1055 News

Temproary Union Hall Hours - Friday, September 03, 2010
Beginning Sept. 7, 2010 the Union Hall will temporarily change hours of operation. The new hours will be Monday through Friday 8:00am until 430pm.

Star on the Union Sportsmen's Alliance Brotherhood Outdoors TV Series - Thursday, September 02, 2010
Don’t just watch hunting or fishing shows from your couch. Be a guest star on Brotherhood Outdoors, a brand new outdoor TV series of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance that will feature hardworking and hard playing union members like you.

Rapid Response Info Alert - Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Take a Quick Survey to Support U.S. Jobs

E-Board Meeting/Membership Meeting - Friday, August 13, 2010
E-Board Meeting August 17, 2010 7am-8am August Membership Meeting August 19, 2010 6:30am, 2:30pm, 6:30pm General Business

Passing of Brother A G Blackman - Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Retired Member of USW Local 1055 Brother A G Blackman died Sunday, August 8, 2010. Funeral to be held Thursday August 12 at noon at the Silver Springs Missionary Baptist Church, Smyrna, TN.

 

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

Steelworkers Endorse Report by Human Rights Watch Criticizing European Companies' Violations of Labor Rights in the U.S. - Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The United Steelworkers (USW) union praised a report released today by Human Rights Watch documenting how many European companies publicly embrace workers’ rights under global labor standards while undermining their employees’ rights in their U.S. operations.

The 130-page report, “A Strange Case: Violations of Workers’ Freedom of Association in the United States by European Multinational Corporations,” details ways in which some European multinational firms have carried out aggressive campaigns to keep workers in the United States from organizing and bargaining, violating international standards and, often, US labor laws.

The Human Rights Watch report is based on thirty interviews with workers and employees’ testimony in legal proceedings, findings and decisions of U.S. labor law authorities, company documents, and written exchanges with company management ... more

Star on the Union Sportsmen's Alliance Brotherhood Outdoors TV Series - Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Don’t just watch hunting or fishing shows from your couch. Be a guest star on Brotherhood Outdoors, a brand new outdoor TV series of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance that will feature hardworking and hard playing union members like you.

You work hard to keep this country running.  You love your family and your union brothers and sisters.  You volunteer your time and talents to make a difference in your community.  And you’re passionate about the outdoors and passing on our hunting and fishing heritage to the next generation.  That makes you a star in our book, so we want you on Brotherhood Outdoors. 

The series, which will begin airing on Sportsman Channel in July 2011, will portray two kinds of adventure. In some episodes, host Tom Ackerman will take guests on an outfitted hunting or fishing trip in North America, often with a union member-owned outfitting operation.  In others, the tables will be turned as union guests play the guide, taking Tom to their secret hunting spot or honey-hole.

So whether you want to take a break from the do-it-yourself routine and join Tom for a guided hunting or fishing adventure OR show your union brothers and sisters and the rest of America that you’ve got the skill and experience to be the guide, get your application in today and be a star on Brotherhood Outdoors!

Click Here to download an application.

ABOUT USA

The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) is a hunting, fishing and conservation organization exclusively for union members, retirees and their families with a mission of expanding and improving hunting and fishing access and habitat for all, now and in the future.  As part of its mission, the USA recently initiated its Boots on the Ground program, which utilizes the diverse skill sets of union members to tackle on-the-ground, place-based conservation projects.  Learn more at www.unionsportsmen.org.  Find us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/unionsportsmen.

USW Condemns New Grupo Mexico Offensive on Sonora Miners - Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The United Steelworkers (USW) today condemned Grupo Mexico SAB, Mexico's largest mining company, for a mass firing of workers at its copper smelter in Esqueda, Sonora after the miners rejected a company-imposed union in a vote late last month.

“This blatant act of repression clearly puts Grupo Mexico’s anti-union vendetta ahead of the company’s interest in having stable labor relations,” declared Leo W. Gerard, USW international president.

The mass firing, enforced by a thousand heavily armed federal police who entered the town on Aug. 31, threatens to disrupt production at the smelter.  “Instead of deploying the police to protect its citizens from the drug cartels, the Mexican government is using them to bust democratic unions run by the workers and not the company,” Gerard said ... more

USW Statement on Latest Gulf Oil Platform Explosion - Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500

United Steelworkers (USW) International Vice President Gary Beevers issued the following statement concerning the explosion and fire of an offshore petroleum platform in the Gulf of Mexico today:

“We are thankful that no one was killed in the explosion today of an offshore petroleum platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, one person was injured and that is one person too many."

“This latest explosion shows that we need to make sure all these rigs in the Gulf are safe to operate before we put personnel back to work on them. I would hate to see a worker killed in our haste to reopen the Gulf to drilling. We need to give the government adequate time to do its inspections and ensure adequate health and safety provisions are in place ... more

Tariff on Surging Chinese Tires Effective in First Year: U.S. Production & Market Share Up, Job Losses Reverse - Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Report Shows Obama’s Enforced Relief under Sect. 421 of Trade Law Working

With the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s decision to provide relief on imports of ‘Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires from China’ approaching, the United Steelworkers (USW) pointed to a report issued today by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) that shows the tariff is achieving the desired positive effect on U.S. tire manufacturers and their workforce.

“The relief provided by President Obama is fulfilling a promise that permitted China’s entry into the World Trade Organization – and that promise was American workers and companies would not be harmed by non-market economy distortions in China,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard.

“With relief in place, American workers are finally beginning to see jobs return to their communities. We must maintain that momentum and allow the tariffs to stay in effect for the full three years,” Gerard said. “To do otherwise would be to break the repeated promise to American workers and companies that they would not be unfairly harmed.” ... to read more

 

USW Criticizes Commerce Department's Decision Not To Cite China's Deliberate Undervaluation Of Currency Countervailability - Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

USW Notes Findings Of Other Subsidies In Exports Of Aluminum Extrusions

The United Steelworkers (USW) said today it is pleased by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s announcement of an affirmative, preliminary determination in the countervailing duty investigation of aluminum extrusions from China, but extremely disappointed that its undervalued currency was found not to be subject to tariffs. This decision applies to both the soft aluminum extrusion investigation and the coated paper investigation against China. 

“We deeply regret that the Commerce Department failed to use the anti-subsidy law as it was intended to utilize the anti-subsidy law, as was intended, to protect American workers and companies,” said USW International president Leo W. Gerard. “The decision flies in the face of the consensus that China is, in fact, undervaluing its currency by as much as 40 percent and ignores the thorough economic and legal analysis that was provided several months ago by the USW and the companies.”

The USW has 2,000 members working in aluminum extrusions and 10,000 in coated free sheet paper ... more

USW Paper Workers Chart Course for Future Activism in Bargaining - Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Strengthening bargaining policy and member activism to support it, improving health and safety, playing an active role in policy issues that affect the industry, while building stronger international ties were the focus for the Aug. 17-19 United Steelworkers (USW) paper sector conference here that drew more than 400 delegates.

“Our members are committed to aggressively moving our agenda forward in the paper industry,” said USW International Vice President Jon Geenen, who heads the union’s paper sector. “They exchanged information, discussed problems and developed strategies to strengthen our contracts and the industry.”

The delegates met separately with their company councils to devise action plans to increase communication between the locals and to mobilize the membership around collective bargaining and other industry issues. Each council also elected a delegate to a standing policy committee that will meet periodically to discuss progress and ideas and suggest course adjustments if necessary ... more

 

USW Encourages U.S. House to Cut Budget Deficit, Create Jobs by Taking Action to Stop China's Currency Manipulation - Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Citing Commerce Department statistics released this morning that indicate that economic growth is substantially lower than originally projected, the United Steelworkers (USW) sent letters to members of Congress today asking them to stop China’s currency manipulation.

The letter states: “Next month, when Congress returns, you will have the opportunity to cut our trade deficit in order to address lagging growth, and, at the same time, make a substantial down payment on the federal budget deficit while spurring job growth” by voting for and passing the Ryan-Murphy bill, HR 2378 (The Currency Reform Fair Trade Act) ... more

USW Announces Observers for Strike at Mexican Copper Mine - Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Calls on government to peacefully resolve 3-year dispute at Grupo Mexico

Leo W. Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers (USW), today announced a cross-border effort is being undertaken to place a rotating team of international observers in northern Mexico’s city of Cananea to monitor the presence of 3,000 illegal federal police who are intimidating striking copper miners of the Los Mineros independent union.

“We are in full support of the Los Mineros strike that passed a three-year mark last month, where a constitutional appeal for a temporary injunction against government efforts and mining giant Grupo Mexico to break the union was just won,” Gerard declared.  “But we are concerned that the massive federal police presence is not in keeping with the court ruling and allows protection of the strikebreakers paid by Grupo Mexico to disregard the rights of the union miners.”

Gerard said the USW will sponsor the first group of international observers arriving in Cananea over this weekend with American volunteer workers recruited in the midwest and from southwest border states. He said international human rights groups will be joining the effort to train a rotating team of observers to be near the picket lines with the miners ... more

Members gather for 2010 paper industry conference - Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Members from across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom are gathered this week in Pittsburgh for the 2010 paper industry conference. Among the highlights has been the continued relationship with UK workers and joint work through Workers Uniting, the first global union. Click here to see daily blogs regarding that historic partnership.

And check out this photo slideshow:

NEW VIDEO: Paper Workers from U.S., Canada and UK Unite at Conference - Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Workers from the United Kingdom's Unite the Union and the United States' United Steelworkers continued their historic partnership this week during the USW's paper sector conference.

Members from both unions got together to discuss common issues and challenges and to talk about ideas for the unions' joint effort, Workers Uniting - the world's first global union.

During the conference, 30 councils made up of members representing 30 different paper industry companies elected a spokesperson to present their council's action plan and collective bargaining objectives to the entire paper conference.

In a move that shows just how far the Workers Uniting relationship has come, the MeadWestvaco Council elected Ian Eld - a paper worker from the UK - as their spokesperson. Check out his presentation in this short video clip:

Click here for more about Workers Uniting. And click here to follow members' blogs detailing their daily experience at the USW paper conference.

 

USW and UAW Jointly Condemn Violent Attack of Workers at Johnson Controls Plant - Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The United Steelworkers (USW) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) today strongly condemned yesterday’s savage attack on leaders of Section 308 of the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers at the Johnson Controls Interiors plant in Puebla, Mexico.

In a letter to Stephen Roell, Johnson Controls' President and CEO, USW International President Leo W. Gerard and UAW President Bob King expressed grave concern about the company’s apparent failure to abide by an agreement reached in May and the apparent collaboration of local management in the violent assaults carried out by thugs associated with the Confederación de Organizaciones Sindicales (COS), the former union in the plant ... more

NEW PHOTOS: USW Locals, former Steelers player hand out free school supplies - Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Today in Western Pennsylvania, USW local union leaders from Beaver County, area ministers and other community leaders and former Pittsburgh Steelers player and current analyst Edmund Nelson handed out free school supplies to area children. The school supply drive was part of the union's efforts to help our communities in these tough economic times. 

Hundreds of children lined up to get a free USW back packed filled with paper, pencils, crayons and other supplies at Aliquippa Elementary School. The event was open to children from any school and the union will donate the remaining supplies to other Beaver County area districts. Click here for more on the USW's many community service efforts.

 

The Latest Statistics Demonstrate the Advantages of Union Membership - Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Unions play an important part in the compensation and work lives of both unionized and nonunionized workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Employee Benefit Research Institute have data that compares the impact of union representation on wages, fringe benefits, total compensation, pay inequality, and workplace protections.

Some of the major findings:

• Median weekly wages of unionized workers are roughly 28% higher that weekly wages for nonunion wage earners.
• Median weekly wages of unionized women workers are roughly 34% higher that weekly wages for nonunion women wage earners.

The most sweeping advantage for unionized workers is in fringe benefits:

• Unionized workers covered by employer-provided health outpace nonunion counterparts by 53%.
• Union workers covered by guaranteed (defined-benefit) pensions show a 285% advantage over nonunion workers covered by guaranteed (defined-benefit) pensions.

Unions play a pivotal role both in securing legislated labor protections and rights such as safety and health, overtime, and family/medical leave and in enforcing those rights on the job. Because unionized workers are more informed, they are more likely to benefit from social insurance programs such as unemployment insurance and workers compensation. Unions are thus an intermediary institution that provides a necessary complement to legislated benefits and protections.

Click Here to see all the advantages.

USW Statement on BP Settlement to Resolve OSHA Citations - Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

United Steelworkers Union (USW) International Vice President Gary Beevers issued the following statement today regarding the settlement agreement between BP Products North America Inc. and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA):

“We are very confident that BP will live up to this agreement to resolve its failure to abate previously cited hazardous conditions at its Texas City refinery. This agreement also sets up a framework for oversight of BP’s corrective actions to make the workplace safer ... more

Economist: Trade deficit causes jobless recovery - Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Wednesday, analysts expect the Commerce Department to report the deficit on international trade in goods and services was $41.5 billion in June or 3.4 percent of GDP.

The trade deficit is a huge drag on economic recovery and jobs creation.

In the second quarter overall, the imports grew so much more rapidly than exports that the growing trade gap subtracted 2.8 percent from growth.

But for the increase in the trade gap, GDP would have grown 5.2 percent instead of 2.4 percent. At that pace, unemployment would fall by 2013 to less than 5 percent, the level accomplished the two years prior to the Great Recession

President Obama is seeking to double exports, through marketing programs and new free trade deals. However worthy those initiatives may be, doubling exports does no good if imports double too. By increasing the trade gap, more open trade policies would increase the drag on growth and jobs creation.

That is not an attack on free trade but rather on trade policies that permit a huge trade imbalance.

In the modern theory of comparative advantage taught in graduate schools of economics, the gains from free trade based are premised on approximately balanced trade. Countries increase foreign purchases in industries where they are relatively less productive, and specialize in what they do best. The United States is doing too much buying but not enough selling.

Oil and consumer goods from China account for nearly the entire trade deficit, and without a dramatic change in energy and trade policies, the U.S. economy faces unemployment around 10 percent indefinitely.

President Obama's efforts to halt offshore drilling and otherwise curtail conventional energy supplies-premised on false assumptions about the immediate potential of electric cars and alternative energy sources-threaten to make the United States even more dependent on imported oil.

Detroit can build many more attractive and efficient gasoline-powered vehicles now, and national policy to accelerate the replacement of the existing fleet would reduce imports, spur growth and create jobs.

To keep Chinese products artificially inexpensive on U.S. store shelves and discourage U.S. exports into China, Beijing undervalues the yuan by 40 percent. It accomplishes this by printing yuan and selling those for dollars to augment the private supply of yuan and private demand for dollars. In 2009, those purchases were about $450 billion or 10 percent of China's GDP, and about 35 percent of its exports of goods and services.

In 2010, the trade deficit with China reduces U.S. GDP by more than $400 billion or nearly three percent. Unemployment would be falling and the U.S. economy recovering more rapidly, but for the trade imbalance with China and Beijing's protectionist policies.

In June, China indicated it will adopt a more flexible exchange rate policy, but it has made clear Americans should not expect a dramatic change in the value of the yuan.

China recognizes President Obama is not likely to counter Chinese mercantilism with strong, effective actions; hence, it offers token gestures and cultivates political support among U.S. businesses like General Motors profiting from investments in China.

President Obama should impose a tax on dollar-yuan conversions in an amount equal to China's currency market intervention divided by its exports-in 2009 that was about 35 percent. For imports, at least, that would offset Chinese subsidies that harm U.S. businesses and workers.

Peter Morici is a professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland School, and former Chief Economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission. 

Statement by USW International President on the Signing of Landmark Agreements with Chinese Clean Energy Companies - Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Today we signed what may be a historic agreement with two Chinese companies to create manufacturing jobs in America. This is consistent with the tradition of the USW’s resolve to foster relationships that result in good paying, union jobs for our members.

We often say that the USW can be a great partner to any employer that respects the right of workers to have a union and earn decent wages and benefits in a safe work environment. Many of our members already work for foreign-owned corporations such as ArcelorMittal and Bridgestone-Firestone.

As you might recall, there was significant controversy when it appeared that U.S. tax dollars would go to Chinese companies to build a large wind farm in Texas. It was then that USW allies such as U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) intervened and highlighted the need to build a modern, domestically located wind energy manufacturing chain ... more

 

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka On Reports by Social Security and Medicare Trustees - Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

 

Today’s reports by the Social Security and Medicare trustees bring good news for both programs.  The reports are a needed comeuppance to right wing ideological opponents of Social Security and Medicare who, year after year, twist the facts to undermine confidence in these essential programs, hoping that this will lessen public resistance to their wildly unpopular agenda of benefit cuts, privatization, and vouchers.

The report by the Medicare Board of Trustees shows that the recently enacted health care reform legislation will significantly slow Medicare cost growth, extending the life of Medicare’s trust fund for 12 years, reducing Part B premiums and reducing the federal deficit ... more

 

Democrats turn to Manufacturing for Jobs - Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Today’s front page Washington Post (Aug. 4) report features a headline that we’ve all been fighting to see for the past year on our campaign that advocates a major shift in public policy for American manufacturing jobs with stronger trade policies for us and industrial strategies for infrastructure investment to create and sustain jobs. 

The Democratic majority now gets it, but we have more work to do with Republicans.

Read this story by accessing the below link. (The Washington Post requires free online registration) This report cites both USW President Leo Gerard and Scott Paul, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

 

 

The Washington Post - August 4, 2010, front page

New Democratic strategy for creating jobs focuses on a boost in manufacturing

By Lori Montgomery and Brady Dennis

President Obama and congressional Democrats -- out of options for another quick shot of stimulus spending to revive the sluggish economy -- are shifting toward a longer-term strategy that promises to tackle persistently high unemployment by engineering a renaissance in American manufacturing ... click here to read the rest of the story

 

U.S. House to Examine China's Exchange Rate Policy - Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Ways and Means Chairman Sander M. Levin today announced a full committee hearing to consider whether China’s June announcement to allow exchange rate flexibility has led to material appreciation of the renminbi (RMB). The hearing will take place on Wednesday, September 15, 2010.

“China’s currency policy is central to the trade imbalance that is destroying North American industries and jobs,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “We commend Congressman Levin’s leadership in calling this hearing to examine this issue.”

In addition, the Committee will hear testimony as to whether Congress or the Administration should take action to address China’s unfair currency policy and its impact on U.S. businesses and workers. 

“There is no real question that China’s deliberately undervalued exchange rate is unfair, contributes to global trade imbalances, and costs the United States jobs and economic growth, particularly in the manufacturing sector,” said Chairman Levin.  “We must ensure that China’s rhetoric translates into results that are meaningful and that the international trading system ensures fair rules of competition.”

While there is now a growing recognition that China’s deliberately and substantially undervalued currency contributes to global economic imbalances and impedes economic recovery and job creation, the issue itself is not new.  The United States has been pressing China to allow the RMB to appreciate for more than seven years.

Six years ago, the Treasury Department expressed concern when China’s foreign exchange reserves (accumulated as a result of its currency market interventions) rose to $346 billion.  Today those reserves exceed $2.4 trillion.   And, according to some recent estimates, the RMB may be undervalued by between 25 and 40 percent against the dollar. 

China allowed the RMB to appreciate somewhat beginning in July 2005, but China halted appreciation during the summer of 2008, when the global economic crisis caused China to redouble its efforts to stimulate exports.  On June 19, one week before the G-20 Summit in Toronto, China announced that it would allow flexibility in its exchange rate. 

But as of today, the RMB has appreciated less than one percent against the dollar.  China recently announced that its trade surplus grew by 44 percent in June (compared to June 2009); while the United States recently announced that the U.S. trade deficit in May grew by 4.8 percent -- with the bilateral trade deficit with China growing by 15 percent.

 

USW Lauds Solis and Kirk for Standing Up for Workers' Rights in Guatemala - Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Situations in Colombia & Mexico Need Scrutiny, Too

United Steelworker (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard released this statement today in response to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and U.S. Trade representative calls for formal investigation of worker rights violations in Guatemala.

“We commend Secretary Solis and Ambassador Kirk for beginning the formal process of addressing workers’ rights violations in Guatemala.   This is the first step in the process, and sends a strong signal that the United States will enforce the law in this important area.   Proper recognition and enforcement of workers’ rights are vital to the proper functioning of markets and the global economy ... more

Federal Judge Makes Correct Call on Arizona Immigration Law - Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

 

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 -0500

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 -0500

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 -0500

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. 

 

 

AFL-CIO Now Blog

 

Labor Day 2010: America’s Workers Losing Ground -

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) this week published three reports showing the extent to which America’s workers are losing ground this Labor Day: People are dropping out of the workforce because there are no jobs and those workers who have jobs are earning less.

First, there are not nearly enough new jobs. Nearly 15 million workers are unemployed, nearly a quarter of whom have been seeking work for more than a year. Even though unemployment rose slightly to 9.6 percent last month, it’s 0.5 percent less than it was last October. But that’s not because the economy has been generating that many jobs. EPI economist Heidi Shierholz found that the percentage of people who were actually employed held steady even as the population increased. Translation: The improvement in the unemployment rate has been almost entirely due to people dropping out of (or not entering) the labor force because of the lack of jobs. Check out Shierholz’s report, “Employment Growth Continues Subpar Performance,” here. 

And those who are working are making less. Wages for the typical worker have collapsed. In “Recession Hits Workers’ Paychecks,” Shierholz and EPI President Lawrence Mishel show that workers who have managed to keep their jobs or find new ones during the economic downturn have suffered from stagnant or no wage growth.

Wages are growing half as fast as they were immediately prior to the recession. That’s true in almost all occupations. The numbers were worse for men than women. In fact, the median income for an average working household fell between 2000 and 2007 by more than $2,000. This report, which you can find here, is the first in a series of reports leading up to the launch of EPI’s much anticipated “State of Working America” volume and revamped website in January 2011.

Finally, EPI has released a handy new tool that gives a clear statistical picture of the recession in one place. Labor Day by the Numbers is a chart that lists pertinent facts about the economy in a quick, compact form with links to previous EPI reports.

For example, the section dealing with the unemployment rate shows the number of people who are jobless, the portion who have been unemployed for six months or a year, the number who are underemployed and other key facts. You can check out the chart here.

Human Rights Report Highlights Discrimination, Inequality in U.S. -

The land of the free is not so free if you are poor, a person of color or an immigrant, says a new report. As a result, the U.S. government must aggressively work to eliminate discrimination and disparities throughout society and in the workplace and to ensure that international human rights standards are enforced inside its borders.

The report, compiled by the U.S. Human Rights Network, a coalition of human rights, academic and civil society groups, is part of the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights around the world. This is the first time the U.S. government has participated in the review, which occurs every four years. As part of the review, the U.S. government will have to defend its human rights record before a U.N. panel in November 2010.

The report on human rights conditions in the United States highlights the nation’s significant shortcomings in complying with international human rights standards and makes recommendations on how the United States can better meet those standards.

For example, the report points out that the U.S. labor laws fail to protect low-wage workers such as domestic workers, agricultural workers and independent contractors, who most often are people of color, immigrants or women. According to the report, the nation’s laws also limit freedom of association of workers by excluding large groups from the right to form a union. It calls for expanding and strengthening the right to collective bargaining, either by passing the Employee Free Choice Act or other legislation.

More than 200 nongovernmental organizations and hundreds of advocates across the country have endorsed the report, which took nearly a year to research and produce. The AFL-CIO and affiliated unions participated in several field hearings on human rights across the country that gathered information for the report.

The report addresses a wide range of issues, including education, equality and non-discrimination, capital punishment, treatment of people with disabilities, poverty and access to health care.

Anti-workers have denounced the report. But University of Pennsylvania Law School associate professor Sarah Paoletti, senior coordinator for the Human Rights Network’s UPR Project, says:

Refusing to acknowledge that the U.S. can make any improvements in its human rights policies and practices misses a critical opportunity for the U.S. to demonstrate the need for governments to hold themselves accountable to their constituents at home. Enhancing human rights at home will only strengthen the nation’s standing and influence abroad, and we should embrace the challenge.

To read the U.S. Human Rights Network report, click here.  For more information on the UPR process, click here.

Wind, Web, Telecom and Sanitation Workers Join AFL-CIO Unions -

Workers at wind turbine maker Trinity Structural Towers voted to join IBEW.

Telecom workers, green industry wind power employees, sanitation workers—and, in a precedent setting win, website writers/producers—have recently joined AFL-CIO unions.

In Puerto Rico, 171 call center workers at AT&T Mobility won union representation with Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 3010 through majority sign-up. Under an agreement between AT&T and CWA, the company will remain neutral and will recognize the union once a majority of employees sign up. Meanwhile, in Ocean County, N.J., five employees of the Borough of Island Heights won representation by CWA Local 1088 also through majority sign-up.

A group of more than 130 workers at Trinity Structural Towers—Iowa’s leading manufacturer of wind towers—voted to join Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 347 in Des Moines.

IBEW organizer Brian Heins reports that Trinity mounted a two-monthlong anti-union campaign that included hiring two union-busting firms. “It was nonstop.…They used everything in the book.” The IBEW website has a detailed look at the workers’ victory here.

In Portland, Ore., 13 workers in the sanitation department at the Safeway Bakery voted to join the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 114. Incredibly, even though the rest of the bakery department had long been unionized, Safeway not only used anti-union lawyers but flew in top executives to try and beat the drive by the bakers’ dozen to join the union. It didn’t work.

In a first for the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), Web news writer/producers at Chicago CBS station WBBM voted unanimously to be represented by the WGAE. These are the first news writer/producers working exclusively on Web content to join the WGAE, the union that has long represented CBS News employees writing for TV and radio.

The unit, four writers/producers, are just the beginning, WBBM Web writer Michael Ramsey says:

We are proud to be the first web news writers and web producers to join the Guild, but I’m sure we won’t be the last. Web writers and producers may work in a different medium than the writers the Guild traditionally represents, but our needs are essentially the same.

As WGAE Executive Director Lowell Peterson says:

The news industry is shifting to digital platforms and their decision to join us helps ensure that writing and producing news continues to be a good job into the 21st century.

Sept. 15 Day of Action: We’re in a Jobs Emergency! -

With their six-figure salaries and government-paid health care, members of Congress may not feel the pinch of a 9.6 percent unemployment rate. But millions of Americans are in pain, and on Sept. 15, they will shout loud and clear that we are in an emergency and Congress must act immediately to create good jobs. 

 Sept. 15 is the day workers, students and community and religious groups in dozens of cities across the country will revive one of the key demands of the 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” by calling for full and fair employment and demanding the government declare a national “jobs emergency.”

“It’s time for corporate apologists in the Senate, who are blocking a recovery for the rest of us, to recognize what workers already know: we are in a jobs emergency that requires a bold, emergency response,” says Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs with Justice, the main organizer of the protests.

With record long-term unemployment and communities losing vital public services, it is time to put full and fair employment and a massive federal works program—core demands from the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom that Glenn Beck wants us to forget—back on the national agenda. 

Protestors will demand that Congress pass the Local Jobs for America Act, which would save or create 1 million jobs, extend emergency Temporary Assistance to Needy Families subsidized jobs program, extend emergency unemployment compensation and pass a financial speculation tax that would rein in the more destabilizing aspects of Wall Street and generate $200 to $500 billion annually.

Says Gupta:

If Congress focuses on reducing the federal budget deficit rather than fixing the jobs deficit, millions of workers and communities will suffer. When Wall Street was in crisis, Congress found hundreds of billions of dollars to bail them out. We need to respond to the jobs crisis with the same urgency.

The Wall Street Journal reported that taxpayer bailed-out Wall Street banks are making “bumper earnings” while non-financial U.S. corporations are sitting on more than $8 trillion in cash reserves. A mere 20 percent of those holdings could employ 5 million Americans at $70,000 a year for five years.

 ”Our community has been devastated by the jobs emergency and these conservatives are actually bragging about blocking a federal job creation program while they help Wall Street and greedy corporations make record profits,” says Elce Redmond of Chicago Jobs with Justice and the South Austin Coalition.

Our country needs full and fair employment. Anybody that wants to work should be able to find a job, and not just any job but a job with justice.

For a list of cities planning actions and to learn more, visit www.jwj.org/jobs  or check out the Facebook page here.

Wisconsin Union Members Already in Gear for Election Season -

Wisconsin working families aren’t waiting until Labor Day to mobilize for the fall elections.  They are already knocking on doors, leafleting worksites and more to get out the vote.

Rep. Steve Kagen (D- Wis.) won’t know until the Sept. 14 Republican primary who will be his general election opponent. But in the meantime, unions and their members are mobilizing to re-elect the Green Bay physician.

Denny Lauer (see top photo) of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2-1279 took part in a recent labor walk where he talked with other union member families about Kagen, who has voted for job-creation legislation to put people back to work. Says Kagen:

It’s Main Street, not Wall Street or Big Business, that will provide jobs that will complete our economic recovery.

Earlier this week, a group of military veterans from the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council met with Tom Barrett, Democratic candidate for governor. Barrett has the backing of Wisconsin’s unions. The group discussed vital issues, including jobs, the economy and veterans’ health care.

Unlike either of the leading candidates in the Sept. 14 Republican primary who have endorsed jobs cuts and furloughs, Barrett has proposed a detailed jobs plan that is estimated to create as many as 180,000 Wisconsin jobs in his first term.

Find out more about Labor 2010’s action in Wisconsin here.

Jobless Rate Worsens to 9.6% in August, Congress Needs to Act -

The U.S. jobless rate worsened to 9.6 percent in August from 9.5 percent in July, with 54,000 jobs lost, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data out today. The private sector created only 67,000 jobs in August, far below the 150,000 jobs a month needed to keep up with the population and extremely far below the hundreds of thousands of new jobs needed each month to return to pre-recession employment levels. Government employment fell by 121,000, largely reflecting the loss of 114,000 temporary workers hired for U.S. Census 2010.

The number of people who are underemployed, which includes those who are too discouraged to look for work or are working part-time out of economic necessity, worsened to 16.7 percent from 16.5 percent in July. More than 26 million U.S. workers are without jobs or full-time work. The long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) declined by 323,000 over the month to 6.2 million. In August, 42.0 percent of unemployed persons had been jobless for 27 weeks or more.

Jobs increased in health care (28,000); mining (8,000); and construction (19,000). Manufacturing employment declined by 27,000 in August.

Maybe when Congress gets back in town, lawmakers—especially those Republicans who repeatedly have blocked extending unemployment insurance and funding for jobs programs—can finally figure it out: The private sector is not creating jobs.

Discussing the “Be nice to us or we’ll quit investing,” threats by Big Business to Congress and the White House if they pass regulations to rein in corporate greed, Yves Smith writes:

Guess what? As we’ve indicated, big businesses were net disinvesting even during the corporate-friendly Bush Administration.

And it’s getting worse. Big Business isn’t creating jobs and yet corporate mouthpieces have the gall to attack unemployed workers. In one such screed this week, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed slamming unemployment insurance. As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote in rebuttal:

A majority of the jobless typically have moved from job to job before they failed to find a new one, or have held a number of part-time jobs.

So it’s hard to make the case that many of the unemployed have chosen to remain jobless and collect unemployment benefits rather than work.

And then there’s the not-so-small fact that there are more than five workers for every one job in this country.

As Reich writes, extending unemployment insurance is a basic action of a civil society. In addition, lawmakers need to move federal funding to create more jobs.

Mark Weisbrot at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is among many economists calling for more immediate federal aid to address the nation’s jobs crisis.

Republicans have successfully promoted the idea that we already tried a stimulus and it didn’t help. There are few, if any, economists who would agree. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that between 1.4 and 3.3 million more people were employed by mid-2010, because of the stimulus.

The American public knows how such job creation can be funded: A clear majority of those polled favors federal spending to create jobs, and letting the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is calling on Congress to “take up and pass legislation that will create jobs and rebuild America, starting with the Surface Transportation bill, Clean Water Authorization, clean energy infrastructure spending, and expansion of nuclear power loan guarantees.”

We will not allow Republicans, who continue to say no to jobs, say no to unemployment benefits and want to privatize and cut Social Security, to derail our efforts to fight for a middle class economy. The future that we leave for our children depends on our success in beating back these barriers.

Today’s jobs data, combined with a new study showing that four of the five fastest growing occupations between 2006 and 2009 pay below the median wage ($15.95 an hour in May 2009) and a report that an appalling one in six Americans now is enrolled in an anti-poverty program, it’s long past time for Congress to act.

The last word goes to Reich:

A record number of Americans is unemployed for a record length of time. This is a national tragedy.

USW: Hold Off Drilling in Gulf Until It’s Safe -

The explosion and fire on an offshore petroleum platform in the Gulf of Mexico today shows “we need to make sure all these rigs in the Gulf are safe to operate before we put personnel back to work on them,” United  Steelworkers (USW) Vice President Gary Beevers said.

One person was injured in the explosion on a platform owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy Inc.

Beevers, who heads the union’s National Oil Bargaining division, said in a statement:

I would hate to see a worker killed in our haste to reopen the Gulf to drilling. We need to give the government adequate time to do its inspections and ensure adequate health and safety provisions are in place.

It’s ironic, said Beevers, the explosion happened one day after the American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil industry’s trade association, held rallies to lift the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf.

Instead of holding political protests, the API and the industry should be helping the government ensure all the rigs are safe to operate so the moratorium can be removed sooner.

We want drilling to return to the Gulf just like everyone else in the industry, but we have to make sure these rigs are safe first. We don’t need another oil explosion and oil spill.

Meanwhile, Beevers adds, offshore workers and the businesses affected by the moratorium that came as a result of the BP explosion and oil spill should be given “adequate assistance.”

Wanted: Economic Patriots to Save American Dream -

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka yesterday described the upcoming elections this way:

“This election is about economic patriots, and it’s also about corporate traitors.”

Economic patriotism resonates among working people and the millions of America’s  jobless workers—and corporate traitors is an all-too apt description of many in Big Business, such as anti-patriotic corporations moving jobs out of this country. A paragraph buried in a New York Times article on Wall Street this week hit me hard:

Just last week, Paul S. Otellini, chief executive of Intel, said at a dinner at the Aspen Forum of the Technology Policy Institute that “the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here.”

Mr. Otellini has overseen two big acquisitions in the last two weeks—the $7.7 billion takeover of the security software maker McAfee and the $1.4 billion deal for the wireless chip unit of Infineon Technologies. If he is true to his word, those deals will most likely lead to job cuts in the United States, not job creation.

Otellini is not an outlier. 

Reports this week say Citigroup—which received $45 billion in taxpayer bailout funds—now is creating 12,000 jobs. In China.

Also this week, a new report shows that between November 2008 and April 2010, the CEOs of the top 50 job-cutting companies made $598 million in compensation. The top 50 layoff firms reported a 44 percent average profit increase for 2009, the Institute for Policy Studies report said.

Calling out such behaviors and casting them for what they are—unpatriotic, anti-American—can help us take back the ground grabbed by reactionaries for so long, with the Tea Party just the latest manifestation of such warped usage of the red, white and blue.

Patriotism means more than lip service. It means taking action to ensure that working families have the good jobs they need to support their families—creating an environment that’s worthy of our American Dream.

Sportsman Channel Salutes Union Workers -

Check out the Sportsman Channel this weekend, where the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) is dedicating Labor Day Weekend as a tribute to America’s working men and women with a continual run of public service announcements (PSAs) featuring AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka who also serves as USA chairman.

The PSAs will salute America’s workers who made possible the eight-hour workday and 40-hour week and recognize the importance of the great outdoors to unions and their members. (Click here to see if the Sportsman Channel is carried by your television provider.)

The Sportsman Channel will become the exclusive home to USA’s Brotherhood Outdoors series beginning in July 2011.  The show celebrates union sportsmen from around the country who work hard building America and are passionate about hunting, fishing and preserving our outdoor heritage for this generation and beyond.

The show, hosted by Tom Ackerman, is a “give or take” series where union members either join Ackerman for an outfitted hunting or fishing trip in North America or invite him to participate in their local outdoor pursuit. You can apply to be on the show here. While there is no deadline for applying, for the best chance to appear in a season one episode, submit your application by Oct. 15.

USA also just announced a new multimedia partnership with the Sportsman Channel and InterMedia Outdoors, the largest outdoor media group in America. The partnership will use a variety of media—television, online, social networking and other platforms—to advance conservation and access issues that are vital to sportsmen and women. Says Trumka:

Millions of union members hunt, fish and shoot, and they make up a large portion of the audience InterMedia Outdoors targets through its extensive network of television, magazines, radio and websites. We are excited about this partnership as it will enable us to make a stronger connection with our members and better demonstrate labor’s commitment to conservation and our outdoor heritage.

Limbaugh’s Hometown Home to Active Union Movement -

Cathy Sherwin, AFL-CIO communications director for Missouri, describes why union members in a conservative county support Robin Carnahan for Senate.

Cape Girardeau, Mo., probably isn’t the first place you’d think of as a union town. It’s the  hometown of Rush Limbaugh, and residents of Cape County haven’t voted for a Democrat in a presidential race since 1964. It is a Red city in a Purple state. When it comes to the union movement, however, there is more to Cape Girardeau than meets the eye.

The folks in the Southeast Missouri Central Labor Council work hard to build unity among all the members in the region. President Mark Baker and a dedicated crew of activists have been organizing our Labor Picnic for four years to give members a chance to relax with their families and friends in beautiful Cape Girardeau County Park. Along with the fishing tournament and the tug of war, candidates and elected officials flock to get a chance to meet with union members.

There’s a big struggle for the Missouri Senate seat that’s been held by a Republican since 1986. Roy Blunt, longtime Republican congressman from southern Missouri, has saturated the airwaves using big-dollar corporate donations. So given Blunt’s big-bucks backing, when 500 union members got together in a Republican county for an early Labor Day picnic in late August, what sort of reception is there for Senate candidate Robin Carnahan?

From the minute Carnahan arrived at the picnic, union members from the gamut of trades and industries greeted her and offered their help. Electricians, painters, roofers, operating engineers, communications and sheet metal workers and union retirees. Roy Gunter, an IBEW activist, pledged his support and mentioned he’d already been phone banking for Robin all morning.

All the union members pointed to the same issue as their top concern: jobs. Our picnic banner, “American Jobs Now!” reflected the statements of many who said we need more jobs in this state, and we need a senator who will work for jobs and support those still out of work. Clearly, the crowd of union workers here in southeast Missouri were united to get folks working again, and united in their support for Robin Carnahan. They said Missouri needs a senator who would stop giving tax dollars to corporations that ship U.S. jobs overseas and support manufacturing and industries here at home.

After all, in these tough times, even in the reddest of Republican strongholds, Missourians are getting to know the truth about Blunt. That he’s voted time and again against the minimum wage, and just this summer voted against unemployment benefits. A candidate so cozy with Wall Street that he wants to privatize Social Security and risk tax dollars on the stock market. And when thousands of teachers and firefighters in southeast Missouri were at risk of losing their jobs, Roy Blunt sat out the vote, too busy fighting for his own job.

Cape Girardeau union members working hard for a Democratic candidate for Senate? Just like that banner says: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.

Join a Labor Day Tweet-a-Thon -

We’ve got a long Labor Day weekend in front of us and that means plenty of time to join American Rights at Work’s first-ever Labor Day Tweet-a-Thon along with celebrity union members—including actors, recording artists, Broadway performers, baseball players and broadcasters.

American Rights at Work’s Liz Cattaneo says the tweet-a-thon is a chance to “send a positive message about the value of unions.”

To showcase the strength, solidarity, diversity of our unions, we’re asking celebrities—along with anyone else who wants to show their union pride—to join us by sending a tweet with the hash tag #unionmember during Labor Day weekend. It’s a great opportunity to have well-known public figures frame unions in a positive light through a fun and influential medium.

You can start tweeting now through Labor Day, Sept. 6, and if enough of us join in, we can make #unionmember a trending topic on Twitter! So set aside a few minutes to send your 140 character-or-less message that promotes the union advantage to your followers and friends.

You also can include this link http://umem.us to American Rights at Work’s official Labor Day Tweet-a-Thon website where you can track the #unionmember trending topic and get a quick view of celebrity tweets.

Members of the Screen Actors (SAG), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Actors’ Equity (AEA), American Rights at Work and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBA) will be tweeting. Join us.

Boehner and Republicans: ‘Stop Picking on BP’ -

It’s no secret that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his colleagues are tight with their corporate chums. They even defend poor little old BP from the meanies working to hold the petroleum giant accountable for the Gulf oil spill.

One of Boehner’s trusted lieutenants, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), even went so far as to claim the Obama administration’s efforts to persuade BP to establish a $20 billion recovery fund for Gulf Coast residents was a “shakedown.” How dare they pick on BP like that?

To remind voters in Boehner’s home district of his loving relationship with BP and Big Oil, our friends at Blue America have erected a second billboard, with our help and that of People For the American Way, that notes the golf-loving Boehner’s affection for BP is “Par for the Course.” Click here for more on Boehner and his golf jones.

Be sure to visit BeatBoehner.com, and click here to find out more about Justin Coussoule who is running with labor’s support to unseat Boehner in Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. He is a West Point graduate, a former Army captain, a lawyer and a small business owner.

Boehner’s so-called job creation strategy is to return to the Bush policies of tax cuts for the wealthy and Big Business and free rein on Wall Street. Tuesday in St. Louis, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka summed up Boehner’s jobs program.

His idea of job creation is to hire a second caddy.

Labor Day 2010: Workers’ Rights Here and Around the Globe -

Corporations that lead the way in creating fair working environments prosper—but too many employers and governments around the world are abusing workers’ rights, according to the findings of several reports released in time for Labor Day. You can check out all the reports on our Labor Day 2010 webpage here.

• “Labor Day List: Partnerships that Work,” by American Rights at Work, profiles eight companies that promote positive labor-management relationships in the clean energy industry. The companies and union employees featured in the report are leading the way toward a sustainable economy in which businesses thrive, the planet prospers and workers share in the success they help create.

• A  Human Rights Watch (HRW) report reveals that many European companies which publicly embrace workers’ rights and follow global labor standards at home sometimes undermine workers’ rights in their U.S. operations. The 130-page report, “A Strange Case: Violations of Workers’ Freedom of Association in the United States by European Multinational Corporations,” details how some European multinational firms have carried out aggressive campaigns to keep workers in the United States from organizing and bargaining, violating international standards and, often, U.S. labor laws.
• The HRW report has a long section on T-Mobile USA as one company that operates on this double standard. In the report “Lowering the Bar or Setting the Standard? Deutsche Telekom’s U.S. Labor Practices,” released in December 2009 by American Rights at Work, John Logan, a professor at San Francisco State University, found that T-Mobile is conducting a vicious anti-union campaign to prevent workers from joining the Communications Workers of America. This summer, T-Mobile USA workers visited Germany to tell shareholders at the company’s parent, Deutsche Telekom (DT), how the company denies its U.S. employees the freedom to join a union. Yet in many countries around the world, DT follows internationally recognized labor and human rights, including the freedom of association and the freedom to form a union. But not in the United States.
• A Freedom House report found that the rights of working people and trade unions are under serious duress throughout much of the world, and authoritarian regimes are using increasingly sophisticated methods of control.  ”The Global State of Workers’ Rights: Free Labor in a Hostile World” found that one-third of the global population lives in societies in which workers’ rights suffer a significant degree of repression.

‘Too Much at Stake in This Election to Stay Home’ -

Trent McNutt and Laura Jackson are hitting the streets and going door to door to make sure that candidates who will create real jobs are elected this fall—and they say every worker should join them because there’s too much at stake to stay home.

McNutt, an unemployed member of  the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), and Jackson, a Communications Workers of America (CWA) member, told a press conference at  the AFL-CIO  yesterday that working people have a lot at stake in this election to stay at home.    

McNutt lost his job last November when the company in Toledo, Ohio, where he had worked for 11 years went out of business. Now the married father of two young children has to make due working occasionally with a local contractor.

This year I’m on pace to make a third of what I’ve made in years past. You never really expect something as drastic as what we’re going through—we’ve worked so hard for everything we have.  But we know a lot of other families are worse off.  Over the past few months work has started to pick up, but I’m fearful it will taper off again. 

He says he is motivated to get out and work for candidates who support working family issues like job creation because of people like his father, a retired sheet metal worker, who taught him a strong work ethic and spirit of volunteerism. 

I’m not sure what we’ll do if things don’t turn around and we don’t put the right people in office. That’s why I’m going to do everything I can with my union brothers and sisters to make a difference this election because there’s just too much at stake.

At  the press conference, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka outlined plans for an aggressive and massive mobilization of working people beginning this Labor Day weekend for the fall election. Trumka also announced the AFL-CIO will run TV and radio ads Labor Day weekend in key markets around Major League Baseball games, NASCAR and college football games.

For Jackson, a social services worker in Moberly, Mo., this election comes down to making sure America’s working families can make ends meet.

That’s why this election is even more important than the last election. We want to continue the progress we’ve made and elect candidates that will put workers at the center.  The number one issue is jobs, so we definitely need to make sure that the people making the decisions make that their top priority. I’m going to do all I can to make sure that happens, including getting the message out to my family, union members and anyone who will listen.

Oklahoma Laborfest Conquers All -

The performers and musicians of “Oklahoma Speaks.”

Stuart Elliott from the Wichita/Hutchinson Labor Federation of Central Kansas reports on the Oklahoma Laborfest, Aug. 26-28 in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City rocked for three days with the sounds of a celebration of working people. The big show: the premiere of “Oklahoma Speaks,” a performance that brought the state’s dramatic labor history to life.

The production spotlighted the tremendous impact of the union movement in Oklahoma. The state’s motto is ‘Labor Omnia Vincitÿ”—“Labor Conquers All”—a phrase commonly used by former AFL President Samuel Gompers. Union members, in alliance with tenant farmers, won majority support for 24 demands at the state’s constitutional convention in 1906. Oklahoma’s legislature eventually passed laws prohibiting child labor and mandating compulsory school attendance, established state mining and factory inspectors, regulated the use of strike breakers during labor disputes and outlawed the blacklisting of union sympathizers by employers.

The dramatic readings in “Oklahoma Speaks” were matched by musical selections and featured the voices of both leaders and everyday people who lived through powerful historic changes.

As the program for the show puts it:

Each of these voices reminds us that the struggle for justice is a noble fight that is central to Oklahoma’s identity. Each of these voices tells us about who we are and where we come from and encourages us from across the years to keep the struggle going for the good of labor, our state, and our people.

But there was much more going on at Laborfest than “Oklahoma Speaks.” Nationally known and local poets joined in an evening of readings about working-class life. Muralist Carlos Tello painted a mural in front of a live audience during a few hours on Saturday afternoon.

Film screenings included two new documentaries, “Tar Creek,” which examined the human cost of the nation’s top EPA superfund hazardous waste site in Picher, Okla. “Harvest of Loneliness: The Bracero Programÿ,”  a 2010 documentary, tells  about millions of Mexican men and women who experienced the temporary contract worker program known as the Bracero Program.

Other events included panel discussions, a writers’ workshop, an open musicians’ circle jam and sing-a-long, performances, a labor poster art contest and children’s activities. Speakers included author Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Stewart Acuff, chief of staff for the Utility Workers (UWUA). Several unions held information booths, including the Letter Carriers (NALC), Electrical Workers (IBEW), Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Central Oklahoma Federation of Labor, firefighters and other union and community groups.