People Before Profit blog

Oklahoma repeals collective bargaining for city workers

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 15:04:00 +0000

OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin is expected to sign HB 1593, which passed the state legislature on April 19. It repeals the Municipal Employees Bargaining Act of 2004, which allowed non-uniformed state employees to bargain for their wages and working conditions. The main victims of this legislation are sanitation workers in the nine cities that had not already repealed bargaining rights by local laws.

Oklahoma AFL-CIO President Jimmy Curry told reporters it's "a sad day for city workers in Oklahoma!" The Author of the bill is Republican Rep. Steve Martin. The Republican-controlled Senate approved the bill 29-19.

One labor activist said, "This puts the municipal employees on an uneven footing for bargaining their contracts when they come up for renegotiation. The main danger to workers' rights is if this remains unchallenged then similar laws may be enacted in smaller communities. It could spread to uniformed workers here. We are seeing the dismantling of workers' collective bargaining rights and the right to form unions."

May Day demonstrations demand both worker and immigrant rights

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:10:00 +0000

Hundreds of thousands across the nation marching and rallying this May Day will be fusing two of the great struggles of the day - the fight for workers' rights and the fight for immigrant rights.

The labor movement, rejecting the notion that immigrants are taking jobs away from the native-born, has jumped with both feet into the fight for immigrant rights.

"Workers' rights and immigrant rights are connected," said James Parks, a spokesperson for the AFL-CIO. "CEO-backed politicians are targeting all working people - including immigrants - with their corporate-sponsored political agenda and continuing power grab."

In the wake of the massive and prolonged demonstrations in Wisconsin it is no surprise that almost all the marches and rallies will demand protection for collective bargaining rights.

Rally organizers stress, however, that in addition demonstrators will call for comprehensive immigration reform, starting with passage of the Dream Act. The Dream Act would provide undocumented young people with a route to legal residency through either higher education or service in the military.

"These May Day marches are driven by the same spirit of activism and commitment that drives our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin and every other community that is now fighting back against the attacks on working people," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Trumka is the featured speaker at a rally in Milwaukee that the labor federation expects will draw at least 60,000 people. Unions and their allies will use the rally to boost recall drives now underway against Republican senators who stripped workers of their collective bargaining rights.

May Day began 125 years ago when people rallied in the streets of Chicago for an 8-hour day and for the right to organize unions.

"Corporate greed. Working people rallying in the streets. It sounds like Madison, Wisconsin," said Jorge Ramirez, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. But it's actually the scene from Haymarket Square in Chicago. One hundred and twenty-five years later, working people are in the fight of their lives for the right to have a voice at work through collective bargaining."

The national federation's secretary-treasurer, Liz Shuler, will address the thousands of Chicago workers expected to gather on May 1 at the site of the Haymarket martyrs' monument in Forest Park Cemetery.

Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker will speak at a mass rally in New York.

March organizers in Boston are connecting their action to the fight for workers' rights around the world. They expect thousands to demonstrate under their theme of "From Cairo to Wisconsin to Massachusetts, Defend All Workers' Rights."

Houston could well see one of its largest workers' rights demonstrations ever. The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement in that city is joining with the labor and community-backed Houston United for a rally that will also demand both workers' rights and immigrant rights.

Hector Sanchez, executive director of LCLAA, says the labor movement and immigrant rights struggles complement one another.

"Now is the time to grow up as a nation," he said, "and we need to stop bullying immigrants. We need a smart policy that is good for all workers, one that will help us recover from one of the worst economic downturns in U.S. history. Immigration reform can be the first step in that direction."

In many cities the May Day demonstrations will bring union and immigrant rights activists together in support of ongoing local struggles.

In Buffalo, N.Y., for example, native-born and immigrant workers will march 2.1 miles from the east side of the city to the west side of Buffalo for a rally to protest the threat to close a community health clinic that supports the growing Latino community in that city.

The AFL-CIO has set up a website where people can find out what is happening in their communities on May Day. The site can also be used to plan an event.

Image: 2006 Chicago May Day rally. jvoves // CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Workers mobilize to stop GOP’s job safety cuts

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:09:00 +0000

Coast to coast on Workers Memorial Day, April 28, workers are rallying and marching at job sites and government offices not just to remember those killed on the job, but to oppose GOP attempts to dismantle job safety laws.

"Republican attacks on job safety at the federal and state levels are putting workers' lives in jeopardy," said Mike Hall, an AFL-CIO spokesperson. "House Republican budget cutters are working to make deep cuts in OSHA to help fund tax cuts for billionaires. Legislators in no less than 10 states have launched attacks on workplace safety laws."

From a prayer vigil in Cumberland, Md., to a march in Tucson, Ariz., led by the Pima Area Labor Federation, the theme is the same - honor our fellow fallen workers by exposing Republican attacks on job safety regulations and by demanding that state and national lawmakers make job safety a priority.

The demonstrations come on the heels of the release by the AFL-CIO of its 2011 annual job safety report. The study, titled "Death on the Job," finds that 40 years after the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, "there is much more work to be done" and that job safety laws must be strengthened.

The report warns, "Business groups and Republicans are trying to block new regulations and have targeted key Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Mine Safety and Health Administration rules. Attempts have already been made in this Congress to slash OSHA's budget with cuts that would decimate OSHA's already inadequate enforcement."

To underline the urgency of its warning, the federation notes that in 2009, 4,340 workers were killed on the job - an average of 12 workers daily - and an estimated 50,000 died of occupational diseases.

More than 4.1 million workplace injuries and illnesses were reported in private, state and local workplaces. The federation's report says, however, that the 4.1 million "understates the problem," and the actual number is more likely eight to 12 million.

As the job safety act reaches its 40th anniversary, the labor movement sees the White House as an ally. Labor is pleased that the Obama administration, after years of neglect by the Bush administration and in the face of stiff opposition by Republicans, is finally refocusing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration on protecting workers and enforcing safety laws.

Unions note, however, that given the current political climate an ally in the White House is not enough.

The "Death on the Job" report says that last year's major tragedies call out for tougher laws and enforcement. The disasters cited include the Upper Big Branch, W. Va., coal mine explosion that killed 29, an explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, Conn., that killed six, another at the Tesoro Refinery in Washington State that killed seven and the BP/Deepwater Horizon Gulf Coast oil rig explosion that killed 11 and caused a massive environmental and economic disaster.

"The nation must renew the commitment to protect workers from injury, disease and death and make this a high priority," the report said. "Employers must meet their responsibilities to protect workers and be held accountable if they put workers in danger. Only then can the promise of safe jobs for all of America's workers be fulfilled."

The report's state-by-state breakdown of job deaths and injuries finds that Montana leads the country with the highest rate of worker fatalities, with Louisiana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska following close behind. The report also finds that Latino workers continue to be at increased risk of dying on the job, with a fatality rate of 3.7 per 100,000 workers in 2009.

The size of the OSHA staff is "woefully inadequate," the report says, with just 2,218 inspectors to keep tabs on the 8 million workplaces under OSHA's jurisdiction.

In addition, OSHA penalties for employers that violate health and safety laws are too small to deter violations, the report notes, with an average fine of just $1,052 per serious violation. Even in cases involving deaths, the median total penalty was only $5,600.

The AFL-CIO hopes to use data in the report to protect federal job safety and health programs.

Although the Obama administration and Senate Democrats were able to hold off Republican attempts to slash OSHA in this fiscal year, Peg Seminario, the federation's Occupational Safety and Health Director said the report will help stave off renewed attacks, which she expects in the near future. Seminario warned that Republicans in Congress are "pondering new attacks. We still have too many workers injured, killed and diseased on the job," she said.

Photo: An OSHA team, made up of staffers from throughout the United States, discusses air sampling procedures at the World Trade Center site. Since September 11, OSHA has taken more than 3,500 air and bulk samples for asbestos, silica, lead and other heavy metals, carbon monoxide, and numerous organic and inorganic compounds, as well as noise. Photo by Shawn Moore/OSHA News Photo.

Drive opens to repeal union-busting Ohio law

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:46:00 +0000

CLEVELAND - With ink hardly dry and more still rolling off the press, tens of thousands of petitions to repeal a drastic union-busting law started being distributed Monday to enthusiastic volunteers in dozens of mass meetings across Ohio. We Are Ohio, the coalition heading the effort, vowed to collect more than double the 231,000 signatures needed by June 30 to place a referendum on the November ballot to discard the measure, known as Senate Bill 5, enacted by the Republican-controlled state legislature and signed into law by Gov. John Kasich March 31.

The bill would abolish the 27-year-old right of public employees to bargain collectively, strike or submit disputes to binding arbitration and would transfer power to set wages, hours, working conditions and benefits to local and state government authorities. The measure would affect over 350,000 workers and set the stage for more far-reaching restrictions in the private sector.

The Ohio AFL-CIO, coordinating 26 events this week, began the counter-attack Monday in eight cities where participants rallied and were instructed on circulating the petitions. Many other training sessions were held or are scheduled by individual unions and community groups.

"Don't ask for whom the bell tolls," Congresswoman Marcia Fudge told over 400 at the event in Cleveland. "They are coming after all of us. We must get this measure on the ballot. We can't afford to lose this fight."

"This is organized labor's fight to take back Ohio for working families," Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO, said. "This is an all-out assault. The issue is not just for public employees. The private sector is also standing up. And it's not just about unions or Democrats. This is a fight for the middle class, for all working families."

The presence of many public officials and community groups at the events underscored the widespread concern about the issue.

Brian Davis, director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, said petitions would be circulated at drop in locations and shelters throughout the state.

"The homeless all register to vote when they go into a shelter," he said.

Connie Sapin, state regional coordinator of MoveOn, said her group, with 125,000 on its state email list, would hold its first training session for petition circulators at a restaurant in a Cleveland suburb Sunday.

"In my 36 years as a union member, I have never seen this much momentum against attacks on working families," said Mahoning-Trumbull AFL-CIO president Bill Padisak, referring to the more than 500 who braved a tornado warning to take part in the session at a Niles restaurant Monday. "Workers are not going to sit back and allow Kasich to drive his bus over them," he said. "People are standing up and organizing like never before."

In Ashtabula County over 75 attended the training session at the Laborers Local 245 hall, including members of public, industrial and building trades unions as well as retirees and community groups. As in other meetings, voter registration cards were distributed along with the petitions.

"I have never seen the labor movement so unified," said Ashtabula Central Labor Council president Ray Gruber, Jr. "People are really energized and I know they are ready to hit the streets because they understand Wall Street, not workers, created the economic and budget problems we face." Pressure from constituents, he said, caused the local Republican state representative to vote against the bill.

In Cincinnati, the IBEW Local 212 hall was filled to capacity as over 300 volunteer petition gatherers went through training.

"Like every event we have organized this year, the turnout has been amazing," said labor council executive secretary Doug Sizemore. "People want to take back Ohio from Kasich and the corporate interests that are pushing this attack. We are seeing the development of a movement of not just labor but the community in Southwest Ohio, a movement that sees a better vision for all Ohioans and is acting to make that vision real."

(Wally Kaufman contributed to this story and material also came from an online report of the Ohio AFL-CIO.)

Photo: Labor activists rally against Ohio's Senate Bill 5. Debbie Kline.

Airline unions create international alliance

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:17:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (PAI) - Fourteen unions from eight nations, all representing groups of airline workers, created an international alliance to strengthen themselves and their members against increasingly trans-national airline combinations.

The airline union alliance, pioneered by the Transport Workers - one of the main unions at American Airlines - will share information, tactics and organizing drives among its members, a panel of founders told an April 20 D.C. press conference.

The airline alliance would be the third such large international alliance involving top U.S. unions, all designed to give workers more strength against multi-national corporations - or in the airlines' case, multi-national airline alliances and combinations.

Other big U.S. unions involved in international alliances, which several union leaders see as a big part of the future of the labor movement, are the Steel Workers, with the British union Unite and with an independent Mexican metal and mine workers union, and the Communications Workers, with the German telecom union Verdi. Unite, Britain's largest union, is also in the new airline union alliance.

"As airlines combine in global alliances, we believe TWU and our colleagues should share" in the airlines' revenue streams and decision-making "as equity partners - and share an alliance" to achieve that, explained TWU Vice President John Conley.

"We have talked with our partner unions about further alliances," specific steps to counter the airlines "and job actions, if necessary," he added.

When the airlines went to code-sharing and other forms of international cooperation, TWU President Jim Little realized the unions needed to cooperate with each other lest the carriers use divide and conquer tactics successfully against them, Conley elaborated. Little approached the International Transport Workers Federation, also part of the new alliance, last year to get the airline union alliance off the ground.

"It's an opportunity for each of us to give each other the status of affairs" with airlines "in each others' countries" and organize joint moves of aid, Conley said.

The new alliance is still hashing out details of how its member unions will help one another trans-nationally, the leaders said. But it may be confronted with the need to act quickly when it next assembles in June, in Madrid.

There, the former CEO of British Airways, William Walsh, has become CEO of a new airline holding company, IAG, formed to oversee the merger of British Airways and the Spanish national airline, Iberia. While Walsh's successor as BA chief executive appears to want to settle long-running disputes with its unions, said Unite's Rhys McCarthy, Walsh is still strongly anti-union.

He's also cheap, moving maintenance work on British Airways planes "from Heathrow to Madrid" because Spanish workers are paid less, McCarthy said. One aim of the new international airline union alliance will be to eliminate such disparities let carriers pit airline worker against airline worker worldwide, the panelists added.

The unions in the new alliance, besides TWU and Unite, are as far-flung as the Australian Services Union, which represents mechanics, flight attendants and other workers at Qantas, Australia's national airline. They'll also welcome other U.S. airline unions, including independent unions representing mechanics and pilots, Conley said.

Linda White, of the Australian union, said it joined the alliance both because of Qantas' anti-worker actions - she gave as an example its outsourcing of pilots' jobs to New Zealand, three hours away, where wages are lower - "and because want to know what we're in for" facing international airlines.

Does labor law protect critical 'tweets'?

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:12:00 +0000

NEW YORK (PAI) - Does labor law protect your "tweets" critical of your employer and working conditions? That's the latest twist in a 30-month struggle by The News-paper Guild of New York with one of the world's big wire services, Thomson-Reuters.

The tweet question has implications for the rest of the union movement, as social media - Twitter, Facebook and the like - become, more and more, a method of communication both on and off the job. But it's a small issue in the struggle in New York.

The New York Guild reports that Thomson-Reuters is trying to discipline a Guild member for critical "tweets." That's on top of a whole lot of other labor law-breaking by the media conglomerate. There's so much, in fact, that the National Labor Relations Board's New York region plans to throw the book at management on April 29 unless it reaches a settlement with the Guild in talks scheduled three days before.

Otherwise, acting regional director NLRB Karen Fernback told attorneys for both the Guild and the company, the agency will file multiple labor law-breaking counts - in effect, an indictment - against Thomson-Reuters.

New York Newspaper Guild members at the wire service have been working without a contract for 30 months. Management declared an impasse on Jan. 29 and imposed its terms, including huge increases in the employees' share of health care costs and wage and benefit cuts. The NLRB region said impasse is illegal, too. Thomson-Reuters had a 20.9% profit margin last year, but the cuts would cost its average worker $4,500 a year. Other counts in the NLRB's planned filing include:

Unlawfully implementing pay and benefit cuts before scheduled bargaining.

Illegal changes in health care and the 401(k) plans.

Illegal imposition of a "code of conduct" on Guild-covered workers that was never negotiated, unlike the negotiated code in their past contract.

Following the Illegal declaration of impasse with unilateral pay and benefit cuts.

After the impasse declaration, illegal "replacement of collective bargaining with a management-controlled compensation system."

Illegal restrictions on employee communications about working conditions, including the restrictions on the tweets.

Florida labor fights “paycheck protection”

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:19:00 +0000

Florida's labor movement is fighting the state's Chamber of Commerce and legislature, both seemingly intent on passing a bill that would strip public sector unions of their right to engage in political activity.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce has spent millions of dollars in attack ads pushing Tallahassee lawmakers to adopt the "Paycheck Protection Act," prompting unions to begin removing their money from banks associated with the business group.

The bill, which has passed the Florida House of Representatives, would ban state and local governments from deducting any union dues from paychecks at all. Unlike the House bill, the Senate version, SB 830, does leave unions with the right to deduct membership dues. However, labor would not be able to use any of the dues money for electoral work.

"There is no need for the legislature to protect public employees from their own unions, since their membership is voluntary and these unions have regularly scheduled meetings and elections to select their leadership," read a statement from Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 25, which represents Orlando cops.

In Florida, employees decide whether or not they want to join a union, and must agree to have funds deducted from their paychecks.

The police union charges the Florida Chamber of Commerce "has engaged in a false, misleading, and malicious attack on public employee unions."

Jamie Bellamy, a finalist for Teacher of the Year, went further in a commercial, sponsored by the Florida Education Association, saying, "Politicians and their corporate lobbyists are trying to take away my right to decide how to spend my paycheck how I want."

And while the Chamber wants to ban public sector unions from political activity, says the FEA, which represents the state's teachers, "Politicians want to prevent unions from engaging in politics," though "few of America's major energy, healthcare and financial companies fully disclose their political spending."

Labor and its supporters see the Chamber's backing of the bill - disguised as an effort to protect workers' paychecks from supposed greedy union bureaucrats - as a way to undo the political power of the labor movement.

Not content simply to protest, the unions have opted to hit the Chamber in the one thing it cares about the most: its pocketbook.

"We respond," said Chris Sherburne, president of the Professional Firefighters Local 2057 in Orange County, "by choosing to take our business elsewhere," and added that the union would "no longer do business with organizations that attack our constitutional rights and threaten our very existence." He was speaking at an April 21 press conference outside the Orlando office of the Chamber.

Further, he said, "We will recommend to all our members and to all public employees that they remove their assets from institutions behind the Florida Chamber of Commerce and let their pocketbooks speak of their displeasure."

Businesses specifically receiving the "displeasure" are the banks represented on the Chamber's board of directors: Bank of America, PNC, Suntrust, Wachovia and Regions Bank.

Aside from the firefighters, other Florida unions, including locals of the American Federation of Government Employees, police, teachers and the local AFL-CIO itself will withdraw their assets. In addition, the 20,000-strong Florida State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police was a member of the Chamber, but has now withdrawn its membership.

Withdrawing union funds will cost banks millions of dollars, and, if the 20,000 public employee members heed the call to do the same, the banks could see another $10 million in deposits disappear.

The Chamber has redbaited the public worker unions, calling them anti-business and socialistic. Instead, they say that they are simply fighting for their rights by choosing where to bank. Further, banks that haven't been involved in attacks on labor will see an increase in business, as funds withdrawn from the anti-labor banks are re-deposited elsewhere.

Referring to the Chambers anti-labor ad blitz, Steve Clelland, president of the Orlando Firefighters local said, "This is a direct response to their direct involvement in these media ads."

Image: February 2011, rally in Tallahassee, Fla., to support public workers A Florida Studio // CC BY 2.0

Relocating production line to avoid union breaks labor law

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 10:59:00 +0000

SEATTLE (PAI) - Boeing's decision to locate its second assembly line for its new model "Dreamliner" super-jumbo passenger plane in non-union South Carolina, and not in its unionized plants in the Pacific Northwest, breaks labor law, the National Labor Relations Board's top enforcement official declared on April 20.

The charge by NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon that Boeing committed "unfair labor practices" in the case cheered the Machinists and particularly its Seattle-area District 751, which represents the 25,000 Boeing workers there. The company grumbled and is expected to appeal Solomon's decision to the full board.

"Boeing's decision to build a 787 assembly line in South Carolina sent a message that Boeing workers would suffer financial harm for exercising their collective bargaining rights," said IAM Vice President Rich Michalski, the District 751 president. "Federal labor law is clear: It's illegal to threaten or penalize workers who engage in concerted activity."

Michalski also noted IAM sought to negotiate an 11-year contract to cover both Dreamliner assembly lines as long as they stayed put, but Boeing rejected that offer.

Solomon said, in so many words, that Boeing broke the law by sending the Dreamliner production to South Carolina because of the possibility of future strikes by the Machinists at airplane and parts plants in Seattle, Everett, Wash., and Portland, Ore. Those messages were designed to intimidate the union and the workers, he said.

Solomon demanded, as a remedy, that Boeing bring the Dreamliner's second assembly line and the sourcing back to the plants in the Pacific Northwest.

Boeing "made coercive statements to its employees that it would remove or had removed work from the (bargaining) unit" - District 751 - "because employees had struck and (Boeing) threatened or impliedly threatened the unit would lose additional work in the event of future strikes," the NLRB said. NLRB counted five such public statements by Boeing brass.

Leading the parade was Boeing CEO James McNerney on Oct. 21, 2009.

"In a quarterly earnings conference call that was posted on Boeing's intranet website for all employees and reported in the Seattle Post Intelligencer Aerospace News and quoted in the Seattle Times," McNerney "made an extended statement regarding 'diversifying Boeing's labor pool and labor relationship,' and moving the 787 Dreamliner work to South Carolina due to 'strikes happening every three to four years in Puget Sound,'" NLRB reported.

The statements and the move of production and sourcing for the Dreamliner to the non-union plant in right-to-work North Charleston, S.C., was "because the unit employees assisted and/or supported the union by engaging in the protected, concerted activity of lawful strikes and to discourage these and/or other employees from engaging in these or other union and/or protected, concerted activities," NLRB said.

All this is "inherently destructive of the rights guaranteed employees" by labor law, Solomon's statement added. An NLRB administrative law judge in Seattle will hold a formal hearing - in essence a trial - on June 14 on Solomon's charge against Boeing.

Photo: Workers assembling the fuselage of a Boeing 767 in Everett, Wash., Feb. 25. (Ted S. Warren/AP)

May Day in Chicago: Labor to commemorate Haymarket martyrs

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:09:00 +0000

CHICAGO (PAI) - It's just one word in labor history with a lot of associations: Haymarket.

It's the chaos on a square on Chicago's near West Side: During a meeting on May 4, 1886 to campaign for an 8-hour day, and to protest police brutality against strikers, an unknown person threw a bomb as the crowd of 2,500 was breaking up due to a rainstorm. Then 176 police, with repeating rifles, charged against 200 workers.

Four workers and seven police were killed, and the resulting arrest and skewed trial of eight labor activists - dubbed "anarchists" by the frenzied popular press - set off a mass hysteria against unions that persisted for years, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Eight workers' advocates were convicted. Seven got death sentences. Three were hanged. Another had his head blown off by a dynamite cap, in his cell, on the morning of the execution. A courageous Illinois Governor, John Peter Altgeld, pardoned the others seven years later. After reading the trial transcript and the surrounding commentaries, Altgeld denounced the proceedings as a travesty of justice, and worse.

Altgeld issued the pardons on the day - one source says at the site - of the dedication of the monument to the Haymarket martyrs in Waldheim Cemetery, in forest Park, just west of Chicago.

Now, 125 years later, on May 1, the cemetery, not the square, will be jammed: Workers and their allies plan a mass commemoration of the Haymarket martyrs and rededication of the monument in the cemetery, now officially known as Forest Home.

The Illinois Labor History Society, owner of the deed to the monument - the only cemetery monument cited as a National Historic Landmark - calls it "the statue of liberty for workers around the world.

"As a symbol of international labor solidarity, come together to honor our history and remember the only way to stop the worldwide assault on working people by corporate greed is to stand together," the society says.

Labor groups planning the rededication are not only focusing on the past, however. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will deliver the keynote address at the rededication, discussing labor's struggles now.

The event is sponsored by the Illinois Labor History Society, in conjunction with the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Illinois AFL-CIO.

Photo: We Are One Chicago. April 9. Teresa Albano/PW

Spectrum nursing home workers mark year on strike

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:58:00 +0000

HARTFORD, Conn. - Hundreds of representatives from labor and community organizations poured out last Saturday in support of Spectrum Health nursing home workers. The demonstration marked the one-year anniversary of their unfair labor practice strike.

The "Justice for Spectrum Workers" rally was held at Park Place Health Center in Hartford, one of four nursing homes owned by Spectrum Health Care involved in the dispute.

Labor and community participation has been critical for the nearly 400 workers, represented by SEIU Local 1199, who have faced firings, harassment, bad faith bargaining and permanent replacements. "This fight isn't just about us," said Carmen Hamlen a CNA at the Birmingham Spectrum facility in Derby. "All over the country workers' basic rights are under attack. I think that our fight for a decent living standard is an example to everyone else who faces the same assaults."

Nurses, nursing assistants and support staff have stood firm for a fair contract against an employer who flouts the law. Spectrum has been fined for record safety violations, and the company is currently on trial before a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge for a host of alleged unfair labor practices, including illegal terminations or suspensions of workers and bad faith bargaining.

When nearly 400 caregivers went out on strike on April 15, 2010, they had been working without a contract for months while trying to negotiate fair wages and benefits. The company proposal included language that would punish injuries by demoting workers to a lower pay grade upon their return to work.

Defying labor law, the company immediately declared that all workers were permanently replaced. Five months later, when the NLRB issued a federal complaint, the company began recalling workers. They have recalled 163 of 400, but at shorter hours. Many workers chose to remain on the picket line during the unfair labor practice hearings.

Among many solidarity actions during this year, family members of residents at the four nursing homes set up a website to support the striking workers. They exposed the fact that care has been shockingly poor without the unionized care givers on the job.

In June, a public hearing before the Human Services and Public Health committees of the state legislature was held to address poor care by replacement workers and confusion about patients' rights. The lawmakers are now considering two bills, HB 6553, concerning documentation of licensing for replacement health care workers during a strike or lockout, and HB 6617, concerning continuity of care in nursing homes.

Family members were among those came out to show support at the rally. Clergy and elected officials came out as well.

"I'm so proud to see how my co-workers are standing together through all the hardships," said April Grey, a CNA from Laurel Hill. "That's why we will win."

The strikers will receive a Solidarity Recognition from the People's World on Sunday, May 1 at the annual May Day Newsmaker Awards event to be held at 4 p.m. at 37 Howe Street in New Haven. Photo by Tom Connolly/PW

Labor leaders hail Obama speech, call for more action on jobs

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:24:00 +0000

The nation's union leaders, while endorsing the president's April 15 speech on the budget deficit, say job creation is among several major things that will need to be addressed if the long-term fiscal health of the nation is to be restored.

The Obama plan would cut $4 trillion in projected deficits over the next 12 years, less than the $6 trillion proposal by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka dubbed the Ryan plan a "fraud."

A major difference between the two plans is that the Republicans want to permanently extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich at a cost of $4trillion over the next decade, something Obama vowed never to allow.

Trumka gave his strongest praise to the president's promises to end those tax cuts, to protect Social Security and to veto any plan that turns Medicare into a voucher program or Medicaid into block grants under the control of the states.

"President Obama gave a promise to working people that he wouldn't allow us to go down the path set out by the radical Republican right," said Trumka, "a path that leads to more lost jobs and a decline in our national standards."

The president of the nation's largest labor federation also said "the president understands why Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid are so important. We oppose cuts to any of these critical programs, no matter who proposes them."

Trumka said, however, that only massive job creation can solve the budget deficit over the long haul. "Let us refocus our national energy on job creation - because successful job creation is the key to making long-term deficit reduction both easier and more politically achievable."

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a phone interview that she thought the president's speech was important "because it steered the debate away from an assault on the middle class and the poor, and toward shared responsibility." She said her reading of the speech was that it was calling for "critical investments to strengthen our nation."

None of this is to say that union leaders don't have their differences with the administration. Some of those surfaced at an AFL-CIO executive council meeting earlier this week and others in phone interviews on April 14 and 15. Although unions see the president as an ally, they are not necessarily always happy with everything the administration does.

The Firefighters expressed at the labor meeting this week that they thought they had won a victory recently by convincing even Republicans in the House to support funding for additional firefighter training and hiring. They feel the president and Democratic leaders gave that win away in last minute bargaining over a budget deal to keep the government running.

Leaders of some unions expressed concern about the Administration's decision to push ahead with the current version of the U.S. - Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Although the current version commits Colombia to pursuing the murderers of 2,900 union activists over the last 25 years, it includes no timetable or mechanism for doing so. American unions want those provisions.

The Machinists expressed concerns that the Administration should be doing more for the unemployed. They are also unhappy about a Department of Defense announcement this week that it is cutting back on its Joint Strike Fighter program, a program that provides machinist union jobs in Connecticut, Florida and Texas.

The National Nurses Union warned that it would campaign against any lawmaker, Democrats included, who votes to cut Social Security in any way.

Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, pointed out, however, "More than 90 percent of the discussion at our meetings was not about problems with the president or the Democrats but about making a unified fight against the Ryan budget." Cohen singled out the Republican plans to destroy or gut Medicare, slash education aid and slash job training. "The other 10 percent of the discussion," Cohen said, "was really not about opposition to the president but about labor's approach to how Democrats and progressives should organize to fight what the Republicans want to do."

Photo: Obama outlines his budget reduction plan April 15, via White House news service.

Union leaders urge: Act now to stop paycheck "protection" laws

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:15:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS - "This is all about consolidating power," Jeff Mazur, executive director of AFSCME Council 72, told union and community leaders via conference call, as they packed into the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 2730 conference room, here April 13.

"This is about eliminating the organizations that represent people. With one vote they are trying to take away our rights," Mazur continued.

Mazur was referring to so-called paycheck "protection" legislation, specifically SB 202 that passed the Missouri Senate last Thursday, April 7.

Paycheck "deception," as it is referred to by union leaders, attacks organized labor, collective bargaining and all workers' rights by severely weakening public sector unions' ability to collect dues and spend money on political campaigns. SB 202 would specifically target public sector unions and force up to an $8 surcharge on all union payroll deductions for every withdrawal. Other organizations with payroll deductions do not face the same surcharges.

Additionally, SB 202 will put paycheck "deception" on the Missouri ballot in 2012, which will mobilize the right-wing base in an all-important presidential election year.

With only four weeks left in Missouri's legislative session union leaders expect paycheck "deception" legislation to be heard in the House sometime next week.

However, according to Josh McCarroll, Council 72's legislative director, "We are opposed to paycheck 'deception,' not just one bill. There are different bills that achieve the same goal. This is a moving target. The time to act is now."

Alabama recently passed a paycheck "deception" law, and legislation has also been introduced in Arizona, Kansas and Mississippi. Ballot language in favor of paycheck "deception" has also been filed in California.

Council 72's political director, John Noonan said "How we talk about paycheck 'deception' is really important."

"We can't fight their message with facts and figures. It doesn't work. It won't even work on other union members," Noonan added.

Instead Noonan suggested that union members and their allies talk about "our right to make decisions about who and what we support, and that this is an attack on the middles class." He said, "They just want to pay back their CEO buddies who tanked our economy."

The meeting at the AFSCME hall was one of five state-wide strategy meetings taking place this week in Missouri to formulate a fight-back strategy.

AFSCME, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Missouri State Workers' Union (MSWU-CWA 6355), among many others, are leading the fight-back with partners like Missouri Jobs with Justice, Missouri Pro-Vote and the Missouri AFL-CIO.

Photo courtesy AFSCME Council 72.

Young Trade Unionists host We Are One event

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:04:00 +0000

BALTIMORE - As part of the national "We Are One" campaign, Young Trade Unionists held an April 5, attracting a crowd of some 200, mostly young workers.

Mary Pat Clarke, councilwoman from Baltimore City Council's 14th District and past president of the Baltimore City Council, keynoted the event. Her remarks centered on the success of Baltimore's "Living Wage" law and how it was passed and the current difficulty of protecting public workers benefits and services to Baltimore residents.

She read a proclamation from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake declaring April 5, 2011, as We Are One Day in Baltimore City.
As Councilwoman Clarke read the resolution, at each "Whereas" she shot her fist up, and the crowd yelled out "WHEREAS!," a good way to get people fired up and participating. (Story continues after slideshow.)

Someone in the crowd asked, "What can be done about all the 'illegals' taking our jobs and our money."

As Clarke tried to answer the question, a worker from UFCW Local 27 stood up and said that we are all descended from immigrants, and furthermore, immigrants, illegal or otherwise, are not the problem. "The greedy corporate bosses are the problem!" he said.

His comments elicited a rousing response from the audience. It was clear that the majority of the crowd didn't buy into the phony effort by the right wing to divide workers against each other when things are tough.

It should be noted that Ernie Grecco, president of the Baltimore CLC, has on several occasions sent out email blasts defending immigrant workers against the right-wing onslaught with the intent to unify, rather than divide, the area's labor movement..

The last speaker was Fred Mason, Jr., president of the Maryland and DC AFL-CIO, who introduced a showing of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1968 "I've been to the Mountain Top" speech, which King delivered in Memphis, Tenn., just before he was assassinated.

Mason declared that the "We Are One" theme is crucial in this period of unrelenting attack on public and all workers, and "if we don't unite and defeat the attack, we will lose."

Mason's sharp presentation following King's speech was enthusiastically received.

Many in attendance have participated in one or more of the labor-led rallies in Annapolis, in support of the Wisconsin workers and workers all around the country.

Photo: New Haven, Conn. We Are One march. (Art Perlo/PW)

Unionbusters target crews that run Washington’s ferry boats

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:15:00 +0000

PORT TOWNSEND, Wa. - The ferry boat, Chetzamoka, pitched and rolled on its 8 AM run from here to Coupeville, April 2, crossing Admiralty Inlet through seas so rough that passengers were clinging to the rails to stay on their feet.

I offered thanks to the captain, a member of the Masters, Mates and Pilots, AFL-CIO; the crew, members of the Inland Boatmen's Union; and the builders of the ferry, members of the International Association of Machinists - all highly trained in their respective trades.

The vessel, a spanking new 64-car ferry, is named for a chief of the Clallam tribe who befriended the white settlers when they arrived on the Olympic Peninsula in the 1850s. It is one of three ferry boats scheduled to be built at Todd Shipyard in Seattle at a combined cost of $213 million to replace aging ferries in the Washington State Ferry System, an upgrade slowed to a snails pace by the twin economic and budget crisis.

We were on our way to the Canadian border for a labor solidarity rally jointly sponsored by the British Columbia Federation of Labor, the Washington State Labor Council, and the Oregon AFL-CIO. The rally was at Peace Arch State Park. In the crowd of 2,000 union members were many union-proud ferry workers.

The ferry system in this state is a beloved mode of travel, a throwback to simpler times, renowned for safe, reliable service. The ferries sail through some of the most magnificent scenery on earth: Mount Rainier shimmering ghostly white on the horizon, the snowcapped peaks of the Cascades and the Olympics, the cold, open waters of Puget Sound abounding in sea birds and if you're lucky, harbor seals, dolphins, and an Orca or two.

Yet the corporate media and right-wing politicians rave that the ferry workers' union contracts are over-generous, the workers themselves "greedy" and "lazy."

King TV aired a series titled "Waste on the Water" that featured an item in the union contract providing a mileage allowance for a handful of workers who travel long distances to substitutes for workers who call in sick. The item was used to scapegoat the entire workforce as a major cause of the state's $5.1 billion deficit.

State Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen of Camano Island, a Democrat, has even introduced a bill to strip the ferry workers of their collective bargaining rights.

Betsy Carroll, a retired ferry worker from Anacortes, Wa., a member of the Masters, Mates, and Pilots was in the crowd at the Peace Arch labor rally holding a placard that read, "What's disgusting? Unionbusting." On the other side it said, "Recall Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen."

"There is a unified effort to keep people from earning a living wage," Carroll said. "They blew out of proportion the wages of a few ferry workers. Management never proposed to get rid of that mileage allowance. The workers have already agreed to wage cuts, pension cuts, higher co-pays for health care. Sen. Haugen is doing the same thing to ferry workers as Scott Walker did to Wisconsin public employees."

Peter Hart, a member of the International Executive Board of the Inland Boatmen's Union, a veteran 12-year ferry deck hand noted, "The ferry system is a really critical part of our state transportation system. In fact, Article 20 of the Washington State Constitution declares the ferry system as part of the state highway system. Yet funding for the ferries has been in jeopardy now for over 10 years."

Hart charged that I-695, brainchild of the right-wing ballot initiative hustler, Tim Eyman, strips funds from maintenance and construction of highways much of it for the ferries. The Washington State Ferry System has lost an estimated $1.2 billion in funding since I-695 was passed in 1999.

He pointed out that the actual budget for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has increased 60 percent in the past 10 years.

"If there is more money now for the highways why isn't there more money for the maintenance, operation, and replacement of aging ferries," asked Hart. "We feel there is a conscious effort to underfund it. At this point, it is becoming irresponsible. They are trying to maintain vessels that are past their shelf life. It costs more to keep aging ferries safe and in running order than to replace them with new ones."

Hart voiced pride in the Washington State Ferry System and its workers. "The WSF has one of the best safety records of any ferry system in the nation or the world," he said. "Without these ferries, the entire economy on the west side of the Sound would be jeopardized. The state government's default remedy for every budget shortfall is to raise fares and cut service. Now they are asking the employees who move 23 million passengers every year across the water to sacrifice more and more."

He blasted Sen. Haugen's bill. "It would strip away the collective bargaining rights of every ferry crew member from the pilot house to the engine room," he said. "This threatens the union rights of all 1,600 ferry workers. It is the same as what happened to the Wisconsin State workers. We can't let it happen here."

Photo: Tim Wheeler/PW.

Labor law enforcer: “I’m not dead yet!”

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:31:00 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS - While collective bargaining is under attack in many parts of the country, it remains one of the few effective ways to preserve the American middle class, the chair of the National Labor Relations Board says.

Board chair Wilma Liebman asserted that proposition in a March 31 speech at the University of Minnesota Law School, where she discussed the history and role of the National Labor Relations Board.

Noting the turmoil that has erupted from Wisconsin to New Hampshire over the question of worker rights, she wished the debate "were less rancorous," but added, "It has brought collective bargaining back into the public eye, the public discourse."

The NLRB administers federal law safeguarding the rights of private sector workers - except at airlines and railroads -- to organize unions and bargain contracts. Liebman, with nearly 14 years on the board, is one of its longest serving members.

Democratic President Barack Obama named her chair in 2009.

While hundreds of thousands have mobilized for rallies and other events sparked by the current debate, the conflict over worker rights is nothing new, Liebman said.

"The NLRB is no stranger to controversy," she said. "The law is the product of fierce battles, some of them quite bloody."

In 1935, when Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act and created the NLRB, most workers had no right to form a union. During the worst economic depression in U.S. history, millions marched in the streets, occupied factories and some died in the struggle to win collective bargaining rights.

"It's worth remembering why Congress did what it did at that time," Liebman said. "The act was seen as a means of restoring the country to economic prosperity by restoring the purchasing power of wage-earners.

"The law really worked for the first few decades. Millions of people achieved a middle-class way of life through collective bargaining in major industries."

Workers' ability to achieve gains began to unravel, however, first through congressional action and later through economic change. In 1947, a GOP-run Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act, over labor's opposition and Democratic President Harry S. Truman's veto, weakening labor protections contained in the NLRA.

And in recent decades, the growth of a global economy, overseas competition, new technology and deregulation have created new pressures on both management and labor, leading to major drops in union membership and ramping up employer opposition to unions.

Today, many types of workers, such as "independent contractors," now fall outside the protections offered under federal labor law. "It's fair to say the law did not keep up with all these changes," Liebman said.

Despite efforts "to reinvigorate the law" in the 1970s and more recently through the Employee Free Choice Act, it has not been amended since Taft-Hartley. Each attempt gets bogged down in partisan and ideological division, according to Liebman.

And at times, the five-member NLRB has been nearly immobilized as appointments were held up in Congress or left unfilled. For 27 months during the GOP Bush administration, Liebman and one other board member issued rulings and tried to carry on normal business, despite three vacancies.

The U.S. Supreme Court later decided they did not have the authority to act and the board - which has four members - has to revisit many of those decisions.

Even though the National Labor Relations Act states it is national policy to encourage the practice of collective bargaining, "I don't think there is really a consensus of what the statute is all about," Liebman said.

"There are still people in the business and legal community who never accepted the legitimacy of this law in the first place."

In recent decades, many NRLB and related court decisions have focused on individual - as opposed to collective - rights, she said.

Despite being told that labor law is "dead, dying, ossified, neutered," Liebman holds out hope. "My answer to it all is, 'I'm not dead yet.'"

She said the board is making modest gains in keeping the law "relevant and dynamic" by issuing a new rule requiring all employers to post worker rights notices in the workplace - something never mandated before - and by making use of tools such as injunctions to prevent the most serious abuses.

"I think that labor law still matters very much in this country," Liebman said. "The rights contained in this statute are enduring values. They are now recognized around the world...[and are] critical to a fair economy."

Young trade unionists mark Baltimore “We Are One” Day

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:22:00 +0000

BALTIMORE - As part of the national "We Are One" campaign focusing on April 4, the Baltimore Metropolitan Council of AFL-CIO Unions chapter of Young Trade Unionists held an event April 5 which attracted a crowd of about 200 mostly young workers. Hosted by Fred Mason, Jr., president of the Maryland and DC AFL-CIO, the event took place at the IBEW Local 24 hall which is also the Baltimore Central Labor Council headquarters.

The keynote was provided by Mary Pat Clarke, Baltimore city councilwoman from the 14th District and the council's past president. Her remarks centered on the success of Baltimore's "living wage" law, how it was passed and the current difficulty of protecting public workers' benefits and services to Baltimore residents. She read a proclamation from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake declaring April 5, 201, "We Are One" day in Baltimore City. As Councilwoman Clarke read the resolution, at each "Whereas," she shot her fist up and the crowd yelled out "Whereas!," a good way to get people fired up and participating.

A question from someone in the crowd asked, "What can be done about all the 'illegals' taking our jobs and our money." As Clarke started to answer the question, a worker from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27 stood up and said that we are all descended from immigrants, and furthermore, immigrants, "illegal" or otherwise, are not the problem. "The greedy corporate bosses are the problem!" His comments elicited a rousing response from the gathering. It was clear that the majority of the crowd didn't buy into the effort by the right wing to divide workers against each other when things are tough. It should be noted that Ernie Grecco, president of the Baltimore CLC, has on several occasions sent out email blasts defending immigrant workers against the right-wing onslaught, with the intent to unify, rather than divide, the labor movement in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

The last speaker was Mason, who introduced a film of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1968 "I've been to the mountaintop" speech delivered in Memphis, Tenn., just before King was assassinated. Mason declared that the "We Are One" theme is crucial in this period of unrelenting attack on public workers and all workers. If we don't unite and defeat the attack, we will lose this stage of struggle, he said.

Many in attendance have participated in one or more of the labor-led rallies in the state capital, Annapolis, in support of the Wisconsin workers and workers all around the country. Mason's sharp presentation following King's speech was enthusiastically received, and people finished out the evening with an understanding and enthusiasm for the fight ahead.

Cuban trade unionist speaks in Los Angeles

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:24:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES — Over 60 union workers at the Los Angeles Workers United hall, home of the Laundry, Distribution Centers and Skills and Manufacturing Workers, listened with excitement to an address by Gilda Chacon Bravo, a leader of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). Chacon is the first Cuban trade union representative to be granted a visa to the United States in many years and is touring the country.

WFTU has 70 million affiliated members, with 150 organizations in Latin America alone. The U.S. and Canada are the only countries in the Western Hemisphere that have no affiliates.

"One of the main objectives of our tour is to have an exchange on labor issues here, and introduce the federation to the North American labor movement so we can support and show solidarity with your struggles. What is happening in Wisconsin and other parts of your country are opportunities that the U.S. working class should not miss," said Chacon.

This is the time, she added, to unite for dignified jobs and confront the attacks on collective bargaining rights. "The tactics that are being used against you, as workers, have been used on workers throughout Latin America. The blame is being placed on the workers, but we say the fault lies with those who caused the crisis, the transnational corporations and their neo-liberal policies."

Pepino Cuevas, a leading member of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME), is also part of the tour. He spoke about the electrical workers, one of the oldest unions in Mexico, and their struggle to save the union and defend its constitutional right to exist.

After several unsuccessful attempts to break the union, the Mexican government has forced its members out of their jobs in a huge power plant and declared it closed, using police and military force. The union is currently filing charges against the government for constitutional rights violations since the SME is registered as a public union and is therefore protected under constitutional law. They are asking that the 16,599 workers who have not signed off on their rights be reinstated, that their years of service be restored in full, and that the government pursue negotiations with the union.

The Mexican government's main objective was to close down and privatize the power and telecommunications services and get rid of the union. The union has also filed charges with the U.S. Labor Department for violations of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"We are inspired by the support we have received from trade unions all over the world, including the WFTU," said Pepino Cuevas. He continued, "I want to share a lesson that I learned in my youth. When I became an electrician I realized that I enjoyed the good salary and benefits that were already in place, but people fought for those things. I did not do it myself, but it is up to me and all of us to fight to not take any steps backwards."

Gilda Chacon Bravo also gave a brief overview of developments in Cuba and other Latin American countries. She first mentioned the Alternativa Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (ALBA). This alliance, an initiative of Cuba and Venezuela, aims to ensure that all natural resources benefit the host country and then be shared by other member countries for the benefit of the people, not for profit. Under this alliance several projects have already been launched, such as

Mision Milagros, which has performed over 3 million operations to restore eyesight to people requiring cataract surgery and with other treatable vision problems;
The Manuel Espejo project provides disabled people with the special medical care they need;
Yo Si Puedo, a literacy program developed by Cuban educators and now used worldwide. In Venezuela and Bolivia illiteracy has been eradicated in just a few years, as recognized by the UN.

Ms Chacon invited everyone to the Trade Union Conference of the Americas to be held in August in Nicaragua. From Alaska to Patagonia, social organizations and workers who want to attend are welcome, "At this conference we'll join together with the goal of finding solutions to the common problems we face as workers" she said.

The Cuban trade unionist continued, "The most important result of these conferences is that attendees come to the conclusion that the current economic system can no longer offer us what we need and thus we must find other alternatives. If you ask me what system that would be, as a Cuban, I would say it is socialism," said Chacon.

Another event to which Chacon invited the audience is the annual exchange of Cuban labor leaders with other workers from the Americas held each December in Tijuana, Mexico. The event is held in Tijuana because this ensures the participation of the Cubans, as the U.S. only rarely grants visas to Cuban citizens. "At this exchange we are honored to have the families of our heroes, the Cuban 5, whom we are fighting to bring home soon."

Finally, Chacon gave a brief overview of the changes taking place in Cuba, and how Cuba continues to advance despite the blockade. She argued that the changes that occurred when Fidel Castro stepped down did not result from any conflict, as the right-wing media reported throughout the world.

"We Cubans know that Raul is putting into effect what the Cuban government had already agreed to, through a long process," said Chacon.

Commenting on the upcoming Communist Party Congress, Chacon observed, "This is a democratic process which expresses that the concept of democracy and power rests within the people and it is they who make the decisions in their country."

Poll: Americans side with public workers and their unions

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:41:00 +0000

Though unions are under attack in states from Wisconsin to Maine by tea party-backed Republican governors, they are winning the war of public opinion, according to the results of a new poll.

"The assault on the middle class and working people by some Republican governors and state legislatures has generated a backlash among voters," wrote James Parks on the AFL-CIO's blog, "who recognize the need for a counter-balance against powerful corporations and the politicians who do their bidding."

That poll, conducted by Gallup and released April 1, shows that 48 percent of Americans side with the unions. Given a four percent margin of error, that could mean a majority of the population. And that's more support than the tea party governors themselves received.

"Today, neither the governors nor the unions appear to have a strong advantage in the court of public opinion nationally, but the unions do have the slight edge, 48 percent to 39 percent," the polling firm said in releasing its results. "This may be in keeping with decades of Gallup polling finding Americans generally approving of labor unions."

The rest, 13 percent, weren't sure (4 percent) or blamed both sides equally (9 percent). The poll was conducted between March 25 and March 27.

Independents were about evenly divided, and a surprising one out of four Republicans sided with the unions. People in the 18 to 34 age bracket showed a high degree of support - 61 percent - for the unions. The only group to show higher support was of union members themselves, 68 percent of whom support the public workers.

Every August, the agency surveys Americans about their attitudes toward labor unions in general. While the trend had been towards less support, it was reversed in August 2010. That year, 52 percent of those surveyed held favorable views, a rise of four points over the previous year.

Previous polls showed Americans agreeing on issues in the abstract, but this is the first poll to show such high support for labor's side in the current fights specifically.

Given the pummeling unions have taken on networks like Fox News, the 2010 results surprised many. Some union activists have concluded that, given the "demonization" of public employees, overall support for unions in general in the 2011 survey will be higher.

The governors have been trying to eliminate collective bargaining - and, many say, the unions themselves - under the aegis of balancing the budget. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, has been so fervent in his desire to crush the unions that he stripped all financial language from the bill that would cripple the public workers in order for it to pass - and he's broken laws to do it. A local judge has repeatedly ordered that the law be held off.

Walker isn't alone: Ohio's unpopular Republican Gov. John Kasich, backed by the state's Republican legislature, signed a bill that takes from public employees the right to publicly bargain. The bill, SB 5, has generated a backlash from labor and its allies. Other governors are launching the same assault on public workers' unions.

The poll came in the run up to yesterday's We Are One rallies, sponsored by labor and its allies, especially community and religious groups, aiming to protest these governors, as well as build solidarity between different labor unions and other grassroots organizations. And these rallies come out of a background of an increasingly organized and mobilized labor movement.

Photo: People's World

2,000 rally for union rights on U.S.-Canada border

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:27:00 +0000

BLAINE, Wash. - Union members from Canada and the United States rallied at Peace Arch Park on the U.S.-Canada border, April 2, cheering calls to defend collective bargaining rights and booing every mention of union-busters like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Canada's Tory Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The crowd held small placards emblazoned with U.S. and the Canadian flags and the words, "Working Families Standing Together. We are ONE!"
Jeff Johnson, president of the Washington State Labor Council, told the crowd,

"Corporate America has declared war on the labor movement all across the United States."

Wall Street banks and firms sit on $7 trillion in deposits, refusing to invest in job creation while whining that the nation is "broke" and must accept cutbacks, layoffs and austerity, he charged.

General Electric reported $5.1 billion in profits and did not pay a dime in federal taxes, he said, even as Washington State and every other state in the nation slashes vital services and lays off public workers.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. died in Memphis, Tenn., April 4, 1968, leading the sanitation workers' strike to win collective bargaining rights, Johnson said. He quoted King's last speech, "The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."

Jabbing his fist in the air, Johnson added, "He was talking about union rights. We must torque on that arc! We've got to bend it down!"

He led the crowd in a chant: "We are union! We are one!"

Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labor, said Canadian workers are facing a similar nightmare of unionbusting attacks by the B.C. provincial government and Harper. Canada is in the midst of a national election set for May 2 with Harper, now heading a minority government seeking to win majority control of parliament.

"Stephen Harper with a majority is our Scott Walker," Sinclair said, as the crowd erupted in boos. "We can't let it happen!"

The Tories say there is no money, he continued, even as they rubber stamp billions in tax breaks for banks and corporations.

"We can't fund our schools and hospitals. That's upside down. You've got to increase taxes on corporations. No one gave us anything we didn't fight for. Not one thing! Are you ready to fight?"

The crowd roared, "Yes!"

Susan Lambert, president of the British Columbia Federation of Teachers, said organized labor is "building a movement that is global in scope."

Nations like Honduras and Colombia have a "veneer of democracy" yet beat, torture, and murder trade unionists including school teachers, she said.
"We stand here in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin," she said. "Governor

Walker is targeting teachers. Why? Because they know an educated population will not tolerate these huge disparities in income."

She concluded, "Democracy! If you don't use it, you lose it."

Dale Anderson, a member of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 519 in Wisconsin, said, "Scott Walker awoke a sleeping giant. Hundreds of thousands of union members and their supporters have joined the fight. We will not be denied victory."

He announced that the grassroots movement just filed 21,700 signatures to force a recall election of his state senator, Republican Dan Kapanke, a supporter of Walker's union-busting law now blocked by a judge's restraining order. "He's the first to go!" Anderson shouted.

Reyna Lopez, a young Latina woman from Portland, Ore., told the crowd she is the first in her family to graduate from college. Yet even as her generation goes deeply in debt to finance college, many still cannot find a job.

"Meanwhile corporations are making record profits. Corporations should pay their fair share" to provide vital services and benefits like affordable higher education, she said.

Students and youth "stand with labor" she said.

Barbara Byrd, sec.-treas. of the Oregon AFL-CIO, came with 40 other union members on a bus from Portland. "This is a pivotal time when we have the opportunity to seize the initiative," she told the World.

"Scott Walker could be a great gift in terms of our political effort if we can harness the anger of our members" in the 2012 elections.

A brief hailstorm gave way to bright sunshine on a chill spring day. The cherry trees were blooming near the Peace Arch where the great African American singer and freedom fighter Paul Robeson sang to 35,000 U.S. and Canadian trade unionists in 1952 and again in 1953. He had been invited to sing here by the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers who were meeting in convention in Vancouver, B.C.

Robeson had been stripped of his passport and could not attend so they recessed the convention and came down to hear Robeson sing and speak here. This reporter, then 12 years old, was in the crowd cheering.

Stephen Von Sychowski, a member of the Young Communist League of Canada, said he learned in his childhood of the Robeson concerts here.

"It showed that for the working class there are no borders," he told the World. "They attack workers on both sides of the border so we must stand together."

Will Parry, 92, stood in the crowd, Saturday, holding the banner of the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans. He too remembered the Robeson concert
here 58 years ago. "I was assigned to security and rode up in the car with Robeson from Seattle, " Parry said. "It is not a concert I am likely to forget."

Photo: Union members and allies from the United States and Canada gather at the border for a rally in support of union and human rights. (Tim Wheeler/PW)