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ACTION ALERTS



USW and NPA Announce Strategic Alliance, Condemn Union Busting by Walgreens in NW Indiana

 

July 26 - The United Steelworkers (USW) today announced its support for 1,200 pharmacists in the Chicago area who were forced on strike by the Walgreen Company after it demanded a new contract that would rob their union, the National Pharmacists Association, of negotiating power and could endanger the public by increasing the possibility of mistakes caused by work overload.

The USW signed a strategic alliance with the National Pharmacists Association that would bring broad labor and public support to end Walgreens' attempt to break the union and assist the pharmacists in attaining a fair and equitable contract. The pharmacists also made an unconditional offer to return to work yesterday after striking for almost three weeks and will now take their issues directly to the public with support from the USW.

"Working with other unions, political leaders, and community activists, we intend to inform the public about these anti-union actions of Walgreens," said USW President Leo W. Gerard, who is attending the AFL-CIO convention in Chicago along with presidents from 52 other unions.

"We are pleased with our strategic alliance with the USW and know that eventually we will succeed in stopping Walgreens' union busting," said Tom Hanson, president of the National Pharmacists Association. "We will also improve pharmaceutical safety by eliminating Walgreens' attempts to speed-up the filling of prescriptions to unsafe levels."

The Chicago area and Northwest Indiana comprise Walgreens' second largest market, and 61 percent of the company's revenues come from prescription sales.

The USW pointed out that millions of prescriptions from union-negotiated health plans are filled every month at Walgreens.

"Walgreens should not be allowed to profit from the good benefits negotiated by the labor movement, and at the same time attack the union of its pharmacists," said Gerard. "We will focus our efforts first in Chicago and Northwest Indiana, where the union busting is taking place. If necessary we will gradually expand our efforts to other areas where Walgreens does business. We've only begun to fight!"

Walgreens, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, is the nation's largest drugstore chain with revenues of $37 billion in 2004.

With 850,000 members the USW is the largest industrial union in North America and represents 10,000 pharmaceutical workers. There are 500,000 union members affiliated with the AFL-CIO in the Chicago area and 13 million nationwide.

AFSCME Workers Rally Against Loss of State Jobs

July 26 - AFSCME workers rallied at LaRue Carter Hospital in Indianapolis, protesting the Daniels administration’s move to privatize their jobs. Despite campaign fliers authorized by the Daniels campaign last year which promised that no state workers would lose their jobs due to privatization if Daniels was elected, the administration has begun outsourcing work previously performed by state employees, costing those state workers their jobs in areas like prison food services. Recently, FSSA announced plans to close most state hospitals like LaRue and to outsource eligibility screening for social services.

Back to the Table: Visteon Workers Reject Contract due to Job Security and Health Care Concerns

July 23 - Newspapers are reporting that members of the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communications Workers of America employed by Visteon Corporation in Fayette County voted down a contract proposal by a three to one margin. The employees rejected the contract due to concerns about health insurance premium increases and job security. The union and company intended to resume negotiations without a work stoppage. Visteon Corporation, based in Wayne County, Michigan, has not posted a profit since 2000. After posting another loss in 2004, the company announced this spring that it is selling 24 plants back Ford Motor Company. The Connersville plant was not amongst those sold, however. This plant is the largest employer in Fayette County and residents there understand the importance of good manufacturing jobs to the entire community. Residents of the region have been holding prayer vigils and attending press conferences to highlight the importance of the jobs at stake in their community

CAFTA UnFair to Indiana Workers

July 4 – The Indianapolis Star runs an editorial by President Zeller condemning the CAFTA agreement and urging Congress to defeat it. Zeller points out that “The Bush administration's own studies on CAFTA, prepared by the International Trade Commission, conclude that CAFTA will not be an engine for job growth. And American agriculture already controls 60 percent of the CAFTA nations' beef import market, 75 percent for pork, 85 percent for wheat, 88 percent for soybeans, 98 percent for rice and 99 percent for corn. We can create a vision of fair trade that makes moral and economic sense for all workers. Trade can be a rising tide that lifts everyone, but only if everyone has a boat. Unfair trade agreements have devastated communities across Indiana and America. Millions of skilled manufacturing workers struggle to find living-wage work. Those losses are echoed by job elimination in other areas such as construction, service and retail. We need to reject this unfair trade deal.”