:: rawblogXport ::

:: Thursday, October 21, 2004 ::

Bush's Other War by Tom Robbins, The Village Voice
Even those at the workplace margins haven't been able to catch a break. In a little-noticed vote last month, the board ruled against a group of disabled janitors in Florida who were seeking the right to join a union. The board said they were not entitled to do so because they were part of a rehabilitation program. The two dissenting Democrats pointed out that the janitors reported to the same supervisors as the rest of the staff and carried much the same workload. The decision was also out of sync, they said, with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which seeks to move the disabled into mainstream society. Barring the janitors from joining a union continued the "needless segregation of those workers," the minority members stated.

Any day now, the board is expected to rule on a matter that could drastically alter the way that workers win union recognition. The board now appears poised to hobble a decades-old practice called "voluntary recognition agreements," in which employers agree to recognize a union if a majority of employees, usually certified by a neutral observer, have indicated a desire to have union representation.

posted 6:58 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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