Report wrongly discounts role of support staff in school

We don't need a study to show how crucial paraprofessionals can be to schools—and to individual students. Nearly everyone who works in a public school has a story about a child who was struggling until a paraprofessional took the time to sit down at one of those little, child-sized desks, take up a No. 2 pencil and work out the kinks in the learning process. Nearly everyone knows a student who was ready to drop out of school until a para stepped in and became a mentor, reeling her back in until graduation day and sometimes beyond. And who among us can't name a teacher who is eternally grateful for close collaboration with another educator—not to mention the extra eyes, ears and hands in the classroom? Read AFT's review here.

Combating the austerity agenda in Canada | PSI partners make budget recommendations

The Association of Canadian Financial Officers - a PSI partner representing financial officers and managers in the Canadian federal government - has called on the government to make common-sense tax changes in the name of combatting austerity.

As ACFO argued in its brief:

A balanced budget is one that considers both sides of the financial ledger. So far, focus has been on the expenditure side - austerity measures and resulting cuts to public services. These cuts affect most Canadians through lost services and, in many cases, lost jobs.

But a balanced budget doesn’t just require cutting expenses; it also requires collecting the revenues that are due. Improving taxation laws, eliminating avoidance schemes and investigating tax evaders and holding them responsible will provide a significant, sustainable and hitherto-ignored source of revenue for the Canadian public purse. This will result in a truly balanced budget that also supports the robust public services that Canadians need and deserve. 

Read the complete submission and common-sense tax regulation changes.

US trade officials give Guatemala more time to install labor overhaul | TheHill

U.S. trade officials on Monday said they would give Guatemala more time to implement a labor rights enforcement plan.

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman said that the dispute settlement process will remain suspended for another four weeks while the United States reviews information provided by Guatemala about whether labor law reforms are leading to improvements.

“The additional steps Guatemala needs to take are important not just in terms of implementation of the Enforcement Plan they agreed to in 2013, but also because they’ll send a signal to investors.

"This is critical to create the kind of climate in which businesses and workers can flourish and will assist in addressing the deep-seated economic issues that the country is facing," he said. 

The case was first brought in 2011 under the under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) over Guatemala’s inability to effectively enforce its labor laws.

Froman traveled to Guatemala on in late July to press for effective implementation of the enforcement plan agreed to by Guatemala and the United States in April 2013.

“Our aim, all along, has been to support changes on the ground, not to punish Guatemala," McAlvanah said.  "The dispute settlement option from the outset has always been a means to that end, and we continue to regard it that way.”

A senior Democrat expressed concern about Guatemala’s ability to install the labor plan.

“I remain deeply concerned about Guatemala’s failure to take the necessary steps to fulfill even the limited commitments it agreed to under CAFTA and the Enforcement Plan,” said House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.).

“This failure to effectively provide its citizens with basic worker rights weakens its economy and the chance for a decent livelihood for large numbers of its citizens, during a period when large numbers of unaccompanied minors and others are fleeing to escape poverty and violence in their home countries," he said.

"If Guatemala continues to shirk the long overdue implementation of its commitments, I look forward to working with the administration to pursue arbitration in this case.”

Under the labor plan, Guatemala has agreed to strengthen labor inspections, increase labor law compliance by exporting companies, improve the monitoring and enforcement of labor court orders and establish mechanisms to ensure that workers are paid what they are owed when factories close, according to the USTR

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/215913-us-trade-officials-give-guatemala-more-time-to-install-labor-overhaul#ixzz3BVfnNHlJ
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

US trade officials give Guatemala more time to install labor overhaul | TheHill

Inter-American Region LGBT Committee meeting

PSI Meeting Alert!

WHAT: Inter-American Region LGBT Committee meeting

WHEN: October 26, 2014

WHERE: Mexico City, Mexico

According to the resolutions adopted during the Regional LGBT Committee’s meeting held in 2013, we are organizing the next LGBT Committee’s meeting on October 26, 2014 in Mexico City. The proposal is to carry out a one-day meeting, in order to facilitate the participation of the Committee members in the ILGA World Conference which will be held on 27 - 31 October, in Mexico City.

These are the main issues that will be discussed during the Regional LGBT Committee meeting:

·Reports and update of the plan of action adopted in 2013, and proposals for 2015

·Launch of the campaign and the manual on LGBT rights

·Signature of the agreement with ILGA Latin America and Caribbean and plans on how to make this agreement effective

PSI is also preparing a trade union meeting and a workshop on LGBT issues within the trade union context at the ILGA World Conference.

The Inter-American Regional LGBT Committee meeting on October 26^th will start at 10 a.m.

PLACE OF THE MEETING AND ACCOMODATION DURING THE STAY in Mexico:

Hotel Fiesta Americana Reforma

Paseo de la Reforma 80

Col. Juarez 06600 México, D.F.

Tel. (52 55) 5140 4100

http://www.fiestamericana.com/es/mexico-city/hotel-reforma/overview

The ILGA World Conference will be held at this hotel too.

Should you have any questions about this meeting, please contact:

Mark S. Langevin, Ph.D.

Subregional Secretary for North America

Tel. 202-744-0072

Email: mark.langevin@world-psi.org

  

In solidarity,

Mark

Utility Workers Ratify New Labor Agreement

Utility Workers Ratify New Labor Agreement with Pennsylvania-American Water Ending Pittsburgh Work Stoppage

 

For immediate release:

August 16, 2014

 

For more information contact:

Kevin Booth, System President, UWUA Local 537

412.551.1294

 

Pittsburgh, Pa.  Utility workers ratified a new labor agreement today that includes solid job protections for working families and ends an eight-week work stoppage by nearly 150 union workers at four Pennsylvania-American Water worksites throughout the Pittsburgh area.

 

Members of Utility Workers Union of America System Local 537 voted by a strong majority to ratify the four-year labor agreement.  The new contract turns back bargaining demands previously made by management to eliminate long-standing protections in the union contract against subcontracting of workers’ jobs.  The agreement also drops management’s previous demands to substantially curtail employee sick leave benefits.  The employees are expected to return to work on Monday.

 

“The sacrifices made by UWUA members in Pittsburgh over the past 60 days have clearly paid off with a strong labor agreement that will protect workers’ job security,” declared Kevin Booth, System President of UWUA Local 537.  “We can now return to work delivering essential public services to our customers without fear that management will destroy working families’ jobs through unfair subcontracting.”

 

The Pittsburgh employees were forced onto picket lines on June 18 to protest a series of unfair labor practices committed by Pennsylvania-American Water and its New Jersey-based parent company American Water.  The new contract marks the first time in more than three years the Pittsburgh employees have a ratified labor agreement.  The previous union contract expired in May 2011, after workers rejected management’s demands for the unlimited right to destroy every worker’s job through subcontracting.

 

Pennsylvania American employees in Pittsburgh went without any wage increases for four years while fighting to win a fair labor agreement.  The new contract provides significant “catch-up” wage increases to help make up for the loss of any cost-of-living adjustment over those four years, but the union emphasizes that the Pittsburgh work stoppage was never over wages.

 

“This dispute has always been over the basic right of utility workers to have some semblance of job security for our families,” stated Booth.  “Our members have won everything they have fought for over the past three years, with a solid union contract that protects workers’ jobs against unfair management subcontracting demands.”

 

The Utility Workers Union of America represents 50,000 working men and women in the utility and related industries throughout the U.S., including 2,400 employees of American Water in Pennsylvania and in ten other states.

German television show leaks CETA, Council of Canadians says deal will not survive public scrutin

The Council of Canadians is pleased that the Canada-EU trade deal, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), has seen the light of day after German television show Tagesschau provided the full text online this afternoon.

 

“Throughout the process, this agreement and its devastating impacts have been kept locked away from legislators and the public, shielded from a democratic process. Finally, it comes to light, probably because people in Germany are fed up with the secrecy and fed up with being taken hostage by companies,” says Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians national chairperson.

 

The Harper government has celebrated the completion of the agreement this week, setting a signing date of September 26. CETA’s investor-state dispute settlement provisions have been on the radar in Germany, where there is opposition to them. They would allow corporations to sue countries for lost profit. The Vattenfall decision, where a company sued Germany for pulling out of the nuclear industry, is fresh in Germany’s mind after the Fukushima nuclear accident.

 

“Obviously, the Harper government is tone deaf when it comes to relations with Germany and the growing opposition to CETA. We are committed to working with the opposition in Europe to kill this ‘corporate bill of rights,’” remarked Barlow.

 

Other observations:

 

• This text (and earlier versions of it) should have been made public to give the public the appropriate amount of time to read it, discern its contents and comment on it fully. The whole CETA negotiation process has been undemocratic, and has failed in terms of transparency.
• The 25-page investor-state section appears to be a standard investor-state dispute settlement: a three-person panel that would make decisions rather than the mature court systems. This probably will not placate Germany.
• The 30-page procurement section appears to give no consideration to the numerous Canadian municipalities that requested to be exempted from its provisions.
• The EU language was adopted on resolution of pharmaceutical patent disputes. This will open the flood gates to pharmaceutical companies’ law suits. This will lengthen patent lengths and delay generics coming to market. In the end, this could severely increase public health care costs by $900 million to $1.7 billion.
• 
  

The Council of Canadians is a major player in this battle and was the first to challenge CETA. The Council is available for further comment on this breaking story.

 

See http://www.canadians.org/blog/ceta-will-likely-be-signed-it-will-also-implode for more information.

In The Public Interest Privatization Resources

In the Public Interest is a comprehensive non-profit resource center on privatization 
and responsible contracting. The resources below are produced by ITPI, members 
of the ITPI Scholars Network and other close allies. The publications are intended 
to provide educational information and inform winning campaigns to ensure that 
public services and assets are publicly controlled and contracts with private entities 
are transparent, accountable, effectively monitored, and that those contracts meet 
the long-term needs of communities.  Review the RESOURCES here.

To receive an electronic copy of this guide or PDFs of any of these resources, please email 
Tory Brown, ITPI’s Director of Outreach and Organizing, at tbrown@inthepublicinterest.org

UWUA Wins at National Labor Relations Board

National Labor Relations Board Holds American Water Illegally Slashed Employee Benefits

 

For immediate release:

August 4, 2014

 

For more information contact:

Sam McKnight, (248) 354-5608

 

Washington, D.C.  The U.S. National Labor Relations Board has issued a decision holding that American Water illegally slashed healthcare and other benefits for 3,200 workers in nearly 70 different bargaining units in fifteen states across the U.S.

 

The July 31, 2014, decision finds that American Water illegally imposed cuts in employee healthcare, retiree health, and disability benefits on January 1, 2011 without having notified state mediation agencies about the ongoing bargaining dispute, as required by federal labor law.

 

The decision orders the company to pay backpay with interest to all affected workers and to restore the illegal cuts in employee benefits.  The Utility Workers Union of America, which filed the charge against the company, estimates American Water’s backpay liability in the case to be several million dollars.

 

“This decision is another huge step in our efforts to win justice for American Water employees,” declared Michael Langford, UWUA National President.  “We will continue challenging this company’s unfair attacks against working families until American Water learns that it is not above the law.”

 

The NLRB decision involves benefit cuts imposed unilaterally by American Water – the largest for-profit water utility company in the U.S. – in January 2011 during negotiations for a new national benefits agreement.  The NLRB rejected the company’s claim that it was not required to notify state mediation agencies about the dispute, despite an explicit provision of the National Labor Relations Act providing that any available state mediation agency must be notified.

 

The agreement is negotiated by a coalition of nine national and international unions led by the UWUA, and covers 3,200 union workers across the U.S.  The UWUA represents the largest number of American Water bargaining units and 2,400 of the company’s 7,000 employees.

 

The NLRB decision applies to union workers at American Water locations in California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

 

The UWUA represents 50,000 working men and women in the utility and related industries throughout the U.S., including 2,400 employees of American Water in eleven states.  A copy of the NLRB’s decision is available athttp://mynlrb.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d45817ed695.