Berkeley, CA 94704■(510) 704-UPTEinfo@upte-cwa.orgwww.upte.orgA ceremony in the Memorial Stadium oak grove on the Berkeley campus, which was followed by arally at Sproul Plaza attended by over one hundred students, staff and community members.Old oaks saved, for nowNeighbors, environmentalists win injunctionagainst UCB’s development plansCommunity activists have won an injunction against UC Berkeley’s plans to cutdown a grove of oaks near Memorial Stadium to build a $125 million athletic trainingcenter and 900-car parking lot.Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller granted the injunction on January29 in response to lawsuits filed by the city of Berkeley, the California Oak Foundationand the Panoramic Hill Association, a neighborhood group, among other plaintiffs.The groups argue that UC’s environmental impact report did not sufficiently addressthe risks of building near an active earthquake fault, or consider the ecological damageof removing the 140-tree oak grove. The site sits atop the Hayward fault, one of northernCalifornia’s most potentially dangerous, and is served by a narrow two-lane road. The oaktrees are protected by a strong local conservation ordinance, but UC argues that it is notbound by local regulations.In her ruling, Miller said the plaintiffs’ case showed a strong “likelihood of success”that the construction would violate the state’s Alquist-Priolo Act regulating new publicbuildings in seismic hazard zones. The case will probably go to trial in three to six months.A group of tree-sitters has been occupying the site since early December, and say theyplan to stay until after the trial. Community members and UCB students and staff have helda series of demonstrations at the oak grove and on UCB’s Sproul Plaza.“This is a great day for the environment,” Oak Foundation attorney Stephan Volker toldthe San Francisco Chronicle. “This is sacred ground ecologically, culturally and historically,and we’re not going to stop fighting until it’s saved.”UC is calling the injunction a “temporary setback,” and is considering whether to appealthe decision.is a public university supported by the taxdollars of hardworking men and womenin our state, and I’m very proud that thiscould be the first time that a statewide institutionwithin the University of Californiais being named in honor of a rank-and-filelabor leader. Miguel would be very proudto know that the Labor Institute’s studentswill continue to carry on his work.”NON-PROFITORGANIZATIONU.S. POSTAGE PAIDBERKELEY, CAPermit 346Daniella Thompson, photo4 | UPDATE