Unpaid state workers file labor claims

http://www.examiner.com/x-17696-Pittsburgh-City-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m7d31-Unpaid-state-workers-file-labor-claims

July 31, 3:37 PM

Pennsylvania state workers filed complaints today with the U.S. Department of Labor at the Federal Building in Pittsburgh. The claims for back wages starting with last week’s reduced paychecks.

Friday is normally a payday for the employees, but they did not receive a paycheck today because of the state’s budget stalemate. Last Friday, employees received about 20% of their normal paycheck. Many employees have applied for loans to pay their living expenses without a paycheck.

Approximately 20 Department of Welfare employees met at the McDonald’s located at Liberty Avenue and Stanwix Street in downtown Pittsburgh. The group marched down Liberty Avenue to the Federal building.

When they reached the Federal building, they initially were not allowed to enter the building. However, around noon, a police officer allowed them to enter the building in groups of two to file their claims.

get paid? Do you have some links? I'd like to see their pay vs. corporate CEOs

How do these compare to the Billions in bonuses alone Wall St. handed out as reported on the DU front page and here in the WSJ?


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124896891815094085.html

Bank Bonus Tab: $33 Billion
Nine Lenders That Got U.S. Aid Paid at Least $1 Million Each to 5,000 Employees

By SUSANNE CRAIG and DEBORAH SOLOMON

Nine banks that received government aid money paid out bonuses of nearly $33 billion last year -- including more than $1 million apiece to nearly 5,000 employees -- despite huge losses that plunged the U.S. into economic turmoil.
The Millionaire's Club

Top employees at nine big U.S. banks that received government aid shared a bonus pool of $32.6 billion. A breakdown of those receiving more than $1 million each.

The data, released Thursday by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, provide a rare window into the pay culture of Wall Street, where top employees typically make 90% or more of their compensation in year-end bonuses.

The $32.6 billion in bonuses is one-third larger than California's budget deficit. Six of the nine banks paid out more in bonuses than they received in profit. One in every 270 employees at the banks received more than $1 million.

Overall compensation and benefits at the nine banks fell 11%, to $133.5 billion in 2008 from $149.3 billion in 2007, the Cuomo report said. But with net revenues falling, the percentage of the firms' revenues dedicated to compensation rose to 45% last year from 41% in 2007.



It will be a few days before I have time. I know what the President & Vice President of my local make. The President gets paid the same as our highest negotiated wage in the local. The VP gets the pay of a Chief Operator. Both are below top step pay. It is online at our employers site:https://owa.dotcomm.org/information/Human%20Resources/Union%20Contracts/Local%20251%20Contract%202006%20-%202008-455726125.EML?Cmd=open



http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-Union+Boss

Average Union Boss Salaries

The average salary for union boss jobs is $118,000. Average union boss salaries can vary greatly due to company, location, industry, experience and benefits.

This salary was calculated using the average salary for all jobs with the term "union boss" anywhere in the job listing.


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/11/union-boss-returns-some-of-12-million-pay/

EXCLUSIVE: Union head returns some of $1.2M pay

Even after giving back more than half his compensation, Richard J. Hughes Jr. of the International Longshoreman's Association still earned $494,635 in salary and expenses in 2008, putting him among the top two dozen highest-salaried labor executives outside of professional sports, according to public records.


http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070815/BIZ/708150406

Ron Gettelfinger and Robert Potter are separated by philosophies and tax brackets.

As president of the United Auto Workers, Gettelfinger is one of the hardest working and most influential labor leaders in the nation. He meets with presidents, negotiates with CEOs and manages a $300 million organization with more than 500,000 workers.

As president of one union hall of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Potter had a much lower profile. He led a membership one-twentieth the size of the UAW, located in one state instead of 50, with the average member earning less than half as much as the typical UAW worker. Yet in 2005 Potter was paid about twice as much as Gettelfinger. The UAW president earned just more than $156,000 in total compensation that year; Potter, in his last full year as president of UFCW Local 951, made $305,000.

Despite being one of the most powerful union leaders in the nation, Gettelfinger earned less in 2006 than three people in Potter's one union hall.

Differences in union hall pay scales are often as glaring as the pay gap between union and non-union shops. Some labor organizations lavish their officers with high salaries and generous benefit packages unavailable to the rank-and-file, while others tie their compensation to that of their members assembling cars or building homes.