ATU Action Weekly Update - 1/16/07

• Int'l President George to Testify on Transit Security
• House Passes Minimum Wage Hike and Other Labor Priorities
• Save FMLA - And Make it Better

This Thursday, ATU International President Warren S. George will testify before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee regarding the ATU's priorities for addressing transit security.

As in the past, the ATU will ask the Committee to pass legislation that would increase funding for transit security initiatives and to require security and emergency preparedness training for all frontline transit employees, including vehicle operators, maintenance personnel and customer service employees.

During the past two Congressional sessions, the Committee leadership introduced legislation that would provide funding for transit security, including operational expenses related to training.  Unlike legislation introduced in the House, the Senate legislation, as previously drafted, would not require training for employees.

House Passes Minimum Wage Hike and Other Labor Priorities

After more than a decade of inaction, the House delivered on its promise last week to pass legislation to raise the federal minimum wage. 

The measure was passed as part of the House leadership's "First 100 Hours" legislative activity which also included passing a long-overdue bill to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, and a measure which would require Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices on prescription drugs.  All three measures were supported by organized labor.

As the minimum wage bill moves to the Senate, there are concerns that Big Business will seek inclusion of special-interest provisions.  The ATU encourages you to contact your Senators today and ask them to support a clean-minimum wage bill with no anti-worker provisions attached.  Click here to send a message to your Senators. 

Save FMLA - And Make it Better

If your parent, spouse or child gets sick, you should be able to take care of them.  Makes sense, right?

That's why Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993.  The federal law allows employees to balance their work and family lives by taking up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year to care for themselves or their loved ones in the times they need help most.

But now the Bush administration's Department of Labor is asking for public comments about FMLA regulations.  Worker advocates believe this could be the first step toward revising the rules in a way that will hurt workers--by making it harder to take FMLA leave.

We can't let that happen.  Help us collect stories about the importance of family and medical leave, so we can pass that information on to the Department of Labor.

Click here to make a comment now.