| |
 |
Monday, March 14, 2005 |
The folks at The Steel Wheel present some radical ideas about union structure and function.
- All union officers should be elected directly by the rank and file and their salaries should be no greater than the wages of the workers they represent.
- All union officers should be subject to recall at any time that a majority of their constituents vote for such a recall.
- All union contracts must be submitted to the rank and file for final approval. Copies of a proposed contract must be made available to the entire union membership before a vote can be taken upon it and within an adequate period of time prior to the date set for that vote to allow for sufficient review and discussion by the membership.
- No contract shall contain any restriction on the right to strike. Nor shall it contain any provision that impedes the right of workers to strike over local working conditions or safety questions.
- No union charter, constitution or bylaw should empower the union to take any disciplinary action against workers who resort to wildcat strikes or work stoppages.
- No union charter constitution or bylaw shall empower the taking over of a local or a union by the executive authority of a local or a union by the executive authority of a national or international body alone under any circumstances.
- All workers in the same industry are to be covered by the same contract. Where such workers are covered by different contracts the expiration date on each is to be the same.
- All revisions and/or amendments of a unions charter, constitution or bylaw must be submitted to the rank and file membership for final approval.
- All union organizers, business agents and shop stewards are to be members of the same union they represent and shall be directly elected by the rank and file, subject to recall; and where they receive salaries, these should not be greater than the wages of the workers they represent.
- All union policy decisions and decisions on matters of general importance to the membership shall be made directly by the workers at a local meeting or through a delegated convention. The delegates to any such convention must be elected directly by the rank and file. Contract demands that are democratically determined by the membership should be made binding upon the delegated contract negotiators.
- Amendment procedures for union charters, constitutions and bylaws shall be simplified in order to facilitate the widest possible change by the rank and file with minimal difficulty.
- There shall be no divisions among workers in a union according to craft, race, ethnics, origin, sex.
- We support programs that break down discriminatory barriers within the unions that have further the exploitation and oppression of women and minorities.
- Unions must actively work to organize the unorganized.
- Unions should encourage class solidarity by including the unemployed, disabled and retired members of the working class into unions.
- The union shall work to directly offer class solidarity to other unions on strike by slowdowns, work stoppages and strikes.
12:11:42 PM 
Google It!
|
|
From the Florida Times-Union and the pen of Timothy J. Gibbons comes a report of how state and local governments are beginning to realize that the Feds and the FRA are failing to protect rail workers and the public. Consequently
". . . the railroad industry is running into a group of regulators it hasn't had to deal with for more than a century: state and local governments."
In a separate article, the paper also reports that
"CSX Corp. will pay $1.5 million to the state of New York to settle an investigation by the attorney general that found the railroad sometimes took months to fix malfunctioning signals at railroad crossings."
11:36:52 AM
Google It!
|
|
We've written below of the importance inter-carrier and inter-craft communications for working rails. At least as important is the communication of history and ongoing rail issues to the newhires who are being brought onboard in droves. These are the sisters and brothers who will be carrying on the traditions and fighting the new fights for their rights in a continuingly hostile work environment. Some of us may have ours and may, circumstances willing, be able to escape into a comfortable railroad retirement. But it behooves us to aid and abet the new blood who may thereby be able to advance their own cause and that of all the rest of us. The young learn from the old. The old learn from the young.
That being said, we return to the matter of FELA which is of great importance to all working rails and which is under attack by the carriers, perhaps with the help of certain dis-honored union officers.
Simply stated, FELA is:
Federal Employees Liability Act (F.E.L.A.)
45 USCS § 51 (2002)
§ 51. Liability of common carriers by railroad, in interstate or foreign commerce, for injuries to employees from negligence; definition of employees
Every common carrier by railroad while engaging in commerce between any of the several States or Territories, or between any of the States and Territories, or between the District of Columbia and any of the States or Territories, or between the District of Columbia or any of the States or Territories and any foreign nation or nations, shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce, or, in case of the death of such employee, to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee; and, if none, then of such employee's parents; and, if none, then of the next of kin dependent upon such employee, for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.
Any employee of a carrier, any part of whose duties as such employee shall be the furtherance of interstate or foreign commerce; or shall, in any way directly or closely and substantially, affect such commerce as above set forth shall, for the purposes of this Act be considered as being employed by such carrier in such commerce and shall be considered as entitled to the benefits of this Act and of an Act entitled "An Act relating to the liability of common carriers by railroad to their employees in certain cases" (approved April 22, 1908) [45 USCS § § 51 et seq.] as the same has been or may hereafter be amended.
Newhires take notice. You do not want to give up your right to a trial with a jury of your peers if you ever are injured or worse. Like "tort reform" and "capping liability" of any sort, modification or elimination of FELA is an employers' license to maim and kill. Cost-benefit analysis will factor in your loss of limb or death and encourage them to pursue the most profitable bottom line. FELA is one of the few restraints on unchecked corporate greed.
12:49:23 AM
Google It!
|
|
© Copyright 2005 The Usual Suspect.
|
|
