How otherwise progressive unions stand in the way of a more humane correctional system

—By James Ridgeway and Jean Casella In Mother Jones and Solitary Watch

Now AFSCME will apparently fight to keep a troubled prison open simply to keep some of its members from having to relocate. All of Tamms’ union employees were guaranteed placement in other facilities, and no positions were lost due to the closure. But the union argued that conditions at Tamms—widely denounced as cruel, inhumane, and ineffective—were necessary for safety and security, and that the prison was needed to keep jobs in southern Illinois. Tamms Year Ten countered with protests where prisoners’ relatives hoisted signs bearing slogans like “Torture Is a Crime—Not a Career” and “My Son Is Not a Paycheck.”

AFSCME is just one of four large national unions—among them Service Employees International Union (SEIU), American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Teamsters—representing prison workers. And corrections officers in a number of states and even some local jail systems have their own powerful unions….

As strapped states and localities look to their corrections budgets for savings, unions have fought proposed facility closures and the establishment of programs that would divert offenders into treatment and other lockup alternatives. They have frequently opposed reforms that could affect their members’ autonomy, including oversight programs designed to curb abuses by prison employees.

Several unions have attempted to counter the growing tide of reformers who condemn long-term solitary confinement as not only torturous but also counterproductive to prison safety.

See also Prison Culture on Tamms

CI: Old/School/New School 2 – Golden Gulag for more on the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA)

AMERICAN DREAM is a feature documentary film, which tells the story of meatpackers’ years-long strike in Austin, Minnesota. Barbara Kopple and her crew spent four years filming the drama within the Austin community and the ensuing debates among labor organizations across the country. Brothers and neighbors must eventually make the painful and emotional decision whether the strike or their families take precedent as members of Austin’s P-9 Union consider crossing the picket line. The film is a human look at the brutal consequences of corporate greed and Reaganomics. It is an intimate portrait of working families in America whose efforts to make a living are challenged time and again, and it is a tribute to the noble spirit of labor unions all over the nation.

From DemocracyNow:

More than 29,000 Chicago public school teachers and support staff have gone on strike today after union leaders failed to reach an agreement with the nation’s third-largest school district over educational reforms sought by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. It is the first teacher strike in Chicago in a quarter of a century. Unresolved issues include the cost of health benefits, the makeup of the teacher evaluation system, and job security. Emanuel, who is President Obama’s former chief of staff, wants teacher evaluations tied to the standardized test results of students. We hear the voices of union leaders, teachers and parents on Chicago’s strike.

From People’s World:

“The American middle class is under assault,” the platform declares. After a prior GOP “administration that was bent on destroying unions, the president and the Democratic Party believe in the right to organize” and in “supporting American workers with strong labor laws.”

While platforms are usually filed and forgotten, they are indexes of party principles at that point in time. And a recent academic study showed, surprisingly, that platform promises were later written into law more often than expected.

That makes the Democrats’ strong endorsement of worker rights, while not unexpected, welcome. The Employee Free Choice Act, with the provisions the platform backs, would have helped level the playing field between workers and bosses in organizing drives and in bargaining first contracts. A planned GOP Senate filibuster killed it.

“Democrats believe the right to organize and collective bargaining is a fundamental American value,” the platform says. It pledged the party to fight for “laws that provide a fair process to choose union representation and for increased penalties” for labor law-breakers. Both concepts were key sections of the EFCA.

And the platform declares the party’s opposition to “attacks on collective bargaining that governors and states are undertaking” – a thinly veiled reference to GOP-run state governments that killed collective bargaining rights for public workers (Wisconsin) and tried to do so (Ohio).

Meanwhile, the GOP Party Platform seeks to erode workers’ rights:

Steven Greenhouse of The New York Times says the Republican platform “calls for numerous steps that could significantly weaken America’s labor unions.”

Just what does the platform say about workers’ rights, unions, job safety, wages and more?

It “salutes Republican governors and state legislators” for their efforts to weaken workers’ rights, such as Wisconsin Gov. Scott’s Walker’s assault on the public-sector workers and the law he pushed through eliminating their collective bargaining rights.

For the first time ever, the Republican platform calls for national “right to work” for less law. Such laws, says American Rights at Work:

drive down wages, benefits, and overall living standards for everyone…and laws do not create jobs or improve a state’s business climate.

Today, workers and employers are allowed to enter into voluntary agreements that allow the workers to choose to join a union by signing recognition cards and if the majority does, the employer will recognize the workers’ choice. The Republican platform calls for banning that practice.

Several unions are vowing not to take part in the democratic national convention:

Casting North Carolina as an anti-union bastion with “regressive policies aimed at diluting the power of workers,” more than a dozen trade unions affiliated with the national AFL-CIO have told the Democratic National Committee that they will sit out the 2012 convention in Charlotte, N.C.

Coming on the heels of some liberals’ complaints that President Barack Obama is giving in to Republicans, the unions’ decision is another sign that key Democratic allies are unhappy with Obama and other party leaders as they gear up for a difficult election season.

It’s also a signal that anything relating to Charlotte — from its besieged hometown bank to its lack of unionized hotels — will face scrutiny as the city eases into the national spotlight.

Read more.