Labor News | American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, AFL-CIO

Non-partisan Election Victories

May 09, 2012

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO in partnership with our central labor councils, building trades councils, and progressive community partners, supported three rank-and-file members as they sought election to their town/city council in yesterday’s non-partisan municipal elections. Each ran with a vision that government should work for the people instead of the powerful, and a commitment to create jobs, oppose privatization, support project labor agreements, and respect collective bargaining rights for all workers. All three are bold, progressive leaders with deep roots in the community and all three won!

Name	Union	Office
Donna Williams	OPEIU 153	Orange Council
Bob Russo	AFT 6025	Montclair Council
Ruby Cotton	IBEW 1158	Paterson Council

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO is proud of all the rank-and-file union members who seek election to public office through the Labor Candidates Program. Since the program’s inception, rank-and-file union members have won 690 elections to public office in New Jersey. The New Jersey State AFL-CIO congratulates these members for their election success.

Working together, the voice of working families and the middle class will continue to be heard in the community and make a difference in the halls of government.

In Unity,

Charles Wowkanech, President
Laurel Brennan, Secretary-Treasurer

Photos: 4th Birthday Celebration of the Paid Family Leave Program

May 03, 2012

On the fourth anniversary of the enactment of the NJ Family Leave Program, legislators, labor leaders, business owners and every day citizens came together at the New Jersey Statehouse to celebrate the program’s success. The Family Leave Act provides New Jersey workers with paid time off, through a social insurance program, to bond with newborn or newly adopted children or care for a sick loved one.

AFT member Karen White led a panel of individuals who have been helped by Paid Family Leave at a May 3 Statehouse celebration. Paid Family Leave has made it possible for tens of thousands of New Jerseyans to take time off from work to be with newborn or newly adopted children and family members in need of medical care.

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A Birthday Worth Celebrating: New Jersey’s Family Leave Insurance Law Turns Four

May 03, 2012

By Shane Smith

As New Jersey lawmakers, families and advocates gathered at the Statehouse today to celebrate the fourth birthday of the state’s Family Leave Insurance (FLI) program, we think it’s a good opportunity to take a look back at this historic initiative. The legislation, which was passed into law in May 2008, has made it possible for tens of thousands of New Jerseyans to take time off from work to be with newborn or newly adopted children and family members in need of medical care — without worrying about how to pay their monthly bills.

Several sponsors of the bill were on hand for today’s celebration, including Senators Stephen Sweeney, Loretta Weinberg and Linda Greenstein, and Assemblyman Nelson Albano. The event was organized by legislators, the New Jersey AFL-CIO and the NJ Time to Care Coalition, a diverse group of over 70 organizations – including NJPP — that worked to raise awareness and helped push for the legislation’s adoption.

FLI allows most workers to take up to six weeks off to care for a new child or a sick family member. Workers are entitled to two-thirds of their weekly wages up to a maximum in 2012 of $572.

In the three years since the FLI program began operating, over 81,000 claims have been made, for a total of more than $202 million in worker-funded payouts.

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How to Apply for Paid Family Leave

May 03, 2012

The Department of Labor has information including a Family Leave Insurance Claim Form. You can call 609-292-7060 for assistance.

What is it?
Six weeks of partial wage replacement over a 12-month period to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child or to care for a seriously ill child, parent, spouse, domestic partner or civil union partner.

People taking this leave will receive up to two-thirds of their usual wage, with a maximum of $559/wk in 2010. The limit will rise yearly to keep up with the cost of living.

Who gets it?
Employees of all private and governmental employers subject to the New Jersey Unemployment Compensation Law are covered. All eligible employees began contributing to the FLI program through their normal paycheck on January 1, 2009. A claimant must have had at least 20 calendar weeks in covered New Jersey employment in which he/she earned $143 or more (called “base weeks”), or have earned $7,300 or more in such employment during the “Base Year” period.

When will it be available?
Payroll deductions began in January 2009 and benefits became available July 1, 2009. Workers wanting to bond with a new child can receive FLI benefits during the first 12 months after the child’s birth or placement for adoption with the worker’s family.

When must a claimant submit a claim for family leave insurance benefits?
A claim must be filed within 30 days after the commencement of a period of family leave. A penalty may be imposed if the claim is filed late.

Where can you get an application for FLI benefits?
Application forms are available on the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s website, by telephoning the Division of Temporary Disability Insurance’s Customer Service Section at (609) 292-7060, or by writing to the Division of Temporary Disability Insurance, PO Box 387, Trenton, NJ 08625-0387.

When can new parents claim FLI to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child?
Family Leave Insurance benefits for bonding with a newborn or newly adopted child are only payable during the 12 months after the child’s birth or adoption.

Can someone get FLI benefits if you have to provide care for a sick family member out of NJ or the country?
Yes. A claim may be submitted for Family Leave Insurance benefits to care for a family member with a serious health condition who is out of the state or out of the country. Benefits may be payable provided the medical certificate is properly completed and establishes a need for care.

Does an employee have to notify an employer if he/she intends to claim FLI benefits?
Yes. Employees intending to take leave to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child must provide the employer with a minimum of thirty (30) days notice prior to commencement of the family leave. Failure by the employee to provide this notice will result in a 2 week (14 day) reduction in the claimant’s maximum FLI benefits entitlement for the 12-month period unless the time of the leave is unforeseeable or the time of the leave changes for unforeseeable reasons.

Employees intending to take leave to care for a seriously ill family member on a continuous, non-intermittent basis must provide the employer with prior notice of the family leave in a reasonable and practicable manner, unless an emergency or other unforeseen circumstance precludes prior notice.

Employees intending to take leave to care for a seriously ill family member on an intermittent basis must provide the employer with a minimum of fifteen (15) days notice prior to the commencement of the intermittent family leave unless an emergency or other unforeseen circumstance precludes prior notice.

Is there a waiting period before FLI benefits can be paid?
Yes. The first seven consecutive days of a claim is called the waiting period. If benefits are payable for any period during each of the three consecutive weeks following the waiting period, then benefits are also payable for the waiting period.

In the case of intermittent family leave, in a single period of family leave taken to provide care for a family member with a serious health condition, Family Leave Insurance benefits are payable with respect to the first day of leave taken after the waiting period and each subsequent day of leave during that period of family leave. If benefits become payable on any day after the first three weeks in which leave is taken, then benefits will also be payable for any leave taken during the waiting period.

Exception: There is no additional seven-day waiting period for a Family Leave Insurance claim for benefits to bond with a newborn when the Family Leave Insurance claim is for the period immediately following a Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) pregnancy-related claim.

Is a FLI claimant required to take FLI benefits all at one time?
If the leave is to care for a seriously ill family member, the leave may be taken during one continuous period, up to a maximum of six (6) weeks or intermittently up to a 42 day maximum in a 12-month period.

If the leave is to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child, the leave must be taken during one continuous period of time unless both the employee and the employer have agreed to an intermittent leave schedule. In those cases, leave may be taken in non-continuous intermittent periods of seven (7) days or more. All leave taken to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child must be taken during the 12-month period immediately following the birth or adoption of the child.

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Does Mitt Romney Have an Education Platform?

April 26, 2012

Beyond breaking the unions, what kind of education policy can we expect from a Romney presidency?

Photo Credit: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

If you’re looking to understand what Mitt Romney might do to education as president of the United States, a good place to start is with his own words. Back in March, Mitt Romney told Fox News’ Bret Baier that his primary educational goal if elected to the presidency would be to weaken teachers’ unions. “The role I see that ought to remain in the president’s agenda with regards to education,” Romney announced, “is to push back against the federal teachers’ unions.” His promise? To diminish the role of the federal government in education policy, except when it comes to union-busting.

This denunciation of teachers’ unions is nothing new for the Right; it’s a plank that has long figured in Republican campaign rhetoric and policy, starting with Ronald Regan. Though Reagan did engage in moderate rhetoric on unions from time to time on the campaign trail, the same moderation was rarely reflected in policy once he was elected. In a nod to his Hollywood roots, Reagan’s 1980 campaign included a pledge of support for the Screen Actors Guild, the actors’ union. And Cold Warrior that he was, he predictably lauded Polish workers who unionized in defiance of the Soviet Union.

Yet overall, Reagan’s relationship with labor in the United States was overwhelmingly hostile. His dispute with the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association was perhaps the defining union policy of his presidency. He broke that union apart by firing anyone who failed to comply with his imperative to stop striking. And he certainly opposed America’s two largest teachers’ unions, the National Association of Educators (NEA) and the AFL-CIO-affiliated American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Reagan’s anti-unionism set the stage for his party’s contemporary commitment to union-busting, and that included open opposition to the two teachers’ unions.

Ever since, Republicans have worked to demonize – and weaken – both NEA and AFT. This culminated in 2004, when President George W. Bush’s education secretary Rod Paige absurdly called the NEA a “terrorist organization.” So, it isn’t surprising that Romney has chosen to demonize the two unions in his fight to secure his party’s presidential nomination. But as an educational platform, union-bashing’s pretty thin. The sound bites may play well with the Republican base, but what else do we know about Romney on education? He hasn’t made the issue a central component of his campaign — so where can we look to find out what President Romney’s vision for American education might be?

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U. stays in Fair Labor Association

April 23, 2012

By Amy Rowe / Acting News Editor

Courtesy of Rutgers United Students Against Sweatshops Members of the Rutgers United Students Against Sweatshops show discontent when University President Richard L. McCormick announces he will not disaffiliate the University from the Fair Labor Association, an initiative RUSAS pushed for two years.

The Rutgers United Students Against Sweatshops’ disaffiliation party ended early Friday when University President Richard L. McCormick announced he would not withdraw from the Fair Labor Association.

RUSAS has worked to build a case for disaffiliation over the past two years, presenting McCormick with research on the various human rights abuses workers are subject to in factories the FLA monitors, said Anna Barcy, a RUSAS member.

“We’ve been working so hard, it has been our life for the past two years,” said Barcy, a School of Arts and Sciences first-year student, before McCormick arrived at the meeting. “It seems completely obvious to us that he plans to disaffiliate. It’s obvious because of the blatant human rights abuses [allowed by the FLA].”

But when McCormick said he would not disaffiliate the University from the FLA, a look of concern crept across every student’s face at the Red Lion Café in the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus.

Without letting McCormick explain, the students from RUSAS and the more than 30 other campus organizations at the meeting took off their paper party hats and packed up their celebratory balloons and cookie cake.

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Activist group educates on labor union through teach-in

April 19, 2012

Yashmin Patel / University Editor

Yashmin Patel / University Editor Members of the United Students Against Sweatshops advocate yesterday for the University to disaffiliate from the Fair Labor Association during Tent State University on the College Avenue campus.

Members of the United Students Against Sweatshops advocate yesterday for the University to disaffiliate from the Fair Labor Association during Tent State University on the College Avenue campus.

Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2012 12:00 am

By Yashmin Patel / University Editor | 0 comments

Rutgers United Students Against Sweatshops held a teach-in yesterday at Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus to inform students about the monitoring practices of the Fair Labor Association.

USAS will meet with University administrators at Winants Hall on the Old Queens campus Friday to receive a yes or no answer on whether the University plans to disaffiliate from the Fair Labor Association.

Rutgers USAS is campaigning for the University to disaffiliate from the FLA, which monitors and receives funding from companies like Nike that are known for commissioning sweatshop labor, said Anna Barcy, organizer of Rutgers USAS.

The University’s contract with the FLA relates to the garment industry that makes most Scarlet Knights apparel, she said.

Barcy, a School of Arts and Sciences first-year student, said the sweatshop conditions inhibit workers’ rights and subject them to poverty and minimum wage.

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AFL-CIO chief goes on the offensive

February 21, 2012

Richard Trumka hopes to take advantage of the growing frustration with Wall Street and concerns about income inequality to reverse organized labor’s long decline.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO since 2009, speaks with students at Columbia University in Cleveland in November. He faces a big challenge: Union membership has been shrinking, down to 12% of the U.S. workforce from 20% in 1983. (Mark Duncan, Associated Press / November 7, 2011)

By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Columbus, Ohio— The future of the labor movement may very well rest in the hands of a man who was sitting over a paper plate piled with spaghetti, amusing his audience by twirling a napkin in his ear, then hamming it up with a wink and a goofy grin that would make any teenager cringe.

He’d been working for 12 hours already, but AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka had every reason to be giddy. Ohioans had just voted down a law that restricted collective bargaining for public workers, and the American labor movement was savoring a rare victory.

“When our members are motivated, when they’re united, no one can turn them around,” Trumka shouted later that night to the raucous crowd that gathered outside the firefighters union hall where Trumka had wolfed down his spaghetti.

Union membership has been shrinking, down from 20% of the U.S. workforce in 1983 to less than 12% today. Union leaders are trying to hang on to one of their last remaining strongholds: government. Strapped for cash, many states are looking to cut costs by ending collective bargaining agreements.

To counter this — and a 2011 Pew poll that showed just 45% of Americans viewed unions favorably — Trumka is going on the offensive, trying to harness frustration with Wall Street and concerns about income inequality to build broader support for labor.

If he succeeds, he will help pro-union Democrats in the Nov. 6 elections and, perhaps, begin to reverse organized labor’s long decline as a political force.

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America’s Youth Uprising

February 15, 2012

Protesters at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011, during a demonstration to oppose the governor's bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

The uprising of February 2011 made a single word, “Wisconsin,” not just the name of a state but the reference point for a renewal of labor militancy, mass protest and radical politics. But it did something else. It signaled that a new generation of young Americans would not just reject the lie of austerity. They would lead a fight-back that has extended from the Capitol in Madison to Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan and across the United States.

Governor Scott Walker, a Republican narrowly elected in the GOP sweep of 2010, proposed just weeks after taking office to strip teachers and other public sector workers of the collective bargaining rights and union representation that provide the last thin layers of protection in an era of globalization, privatization, downsizing and deep cuts. The governor and his party had the upper hand, with control of both houses of the state legislature, a dysfunctional Democratic opposition, weakened unions, a pliant press and a right-wing machine funded by billionaires like Charles and David Koch.

By the estimate of most pundits, even those who sympathized generally with labor and specifically with the Democratic Party, defeating the governor’s project was a hopeless struggle. But someone forgot to tell the students. Days after Walker’s announcement, 1,000 members and supporters of the Teaching Assistants’ Association at the University of Wisconsin—the oldestgraduate employee union in the world—gathered at the Capitol to raise handmade signs and teeth-chattering voices in protest.