Public Employees Federation (PEF)

UDR Story

• Appeals court backs union curbs on the internet

  The U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia has upheld a union rule that places new burdens on candidates who want to use their own independent web sites to campaign for union office. The court's decision gives the green light to those nervous union officials who hope to develop new ways to limit the potential of the internet as an instrument for union democracy.

• In Canada: Auto Workers and Carpenters defy U.S. internationals

  In July, the Canadian Auto Workers union was suspended from the Canadian Labor Congress in a dispute over congress rules which, like the AFL-CIO no-raiding pact, forbid one affiliated union from taking members from another. In defiance of the congress, the Canadian Auto Workers welcomed into its ranks 30,000 members of eight Ontario locals of the Service Employees International Union. According to Buzz Hargrove, CAW president, 11,000 of the SEIU members voted to disaffiliate in workplace balloting; and 95% of the votes supported the CAW in a government collective bargaining election.

• Nurses now for sale, barter and trade

  By combining into a new 150,000-member national union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the California Nurses Association, the United American Nurses, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association seemed to have taken a giant step toward creating the kind of united force so many nurse unionists are hoping for. Meanwhile, the move has triggered a swift and dizzying realignment among the many unions that aspire to represent registered nurses. Most notable and unexpected is the sudden love affair between top officials of the Service Employees and the California Nurses Association. From bitter competition over who shall represent nurses, they have shifted to an amicable agreement over dividing up the territory.