Labor Updates (5/14/08)

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Hundreds of MontCo Workers Protest Rollbacks of  Pay Raises: Over 300 county workers “packed a [Montgomery] County Council hearing room” to protest attempts by Councilmembers Phil Andrews and Duchy Trachtenberg to revoke promised pay increases for thousands of County workers, reported C. Benjamin Ford in Friday’s Gazette. “The suggestion that county workers should volunteer to pare down contractually established pay increases not only ignores the financial realities of living and working in one of the most expensive areas in the country, it also undermines the collective bargaining process,” said MCGEO/UFCW Local 1994 President Gino Renne in a letter to the editor in Saturday’s Washington Post. The dispute comes as labor’s influence continues to grow in the County. “Over the past two decades, the influence of the unions representing public employees in the county has grown dramatically,” reported Ann E. Marimow in Sunday’s Washington Post. Government officials “say Montgomery's bargaining system -- along with labor's political clout -- gives workers as strong a voice, if not stronger, than taxpayers in budget talks.” Still Time to Join CLUW Team to Beat Cervical Cancer: This Friday is the deadline to sign up for the Coalition of Labor Union Women team for this year’s “Walk to Beat the Clock” against cervical cancer on Saturday, May 17. “Although [it] is too late to be counted for the grant, [union members] can still sign up online until 5P on Friday, May 16,” reports Carolyn Jacobson of CLUW. Members of any union, including men, can join the CLUW team. Click here to register.