1055 News

Brother Raymond Dayvolt - Thursday, June 25, 2020
We regret to inform you of the passing of Brother Raymond Dayvolt on Wednesday June 23. Brother Dayvolt was a loyal member of this local for many years and he will be missed. His final wishes were that no funeral be held and that his body be donated to science to help others.

Passing of Brother Ed Berry - Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Union regrets to report the passing of Brother Ed Berry July 23, 2010

Classes for Summer/Fall 2010 - Friday, July 23, 2010
Classes for Summer/Fall 2010 at the Local 1055L’s Learning Center. Also check the ICD link for full calendar.

Remember To Vote In Your Local Elections - Friday, July 16, 2010
Early voting began Thursday, below is links to Davidson, Wilson, and Rutherford counties election commission. You can find polling locations and sample ballots at these sights. USE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE!

Day of Action: Neighborhoods: Stuff the Bus - Friday, July 16, 2010
With many of Nashville’s at-risk neighborhoods recovering from the recent flood, more Nashville students than ever will lack the supplies they need to go back to school prepared for success. Join us for the 3rd National Day of Action as we STUFF THE BUS with school supplies for children and teens served through United Way’s Neighborhood Family Resource Centers and partner agencies working daily to equip the youth of Nashville’s neighborhoods for success

 

Local 1055 7 Day Event Calendar

No Events At This Time

 

Local 1055 Blogs

Free Tax Assistance
By From the Desk of Pension and Insurance - Sunday, February 09, 2020

United Way VITA site



Helpful tips to keep in mind while traveling
By From the desk of Pension and Insurance - Thursday, June 17, 2010

As the summer travel season begins...there is important information you should know



underwater
By Larry Odum - Tuesday, May 25, 2010

When COLA in lavergne is underwater...everthing in Lavergne is underwater!



Working Safely during Cleanup after Flooding
By Minimizing Diease Exposure When Working in Contaminated Flood Water - Monday, May 03, 2010

Tips for working safely during cleanup



Good Friday / Easter Holiday
By Larry Odum - Friday, April 02, 2010

Why does the 8-hr. shifts celebrate Good Friday as a Holiday and 12-hr. shifts celebrate Easter as a Hoilday? Traditionally,the 8-hr. shifts observed Good Friday as a Hoilday because they were off on Sunday ...then in July 1992 we went to 12-hr. shifts and some members decided they perferd Easter off instead of Good Friday. This action would interfere with the Annual Good Friday Fishing Tournament which was a "huge tradtion" with many members.

 

USW Media Center

Federal Judge Makes Correct Call on Arizona Immigration Law - Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

 

Leo W. Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers (USW), released the following statement on today’s injunction to block key provisions of Arizona’s anti-immigration law.

“U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton made the correct call in blocking the most controversial sections of Arizona’s new immigration law from taking effect tomorrow ... more

 

USW Cites Congressional Effort Asking Obama Administration to Address Chinese Subsidies of Paper Industry Threatening US Jobs - Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The United Steelworkers (USW) joins Appleton Coated LLC, NewPage Corporation, and Sappi Fine Paper North America in applauding the efforts of more than 100 Members of Congress who wrote to President Obama today, asking for action on Chinese subsidies to that nation’s paper producers.

The letter to the U.S. President urges he “carefully examine the practices employed by the Chinese government to provide its paper industry an artificial and unfair advantage in the U.S. market, and determine the extent to which these practices cause or threaten to cause harm to American producers.” The letter was spurred by the devastating impact that Chinese unfairly-priced paper exports are having on the industry all across the country.

USW President Leo W.Gerard said: "We commend the action taken by this bipartisan group of U.S. Senators and Congressional members demanding that China obey international trade laws.  Too many jobs and too many companies are being destroyed because of how China subsidizes production and violates free trade principles in paper manufacturing as well as in other industries." ... for more

USW Congratulates Rubber Workers at Firestone in Liberia on New Contract - Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Heavy Loads Lifted from Tappers’ Backs

The United Steelworkers (USW) today congratulated the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL) on achieving a new collective bargaining agreement at the Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia.  The agreement contains a landmark provision to change the method of transporting latex to weigh stations.

“Since 1926, rubber tappers have carried a heavy load across their backs for miles,” said Fred Redmond, USW International Vice President for Human Affairs “FAWUL has achieved an historic change by negotiating a new motorized transport system.  It’s a milestone for its members and a major victory for human rights.  We need now to make sure that the agreement is enforced and extended to every corner of the plantation.”

In the new agreement, the union has negotiated a commitment to “change the current mode of transportation.”  For more than 80 years, rubber tappers were forced to carry two metal buckets, weighing up to 150 pounds, suspended from a stick across their shoulders.  Tappers carried these heavy loads to weigh stations which in some areas were miles away.  According to rubber tappers and human rights observers, this out-dated method of transportation took a severe toll on workers’ health, leading to a variety of debilitating injuries ... more

USW expresses condolences to Horsehead victims, Local sets up memorial fund - Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The United Steelworkers (USW) Local 8183 and the entire Steelworkers family today expressed its deepest condolences to the loved ones of those injured and killed in last night's explosion at Horeshead Corp.'s zinc processing facility in Monaca, Pa. The union also announced today that it has established a memorial fund to help the victims' families. Click here for more. 

 

 

United Steelworkers Send 100,000 Letters Urging Action on Clean Energy Jobs Legislation, Creating and Maintaining Manufacturing Jobs - Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

As the U.S. Senate prepares to take up clean energy legislation, members of the United Steelworkers, along with USW International Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson and BlueGreen Alliance Executive Director David Foster, today highlighted the more than 100,000 letters sent from USW members urging action on strong clean energy jobs legislation with critical policies aimed at creating and maintaining good manufacturing jobs across the United States. 

“Union members sent more than 100,000 letters urging action on clean energy jobs legislation that includes the investments that we need to create and maintain good, middle class manufacturing jobs in this country,” said Dennis Barker, a member of the United Steelworkers from Granite City, Illinois. “Now it is time for the Senate to get moving on clean energy jobs legislation ... more

USW Hails Mexican Superior Court Decision Vindicating Los Mineros Leader Napoleon Gomez - Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Leo W.Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers (USW), hails a decision, by the Superior Court of Justice of the Federal District of Mexico, dismissing an arrest warrant issued against Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, Secretary-General of the National Union of Mining, Metallurgical, Steel and Allied Workers of Mexico (Los MIneros).
 
The judgment (No. 736/2010) issued last Friday (Jul. 9), spurred the Attorney General of Mexico to remove Gomez’s photo and related information from the A-G’s Federal District internet page, vindicating Gomez and four Los Mineros union leaders: Juan Linares Montufar, Hector Felix Estrella, Gregorio Perez-Romo and Jose Angel Rocha-Perez. Each was charged with allegations claiming illegal conduct in relation to the administration of a trust fund first established in 1988 but not realized until 2004 in a settlement with Grupo Mexico ... more

Labeling China's Currency Undervalued Correct; USW Calls for More Action - Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The U.S. Treasury report issued yesterday designating the Chinese currency as undervalued is a small step in the right direction. 

The undervalued yuan, also called renminbi, artificially depresses the cost of Chinese products and falsely increases the price of American goods. The resulting lopsided trade has closed American factories and cost American jobs. 

“The administration is correct in calling the renminbi undervalued,” said Leo W. Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers (USW) union. “The next crucial step is to do something about it,” he added. The USW supports legislation that would punish China for currency manipulation sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and others and in the House by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan D-Ohio and others.

China undervalues its currency by using renminbi to buy dollars. China now holds $2.4 trillion in U.S. currency. Even conservative economists agree that the renminbi is undervalued as a result by between 25 and 40 percent against the dollar ... more

Steelworkers Ratify Five-Year Collective Agreement With Vale - Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Workers Approve New Contract by 74% Margin, Ending Year-Long Strike

United Steelworkers (USW) members in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ont., voted today to end their year-long strike against mining giant Vale, approving a new collective agreement.

USW Local 6500 members in Sudbury voted 75% in favour of the new contract, while Local 6200 members in Port Colborne ratified the deal by a 74% margin.

“Our members have spoken and I believe everyone respects the decisions they have made in extremely difficult circumstances,” said Wayne Fraser, the USW’s District Director for Ontario and Atlantic Canada ... more

USW Pursues Safety Negotiations with Oil Industry - Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

United Steelworkers (USW) Vice President Gary Beevers, who heads the union’s oil sector, sent a request to the oil industry to re-open the National Oil Bargaining pattern agreement and negotiate health and safety provisions.

“I’ve asked the industry to sit down and have an honest discussion about handling safety effectively,” said Beevers. “Let’s conduct a thorough analysis, then negotiate a signed agreement that addresses the alarming deterioration in safety throughout the oil industry.”

This spring was tragic in the oil sector. During the months of April and May there were 13 fires, 19 deaths and 25 injuries. This year refineries have averaged one fire per week. These figures reflect only reported incidents. There could be more because refineries have no legal obligation to report every incident ... more

Ratification Votes Set, Agreement on Terms of Bad Faith Complaint - Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The USW is pleased to announce that it has come to an agreement with Vale on the terms of a bad faith bargaining complaint that will be heard by the OLRB. This removes the remaining obstacle in the long struggle with Vale and enables the Union to conduct membership meetings along with ratification votes now scheduled for July 7 and 8, 2010 in Sudbury and July 8, 2010 in Port Colborne.

By the Letter of Agreement signed today and to be approved by the Vice Chair of OLRB panel hearing this matter, the issue of the procedure for the reinstatement to employment of the nine discharged striking employees will be heard by the OLRB commencing on July 9, 2010.

The Union is confident that the OLRB will agree that leaving the issue of the possible reinstatement of employees discharged during the strike at an impasse and refusing to agree to arbitrate that issue amounts to a violation of the duty to bargain under the Labour Relations Act and is not lawful. The Union says that any other result fundamentally undermines freedom of association and the right to strike and destabilizes the sensitive balance required to make labour relations and collective bargaining effective in Ontario ... more

 

New Study Reinforces USW Position that Improper Chinese Subsidies Destroy Jobs in American Paper Industry - Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

A study released today documenting illegal subsidies to Chinese paper producers strengthens the argument of the United Steelworkers (USW) union that U.S., policymakers must intervene now to preserve the domestic paper industry and hundreds of thousands of good-paying  jobs.

The report, No Paper Tiger: Subsidies to China’s Paper Industry from 2002-2009, released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) documents $33 billion in government subsidies to the Chinese paper industry for pulp, coal, electricity and recycled paper, enabling the Chinese paper industry to sell its products at artificially low prices.

That falsely low-priced paper dumped on the U.S. market makes American-manufactured paper appear uncompetitive, forcing plant closings, killing jobs and damaging communities ... more

New Report Provides Blueprint for Building Domestic Wind Energy Component Supply Chain - Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

BlueGreen Alliance, American Wind Energy Association, and USW Provide “Manufacturing Blueprint” to Build Out Domestic Wind Energy Supply Chain and Create U.S. Manufacturing Jobs

According to a report released today by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), BlueGreen Alliance and the United Steelworkers, the U.S. wind industry can create tens of thousands of additional jobs manufacturing wind turbines and components if the U.S. passes long-term policies that create a stable market for the domestic wind energy supply chain.

“Wind energy provides one of the most promising sources of new manufacturing jobs for American workers,” said Rob Gramlich, Senior Vice President of Public Policy for AWEA. “This report shows how the right policies such as a Renewable Electricity Standard will build the supply chain and create those jobs.”

“This report represents a major alignment between our goals for energy independence and creating the clean energy jobs of the future,” said Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH). “This ‘manufacturing blueprint’ is a critical step toward ensuring that we don’t replace our dependence on foreign oil with a dependence on Chinese-made wind turbines. With the right policies, clean energy will help revitalize American manufacturing. We must ensure that American manufacturers have the resources they need to build clean wind energy components and by doing so, help establish America as a global leader of clean energy technologies.” Click here for more ...

Steelworkers Mourn Loss of Senator Byrd - Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard issued the following statement today concerning the death of U.S. Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.)

“Members of our union and workers across the country are grieving the loss of Senator Robert Byrd, a giant among his fellow legislators and one of the greatest friends that working families have ever had." Click Here for more ...

 

Steelworkers Ratify 4-year Contract with Alcoa - Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

A new 4-year labor agreement between the United Steelworkers (USW) union and Alcoa covering some 6,000 workers at 11 U.S. locations has been ratified in a secret ballot vote by the membership.   

The agreement provides for lump sum bonuses of $2,250 this year, $1,750 next year; general wage increases of 2.5% in each of the following two years; and a $2 per month per year of service increase in the pension multiplier.

During negotiations, Alcoa proposed a series of changes in health care benefits which would have dramatically shifted costs to employees through reduced coverage and higher employee premium amounts. Although the proposal was designed to appear to offer greater individual choice, in reality each of the options offered only poorer coverage and higher costs ... more

 

NEW VIDEO: President Gerard Talks Labor, Obama, Health Care and More - Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

USW Represents at U.S. Social Forum in Detroit - Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

This week, tens of thousands of activists from around the country and around the world have descended on Detroit for the second-ever United States Social Forum.  

This year's Social Forum brings together activists from hundreds of organizations and dozens of different movements under the single banner "Another World is Possible, Another U.S. is Necessary."  

The Forum opened with a massive march down Detroit's Woodward Avenue ending at Cobo Hall. A delegation of about two dozen Steelworkers joined the march including USW District 2 Director Michael Bolton and members of USW Local 6500 who have been on strike against mining giant Vale-Inco for more than 11 months.  

Over the next three days, the Steelworkers will be hosting two workshops: "Manufacturing Builds Communities" and "Fighting Sweatshops in the Global Economy," as well as holding a fundraiser party to benefit the USW members on strike at Vale.  

If you couldn't make it to Detroit, follow the action online with streaming audio and video at www.ussf2010.org.  For live updates of the forum follow "ussf" and #ussf2010 on Twitter.  

USW: Need stronger safety standards in oil industry, more - Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

United Steelworkers Vice President Gary Beevers spoke with Workers Independent News today about the need for improved safety standards in the oil industry and more. Click here to listen to the report. Click here for more on the USW's Health, Safety and Environment efforts and here for more on our oil workers.

Correspondent Doug Cunningham filed this report for WIN:

United Steelworkers Vice President Gary Beevers says whether it’s at the bargaining table or in the halls of Congress, the union is determined to work hard to improve oil refinery safety. Beevers says stronger safety practices need to be enforced through collective bargaining contracts and OSHA regulations need to have more teeth with higher fines for safety violations while protecting whistle-blowing workers.

[Beevers]: “We intend to push for all of the above. In addition to that, I think we need to have an independent oversight or regulatory commission kind of like the nuclear industry to overview refining safety. We need to push to get a bigger budget for OSHA so that OSHA can do the kind of inspections it needs to be doing. There needs to be a change in the system for levying fines and enforcement. Right now you can kill somebody and have a willful violation and the only thing that OSHA can fine ‘em is seven thousand dollars.”

USW, Los Mineros Announce Cross-border Unification Commission - Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The United Steelworkers (USW) and the National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Related Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSSRM) - known as Los Mineros - announced a joint declaration to create a cross-border commission to explore unification of  a potential union representing one-million industrial workers in Mexico, Canada, U.S. and the Caribbean.

In signing the declaration over the weekend, USW President Leo W. Gerard and Napoleon Gomez, general secretary for Los Mineros, jointly renewed the two unions "common commitment to democracy, equality, and solidarity for working men and women throughout North America and throughout the world." Click here for more.

 

 

Embattled Striking Miners in Mexico Are Led from BC - Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The lip of an enormous copper mine pit looms behind the dusty streets of Cananea in Sonora, Mexico. Walk those streets, and you encounter outsized memorials and tributes to the mine and its workers, the kinds of markers you might find in the British Columbian communities of Kimberley, Logan's Lake, Trail, or any other mining towns that dot the rural landscape across North America.

Cananea is the largest mine in Mexico, at one time responsible for some 40 per cent of the country's copper output. At a high point on the main road leading to the mine stands what used to be a movie house. Now it is the union office and hall of the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros, Metalurgicos y Similares de la Republica Mexicana (Los Mineros) mineworkers union ... more

Courtesy of The Tyee

Steelworkers Reject Century Aluminum's offer at Hawesville; Continue Bargaining - Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Hawesville, Ky. - Members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9423 rejected a final contract offer from Century Aluminum yesterday by a secret ballot vote of 443 to 2, sending a strong message to management that terms of the offer fell short of expectations and that the union membership will not be intimidated into accepting a bad deal.

The union also protests unfair labor practices, such as the threats used by Century during contract talks.  USW Local 9423 President John Beaver said, "This overwhelming vote shows that the workers will not be intimidated by management's threats, including threats of shutting down the plant.

"The membership has given the union authorization to call a strike," Beaver said.  "But we are going to continue bargaining and make every effort to reach a satisfactory agreement." Click here for more.

USW, UMWA Demand Action to Elevate Worker Lives over Profit - Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Pittsburgh, PA - At an emergency meeting conducted this week to discuss disturbing rates of worker deaths, two labor international union leaders demanded compliance from corporations and rigorous enforcement of regulations from government.

Leo W. Gerard, United Steelworkers (USW) union international president, and Cecil E. Roberts, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) international president, discussed strategies to reduce the number of workers killed on the job, a statistic that is shockingly high thus far in 2010.

Both spoke to a gathering of USW oil workers in Pittsburgh about the horrifying death figures. These include 46 miners killed since Jan. 1, which is 12 more than the 34 who died in workplace incidents throughout all of 2009. The statistics also include the deaths of 19 oil and refinery workers in just April and May. Click here for more.

 

Alcoa Contract Summary - June 2010 - Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Click Here to read the Press Release, Steelworkers Ratify 4-year Contract with Alcoa

Click Here to download the Alcoa Contract Summary.  Ratification Vote set for June 24, 2010

Click here to download the June 1, 2010, bargaining update.

Click here to download the June 1, 2010 Tentative Agreement statement

Click here to download the May 28, 2010, bargaining update.

Click Here to download "If Alcoa Gets Its Way" from May 27, 2010.

Click here to download the May 27, 2010, bargaining update.

Click here to download the May 26, 2010, bargaining update, which explains some of what is lost under the proposed “Alcoa Choices Plan.”

Click here to download the May 25, 2010, USW bargaining update concerning Alcoa: Accepting "choices" means giving up the right to negotiate. Your Negotiating Committee says, "no" to this company proposal. 

Click here to download the May 24, 2010, bargaing update: As was the case four years ago, our health care, and its cost, has emerged as a major focus in the negotiations for a new contract. Your Negotiating Committee has been working hard to understand the Company's proposals and their implications for union members.

Click here to download the May 20, 2010, bargaining update.

Click here to download the April 30, 2010, bargaining update.

 

Terror, Deception and Blackmail by Mexican Government Undermine International Efforts to Bring End to Mineworkers Conflicts, say United Steelworkers - Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo Gerard and USW National Director for Canada Ken Neumann charge that a recent series of terrorist actions conducted by the Government of Mexico has undermined international efforts to bring an end to the more than four-year conflict between the Mexican government and the National Union of Mining, Metallurgical, Steel and Allied Workers of Mexico (Los Mineros).

Responding to the 6 June, 2010 invasion of the Grupo Mexico copper mine and facilities in Cananea, Sonora by over 2,000 federal and state police officers, backed by armed helicopters, the grave injuries of Los Mineros members Filiberto Salazar Anselmo and Rafael Angel Covarrubias Garcia, and the forceful eviction of Los Mineros Section 65 members who have been on legal strike since July 2007, Gerard says that the government of Mexican president Felipe Calderon has launched a “reign of terror” against working people.

In addition to the seriously injured individuals, there were at least three people (including one youth) hit by bullets or projectiles. Others were beaten and suffered the effects of tear gas. Police arrested five union members (Rodolfo Valdez Serrano, Everardo Ochoa Ballesteros, Luis Alonso Borbón Pérez, Luis Alonso Torres y Marcelo Lara López) and have search warrants out for various union leaders ... more

 

Lessons Not Learned: Oil Industry Fails to Embrace Adequate Safety Measures - Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

USW Before US Senate: OSHA’s Ability to Regulate Needs Improvement

Kim Nibarger, health and safety specialist for the United Steelworkers (USW), testified today before a Senate subcommittee that the oil industry is failing its workers and the public by failing to embrace process safety. He also emphasized that OSHA’s ability to regulate must be improved.

Nibarger testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety in a hearing entitled “Production over Protections: A Review of Process Safety Management in the Oil and Gas Industry.”

His testimony highlighted the lessons not learned in the oil industry. The USW has investigated accidents over the years and has seen how the contributing causes seem to repeat themselves. Refiners are not taking the information available and applying it to their organizations ... more

Click Here for a copy of Nibarger’s written testimony. 

USW, AWEA Announce Plan to Make U.S. A Leader in Wind Energy - Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Joint ‘Framework Agreement’ Reached to Create ‘Partnership for Progress’

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the United Steelworkers (USW) today released a joint “Framework Agreement” to create a “Partnership for Progress” in accelerating the development and deployment of wind energy production in the U.S.

Leo W. Gerard, USW International President, said: “The Framework Agreement we’re announcing is the beginning of a road map to help ensure that our nation makes real progress in developing alternative and renewable sources of energy production on a scale that is commensurate with its vast potential ... more

 

AFL-CIO Now Blog

 

Judge Blocks Major Parts of Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Law -

Just hours before Arizona’s controversial anti-immigrant law was to go into effect, a federal judge today blocked one of its most contentious provisions—the requirement that police stop and question anyone they have “reasonable suspicion” is undocumented.   

The law does not define “reasonable suspicion,” a fact that many opponents say is a carte blanche for racial profiling.

Earlier this month, the federal government filed suit to bock Arizona from implementing the new law, which has drawn heavy criticism from civil rights organizations, immigrant groups, unions and the religious community.     

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton also blocked provisions of the law making it a crime to fail to apply for or carry alien registration papers or for “an unauthorized alien to solicit, apply for, or perform work,” and a provision “authorizing the warrantless arrest of a person” if there is reason to believe he or she might be subject to deportation.

Arizona is expected to appeal the temporary injunction ruling, however, and most observers believe the case is eventually going to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a statement the Justice Department said the court “ruled correctly.”

While we understand the frustration of Arizonans with the broken immigration system, a patchwork of state and local policies would seriously disrupt federal immigration enforcement and would ultimately be counterproductive.

When the suit was filed, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said:

The solution to our broken immigration system must protect all workers and provide a fair path toward citizenship for undocumented workers already living and working in the United States. It must address the unique circumstances faced by undocumented students who were brought to the United States by their parents long ago. It must include an independent commission to determine our society’s genuine need for more workers that does not afford employers a steady stream of exploitable labor. And it must include a mechanism to ensure that employers are held accountable when they break the law.

Health Insurers Mull Secret Donor Election Front Group -

Yesterday we reported that the nation’s biggest health insurers are “sparing no expense to weaken” the new health care reform law by lobbying the state regulators who are writing new regulations to ensure consumers’ premium dollars are spent on real medical care.

Today a new report from the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) reveals the same insurance giants are discussing forming a $20 million, “nonprofit” front group to influence regulations, sway voters and back industry-friendly candidates.

The companies, according to CPI, are Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., Humana Inc., United HealthCare Inc. and WellPoint Inc. Sources told CPI they:

expect millions of dollars will be pumped into issue advertising in a number of races where candidates sympathetic to health industry concerns have a shot at winning….Overall, the insurers are expected to focus on swaying about two dozen close House contests, says one source.

Keep in mind that during the health care debate there was near unanimous Republican opposition to the bill and the strong insurance reforms the industry is now fighting. Senate and House Republican leaders have marked repeal of health care reform as a top item on their agenda if they win back control of Congress.

During last year’s contentious health care debate in Congress, writes CPI:

these same five insurers—teamed up to channel between $10 million and $20 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to underwrite a negative advertising drive to block the legislation.

The front group under discussion would be what is known as a 501(c)(4) group, which, says CPI:

is legally allowed to engage in lobbying and election-related work. Donors to this type of nonprofit don’t have to be publicly disclosed.

Click here for more on the industry’s drive to weaken new health insurance rules and here for a report from health Care for America Now!

‘The Horror! The Horror!’—McConnell Stars in AFSCME Guerilla Video -

It’s not quite as scary as looking up and seeing Godzilla lurking over the city skyline, but a two-story-tall Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) staring down from the side of a downtown Louisville office building caused a few surprised gasps Monday night.

In a bit of guerilla theater, AFSCME projected a 30-second silent video reminding passers-by about McConnell’s role as chief architect of the Republican’s obstructionist battle plan. The Party of No’s obstructionist tactics cost more than 2.5 million long-term jobless workers their unemployment insurance (UI) and blocked aid to state and local governments that would save or create nearly a million jobs for teachers, public employees, police officers, firefighters and others.

AFSCME chose Louisville because McConnell was there to speak before the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The group had just released a report that said without federal aid, more than half the nation’s states will see their budget shortfalls grow by as much as $72 billion next fiscal year, forcing cuts in vital services and jobs to make up for the shortfalls.

McConnell’s words of advice to the state legislators desperately scrambling to keep their budgets afloat? He was opposed to further federal stimulus help for the states and, in a nutshell, told state lawmakers: Get used to it—you all have been spoiled for years by federal funds.

Along with the video that was moved about and was projected on several buildings, AFSCME took out a full-page ad (click here) in the Louisville Courier-Journal telling McConnell, “It’s Time to End the Obstruction,” and highlighting editorials from around the country calling on Congress to approve badly needed federal aid for cash-strapped states.

House OKs Funds to Halt Mine Operators’ Safety End Run -

Mine operators around the country, like Massey Energy, owner of the deadly Upper Big Branch coal mine where 29 miners were killed in April, routinely escape tougher enforcement by appealing serious safety violations to a federal agency that’s bogged down with a 17,000-case backlog.

It can take the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC) more than two years before it finally adjudicates a case. During the appeals process, operators like Massey with troubling safety records avoid being placed under a stricter safety watch because of their pattern of violations.

Last night, as part of an emergency supplemental funding bill, the U.S. House approved $22 million for FMSHRC and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to reduce the backlog of appeals. Says Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the Education and Labor Committee:

It is clear that the seemingly indiscriminate appeals of nearly every significant safety violation by some mine operators are undermining important enforcement tools and putting miners’ lives at risk. This additional funding approved today will reverse a backlog that has been allowed to pile up since the Bush administration and is a step in the right direction in holding some of our most dangerous mine operators accountable.

Miller says it takes an average of 30 months to adjudicate a contested violation. In a preliminary report on the Upper Big Branch blast, MSHA says that Massey “contested the majority of its serious violation citations” that could have led to putting the mine under the tougher safety watch before the April 5 explosion.

From 2009 through March this year, MSHA inspectors cited the Upper Big Branch mine for more than 600 safety violations, nearly 40 percent  of which were classified as “significant and substantial.” Also the Massey mine’s rate for repeated serious violations was 19 times higher than the national average, according to the report. But because Massey appealed the serious violations, it was able to avoid the stricter enforcement and inspections that a pattern of violations finding triggers.

The Senate already approved the bill and President Obama will sign it.

Failing to Kill Health Care Reform, Insurers Now Fight to Weaken It -

After spending tens of millions of dollars trying to kill the new health care reform law, the nation’s big health insurance companies now, says Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), are:

sparing no expense to weaken this new law and the protection it promises to America’s consumers.

According to a new report by the coalition Health Care for America Now (HCAN), big insurers are trying to gut proposed new rules that require they spend a certain amount of premium dollars on actual medical care, not wasteful administration, marketing or executive pay and bonuses.

The medical care cost benchmark under the Affordable Health Care for America Act is known as the medical-loss ratio (MLR). It is set at a minimum of 80 percent of premiums for individual and small employer plans and 85 percent of premiums for large employer plans. Insurers that fail to meet those MLRs must rebate the difference to enrollees.

The new MLR rules are being established by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), which is made up of insurance regulators from the states. According to the HCAN report, the America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and their member insurers:

want to redefine MLRs by pressuring the NAIC to give insurers vast discretion over what expenses they may classify as clinical and administrative costs. Already, Wellpoint Inc., the nation’s largest private health insurer by enrollment, has reclassified $500 million in administrative costs as medical expenses.

Rockefeller says the insurance industry is “furiously lobbying” the NAIC to write the new rules in a way that will:

allow them to do business as they did before the passage of health reform. The resources health insurance companies are throwing into the effort to weaken the medical loss ratio appear almost endless.

On HCAN’s The Now! Blog, HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome writes:

The definition of “medical care” is at the core of this fight….So they want to change the definition of “medical care” to include things that aren’t medical care and that have never been considered as such. And the insurance companies are shameless in just how far they will go. They really are trying to have “underwriting,” the process by which sick people are weeded out of eligibility for coverage, defined as a medical expense! Along with claims processing, call centers and other expenses that aren’t about the actual delivery of care.

According to the report, if the new law had been on the books in 2009, the six largest for-profit health insurance companies would have been required to refund $1.9 billion for that year alone. That would have represented only a fraction of their massive profits. The top five for-profit health insurers alone recorded $12.2 billion in profits in 2009.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who helped write the medical cost requirements into the bill, says health care reform:

will bring coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans, which will bring lots of new business to private insurers. We need strong regulations for medical-loss ratios so Americans can be confident that they’re getting value for their premium dollars.

BP’s Hayward Follows Wall Street’s ‘Fail Big, Win Big’ Pattern -

BP CEO got a golden parachute. These Gulf pelicans weren’t so lucky.

When most of us screw up big time, we pay for it, instead of getting paid for it. If it was the other way around, I’d be a rich man, sort of like ousted BP CEO Tony Hayward who is finally getting his life back. He is also the latest example of what seems to be the new corporate game of “fail big, win big.”

Hayward, who whined about the time and toll the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster was taking on his life, is walking away with a tidy severance check of $1.6 million, a pension of more than $16 million and a chance to cash in on BP stocks that, if the company’s share price recovers from its recent battering, could mean millions more, according to news reports.

Hayward’s platinum parachute is nowhere near the biggest prize for recent corporate failures. Remember the Big Banks—who can really forget—that blew up the nation’s economy and racked up hundreds of billions of dollars in losses and even more in jobs destroyed and lives shattered?

Last week, a new report found that at the depths of the financial meltdown in late 2008, a group of 17 banks that pocketed money from the Bush Big Bank Bailout fund paid out more than $1.6 billion in unmerited and undeserved bonuses to the executives, hedge fund managers and traders who were at the controls when the economy crashed and burned.

The report by Kenneth Feinberg, appointed by the Obama administration to examine executive pay at firms that received bailout funds, cited Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, AIG and several others for the lavish bonuses.

The Feinberg report follows last year’s findings by  New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that nine of the “too big to fail” banks and institutions that posted $81 billion in 2008 losses before going on the federal bailout dole, paid out $1 million-plus 2008 bonuses to more than 5,000 of their traders and bankers. Talk about pay for non-performance.

If you’re a Big Oil CEO, Big Bank exec, or corporate chief who screws up major big time, eh, don’t worry. No problem. No consequences. Here’s a little something to get you through the hard times.

But for the rest of us, it’s “pack up your things and don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.”

Republican Blockade of Medicaid Worsens States’ Budget Crises -

A new report from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) warns that if Congress does not extend Medicaid assistance to help states operate the low-income health care program, the states’ budget crises and budget gaps will grow even larger.

The Medicaid funding assistance program, known as FMAP, was originally included in legislation to extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for the long-term jobless that Senate Republicans blocked for more than two months. The filibuster against the UI bill was finally broken last week, but the Medicaid money was not included in the bill.

After passage of the extended UI bill, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee said:

Republicans continue to block emergency aid for state and local governments, funding that the majority of U.S. governors have specifically requested, and almost half have factored into their state budgets. Without this funding, nearly a million more jobs will be lost in the private and public sectors.

The NCSL report shows that at least 25 states assumed an extension of the enhanced FMAP funding for their 2011 budgets. Without it, according to the report, budget gaps could grow by more than $12 billion in the current fiscal year and as much as $72 billion next fiscal year, forcing cuts in vital services and jobs to make up for the shortfalls.

Corina Eckl, NCSL’s fiscal program director, says while there are some signs of economic recovery:

[G]limmers of improvement are tarnished by looming problems. States are in a tenuous fiscal position, teetering between delicate revenue improvement and the end of the federal stimulus.

Peinovich Named President of National Labor College -

Dr. Paula Peinovich has been appointed president of the National Labor College (NLC). She has served as interim president since January and will serve a three-year-term as head of the nation’s only fully accredited institution devoted to educating working families and labor activists.

Peinovich holds a Ph.D. in higher education policy from the University of Pennsylvania and has devoted her career to increasing access for underserved learners. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

Dr. Peinovich’s outstanding track record as a teacher, scholar and administrator makes her uniquely qualified to lead the only institution of higher education in America that is solely devoted to the needs of working people and their unions.

Peinovich has served as both provost and president of Walden University, a distance education graduate university based in Minneapolis. She is the former president of the Association for Continuing Higher Education. Previously, she spent more than a decade as vice president of academic affairs at Excelsior College, another online institution based in Albany, N.Y. A former college English instructor and AFT local union officer, Peinovich says:

As someone with a passion for lifelong learning, I’ve found a true home at the National Labor College. The faculty and staff here are outstanding, and it is a rare privilege to work with our student body, who come to the NLC from all walks of life and from all corners of the U.S. and Canada to pursue their dreams.

Peinovich says the NLC has a wide and accessible range of programs to meet “adult learners on their own terms.”

With our new green workplace representative program, flexible degree programs offered through a distance learning model, union skills continuing education classes and certificate programs, the Labor College is extremely well-positioned to offer our student body of adult learners a wide range of educational choices for the future.

She succeeds William Scheuerman, who retired earlier this year after serving as NLC president since February 2008.

Blankenship Knows No Shame -

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank discovered what those of us who watched Massey Energy CEO Donald Blankenship operate over the years have known for some time.

Blankenship, who has made a career of busting unions, violating mine safety laws, attacking environmentalists and shilling for the far right and corporate America, has no shame.

Blankenship didn’t hit the national stage until one of his coal mines blew up and killed 29 West Virginia miners in April. In the wake of the Upper Big Branch disaster, Blankenship has sued the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), implied the deadly blast was God’s fault and told the government to keep its hands off patriotic business like Massey. Writes Milbank:

If Don Blankenship had any sense of shame, he’d crawl into a mine and hide.

But Blankenship must have no sense of shame, because he visited the National Press Club last week to complain about “knee-jerk political reactions” to mine deaths and to demand that the Obama administration lighten regulations on his dirty and dangerous company. “We need to let businesses function as businesses,” an indignant Blankenship proclaimed. “Corporate business is what built America, in my opinion, and we need to let it thrive by, in a sense, leaving it alone.”

While Milbank powerfully indicts Blankenship’s incredible arrogance, he also writes that the coal baron is a poster child for the corporate world’s newly aggressive campaign to paint government as the heavy-handed bully with crushing safety, tax and environmental laws that is beating up these poor companies that are just trying to save the nation’s economy.

It’s easy to paint Blankenship as a villain, with his moustache, double chin and rough edges (he twice lamented the “abstract poverty” in the world). But his theme—and his complete absence of corporate responsibility—is very much the message corporate America has adopted in this mid-term campaign year: If you’ve got a problem, blame the government.

Milbank then goes on to blow up the myths the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “a sort of radicalized corporate Tea Party,” and the Blankenships and other Big Business bullhorns are spreading. Click here to read his full column.

Union Members Help Keep Daimler Plant Open—and More Bargaining News -

Union members negotiate a contract that keeps an Oregon Daimler Trucks plant from closing, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.

SETTLEMENTS
Multiple, Daimler Trucks North America: Good news in Portland, Ore., where a Daimler Trucks North America plant slated for closure will remain open after union members ratified new three-year contracts with the company. Most of the nearly 700 workers are members of Machinists (IAM) Local 1005, and others are represented by Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) Local 1094, Teamsters Local 305 and SEIU Local 49.

USW, Vale Inco: Some 3,000 United Steelworkers (USW) members at Vale Inco in Canada approved a five-year contract, ending a yearlong strike, one of the longest in Canadian history.

ALPA, Jazz Air: Pilots at Canadian airline Jazz Air ratified a new six-year contract. The 1,500 pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots (ALPA).

USW, AK Steel: Members of USW Local 1865 in Ashland, Ky., ratified a three-year contract extension July 9 at AK Steel. The 750 workers covered by the contract will receive annual lump sum payments of $1,500, and the hourly wage will be increased by $1 in September of this year.

UWUA, DTE Energy: Members of Utility Workers (UWUA) Local 223 in Michigan ratified a new three-year contract with DTE Energy. The contract covers nearly 4,000 workers.

IUOE, Mid-American Regional Bargaining Association: Members of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 150 in Chicago ratified a new three-year agreement last week.

ALPA, Spirit Airlines: Pilots at Spirit Airlines last week ratified a new five-year contract, which includes raises for the 500 members of ALPA. The contract came after four years of negotiations and a five-day strike last month.

USW, Alcan Aluminum: Members of USW Local 5668 ratified a two-year contract with Alcan Aluminum in Ravenswood, W.Va. The contract maintains current health care benefits and provides the 700 workers with annual $0.35/hour wage increases.

UFCW, Shaw’s: A four-month strike by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) warehouse workers at Shaw’s in New England ended with a settlement July 8. More than 300 workers fought to save their benefits and pay with the support of the AFL-CIO and Teamsters.

UFCW, Multiple Supermarkets: The BNA Daily Labor Report (subscription required) reported that members of UFCW Local 1500 in New York ratified 39-month contracts with King Kullen, Pathmark and Stop & Shop supermarkets. The 16,000 workers will receive weekly wage increases of between $60 and $110 over the term and will maintain their current health care co-pay of $20.

NEGOTIATIONS
UNITEHERE!, Hyatt: The same day thousands of hotel workers protested Hyatt hotels around the country, members of UNITEHERE! Local 483 in Monterey and Carmel, Calif., reached a tentative agreement with the company. No details of the deal covering 400 workers at two properties have been released.

MNA-NNU, North Adams Regional Hospital: In Massachusetts, North Adams MNA-NNU nurses voted to authorize a strike if necessary.  Management is demanding the union agree to a gag order provision that would not permit nurses to speak out about patient care, working conditions and staffing.

WORK STOPPAGES
IAM, Pratt & Whitney The IAM earlier this month won a significant court battle to save 1,000 Pratt & Whitney jobs in Connecticut. The long fight to save the jobs will soon move to the bargaining table. The IAM contract expires Dec. 5.

Disclaimer: This information is being provided for your information only.  As it is compiled from published news reports, not from individual unions, we cannot vouch for either its completeness or accuracy; readers who desire further information should directly contact the union involved.

Trumka at Netroots Nation: New Industrial Policy for a Globalized World -

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka laid out a 21st century U.S. economic policy at today’s lunchtime keynote session at Netroots Nation before a diverse crowd of 2,000 progressive political activists. Restoring the nation’s middle class in part means returning  to a “real economy”—one  in which we make things, rather than move around complex financial products, Trumka said. Strengthening U.S. manufacturing must be part of the process to reverse five decades of stagnating wages.

We have to think big and we have to go big. We have to let go of this notion that we can’t compete in this world. We can compete. Other countries are already doing this and so can we. We can’t get left behind.

Speaking as part of a panel on Building a Progressive Economic Vision, Trumka outlined the need for the the nation to invest in infrastructure, implement fair trade policies, change our tax policies, enact comprehensive immigration reform and reform our broken labor laws. The full panel included consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, progressive Florida Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson, Center for Community Change Executive Director Deepak Bhargava, Green for All’s Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins and National People’s Action Executive Director George Goehl. (Watch it here.)

Trumka pointed out how  the United States  is falling behind other countries in creating green technology. While our nation is building 500 miles of high-speed rail, China has begun construction of 5,000 miles and is outspending the United States 2:1 on green technology, making it even far urgent for the United States to invest in green jobs and high-end manufacturing infrastructure now before we fall further behind.

For those who say we can’t afford to make these investments, Trumka explained how we can do it with a financial speculation tax that encourages capital to invest in concrete things and discourages unproductive speculation or paper pushing for a quick buck, all the while raising more than $100 billion. Trumka made it clear that lawmakers must not reduce the federal deficit at the expense of creating jobs.

Next up, Trumka described the need for anintegrated trade policy. The nation can’t focus solely on increasing exports, we need to focus on net exports. We can’t open our markets to other countries who won’t open theirs. We can’t support countries that murder trade unionists. All we want is to compete on a level playing field and to do that we must have fair trade policy.

Third, Trumka laid out what we must do to modify our tax policy:

We need a tax policy that encourages people to produce and manufacture things in this country, not reward those who outsource and produce things abroad. We have to close the loopholes that allow corporations who have record profits to use gimmicks to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

Fourth, Trumka loudly and proudly spoke out in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and made it clear that every AFL-CIO union has endorsed our five-point plan for immigration reform. Current U.S. immigration policy has allowed corporations to create a permanent underclass of workers who they can take advantage of.

And finally, just as corporations have taken advantage of immigrants, they have skirted, exploited and violated labor laws that empower workers to form a union and bargain for a better life. The good jobs of the past were good jobs because workers organized and fought for fair wages and benefits. Without labor law reform, corporations will continue to take advantage of workers and no matter how much we invest in our economy, how much we increase our productivity, our wages will remain stagnant and we will continue to fall behind.

After laying out this five-part plan, Trumka concluded with a passionate call for coordinated action.

We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. It’s going to take a concerted effort by a lot of us over a long period of time to fix our broken economy. I’m up for it, and I look forward to fighting with you.

Check out live tweets on Trumka’s discussion and the entire Building a Progressive Economic Vision presentation with the hashtag #nn10.

Weingarten Condemns Firing of 241 D.C. Teachers -

The announcement today that 241 District of Columbia public school teachers would be fired under the school system’s new evaluation process raises questions about Washington, D.C., School Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s “penchant for firing teachers rather than providing supports to develop their skills,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said. This brings to nearly 600 the number of district teachers Rhee has fired in just over a year.   

Weingarten said:

Firing teachers en masse may sound to some like strong action is being taken, but in the absence of real professional supports and valid teacher evaluations systems, it simply perpetuates a destructive and failing strategy.

She said she hopes the recent contract with D.C. teachers, which calls for teachers to receive professional development and other supports throughout their careers, will bring “much-needed changes for District schools.”

Weingarten urged Rhee to follow the lead of school systems that successfully use other tools to develop highly skilled teaching forces “rather than stubbornly adhering to the destructive cycle of ‘fire, hire, repeat.’”

You can read Weingarten’s full statement here.

Netroots Nation: Young Workers—Taking Charge of Our Future -

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler (third from left) moderated the Young Worker panel with (from left), Sara Flocks, Maria Escobar and Cory McCray.

The nation’s economic crisis, lack of jobs and inability to pay for higher education are key issues for today’s young workers—and unions must focus on reaching out to them, panelists said today at the AFL-CIO panel, ”Young Workers: Taking Charge of Our Future.” Moderated by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, the panel at Netroots Nation included three grassroots activists who discussed their experiences in creating successful models for empowering young workers.

Shuler opened the panel by noting the AFL-CIO has made outreach to young people a top priority—young workers are the future of our nation, and their economic strength is the nation’s future. Yet even though young people need unions, they don’t know much about unions—they are less likely than in previous generations to have a family member or neighbor who talks to them about what being in a union means.

She outlined key findings of an AFL-CIO report we published last fall, “Young Workers: A Lost Decade,” based on a survey of young workers ages 35 and younger. The survey came 10 years after a similar survey we conducted. The findings showed a massive decline in the economic situation of young workers in that period. The survey found:

• 31 percent of young workers report being uninsured, up from 24 percent without health insurance coverage 10 years ago.
• One-third of young workers cannot pay the bills.
• Only 58 percent received paid sick days and only 41 percent are offered paid family leave. One of young workers’ top-rated priorities is spending time with family. But many are worried this won’t be possible because time away from work often means not getting paid.

Panelist Sara Flocks experienced firsthand economic hardship—and turned her experience into positive action for other young workers. Now with the California Labor Federation where she works on state policy and legislative issues, Flocks co-founded Young Workers United, a worker center based out of UNITEHERE! Local 2 in San Francisco. While there, she helped organize young workers in the restaurant and retail sectors as well as at community colleges. She helped collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages for workers through direct action and won a two-year campaign at the Cheesecake Factory restaurant.

In Baltimore, panelist Cory McCray, a member of the Electrical Workers, helped launch Young Trade Unionists, which works to empower and unite members and non-members to participate in the union movement. McCray said unions reaching out to young workers need to make sure they know about the good union wages, benefits, but also need to:

Keep it interesting, keep it fun.

Panelist Maria Escobar has been working with the Student Labor Action Project, part of Jobs with Justice and the United States Student Association (USSA), and has helped students nationwide develop social and economic justice campaigns on their campuses and trained students in grassroots organizing for the USSA. Escobar’s work connected students with workers’ issues and offers a nationwide model for reaching young people through social justice and broader community issues.

Shuler told the more than 60 people who took part in the panel about the AFL-CIO’s listening tour with young workers in cities across the country early this year where we heard their concerns about jobs and the economy and their perceptions of the labor movement. Building on that, the AFL-CIO held its first-ever Young Workers Summit in Washington, D.C., with 400 young workers taking part. Shuler noted a report on the summit is set for release by August.  Meantime, we’re encourage young workers to join our Facebook page, aflcionextup.

Netroots Nation: Strengthening Social Security -

One attendee of the Netroots Nation panel provocatively titled “Obama’s Social Security ‘Death Panel’” later told me he had gone into the panel dubious that there is any real threat to Social Security. “But I left mad,” he said, questioning how such an important part of America’s social fabric could be threatened. Yet as the panelists detailed, Social Security is most definitely under attack–and it’s an attack that could fundamentally alter how we understand the program.

Panelists agreed the most direct assaults on Social Security takes are likely to be defeated, as the privatization of the program was in 2005. But they pointed to a more nuanced threat. Robert Borosage of Campaign for America’s Future contrasted the “frightened, timid and cautious leadership” of today with the “confident society” that, following World War II, responded to a much larger deficit (as percentage of GDP) by embarking on a series of spending programs that reshaped the economy and built the middle class.

Today, Borosage said, there is an emerging elite consensus that is “focused on Social Security because it will show they’re ’serious,’ even though it will have no effect on the deficit.” They portray Social Security as being in crisis, then claim that proposed cuts are “saving” the program. Eric Kingson, co-director of Social Security Works, made it clear that Social Security is not in crisis.

Social Security should and can work for the next 75 years.

“But it’s up to all of us” to defend it. Crucially, defending Social Security

is not about dollars and cents and it’s not about balancing the books. It’s about how well the American people do—all of us.

The elite consensus will, unfortunately, drive too much of what happens on a policy level. But what about working people? As a panelist myself, I spoke about what Working America organizers hear in the field every night, on the doorsteps of thousands of working Americans. Working people are deeply worried that their Social Security benefits will be cut, but too much of what they hear is dominated by fear-mongering claims that Social Security is in crisis. If the progressive movement doesn’t reach out to working people with the message that Social Security is not in trouble, we allow its enemies to define the debate. And if the debate begins with the assumption that cuts are needed to “save” the program, we’re stuck fighting against backward movement. Instead, we need to be fighting our way forward by providing working people information that shifts the debate forward.

That fight “is going to be the battle of our lives,” according to the blogger Digby. She referred back to the successful fight against privatization in 2005 and highlighted the importance of repetition: For every time opponents of Social Security say it’s in crisis, its defenders have to say “no, it’s not.” Or “strengthen Social Security—don’t cut it.” (And make no mistake, raising the eligibility age is a cut.) As progressive bloggers and individuals and organizations, she emphasized, we have to use every tool at our disposal to amplify those simple messages.

Ensuring Workers’ Voices Are Heard in State Legislatures -

Across the country, states are confronting a vast array of critical working family issues, from budget crises and health care to job creation and workers’ rights. This weekend in Louisville, Ky., some 150 union activists and leaders from central labor councils, state federations, affiliate unions and allied organizations are mapping a state legislative battle plan.

The annual AFL-CIO Workers’ Voice Conference sets the stage for union action in the upcoming 2011 legislative sessions. Through workshops and seminars with policy and political experts and activists, the conference will develop the AFL-CIO’s 2011 Working Families State Agenda. It also examines the state-level victories and challenges working families faced in state capitols this year.

One of the key issues is how to raise revenues to deal with the states’ budget crises that have forced layoffs and cuts in vital working family services. Attendees will discuss closing corporate tax loopholes, ways for the very wealthy to pay their fair share, more accountability in government spending and strategy to defeat the anti-tax TABOR movement. (For more on TABOR battles, click here, here, here and here.)

On the jobs front, the Workers’ Voice Conference will explore strategies to create and retain jobs, including investments in green jobs, rebuilding the manufacturing base and strong Buy American rules. Other strategy sessions include:

• State implementation of the new health care reform law;
• Unemployment insurance reform;
• Immigration reform;
• Protecting workers’ rights;
• Outsourcing and privatization of government services;
• Project Labor Agreements and prevailing wage laws.

On Sunday, the members of  National Labor Caucus—state lawmakers who are union members or strong union advocates—will hold its policy meeting and join many Workers’ Voice participants to talk about the 2011 Working Families State Agenda.