AFL-CIO, Carpenters are still talking

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Carpenters International Union President Doug McCarron plan to continue their "frank, friendly and useful" discussions about the Carpenters' decision to leave the federation.

"We are committed to attempt to resolve the matters under discussion in an expeditious manner and achieve the unity that is our shared goal," Sweeney and McCarron said in a joint statement.

The Carpenters became the first union to drop out of the AFL-CIO since 1968, mainly because they have disagreements with the direction of the federation and how dues money is spent on organizing.

Former Labor Secretary John Dunlop and AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department President Edward Sullivan have been consulted during the talks.

Okies to test right-to-work

Oklahoma is the latest state to have a go-round with adopting a right-to-work law.

The state's voters will decide in a special election on Sept. 25.

Under a right-to-work law, collective bargaining agreements are prohibited from requiring employees in a bargaining unit from paying dues. The result: workers can benefit from the provisions of a contract without helping to pay for it. In labor terms, those workers are known as "free riders" who enjoy the protections and pay raises of a contract but "ride" on the backs of their co-workers who pay union dues.

The AFL-CIO is mounting a grassroots campaign to defeat the measure, but fewer than 9 percent of the state is unionized. There are currently 20 right-to-work states.

A spokesman for the national Right-to-Work Committee said an election victory would boost similar efforts in Colorado, Kentucky, Indiana, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Montana.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, 18 of the top 20 states in personal income do not have right-to-work laws, while six of the bottom ten states in personal income do.

Chao says Bush will listen to labor

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, addressing her first international union convention since taking office, told the Teamsters that the Bush Administration "won't always agree with you, but we'll always listen to what you have to say."

The Construction Labor Report said Chao cited several legislative measures where the Bush Administration has worked to address labor's concerns. Among them: Bush decided not to include ongoing construction projects in his ban on federally funded project labor agreements, and he agreed to repeal Section 415 of the tax code, which limited the benefits of early retirees and hit unionized construction industry retirees especially hard.