People Before Profit blog

Ohio rally hits Chamber of Commerce union-busting forum

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:00:00 +0000

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- The Chamber of Commerce here got much more turnout for the anti-union seminar at the local country club than they expected, or wanted, for that matter.

The Ross County Chamber had issued a call for a Jan. 23 seminar on “Stopping the Employee Free Choice Act/Standing Up to Big Labor.” They expected a turnout of business types to plot strategy to oppose the proposed labor law reform that would strengthen worker’s right to organize. What they got was a big turnout, but of unionists and union supporters.

Around 50 union members, SEIU, USW and Building Trades, showed up for a noisy pro-Employee Free Choice Act rally outside. Braving the frigid weather, the unionists marched at the entrance to the country club, waving and shouting to passing motorists.

“I really wasn’t sure what to expect when we got here, but I know it wasn’t this,” said rally organizer Gabe Kramer, an SEIU union leader. “I thought there would be some friendly faces, but this is overwhelming, almost every other car waves or gives a thumbs up!”

The rally and reaction seemed to reflect a recent public opinion poll showing 78 percent support for the act that would help “level the playing field” for workers if they want to organize a union. Currently employers have much greater legal leverage to keep workers from organizing.

The turnout for the anti-union seminar itself was miserable. Only a few cars entered the country club and most stopped to accept the union flyer that was given to those going in. A couple of the motorists stopped and talked and were friendly. At least two of those entering said that they were union members and just wanted go in and speak up in favor of the free choice bill.

“We are tax paying, good hard working citizens of Ross County,” said Eric Stevenson, resource director for the Pipefitters Union, as he spoke to the pro-union rally. “Because of our union, and the other unions here, small businesses can sell their refrigerators, TVs and local restaurants can stay alive. We support our community, our schools and our members have health care coverage and retire with decent pensions. In fact, it is really because of union folks that some of those people up at that country club can afford to go there. What we want is democracy for workers, and we will pass the Employee Free Choice Act so workers can have real democracy.”

The turnout and the atmosphere at the Ross County anti-union seminar matched reports of a similar event held the previous month in Cleveland. Turnout at that event was also small and the crowd was very pessimistic of the possibility of defeating the Employee Free Choice Act, according to reports.

“I had worked for a non-profit group before joining the union,” said Whitney Whitt, “but I feel like we’re really able to help bring about real change with the union. The union is able to really help working families. When we pass employee free choice it’ll help millions more.”

Human Rights Watch: employee free choice is a human right

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:24:00 +0000

Original source:Under current labor law, the United States is strikingly deficient in protecting freedom of association and the freedom to form unions, says a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), an independent human-rights advocacy group. The solution? Congress must pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

In a new report, The Employee Free Choice Act: A Human Rights Imperative, HRW lays out the case for its quick passage to restore workers’ freedom to form unions without fear of harassment, coercion or termination. The report is part of HRW’s critical work as watchdogs for human rights, the freedom of association and the treatment of workers from Colombia to India and around the world.

The report analyzes international labor standards the United States has agreed to by treaty, points out where it’s deficient in meeting those standards and explains how the Employee Free Choice will remedy the situation and restore workers’ fundamental freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.

Congress should pass the Employee Free Choice Act to help remedy glaring deficiencies in current U.S. labor law that significantly impair the right of workers to freely choose whether to form a union. Workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively is well established under international human rights law…the United States is legally bound to protect this fundamental right. In practice, it falls far short, and failure by U.S. employers to respect workers’ right to freedom of association is rampant.

In particular, HRW’s report points to three serious flaws in U.S. labor law that are addressed by the Employee Free Choice Act:

* Unfair election procedures that are badly slanted toward employers, giving the employer, in practice, the ultimate say over how workers form a union:

U.S. law also allows employers to refuse to recognize a union based on freely signed authorizations by a clear majority of workers explicitly indicating their desire to organize—a “card check”—and demand instead that a union demonstrate majority support through an NLRB election. The period leading up to that election, lasting at least several weeks but often longer, creates an opening for anti-union employers to make aggressive use of the tilted playing field.

* The lack of serious penalties for corporate misconduct, including intimidation and firing of workers, and the ability of companies to indefinitely delay and deter attempts to form a union:

Penalties for breaching U.S. labor law are so minor that employers often treat them as a cost of doing business—a small price to pay for defeating worker organizing efforts. Under U.S. labor law, an employer faces no punitive penalties and few, if any, economic consequences for violating workers’ right to freedom of association.

* The ability of companies to ignore workers’ choice to bargain collectively by refusing to reach a fair contract:

Even if U.S. workers successfully organize, however, their fundamental right to freedom of association is still not fully secure because of shortcomings in current legal provisions governing collective bargaining….Because there are no significant negative repercussions for illegal conduct…there is little incentive for intransigent employers to comply with the law.

The message of HRW’s report is clear: under existing U.S. law, the freedom to form unions and bargain is a hope, not a reality, for millions of workers. Passing the Employee Free Choice Act will go a long way toward making sure the United States lives up to its obligations to protect workers’ fundamental and internationally recognized right to form a union and bargain for a better life.

Union Hollywood stars light up red carpet

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:03:00 +0000

The stars were shining the night of Jan. 25 as union screen actors honored their co-workers at the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards show.

The entire cast of “Slumdog Millionaire” walked off with the honor for top performance by a cast in a motion picture. Meryl Streep won the award for best performance by an actress in a leading role for the job she did in “Doubt.” Sean Penn took home the prize for best job by an actor in a leading role for his performance in “Milk.”

The dead actor, Heath Ledger, won best performance as supporting actor for his part in “The Dark Knight.”

Television stars, Hugh Laurie (“House”) and Sally Field (“Brothers and Sisters”) received awards for their performances in a drama series.

The actors of “30 Rock” literally walked away with the TV comedy prizes with Alec Baldwin winning best actor, Tina Fey best actress and the entire cast winning the award for best ensemble.

The union’s highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, went to James Earl Jones.

This award has gone previously to well known stars including Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in 1986, Elizabeth Taylor in 1997, Ricardo Montelban in 1993, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee in 2000, Edward Asner in 2001, Clint Eastwood in 2002, Shirley Temple Black in 2005, Julie Andrews in 2006 and Charles Durning in 2007.

Jones talked with reporters from “Screen Actor,” the official magazine of the Screen Actors Guild. He emphasized how special it is when one is honored or recognized by co-workers: “So often you think, well is this a popularity contest? You can never answer that, or disprove it, really. But in this case it is the people who do the same work as you, saying that your work is really good. And that is so important.”

Those who got awards had the honor of having them presented by fellow union members who are among the biggest names in Hollywood, including Christina Applegate, Angela Bassett, Jon Hamm, John Krasinski, Eric McCormack, Kyra Sedgwick, William Shatner, Forest Whitaker, Ernest Bornine, Taye Diggs, Anthony Hopkins, Amy Poehler, Susan Sarandon and SAG President Alan Rosenberg.

The SAG is the largest union in the United States that represents actors. It has 120,000 members who work in film, TV, commercials, video games, music videos and other new media.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards show has the distinction of being the only nationally televised awards show of any kind that honors the work of union members.

The show is also unique because no other awards program in the entertainment industry in totally devoted to actors honoring actors.

Two randomly selected panels, one for television and one for film, each comprised of 2,100 SAG members from across the United States, chose this year’s nominees. The final award winners were chosen in a vote by the union’s members.

King birthday celebrated on picket line

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:15:00 +0000

CRYSTAL CITY, Va. — In response to Barack Obama’s appeal for volunteer service on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Jan. 19, hundreds of union members and their allies marched on the picket line at the National Airport Hilton Hotel here.

“Check out, not in,” chanted the picketers as they marched in a circle in the chill evening darkness outside the hotel.

Obama’s inaugural web site had listed the picket line as one of the King birthday public service events and many union members in Washington for Obama’s swearing in the next day crossed the Potomac to join the embattled hotel workers.

The picket line was sponsored jointly by Unite Here Local 25 and the Northern Virginia Central Labor Council AFL-CIO.

The National Airport Hilton had been union for years, until ColumbiaSussex bought it.

Lulite Mengiste, a room service and food server is the union leader at the hotel. “We have had a union at this hotel now for nearly 12 years,” she told the World. “But the new owners have refused for nearly two years to negotiate a contract. Without a contract, we have no respect, no job security. They want to take away our benefits. They care nothing for us as workers. Profits is their only concern. But our spirits are strong. We are united. We are going to fight Columbia Sussex and we are going to win.”

Marching in solidarity was Margaret Ellis, Local 25 shop steward at the unionized Doubletree Hotel a few blocks away. “We just won our first contract last year,” Ellis said. “What’s happening here to these Hilton workers could happen to us. I just helped organize the new Hilton Hotel in Baltimore. We have our card check Jan. 26. So far, 80 percent of the 278 workers have signed for the union. We think it is going to be a union hotel. Our vision is to make all hotels union hotels.”

She added, “I was so proud that our union was first to endorse Obama. We knocked on all the doors in Northern Virginia to get him elected.”

Dan Duncan, president of the Northern Virginia Central Labor Council, told the World, “It says something about the importance of the struggle for workers’ rights that our picket line is posted on Obama’s inaugural web site.” He said he has high hopes that the Obama administration will be sympathetic to workers’ struggles to organize and bargain collectively.

In a sign of profound change, three Democratic candidates for Virginia governor walked on the picket line and spoke at a sidewalk rally. Also marching was Jody Wagner, former state treasurer and now a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia. “As you know, today is Martin Luther King’s birthday,” she told the crowd. “He dreamed of all workers being paid fairly. It’s very appropriate that all of us are here marching for union rights on Martin Luther King Day.”

REPORTERS NOTEBOOK: AFL-CIO marks King Day with action

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 08:38:00 +0000

NEW ORLEANS — Each year the AFL-CIO celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day in a different city. This year, it was symbolic that the labor federation chose to hold the event here, with about 1,000 union members from around the country in attendance.

Devastated by Katrina in 2005, three years later New Orleans is still struggling to recover due to the lack of federal response to the disaster, Mayor Ray Nagin told the gathering.

Right after the storm, unlike the Bush administration, the AFL-CIO embarked on a program to help rebuild the city through volunteer work and investment in housing and the infrastructure. The federation set up a housing trust which spent three-quarters of a billion dollars to provide affordable housing for city residents.

The Jan. 15-19 King Day conference continued this hands-on theme. It started with two days of community service on projects to benefit people in working class neighborhoods.

As the buses took us to the work projects, I was appalled by the fact that three years after Katrina, FEMA “blue roofs” were still quite visible. “Blue roofs” are the blue tarps that were put over roofs after the storm. Hailing from Texas, I am very familiar with this sight in Houston and Galveston since we have suffered similar neglect — wrecked houses still not repaired and windows remaining blown out of major office buildings.

I was assigned to two days of projects in community centers, including the Cutoff Community Center in Algiers, also known as the Lower Coast Algiers Community Center, and the Willie Hall Community Center near City Park. At the Willie Hall Center we cleared three baseball diamonds for the benefit of the neighborhood youth. The baseball diamonds had been shut down since Katrina.

The manager of the Cutoff Community Center, who has been faithfully performing her duties there for 31 years, said the center had survived the storm intact but could not withstand the devastation delivered upon it by FEMA. Following the storm FEMA commandeered the facility, kicked in the doors and trashed the facility, she said. When they left, they made no effort to restore the center, which is the anchor of the neighborhood, serving160 children every day.

About 100 union members from around the country participated in this work project along with members from New Orleans. Unions represented included AFSCME, IBEW, USW, UAW, UFCW, UMWA and AFT.

About 600 labor activists participated in the King Day work projects.

Many unionists were exhilarated over the election of Barack Obama and discussions of this permeated the conference. One participant stated, “We must get behind Obama” while another retorted, “We must get behind Obama and get in front of him.” Conference speakers echoed this theme that the wealthy will be pressuring Obama to further their agenda and working people need to be vocal in representing their interests.

AFL-CIO Executive Council member Nat LaCour, one of several AFL-CIO leaders who addressed the conference, stressed the importance of rebuilding the infrastructure of New Orleans and surrounding areas. LaCour, secretary treasurer emeritus of the American Federation of Teachers, said not enough is being done to provide students here and around the country with a quality education. Many schools closed after Katrina still remain closed. Louisiana AFL-CIO head Lou Reine said, “We can’t afford less than the best for our children.”

Many speakers stressed the importance of passing the Employee Free Choice Act and building a universal, affordable health care system.

Labor unions didn’t cause the economic crisis, AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka told the gathering. “We will lead America out of this crisis. Organizing, unionizing and collective bargaining will help end the crisis.”

Trumka said the election of Barack Obama was a triumph over racism but it was not an end to racism.

He and other speakers noted that in the 46 years since Martin Luther King’s march on Washington and his “I have a dream” speech, we have made a great deal of progress, but have a long way to go to end racism, discrimination and injustice.

Trumka emphasized the importance of honoring the real Dr. King who “believed in unions, walked the picket lines and gave his life to support sanitation workers in Memphis.”

The King holiday observance was capped off by a march around the French Quarter from historic Congo Square to the Superdome.

phill1917 @comcast.net

Mexican govt attacks miners union

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 08:31:00 +0000

Since 2006, the right-wing Mexican governments of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon have been engaged in a war of nerves with the National Union of Mine, Metal and Allied Workers. Calderon has now escalated the fight in an attempt to crush this major union entirely. But national and international solidarity with the union is growing.

Under the formerly ruling Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), most major unions were formally incorporated into the operations of the ruling party and state. This “corporatist” arrangement was supposed to maintain Mexico’s unity against reactionary enemies at home and abroad. But workers have often faced a united front of management, government and union leadership when they sought better wages.

There also have been independent unions and federations working outside the corporatist setup. These include, today, the outstanding Mexican Electrical Workers Union and the National Labor Union (actually a federation) as well as the FAT (Authentic Labor Federation) and others. Sometimes the independents have faced massive government repression.

The defeat of the PRI in the presidential election of 2000 has shaken up the corporatist arrangement, while the right-wing, anti-worker orientation of the Fox and Calderon administrations has faced workers with new challenges (privatization, free trade, weakened labor rights) and sharply declining living standards.

Some corporatist unions have tried to adapt by ingratiating themselves with Calderon’s PAN government. For example, the main Petroleum Workers’ Union leadership has not protested Calderon’s stealth moves toward privatization of the state oil company, PEMEX.

But the Mine and Metal Workers Union, though originally part of the corporatist Federation of Labor (CT), has, under its Secretary General Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, broken away. First it fought for and won contracts which entailed better compensation for union members than the government wanted, and then it went after the giant Grupo Mexico monopoly for its negligence in worker health and safety that led to a February 2006 explosion in the Pasta de Conchos Mine in Coahuila in which 65 miners were killed.

In response, the federal department of labor tried first to remove Gomez Urrutia from the union’s leadership and replace him with a man believed connected with the Grupo Mexico management. When this failed, they accused Gomez of corruption in the distribution of $55 million which the union received as part of compensation for mine privatization. Gomez and his allies say that independent auditors have shown this to be a false accusation. Meanwhile he has been in self-imposed exile in Vancouver, Canada.

The government and business interests have tried to chip away at support for Gomez Urrutia by manipulating local union elections in various parts of the country. But most members of the union have continued to support Gomez. This has been shown in the solid support for a 16-month strike in the Cananea copper mine in Sonora, where both Grupo Mexico management and the government have failed to end the walkout in spite of using every legal and extralegal tactic.

Over the past several weeks Mexican Secretary of Labor Javier Lozano Alarcon has sharply escalated the government’s attacks on the union by: threatening to demand extradition of Gomez Urrutia from Canada; freezing the union’s bank accounts; arresting two important union officials for corruption because of their connection with Gomez Urrutia: Carlos Pavon Campos, the union’s secretary for political affairs, and Juan Linares Montufar, chair of the vigilance committee (both have been released by a judge, but face charges).

This escalation of repression has been met with increased national and international solidarity activity. In Mexico, independent unions such as the Electrical Workers organized demonstrations and rolling work stoppages in solidarity with the mine workers. In the U.S., the Steelworkers union, which represents workers in Grupo Mexico operations in the United States, has been organizing support for Gomez Urrutia and his union, in spite of vicious attacks on the USW in the Mexican press.

This month, the Mexican mineworkers won another court victory, when the Fifth Labor Court for the Federal District ruled the Cananea strike to be legal, overturning a December 2007 ruling by the Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board.

Miners’ President Gomez issued a statement from his Vancouver exile saying, “This is another triumph in the workers’ struggle for union autonomy and freedom and for the workers’ fundamental rights,” and called again for the Calderon administration to drop its persecution.

Steelworkers Launch Make Our Future Work Website

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:37:00 +0000

Original source:The United Steelworkers (USW) launched a new website, “Make Our Future Work,” to assist workers in coping with the economic crisis and mobilize to put America back to work.

The site’s main feature is the USW’s “Main Street Recovery Plan,” released last month, which calls for a major economic campaign to pass a substantial, strategic and sustained economic recovery plan. The site offers strategy suggestions to mobilize your community to fight for an economic plan that creates new, well-paying jobs.

USW President Leo Gerard joined hundreds of economists and dozens of labor and public interest leaders in releasing a statement calling for a minimum $900 billion program to revitalize manufacturing over the next two years. Says Gerard:

This plan invests in America’s future. It will get us on track to creating an economy that works for working families. I can’t imagine a successful economy that doesn’t have a strong, vibrant, forward-looking manufacturing sector, one that puts people back to work and makes the products of the new century. We need an economy that thrives on making things and creates wealth through middle class prosperity.

The site enables workers to tell their stories about how the falling economy has affected their lives and offers tips on what to do if you are laid off.

To encourage consumers to buy products that sustain family-supporting jobs, the site offers a “Buy American Toolkit,” which lists union products made in the United States and other resources to support domestic manufacturing. There’s also a guide to the Employee Free Choice Act, which, if passed, would enable more workers to bargain for better wages, health care and retirement security—a true economic recovery package.

The site also includes the latest information on the nation’s economic crisis and tips to mobilize union members to campaign for a economy that puts people back to work.

Miracle on the Hudson was union-made

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Once again, the nation has witnessed the difference between life and death that comes from having trained, experienced union members on the job.

Combining quick thinking and sheer bravery with their experience as long-time union members, US Airways Flight 1549 pilot Capt. Chesley Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles, its crew of flight attendants, and the air traffic controllers teamed up to pull off the “Miracle on the Hudson,” in which 155 people survived an emergency landing in New York’s Hudson River on Jan. 15.

The many stories that have appeared in the mainstream media have praised the event as a “miracle” but have failed to point out that every single one of these heroes involved in pulling it off is a union member. Passengers on many commuter airlines, flown by poorly paid non-union pilots and staffed by non-union crews, might not have been as lucky.

All of the airline and airport workers involved in the Jan. 15 miracle were union members who received extensive training that was provided for and required under their union contracts.

Capt. Sullenberger brought the plane and its passengers to a remarkable safe water landing with no engine power. When his passengers and flight crew were safely evacuated from the plane, Sullenberger, according to reports, walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure the plane was empty.

Sullenberger has 40 years of flight experience. During that time he has served as both an instructor and safety committee chairman for the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Passengers put their heads in their laps and started praying as their plane landed with an enormous splash into the 35-degree waters off Manhattan’s 48th Street. Witnesses on the shore watched in shock as passengers emerged in quick but orderly fashion. It was the three union flight attendants who successfully shepherded them to the temporary safety of the wings and the flotation rescue slides.

The flight attendants are all members of the Airline Flight Attendants-CWA.

“Flight attendants are highly trained safety and security professionals. The successful evacuation was an overwhelming example of the need for union flight attendants on aircraft,” declared Patricia Friend, president of the AFA-CWA. Friend said her union provides flight attendants with extensive training on emergency evacuations, and noted that each year union members undergo additional training to ensure proficiency.

The air traffic controllers who routed the plane around Manhattan, after the pilot reported that a bird strike had shut down both engines, are members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

There are fewer controllers working longer hours these days as a result of the Bush-controlled Federal Aviation Administration’s refusal, for three years now, to bargain a contract with the union.

After the splashdown, passengers huddled on the wings of the plane as waves reached the bottom of the plane’s windows. One commuter ferry, the Thomas Jefferson of the company NY Waterway, arrived within minutes of the crash. The ferry crew and passengers grabbed life vests and lines of rope and tossed them to plane passengers struggling in the freezing water as the plane drifted slowly south.

Soon an armada of police boats, fireboats, tugboats and Coast Guard craft converged on the plane and, eventually, all passengers, including a baby, were safely transferred to the rescue boats.

The ferry crews that responded when they saw the plane in the river are Seafarers (SIU) members. The SIU provides extensive safety training for its members.

The pilots of the ferries that responded are members of the Marine Engineers union.

The police and fireboats that came to pull passengers to safety are operated by members of the Fire Fighters and Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

Many of the unions involved, observers note, were the same ones that had performed heroically in New York on 9/11.

jwojcik @pww.org

Inaugural parade marchers display diversity and strength of Americas workers

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:32:00 +0000

Original source: For Maria Somma, it is a dream come true. The native of Vietnam and naturalized citizen is one of the 265 union members who braved freezing temperatures today to join representatives from across the country and our armed forces to participate in the official inaugural parade for President Obama. The contingent of union members taking part in the parade include members from the AFL-CIO, Change to Win and the National Education Association.

With 15 union members riding a union-made float and 250 marchers alongside, the workers’ contingent was one of the largest groups in the parade. This is the first time in recent memory that workers have participated in the parade.

Somma, who lives in Pittsburgh, Pa., rode the float representing the AFL-CIO constituency group Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA). She says labor’s participation shows the power of the American Dream for all people:

'It’s very exciting to be welcoming a person of color into the White House and to be a part of history. Even if it was minus 20, I would be glad to be here. This is an incredible achievement for this country. For Barack Obama to come from his background and rise to the top is not the typical American story. His inauguration is part of the transition of this nation to fully embrace all its citizens.'

Marching with a banner, “America’s Workers: United for Change,” participants also carried flags that represent the issues most important to working families: an Economy that Works for All, Great Public Schools, Good Jobs Green Jobs and Health Care for All. The overall theme of the labor float is “Honoring America’s Workers.”

Riding on the float and representing the Alliance for Retired Americans has a special significance for Jimmy Allen of Bowie, Md. The retired member of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), who is African American, says he’s seen a lot in his life, but

'when it comes to an African American being president, I said I wouldn’t believe it until it happened. Now I can tell my grandchild that she can grow up and be president of the United States and mean it.'

The float was created by union carpenters, welders, sculptors and painters. Constructed of steel, wood and foam, it is more than 17 feet high and 24 feet long. Outlines of the diverse “faces of labor” surround the float as a salute to the backbone of our country — the hardworking men and women who make our nation strong.

Nancy Wohlforth, secretary-treasurer of the Office and Professional Workers, who represented Pride at Work on the float, says it displays the diversity of America’s workers:

'These are the people who built America, who keep it working and will rebuild it in the future. It will also send a message to the president and Congress that working people are here and we can’t be neglected. They need to commit to rebuilding the middle class and the first thing should be to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.'

Fred Mason, president of the Maryland State and D.C. AFL-CIO, who spearheaded the drive to include the workers’ contingent in the parade, says:

'The workers’ contingent is America at its best -– people of different races, faiths and professions coming together for a common good. These are the day-to-day heroes who make this nation great.'

Mason says nearly 1,500 groups applied to participate in the parade and only 100 were selected. The fact that the 265 workers will be in the parade is a real testament to the importance of working people and their issues to the well-being of the country, Mason adds.

Even if you couldn’t be here, you can honor this historic even with a commemorative AFL-CIO Obama T-shirt. The long-sleeve, union-designed and printed shirts say “Yes We Can” with the Inauguration Day date, January 20, 2009, under an image of President Obama on the front. The T-shirt sells with a suitable-for-framing commemorative poster for $30 from the The Union Shop Online. The shop also is offering a set of Obama’s books, 'The Audacity of Hope' and 'Dreams from My Father,' for $32.95 here.

Workers win one on the road to back pay

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:53:00 +0000

EMERYVILLE, Calif. — Some very persistent workers at the Woodfin Suites Hotel here are celebrating a crucial victory in their struggle to receive some $200,000 in back wages. The money is owed them under the terms of the city’s Measure C Living Wage ordinance.

On Jan. 15, at its fifth hearing on the matter in two months, the City Council upheld the back wage order the city manager issued last August, after hearing closing arguments by attorneys for the city and the hotel.

But with the Woodfin promising to take the matter to court, the workers are vowing to keep up the pressure.

The predominantly immigrant workers and their supporters, including members of SEIU and the hotel and restaurant workers union, the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice and others, rallied outside City Hall before the hearing, as they had before each previous session.

Guadelupe Martinez, among workers at the Cintas uniform and laundry company who won a long struggle for back wages, encouraged the Woodfin workers to stay strong. “Don’t lose heart,” she told them. “We fought for five years and after that there was a long wait.” There were times when the workers got tired and lost hope, Martinez said. “But if you stay together, you’ll win.”

Luz, a former Woodfin worker, told the World, “I teach my kids to be honorable and to respect people so people will also respect them. Our struggle shows my kids, no matter what race you are, don’t discriminate! And that when we stick together, we’ll win.”

In November 2005, voters here passed Measure C, a city living wage ordinance which also set standards for hotel housekeepers’ workloads, requiring payment of time-and-a-half when workloads exceed the limit. For most of the next year, the Woodfin assigned workloads greatly exceeding the limit. When workers stood up for their rights under the ordinance, the hotel responded with harassment and intimidation, including firing a dozen workers on the pretext of Social Security “no-match” letters. Community, faith and labor rights organizations demanded an end to the workers’ mistreatment and called on employers not to use immigration laws as a pretext to deny workers their right to uphold labor standards.

In August 2007 the City Council ordered the Woodfin to pay the back wages, and when Woodfin owner Samuel L. Hardage refused, the case went to court. Last spring an Alameda County Superior Court judge upheld the living wage law’s constitutionality, but ordered the city to re-do the process because of procedural concerns.

After last week’s final hearing, an attorney consulting with the city will write findings of fact based on the Council’s decision, which the body is expected to formally adopt at a coming meeting.

mbechtel @ pww.org

Republic workers may get greener jobs

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:04:00 +0000

CHICAGO -- A leading company in the green window business, California-based Serious Materials, is in the final stages of working out a purchase agreement of Republic Windows and Doors assets, according to United Electrical Workers Local 1110.

The 250 production employees at the Chicago factory staged a six day sit-in last month to win severance, health benefits and earned vacation pay after Republic closed its doors abruptly. The company had been denied a $5 million loan to continue operating from Bank of America, their chief financial backer. BofA had recently received $34 billion in federal bailout funds, which enraged the workers who were represented by UE.

Though some details still need to be finalized, the union is told the parties are very close to inking a deal. 'We are all hopeful about the possibility of Serious reopening our plant. This would be a very happy ending to our struggle,' said former Republic worker and Local 1110 Vice President Melvin Maclin.

One hold up is resolution of bankruptcy papers filed by Republic Windows and Doors. The workers hope the court-appointed trustee will act to bundle the remaining assets and sell them to Serious Materials, and not allow them to be split up.

On Jan. 6, the UE sought a court ordered injunction through the National Labor Relations Board against the owners of Republic Windows and Doors to force the company to return a production line and other assets they had removed from the plant. The company had moved the equipment to Iowa and reopened production with a non-union workforce. The sit-in actually prevented the company from carrying out plans to remove even more equipment.

Serious Materials is a leading manufacturer of energy saving green building products. Their mission is to reduce greenhouse gasses by 1 billion tons annually. 'These are the green-collar jobs we need for the future of our community,' said Armando Robles, former Republic maintenance worker and president of Local 1110.

Serious Materials and the union believe there is market in the Midwest for the energy efficient, super-insulating windows and commercial glass that Serious Materials makes. Funding from the Obama stimulus plan to reinsulate millions of residential homes with energy saving windows would create a huge market that companies like Serious hope to tap into.

It is expected all of the former Republic workforce will eventually be rehired. The workers are hoping for quick action by the bankruptcy court. 'We hope that the creditors, trustee and judge will allow Serious to purchase the assets soon, so I and my co-workers can start making windows again,' said Robles.

Obama considers union leaders for administration posts

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:53:00 +0000

The times they are a changing!

As the most anti-labor president since Calvin Coolidge vacates the White House, the incoming administration is mulling over the names of labor leaders it is considering for many government slots. Although the unionists are not slated to get top-level Cabinet jobs, the posts they may end up filling are often ones where important policies are decided.

After some phone calls and checking with sources, Press Associates and the Peoples Weekly World can confirm that at least seven leading trade unionists, including two former union presidents and one current union president, are being considered for jobs in the Obama administration. A major portion of the names are of unionists in the area of transport, but the list is far from complete.

Among those confirmed as under consideration for key posts are Linda Foley, former Newspaper Guild president, Duane Woerth, former Airline Pilots Association president, and Robert Scardelletti, current president of the Transportation Communications Union.

Scardelletti, who has been president of his union since 1991, is being considered for a seat on the Amtrak Board. His Transportation Communications Union represents thousands of Amtrak workers and is part of a coalition of rail unions that recently reached a new contract with the nation’s freight railroads. Scardelletti started his career as a yard clerk in Cleveland.

Woerth is being considered for a position as the Federal Aviation Agency administrator. During his union career he became familiar with the FAA’s problems, especially with safety issues and with the loss of experienced air traffic controllers resulting from a contract imposed upon the National Air Traffic Controllers Association by the Bush administration.

Foley is being considered to head the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau. She has a long record of campaigning for workers’ rights, against media concentration and for diversity in U.S. newsrooms.

Benetta Mansfield is being considered for the position of director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. She is currently chief of staff for Warren George, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.

Mansfield ran into trouble when, prior to her current position, she served as chief of staff for the National Mediation Board and acted as a whistleblower against a Bush-appointed board member who abused his office. She was wrongly fired for this activity last June. When staff attorneys at the federal office established to protect whistleblowers recommended her reinstatement, they too were let go by the Bush administration.

Joseph Szabo, Illinois state director of the United Transportation Union, now part of the Sheet Metal Workers union, is being considered to head the Federal Railroad Administration. The Federal Railroad Administration sets safety standards for all the nation’s rail lines.

Szabo has strongly criticized the Bush administration for allowing freight trains to operate with only one worker, the engineer, and for allowing unmanned “robot” trains to operate in freight yards. Many municipalities have joined the unions in opposing these practices as safety hazards.

Dan Elliot, assistant general counsel of the Cleveland-based United Transportation Union, is being considered for a seat on the Surface Transportation Board. This board is the re-named Interstate Commerce Commission, which oversees rail mergers.

Mitch Kraus, general counsel for the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks, is being considered for a seat on the same board. The BRAC is part of the Transportation Communications Union.

The Senate will have to confirm all these nominations.

While most of the media attention has been on the incoming president’s appointments to Cabinet positions, Obama will be naming more than 3,000 people to top posts in Cabinet departments, government agencies, the National Labor Relations Board, and numerous commissions. All Cabinet seats are filled except for Commerce Secretary. Obama’s original nominee for that position, New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson, withdrew. Although none of Obama’s Cabinet appointees are trade unionists, several, including Labor Secretary-designate Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), have close ties to unions.

----- Press Associates contributed to this story.

Obama considers union leaders for administration posts

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:14:00 +0000

Poll shows growing support for Employee Free Choice Act

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:36:00 +0000

A poll by Peter Hart Research, one of the nation’s most reputable polling outfits, shows that Americans now support passage of the Employee Free Choice act by a whopping 78 to 22 percent margin, a record level of backing for the measure, which would level the playing field between workers and bosses in union organizing and bargaining.

The Employee Free Choice Act would make it easier to organize unions and bargain for first contracts by requiring company recognition of a union when a majority of workers at a worksite sign cards indicating that they want to be represented by the union. The law would also require binding arbitration of first contracts when the two sides can’t agree on one within 120 days after union recognition.

It would also increase penalties for firms that violate labor laws.

Labor leaders attribute at least some of the growth in support for the bill to a new strategy they discussed at a meeting in the nation’s capital Jan. 7. They called, at that meeting, for a campaign to stress not just the need to fix the current undemocratic laws but for a campaign to show how employee free choice would lead to more union membership, more spending power for workers and therefore a fix for the overall economy.

The campaign seems to have had its effect in the media too, with the New York Times coming out recently in support of the bill because of its potential benefit to the U.S. economy.

The Hart poll, which surveyed 1,007 adults from Dec. 4 – 10, found strong public support for each of the component parts of the Employee Free Choice Act. 75 percent backed union recognition after a majority of workers signs pledge cards, 64 percent supported stronger penalties for companies that violate labor laws, and 61 percent supported binding arbitration. Except among people who identified themselves as conservative republicans, the Employee Free Choice Act drew majority backing among every voter group in all regions of the United States, including the South.

Right-wing republicans, who were 17 percent of the overall sample, opposed the new law by a two to one margin. Democrats, who were 43 percent of the sample, supported it eight to one. Independents, who were one-fourth of the sample, backed it 69 percent to 31 percent.

Unions, while pleased with the survey, warn that there is still much work to be done to guarantee passage of the law. Even in the Hart poll itself, only 47 percent of respondents knew that when National Labor relations Board-run workplace union recognition elections are held, “employers oppose the union and try to convince employees to vote ‘no’,” as the survey put it. 30 percent believe employers take no position on unionization and 21 percent said they don’t know.

The Hart pollsters did not explain the severe and often illegal methods – including firings, discipline, captive-audience meetings and threats to close down – that employers usually use to thwart union organizing drives. The pollsters also did not tell respondents that when the union wins, most employers stall in bargaining, hoping workers will get discouraged and get rid of the union.

Complacency is also not called for, people in the labor movement indicate, because the survey did not ask voters to rank the passage of the law on a list of priorities and also did not ask whether a lawmaker’s vote on the measure would be, for the respondent, a “make or break” issue.

Maeve Ward, an analyst for Peter Hart research said that, despite its importance to the overall economy, “I don’t think it’s on the radar screen of most Americans right now. The economy is blacking out everything else.”

Unions take first steps to re-unite labor movement

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 08:52:00 +0000

The nations’ biggest labor unions are moving to bring all American unions back together under the umbrella of one national labor federation.

The presidents of 12 of the country’s largest unions called Jan. 7 for reuniting the labor movement, which split into two federations three years ago when seven unions left the AFL-CIO and formed Change to Win, a rival federation.

Participating in the unity meeting were the presidents of five of the Change to Win’s seven unions, six of the 56 AFL-CIO unions and National Education Association President Dennis Van Roeckel. His 3.2 million –member union is the nation’s largest and has always remained outside any larger labor federation.

The leaders made their joint call just two months after unions from both federations celebrated victory with the election of Barack Obama as president. Unions had already set aside their differences and built a united front for the elections.

Besides Van Roekel, in attendance at the meeting were AFL-CIO member union presidents Larry Cohen (Communications Workers), Leo Gerard (Steel Workers), Ron Gettelfinger (Auto Workers), Gerald McEntee (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), Ed Hill (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) and Randi Weingarten (Teachers). Change to Win presidents attending were Joe Hansen (United Food and Commercial Workers), James Hoffa (Teamsters), Terry O’Sullivan (Laborers), Bruce Raynor (Unite Here) and Andy Stern (Service Employees). AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Change to Win Chair Anna Burger were also there.

The Change to Win unions quit the AFL-CIO three years ago, asserting that the federation was not doing enough in the area of union organizing. Since that time, however, both federations have drawn closer together with both focusing on organizing and electoral work.

Leaders of several Change to Win unions have been saying for months now that they see little advantage in maintaining a separate labor federation.

The call for reunification came also after clear signals from President-elect Obama that labor’s interests would be best served in the coming period if there was a united movement.

David Bonior, a member of Obama’s transition team, helped arrange and participated in the reunification meeting that took place Jan. 7.

Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, said Jan. 8, “This news is welcomed by local labor movements and stands to benefit all working people in this country. With a united labor movement, we will be in a better position to make real differences for working families across this great country.”

Many of the presidents of the unions involved reportedly expect, by April 15, to give the OK to a plan to reunify.

Some union leaders are saying, however, that its not a “done deal” and that the possibility of failure to reach an agreement remains.

Some union leaders have raised the possibility that instead of the Change to Win unions simply returning to the AFL-CIO, an entirely new organization might be launched.

The statement by the 12 union presidents at the unity meeting said: “The goal of the meeting is to create a unified labor movement that can speak and act nationally on the critical issues facing working Americans. While we represent the largest labor unions, we recognize that unity requires broad participation.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, is one of the leaders who attended and supports reunification. “There was a real sense of commitment to unifying our movement again,” she told the press. “It was clear that many of us felt that the whole is greater than the parts, and we really want to do things to help American workers get their rightful place in society.”

Many in the labor movement feel that there is a special need to push hard for unity at this time. With the nation facing its worse economic crisis since the Great Depression, they say, and with the election of a pro-labor president and Congress, the times call for labor to focus like a laser on solving the problems workers face. Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, seen as critical to growing the labor movement, will not be possible, they say, without unprecedented unity in the ranks of labor. With that unity, they add, it will be possible to convince broad sectors outside the labor movement how critical growing union membership is to fixing the overall economy. That fix, according to labor, is a large number of workers able to spend a growing income on the goods and services produced.

jwojcik @ pww.org UPDATED Jan. 13, 2009.

Obama jobs plan a win-win

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:48:00 +0000

With unemployment surging, unions and environmental groups greeted President-elect Barack Obama’s efforts to win approval of a $775 billion “green jobs” economic package even before he takes office.

Charlie Witt, business agent of Ironworkers Local 512 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, said there are many rusting bridges in need of repair like the I-35 span across the Mississippi River that collapsed Aug. 1, 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145.

“We had 140 members of my local working on the replacement bridge,” Witt said. “We started in September 2007 and finished it up in September 2008.”

Another bridge across the Mississippi about 20 miles downriver from St. Paul is in desperate need of repair, he added. “It is twice as long and in far worse shape then the I-35 bridge. I fear the I-35 bridge collapse was a harbinger of many others to come. The bridges are falling due to age or lack of maintenance.”

Until last October, Witt’s local, covering ironworkers in all of Minnesota and North Dakota and one-third of Wisconsin, enjoyed nearly full employment. “Now,” he said, “I have 200 workers sitting on the bench and another two or three workers laid off every day.” Commercial and industrial steel construction “has just died.

“There are ready-to-go projects here, but the local and state funding to pay for them just isn’t there,” Witt said. Minnesota went from a modest budget surplus to a $5 billion shortfall this past year.” The federal assistance promised by Obama “would be very helpful,” he added.

Vance Ayres, executive secretary of the District of Columbia Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, was equally supportive.

“The sooner Congress approves this package the better,” he said. “It is going to get the economy moving again and put people back to work. There are infrastructure repairs that have been needed for years and finally they are going to get done. Labor as a whole is behind this plan. It’s a win-win situation.”

Union members, who played such an enormous role in Obama’s election, have been invited to join the Jan. 20 inaugural parade, Ayres told the World. He said trade unionists will be on the Washington Mall in unprecedented numbers that day to show support for Obama’s job-creation plan, his vow to sign the Employee Free Choice Act and his promise to push for health care reform.

As many as 4 million people are expected on the Mall, arriving on 10,000 chartered buses and by automobile, plane and rail.

Keith Schneider, communications director of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition founded jointly by the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club, hailed Obama’s plan for including $100 billion to promote the shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy like wind and solar.

“One hundred billion or more to accelerate the development of a clean energy economy is extraordinary,” he told the World in a phone interview from Michigan. He called it a “transcendent idea,” adding, “It is so exciting for us and the country that the president is basing his economic stimulus plan on basic principles of a green economy.”

Obama met with House and Senate leaders on Capitol Hill Jan. 5, hoping to win bipartisan support for his plan so that it could be passed and ready for his signature Jan. 20 immediately after his inauguration. But congressional leaders said it would take until mid-February to approve the legislation. The new House and Senate reconvened Jan. 6 with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) vowing quick action on the stimulus package.

Republican leaders who have blocked congressional oversight and pushed deregulation of banks and corporations for the past 40 years are now harping on the need for “scrutiny” of Obama’s package in the name of ferreting out waste, fraud and corruption — subjects they are expert at, as the last eight years show.

Already Obama has been compelled to include $300 billion in tax cuts in his package to attract GOP support although tax cuts create far fewer jobs than direct federal funding of construction projects.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report last month titled “Main Street Economic Recovery,” which listed 11,391 “ready-to-go” public works and public service projects in 427 cities and towns.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, president of the Conference of Mayors, noted that “Main Street America’s economic crisis continues to worsen. Since the start of the recession a year ago, the nation has lost 2.7 million jobs. About 10.3 million American workers are now unemployed and the jobless rate in November reached 6.7 percent.”

He added, “Washington has bailed out Wall Street banks and insurance companies to the tune of $700 billion. It is now time for Washington to make another kind of investment, one that guarantees a return. It is time to initiate a Main Street Economic Recovery — immediate and direct assistance that enables local governments and the private sector to invest in infrastructure and create the jobs that will help restore this nation’s economic growth.”

greenerpastures21212 @yahoo.com

Republic workers file charges against employer

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:22:00 +0000

CHICAGO – Workers who led a six-day sit-in at the northside Republic Windows and Doors factory here last month filed charges against their former employer saying Republic violated their collective bargaining rights under the national Labor Relations act. They are members of Local 1110 with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE).

“UE wants Rich Gillman, former president of Republic Windows and Doors, to be held accountable for the illegal acts we believe he committed related to the closure of Republic,” said UE field organizer Leah Fried, in a press conference held in front of National Labor Relations Board Chicago offices Jan. 6. UE members said their rights were violated when Republic failed to give the workers and their union proper notice of the plan to shut down its operations. Republic only gave the workers three-day notice before closing. Republic management also refused to negotiate with the workers about the decision, said UE.

The union also charged that Republic management did not act in good faith with it’s actions and said the owner moved operations, machinery and clients to a factory in Iowa where workers are being paid less than those in Chicago.

“Gilman refused to inform workers and bargain with the union regarding his plans to move production to his new factory Echo Windows, where he employs workers through a temporary agency at eight dollars an hour,” said Fried.

Equipment was improperly taken from the Chicago factory in order to set up a new company that makes the same products in Red Oak, IA, says UE.

Laurie Burgess, an attorney representing the workers said, “We are asking the Labor Board to demand the return of the machinery, the clients, and the jobs back to Chicago.” Burgess added, “This will enable the union to then negotiate with the employer regarding their bargaining unit members’ rights.”

Burgess and UE feel that an injunction to return the equipment back to the Chicago factory will increase the potential for the plant to be bought and re-opened under new management and allow the workers to retain their jobs.

“Republic failed to sit down at the table on how to keep these jobs here in Chicago and now the workers are standing up for their rights,” said Burgess.

Ron Bender is African American and worked at Republic for 14 years as a machine operator. He’s also the Local 1110 steward with UE.

Bender said being laid off right before the holidays was rough.

“It’s been a struggle especially for my co-workers because many of them have small children,” he told the World. “I’m looking for another job,” he added.

Bender said the whole experience was an eye-opener including the unity and mass support from people across the country. “Workers should be taken care of first,” he said.

Republic said they closed shop because it’s main creditor, Bank of America, had cut off financing although the bank had recently received a $25 billion bailout package from the federal government. Apparently Bank of America decided it wouldn’t use some of that money to keep manufacturing enterprises going at Republic leaving the workers out in the cold. Republic shut down and moved.

The workers and their UE local took charge of the situation and led a very successful and peaceful occupation of their worksite that drew national and international attention.

After the workers sat-in for six days that led to hours of intense negotiations, Republic’s management, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase agreed on a $1.75 million settlement with the workers and their union. Each worker was promised to receive eight weeks’ salary, all accrued vacation pay and two months’ paid health care.

UE has created a foundation called the Window of Opportunity to collect donations in the attempt to keep the factory open and allow the workers to get their jobs back. For more information go to www.ueunion.org.

Unemployment systems crash as jobless numbers hit 26-year high

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:53:00 +0000

Jobless benefit filing systems all over the country are crashing this week as an unprecedented wave of tens of thousands of newly unemployed Americans scrambles to survive.

The states are saying that their web sites are going down because they are already overloaded with data on the 4.5 million now collecting benefits, the highest number in 26 years.

In many states where the systems have not yet crashed the newly unemployed are left to hold on the phone lines for hours or are cut off with “all lines are busy” messages.

On Jan. 6 systems in New York, North Carolina and Ohio were shut down completely. New York’s phone and Internet claims system started to fail on Jan. 5 and was out of service completely on Jan. 6. It was restored a day later but workers there still report waiting hours to get help.

“Regardless of when you call, be prepared to wait and just hang on. Try not to get frustrated,” is the advice offered in a telephone interview with Howard Cosgrove, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

Unemployment statistics that the government will release Jan. 9 are expected to show that 500,000 more people lost their jobs in December, which could push the official national jobless rate over 7 percent. November’s 6.7 percent figure was already the highest in 15 years.

For people in the rapidly growing ranks of the unemployed the crashing of the systems turns what is already a harrowing experience into a certified nightmare.

Tom McAvey, 54, was laid off Jan. 2 from the custodial staff in a Brooklyn, N.Y., elementary school. “I waited until Monday to file my claim,” he told the World. “Two of us at the school were laid off. We had no idea it was coming. What a way to start the new Yyar. I’m two week’s salary away from the poorhouse. My wife lost her job at Bear Stearns and is still out. I don’t know how I’m going to pay the bills. One of my daughters is in a Catholic high school – there’s the tuition.”

McAvey has difficulty mustering any sympathy for state officials who say the systems crash because of the unprecedented number of jobless applicants.

“I don’t buy it. The government has computers that handle much more information like the ones that keep track of all the taxes they are owed. If they weren’t laying off their own workers they could maintain better systems and plan for these emergencies. Layoffs and budget cuts are to blame – it's not the fault of the unemployed.”

An unemployed worker in Rhode Island emphasized how, even before the crashes, filing for benefits in her state constituted a virtual nightmare. Her state, along with Michigan, tops the nation with the highest unemployment rates.

“They have eliminated the old unemployment offices,' she said. 'They have laid off state employees. You can’t go anywhere to talk to a person. If I was lucky I got a recording that told me to call back later. This went on for days.”

The woman described for the World how she had to research the location of an actual office where she could find a live person. “But even there, I was told to fill out a form with a message and that in a few days someone would call me back. I was lucky to be home at the time they did call back. They were helpful – it was a worker trying to do a good job, but there just aren’t enough of them.

“Between the trips back and forth, the 75-minute waits on hold – once, out of desperation I held on for two hours – it’s a struggle. It’s a lot of time lost that could be spent on the Internet or going out to look for a job,” she said.

Screen actors up against producer tactics

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:17:00 +0000

Hollywood producers, like many other bosses, are showing that they are all to willing to use the current economic crisis to squash attempts by the workers to better their living conditions.

As the Screen Actors Guild membership, now working more than six months under an expired contract, considers whether to grant its leadership strike authorization, the producers are actively inserting themselves into the decision-making process.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, is calling on actors to listen to union “moderates,” who want to avoid another Hollywood strike.

The producers issued a statement Jan. 6 that said, “The 100-day writers strike – which resulted in the writers receiving the same terms that the Directors Guild of America achieved without a strike – cost our economy $2.5 billion. A SAG strike would cost the working families who depend on our industry even more, at a time when everyone is already under extreme pressure by the unprecedented national economic crisis.” The producers’ statement ignored the fact that it was their refusal to extend to the writers the terms that they eventually gave the directors that triggerd last year’s strike in the first place.

SAG’s chief negotiator, Doug Allen, is working hard to build support for a strike authorization. He said, “SAG needs this authorization even if just for purposes of leveraging a stronger position in negotiations with the producers.”

He rejected outright the idea that there is less justification in asking members to vote for strike authorization in the current economic climate than at any other time.

“There is no good time to consider a strike,” he declared in an e-mail Jan.2. “But tough economic times are when it is most important to be unified to resist the studios and networks’ effort to obliterate contract provisions in our future work.”

The SAG was actually founded in tough economic times, during the height of the Great Depression.

Allen also said, “Our employers are publicly held companies with currently unhappy shareholders whose investments in studios and networks have been severely reduced in value as a result of the Wall Street crash. Our employers will respond by cutting costs wherever possible. Our only protection from the cost-cutting hatchet is a strong contract.”

SAG had originally planned to provide strike authorization ballots to its members Jan. 2, but pushed that date back because of concern that interference by the producers might be having an effect.

During the Christmas holidays a group within the union opposed to strike authorization, Unite for Strength, announced that it plans to replace the Guild’s negotiating committee, Allen included, at the upcoming national board meeting scheduled for Jan. 12-13. The group claims that it has a majority on SAG’s national board.

SAG members have been working without a new contract since June 30, when the union turned down the producers’ “final offer.” The union was particularly angry about what the producers were offering in terms of agreements regarding new media. They offered the actors no minimums, no residuals and wanted to reserve their right to produce without the union whenever they wanted to in the new media area.

“The producers’ proposal made it impossible for actors to earn a living from work in new media,” Allen declared.

New media issues, of course, are of enormous interest to unionized actors.

Even as the battle goes on over strike authorization Netflix, the leading DVD mail-order rental company, has announced a partnership with LG Electronics to stream movies directly into subscribers’ homes. Netflix will use internet connections to allow subscribers – who pay about $10 per month – to watch films from its vast libraries on specially formatted LG television sets. The announcement has major implications in the possible actors’ strike because one the the major impediments to a new deal is the union’s refusal to accept tiny residual payments to its members for films and TV shows downloaded from the net.

Hollywood continues, however, to rake in unprecedented profits from its regular movie business both in the United States and abroad.

While U.S. movie goers spent $9.78 billion on tickets last year, Hollywood revenue from the rest of the world actually surpassed that figure, soaring to a record $9.9 billion. That represents a 4 percent increase over 2007 and means in the past two years foreign box office receipts have grown by a hefty 15 percent.

Women workers expect early victories from new Congress

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:45:00 +0000

On Jan.7 the House of Representatives is expected to hand workers a victory by passing two bills to ensure equal pay for women and reverse the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that severely restricted the rights of women to combat pay discrimination through the courts.

Action on both the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act is set for that day. Both bills passed the House in the last session, but Senate Republicans blocked a similar vote in the Senate.

After years of employment at an Alabama Goodyear tire plant, Ledbetter realized that she was being paid less than the lowest-paid man doing the same work. She gathered her evidence, filed suit and was awarded $3.8 million by a jury. Goodyear, however, appealed to the Supreme Court.

In May, 2007, the Supreme Court cancelled the award and ruled that Ledbetter and other workers had no right to sue for a remedy for pay discrimination when they waited more than 180 days after their first paycheck, even if they didn’t discover the pay discrimination until years after they were hired.

The Paycheck Fairness Act, introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), would provide more effective remedies for women who are not paid equal wages for doing equal work, by strengthening the 1963 Equal Pay Act.

Despite the Equal Pay Act, surveys show that women are paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man is paid, According to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Women who are covered by union contracts are guaranteed equal pay, but millions of other working women don’t have that protection and rely, therefore, on current inadequate fair pay laws.

Earlier, Congressional leaders had hoped they could move almost as fast on the entire economic recovery package which they had hoped to have ready for Obama to sign as soon as he takes office. Republican leaders, however, are slowing the action. As a result, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said final votes on the recovery legislation would come by early February.

Obama has wasted no time signaling that he intends to move quickly on legislation important to working people. He is meeting this week with Congressional leaders to put together an economic recovery package that emphasizes job creation, tax relief for middle class families, extensions of unemployment benefits and aid for states caught in the vice of the tightening economic crisis.

In his weekly radio talk, Obama said the economic package- the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan- would “not only create jobs in the short term, but spur economic growth and competitiveness in the long term. We must make strategic investments that will serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future. We must demand vigorous oversight and strict accountability for achieving results. And we must restore fiscal responsibility and make the tough choices so that as the economy recovers, the deficit starts to come down. That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan – which is to create 3 million new jobs, more than 80 percent of them in the private sector.”