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DPE NewsLine April 2007 The purpose of this newsletter is to inform you of recent activities by the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO as well as emerging issues affecting the professional and technical workforce. NewsLine is published every month. Issues of NewsLine are accessible on the DPE web page www.dpeaflcio.org. Feedback welcome; send to lkennedy@dpeaflcio.org. In This Issue:
____________________________________________________________________________ MAY 17 DAY OF ACTION – JOIN US! – On May 17, 2007, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is sponsoring a Transportation Day of Action. At its April 30 meeting, the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) Executive Committee unanimously endorsed the IAM rally. It declared: “DPE stands with the IAMAW in its May 17, 2007 Day of Action and urges all unions affiliated with DPE to notify IAMAW of their support and invite their members to participate.” To see the resolution, click on http://www.goiam.org/content.cfm?cID=10359. The day-long rally will begin at 10 am on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Speakers will include New York Senator Hillary Clinton, Delaware Senator Joe Biden and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich. More than 10,000 union members – including many from unions affiliated with DPE – and representatives of global unions are expected to attend. Additional information is available at www.17may07.org.
The aim: to “articulate a clear message,
‘Enough is Enough!’ and to do so at the front
end of the 2008 presidential election cycle,”
said IAM Transportation General Vice President
Robert Roach, Jr., who is coordinating the
event. “Union members have suffered grievously
under the current gang that occupies the White
House, but on May 17 our members will make their
voices heard.” DPE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE LOOKS AHEAD – At an April 30, 2007 meeting, the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) Executive Committee began its review of recommendations from the DPE Strategic Planning Committee based on an open-ended survey of unions affiliated with DPE. The Executive Committee also adopted a revised DPE Mission Statement; appointed Actors’ Equity Association Executive Director John Connolly as a DPE General Vice President; and unanimously endorsed a resolution in support of the May 17 Transportation Day of Action (see “May 17 Day of Action – Join Us!” above).
On March 22, it happened: Representatives Robert Andrews (D-NJ) and Don Young (R-AK) and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) introduced the Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Trade workers (RESPECT) Act (H.R.1644 and S.969). Also instrumental in the introduction: Representatives George Miller (D-CA) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). Unions affiliated with DPE played leading roles in developing the proposed legislation and are working hard for its passage. The next step: a hearing on Tuesday, May 8, 2007 at 2:30 pm in Room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building by the House of Representatives Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, “Are NLRB and Court Rulings Misclassifying Skilled and Professional Employees as Supervisors?” On February 7, the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) hosted a chance to analyze the three NLRB decisions, Oakwood Healthcare, Golden Crest Healthcare, and Croft Metals. (See the January 2007 DPE NewsLine, “Crossing Kentucky River: Next Steps for Professional and Technical Employees,” http://www.dpeaflcio.org/news/newsline/newsline_2007_01.htm.) Speakers warned the cases dramatically expand the definition of who is a supervisor. In every occupation, industry, and sector, the Oakwood cases raise a devastating possibility: that any employee who guides another’s work could become a supervisor and lose union protections. On February 20, that possibility became a reality. In Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, the NLRB Regional Director in Denver decided on an NLRB remand that, under the Oakwood cases, he should exclude 64 of 88 challenged charge nurses from a bargaining unit of an estimated 150 to 180 Registered Nurses. To read the decision, click on http://www.nlrb.gov/shared_files/Regional%20Decisions/2007/27-RC-8157%202-20-07.htm. The decision continues a case in which ballots on whether to certify a unit of the United American Nurses (UAN) were impounded in 2002. UAN has since appealed. At a November 2006 meeting of the Arts, Entertainment and Media Industry (AEMI), Industry Coordinating Committee (ICC), two-thirds of the unions reported Oakwood issues in organizing or bargaining. Those reports set the scene for the February DPE conference. In late 2006, a task force of lawyers from the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions developed proposed legislation to repair the radical and dangerous Oakwood redefinition of “supervisor.” DPE circulated the proposal to AEMI unions, which responded positively. DPE also asked the AEMI ICC unions to designate representatives to join a campaign for the proposed legislative fix. DPE provided contact information for the designees to the AFL-CIO and continues to work with both the AFL-CIO and the RNs Working Together industry coordinating committee. For information or comments, please contact DPE Executive Director David Cohen, dcohen@dpeaflcio.org, 202-638-0320 extension 13.
DPE’s new fact sheet, Salaried and Professional Women: Relevant Statistics,, shows the financial value of union membership for professional women. Median weekly wages in predominantly female and consequently lower paid professional occupations show: Union preschool and kindergarten teachers earned a whopping 56.7% more than their non-union counterparts, while for elementary and middle school teachers, the union wage advantage was 34.6%. In 2006, union librarians earned almost 29% more than their non-union counterparts, while union social workers and counselors earned 27% and 26.4% more, respectively. For RNs, the union wage advantage was 15%. The fact sheet provides information about the wage gap and the union wage advantage for professional and other women; women’s educational attainment; the employment distribution of men and women within professional and other occupations; and the changing American family. Find it at
http://www.dpeaflcio.org/programs/factsheets.htm.
To obtain hard copies, contact Marcie Lawrence
at 202/638-0320, ext. 16. To comment on it or
for information about ongoing research, contact
Pamela Wilson: 202/638-6684 or
pwilson@dpeaflcio.org. The House Committee hearing was held on April 24 – Equal Pay Day –– a day that marks the number of extra days in 2007 that a female worker nationwide must work, in addition to all of 2006, to equal the median pay for a male worker in 2006 alone. The National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) initiated Equal Pay Day in 1996 to increase public awareness of the wage gap between women and men. Following the hearing, representatives of AFT, TNG-CWA, AFGE, and CLUW rallied with AAUW, NCPE, and other pay equity groups on the West Lawn of the Capitol, where speakers highlighted the fact that a woman worker earns only 80 cents for every dollar earned by a man. Pamela Wilson, Assistant to DPE President Almeida, joined them.
SICK: THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICA’S HEALTH CARE CRISIS – AND THE PEOPLE WHO PAY THE PRICE – On April 17, the Kaiser Family Foundation hosted a forum to discuss Jonathan Cohn’s new book, Sick: The Untold Story of America’s Health Care Crisis – and the People Who Pay the Price. The book weaves a series of originally reported narrative stories with a history of health insurance and a close-up look at the business of medicine in America. It ends by examining proposals for reform and comparing America’s health care system to some systems abroad. DPE Assistant to the President, Pamela Wilson, participated in this event. For transcripts and other information, see http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=21100.
DPE also joined several of its affiliates, consumer advocacy organizations, and other unions in a call for a consumer protection framework as the implementation of health information technology progresses; see http://www.dpeaflcio.org/policy/letters/ltr2007_04_12.htm.
On April 3, 2007, President Almeida appeared on PBS’ Nightly Business Report to discuss why there were no H1-B visas left after one day of accepting applications. To see the transcript in full go to http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/transcripts/070403b/index.html.
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