• UFCW Says Wal-Mart May Close Garage That's getting A Union Contract
• California's Controller Says State Has Money To Pay Workers Their Full Pay
• Three More NEA Locals Affiliate With AFL-CIO
• Economic Report: Freddie Mac And Fannie May Hit With More Red Ink

Economic Report:

Bad news for Freddie Mac on Wednesday suggests that the country hasn’t seen the end of the fall out from the housing crisis. The government-chartered firm said it had a net loss of 821 million dollars. The loss was three times more than what analysts had forecasted. The firm doubled reserves for future mortgage losses to $2.8 billion. This is the Freddie Mac’s fourth straight quarterly loss.

By Doug Cunningham

The AFL-CIO’s Executive Council, meeting in Chicago, says three more National Education Association locals have affiliated with the labor federation. They’re in Santa Maria, California, Kenosha, Wisconsin and Massachusetts. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the groundbreaking arrangement with the NEA allowing its locals to affiliate with the AFL-CIO means greater collaboration in the fight for a better future for the next generation. Also at the Chicago meeting, the AFL-CIO announced three new members on the Executive Council that runs the federation. They are AFT President Randi Weingarten, Matthew Loeb, President of the International Association of State and Theatrical Employees and Jill Levy, President of the American Federation of School Administrators.

The battle between California State Controller, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the state legislature that has state workers caught in the middle continues to heat up. Jesse Russell reports:

Last week California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger slashed the wages of some 235,000 state workers to the federal minimum because the state legislature is eight weeks overdue in passing the state budget. Schwarzenegger said the state needed to cut the wages in order to save money, but on Wednesday state controller, John Chiang said the state, even with the full worker wages, has enough money to make it until October. The Governor’s administration has expressed concern over the new numbers coming out of the controller’s office and is examining them carefully. Chiang had previously said he will not follow through with the executive order. The Department of Personnel Administration sent a letter to Chiang on Tuesday with the names of 48,000 workers who will not have wages cut because they are deemed “essential.” Those workers include firefighters, state police, water resource workers, and military officers, among others. A number of other professionals, including lawyers and doctors, will receive no pay because there are no wage protections under state law that say they should receive the minimum wage.

By Doug Cunningham

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1518 in Canada says Wal-Mart may close a garage in Gatineau when workers there get their first collective bargaining agreement. The UFCW says Wal-Mart has hinted it will close the garage. The workers are awaiting their first collective bargaining agreement from a binding arbitration process. They unionized in 2005. The union says it expects a contract to be imposed soon, making it the first at a North American Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart closed a store in Jonquire after workers there formed a union.

• Big Iowa Meat Company Not Kosher When It Comes To Child Labor
• Air Traffic Controller Union Wins Court Case On Overtime Pay
• USW Workers In Three States To Vote On New Contract
• Economic Report: More U.S. Workers Forced Into Part-Time Status

Economic Report:

A new report in the New York Times highlights a disturbing trend as the economy weakens – nearly 4 million workers have had their hours cut so drastically that they are now working as part timers. The last time the country has seen so many involuntary part time workers was in 1995 and there hasn’t been such a drastic cut back in hours since the 1950s. Part-time and temporary workers make up nearly a quarter of the entire U.S. workforce.

By Doug Cunningham

United Steel Workers members at Packaging Corporation of America are voting Thursday on acceptance of a new five-year master contract agreement covering 1200 workers. The contract covers mills in Tennessee, Michigan, and Wisconsin. USW President, Leo Gerard says this agreement lays the foundation for economic security for these workers during a time when the paper industry is undergoing massive change from economic globalization. Details aren’t being released until the ratification vote, but the USW says the contract includes wage and benefit increases and groundbreaking job security provisions.

By Doug Cunningham

The National Air Traffic Controller’s Association says a federal court victory on overtime pay affirms that the FAA can’t just railroad everything past the union without other federal oversight. The union won a case that found the FAA violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act by imposing comp time and credit hours rather than paying time and a half overtime dating back to 1996. More than 7400 workers are due financial compensation from the ruling by U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Emily Hewitt. The union calls it a resounding victory.

The nation’s largest supplier of kosher meat has violated child labor laws dozens of times. Jesse Russell reports:

Nearly 60 cases of child labor law violations have been allegedly uncovered at Agriprocessors kosher meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa. In a statement, Iowa’s Labor Commissioner Dave Neil said the investigation found “egregious violations of virtually every aspect of Iowa’s child labor laws.” In May of this year 389 illegal immigrants were arrested during a raid on the plant. That raid and months of investigations led to the 57 cases of child labor violations being uncovered. The violations include exceeding allowable work hours, exposure to hazardous chemicals, failure to obtain permits, and more. Neil has suggested that the violations be prosecuted to “the fullest extent of the law.” The company has not commented on the allegations. In Iowa it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to work in meatpacking plants.

• Protests continue in California; Controller says it could take six months to implement pay cut
• Laborers call for massive infrastructure reinvestment
• Some Frieghtliner workers recalled in Cleveland
• Mass. and Rhode Island grocery strike averted

A grocery strike has been averted in Rhode Island and Massachusetts as Shaw’s Supermarkets and the United Food and Commercial Workers came to an agreement this weekend on a new five-year contract. The union says the contract was overwhelmingly approved by members. A federal mediator was called in this weekend as the two sides failed to find common ground, and the potential for a two-state walkout rose on the horizon. The new contract covers 5,200 workers at 38 stores and includes a pay raise and an increase in company contributions to health and retirement benefits.

Good news for some Freightliner workers who were laid off from a Cleveland plant in June. The company plans to recall 650 workers and add a second shift. The workers are being called back to work on August 18, based on an increase in orders for the class of Freightliner manufactured at the plant. 1500 workers were laid off by the company in June when the second shift was eliminated.

Lede: The Laborers union has launched a grassroots campaign to mobilize support for a massive investment in rebuilding the U.S. infrastructure. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham

Laborers President, Terry O’Sullivan says the U.S. will fall behind economically unless we rebuild our roads, bridges, airports, and railroads. The Laborers “Petition To Rebuild America” campaign aims to get at least a million signatures supporting the huge investment needed to rebuild America’s infrastructure. O’Sullivan says current methods of financing roads, railroads, bridges and airport construction are inadequate. He says we have to change our model of financing these projects to pay for what he says are least $1.6 trillion in needed repairs. The Laborers union says doing this work will generate many good-paying jobs, while also making an investment in America’s future. To do this politically, O’Sullivan says a bipartisan movement must rally behind it. The Laborers campaign to rebuild America includes a print and broadcast media advertising effort in Washington, D.C., Denver, and other cities.

Another day of protests in California by state workers who watched as the Governor cut their pay down to the federal minimum last week, in what he says is an attempt to save money as a budget stalemate continues in the state legislature, but critics say is a political stunt that takes workers' pay hostage. On Monday, State Controller John Chiang, who last week vowed to defy Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's executive order, said that it will take six months to adjust the state’s computer system to start paying workers a minimum wage. He told the Sacramento Bee that adjusting the system could result in pay discrepancies that could eventually lead to lawsuits.

• California state workers bring "pink slip" to Schwarzenegger's home
• Wage stagnation hurts workers more as prices rise
• Verizon and two unions continue negotiations; strike temporarily averted

Verizon and two unions representing workers dodged a strike on Sunday as stagnant contract negotiations moved forward. The workers are represented by the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and early Sunday the unions released a statement reporting some progress. The two unions represent 65,000 workers who are concerned about health care and job security. In the statement released by the CWA, the union expressed, “Significant additional bargaining still lies ahead before a settlement is possible.” The unionized workers stretch from Maine to Virginia, but are mostly in Verizon’s landline division.

Lede: Wage stagnation is hurting U.S. workers more as prices rise and job growth falls. Doug Cunningham has this report.

Soaring gas and food prices are making already stagnated wages even more painful for workers across the U.S. On Friday, unemployment was up to a four-year high as 51,000 jobs were cut, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Inflation-adjusted wages, meanwhile, took the biggest drop in eight years last week. Workers’ pay is clearly not keeping up with the ever-rising cost of living. The Economic Policy Institute’s Jared Bernstein says a lack of robust jobs creation has plagued the economy for several years. No jobs growth – no wage growth. Democratic Presidential candidate, Barack Obama wants to raise the federal minimum wage to $9.50 an hour and index it to inflation to put a higher floor under wages. He also wants strong union rights to give workers who want to organize unions the real power to do so without being intimidated by employers. The AFL-CIO says more government economic stimulus is needed to help workers, but long-range public economic policies must also be aimed at boosting wages and creating new jobs in the numbers workers really need.

Last week California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger slashed wages of state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour to send a message to the state legislature which has yet to pass the state budget. On Sunday, those workers brought their own message to the Governor’s home in Brentwood, California. Hundreds of workers represented by the Service Employees International Union brought a symbolic “pink slip” to the home on Sunday, but the Governor wasn’t present to receive it. The workers argue that they have been unjustifiably punished by the governor and that they cannot live on such wages.

• WIN Week In Review August 1-3, 2008