NCFLL Local 644, The Unionist, Winter 2002

JAMES WEYRAUCH President Editor	The UNIONIST Local No. 644 Member of the National Council of Field Labor Locals American Federation of Government Employees AFL-CIO
	Representing field employees of the U.S. Department of Labor in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
	VOLUME XXI, ISSUE I	JANUARY/FEBRUARY/MARCH 2002

THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Conservatives don't' like "Big Government and think it should be off their backs. But yet they want to buy it and contract it out to big business. If it is not good, why do they want it. And make no mistake, they want to buy all of the services of the government and give it to themselves in order to earn billions of dollars.

That would be alright if , for example, it did not gut the services to those citizens it was designed to help. The Department of Labor is the only federal agency that provides all of the vital services , training and enforcement of labor laws to the American worker. That is the mission of the Department of Labor.

That is what the conservatives want to gut the services and laws provided and enforced by the Department. The tool is contracting out and the vehicle is the Federal Activities Inventory Reporting Act(FAIR) and the OMB's mandate that all positions in the Department are on the table for contracting out.

There is no evidence to support that outside contractors do the job more efficiently or less costly. Evidence to the contrary has been well documented. The 2000 Census was conducted by an outside contractor who sent millions of forms to the wrong address and cost millions of dollars to fix. Over 40, 000 tax returns in 2001 were either lost or destroyed by disgruntled employees of a contractor that was $810 million of movies owed citizens.

The first jobs that seem to be on the table are the part time data collectors in BLS. And the Women's Bureau is slated to close all of the Regional offices to D.C. in the next budget cycle.

(see President's corner page 3)

ELECTION RESULTS

President and Delegate
Executive Vice Pres.
Treasurer
Recording Secretary
Vice President ESA
Vice President OSHA
Vice President BAT
Vice President MSHA

Jim Weyrauch
Dave Berestecky
Harry Foose
Helen Williams
John Lechman
Cindy Peist
Craig Dotson
John Savine

Delegates

Helen Williams
Harry Foose
John Lechman

Election Committee

Rich Whittier
Dan Doherty
Brian Heeter

Number of delegates to be funded Two(2)

By‑law change for another MSHA Vice President for Metal Non Metal passed by a two thirds majority and a special election will be held in January or February. A copy of the election results can be obtained by union members from their shop steward.

THE UNIONIST PAGE 2

LOCAL 644 MEMBER RECEIVES GEORGE MEANY AWARD FOR SERVICE TO YOUTH

Bruce Andersen, Local 644 member in the Philadelphia District Office of OFCCP was presented the George Meany Award at a ceremony on December 13 , 2001. The George Meany Award is Organized Labor's Highest award for service to he Boy Scouts of America.

Bruce Andersen has shown dedication and commitment to both Scouting and the community. He is a twenty-two year member of Scouting. As a youth he earned to rank of Eagle Scout. He was an active member of Order of the Arrow.

He served as District Executive in the Orange County Council (CA). During his tenure there, he ran the Scouting Outreach Program and oversaw the Soccer Scouting Program which sent three hundred youth to summer camp over three years. He was active as Cubmaster and Scoutmaster.

Since 1992 he has maintained his membership in Scouting as he moved throughout the country. He has been a volunteer in the National Capital Area Council, the Cambridge Council, the San Francisco Bay Area Council and the Alameda Council.

His current scouting position is Scoutmaster with Troop 152 in the Western District of the Cradle of Liberty Council. In November 1999, he restarted a troop that had lapsed 28 years earlier. This troop had grown from five to twenty‑five scouts in its first two years. The troop earned the National Camping Award and the Quality Unit Award.

Brother Andersen has also been active with Habitat for Humanity, The Boys and Girls Club, and the UC Irvine Alumni Association. He was nominated for the George Meany Award by Local 644 and endorsed by the Pennsylvania AFL‑CIO.

LOCAL 644 EXECUTIVE BOARD

Jim Weyrauch
President
Philadelphia, PA
215 597 5183

Dave Berestecky
Executive Vice President and Legislative Director
Pittsburgh, PA
412 395 4718

Harry Foose
Treasurer
Triadelphia, PA
304 547 2056

Helen William
Recording Secretary, Women's and Fair Practices Coordinator
Philadelphia, PA
215 861 5063

Craig Dotson
Vice President BAT
Pittsburgh, PA
412 395 5037

John Lechman
Vice President ESA
Greensburg, PA
412 644 4694

John Savine
Vice President MSHA
Hunker, PA
724 925 5159 Ext. 118

Cindy Peist
Vice President OSHA
Allentown, PA
610 782 5209
610 776 0592

THE UNIONIST IS PUBLISHED BY LOCAL 644 AFGE, NCFLL, AFL-CIO

Mailing address

P.O. Boy 40394
Philadelphia, PA 19106-0394

Jim Weyrauch, Editor

(215) 597-5183
(215) 597-5172 fax

THE UNIONIST is a participating member of the International Labor Communications Association, the Pennsylvania labor Communications Association and the AFGE Editors Association and prescribes to the required code of ethics of each.

THE UNIONIST PAGE 3

BUY UNION BY E MAIL

Let your fingers do the shopping . For guaranteed all‑union products at competitive prices with none of the hassles of "real‑time shopping", go on‑line to BuyUnionNow.com. The site features clothing, sports equipment, household goods and more. The site carries only products recommenced by the unions that produce them.

RIVER DANCE PERFORMERS OPT
FOR AFM COVERAGE

The Irish musicians touring with acclaimed "Riverdance" show are represented by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). AFM President Thomas F. Lee said the agreement covering the musicians provides much improved wages and benefits. The contract also includes a clause requiring the AFM logo to appear in the printed program.

MORE EVIDENCE OF WORKER ABUSES IN AMERICA SAMOA

A federal indictment recently handed down in Hawaii documents a grisly pattern of brutality and greed in the garment industry in America Samoa. Federal law enforcement authorities say that the owner of the Daewoosa Samoa Ltd. Factory which manufactured garments for many leading U.S. retailers, including J.C. Penny instructed supervisors to beat workers who moved too slowly. In testimony before a federal grand jury, one supervisor testified that he instructed laborers to beat Vietnamese workers. Another one witness admitted attacking workers with a pipe under instructions from the owner. If found guilty, the owner Ki Soo Lee could face 390 years in prison.

JOIN THE FIGHT TO SAVE DOL JOBS

The battle to save jobs in DOL will be time consuming and costly. Local 644 needs all the help and support it can get. It will take most of the resources of the union to fight to keep jobs. This is not the time for freeloaders, this is everyone's fight. Don't hang back and expect to reap the benefits. THE JOB THAT MIGHT BE SAVED BY YOUR UNION DUES MIGHT JUST BE YOURS

(PRESIDENT'S CORNER continued)

In the case of the part‑time CPI data collectors, what would be the point, hiring a outside contractor would not advance the data collection either in efficiency or cost, just make a contractor rich and the employees would be low paid and no benefits. But at no savings to the government.

As for the Women's Bureau this is a page from the Heritage Foundation's wish list. It would not be a savings to move the functions of the Regional offices to D.C. because the cost of moving the employees at over $100,000 per employee and the closing of the offices is much more than the annual budget of this agency.

What would exceed is to deny vital services and information to the millions of working women toiling outside of the D.C. beltway. This, in my humble opinion, is the first assault on the equal pay provisions and to further divide the working people in America.

But the proponents ofbig profits and movers of our economic system in a race to the bottom have made a huge mistake in targeting the Department of Labor employees and its union. The NCFLL will fight to keep every job and to maintain the vital services to the American worker. The NCFLL will be involved in every A‑76 (contracting out) study and bidding on every position in DOL. Proving over and over that we do it better and at less cost to the taxpayer. The NCFLL will lobby congress and the labor unions, we will be in the halls of Congress and the streets of America telling the world what we do is important to the taxpayers and working men and women . The battle cry !

DON'T PRIVATIZE, WE ARE NOT FOR SALE!!

THE BOTTOM LINE BY JIM WEYRAUCH

THE UNIONIST PAGE 4

The five union dockworkers known as the "Charleston 5 " were released from that a year and a half. of house arrest. The group was cleared when South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon, who had attempted to use the case to advance his political career removed himself from the case. The workers attorneys had demanded that he be disqualified for gross misconduct. The case was transferred to a local prosecutor , who gave his consent for lifting the house arrest.

The "5s" arrest 1 for "rioting", grew out of a January 2000 picket line incident with 800 police.

General Motors agreed to pay $1.25 million to employees at its assembly plant in Linden New Jersey, who sued the company over racial and sexual harassment. Under the settlement, GM denied any fault but agreed to submit all employees racial and sexual harassment complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the next two years. Employees describe the racial epithets, "suggestive and graphic displays: and one occasion , a hangman's noose was left in the lunchroom. Two supervisors ran over the foot of a white employee after he wrote a letter supporting the charges. The plant has nearly 2,500 workers, 3 5 per cent of them minorities ...

Six current and former Wal‑Mart employees filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against the nation's largest private employer. The suit contends that women are relegated to lower paying jobs and systematically denied advancement. Even though they are only 28 percent of the workforce, men hold 90 percent of WAL‑MART's store manger positions.

SPECIAL ELECTION FOR VICE PRESIDENT MSHA METAL/NON METAL DIVISION

A Local 644 By‑Law Amendment was passed by a two‑third majority vote to have a Vice President for the MSHA Metal/Non Metal Division. A Special Election will be held in February 2002 to elect this Vice President. This will serve as the general notice and each Local 644 member in MSHA Metal/Non‑ Metal will receive a notice of nomination, so that any member in good standing in that Division can run,for the office.

After nominations are closed , the Election Committee will send out ballots to the members for an election.

The term of office will be the same as that of the rest of the elected offices. And in the future, this position will be on the General Election. This position will be a full voting member of the Local 644 Executive Board with duties regarding liaison between the stewards of the MSHA Metal/Non‑metal Division and the Executive Board.

LOCAL 644 CHARITIES ADOPTS A FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS.

Among the 4000 victims of the World Trade Center Disaster were undocumented immigrant workers that toiled at the various restaurants. The families of these victims can not receive any benefits due to the status of being undocumented. Hotel Workers Local 100 has adopted these families and is providing direct aid support for the widows and orphans.

Local 644 Charities contacted HERE Local 100 and obtained a family name and is sending money to help for the Christmas season. This is also a plea for contributions to aid in this tragic situation and a chance to offer a little support for people in desperate need. Send any contributions to Local 644 Charities, P.O. Box 40394, Philadelphia PA. 19106.

DO
YOU
KNOW
THIS
CARD?

It's a union card. It signifies membership in Local 644 of the American Federation of Government Employees, NCFLL (AFL‑CIO), the union for federal workers.

But, it means more than that to me. Hi, my name is Helen Williams, Recording Secretary and Fair Practice Coordinator for Local 644. I work in the Office of Administration and Management OASAM) in Philadelphia. Believe me when I say that every DOL worker ought to be a proud owner of this card.

This is the card that spells protection, It means justice on the job. It means working women and men honoring the old American tradition of people joining together to achieve the greatest good for everyone.

I guess that's what the word "union" is all about. To me, the card means security. Today when the President of the United States and the Congress keep telling the voters that I am to blame for most of the nation's ailments, it's important to have a strong friend by my side. That"s my union‑there when I need it most.

My advice to every DOL worker is simple: Join up. Get YOUR union card. And don't go to work without it!

DON'T
GO
TO
WORK
WITHOUT
IT!

See your Local 644 shop steward for more information and to sign up today.

	These Union Plus benefits are brought to you by Union Privilege
	For more information about the benefits of union membership, contact your Local AFGE Benefits Coordinator or call toll‑free: 1‑888‑844‑AFG E ( 2343 ) Residents: 202‑639‑6941 www.afge.org	American Federation of Government Employees, AFL‑CIO 80 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001
		The Union Plus programs are subject to change. No union dues are used to provide these benefits.
		AFGE Org 8/Ol

THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER Conservatives don't' like "Big Government and think it should be off their backs. But yet they want to buy it and contract it out to big business. If it is not good, why do they want it. And make no mistake, they want to buy all of the services of the government and give it to themselves in order to earn billions of dollars. That would be alright if , for example, it did not gut the services to those citizens it was designed to help. The Department of Labor is the only federal agency that provides all of the vital services , training and enforcement of labor laws to the American worker. That is the mission of the Department of Labor. That is what the conservatives want to gut the services and laws provided and enforced by the Department. The tool is contracting out and the vehicle is the Federal Activities Inventory Reporting Act(FAIR) and the OMB's mandate that all positions in the Department are on the table for contracting out. There is no evidence to support that outside contractors do the job more efficiently or less costly. Evidence to the contrary has been well documented. The 2000 Census was conducted by an outside contractor who sent millions of forms to the wrong address and cost millions of dollars to fix. Over 40, 000 tax returns in 2001 were either lost or destroyed by disgruntled employees of a contractor that was $810 million of movies owed citizens. The first jobs that seem to be on the table are the part time data collectors in BLS. And the Women's Bureau is slated to close all of the Regional offices to D.C. in the next budget cycle. (see President's corner page 3)
	ELECTION RESULTS
	President and Delegate Executive Vice Pres. Treasurer Recording Secretary Vice President ESA Vice President OSHA Vice President BAT Vice President MSHA	Jim Weyrauch Dave Berestecky Harry Foose Helen Williams John Lechman Cindy Peist Craig Dotson John Savine
	Delegates	Helen Williams Harry Foose John Lechman
	Election Committee	Rich Whittier Dan Doherty Brian Heeter
	Number of delegates to be funded Two(2)
	By‑law change for another MSHA Vice President for Metal Non Metal passed by a two thirds majority and a special election will be held in January or February. A copy of the election results can be obtained by union members from their shop steward.

	THE UNIONIST PAGE 2 LOCAL 644 MEMBER RECEIVES GEORGE MEANY AWARD FOR SERVICE TO YOUTH Bruce Andersen, Local 644 member in the Philadelphia District Office of OFCCP was presented the George Meany Award at a ceremony on December 13 , 2001. The George Meany Award is Organized Labor's Highest award for service to he Boy Scouts of America. Bruce Andersen has shown dedication and commitment to both Scouting and the community. He is a twenty-two year member of Scouting. As a youth he earned to rank of Eagle Scout. He was an active member of Order of the Arrow. He served as District Executive in the Orange County Council (CA). During his tenure there, he ran the Scouting Outreach Program and oversaw the Soccer Scouting Program which sent three hundred youth to summer camp over three years. He was active as Cubmaster and Scoutmaster. Since 1992 he has maintained his membership in Scouting as he moved throughout the country. He has been a volunteer in the National Capital Area Council, the Cambridge Council, the San Francisco Bay Area Council and the Alameda Council. His current scouting position is Scoutmaster with Troop 152 in the Western District of the Cradle of Liberty Council. In November 1999, he restarted a troop that had lapsed 28 years earlier. This troop had grown from five to twenty‑five scouts in its first two years. The troop earned the National Camping Award and the Quality Unit Award. Brother Andersen has also been active with Habitat for Humanity, The Boys and Girls Club, and the UC Irvine Alumni Association. He was nominated for the George Meany Award by Local 644 and endorsed by the Pennsylvania AFL‑CIO.
LOCAL 644 EXECUTIVE BOARD Jim Weyrauch President Philadelphia, PA 215 597 5183 Dave Berestecky Executive Vice President and Legislative Director Pittsburgh, PA 412 395 4718 Harry Foose Treasurer Triadelphia, PA 304 547 2056 Helen William Recording Secretary, Women's and Fair Practices Coordinator Philadelphia, PA 215 861 5063 Craig Dotson Vice President BAT Pittsburgh, PA 412 395 5037 John Lechman Vice President ESA Greensburg, PA 412 644 4694 John Savine Vice President MSHA Hunker, PA 724 925 5159 Ext. 118 Cindy Peist Vice President OSHA Allentown, PA 610 782 5209 610 776 0592 THE UNIONIST IS PUBLISHED BY LOCAL 644 AFGE, NCFLL, AFL-CIO Mailing address P.O. Boy 40394 Philadelphia, PA 19106-0394 Jim Weyrauch, Editor (215) 597-5183 (215) 597-5172 fax THE UNIONIST is a participating member of the International Labor Communications Association, the Pennsylvania labor Communications Association and the AFGE Editors Association and prescribes to the required code of ethics of each.

	THE UNIONIST PAGE 3
BUY UNION BY E MAIL Let your fingers do the shopping . For guaranteed all‑union products at competitive prices with none of the hassles of "real‑time shopping", go on‑line to BuyUnionNow.com. The site features clothing, sports equipment, household goods and more. The site carries only products recommenced by the unions that produce them.
RIVER DANCE PERFORMERS OPT FOR AFM COVERAGE The Irish musicians touring with acclaimed "Riverdance" show are represented by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). AFM President Thomas F. Lee said the agreement covering the musicians provides much improved wages and benefits. The contract also includes a clause requiring the AFM logo to appear in the printed program. MORE EVIDENCE OF WORKER ABUSES IN AMERICA SAMOA A federal indictment recently handed down in Hawaii documents a grisly pattern of brutality and greed in the garment industry in America Samoa. Federal law enforcement authorities say that the owner of the Daewoosa Samoa Ltd. Factory which manufactured garments for many leading U.S. retailers, including J.C. Penny instructed supervisors to beat workers who moved too slowly. In testimony before a federal grand jury, one supervisor testified that he instructed laborers to beat Vietnamese workers. Another one witness admitted attacking workers with a pipe under instructions from the owner. If found guilty, the owner Ki Soo Lee could face 390 years in prison. JOIN THE FIGHT TO SAVE DOL JOBS The battle to save jobs in DOL will be time consuming and costly. Local 644 needs all the help and support it can get. It will take most of the resources of the union to fight to keep jobs. This is not the time for freeloaders, this is everyone's fight. Don't hang back and expect to reap the benefits. THE JOB THAT MIGHT BE SAVED BY YOUR UNION DUES MIGHT JUST BE YOURS	(PRESIDENT'S CORNER continued) In the case of the part‑time CPI data collectors, what would be the point, hiring a outside contractor would not advance the data collection either in efficiency or cost, just make a contractor rich and the employees would be low paid and no benefits. But at no savings to the government. As for the Women's Bureau this is a page from the Heritage Foundation's wish list. It would not be a savings to move the functions of the Regional offices to D.C. because the cost of moving the employees at over $100,000 per employee and the closing of the offices is much more than the annual budget of this agency. What would exceed is to deny vital services and information to the millions of working women toiling outside of the D.C. beltway. This, in my humble opinion, is the first assault on the equal pay provisions and to further divide the working people in America. But the proponents ofbig profits and movers of our economic system in a race to the bottom have made a huge mistake in targeting the Department of Labor employees and its union. The NCFLL will fight to keep every job and to maintain the vital services to the American worker. The NCFLL will be involved in every A‑76 (contracting out) study and bidding on every position in DOL. Proving over and over that we do it better and at less cost to the taxpayer. The NCFLL will lobby congress and the labor unions, we will be in the halls of Congress and the streets of America telling the world what we do is important to the taxpayers and working men and women . The battle cry ! DON'T PRIVATIZE, WE ARE NOT FOR SALE!!

THE BOTTOM LINE BY JIM WEYRAUCH	THE UNIONIST PAGE 4
The five union dockworkers known as the "Charleston 5 " were released from that a year and a half. of house arrest. The group was cleared when South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon, who had attempted to use the case to advance his political career removed himself from the case. The workers attorneys had demanded that he be disqualified for gross misconduct. The case was transferred to a local prosecutor , who gave his consent for lifting the house arrest.
The "5s" arrest 1 for "rioting", grew out of a January 2000 picket line incident with 800 police. General Motors agreed to pay $1.25 million to employees at its assembly plant in Linden New Jersey, who sued the company over racial and sexual harassment. Under the settlement, GM denied any fault but agreed to submit all employees racial and sexual harassment complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the next two years. Employees describe the racial epithets, "suggestive and graphic displays: and one occasion , a hangman's noose was left in the lunchroom. Two supervisors ran over the foot of a white employee after he wrote a letter supporting the charges. The plant has nearly 2,500 workers, 3 5 per cent of them minorities ... Six current and former Wal‑Mart employees filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against the nation's largest private employer. The suit contends that women are relegated to lower paying jobs and systematically denied advancement. Even though they are only 28 percent of the workforce, men hold 90 percent of WAL‑MART's store manger positions.	SPECIAL ELECTION FOR VICE PRESIDENT MSHA METAL/NON METAL DIVISION A Local 644 By‑Law Amendment was passed by a two‑third majority vote to have a Vice President for the MSHA Metal/Non Metal Division. A Special Election will be held in February 2002 to elect this Vice President. This will serve as the general notice and each Local 644 member in MSHA Metal/Non‑ Metal will receive a notice of nomination, so that any member in good standing in that Division can run,for the office. After nominations are closed , the Election Committee will send out ballots to the members for an election. The term of office will be the same as that of the rest of the elected offices. And in the future, this position will be on the General Election. This position will be a full voting member of the Local 644 Executive Board with duties regarding liaison between the stewards of the MSHA Metal/Non‑metal Division and the Executive Board. LOCAL 644 CHARITIES ADOPTS A FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS. Among the 4000 victims of the World Trade Center Disaster were undocumented immigrant workers that toiled at the various restaurants. The families of these victims can not receive any benefits due to the status of being undocumented. Hotel Workers Local 100 has adopted these families and is providing direct aid support for the widows and orphans. Local 644 Charities contacted HERE Local 100 and obtained a family name and is sending money to help for the Christmas season. This is also a plea for contributions to aid in this tragic situation and a chance to offer a little support for people in desperate need. Send any contributions to Local 644 Charities, P.O. Box 40394, Philadelphia PA. 19106.

DO YOU KNOW THIS CARD?
It's a union card. It signifies membership in Local 644 of the American Federation of Government Employees, NCFLL (AFL‑CIO), the union for federal workers. But, it means more than that to me. Hi, my name is Helen Williams, Recording Secretary and Fair Practice Coordinator for Local 644. I work in the Office of Administration and Management OASAM) in Philadelphia. Believe me when I say that every DOL worker ought to be a proud owner of this card. This is the card that spells protection, It means justice on the job. It means working women and men honoring the old American tradition of people joining together to achieve the greatest good for everyone. I guess that's what the word "union" is all about. To me, the card means security. Today when the President of the United States and the Congress keep telling the voters that I am to blame for most of the nation's ailments, it's important to have a strong friend by my side. That"s my union‑there when I need it most. My advice to every DOL worker is simple: Join up. Get YOUR union card. And don't go to work without it!
	DON'T GO TO WORK WITHOUT IT! See your Local 644 shop steward for more information and to sign up today.