1055 News

Union Membership Remained Steady in 2011 - Friday, February 03, 2012
Union membership in 2011 remained largely unchanged from the prior year, a new Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows. The unionization rate of employed wage and salary workers was 11.8 percent in 2011, and 11.9 percent in 2010.

TN Labor Council - Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The Calm Before the Storm Part 2: More Talking, Less Working, Hurry Up and Wait.

USW NEWS - Thursday, January 26, 2012
USW Statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address

Take Action Against Cooper Tire - Thursday, January 19, 2012
Around the country, people are fighting back against corporate greed and standing up for the 99%. Will you stand up and fight for Cooper's workers too? Tell Cooper Tire that its bullying and greed must end now.

Rally for USW Local 207L - Saturday, January 14, 2012
Rally to support our brothers and sisters at USW Local 207L, who have been locked-out by Cooper Tire and Rubber since Thanksgiving. Thanks to Best One Tire, West End, Nashville for their support too!

 

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



Retirement
By From The President - Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Dear Sisters and Brothers, On September the 1st , I'am going to Retire



Good Friday / Easter Holiday
By Larry Odum - Friday, April 22, 2011

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.



Recovery
By President Lou - Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Hello Sisters and Brothers, Hope everyone has made it with out damage from the storms. I'm doing good with my L-Knee this will be 6weeks Wed. and I see the Dr. , hope to be back at Union Hall soon. Brother Lou



Out Of Office
By From the President - Tuesday, March 01, 2011

My Doctor is back and ready to do my left knee re-placement sch. for Wed March the 9th . I will have my lap top at home and stay in contact with everyone at the Union Hall. Lou

 

USW Media Center

USW President Pushes for Support Against China Cheating - Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

United Steelworkers International President Leo W. Gerard spoke last night with Ed Schultz about China’s illegal trading practices and how the Steelworkers are going to push for Congressional support to help President Obama save 1.6 million American jobs.

They talked about how President Obama’s actions to save the American auto industry showed his support for working men and women and the need to keep jobs in this country. On the other hand, Mitt Romney was willing to allow the American auto industry to fail and let those jobs go to foreign countries.

“President Obama has established an enforcement committee and given Vice President Biden what he calls the China portfolio,” said Gerard. “So this is important and this is the first President that has stood up on all of the enforcement issues that we have brought to him.”

Gerard talked about how both countries have agreed to standard operating procedures of the World Trade Organization and when a country doesn’t play by the rules, they need to be called out.

“It is like saying we all agree that the speed limit should be 60, but if China drives 85, just ignore them,” said Gerard.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

USW Vice-President Redmond Joins National Endowment for Democracy Board - Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Fred Redmond, USW International Vice President (Human Affairs), has been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

The NED is a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. With funding from the U.S. Congress, NED supports projects of non-governmental groups abroad who are working for democratic goals in more than 90 countries. NED is a major funder of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, a nonprofit organization that assists workers around the world who are struggling to build democratic and independent trade unions.

Redmond is a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council and serves on its International Affairs Committee. He has traveled to Ghana, Liberia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Colombia, and Mexico on missions to promote labor rights and democracy ... more

USW Commemorates Black History Month - Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Today United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard and USW International Vice-President Fred Redmond released the following statement:

The United Steelworkers (USW) will commemorate Black History Month by honoring the sacrifices of all of the Black men and women who fought for dignity and respect in the workplace, on the bus and in all aspects of life.

In the early 20th century, Pullman Porters were an integral part of the Pullman Rail Car Company’s operations. But for decades, only Black men were hired as porters and subjected to low wages, merciless working conditions and daily humiliation because of race. They pressed on despite their circumstances and under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph organized a union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which brought about much needed improvements ... more

USW Reaches Tentative Three-Year Agreement With Oil Industry - Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

The United Steelworkers (USW) is pleased to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement with Shell on a new three-year agreement, pending ratification by the union’s membership.

The USW represents 30,000 workers at 168 production, refining, marketing, transportation, pipeline and petrochemical facilities nationwide, including 69 refineries representing approximately 64 percent of US refining capacity ... more

Action Alert for USW Members in the Northeast - Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Sunoco and ConocoPhillips have arbitrarily decided to shut down three strategic oil refineries on the East Coast, all three in or near Philadelphia, Pa. All three of these refineries are USW workplaces, and if the companies follow through on their threat, 1,300 of our members will lose their jobs. Another 1,200 people, many of them members of other unions also will become unemployed. Tens of thousands more jobs will be lost. The whole community in that area will be devastated.

But this is not all. These three refineries make the majority of home heating oil, diesel fuel, and jet fuel in the region. This means consumers and homeowners just like us will be impacted all over the Northeast. If these refineries close, the home heating oil crisis next year will be much, much worse than in the recent past. Home heating oil prices could go to ridiculous highs. In some places it is possible people will not even be able to get heating oil. We do not think it is an exaggeration that people could freeze to death in their own homes if these companies get away with closing these three refineries.

USW is asking for public hearings on the refinery closures and the devastation the closures would bring.

		Click here to write a note to your two Senators and Members of Congress asking for public hearings on the refinery closures.
		Click here to send a message to your state legislators asking that they hold public hearings at the state level about the impact of these refinery closures.
		Click here to sign a petition telling Congress and your state legislators to protect Northeast citizens and keep these refineries open!

 

 

 

USW Calls for Action to Defend Domestic Auto Industry from Illegal Trade - Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

China's Predatory, Protectionist Practice the Target

Please note the links to supportive material at end

 

Leo W. Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers (USW), issued this statement today:

We're here today to issue a call to action to support and defend America's auto parts sector from China's predatory, protectionist and illegal trade practices.   This is a fight for good, family-supportive jobs and the economic vitality of communities all across this country.   It's time to stand up to China and say: enough is enough.  You've taken enough of our jobs.

The Obama Administration's leadership in combining government assistance to General Motors (GM) and Chrysler and policies like 'Cash for Clunkers' helped the auto assembly sector weather the economic crisis.   Government action, coupled with the ingenuity, dedication and hard efforts of the workers has helped stabilize and revitalize this important sector of our economy.

Unfortunately, the success of America's auto assemblers has not translated into the same level of success for the hundreds of thousands of workers directly employed making the parts and components for those companies.   As the assembly side of the industry has started to return to prosperity, employment in the parts sector has not fared as well and imports of parts - too many of them unfairly traded -- has grown exponentially ... more

USW Lauds U.S. Victory in Challenge to China's Raw Materials Export Restraints - Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

The decision announced today by the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a huge victory for American workers.  In clear and unequivocal language, the WTO stated that China’s decision to limit the export of key raw materials violated the commitments China made when it joined the WTO.

“This decision is particularly important to the Steelworkers since the products China is protecting are key industrial raw materials used in the steel, aluminum and chemical industries – the industries where our members work hard and play by the rules,” said United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard.

“China’s export restraints pose a clear and present danger. They limit supplies and raise prices to foreign producers on the world market that causes real harm.   And, they act as a magnet to companies to relocate their production and sourcing to China to be able to access these key ingredients,” added Gerard ... more

The Vote is In: Vale World's Worst Corporation - Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Brazilian multinational Vale today received the 2012 Public Eye People's Choice Award for world's worst company.  The award was presented in Davos, Switzerland, where corporate chieftains and political leaders are meeting for the annual World Economic Forum.
 
Presenting the award, Nobel economics laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz called on multinational companies to go "beyond the minimum required by the law to protect the environment, to treat workers with decency and fairness, not to exploit all the advantages that asymmetries in bargaining might afford."

More than 88,000 people around the world voted in an online competition , organized by the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace Switzerland, to choose the worst case of contempt for the environment and human rights.    
 
"This vote demonstrates the increasing global awareness of Vale's terrible record of destroying communities and the environment while systematically violating workers' rights," said United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard. Gerard spoke from Sudbury, Ontario, where he dedicated a new building for Steelworkers Local 6500 which represents 3,000 Vale workers.  
 
In December, the Ontario Labor Relations Board found that Vale committed unfair labor practices during a year-long strike at Sudbury. Last June 8, two workers were killed in Sudbury in an accident that is still under investigation.
 
Earlier, an Industrial Inquiry Commission appointed by the Newfoundland and Labrador government to investigate an 18-month strike at Voisey's Bay found that Vale's "behavior demonstrates disrespect for the role of a bargaining agent."
 
Vale was nominated for the Public Eye award by Justice on the Rails, a Brazilian coalition of environmental and community groups. "We owe a tremendous debt to our sisters and brothers in Brazil who continue to expose this company's destructive actions," Gerard said.

USW President Honored with Home Local Hall Naming - Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

This from the Sudbury Star in Canada: 

It was almost a first for union boss Leo Gerard.

Gerard was apparently blind-sided when it was announced Thursday that the executive and membership of United Steelworkers Local 6500 had named their new hall after the international president of their union.

That news came just before the ribbon was cut at the grand opening of the local's new headquarters at 66 Brady St.

"I guess it's almost a first. I'm almost speechless," said a teary-eyed Gerard when a cloth cover was removed from the plaque reading "Leo W. Gerard Hall," which hangs over the entrance to the main hall.

The day was a bittersweet one for Gerard, Local 6500 members and residents of the community. They were excited about the transformation of the former grocery store into a state-of-the-art hall and conference centre, but tears were also shed for the Steelworkers' Hall at 92 Frood Rd. that burned to the ground in September 2008.

Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand said that hall was a place where meetings, union schools, days of mourning, children's Christmas parties and other events were held for more than 40 years.

He recalled seeing many of the people who crammed into the atrium of the new hall Thursday at the fire scene on Frood Road three and a half years ago.

Bertrand said he remembered the pain in the eyes of members, retirees and residents who watched a large piece of Sudbury history go up in smoke.

He quoted Gerard who said at the time that next to the death of a family member, the burning of the old Steel Hall was the saddest day of his life.

"So today's a new chapter for us," said Bertrand. "Today, the Steelworkers will continue that tradition to support this community and to support the membership."

He reminded guests of how USW Local 6500 has supported the community over the years, raising millions of dollars for charitable causes.

Just recently, it reached the $500,000 mark in donations from its cent an hour contribution by members to Health Sciences North's Children's Treatment Centre.

The local raised $360,000 for United Way in 2011 and $30,000 for the Edgar Burton Food Drive, and collected thousands of cans of food for the Sudbury Food Bank.

It was "altogether fitting" to name the hall after Sudbury native Gerard, who rose through the ranks as a member of the union representing production and maintenance workers to become president of an international union, said Bertrand.

Gerard recalled "all the things that went on in that (old) building and all the tough decisions that were made, and all the positive decisions that were made to benefit our community.

"One of the things that always made me love my union even more was that our union, in particular Local 6500, never, ever saw itself as just a collective bargaining tool.

"We saw ourselves as an instrument of social and economic justice for our members and for our community. And we fought for the things that mattered for working people," said Gerard.

The union doesn't want 66 Brady to be known as just its home. "We want this hall to be seen as the community's home that they can come and use and be proud of the work that we do on behalf of working people," he said.

As proud as he was to have the hall named after him, it was also humbling, said Gerard.

"There's a part of me that says I don't deserve it."

Dozens of retirees attended the opening and Bertrand insisted they enter the main hall before anyone else.

"They're the ones who fought for everything we have today," he said.

There were oohs and aahs as people poured into the hall where a musical combo was playing on the main stage and a buffet of finger foods was laid out for guests.

Mayor Marianne Matichuk attended, hugging Bertrand as she entered the hall.

Vale vice-president of mining and milling, Kelly Strong, attended the opening as did spokeswoman Angie Robson.

Greater Sudbury Police Chief Frank Elsner and Deputy Chief Al Lekun were among the guests.

Gerard called the hall one of the most beautiful in Ontario, adding: "I'm a little prejudiced now that it's mine."

Gerard, USW national director Ken Neumann and district 6 director Wayne Fraser presented Bertrand with a plaque to be hung in the hall.

"Whoever thought we could build something better than what we had at 92 Frood Rd.," said Fraser.

He said he was proud of the local for turning the hall into such a showpiece, crediting member Roger Lafontaine for spear-heading the project.

He called Local 6500 the best USW local in North America.

Neumann expressed thanks to USW retirees for giving the present- day union a solid foundation.

"You're the ones who have fought the fight," he said.

cmulligan@thesudburystar.com

Twitter @Carol_Mulligan

CLICK HERE to find the original article from the Sudbury Star

Vale competes for 'Worst Company in World;' Vote now - Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Vale is in the running for the "prize" of being named the "Worst Company in the World" by the Public Eye Awards. The prize will be awarded during the Annual World Economic Forum, that brings together corporate and government elites in Davos, Switzerland. You can vote here, to show your disgust for the way this powerful Brazilian-based company carries out its operations in 38 countries throughout the world. Behind its fabulously high profit levels and clever image control lies a sad story of union bashing, hiding workplace accidents, environmental devastation and running roughshod over local communities impacted by its mines and plants.

Vote here now to help Vale win the title of World's Worst Corporation of 2011! Voting ends January 26, 2012.

Why does Vale deserve the award for worst corporation in the world? 

A summary of some of the social, environmental, labour impacts on the traditional peoples of various enterprises of Vale in Brazil and worldwide.

 

 

USW Statement on President Obama's State of the Union Address - Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Leo W. Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers (USW) issued the following statement today on President Obama’s State of the Union Address:

“President Obama has listened to us as American workers and laid out a vision of the America we want and need, one that creates jobs and prosperity for us and not the 1% who have looted the economy.

“As a union representing workers in the manufacturing, energy and service sectors, we stand up and fight in support of the President’s ‘Blueprint for an America Built to Last.’ Strengthening American manufacturing by looking to build good jobs, green jobs and sustainable jobs with American energy, skills and values is a program for us ... more

Bain Capital Sucked the Value out of Companies - Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

In this episode, Leslie Marshall talks with Dave Foster, Executive Director of the Blue/Green Alliance and past Director of the United Steelworkers (USW). They began with a discussion about Bain Capital, which was co-founded by Mitt Romney, and how it destroyed a steel company in Kansas City, MO, caused 750 people to lose their jobs, their severance pay and parts of their health care and pensions.

Foster recalls having to deal with Bain Capital at that time. "It was a terrible story of duplicity, of greed and of pillaging."

"These were folks that stuck the straw into the value of the company, slurped it out when they had the opportunity, knew what the results were going to be, then walked away of their obligations to employees and retirees, took their $10 million in profits and went off to their new homes ..."

 

National Day of Action for Refinery Safety - Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Oil Workers engaged in a National Day of Action for Safe Refineries and Good Jobs on Saturday, January 21. Members in refinery communities around the country visited gas stations and distributed handbills to drivers on the importance of refinery safety in the ongoing round of contract negotiations. 

Actions occurred in Texas, Louisiana, Utah, California, Washington, Pennsylvania, and other locations around the country. 

Health and safety is a major issue in this round of National Oil Bargaining.

Since the last time we sat down to bargain with the oil industry three years ago, 18 oil workers have died on the job,” says Gary Beevers, the Steelworkers’ International Vice President for Oil Bargaining.  “That’s unacceptable. This time around we expect to see some real, enforceable improvements on health and safety.”

USW Endorses U.S. Rep. Mark Critz - Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

The United Steelworkers (USW) today endorsed U.S. Rep. Mark Critz for re-election as the representative of southwestern Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District.

USW International President Leo W. Gerard said Critz has the endorsement of the international union, all of the USW local union presidents in the 12th Congressional District and SOAR, the union’s retiree organization.

The USW represents more than 32,000 active and retired workers in the union-dense 12th District, which encompasses all of Greene and portions of Allegheny, Armstrong, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Gerard said Critz, a former aide to the late Congressman Jack Murtha, knows the importance of manufacturing and industry and stands for industrial policies that will create good American jobs.

“He has always been there on the issues that matter to us,” Gerard said.

Critz, a Johnstown Democrat, said he was humbled by the endorsement and promised to continue to stand up for working men and women in Pennsylvania.

“I went to Congress to fight, to fight for this area … I’ve never been afraid to fight anyone when it comes to the values of working men and women, and our seniors,” he said.

“I’ve worked every day, every single day trying to create jobs back here in Western Pennsylvania and trying to uphold the values of the middle class, of working men and women, making sure that the schemes of Republicans in Congress don’t attack things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ benefits. It’s fight. We have to stand together.”

 

Steelworkers Rally Across America in Support of Ohio Cooper Tire Workers - Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

On January 14, 2012, United Steelworker (USW) members across America held informational rallies in support of the locked out workers at USW Local 207L in Findlay, OH. Since November 28, 2011, Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. refused the union's offer to remain on the job while negotiations proceeded.

Members attracted attention of motorists and consumers carrying signs that read “300 Million Reasons for Cooper to Bargain Fairly” and “Cooper Tire’s Greed Flat Out Wrong,” in front of tire stores carrying the Cooper name.

USW members submitted 675 photos from all areas of the United States of this mega information rally.

Click on the photos below to see galleries of our members in action from each USW District

		Support from District 1
		Support from District 2
		Support from District 4
		Support from District 7
		Support from District 8
		Support from District 9
		Support from District 10
		Support from District 11
		Support from District 12
		Support from District 13

USW Supports President's Decision to Delay Keystone XL Pipeline - Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Bowing to Partisan Politics Not the Right Way to Proceed, says Union

United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard expressed support for the Administration’s decision to challenge partisan politics and not bow to Republican pressure to prematurely approve TransCanada’s permit to develop a proposed 1,700-mile pipeline.  The Keystone XL Pipeline would transport crude oil and bitumen from Alberta, Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.  

“The Administration made the right decision to ensure that a project of this scale is done in a way that is good for both jobs and the environment,” said Gerard. “The White House is facing forces in Congress that have decided to use this project as a litmus test for their commitment to jobs, at the same time as they have blocked the door to every one of the Administration’s job proposals, but the fact is more time is needed to ensure that this project will have the economic and environmental benefits claimed by the developer.”

Proponents of the pipeline estimate that the project will create 13,000 construction jobs, 7,000 manufacturing jobs and allow the U.S. to supply our oil needs with Canada, a long-standing ally instead of unstable nations ... more

USW Refinery Workers Hold National Day of Action for Safety - Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Union members to talk to consumers at gas stations about safety issues in contract negotiations

Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) union who work at oil refineries around the country are planning a National Day of Action for Safe Refineries and Good Jobs on January 21.  Members in refinery communities around the country plan to visit gas stations and distribute handbills to drivers on the importance of refinery safety in the ongoing round of contract negotiations. 

The USW represents more than 30,000 workers in the oil sector.  Most labor agreements are set to expire Feb. 1 at 12:01 a.m.  Across the country, health and safety is a major issue on the bargaining table.  In 2009 the Steelworkers proposed significant changes to health and safety language at the bargaining table, but the industry rebuffed the demands. 

The Steelworkers say that health and safety is a primary issue in this round of negotiations.  “Since the last time we sat down to bargain with the oil industry three years ago, 18 oil workers have died on the job,” says Gary Beevers, the Steelworkers’ International Vice President for Oil Bargaining.  “That’s unacceptable.  This time around we expect to see some real, enforceable improvements on health and safety.” 

Actions are planned in Texas, Louisiana, Utah, California, Washington, Pennsylvania, and other locations around the country ... more

E-Mail Cooper Tire's CEO and tell him to end the lockout - Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Our friends at American Rights at Work are supporting locked out USW members by asking supporters to e-mail Cooper Tire's CEO and demand the company end the lock out and bring back our experienced members. Here's what they wrote in a recent action alert to their supporters: 

 

On November 28, 2011, Cooper Tire and Rubber locked out 1,050 workers in Findlay, Ohio. When Cooper Tire was losing money in 2008, these employees gave up $31 million in concessions to help their employer stay alive. Cooper has since rebounded, raking in $300 million in profits - and handing corporate executives millions in raises and bonuses. Workers simply want a fair deal that recognizes their sacrifice. Instead they have been left out in the cold. Fight back against corporate greed and help Cooper Tire workers get back to work.

E-Mail Cooper Tire CEO Roy Armes to urge him to end the lockout and negotiate fairly.

 

Click here to join American Rights at Work action to support the locked out Cooper Tire workers by sending a message to Cooper's CEO.

Oil Workers to Rally at Chevron Headquarters - Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Union demands that oil industry address safety concerns in contract talks

Members and supporters of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 5 plan to rally at Chevron Corporation’s global headquarters in San Ramon, California at noon on Friday, January 20.  USW Local 5 will be demanding that Chevron and the other oil companies address serious health and safety proposals at the bargaining table in the ongoing round of contract negotiations. 

Union workers say the oil sector’s safety record is unacceptable.  “Over the past three years we’ve seen 18 refinery workers die on the job.  Process safety in this sector is out of control and we’re demanding that this industry start taking refinery safety and community safety more seriously,” said Jeff Clark, the Secretary-Treasurer of USW Local 5. 

Workers say that refinery safety is also a community concern.  BK White, Unit Chair at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, said: “When these companies operate our refineries unsafely, everybody’s at risk—refinery workers and our communities.  We know that a serious explosion at one of these facilities could devastate an entire community ... more

USW Praises Occupy Protesters for Honoring King Legacy - Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Occupy protesters across the country who have planned events for this year’s Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day honor his mission and the method he chose to pursue it, United Steelworkers (USW) officers said this week.

“By engaging in non-violent demonstration and by seeking economic justice, the Occupy protesters are walking in the footsteps of the Rev. King, and I think he would be proud of their efforts,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard.

USW Vice President for Human Affairs Fred Redmond added, “In the year before his assassination, Dr. King launched with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference the Poor People’s Campaign to seek decent jobs, health care and housing for all Americans. He did it because he came to believe people cannot truly be free until they are economically independent ... more

Steelworkers Support Indiana House Democrats on Opposing Right-to-Work - Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Republicans try to Railroad Bill through Committee

United Steelworkers (USW) gathered with about 2,800 workers at the Indiana Statehouse to lend their support for state Democrats who are fighting right-to-work legislation. Democrats, who have not answered the call to bring the House into session, are angry at House Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Rep. Douglas Gutwein, who refused to allow any testimony, debate or Democratic amendments.

It took only six angry minutes for the committee to approve, on a party line 8-5 vote, sending the contentious bill to the full House. When the session was called, Democrats failed to come to the floor.

“The governor is allowing the muscling of a failed plan that will result in fewer jobs at lower pay in unsafe workplaces: ‘right to work for less, ’” said USW District 7 Director Jim Robinson. ““The Republicans are insinuating that they are giving this bill a full public airing, but they are actually railroading the political process against the wishes of the majority of Hoosier middle-class workers.

 

USW's Gerard Talks Job Creation at White House "Insourcing" Forum - Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Business, Labor Leaders Meet with Obama, Administration, Experts

United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard today participated in the “Insourcing American Jobs Forum” at the White House hosted by President Barack Obama. The forum  included business, labor, administration and local government leaders along with outside experts.

The White House convened the forum to discuss how to build upon the increasing trend of companies choosing to “insource” jobs and make new investments in the United States rather than send jobs and spend money overseas ... more

Locked-out Ohio Workers from Cooper Tire Meeting with Serbian Union Leaders This Week - Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that a delegation of locked-out workers from Local 207L at Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.’s (NYSE: CTB) Findlay, Ohio plant and an international union representative are meeting this week with leaders of Nezavisnost, the union that represents workers at the company’s recently purchased facility in Kruševac, Serbia.

USW International President Leo W. Gerard said that international solidarity is especially important in the case of disputes with multinational employers, where a direct link for sharing information can be helpful for workers on both sides of the Atlantic.

“The only answer to global corporate greed is global union solidarity,” he said. “Cooper Tire management needs to understand our commitment to justice here ... more

Republicans Behaving Like Young Thugs - Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

On the the Leslie Marshall Show, Leslie talks with United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo W. Gerard about the recent Presidential recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Consumer Protection Board.

Marshall quoted Gerard’s latest blog posting, Recess Appointments: Backlash to Blackmail, “In America, when gangs of bullies torment school children, pushing them around and extorting their lunch money, parents know only one response effectively counters the abuse: confrontation. Running, whining, negotiating — none of that works. For the past year, since Republicans took the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, they’ve behaved like young thugs, extorting Democrats to get what they wanted.

She mentioned how true his words were with what is happening today. “What we are dealing with is a party that has made it clear that they are not just the party of ‘no’, they are a party of liars.”

Gerard said, “What they have done for the last three years is to stymie the recovery. They have made it clear, very, very clear that they are prepared to see millions of Americans suffer until they have a better shot, a better chance at defeating President Obama.” 

USW Local 10-234 Fights Demolition of ConocoPhillips Trainer, Pa., Refinery - Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

United Steelworkers Local 10-234 President Denis Stephano announced today that the plant manager at the ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer, Pa., told union officials on Jan. 5 that if a serious buyer is not identified or the refinery is not sold by March 31, the facility will be demolished.

“This is the first time the company gave us this information,” Stephano said. “Our plant manager, Dave Erfert, also informed us that for the past 18 months he had been on a committee to determine the fate of the refinery and many options had been explored, including idling, closure and demolition.

“ConocoPhillips sends Mr. Erfert to attend the stakeholder meetings with union, community and elected officials. Why didn’t he notify the stakeholders months ago that demolition was one of the options the company was considering?” Stephano asked ... more

AFL-CIO Now Blog

 

No Super Bowl Payoff for Hyatt Housekeepers -

In a radio ad airing on Indianapolis-area stations during Super Bowl week, UNITEHERE! reminds listeners one of the first things many young NFL players do after signing a first contract is “buy their mom a house, or build her a new kitchen or let her retire.”

Many NFL players were raised by moms who cleaned houses, cleaned hotels or cleaned both. We all have a special place in our heart for the women of Indianapolis who do that work.

The commercial (click here to listen) to raise awareness about hardworking hotel housekeepers is airing at the same time housekeepers at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis are fighting to keep their jobs and boost their poverty-level pay at a hotel where rates can be more than $1,000 a night for a room during Super Bowl week.

Last month after area hotel workers filed a federal lawsuit alleging wage and hour violations against Hyatt subcontractor Hospitality Staffing Solutions (HSS) and 10 downtown hotels, including the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis, Hyatt announced that it would cut ties with HSS, according to UNITEHERE .

Thus far, Hyatt has refused to hire the HSS workers directly and that means 20 workers, some who have been on the job for nine years as full-time employees, will be out of work after Feb. 8.

On Friday, DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), NFL players and local leaders joined Hyatt workers and supporters in a rally outside the hotel demanding Hyatt end its abuse of subcontracted workers and hire outsourced workers directly. Says Jackie White, who works at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis in the housekeeping department:

I’ve worked at the Hyatt for over 30 years in housekeeping and I’m very proud to be welcoming Super Bowl visitors to Indianapolis. It is a celebration for our city. That said, I am concerned about what the legacy of the Super Bowl will be for Indianapolis hotel workers. The Hyatt will be making millions of dollars during the Super Bowl, and we deserve more for the hard work we do.

The commercial asks listeners that before kick off today, “when you’re at church, please say a prayer, let’s thank God for the women who raised us, for the women who are cleaning out hotel rooms.”

In Indy, we’re fans of our moms, we should support hotel housekeepers here, and they’re among the lowest paid in America. We pay for the stadiums, pay the players’ salaries and pay to build the hotels, so let’s pay the moms.

‘Brotherhood Outdoors’ Takes Sheet Metal Worker on Bow Hunt for Elk -

On this week’s episode of “Brotherhood Outdoors,” Lee Hengsteler, a member of Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) Local 359 in Arizona, gets to realize a dream he’s had since he was 6 years old:  He heads to Montana to hunt elk.

The show airs on the Sportsman Channel at 8 p.m. EST and PST every Thursday.

His bow hunting expedition was made possible when his wife, Neva, applied to the show on his behalf. Says Hengsteler:

People like me don’t win things like a guest shot on a nationally televised show, but Neva insisted on applying for me. I have one heck of a wife.

The award-winning “Brotherhood Outdoors,” Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA‘s) hunting and fishing series pairs union members with renowned outdoorsman Tom Ackerman for a guided hunting or fishing trip in North America or the opportunity to show off their skills by taking Ackerman to their own favorite hunting or fishing sites.

You can click here to apply to be a guest on “Brotherhood Outdoors.” Says Hengsteler:

Tell all those union men and women out there to apply for a guest shot on “Brotherhood Outdoors,” and tell them they can win. I’m just a normal blue-collar working guy, and I won, thanks to my wife.

Click here for more photos form his elk hunt and here for more on the hunt.

Rep. Ellison Calls for End of Crystal Sugar Lockout -

Wednesday marked the six-month anniversary of America Crystal Sugar Co.’s lockout of 1,300 workers and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) told the U.S. House: “It’s time for the company to negotiate.”

In a speech on the House floor, Ellison said the workers, members of Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 167G at plant sin Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa, have been

denied the basic and most fundamental right to work and support their families. These workers have gone to bat for the company. These workers stood shoulder to should with the company to fight for a better sugar program in the farm bill just because that’s how dedicated they. What have they got in return? They’ve gotten locked out. They are not on strike. They are locked out because they refuse to accept an unfair take it or leave contract. They have been locked even though they have agreed to a no-strike guarantee.  It’s wrong, these 1,300 folks deserve better from this company.

Locked out worker Jay Holter told Steve Share, editor of Minneapolis Labor Review,

We’ve given the best we’ve got to this company and this is how we are treated. It’s probably only a year and a half ago the company gave us shirts that said, “You’re the best at what you do.”

Click here for Share’s full update on the lockout.

 

 

Hey, ALEC! Gotcha! -

Not that we ever believed right-wing lawmakers in the first place. But the cover’s been blown on all who claim that the extremist bills they introduce—uncannily similar from state to state—are the works of their own fertile but twisted minds.

They fervently deny that the legislation designed to strip workers of their rights, voters of their franchise, bust unions and boost corporate profits and power are handouts from the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC’s) corporate power toolkit.

Click here to take a look at a bill introduced last fall by Florida state Rep. Rachel Burgin (R) to reduce corporate taxes. Notice the second paragraph, “Whereas is the mission of the American Legislative Exchange Council….” That’s right ALEC’s mission statement is smack dab near the top of Burgin’s measure.

The next day Burgin apparently realized she had left the smoking gun at the scene and withdrew the bill only to reintroduce it later with ALEC’s mission statement removed. H/t to Common Cause for uncovering the deception.

State Dept. Cracks Down on Abuse of Foreign Students by Hershey and Others -

In response to protests by foreign students exploited in a factory subcontracted by the Hershey Company and advocacy by the AFL-CIO and our allies, this week the U.S. State Department announced that it will make major revisions to a guest-worker and cultural exchange visa program and barred participation by a major player in the program, the Council for Educational Travel, USA (CETUSA).

Harika Duygu Ozer, one of the students involved in the protest, told the New York Times:

I hope this sends a clear message to other recruiters like CETUSA, that we will not be your captive workers.

As we reported last summer, students recruited for a cultural exchange program found themselves instead all but indentured to a factory in Palmyra, Penn., where they were made to perform dangerous work loading Hershey products with no safety protection for less than the minimum wage. In addition, the students stayed in housing provided by the Hershey contractor, for which it overcharged. Rents were deducted from the students’ pay.

In August, the students staged a sit-in at the factory to protest their working conditions and pay abuses by the Hershey subcontractor, Excel Logistics. Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale was arrested for taking part in the sit-in.

Working with Jobs with Justice and the National Guestworker Alliance, the student protesters’ actions led to a State Department investigation that found widespread abuses of a program that was designed to be a cultural exchange for students from abroad. Students who take part in the Summer Work Travel (SWT) program are admitted on a J-1 visa.

In a statement issued by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) on Thursday, EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey and Immigration Policy Analyst Daniel Costa wrote:

Our research has shown that corporations and labor recruiters like CETUSA are using the J-1 visa Exchange Visitor Program—and especially the SWT program, which admitted 132,000 workers last year—to avoid hiring unemployed U.S. workers and paying state and federal payroll taxes. In Pennsylvania, a state with a 7.6 percent unemployment rate, scarce jobs in rural areas (such as Palmyra, the site of the Hershey plant) should first be offered to local unemployed workers. In addition, the use of subcontractors as a way to keep employees from unionizing should be banned. The Hershey Company has successfully used the J-1 program as a way to diminish the bargaining power of its workers.

As urged by the AFL-CIO in its public comments on the SWT, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Rick Ruth announced that the list of jobs prohibited for exchange students traveling on a J-1 visa would be expanded to include construction, roofing and most industrial work.

But scrutiny of the Summer Work Travel program won’t end there. An investigation by the Associated Press also found SWT students pressed into service in the sex industry.

Read more about the student sit-in at Hershey’s Excel plant here and here.

Take Action to Help Cleaning Workers in Netherlands -

Spreading the work here from our friends at LabourStart, who sent this action request (and plug for its conference this year).

They’re calling it the “uprising of the invisible.”

Cleaning workers in the Netherlands have been on strike for 30 days and have now asked for international solidarity. They’ve created an online campaign on LabourStart which needs your help.

It will take you just one minute to tell their employers—and their employers’ clients—that it’s time to show these workers some respect, and to reach agreement to end the strike.

Please send off your message here today and spread the word.

And one more thing….

We’ve just announced the dates for the third annual LabourStart Global Solidarity Conference, to be held in Sydney, Australia, from Nov. 26-29 2012. To learn more and show your interest in attending, please visit the Event page on Facebook.

Economy Adds 243,000 Jobs, Unemployment Drops to 8.3 Percent -

Click on chart to enlarge.

The nation’s unemployment rate in January fell to 8.3 percent, down from December’s 8.5 percent, and the economy added 243,000 jobs, according to the latest figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The nation’s unemployment rate continues it steady decline, dropping by 0.8 percentage points since August and to the lowest point since February 2009. The number of jobless workers dropped to 12.8 million, down from December’s 13.1 million. But the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 5.5 million, about 42.9 percent of the unemployed.

The unemployment insurance program for the nation’s jobless workers expires Feb. 29.  A conference is now under way between the Senate and House over two very different one-year extensions of the UI program passed late last year, and the Republican bill would slash federal benefits, impose harsh new restrictions and move to dismantle the essential lifeline of unemployment insurance. Click here for details.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says, “The seeds of sustainable job growth are clearly present—if Republicans in Congress do not succeed in weakening the recovery.”

Republican leaders, who are admittedly unconcerned with the poor and still pressing for ill-timed austerity in Washington and state capitals, run a very real risk of putting this incipient recovery at risk. President Obama, by contrast, has laid out a comprehensive agenda for job creation and broadly shared prosperity, rather than wealth for a few.

Private-sector jobs grew by 257,000, and government employment was essentially unchanged, but over the past 12 months 276,000 public employee jobs have been lost.

In January, professional and business services add about 70,000 jobs. The leisure and hospitality industry added 44,000 jobs and health care jobs grew by 31,000.

Manufacturing saw an increase of 50,000 jobs, mostly in durable goods, and the construction industry added 21,000 jobs.  There were 10,000 new jobs in the mining industry in January.

The unemployment rates for adult men (7.7 percent) and African Americans (13.6 percent) declined in January. The unemployment rates for adult women (7.7 percent), teenagers (23.2 percent), whites (7.4 percent) and Hispanics (10.5 percent) were little changed.

Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economist Heidi Shierholz says today’s figures show “a labor market where all the moving parts seemed to be moving in a solidly good direction.”

Strong payroll employment growth was matched by a falling unemployment rate, strong employment growth in the household survey and a growing share of the population with jobs….It’s important to keep this growth in context, however—the jobs deficit is so large that even at January’s growth rate, it would still take until 2019 to get back to full employment.  We need reports this strong and stronger for the next several years to get back to good health in the labor market.

More than 1,500 Workers Join AFL-CIO Unions -

Warehouse workers, school, bus drivers, teachers, mechanics, telecommunication and manufacturing worker all have recently won a voice at work with AFL-CIO unions.

More than 350 employees at IKEA Distribution Center in Perryville, Md., voted by an overwhelming margin to join the Machinists (IAM ) despite opposition from IKEA managers who hired Jackson-Lewis, the well-known union-busting law firm. District 4 Business Representative Joe Flanders says the workers, “were able to see through the scare tactics.”

Last year, the Danville, Va.-based employees at Swedwood, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IKEA, voted to join the IAM.

In DuPont, Wash., more than some 350 workers who repair military helicopters and do site maintenance site maintenance and repair work for defense contractor URS Corp. Wash., voted to join IAM District Lodge 751. The workers have been without a pay or cost of living increase for more than four years, says new IAM member John Davis, and “a bunch of people got fed up.”

In Avon, Ky., 219 workers (see photo) at Allsource Global Management at the Bluegrass Station base voted to join the IAM. They are material coordinators for the distribution of military equipment.

Workers at former Alltel facilities—acquired in 2009 by AT&T—continue to choose the Communications Workers of America (CWA), through a majority sign-up agreement between CWA and AT&T. In a majority sign-up, the company agrees to remain neutral and recognize the union after a majority of employees signs authorization cards. Recently in New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota and Montana more than 150 workers joined CWA.

Late last, month 282 Cablevision technicians and dispatchers in Brooklyn voted to join CWA Local 1109. Click here for an in-depth look at the workers’ victory.

Workers at a GE Transportation plant in Kansas City, Mo., fought back against back against a hired gun, anti-union campaign and voted to join the Electrical Workers (IBEW). Workplace safety concerns following the 2010 on-the-job death of a co-worker and a long-list of broken promises by management spurred the nearly 100 workers to fight for a voice at work.  Click here for a detailed look at the struggle from the IBEW Now News blog.

More than 70 bus operators, mechanics, maintenance and other workers at Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 at several locations in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley voted to join the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 282. Colonial provides various school services, including transportation to 13 school districts.

Twenty teachers at the Evergreen Charter School in Hempstead, N.Y., won representation with AFT affiliate New York State United Teachers (NYSUT). But the fight is not over.  NYSUT is seeking reinstatement of special education teacher Jill Haag who was fired Dec. 2 when she was 8 1/2 months pregnant. The union says she was illegally fired for her for her work organizing the union. Haag regularly wore a lanyard stating, “Unions and Charters Working Together,” and urged parents to sign the petition in support of the union.  Click here for more from AFT.

In Fraser, Mich., the teachers and staff at the Arts Academy in the Woods, a charter school voted 20-to-1 to join Michigan Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, an affiliate of AFT Michigan.

Affordable Care Act Saves Seniors $2.1 Billion in Drug Costs -

The Affordable Care Act has saved nearly 3.6 million people enrolled in Medicare $2.1 billion on their prescription drugs in 2011, finds a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says the health care reform law signed by President Obama in 2010:

is already saving money for millions of Americans with Medicare. As we move forward, we will close the donut hole completely and save even more money for everyone with Medicare.

The Affordable Care Act—which Republican lawmakers are fighting to repeal—provides a 50 percent discount on brand-name prescription drugs and, beginning this year, a 14 percent discount on generics. Last year, it provided a 7 percent discount on covered generic medications for people who hit the prescription drug coverage gap known as the donut hole, with more than 2.8 million beneficiaries receiving $32.1 million in savings on generics.

Overall, the 3.6 million Americans who hit the donut hole saved an average of $604 on the cost of their prescription drugs. The Affordable Care Act closes the donut hole completely by 2020.

Click here for a state-by-state look at donut hole savings figures for today’s donut and here for a fact sheet.

Hate the Pay Gap? Take the App Challenge -

If you’re frustrated about the wage gap that persists between male and female workers, you can channel your energy into a new contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor and President Obama’s National Equal Pay Task Force.

The Equal Pay App Challenge invites the public to create innovative software applications that use the department’s data to educate users about the pay gap, and provide tools to combat it.

Women earn about 80 cents for every dollar earned by men doing comparable work—and the gap is wider for Latinas and African American women. Over a lifetime, the pay gap results in lost wages, reduced pensions and diminished Social Security benefits.

Of course, unionized women do better than their unrepresented sisters, thanks to the power of collective bargaining. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that union women earn nearly 34 percent more than nonunion women.

Software apps that “improve the accessibility of pay data broken down by gender, race and ethnicity, and provide coaching on early career pay, pay negotiation or career mentorship” are among the goals of the challenge. March 31 is the deadline and prizes will be awarded around Equal Pay Day in April. Find development tools here.

ALEC Education ‘Academy’ Launches on Island Resort -

This is a cross-post by Dustin Beilke from PR Watch.

Today, hundreds of state legislators from across the nation will head out to an island resort off the coast of Florida to a unique “education academy” sponsored by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). There will be no students or teachers. Instead, legislators, representatives from right-wing think tanks and for-profit education corporations will meet behind closed doors to channel their inner Milton Friedman and promote the radical transformation of the American education system into a private, for-profit enterprise.

What Is ALEC Scoring on Its Education ‘Report Card’?
Little is known about the agenda of the ALEC education meeting taking place at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island. The meeting is not open to the public and recently even the press has been kicked out of meetings and barred from attendance. So to understand the ALEC agenda with regard to education, it is important to examine ALEC’s education “scorecard.” Imagine getting a report card from your teacher and finding out that you were graded not on how well you understood the course material or scored on the tests and assignments, but rather on to what extent you agreed with your teacher’s strange public policy positions. That is the best way to understand ALEC’s 17th Report Card on American Education, released last week.

The report card’s authors are Matthew Lardner, formerly of the Goldwater Institute, and Dan Lips, currently of the Goldwater Institute and formerly of the Heritage Foundation. They give every state’s public schools an overall grade based on how they rate in 14 categories. Homeschooling, alternative teacher certification, charter schools, private school choice and virtual learning make up seven of the 14 categories. Of the other seven categories, two rate the states’ academic standards and the other five have mostly to do with the way states retain “effective” teachers and fire “ineffective” ones.

ALEC’s education bills encompass more than 20 years of effort to privatize public education through an ever-expanding network of school voucher systems, which divert taxpayer dollars away from public schools to private schools, or the creation of new private charter schools with public funds, and even with private online schools (who needs actual teachers when you can have a virtual one?). The bills also allow schools to loosen standards for teachers and administrators, exclude students with physical disabilities and special educational needs, escape the requirements of collective bargaining agreements and experiment with other pet causes like merit pay, single-sex education, school uniforms, and political and religious indoctrination of students.

States where students score well on tests but where ALEC’s legislative agenda around school choice, charters, merit pay, de-unionization and alternative certification have not yet taken hold get low grades. States where elected officials are gung-ho for ALEC’s agenda but the students are not faring so well are still graded generously.

Ranking Policy, Not Performance
While ALEC’s report card and its many appendices weigh in at hefty 130+ pages, it is markedly slight on evidence that school choice, charters, or firing more teachers improve student performance. Indeed, the report card itself even makes this case by also ranking each state’s students’ performance on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) exam, the largest and most accepted national, standardized assessment of student knowledge in several subject areas.

Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Kansas, New Hampshire and New York comprise the top 10 states in NAEP performance. Among them, only Colorado is among the 13 states ALEC gives a B or better on its report card. Vermont, even though it scored number two on the NAEP, is tied for dead last for policy with a D+. Missouri, ALEC’s star pupil
with an A-, scored 47th on NAEP.

“It’s a compendium of the progress of the ALEC agenda and it has nothing to do with educating students,” says Julie Underwood, dean of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Underwood, who wrote about ALEC for The Nation last summer and has studied the organization extensively, notes that the most interesting and potentially useful data in the report card is left out of each state’s grade calculation. There are tables ranking states according to the NAEP performance of low-income students, students of color and students with disabilities, but this is not added in the final grade.

“Why is that not part of the state’s A to F grades?” Underwood asks. Missouri ranks 43rd in low-income students’ 4th grade reading score improvement and 34th in math improvement, but still got the top grade. Utah is 49th and 37th, but was still one of the few states to score a B or better from ALEC. Maryland is number one in reading improvement and number 2 in math improvement, but drew a C-.

Union-Busting Applauded
Her answer comes in the report card’s introduction, where Lardner and Lipps call 2011 “The End of the Beginning in the Battle for K-12 Reform.” Legislative efforts to weaken and defeat unions were so successful in places such as Florida, Indiana and Wisconsin last year that, according to the authors, we have entered a new era for ALEC’s education policy agenda.

Comparing the union fight to Britain’s defeat of Germany in Egypt to secure the Suez Canal, Lardner and Lips crow that in 2011, “For the first time, the unions suffered major policy defeats in a large number of states across a wide array of policy issues.”

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels wrote the report card’s forward, lamenting how the unions in his state once had a voice in issues such as the length of the school day, academic freedom and, generally, the content of their work, says his state has turned the corner. “Collective bargaining will now be limited to wages and benefits and will no longer stand in the way of effective school leadership or student progress,” Daniels writes.

Indiana’s ALEC grade improved to a B from a C+ in 2010 even though its NAEP scores declined from 13th to 17th. Indiana did, however, pass several pieces of legislation in the last year that were influenced by ALEC model bills, including the creation of a statewide voucher school program, merit pay and restricted collective bargaining rights for teachers, and deep budget cuts.

ALEC Education Policy ‘Academy’ at Island Resort, No Students Allowed
The report card, released during National Charter School Week, also comes during the ramp-up to ALEC’s annual “K-12 Education Reform Academy” at the swanky Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Fla. The non-profit group Fund Education Now intercepted one of ALEC’s invitations to legislators in Florida delineating the junket’s deluxe (and gratis) accommodations and summarizing the opportunity to learn more about school privatization and giving teachers their comeuppance.

You are cordially invited to attend ALEC’s K-12 Education Reform Academy,
February 3-4, 2012 at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida. For invited
legislators like you, ALEC will cover your room for up to two nights at the host
hotel. ALEC will also reimburse up to $500 for travel expenses, which includes
coach airfare, cabfare, and a reimbursement of 55.5 cents per mile driven.

This event will address the top reforms in K-12 education that ALEC believes
each state must have to ensure the successful and productive education for all
American students. We will discuss what you as a state legislator can do to
address a variety of issues surrounding K-12 education reform, including charter
schools accessibility, accountability and transparency, standards for teacher
excellence, open enrollment, vouchers, tax credits, and blended learning
options.

Fund Education Now co-founder Kathleen Oropeza says the “academy” is closed to the press and the public and Amelia Island itself is secluded from the outside world and heavily policed. The meeting’s agenda is so secretive that Oropeza has been unable to track one down.

“The island is a challenge for protesters, and we think they chose it for that reason,” Oropeza says.

However, a raft of ALEC legislative and corporate members are certain to be there. These include online school businesses such as K-12 Inc., Insight Schools, and Connections Academy a division of Connections Education LLC. These for-profit schools will likely join with their allies from the Heritage Foundation, Texas Public Policy Center, The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, the Hoover Institution, the Alliance for School Choice and more.

Today, the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida (DPCF) called on Florida legislators to boycott the island retreat. Caucus President Susan Smith stated, “The secretive process of allowing corporate lobbyists and billionaires to write legislation, which they then pass off to Florida legislators, is a betrayal of the intent of representative government. The closed-door gathering of legislators is not government in the sunshine.”

See the ALEC education bills and learn more about the ALEC’s Public Education Task Force at the Center for Media and Democracy’s ALEC Exposed website.

Important Note for Recent Union Plus Scholarship Applicants -

Tom Chiancone, Union Plus Scholarship Program Manager, sends this report on recent problems some people had applying online for a Union Plus scholarship.

If you tried to complete the Union Plus Scholarship application prior to the Jan. 31 deadline, please accept our apologies for any problems you may have experienced submitting your application in the past couple of days.  Our partner’s online application system had trouble handling the recent extremely high volume of activity, but we’ve worked with them to resolve the issues.

We have a record of all applicants who logged in or attempted to log in to the application system since Jan. 29, 2012 and our provider sent an e-mail to all applicants at 12 pm ET on Feb. 1, 2012.  This e-mail noted that your application has been re-opened and you have until 5 p.m. (EST) Friday, Feb. 3  to login to complete and submit your application. NOTE:  E-mails were sent to the email address provided during the set up your scholarship login ID.

Also, at 12 p.m. ET on Feb. 1, an e-mail was sent to all applicants that successfully submitted, verifying  your complete application was received.

If you do not get an e-mail, please send a request to open your application to info@unionplus.org and make sure to include your login ID. You can also check your e-mail junk or spam folders in case the message was delivered to those folders.

NOTE:  If you had NOT already started your application before the Jan. 31 deadline, we are NOT accepting NEW scholarship applications at this time.

Thanks for your understanding and good luck with your education pursuits!

 

 

Yep, That Makes Sense -

Why shouldn’t teachers be paid more? Because the Bible says it would be wrong, according to an Alabama Republican state legislator.

Really.

“It’s a Biblical principle. If you double a teacher’s pay scale, you’ll attract people who aren’t called to teach,” said State Sen.
Shadrack McGill, who was quoted in Dekalb County’s Times-Journal.

See, teaching is a calling, not something a good teacher would do for money.  Raising a state legislator’s pay, though, is cool with the Bible because it makes for less vulnerability to corruption. “He needs to make enough that he can say no, in regards to temptation.”

Wonkette does a nice job of explaining it here.

Retirees Occupy Century Aluminum -

This is a cross-post from The Huffington Post.

On Dec. 18, a dozen retirees, men and women in their 60s, 70s, even 80s, began occupying a median strip along Route 33 in front of the closed Century Aluminum smelter in Ravenswood, W.Va. In tents and under tarps, a small group stays overnight, despite hypertension, arthritis and other old age ailments. One has suffered a stroke.

These vulnerable people expose themselves to weather extremes although some have no health insurance at all. Century canceled it. That’s why they’re occupying Century.

The retirees labored their entire lives for wages and pensions comparably lower than those of other aluminum workers. They did it believing they made those sacrifices in exchange for good, lifelong health coverage. Over the past two years, however, Century evicted them, about 540 retirees altogether, from the insurance plan.

The betrayal burns. Executives at Century, corporate 1 percenters, committed the same sort of treachery that is being condemned by Occupy Wall Street demonstrators representing the victimized 99 percent across the country. Thus the retirees adopted the grandchildren’s protest tactic of encampment.

Century shuttered the 50-year-old Ravenswood smelter in February of 2009, throwing 651 workers out of jobs. Century, headquartered in Monterey, Calif., didn’t go bankrupt though. It still operates aluminum plants in Kentucky, South Carolina and Iceland. And it didn’t immediately cancel promised insurance for retirees.

Nine months after the shutdown, it announced it would terminate as of June 1, 2010 health benefits for retirees eligible for Medicare. Then on Nov. 1, 2010, Century told its retirees who weren’t yet eligible for Medicare that it would stop paying for their coverage as of Jan. 1, 2011.

This revoking of earned benefits isn’t an isolated incident or a fluke. It is part of a pattern documented by Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Ellen E. Schultz in her new book “Retirement Heist.” The subtitle is, “How companies plunder and profit from the nest eggs of American workers.

She describes in gory detail how corporations raided worker pension accounts, siphoning off surpluses that would be needed later to prop up plans damaged by the Wall Street collapse. She provides detailed accounts of executives gouging the funds to pay for their own exorbitant retirement packages. She tells of corporate executives ending retiree health insurance and freezing pensions but deceptively calling the changes improvements, so that CEOs could pump up company profits with money that had been pledged to workers.

While breaking promises to workers and violating contracts, these CEO 1 percenters falsely portrayed themselves as beleaguered champions of workers, valiantly attempting to preserve underfunded pensions. Like Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino saving himself while abandoning passengers on his sinking cruise ship, the captains of industry padded their own pockets with pension and health care funds intended for retirees, then deserted the workers. Schultz describes the CEO scams this way in the book:

“In reality, they’re the silent pirates who looted the ships and left them to sink, along with the retirees, as they sailed away safely in their lifeboats.”

Most of the Costa Concordia passengers survived, but more than a dozen drowned. In West Virginia, most of the retirees are still kicking. A leader among the Century occupiers, Karen Gorrell, explained:

“We may have one foot in the grave, but we are kicking like hell with the other.”

But some have succumbed. Gorrell, wife of a 33-year veteran aluminum worker, says Century has retiree blood on its hands.

She tells of two tragedies. There’s Bryce Earl Turner who Karen encountered after her first meeting with Century retirees in Ravenswood. He was scared and sick. Both alternatives he faced — buying private insurance or paying for his leukemia treatments out of pocket — were way beyond his means. Losing his insurance was a death sentence. The retirees worked desperately to get him more time.

With the help of West Virginia’s U.S. senators, Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin, and a provision in Obama’s health care reform law, the retirees managed to get coverage extended to Sept. 1, 2011. Bryce Earl Turner, 59, who worked 37 years at the aluminum plant, died the next day.

The other tragedy is Sam McKinney. He attended a meeting of the retirees on Feb. 14, 2011. He said he feared losing the insurance because his wife was ill. Karen recounts:

“He was very emotional because he had taken his wife to Charleston to try to get some assistance with her health care costs and had been turned down.”

He said, she recalled, that it was hard to believe that in America after a person expended his usefulness to industry, a corporation could coldly cast him aside as if his life had no value.

After the meeting, Sam McKinney took his wife to Outback Steakhouse in Parkersburg for Valentine’s Day. As they left, he collapsed and died in the parking lot. Karen is sure the stress killed him. Wrongful stress. Stress he’d not have experienced if Century was good for its word.

Karen says of Turner and McKinney:

“It was murder without a gun.”

Though Century failed to fulfill its obligation to pay for retiree health care, it handed its last CEO, Logan W. Kruger, $4.9 million in 2010. That’s twelve times more than Americans pay their president, the leader of the free world. Century gave Kruger another $6.2 million to leave last November. Still, he’s suing for $20 million on top of that. Century also is defending against a lawsuit filed for the retirees by the United Steelworkers (USW) union, which represented most of the Century workers.

The USW hopes, however, to resolve the dispute outside the courtroom, with the help of the retirees and West Virginia lawmakers. The elderly agitators managed to win the support of the state’s U.S. senators, its governor and its legislature. So last year when Century went begging to the state for $20 million it claimed it needed to re-open the Ravenswood smelter, the lawmakers sent Century away empty handed with a directive to settle with the retirees before seeking reconsideration.

Not long afterward, Century booted Kruger, and the new management team is negotiating with the USW and the retirees.

The protesters don’t have what they want yet, and they’re not leaving their tents until they do.

Century gave the retiree occupiers port-o-potties and installed concrete barriers to prevent cars careening on an icy Route 33 from plowing through the encampment.

Very nice gesture. But resuming payment for promised health insurance would be a whole lot better.

Indiana Working Families Ready to Take Back the State -

AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this from the Indiana statehouse.

Far from conceding defeat after the passage of a so-called right to work (RTW) bill, tens of thousands of Hoosier workers came together in solidarity to march from the statehouse to Super Bowl village in Indianapolis. From the steps of the statehouse, Indiana AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott said today would mark a new start to taking back the state, starting with “the biggest march Indiana has ever seen!”

Construction workers and teachers, grocery clerks and truck drivers cheered on the workers and elected officials with chants of “Remember November,” vowing to take back the state door by door, neighborhood by neighborhood. WISH-TV has some great aerial footage here.

The overreach and extreme politics that led to today’s vote—including actions by RTW supporters that included shutting the doors to the statehouse, cutting off debate and an ad campaign bankrolled by secret special interests have given the voting public a window into the Indiana Capitol. In poll after poll, Hoosier voters say they don’t approve of these strong-arm tactics by GOP leaders.

By using his final months in office to push this divisive attack, Gov. Mitch Daniels has tarnished his legacy, an outcome that he predicted only a few years ago when he said “right to work” would cause a “civil war.”‘ At today’s rally and march after the vote, that quote was turned on its head by Guyott. She called out the governor but said that today’s vote was the opposite of a civil war, “brother against brother,” because in Indiana,

[b]rothers and sisters were standing together to work for the sake of their children and grandchildren.