People Before Profit blog

Worker’s Memorial Day: regulations save lives

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:44:00 +0000

DETROIT - Although gains in protecting workers safety and health have been made, the numbers are still grim said Metro Detroit AFL-CIO President Chris Michalakis at the 2012 International Workers Memorial at the UAW-Ford National Programs Center. "Each and every day, twelve workers, on average, die on the job and another 50,000 died from occupational diseases in 2010. Every single one can be prevented," he declared.

With statistics like those one would expect a concerted effort to stop the workplace carnage.

Michalakis says the opposite is happening. While President Obama is pushing for more safety, he warned business groups are pushing back with an "all out assault" and falsely claim regulations and protections kill jobs.

"The fact is these regulations and protections keep jobs and employers from killing workers," he said.

The assault against workers rights has reached extreme levels in Michigan. State Representative Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, said her colleagues in the Republican dominated legislature "want oversight gone" and have introduced a bill to get rid of the Michigan Occupational and Safety Health Act.

Incredibly those same colleagues have warned the states public universities that if they collaborate with a non-profit workers center that is critical of business practices, (exposing unsafe working conditions or incidents of wage theft would be considered critical) they will lose public funding.

The plight of temporary workers was underscored by immigrant rights and health and safety activist Marisela Garcia. She said thirty percent of workers are now considered contingent workers. Not only are health and safety regulations rarely enforced, but the staffing companies frequently "steal" wages. "They steal because they can, because workers are scared," she said.

They endure more than wage theft. Garcia said workplace injuries are very common.

Before he became an International Representative for UAW Region 1A, Frank Woods Jr. spent 15 years using "all kinds of dangerous chemicals" at the Highland Park, Chrome Craft plant. He said when he started in 1983, the workers cooked their food on the pipes over the chrome plating tanks because the company was too cheap to give them a lunch room.

"We got sick, people in the neighborhood got sick. We had to negotiate to have a lunch room, to have a microwave oven and refrigerator."

Eight of his co-workers died of cancer. While he considers himself "lucky" to be cancer free he did not escape without injury. The heavy lifting he was forced to do resulted in four fused vertebrae and eight titanium pins and rods in his back.

It was his union that eventually forced changes. "Only way to get improvement is thru a union. I say that because I lived it, I saw the difference."

In the audience were the family members of Kent Morton, the 28 year old father of two from Garden City, Michigan who fell to his death on January 11^th while working on the Ambassador Bridge that connects Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

At the conclusion of the tribute, participants walked to the Detroit River and tossed carnations in tribute to Morton and all killed at work.

Photo: Family of killed worker Kent Morton, and others, prepare to toss carnations into Detroit River.

Taxi drivers honor AFL-CIO leader

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:51:00 +0000

NEW YORK - On the evening of April 26^th New York City taxi drivers and supporters gathered at the headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers in lower Manhattan.

The occasion was the inaugural fundraising event for the drivers union, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, (NYTWA) and the guest of honor for the event was AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Trumka was being honored, in part, in appreciation of the national charter that was recently awarded by the AFL-CIO to the parent organization of the NYTWA, the National Taxi Workers Alliance, (NTWA).

NTWA represents licensed medallion cabdrivers in New York and Philadelphia and is currently organizing in other cities across the country; Chicago, Boston and San Francisco among them. Meanwhile, in New York, IAM district 15 is organizing the drivers at non-medallion limousine services, the so-called "black car" industry.

Presiding over Thursday evening's event was Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York City Taxi Workers Alliance and President of the NTWA. Also in attendance was Ronald Blount, president of the Unified Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania and vice president of the NTWA.

Vincent Alvarez, president of the New York City Central Labor Council, spoke about the significance of labor's outreach to non-traditional labor organizations and the groundbreaking role played by Ed Ott who, during his tenure at the Central Labor Council, granted membership in the organization to the taxi drivers. Ott is now a lecturer at the Murphy Institute for Labor Studies.

In her remarks Desai stressed the importance of the broad support for taxi derivers in combating the employers' efforts to divide the workers and make them feel isolated.

She reminded everyone that the NTWA was the 57th national union to affiliate with the AFL-CIO and that the national charter had been the dream of taxi workers even before the first step of the NYTWA's affiliation with the New York labor movement in 2007.

The highlight of the evening was the address given by AFL-CIO President Trumka. Trumka began his remarks by saying that union brothers and sisters in the taxi industry asked for help and the labor community came out to support them. He called the taxi drivers the future of the labor movement and called the issuing of the charter to the NTWA, the first issued to a non-traditional workers organization in 60 years, a watershed moment that he was proud to be part of.

Alluding to the large number of immigrant drivers Trumka spoke of his background as the son of immigrant parents and how the bosses have always tried to stir up anti-immigrant sentiments but that the unions build unity despite attempts to enforce divisions. Trumka concluded his talk by saying that it was really the taxi workers who should be honored and that he believed that organized workers, traditional and non-traditional alike would usher in a new day.

After his speech Trumka was presented with the "Golden steering wheel" award and an honorary shawl by NYTWA organizing committee member Mohammad Tipu Sultan and executive committee member Biju Mathew, after which the event closed with a cultural performance by the musicians collective, Son de Montón.

Walker’s revenge felt by Wisconsin workers

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:31:00 +0000

In the latest development in the war on Wisconsin workers - which in itself is a leading battlefield in the wider war on workers in the U.S. - three groups of Badger State workers have been disciplined for opposing GOP Gov. Scott Walker.

The latest group consists of 25 newspaper workers, punished this month just for signing the petitions that forced the Jun. 5 recall election against Walker. Eight workers at the Wisconsin State Journal were disciplined, as were workers at the Gannett chain's papers in Appleton and Green Bay. None of the 25 had union representation. The sanctions were not specified. Gannett said its workers "violated ethical standards."

Unions led the recall campaign, which turned in more than a million signatures on the petitions, after Walker's 2011 law killed collective bargaining rights for 200,000 state and local government workers.

The newspaper workers, whose names - along with everyone else's - were disclosed by the state board that certified the petitions, join two groups of workers disciplined last April for participating in the Feb. 18, 2011 protest against Walker's law.

The state affiliate of the National Education Association represents one of those groups, teachers in Hudson. The other workers' group that got hit were 11 faculty members at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School.

The teachers called in sick and participated in the largest of the mass protests at the state capital against Walker's law. The school claimed it could not find substitutes and had to close the schools involved. Two months later, the school board handed out unpaid suspensions ranging from one day to 15 days.

The board imposed longer terms on teachers who encouraged colleagues to call in sick or discussed the elimination of collective bargaining rights with the media, news reports said. The union, which has had to cut its staff in half after Walker's law also yanked dues collections, was unable to return phone calls about the Hudson case.

The medical school disciplined the doctors for distributing sick leave notes to other workers who needed them to join the Feb. 18, 2011 protest. The punishment ranged from written reprimands to loss of pay. The state medical board also disciplined seven other doctors for signing similar sick leave notes for other workers. The state medical society, a private group, said doctors who signed the sick leave notes "threatened the public's trust in the medical profession."

Photo: Megamarch, Madison, Wisc.. March 12. John Bachtell/PW Megamarch, Madison, Wisc.. March 12. John Bachtell/PW

2,000 march in New Haven for jobs pipeline

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:22:00 +0000

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The movement in New Haven for jobs, youth opportunity, and an end to violence filled the streets with a march of 2,000 last week. Clerical and maintenance workers at Yale University, whole families with children in baby strollers, neighborhood leaders, graduate and undergraduate students, and youth from the community turned out en masse chanting, "Let's get to work!"

The atmosphere of the 5:30 pm march and rally was both powerful and festive. Participants marched across town on College Street in the drizzling rain as car traffic waited. They were buoyed by their recent victory, electing many union members to the Board of Aldermen, and the ongoing work toward a jobs pipeline in the city.

Led by a lively brass band, the march wended its way from one side of the city to the other, ending near the entrance to Yale New Haven Hospital for a rally with speakers on a makeshift stage. "This is how we're going to win the jobs pipeline," said Alderwoman Jackie James to cheers.

Yale workers poured out of their union meetings to join the march. Unite Here Locals 34 and 35 are currently in contract negotiations, with a Jan. 2013 contract expiration date. Prior to negotiations, a survey of the 4700 union members determined that top issues are job advancement, a jobs pipeline, healthcare, and wage increases.

A jobs pipeline would provide training for New Haven students and residents, with a clear path to jobs at Yale University and other major employers. Smaller-scale programs in the past have resulted in employment for city residents, some of whom have gone on to become union leaders and elected city officials.

As the dominant employer, the University and its teaching hospital are the best chance for a decent job with union wages and benefits. However, there are limited opportunities for New Haven residents to get hired.

A few years ago after the unions and community residents filled public hearings, delaying expansion of the hospital until there would be some commitments to the surrounding community, an agreement was made that the hospital would hire 100 local residents a year. However there was no oversight mechanism established to enforce the agreement.

At Aldermanic hearings for the jobs pipeline this month, the need for accountability was raised. By including the jobs pipeline in their negotiations, the unions at Yale are taking the stand that what is good for the residents of the city is good for the unions and the whole university.

The next step is at the ward level, where neighborhood action committees are being established that can keep their alderperson informed and mobilize participation in hearings, marches, and events.

New Haven's population is majority African American and Latino. A former industrial town, the jobs shifted to Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital as one factory after another moved abroad or closed down. Many neighborhoods suffered severe economic consequences as many residents were left to rely on low wage jobs that do not meet the cost of living.

A report issued by the Connecticut Center for a New Economy, "A Renaissance for All of Us - Building an Inclusive Prosperity for New Haven," which outlines policy measures to address economic inequalities and poverty features the need for a jobs pipeline.

As the rally ended, Rev. Scott Marks led everyone in chanting,"We'll be back!"

Photo: Chris Randall/PW

Reverberations of Mexico Walmart scandal

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:11:00 +0000

On Apr. 21, the New York Times broke the news of a massive bribery scandal involving the operations of multinational retail giant Walmart in Mexico. Reportedly, Walmart of Mexico had spent millions paying off officials there to facilitate the entry of their big box stores and other operations into cities and towns around the country.

In this way, Walmart was able to displace other small- and medium-sized retail operations and become by far the largest retailer in this country of 109 million inhabitants.

That story led to widespread denunciations in the U.S., and calls for further investigations and, possibly, legal action. It has also led to a revival of interest in the many criticisms of the giant corporation's business practices in the states.

The revelations caused no surprise in Mexico. The accusations, which Mexican workers, small businesspeople, and others have leveled at the giant range from desecration of the important Mexican archeological site of Teotihuacan to the introduction of genetically- modified foods. Walmart is also accused of destroying thousands of small and medium sized competitors, undercutting them with its low labor costs.

But the two biggest complaints about Walmart in Mexico concern the privileged treatment it has been accorded at all levels of government, and abusive labor practices.

Revelations in the Mexican press show that Walmart has received favored treatment from federal governments starting with that of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari in '91. Walmart has been given tax breaks, the result of which have had it paying a fraction of the taxes paid by some native Mexican enterprises. In this way, Wal- Mart has been able to build an empire of 2,095 stores in Mexico, with new ones opening practically every day.

The labor abuses are shocking, but in line with general labor conditions in Mexico, a country that has enlightened labor laws that are completely vitiated by non-enforcement and weak unions.

A 2005 study by the Project for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights revealed violations of the rights of women workers, similar to those of which Walmart operations in the U.S. have been accused.

In every Walmart operation in Mexico, one finds that baggers and the people who watch the cars in the parking lot are minor children, none more than 16 years of age. These young people are "volunteers" who receive neither pay nor benefits, and have no enforceable labor rights. They survive entirely on tips.

Enrique Bonilla Rodriguez, coordinator of the organization "Frente Nacional Contra Walmart" (National Front Against Walmart) calculates that around 30 percent of the total labor force of Walmart in Mexico is working for tips and without wages or benefits. Further, he accuses Walmart of making these "volunteer" workers kick back big chunks of the money they get from tips to the company. His organization calculates that this represents an extra savings in labor costs to Walmart of about $85 million since 2006.

Walmart's Mexican subsidiary, WalMex, justifies this by pointing at the low prices it is able to pass on to consumers.

Another accusation is that Walmart in Mexico keeps its labor costs down by having rival corrupt unions bid against each other for the right to provide workers to the company. As in many other Mexican enterprises, employees who object to this setup risk ending up in the street. The Mexican government contributes to this state of affairs by making sure that independent unions, which really stand up for the workers, are repressed.

When this story broke, the government of right-wing President Felipe Calderon, of the National Action Party (PAN), stated that it did not plan to even investigate the situation because any bribes that had been paid had gone to state and local, and not federal officials. This brought howls of derision from the opposition, so the latest news is that the Mexican government says it has asked the U.S. government for any information the latter may have about the involvement of Mexican federal officials in the bribery.

This is an election year in Mexico and the PAN's presidential candidate, Josefina Vazquez Mota, is badly trailing the candidate of the formerly ruling Revolutionary Institutional Party, PRI, Enrique Peña Nieto. The candidate of the left, former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is currently vying with Vazquez Mota for second place.

The main issues in the election, besides economic basics, include Calderon's failed drug war, which, by putting the army into the streets, has not stopped the depredations of the feared cartels, but has helped to drive the death toll up to 50,000 people.

The Walmart story began on the PRI's watch but the bribery documented by the New York Times took place during the PAN administration of Vicente Fox. So if this story continues in the headlines, it is bad news for the governing party.

Brennan Cavanaugh // CC BY-NC 2.0

Labor and allies make their stand outside Supreme Court

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:18:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - As the U.S. Supreme Court, meeting inside its imposing marble, white-columned building, wrestled with Arizona's racist, anti-Hispanic, anti-immigrant law, unionists and their allies made their stand for immigrants' rights clear outside the justices' front door.

With chants and speeches - and overcoming a small counter-protest by nativists - hundreds of people declared that come what may from the High Court's ruling by June, the unionists and their partners declared they will continue fighting until all U.S. residents, of any hue, sex or race, are treated equally in the eyes of the law.

The crowd, led by SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Eliseo Medina, vowed they would continue to crusade for the rights of workers and immigrants not just in the halls of justice but on the streets and at the ballot box. Hillary Shelton, Washington lobbyist for the NAACP, said Arizona's law reawakened the national civil rights movement.

As unionists declared their support outside, the justices, inside, sharply quizzed lawyers for Arizona and the Obama administration about the state's controversial law, SB1070. The law criminalizes anyone who looks different by ordering state and local police, if they stop a person for another offense, to immediately demand proof of legal U.S. residence. Those who can't provide it are detained and usually deported.

The administration challenged the Arizona law as an intrusion on federal sovereignty on immigration. The state claimed it was trying to enforce federal law.

The unionists and their allies outside the court had more basic points to make.

"We came to demand what is written on that building," Medina said, pointing to the inscription over the court's great front doors: "Equal Justice Under Law." Citing that, Medina declared: "We are all equal under the eyes of God and the Constitution."

The crowd wanted to remind the court "of the values that created this great country," continued Medina, himself the son of immigrants. "We want to remind the court that states don't have the right to legalize hate, states do not have the right to discriminate against us, states do not have the right legitimize xenophobia."

The court must overturn laws that encourage racial profiling, that "deny or restrict our right to vote, that attack the rights of workers," he added. But if the court didn't - and the jousting inside the courtroom between the justices and the lawyers made it clear it might not - then the people would, at the ballot box, Medina vowed. Starting this November and continuing beyond it, "We can get rid of the politicians who write these racist laws."

Senate defeats GOP anti-union scheme

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:30:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - By a 54-45 vote, the Senate defeated a Republican scheme to throw more roadblocks in unions' way through disapproval of new federal rules designed to eliminate some of the delays management now uses to obstruct and overturn union recognition elections.

The anti-union measure would have nullified National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rules that consolidate legal hearings regarding the union votes and shortening the time period for employers' appeals. The vote against the GOP scheme let the rules take effect on April 30.

With one exception, Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, the April 24 vote was strictly along party lines, with all Republicans voting to kill the NLRB rules and all Democrats voting to uphold them. But even had they passed both the Senate and the GOP-run House, Democratic President Barack Obama's Office of Management and Budget had already told lawmakers it would recommend he veto the GOP move.

"The administration is committed to supporting the right of workers to join and participate in a union and bargain for fair wages, benefits and a safe workplace. These rights are fundamental to better conditions for American workers and to an open, just, economically fair and prosperous society. SJRes 36" - the GOP anti-union measure - "attacks these bedrock American values," OMB's statement added.

In the last two weeks, unions asked their members to contact their senators to vote against the GOP scheme.

"Extremists in Congress and anti-union businesses have broken the system with endless delays designed to undermine democracy at work<" an AFL-CIO alert before the vote said. "The NLRB has passed a sensible rule that modernizes procedures, increases efficiency and eliminates frivolous lawsuits. Now these extremists want to overturn that rule. Fight the corporate lobbyists trying to keep the status quo.

"Anti-union politicians and corporate special interests are working to hi-jack the regulation process to benefit the 1% and silence the 99%," it continued. "The NLRB rule balances the election process. The rights of working people to achieve economic security are at stake."

The Senate debate, like the vote, broke down along party lines. Senate Labor Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the GOP is spending its time on "partisan attacks" on the NLRB and not addressing the problems of struggling workers.

"I would welcome the opportunity to spend this time debating how to make life better for middle-class families. I would even welcome the opportunity to have a real debate about unions and the important role they play in our country. What I deeply regret is we are instead going to" debate "wild misinformation spread about National Labor Relations Board rules that were properly undertaken, well within the agency's authority and completely sensible," he said. "So let me try to set the record straight.

"In December, after receiving public input, the NLRB announced some internal agency procedures governing union elections would be changed. These are modest changes that not only make the procedures more rational and efficient but also ensure that workers and employers alike will have an opportunity to make their voices heard in an environment free of intimidation.

"These changes, while modest, are desperately needed. They will address the rare" - only 10% of all union recognition votes, Harkin said - "but deeply troubling situation where an unscrupulous employer uses delay and frivolous litigation to try to keep workers from getting a fair election."

Potato grower accused of labor trafficking

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:20:00 +0000

A potato grower - Florida-based Bulls-Hit Ranch & Farm - and its labor contractor have been accused of labor trafficking and exploiting drug-addicted workers, according to a Jacksonville lawsuit filed Apr. 24 by Florida Legal Services and Farmworker Justice.

The suit was filed on behalf of two farm workers. They say they were victims of trafficking and other federal and state labor law violations while employed in 2009 and 2010 by the grower, reports the AFL-CIO.

Bulls-Hit's labor contractor, Ronald Uzzle, recruited and took advantage of vulnerable men from Jacksonville homeless shelters, the complaint claimed. Uzzle then used these men to form work crews for potato packing operations, but took advantage of their drug dependencies to make them compliant and willing to work at a low cost to Bulls-Hit.

As such, Uzzle and Bulls-Hit are liable for cheating the workers out of fair wages, and for damages that result from violations of migrant agricultural worker protection laws and federal labor trafficking laws. The trafficking laws prohibit exploiting a person for labor by way of force, fraud, or coercion.

According to the complaint, Uzzle took the workers to a dirty, overcrowded labor camp where they were given below-human-standards housing, illegal harmful drugs, and credit to make drug and other camp purchases at interest rates of up to 100 percent.

When the farm workers received their pay each week, Bulls-Hit took money from their wages to pay for their rent, food, and weekly debts. Resultantly, the workers were left to stagnate; stuck in a destitute state, deeply in debt and extremely dependent on their employers.

The workers feared for their safety if they tried to leave while still indebted, the report notes.

"The lawsuit exposes deeply disturbing labor practices that should have no place in modern agriculture," said Bruce Goldstein, president of Farmworker Justice. These practices, he remarked, are "all too sadly still employed by the most unscrupulous employers."

Florida tomato harvesters take penny campaign to Giant Food

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:41:00 +0000

LANDOVER, Md. (PAI) -- Day by day for the last eight years, Santiago Perez has toiled in the tomato fields of Immokalee, Fla. It's not fun.

"Often, the temperature is above 100 degrees. There's the pressure of your boss breathing down your neck. You get 10-12 minutes for lunch and no water breaks. There's been physical violence and you could get fired without the boss suffering any consequences," he told Press Associates in Spanish through an interpreter.

And all this for a wage of $9,000-$11,000 - but only if he picked at least two tons of tomatoes a day.

That wage, of pennies per pound picked, loaded into large buckets, hadn't changed for 30 years, until advent of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a fledgling union for the 30,000 tomato harvesters in the Florida fields, some of them teens.

CIW mobilized public pressure nationwide on the companies - grocery chains and restaurants - who are the big end users of the Florida pickers' tomatoes. Its organizers went into the fields to talk with the workers, learning what they needed.

CIW negotiated a pact with the tomato growers for a wage hike - a penny per pound - better working conditions, a cooperative grievance procedure and health and safety improvements. The improvements are financed by slightly higher prices the growers charge to their big customers: Grocery chains and fast food restaurants.

But there's a loophole, and that's what brought Perez and two dozen allies to the D.C. suburb of Landover, Md., headquarters of Giant Food, a big grocery chain that has refused to sign the pact. It's become a market for the 10% of Florida tomato growers who don't want to pay workers a more decent wage. The other 90% agree with CIW.

CIW led a protest on April 17 in front of the firm's Landover building, right while Giant was hosting its stockholders' meeting. CIW's petition demanded Giant and its parent, Dutch-based Royal Ahold, sign the pact and start treating its workers right. Giant replied it has its own code of conduct for the tomato fields, but took the papers.

Leonel Perez, leader of the protest, explained the group is touring the east coast to bring more publicity to the plight of the pickers - and to put more pressure on Giant and other chains that are holding out against the "Fair Food" contract CIW drafted.

"We're calling on Giant to do the right thing, to finally eliminate the abuses" in the tomato fields by refusing to provide an outlet for those growers who mistreat, and in some cases even enslave, the workers, Leonel Perez said.

"Ten major competitors of Giant are helping to enforce" the Fair Food rules in the fields, he added. They include the Subway, Taco Bell, Burger King and McDonald's fast food chains and the Trader Joe's and Whole Foods grocery chains, as well as Aramark, one of the nation's leading providers of sports stadium and arena concessions.

And CIW intends to continue its campaign, with the help of national and local groups, until Giant and other holdouts join the pact and start treating their tomato pickers right, he said. That means consumer education and even refusal to patronize chains, such as Giant, that hold out, other speakers said.

All this is designed to help Santiago Perez and his colleagues. He says workers like him often stay 15-30 years in the fields - men and women both. Some 30% of tomato pickers are women, CIW says.

But even if conditions improve, the years you spend picking tomatoes "doesn't depend on the workers, but on the growers," Santiago Perez says. "When you get old, you can't find work as easily, and they attempt to discard you."

Photo: Coalition of Immokalee Workers and community supporters march to Publix, March 10, 2012, in Lakeland, Fla., as part of their penny more per pound campaign. (PW/Joshua Leclair)

LA-Long Beach port truck drivers win important victory

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:04:00 +0000

With a 46-15 vote in favor of joining the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, employee drivers at Toll Group logistics company in southern California last week became one of the few groups of port truck drivers to become unionized.

"Our victory means we are finally getting closer to the American Dream," Orlando Ayala, a 10-year driver at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, said after the workers' victory. "If we can win, I know other port truck drivers across the U.S. can unite just like we did."

During the workers' organizing drive, which began last summer, Toll Group, based in Melbourne, Australia, fought back with delaying tactics, surveillance, intimidation, "captive audience" meetings, and attempts to change the composition of the bargaining unit. They fired workplace leaders including a female driver who made an emergency pit stop to use the restroom at a McDonalds while transporting a cargo.

The drivers had broad labor and community backing, including from Australia's Transport Workers Union, which represents 12,000 Toll Group employees in that country. The TWU sent several solidarity delegations to Los Angeles during the nearly yearlong struggle.

"In Australia we have negotiated agreements for decent pay, safe working conditions and proper job security for our members at Toll. Our colleagues across the Pacific in the USA are entitled to the same," TWU National Secretary Tony Sheldon said after the vote. Sheldon pledged the Australian workers' support during the coming struggle to win a first contract.

Teamsters Vice President Fred Potter said the "courageous" drivers "have inspired other port drivers to fight for good, middle-class jobs at America's ports nationwide, and the Teamsters and our coalition are going to be here to help them do it."

Toll Group, which transports brand-name fashion imports, denies its U.S. drivers indoor restrooms at their primary work site, forcing them to use filthy port-a-potties. It was recently fined $25,000 by the California Occupational Health and Safety Administration for a series of workplace violations. The company also faces federal trial after the National Labor Relations Board issued a formal complaint against it for violating U.S. labor law.

Because they are employees, the Toll Group drivers are among the small number of U.S. port truck drivers who currently have the right to organize a union. Since the industry was deregulated in 1980, most drivers are classified - the Teamsters say misclassified - as independent contractors who have no right to unionize.

The U.S. Department of Labor has stepped up its efforts to combat misclassification which exists in many industries, especially those employing low-wage, vulnerable workers who may be paid less than the minimum wage, denied overtime and benefits, and forced to pay taxes and work expenses that an employer would normally pay.

Photo: Jeannie // CC 2.0

Community support grows for striking Red Cross workers

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:43:00 +0000

CLEVELAND - Buoyed by delegations of dozens of fellow strikers from Toledo and Lansing, Mich., 250 Red Cross blood service workers, members of Teamsters Local 507, entered the third month of a bitter strike with a spirited rally in front of the agency's headquarters here April 18.

They cheered Bill Dudley, speaking for 150 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 75 forced to strike Toledo Red Cross in late March.

"Red Cross puts profits above people," Dudley said, adding that the strike has broad community support. Lucas County Commissioners passed a resolution backing the union the previous day, he said, and similar action is expected at next week's Toledo City Council meeting.

"On May Day we are holding a big rally at the Government Center in downtown Toledo," he said. "Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur will speak. We are going to win."

Mike Parker, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 580 in Lansing, said the strike is "part of a much larger fight. We are on the front lines of a war on working men and women in this country."

Last week, Red Cross held a "phony bargaining session," he said, after 150 members of his local and the Office and Professional Employees walked out.

"These people have no soul," he said. "They don't care if you and your child have no health care and low wages. We are out because we have no choice. They care about people with multi-million dollar homes on the beach and elevators in their garage. They are rotten, greedy bastards."

He praised the stamina of the Cleveland strikers.

"I know it's tough," he said. "I can't imagine what it's like to be on strike over eight weeks. We haven't won yet, not yet. But we will win because we stand on the right side. We want to build solidarity. We want to build community. We want to help our kids get to college."

Al Mixon, principal officer of the Cleveland local, said the strike was having a big financial impact on Red Cross. The agency's blood drives in the 19-county Northern Ohio Region are down from 25 a day to four, he said.

"To use a sports analogy, we are close to the goal line and we can't afford to fumble now."

The agency, he said, "is playing on the bad economy" to impose contract terms. It sent discs to employees with its health care proposal, he said, stating that the Red Cross "reserves the right to change or terminate employee health care benefits at any time for any reason."

Long stalled talks are set to resume Tuesday, he said. "We are in a war," he added.

The Red Cross, he said, hopes to pay for $40 million in fines imposed by the Food and Drug Administration for tainted blood by taking it out of its employees.

Stacks of door hangers urging residents to withhold blood donations until the strike is settled were distributed.

"My husband has a lot of medical problems," Judy Wickham, a Cleveland nurse, said. "We can't afford the prescriptions. We are three months behind on our electric bill. We went to a food bank last week for the first time. One hundred twenty-four dollars [in strike benefits] is not a lot, but it's enough. I'm not crossing [the picket line]!"

Flyers at the rally stressed that the Red Cross has "capitalized on the merits of Disaster Services" to gain public support, but "Blood Collections and Disaster Services are two completely separate entities."

The blood is collected free of charge from donors and sold to hospitals for $250 to $500 a pint providing the agency with $2 billion in annual revenues.

The collection workers average around $15 an hour and face heavy production goals. In Toledo, the agency is seeking to eliminate two of the three 10-minute breaks employees receive during a 12-14 hour day, union officials said.

In Lansing, the agency is defying orders by the National Labor Relations Board to open its books and has hired a top anti-labor law firm to appeal the case in federal court.

While the agency's board was previously based on blood donors and community representatives, "during the Bush years a coup occurred that brought in right-wing CEOs from Walmart and other companies," said Chuck Musser, a mobile unit assistant in Lansing. "They are anti-people and anti-labor. They want part-time employees with no benefits and minimum wages."

The proceeds of blood sales now benefit the agency's 20 top executives, he said, including CEO Gail McGovern who gets over $1 million in salary plus perks and received $400,000 for moving into a new home.

Photo: Teamster leader Al Mixon speaks to the solidarity rally in front of Red Cross headquarters in Cleveland April 18. PW/Rick Nagin

Teamsters proposal to restructure bankrupt Hostess

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:29:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (PAI) -- A 2-year pay freeze for workers, cuts and clawbacks in compensation for corporate executives, and a reduction in company contributions to a multi-employer pension plan are among the details of a Teamsters proposal to restructure Hostess Inc., in the firm's latest bankruptcy.

"The Teamsters proposal demands that executives, as well as all stakeholders, actually share equally in the financial sacrifices necessary for Hostess to emerge from bankruptcy instead of paying lip-service to the concept," union Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall explained.

The proposal is to be presented to a federal bankruptcy court overseeing the firm's latest trip through a sea of red ink, its second in less than a decade.

If they don't, the Teamsters' plan says an impartial arbitrator can declare the unionists' concessions to keep Hostess financially alive "null and void."

The Teamsters represent 7,500 workers at the bankrupt baker, manufacturer of such well-known foods as Twinkies and Hostess Cupcakes. [Several unions represent Hostess workers, including the Bakery workers, Teamsters and Stationary Engineers.] Hall said Hostess management took at least $240 million out of the company before declaring bankruptcy.

"Hostess workers have already sacrificed for this company," he added. "Under management's one-sided proposal, Hostess workers again are the only ones doing the sacrificing. Executives lie and claim labor costs are to blame. But it is incompetence and greed, pure and simple, that put this iconic company in the position it is in today."

Provisions of the union's proposal order Hostess to spend at least certain minimum sums on marketing and advertising.

Other details of the Teamsters' plan, which must be also ratified by the union's Hostess locals, include particulars on membership on the company's board and finance committee, continued product marketing, conditions for use of casual transport drivers, and expenditures after the company comes out of bankruptcy.

If Hostess doesn't meet those goals for two consecutive quarters, the Teamsters may immediately file a grievance with the arbitrator. If the arbitrator rules for the union and Hostess still flunks, the arbitrator can again choose a remedy, "up to and including punitive damages and declaring the union concessions set forth in this agreement null and void."

Teamsters say their proposal is expressly conditioned upon the company's commitment to "equality of sacrifice."

Photo: Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, is seeking bankruptcy protection, blaming its pension and medical benefits obligations, increased competition and tough economic conditions. The filing on Wednesday comes just two years after a predecessor company emerged from bankruptcy proceedings. LM Otero/AP

Unions: Colombia trade deal stinks

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:29:00 +0000

The AFL-CIO described as "deeply disappointing and troubling" the announcement by the White House today that Colombia has successfully implemented key elements of the Labor Action Plan and that the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement will go into effect May 15.

The announcement came during the Summit of the Americas in Colombia, where President Obama has been meeting regional political and business leaders. "We regret that the administration has placed commercial interests above the interests of workers and their trade unions," said Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO.

Leaders of Colombian unions joined Trumka in blasting today's announcement by the White House, declaring: "The underlying trade agreement perpetuates a destructive economic model that expands the rights and privileges of big business and multinational corporations at the expense of workers, consumers and the environment. The agreement uses a model that has historically benefitted a small minority of business interests, while leaving workers, families and communities behind."

Under pressure from the labor movements in the U.S. and Colombia, the two countries agreed in Apr. 2011 on an Action Plan on Labor Rights designed to "protect internationally recognized labor tights, prevent violence against labor leaders, and prosecute the perpetrators of such violence" in Colombia.

Unions were never satisfied with the action plan itself, much less with the record on its implementation. Although the Action Plan included some measures that both the U.S. and Colombian labor movements have been demanding for years, unions said its scope was too limited in that it did nothing to resolve what they said were serious violations of union freedoms and human rights that had already taken place or that were currently happening.

24 Colombian trade union leaders were killed during last year alone, they noted and an AFL-CIO report released last fall found that the Action Plan "has failed to achieve improvements on the ground for Colombia's working families."

In their joint statement Trumka and the Colombian labor leasers, Luis Miguel Morantes and Tarcisio Mora Godoy said: "We have been monitoring the progress of the Action Plan and conclude that, although new laws and directives are in place. The government of Colombia has not yet demonstrated successful implementation.

"Workers across the whole economy continue to be forced into indirect employment relationships (a variety of contracting and sub-contracting schemes) - preventing them from exercising their rights to free association and collective bargaining."

The joint statement blasts the government for its poor record on prosecuting criminal activity by employers;

"Nor has the government of Colombia compiled a successful record of criminal prosecutions of employers who illegally interfere with workers' fundamental rights. Labor activists and other human rights defeneders remain subject to threats and violence, including murder, when they stand up to fight for their rights."

Union leaders in both countries say that rather than implementing the trade agreement, leaders of both countries should be working to build a new trade model that creates jobs, boosts economic development and increases the standard of living in both countries;

"We must work together to delete the provisions that imperil worker rights and freedoms as well as public interest regulations," the statement reads. "Instead, we should add provisions to ensure stronger worker protections, a healthy environment, safe food and production, and the ability to regulate financial and other markets to avoid crises like that of 2008."

Photo: Obama shakes haands with Colombia's president at a dinner at the Summit of the Americas. Fernando Llano/AP

GOP attack on Michigan school workers never stops

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:12:00 +0000

LANSING - Public school employees charged that Michigan State Senate Bill 1040 would severely slash retiree health and pension benefits. More outrageous is that those hired after Jul. 1, 2012, will not receive health care benefits upon retiring.

Incredibly, those slashed benefits come with higher costs and will carve out a bigger chunk of their pay.

"Why are we always being attacked?" asked JoAnn Webster Bird, a retired teacher from Zeeland, this past Wednesday at a State Capital press conference organized by the Coalition for Secure Retirement.

For those who think teachers carry a light load they need to listen to Bird. "I taught German 1, 2, 3, and 4, Spanish 1, 2, and 3 and always had two English classes. All those classes meant five different lesson plans every day."

She arrived at six in the morning and left 10 hours later. But her day was not done as she spent three hours every night grading papers. Free weekends? Forget about it. Bird spent 17 hours every weekend preparing lesson plans and grading papers. She did that every day for 30 years.

Was she an exception? Bird says she was "not too different from a lot of teachers."

SB 1040 says current teachers must wait until they're 60 before receiving retiree health benefits. Coming out of college you'd have to be a full time employee for 38 years. Bird said that is not possible. "It's a very demanding job, physically, emotionally, mentally." Bird herself ended up with three major surgeries.

Public school employees will be paying much more for their reduced benefits. For Bird it will mean her monthly fee for health care jumping from $155.00 to $239 for her and her husband. This is after prior increases in her Blue Cross / Blue Shield insurance premiums of $200.00.

Lynn Hotia, a retiree from Macomb County Community College, said, "I don't believe I'm going to be able to make it." She sees four doctors to deal with her medical issues and says, "I will have to make a choice of whether I see this doctor today and maybe in six months, I can afford to see that doctor. I'll have to pick and choose. My pension is not large."

What impact would these proposed changes have on those considering careers in education?

"I'm shocked with the continual attacks; the best and brightest will not enter the profession," said Gary Scott, student teacher at East Lansing Public Schools and a recent graduate from a five year program at Michigan State University.

"I'm going into teaching, spent five years at Michigan State, and I'm not going to have retirement benefits? Wages, salaries, benefits, working conditions; it's just attack after attack after attack and it doesn't stop," he said.

As bad as it is for teachers, many of those affected are the less well-paid paraprofessionals and administrative assistants.

Administrative Assistant Lois Murray who has 33 years in the system takes home just $1300 every two weeks. "If the proposed changes become law, we will not be able to afford to retire. I'll have to work until I die."

Where has the money for education gone? One could start with the decision by Gov. Snyder to take a billion dollars from schools to fund his tax break for big businesses.

At a town hall meeting in Ottawa County, Bird said Republican Senator Arlan B. Meekhof told his audience, "everybody out there could be a millionaire if they wanted to."

That outrageous statement was not going to be greeted with silence by Bird. She shot up her hand and asked, "What if our idea of success is not being a millionaire but making a difference in the world?"

As they go forward toward the November elections, those in the teaching profession plan to make a difference at the polls.

Photo: Michigan residents protest anti-union policies of the state's Republican Governor Rick Snyder. (by Rickroll'd/cc by 2.0/Flickr)

Jobs pipeline offers hope

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:44:00 +0000

New Haven, Conn. -- Youth, the unemployed, elected officials, educators, union leaders, and the business community were all represented at a public hearing of the committee mandated by the Board of Aldermen to establish a jobs pipeline in the city.

Prompted by the deaths of 34 youths to violence in New Haven last year, the new Board of Aldermen, mostly elected as part of a grass roots labor/community coalition, made the jobs pipeline its first priority along with meeting the needs of youth and public safety.

David White, a leader of the New Elm City Dream youth organization, told the committee, "Youth are tired of being targeted. We need community centers, jobs; something to do." He asked the committee to take the approach of "communities rebuilding communities," involving the unemployed in infrastructure projects in their own neighborhoods.

"Help not just one, but all," he said, repeating the slogan "Jobs for Youth - Jobs for All." He added, "show unification among us all, let the youth show that they can do something. We're fighting for the dream," he concluded.

White and Alderwoman Sarah Eidelson were the first to testify in the crowded chamber. Eidleson, newly elected to Ward 1, which includes Yale University dormitories, chairs the Youth Committee of the Board. She said her committee held an important hearing where youth came forward to tell their stories and offer their suggestions.

Fifteen members of NECD testified. The youngest, Jackie Marks, eight years old, said that many families are suffering economically. "I'm here because we need jobs," she said.

"With access to training and jobs, these youth can be leaders," concluded Eidelson.

Art Perlo, representing the Unemployed Committee at the New Haven Peoples Center, documented several cases where administrators hired candidates they knew instead of hiring qualified local residents. He urged that the jobs pipeline include requirements to monitor and take measures to prevent this systemic discrimination.

Speaker after speaker gave their own reasons for supporting the jobs pipeline, including one woman who has been unemployed and looking for work for three years after the company where she worked in a skilled position downsized.

A member of Local 34 at Yale University, Iris Diaz, emphasized how important the Yale Residents Program was for her. She had never imagined that she could get a job at Yale. The union-initiated program opened the doors for a limited number of community residents to get training leading to a good union job at Yale. She called for the program to be reinstated.

Alderman Jorge Perez, president of the Board of Aldermen and also president of the pipeline committee, welcomed all public comment as the committee searches for solutions. Members of the committee include representatives from labor, business, educational institutions, non-profits, government, and the community.

Several representatives of the Connecticut Center for a New Economy reported on research projects regarding possible new, green jobs, and comparisons with other cities also attempting to create opportunities for youth and unemployed to enter into the construction trades.

Rev. Scott Marks, a founder of CCNE said the pipeline committee "gives me hope," adding that among those killed last year were three family members. He said that a sustainable income in New Haven is $50,000 a year, but most jobs are $25,000 and fifty percent have no jobs. Urging that the racial divide in joblessness be addressed, he said that at the thousands of doors knocked this year the top issue was jobs.

"We need good, sustainable jobs and a commitment from employers to hire locally. Stop the violence. Create the jobs pipeline," concluded Marks to applause.

Neighborhood organizing has already begun to prepare for a march on Wednesday, Apr. 25 at 5:30 pm to send a loud and clear message, "Let's get to work." The labor and community march will begin at the New Haven Green.

Photo: Lisa Bergmann/PW

Appalling conditions exposed at farmworker camps

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:21:00 +0000

South of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota farm workers harvest fruits and vegetables for some of the largest processors in the U.S., including Seneca Foods and Lakeside Foods. The food shows up in supermarkets under Green Giant, Birds Eye, and other labels.

In Montgomery, many workers live in the labor camp next to the Seneca Foods plant. Eight years ago, Centro Campesino, Minnesota's center for farm workers, helped Seneca workers force the company to provide better housing, and a kitchen where they could cook food. Before that, workers had to use the county park. In Faribault, Lakeside Foods has another big labor camp. There, Centro Campesino helped workers win a child-care center. Nevertheless, in both camps, privacy is at a premium, especially in bathrooms.

Other farm workers in the area live in trailer parks. Some in Montgomery say the rent on the trailers in one park doubles when the picking season begins and the workers arrive. In Faribault, immigration agents have held the workers prisoner in another trailer park, while they pounded on doors demanding papers.

It's hard to make ends meet for many trailer residents, many of whom come from Veracruz. Francisco Romero digs in his garden during his time off, and then puts in long hours in a local meatpacking plant. Patricia Vasquez has a hard time getting enough hours in the small factory where she works, and worries about whether her daughter Karen will be able to go on to college when she graduates from high school.

Centro Campesino organizes the workers in the trailer parks, according to its director Ernesto Velez, a native of Morelos. He says they've protested discrimination in towns like Owatonna, Montgomery, and Faribault. The center also administers a college access program designed to help the children of farm workers and immigrants get into college.

Photo: David Bacon/PW

How JFK forced steel price roll back

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:17:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - It was a corporate double-cross, 50 years ago this month, that produced one of President John F. Kennedy's most famous lines.

The Democrat, after just a year in office, was concerned about potentially rising inflation. His administration set an informal but well-publicized target of having wage increases and price hikes match productivity increases. Meanwhile, Steelworkers' bargaining over a contract with the nation's steel companies was getting nowhere.

The administration intervened. It didn't want a rerun of the 4-month steel strike of 1959 under GOP President Eisenhower. Labor Secretary Arthur Goldberg, a longtime union counsel, mediated the talks. The two sides reached agreement on March 31.

The pact, with ten of the nation's 11 steel companies, called for an increase in fringe benefits worth 10 cents an hour in 1962, but no wage hikes that year. Then-AFL-CIO President George Meany said that in the pact, the union "settled on a wage increase figure somewhat less than the Steelworkers thought they would get."

Kennedy praised the contract as "obviously non-inflationary" and said both the USW and the steel firms showed "industrial statesmanship of the highest order." The agreement also implicitly said the companies would not raise prices, as that would be inflationary.

But on April 10, Roger Blough, CEO of U.S. Steel, the largest of the firms, with 25% of the market, met Kennedy in the Oval Office and told him the company was immediately raising prices by $6 a ton - and that other steel companies would follow. Six did. The 3.5% hike enraged the president. What he said in public was biting - but he was even more caustic in private.

In an April 11, 1962 press conference, Kennedy called the price hikes "a wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance of the public interest." He criticized "a tiny handful of steel executives whose pursuit of power and profit exceeds their sense of public responsibility." The execs had "utter contempt" for the U.S., Kennedy said.

In private, Kennedy added: "My father always told me that all businessmen were sons of bitches, but I never believed it until now." The line quickly became public.

Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., then a White House staffer, wrote in his later book A Thousand Days that Kennedy, to his staff, called the steel firm leaders "bastards." Meany said Kennedy used that epithet for them in a phone call to him, too.

The contract with USW stood and the union wisely stayed silent. Meanwhile, two big firms, Inland and Kaiser, refused to follow U.S. Steel's lead. The Kennedy Defense Department, run by former auto executive Robert McNamara, let it be known it planned

to shift a submarine construction contract to a smaller steel firm that also refused to raise prices. The other firms that followed U.S. Steel, led by Bethlehem, retreated.

By April 13, even Blough had caved in. The GOP screamed; the firms stewed.

New labor SuperPAC jumps into the political field

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:01:00 +0000

Labor's new SuperPAC will be called Workers' Voice, the AFL-CIO announced this week. The labor movement says it formed the SuperPac not because it expects, like the corporate SuperPacs, to be able to raise billions of dollars for political campaigns but because it will allow unions to bring their program to non-union members.

Workers' Voice, the new union SuperPAC, has an initial warchest of $5.4 million, according to the AFL-CIO. It will "activate and energize networks of working families -- both union and non-union -- around political campaigns, legislative issues and holding elected officials accountable," said the labor federation in a statement.

Workers' Voice is the first entry by anyone other than large corporations into a political field of SuperPACs awash in corporate campaign cash thus far funneled into campaign operations with little or no disclosure or accountability. The SuperPACs were made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling two years ago.

The typical corporate SuperPAC is funded with tens of millions of dollars from corporations and wealthy right wing power brokers like the oil billionaire Koch brothers. "For too long our political process has been dominated by too much money, and too much power, concentrated in the hands of too few," AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler said as she discussed the formation of Workers Voice in a phone interview. "That's why Workers' Voice was created, to build an independent voice for the working and middle class. That voice will be fighting for the 99%: Working people joining together to recognize the value of hard work and call for good jobs, a fair economy and to build a strong middle class."

Workers' Voice will focus on social networking on issues, on voter registration and protection, and on get-out-the-vote efforts, she said. "It will be dedicated to helping communities of color, seniors, and students exercise their right to participate in the process," Shuler added.

AFL-CIO Political Director Michael Podhorzer said the new finance committee would encourage the merging of digital communications with old-fashioned field work, by "empowering people to use the Workers' Voice website to activate their networks to join on e-mail, Facebook and Twitter," to convert their homes into electronic phone banks through the website, and to access voter data tools which they can then use for mailings, e-mails and other voter contacts.

99% Spring blooming nationwide

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:34:00 +0000

From Appleton, Wis., to Prescott Valley, Ariz., activists nationwide are ensuring that the 99% Spring is in full bloom. They are gathering and training this week of April 9-15 - and planning "non-violent direct action" they say will help them take back the nation for the 99%.

The mark of the labor movement was evident in all the activity this week with the Communications Workers, the Steelworkers, Unite Here, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the Service Employees, the American Federation of Government Employees and the Teamsters, handling everything from training activists in union halls and churches to getting permits for marches and demonstrations outside the offices of big banks and other corporations.

"This is the 99% Spring for workers' rights and economic justice," Communica-tions Workers President Larry Cohen told an Economic Policy Institute session in the nation's capital on April 11. "There are more than 60,000 people being trained at sites around the country."

Organizers of the movement had set a goal of training 100,000 activists to go out in the streets and campaign peacefully for retaking the nation back for the "99%," adopting the symbol for the rest of the country that was first popularized by Occupy Wall Street.

"We have a narrative about the economy and about the collapse of democracy, where billionaires control the political process. It fits with economic justice and the issues and the fact of virtually no collective bargaining rights" in the private sector, Cohen added.

Leading banks and corporations are among the targets of the non-violent demonstrations, not just on April 15 but beyond.

There are plans, for example, for many "tax days of action," among them a major event on April 17 at the Fairfield, Conn. Headquarters of General Electric, a company that has paid no federal taxes for several years and has actually received tax rebates instead.

Other firms and banks being targeted on or after April 15 include Darden Restaurants in Durham, N.C., and Wells Fargo in St. Paul, Minn. The Steelworkers will lead events outside four Tesoro Oil refineries in Washington, California and North Dakota. Both the Tesoro and Wells Fargo protests - the latter demands the bank stop a scheduled foreclosure on a homeowner -- are scheduled for April 14.

In Pittsburgh on April 16, activists will demand that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the area's largest employer, pay its fair share of taxes. "They're our number one tax dodger," an area activist said. "We give UPMC special tax breaks with the idea that they invest in our community. Yet they've taken the millions we give them each year and spent their huge profits on CEO pay and building hospitals in the affluent suburbs while closing them in working-class communities."

Also tomorrow, but in the Bronx, People's Moratorium will stage a "Singing Foreclosure Auction Blockade" at the state Supreme Court. "We're calling for an end to the suffering caused by the nation's largest banks," through their foreclosures, activists said.

Wells Fargo is the target in several locations, including Spokane, Wash. Acitivists there will demand on April 17 that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., vote to end tax breaks that gave the big bank $21 billion over the last three years.

"Things should never have reached this point," the 99% Spring Coalition said in their mission statement. "Every day, the American Dream seems a little farther away. More of our grandparents are being thrown from their homes. Our mothers and fathers can't retire because their pension funds tanked. Our brothers and sisters are burdened by student loan debt. For our children, budget cuts resulted in crumbling schools, skyrocketing class sizes, and teachers denied the supports they need to do their best.

"Our friends and family are being denied collective bargaining rights in their workplaces and are falling further and further behind. Our neighbors are poisoned by pollution in our air and water. The numbers are staggering: In recent years, millions of jobs have been destroyed, homes foreclosed, and an unconscionable number of children live in poverty.

"And worst of all: This is no accident. It is a result of rampant greed -- deliberate manipulation of our democracy and our economy by a tiny minority in the 1%, by those who amass ever more wealth and power at our expense.

"We are at a crossroads as a country. We have a choice to make: Greater wealth for a few or opportunity for many. Tax breaks for the richest or a fair shot for the rest of us. A government that can be bought by the highest bidder, or a democracy that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.

"The choice is in our hands. This spring, we will act on that choice."

Besides Cohen, other union presidents signing the mission statement, endorsing the "99% Spring" campaign were: Bob King of the United Auto Workers, Ai-jen Poo of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Mary Kay Henry of SEIU, Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO, John Wilhelm of Unite Here, Leo Gerard of the Steelworkers, Randi Weingarten of the Teachers, Gerald McEntee of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Joe Hansen of the UFCW, James Hoffa of the Teamsters, Sarita Gupta of Jobs With Justice and Saket Soni of the National Guestworker Alliance. Other union officials, from Change To Win, the United Electrical Workers (Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Klipple), the National Education Association, AFGE and the National Day Laborers Organizing Network also signed.

Image: the99spring.com

Rough going for anti-union drives

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:43:00 +0000

The right-wing anti-labor agenda continues, as bills in state capitols countrywide - designed to attack workers rights - still threaten middle and working class families. But now, GOP state legislatures, fearing the wrath of angry workers, are wondering whether to continue on this path, the AFL-CIO reports.

On Apr. 11, the Republican-dominated New Hampshire Senate put the 'right to work (for less)' bill - HB 1677 - on hold. A bill supported heavily by Speaker Bill O'Brien, it failed both this year (so far) and last to get a majority vote. As it has been called, in an editorial by Concord Monitor, "a self-drawn caricature of vindictiveness and power," it would seem that Senate Republicans are not all supportive of O'Brien's agenda.

Even while the bill is still alive, the AFL-CIO added, this marks a symbolic victory for the working class.

"The Senate took a step in the right direction today in voting to indefinitely table HB 1677," remarked New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Mark MacKenzie. "Their vote confirms what we hear each and every day: People are tired of right to work for less dominating the discussion."

The same day in Maine, the public employee "right to work" bill (LD 309) was also tabled on the floor of the House after working families persuaded a bipartisan coalition of senators to prevent this assault on working conditions.

Mike Williams, a firefighter, commented on the proposed legislation, "LD 309 will make it harder for firefighters like myself, nurses, snowplow drivers, corrections officers, and other hard-working public employees to establish safe working conditions for themselves and safe communities for all of us.

"Putting hard-working public service workers at risk will make it harder to find and keep the best people for these jobs."

In the Midwest, meanwhile, the urge to push anti-worker bills is also waning; Republicans reportedly fear the mobilization of unions that would come in response to such legislation. The 'right to work' bill has stalled in Minnesota, and in Ohio, GOP Gov. John Kasich is reportedly showing little interest in pursuing 'right to work.'

Despite this, the report noted, Republicans have still been pursuing other measures to target working families.

On Apr. 10, Gov. Rick Snyder, R-Michigan, signed a bill nullifying home health care worker unions. This legislation neither helps the economy nor creates jobs, but instead takes away the voice of patient advocates who take care of the ill, elderly, and disabled.

In response to the continuous barrage of anti-worker moves, Michigan workers are mobilizing and launching a petition drive to protect and save jobs in the state, as well as amend the state constitution to make sure that collective bargaining rights are preserved for all workers.

Photo: Indiana union workers protest 'right to work (for less).' Similar bills have lost steam in other states including New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota, and Ohio. Daron Cummings/AP