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Labor Endorses Police Reform Bills |
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The Texas AFL-CIO has endorsed six policing reform bills that stem from misconduct in the deaths of George Floyd and so many others.
“The ongoing run of tragic deaths and other mistreatment of persons of color at the hands of law officers must end,” Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy said. “The time for continued mourning and vague promises of reform is over. Texas needs to act.”
Levy said the state labor federation’s affiliated unions recognize that business as usual on the question of racism and police misconduct will just mean more of the same, imposing a terrible toll on people of color in our state.
“The labor movement’s job is to fight for ALL people who get up every day and go to work to live in dignity,” Levy said. “Working families cannot have a fair shot at better lives if they are subject to abusive treatment by anyone, including law enforcement, because of their race. We are proud to join with Rep. Senfronia Thompson and advocates for justice who have brought forward bills to create a new vision for public safety.”
The United Labor Legislative Committee, a coalition of Texas AFL-CIO unions and allies that advocates for working families, voted unanimously today to endorse these bills by Rep. Thompson:
HB 829 — Progressive disciplinary matrix for police officer misconduct in certain municipalities;
HB 830 — Practices with regard to fine-only misdemeanors;
HB 831 — Prohibiting choke-holds and other dangerous techniques as first resorts during arrests;
HB 832 — Duties and powers of peace officers;
HB 833 — Deescalation policies to avoid dangerous use of force; and
HB 834 — Corroboration requirements in undercover drug cases.
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Texas Senate Gives Approval to Bill Taking Away City Power to Enact Decent Workplace Benefits |
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The Texas Senate gave approval to SB 14, the bill that would prevent cities from legislating decent workplace benefits.
The vote was again 19-12. All Republicans and one Democrat — Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville — supported the bill, while remaining Democrats were opposed.
The Austin American-Statesman quoted Texas AFL-CIO officers in its account:
The Texas Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would ban cities and counties from requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave, predictable work schedules and some other employee benefits…
The Senate passed similar legislation in 2019 that died in the Texas House after Austin and several other cities required most employers to offer paid sick leave, though courts have blocked those efforts.
SB 14 was given initial approval Monday after Republicans rejected several Democratic amendments, including one offered by Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, that would have allowed local governments to require water breaks for construction workers and others affected by hot summers in Texas.
"We are seeing an inordinate number of construction deaths," Eckhardt said, noting a 2015 survey by the U.S. Labor Department that found Texas had the nation's highest number of illness and death among construction workers…
The Texas AFL-CIO criticized the bill.
"Amid a continuing pandemic and winter storms that idled millions of Texans, SB 14 short-circuits government that is closest to the people and, in service to ideology, champions businesses that refuse to adopt even the most minimally decent work standards," union President Rick Levy and Secretary-Treasurer Leonard Aguilar said in a written statement.
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Texas AFL-CIO Virtual Lobby Week: Action With Video Testimonials |
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The Texas AFL-CIO concluded a week of action with union members addressing fair shot agenda issues with lawmakers from their hometown. Union members specifically brought up bills listed below and some many activists used our video testimonial tool to convey their message on social media.
Bills We Care About Right Now! HB 6 and SB 7: please oppose these bills and others legislative proposals that will mark it harder for Texans to vote and lead to widespread voter intimidation.
The state budget: please raise state employee pay, “stop the swap” and spend federal recovery and stimulus dollars on important investments like our public schools, and protect our retirement plans by opposing efforts to destroy defined benefit pensions and replacing them with dangerous 401k-type defined contribution plans.
SB 14: please oppose this bill and others like it that will interfere with our local communities, do away with local wage and construction safety policies, and could lead to employment discrimination.
Apprenticeships & Licensed Trades: Please support HB 636 to protect Texas professional plumbers, and please oppose HB 633 which would result in lower wages for construction workers across the state.
Workers Comp & Unemployment: please support HB 145 to remove the unnecessary waiting period access unemployment benefits, and support HB 3620 to expand unemployment insurance benefits.
SB 1660: oppose this bill to end voluntary payroll dues deduction for frontline workers in Texas; let us spend our hard-earned paychecks as we see fit!
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Plumber Regulation Bill Advances, Keeping Safety of Public in Play |
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In a victory for licensed plumbers in Texas, the Texas House gave tentative approval to HB 636, the bill that would extend the life of the Board of Plumbing Examiners.
The agency, whose standards for plumbing licenses undergird safety in homes, buildings and hospitals across Texas, nearly vanished in 2019.
The vote on the measure by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, was 140-6. Thompson added two clarifying amendments and accepted an amendment by Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, that permits public schools and junior colleges to set up plumber training programs, subject to the rules of the board.
Watch our video on Twitter of union plumber, Jeremy Pavlich from UA 68:
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House Panel Approves Bill Establishing Presumption That Nurses With COVID-19 Caught Virus at Work |
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The House Business and Industry Committee approved HB 396 by Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, which would establish a presumption that nurses who contracted COVID-19 did so in the workplace.
The United Labor Legislative Committee has strongly endorsed this and similar bills because of the difficulty of proving the exact contact that may have passed along the coronavirus. Under the key pandemic measure, the presumption could be rebutted by evidence proving the virus was transmitted outside work.
The bill is modeled after work by the National Nurses Union and AFL-CIO, Texas AFL-CIO Legislative Director René Lara reports. Nurses have taken on large, constant risks during the pandemic, but they also have lives outside their places of employment. Nurses should not be placed in a position where there is no way to prove adequately that COVID-19 was work-related and that nurses therefore qualify for important benefits.
The bill is now eligible to be set for floor debate by the House Calendars Committee.
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Labor Historican Connects Amazon Loss to Pending PRO Act |
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The connection between the recent election at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama and the need for the PRO Act drew the attention of labor historian Erik Loomis in the New York Times.
As Loomis declares, the problem of one-sided corporate domination of the union organizing process has “a very clear solution”:
Amazon pulled out the same playbook that employers have used since the 1980s: hire an expensive anti-union law firm, shower employees with anti-union literature, force them to sit through anti-union meetings and bombard them with messages about union dues. This is all perfectly legal under a labor-law regime captured by corporations…
This problem has a very clear solution. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act has become a top priority for Democrats who recognize the importance of unions to their coalition.
It would make many of Amazon’s tactics in Bessemer illegal. The PRO Act would bar mandatory anti-union meetings and other forms of employer interference. Employees could cast their ballot outside of the workplace. It would allow newly formed union locals to go to mediation to get their first contract.
It would also effectively overturn right-to-work laws that allow employees to opt out of a union, giving the union the right to collect dues from nonmembers. Perhaps most important, it establishes financial penalties for companies who violate the law.
The PRO Act passed the House with near unanimity from Democrats as well as support from a few Republicans. However, the reality of the filibuster means there is almost no chance the PRO Act passes the Senate. So long as Republicans unite in opposition — which, despite anti-corporate rhetorical gestures from the likes of Mitch McConnell, they almost certainly will — it will never come to a vote. Unless moderate Democrats agree to eliminate or reform the filibuster, they are as responsible for this era of corporate domination over workers as their Republican colleagues.
The union movement needs to organize for the economy of 2021, not 1950. Amazon, Google, Walmart and Target are this generation’s Ford, General Motors and U.S. Steel. Winning a union in the auto and steel industries was nearly impossible without the government leveling the playing field.
The PRO Act would once again place unions and employers on a more equal standing. As Amazon’s campaign to defeat a union demonstrates, the new law would help provide a path out of the economic inequality that helps define contemporary America.
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Song of the Week - "Let's Work Together" - Canned Heat |
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Have a great weekend...After all, we fought for it. |
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