Labor in Illinois

Week of Mar 12

Bankrupt Dana Corporation Agrees to Nonunion Retiree Health Care Trust

The Dana Corporation, a bankrupt car and truck parts dealer with both union and non-union employees, agreed to create a health care trust for nonunion retirees as it settled labor and health care concerns with a smaller union. It has still not reached agreements with United Auto Workers and United Steelworkers, but a court date is scheduled to discuss Dana’s rights as a bankrupt corporation to reject labor contracts and benefit plans. Dana recently reached agreement on wages and benefits with the International Association of Machinists, which covers about 250 workers at a plant in Illinois. Dana has sold several plants and hopes to save $130 to $180 million per year by cutting union and nonunion labor costs and health care benefits. – Reuters (12 Mar 2007)

AFL-CIO Executive Council Calls for Universal Health Insurance

At its annual meeting, the AFL-CIO Executive Council called for expansion of universal health care through the present Medicare system. The council explained that publicly subsidized health care will be best for workers and corporations: On one hand, universal health care would protect against workers’ fear that they would lose their health coverage if they lost or changed jobs. On the other, employers who provide adequate benefits are at a significant disadvantage in the international marketplace, since they have to compete with foreign companies who do not invest into a comparable benefit system. Under the federation’s proposal, health care would be available to everyone in the United States, without exclusions or penalties. The government would play a central role in regulating, financing, and providing health care. --- Daily Labor Report, No. 44 (7 Mar 2007)

Seven Labor Contracts Up for Renewal in Vermillion County

Among the seven labor contracts in Vermillion County government up for renewal this year is a contract with Illinois Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 21, an umbrella union that includes county workers in the judiciary as well as various other county positions. Among others, it includes employees in the office of the State Attorney, bailiff, Animal Control Department, County Courthouse Annex, and Vermillion Manor Nursing Home. All labor contracts anticipate moderate wage increases, even though some board members express concern about how the raises will affect current and future budgets.—News Gazette (Champaign) (12 Mar 2007)

Economic Policy Institute Calls for New Social Contract to Address Workers’ Inequality

At a forum on Capitol Hill, the Economic Policy Institute discussed three papers under the banner of an Agenda for Shared Prosperity. Panelists included Thomas Kochan, co-director of the Institute for Work and Employment research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Paul Krugman, professor of economics and international affairs of Princeton University, and Beth Shulman, work-related consultant and author of The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans. Panelists suggested policy reforms for a “new social contract” of avowed cooperation among workers, corporations and (sometimes) unions to provide safety nets for workers in all segments of the workforce. – Labor Relations Week Vol. 21, No. 9 (1 Mar 2007): 323. See also: http://www.sharedprosperity.org/

Governor Proposes More Middle Managers for Prison System

Four years after fighting to cut back more than 200 management positions in the Department of Corrections, Governor Blagojevich announced a proposed increase in these management positions. Some suggest that the administration’s reversal stems from recommendations made by a private consultant, Harvey M. Rose Accountancy Corp. of San Francisco, which the administration allegedly hired in 2005 to investigate to what extent prisons were effectively staffed. Front line, non-management prison workers expressed concern that the governor’s apparent reversal comes at a time when their union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), has demanded more of the administration’s attention. – The Southern (13 Mar 2007)