COGS News
July 2002
COGS Gears Up For Another Bargaining Year
As state lawmakers continue to slash the UI’s budget, graduate employees can rest assured that the value of our labor continues to be recognized and protected. Effective July 1, graduate employee salaries increased by 4 percent. This increase is part of our contract with the University and something we fought hard for last bargaining year. Also, effective July 1, the University began making a 70 percent contribution to dependent dental coverage. This was another hard-fought gain in the last contract negotiations.
Looking ahead to October when our next bargaining year begins, we can expect an even greater fight than last time. We expect the University to once again make initial proposals that include concessions, especially on insurance. No matter what the situation, this Union will continue to maintain its position – NO CONCESSIONS, AT ALL.
While the University is in a budget crisis, the truth continues to be that we keep this university running and we must stand up and demand that our labor be justly valued. Undergraduate education and valuable research in various fields would come to a standstill if it weren’t for our labor. We must continue to confront the budget crisis through our political action, and we will not sacrifice our rights and benefits in the interest of short term and short-sighted solutions to the crisis.
Our Union is strong. We ended last year with 728 members, our highest membership level ever. Our membership participation levels are high. The dues increase of $3.00 which took effect July 1 is shoring up our finances and resources. Our national union continues to provide assistance and education, when needed. With bargaining about to begin again, now is the time to consolidate our strength and bring more graduate employees into the Union, both as new members and as active members. YOUR UNION NEEDS YOU!
As most everyone knows, UE Local 896/COGS is a member-run Union. This, we believe, is why we have built and maintained such a strong organization and contract. To begin this year, consider how you can contribute to our movement. Whether its talking to other employees about joining the Union, planning political action activities, serving as a steward, or helping to fold mailings and stuff envelopes, everything we do helps make us stronger and requires the active participation of members like you. For information on how you can get more involved, contact a committee chair or chief steward (see inside). Give them a call or send an e-mail. We’re looking forward to an active year for COGS and we’re looking forward to seeing new and old faces alike as we continue to push forward and build the union.
Lise VanderVoort, President
COGS Member Shares Importance of Global Solidarity
For the past ten years, UE has cultivated a relationship with an independent Mexican labor union called the FAT (Authentic Worker’s Front). This relationship has been established and maintained through the hard work of many people on both sides. Constant delegations of UE members to Mexico and FAT members to the US facilitate the connection. This July UE sent a delegation of UE members to Mexico City for an eight-day trip hosted by the FAT. I had the privilege of representing COGS on this trip. Our inclusion was largely the result of the commitment of our local 896 members to voluntarily donate $1 per month to the FAT. To date, over 100 COGS members have signed up for this donation. The trip was organized to educate UE locals and members about the organization and activities of the FAT and to continue to ferment the cross-border solidarity necessary for workers in a globalizing world.
I return from this trip with immense admiration for the determination and courage of Mexican workers and FAT organizers, and a sense of obligation to tell their story. While in Mexico City, we met with workers making $7 per day, who were scared to organize with the FAT from fear their factory would close and move to Bangladesh, where some workers are making $.04 per hour. We heard about the Plan Puebla Panama development scheme which includes the seven southern states of Mexico and all of Central America. This project provides the transportation infrastructure necessary for “Bio-Capitalists” (a word they used to refer to transnational pharmaceutical companies) to finally exploit a region that encompasses 10%-12% of the world’s biodiversity. We met with gasolineros, gas station attendants who pay 50 pesos a day for the right to work.
The FAT is on the front lines of all of these fights. They’re fighting a corrupt system of “official” labor unions that sign secret labor contracts with capitalists on behalf of workers not yet hired. They’re fighting to organize workers who lack the right to hold secret ballot elections. In Mexico, workers who want to break with the official union must stand up, individually, in-front of factory owners and hired goons, and declare themselves members of FAT. They’re fighting against the result of eight years under NAFTA, which is forcing peasants off their land, unable to compete against subsidized US farmers who sell genetically-modified corn for less than the cost of producing it. They’re fighting against the next generation of trade agreements that promise to completely erode the progressive elements of the Mexican Constitution. They’re fighting in the face of intense intimidation by government and commercial interests, including death threats and physical beatings. And they’re doing all of this with unflinching principles.
As a democratic organization, the workers make all the decisions, and negotiate the contracts. Before the four national leaders of the FAT convene meetings, questions of gender, power, and equity and are considered.
If a global labor movement can be established to successfully oppose the destructive impacts of the ever expanding, disease-like spread of neo-liberalism, it is through the path breaking work of unions like the FAT and UE, and the continued cultivation of cross-border cooperation. I urge you, if you haven’t already, ask your steward for a FAT check-off card and begin donating $1 per month to the FAT. As the saying goes… It’s money well spent.
David Correia
Building Membership is Crucial in Contract Year
Nobody knows for sure what to expect when bargaining begins in the fall. But we do know that, no matter what, the stronger our Union is the better we will fare in negotiations. And that means bringing in more members – especially first-year grad employees.
COGS members broke the record for membership numbers last year, and we stand a very good chance of doing it again. You can do your part in many ways. Here are a few:
--Just ask! Many times, graduate employees simply need to be asked to join. So carry a dues card in your backpack or briefcase. Have one handy in your desk. And remember to ask people that you meet, “Have you had a chance to join the Union?” Often, people are grateful for the chance to help out by simply becoming a dues-paying member. It’s especially impor- tant to ask brand-new employees to sign the dues card.
--Know your union. You don’t have to be able to quote the contract or the COGS Constitution verbatim in order to ask folks to join. But there are a few simple, informative materials available through your departmental steward or in the COGS office, if you’d like to have some basic information at hand. The organizer’s kit supplies you with facts about the history and structure of COGS, as well as important facts about the contract and health insurance. Also, come to the monthly membership meetings for important, members-only information.
--Join a committee. COGS is run by its members – people like you and me who take a little time to create newsletters, organize social events, arrange meetings, etc. There are ample opportunities to help out, even for just an hour a month. It’s necessary for the strength and survival of the local, and it’s fun (really) to make new friends from many different areas of study.
--Become a steward. Every department needs at least one steward, a member who is elected to be the union contact within that department. Stewards are, as we say, “the backbone of the union.” They take the lead in raising member- ship levels in their departments, and if there’s a grievance, the departmental steward is your first resource.
Information about who to contact is available at the website, or call COGS at 337-5074. This summer, contact COGS if you can help with the all-important Fall organizing drive. We need people to attend.
Mike Evces, VP for Organizing
Summer District Council Report
UE District Council 11 convened in La Crosse, Wisconsin from June 22-23. Approximately forty delegates representing UE locals in five states (Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Illinois) participated in the meeting. The COGS delegates were Samantha Solimeo, John McKerley, and Lise VanderVoort. Also in attendance from Iowa City were Josh Buck, a former UI undergraduate currently working for the UE as an organizer, and Ryan Downing, the UE Field Representative assigned to COGS. The most important issue for COGS members regarded plans for the next UE National Convention in Raleigh, North Carolina, in September. Although the agenda will not include new changes to the per capita payment that locals make to the national organization, national delegates will begin a preliminary discussion toward giving breaks to lower-wage shops. A discussion regarding a possible future switch to an hourly-based dues structure will also continue. As our ditrict and national delegates have already pointed out, such a change could affect COGS members because most employees in our bargaining unit receive a high hourly wage but comparatively low annual wages.
Organizing remained a central theme at the meeting. UE District 11 President Carl Rosen spoke on the importance of mobilizing members behind pro-labor candidates such as Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone. He also announced a recent National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision allowing union members to aid in the organization of sister shops. Under the new ruling, members – who previously had been restricted to the parking lot – could communicate with workers in the plant before, after, or between shifts.
Following Rosen’s address, each local presented a “shop report” in which delegates discussed ongoing challenges in the workplace. The report of Local 893, an amalgamated local of public employees across Iowa, is especially important to COGS members. Like us, the members of Local 893 face a threat to their wages and benefits from statewide budget cuts. They fear the possibility of furloughs and even layoffs in the near future. Their report reminded us of the importance of organizing as we begin another bargaining year here at the UI. As their story confirms, we will need a strong organization to protect our wages and healthcare in the current political and economic climate.
One of the highlights of the meeting was a presentation by UE Director of Organizing Bob Kingsley. He spoke on the state of UE organizing nationally and on the UE’s role in fighting the “Global Corporate Agenda.” He also highlighted the recent victory for workers at the Azteca Tortillas pant in Chicago, Illinois, who recently voted to become UE Local 1159 against heavy employer pressure.
The Next District Council will be held in Bloomington, Minnesota, from October 18-20.
John McKerley and Samantha Solimeo
