SULLIVAN'S SALVOS

August 30, 2023

Sullivan’s Salvos 9/5/23

In this edition:

*Labor Day

*Great Labor Quote!

*Labor Day Picnic

*Labor Info

*Rosh Hashanah

*Did You Know?

*Labor Day

Happy Labor Day Monday, September 4! I love Labor Day. Every Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day we set aside time to recall the folks whose service has given us our freedom. I have long felt we need to treat Labor Day in a similar fashion.

Please take a moment this Labor Day to remember the people who fought (and often died) to give us child labor laws, 40-hour weeks, weekends, overtime, vacations, the minimum wage, sick leave, parental leave, OSHA, employment nondiscrimination, pensions, Social Security, health insurance, and so much more.

Do not be fooled! Benevolent corporations did not GIVE these benefits to workers! They were earned by workers who sacrificed! It is a shame that so many average Janes and Joes have chosen to support our corporate masters versus supporting those whose efforts really benefit the masses.

Trust me – the average person has nothing to fear from unions. We all benefit when folks have safe and healthy workplaces. We all benefit when workers get adequate rest. We all benefit when workers receive good training. We all benefit when folks earn a living wage and have health insurance. Unions help improve the quality of life for all of us.

I feel as though I have accomplished some good labor-related things as a member of the Board of Supervisors. In response to the gutting of Prop 20, I led the charge to extend our collective bargaining agreements through June of 2021. Johnson County was the first county, city, or school district in Iowa to do so. We built our projects using Project Labor Agreements until the GOP prevented us from doing so. I have maintained very good relationships with our six (now 5) bargaining units, three (now two) PPME and three AFSCME. Finally, I have treated County employees with the respect they deserve.

I am proud to be a member of Local 716 of the American Federation of Teachers, an affiliate of the Iowa City Federation of Labor, and a Delegate to the Iowa City Federation of Labor. Happy Labor Day!

*Great Labor Quote!

The singer/songwriter Steve Earle said it best: “If you have a boss, you need a union!” Amen, brother!

*Labor Day Picnic

The Iowa City Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, is holding our annual Labor Day Picnic from noon-4pm on Monday, September 4 at Lower City Park in Iowa City. All friends of Labor are welcome. Please bring a dish to share.

*Labor Info

From the Economic Policy Institute, Report By Heidi Scheirholz, Margaret Poydock, Celine McNicholas, Lynne Rhinehart, and Daniel Perez, August 25, 2020.

Who are today’s union workers? While historically union members had been predominately white men, today’s union workers are a diverse group.

More than one in nine workers (16.4 million) are covered by a union contract (Shierholz 2020).

Almost two-thirds (65.2%) of workers covered by a union contract are women and/or people of color. Almost half (46.2%) are women. More than a third (36.1%) are Black, Hispanic, Asian American/Pacific Islander, or other people of color.

Black workers are the major racial/ethnic group most likely to be represented by unions: 13.5% of Black workers are covered by a contract, compared with 12.2% of white workers, 10.2% of Hispanic workers, and 10.5% of AAPI workers.

More than half (54.7%) of workers covered by a union contract have an associate degree or more education. More than two out of five (43.1%) have a bachelor’s degree or more education.

Union workers hail from a variety of sectors, but the biggest numbers are found in the public sector (7.9 million) and in private-sector industries like education and health services (2.1 million), manufacturing (1.4 million), transportation and utilities (1.2 million), construction (1.1 million), and wholesale and retail trade (917,000).

Since industries vary in size, industries with the highest numbers of union workers aren’t always the industries with the highest union coverage rate. The highest shares of workers covered by a union contract (the “union coverage rate”) are public-sector workers (37.8%) and private-sector workers in the transportation and utilities (19.4%), construction (14.1%), information (10.4%), manufacturing (9.8%), and educational and health services (9.4%) industries.

Unions raise wages for both union and nonunion workers! On average, a worker covered by a union contract earns 11.2% more in wages than a peer with similar education, occupation, and experience in a nonunionized workplace in the same industry; this wage advantage is known as the “union wage premium.”

And unions don’t just help union workers—they help all of us. When union density is high, nonunion workers benefit, because unions effectively set broader standards—including higher wages, as noted by Rosenfeld, Denice, and Laird (2016)—that nonunion employers must meet in order to attract and retain the workers they need (and to avoid facing a union organizing drive themselves).

The combination of the direct effect of unions on union members and this “spillover” effect to nonunion workers means unions are crucial in raising wages for working people and reducing income inequality. Research shows that deunionization accounts for a sizable share of the growth in inequality between typical (median) workers and workers at the high end of the wage distribution in recent decades—on the order of 13–20% for women and 33–37% for men.

Unions help raise wages for women and lessen racial wage gaps. Unions help raise women’s pay. Hourly wages for women represented by a union are 5.8% higher on average than for nonunionized women with comparable characteristics. Rigorous research shows that unions reduce gender wage gaps within given employers: For example, Biasi and Sarsons (2020) show that the expiration of teacher collective bargaining agreements led to a gender gap in wages between male and female teachers with similar credentials.

Unions also help close wage gaps for Black and Hispanic workers. Since collective bargaining lifts wages of Black and Hispanic workers closer to those of their white counterparts, Black and Hispanic workers get a larger boost from unionization. White workers represented by union are paid “just” 8.7% more than their nonunionized peers who are white, but Black workers represented by union are paid 13.7% more than their nonunionized peers who are Black, and Hispanic workers represented by unions are paid 20.1% more than their nonunionized peers who are Hispanic.

Unions provide workers with better benefits, including paid leave and health care. Union workers are more likely to be covered by employer-provided health insurance. More than nine in 10 workers covered by a union contract (94%) have access to employer-sponsored health benefits, compared with just 68% of nonunion workers. Further, union employers contribute more to their employee’s health care benefits. Union employers pay 86% of workers’ health care premiums while nonunion employers pay 79% of their workers’ health care premiums (BLS-EB 2019a).

Union workers also have greater access to paid sick days. Nine in 10 workers covered by a union contract (91%) have access to paid sick days, compared with 73% of nonunion workers. Almost all union workers in state and local government (97%) have paid sick days, compared with 86% of their nonunion peers. In the private sector, 86% of union workers have paid sick days compared with 72% of their nonunion peers (BLS-EB 2019b).

*Rosh Hashanah

Happy New Year to all my Jewish friends! Sunday marks Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of year 5784 in the Jewish calendar.

Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of the world and marks the beginning of the Days of Awe, a 10-day period of introspection and repentance that culminates in the Yom Kippur holiday, also known as the Day of Atonement. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the two “High Holy Days” in the Jewish religion. Shanah Tovah!

*DID YOU KNOW? In the wake of the massive unrest from the Haymarket Square Incident and other labor protests, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday. On June 28, 1894, President Cleveland signed it into law.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-

www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov.

"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.

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As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

August 23, 2023

Former Johnson County Engineer Doug Frederick passed away last week at his home in Joetown.

In addition to serving as the County Engineer, Doug cofounded Hart Frederick Consultants, who are a regular presence at meetings of the Board of Supervisors. Hart Frederick staff help citizens navigate the many processes that exist in planning and zoning law, and they do a great job.

My granddaughter Zuri starts First Grade at Horace Mann this year, and our whole household is excited!

I love the improvements that were made at Mann! It is interesting; I was on the Facilities Master Plan (FMP) Committee that decided what the ICCSD would ask voters to approve in the huge 2017 bond issue. (I served on the bond campaign as well.) Mitch Gross (then a West High teacher, now the West High Principal) and I led the charge to ensure that as few schools as possible got closed, and that every school got improvements. The consultants would have closed Mann, Lincoln, Longfellow, Hills, and Coralville Central. We argued to not only keep those schools, but to invest heavily in them. Thankfully, our side won the day!

It is a bit ironic, because I never imagined that 6 years later, my granddaughter would be attending one of the schools we saved! But I am really glad she is!

The Lone Tree Fall Festival is August 25 & 26 in Lone Tree. This event is a great opportunity to share some good times with the fine folks of Johnson County’s “panhandle”!

The deadline is coming up soon for candidates who wish to run for City Council or School Board seats. I have been surprised (and frankly, disappointed) that these races have not drawn more interest. There are very few candidates in some of these races; many communities are lucky just to fill every seat.

Hey, I get it. These are often thankless positions that do not even pay! Add in all the right-wing BS that they have to deal with, and I can see why people are not exactly rushing to sign up.

There is one thing, however, that I do not understand. Why do we get so few candidates standing for election during regular elections, but so many deciding to run in special elections? Just look at the 2021 election results in Johnson County:

Most of these candidates did not simply fill the unexpired term, but ran for reelection. So why do candidates decide to run in special elections but not regular elections?

1. A special election is always for an unexpired term. Perhaps people like the idea of a shorter term; a trial run, if you will. As I mentioned earlier, most of the people who fill unexpired terms seem to later run for a full term.

2. Special elections require someone to step down from elected office. That is newsworthy. So the media covers the resignation and vacancy much more thoroughly. Potential candidates for office probably don’t realize the regular election is happening until it is too late.

Meanwhile, the filing period for cities with primary provisions (Iowa City and University Heights) is August 14 - August 31, 5 PM.

The filing period for all other cities, school boards, and community college boards is August 28 - September 21, 5 PM.

If you look at the list of candidates and don’t like what you see, recruit someone! Or run yourself! The public needs good people to run for these positions.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the idea of “Dignity of Work.” I’d like to spend some time today on a topic that is often not mentioned when we discuss Dignity of Work, but remains a huge issue: scheduling.

Let’s begin with the basics: By most measures, a person who works 30+ hours per week (or 130 hours per month) is considered full time. Many employers in low-wage industries (think fast food) will not schedule employees for more than 29 hours per week. Why? This means they can avoid paying for benefits that often accrue to full-time employees.

What are some of these benefits? Health insurance, vacation, sick leave, and retirement are often cited as benefits that these low wage employers choose not to cover. Needless to say, that leaves these employees in a very vulnerable position. If you have to stay home ill, or stay home with a sick child, you are not paid.

You see a LOT of Americans working 25 hours per week at one low-wage job, and 25 hours at another. Their neighbors who work 40+ hours per week at the same job would receive 10 hours of overtime that week. This is a HUGE difference! Just look at the math. Say a worker earns $12/hour. 40 hours per week at $12 is $480. Overtime must be paid at time and a half. So 10 of those hours at $18/hour. That is an additional $60/week. Plus no additional travel time, no extra uniforms, etc.

There are other ways in which unpredictable scheduling is tough for workers. One common problem is the idea of people being “sent home” because of a lack of work. You see this frequently in service industries; wait staff, bartenders, etc. A given night is not as busy as the manager had hoped, so he sends staff home. These staff people were counting on those hours.

In addition to simply not being paid as much as you were expecting, look at all the additional problems this can cause. The worker may be paying for childcare that they no longer need and can no longer afford. They couldn’t work a different job, because they were scheduled to be at this one. The worker may have a ride scheduled for when the shift was supposed to end. Because of these types of problems, studies show that irregular work is very hard on families.

There are very few protections for workers when it comes to irregular hours. Some cities (such as San Francisco) have adopted ordinances, but Iowa law prohibits local governments from making that type of move.

Scheduling matters! Remember that as you talk to Legislators at the State and Federal levels!

Our friends at Common Good Iowa recently put out some very telling stats on those among us who earn the minimum wage. So let’s take a moment and debunk some myths!

The minimum wage in Iowa remains an abysmal $7.25, and has not been raised in almost 20 years. Meanwhile, the minimum wage is higher in 5 of Iowa’s 6 border states. It is time for a raise, Iowa!

*DID YOU KNOW? In the past 8 years, Johnson County has had 12 special elections to fill vacancies in elected offices.