:: rawblogXport ::

:: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 ::

Union workers protest Beaver subcontractor
Use of an area non-union contractor at Beaver Country Day School has rankled local labor officials, as the Hammond Street private school has become the site of daily picketing.

Mark Erlich, senior assistant administrator of the New England Council of Carpenters, based in South Boston, said his union has been in consistent conflict for "three or four years" with Erland Construction, the Burlington-based general contractor for the school's new visual and performing arts facility.

Labor Raises New Concerns About Asbestos Fund
Organized labor has written to U.S. senators raising new concerns about attempts to set up an asbestos compensation fund and is asking them to oppose the legislation when a committee resumes work on it on Thursday.

The letter from AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters Wednesday, marked a fresh setback in efforts to reach bipartisan agreement on Sen. Orrin Hatch's bill to take asbestos claims out of courts and pay them from a fund of between $108 billion and $153 billion.

Flaggers on the job to keep you safe
Not a driver's favorite sight, they wield those signs on road construction projects

o Make eye contact — especially important when stopping traffic
o Don’t be aggressive unless you have to
o Don’t step out too fast or they’ll kiss butts (flagger lingo for rear end collision).
o Bump (raise) the sign up two or three times to let other drivers behind see and then step out to stop traffic.
o And this startling piece of advice: make sure you’ve got an escape route.

Schumer decries plan to change overtime rules
More than 438,000 New Yorkers stand to lose thousands of dollars in overtime pay under a Bush Administration plan to eliminate overtime for private-sector white-collar workers, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Tuesday.

Many non-manual workers earning $65,000 or more would no longer be allowed to collect overtime. So-called blue-collar workers like carpenters, electricians and construction workers would be exempt from the changes. Anyone whose salary was negotiated under a collective bargaining agreement - all unionized workers and most public employees - would not be affected, but Schumer noted that only 22 percent of New York state's working population is unionized.

posted 8:38 PM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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