The Catholic Labor Network asks our members and friends based in Washington DC to act NOW to support the Displaced Workers’ Right to Reinstatement and Retention Amendment Act of 2020, currently before the DC Council. This critical bill will be up for its first Council twice, on Dec. 1 and Dec. 15, before going to the Mayor for her signature.

This important legislation directs employers who are reopening after pandemic-driven closures to offer furloughed employees their old jobs back before hiring replacement workers. It promises a lifeline to workers laid off as hotels, restaurants, sports arenas and entertainment venues shut down in the early months of the pandemic, a hope that as their employers resume normal operations they will be able to resume their service.

If you represent an organization based in the District of Columbia, we ask that you add your organization’s name to the Sign-On Letter in Support of Right to Return to Work. CLICK HERE to read and sign the Letter!

If you are an individual living in Washington DC or represent a DC-based organization, and are willing to contact your local elected officials directly in support of this important bill, please contact me ASAP at [email protected]. No experience necessary! I will provide additional information about the issue and the legislation, as well as any assistance needed to prepare and submit your comments.

Thank you for your support for DC workers displaced by the pandemic!

Two weeks before the COVID-19 crisis, 25,000 workers at Giant and Safeway grocery stores in the Greater Washington DC area overcame a push by the companies to end their pension plans and curtail health benefits. The members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) endured months of difficult negotiations and settled excellent contracts before facing a pandemic crisis.

Giant and Safeway are among the largest chains in the Washington-Baltimore region, but the rest of their competitors like Harris Teeter and Walmart are largely nonunion. At one time, grocery stores were heavily unionized and offered decent middle-class jobs with benefits for blue collar workers. Over time, the retail sector has become increasingly part-time low wage and insecure jobs and the unionized companies face stiff competition from retailers like Walmart, which constantly seeks to drive down labor costs by pushing part time workers to do more work with less help.

While workers in unionized grocery stores can face similar challenges, a union contract makes these jobs more secure with much better benefits than the nonunion chains. Though wages are comparable between union and nonunion grocers, the union contracts give workers healthcare and retirement as well as a voice in decisions by the company. Jean St. Louis, a Catholic UFCW member in Maryland, appreciates the protection and support being a member gives her and her coworkers at Safeway.

Jean, who was part of the negotiations team, saw early on that Giant and Safeway wanted big concessions including dismantling the pension plan altogether. Holding onto the pensions became the number one issue immediately for Jean and her fellow members. She and other members were worried about the members that already retired, many of whom are disabled, and could not go back to work. Jean wondered how she could make up for 28 years in a pension plan that would be suddenly gone.

Pensions have become increasingly rare because companies do not like to have liabilities on their books and prefer to push retirement savings entirely on the shoulders of workers. Mark Federici, president of UFCW Local 400, pointed out that this system of retirement is a big problem for hourly workers because they can see decades of savings erased in a day (as we just experienced) and then put off retirement or simply retire without enough to live in dignity.

UFCW members did months of talking to their coworkers and building their union in preparation for a potential strike in order to preserve their benefits. Ultimately, the members reached an agreement with Giant and Safeway that preserved their pension plan.  The settlement also included raises and minimal healthcare increases. Jean St. Louis and President Mark Federici both expressed pride in the new contracts and President Federici believes it is the best the local has negotiated in decades.

In a big win for just wages, 61% of Florida voters supported raising the state’s minimum wage (gradually) to $15 per hour.

Catholic Social Teaching holds that every worker deserves a living wage, and most everyone agrees that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour – less than $15,000 per year for a full-time worker – is not a living wage anywhere in the country. That’s why a growing number of states have opted to set a higher one, either by legislative action or by popular vote as in Florida. Indeed, as the Washington Post noted:

Minimum wage increases are typically popular among the electorate. Since 2000, states have held 21 referendums on the minimum wage, and all have passed, according to a tally kept by Ballotpedia. Public opinion surveys have shown broad support; a 2019 Pew survey found that two-thirds of Americans supported raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Florida’s current minimum wage is $8.56 per hour. The constitutional amendment just passed would phase in a series of step increases, with a $10 minimum taking effect in September 2021 and climbing to $15 per hour in 2026. More than 2 million low-income workers are expected to get a raise due to the amendment.

Some employers replacing furloughed workers with temps

The covid-19 pandemic required many hotels, restaurants, theaters and sports venues to close their doors, at least temporarily. Many were forced to furlough longtime employees. As they gradually reopen, will they call these loyal workers back to service – or take advantage of today’s depressed labor market to hire lower-paid replacement workers?

A recent WORKERS SPEAK OUT online panel discussion bringing together hotel workers and union representatives from Chicago, Boston and Baltimore revealed a range of responses, and a national movement to create “right to recall” laws that would require reopening employers to offer furloughed workers their old jobs before hiring off the street.

Justice would seem to require that firms gearing up after a pandemic interruption recall the career employees whose labor helped the employer build the firm in the first place. But in the absence of laws requiring this, the actual behavior of firms is hit-or-miss and often depends on the power of the workers and their union to secure fair outcomes.

In a striking contrast, participants in the panel heard from two Chicago-area hotel workers, one protected by a union contract and one who was not. Adrian Aguirre, a bartender at the Omni Chicago, had successfully organized in a union with his co-workers and secured a contract with two-year recall rights in the event of a layoff. Carlos Perez, a houseman employed at the Hyatt Century, has no union. The Hyatt told all the furloughed workers they were fired, and has hired replacements from a temp agency.

This is why the hotel workers’ union UNITE HERE is working across the country to pass city and state laws protecting workers’ “right to recall.” Readers of this newsletter will be familiar with the situation in Baltimore, where CLN and Catholic social ministry leaders recently organized an appeal to the Mayor to sign two “right to recall” bills approved by the City Council. The legislation would protect ALL hospitality workers in the city, whether they belong to the union or not. The CLN is working with the union in other jurisdictions to pass similar initiatives.

CLICK HERE to view a recording of WORKERS SPEAK OUT on Right to Recall after the Pandemic!

The Central Labor Council of Nashville & Middle Tennessee, in partnership with the Nashville Area Building Trades, is launching its third Apprenticeship Readiness Program in the construction trades November 9-20, 2020.  This free, 120-hour training program follows NABTU’s national MC3 (multi-craft core curriculum) and has been adapted to the local vernacular of Nashville to be dubbed, “Music City Construction Careers.”  Locally, MC3 has graduated 15 participants to date.

Aimee Shelide Mayer, Representative of the Catholic Labor Network in Middle TN, is once again working to recruit from community partners, most specifically Catholic Charities and local parishes with a population who might be interested in a construction career.  The Building Trades of late have focused on intentionally inviting women, veterans, and people of color to join their apprenticeships, and Aimee’s outreach has followed this approach.

Respecting the new social norms of COVID-19, information sessions were held virtually and a recording of the first session can be viewed on the MusicCityMC3 Facebook Page here.  Applications are currently being received and reviewed, with interviews to take place between October 21-30. Interested applicants can apply online here, and questions may be directed to [email protected] or 615.669.4694.