People Before Profit blog

Union membership up slightly, despite attacks

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:29:00 +0000

Membership in unions increased by 49,000 from 2010 to 2011, including 15.000 new members in the 16 to 24-year-old range, according to U.S. Department of Labor figures released Jan. 27.

The increase of 110,000 in the private sector was offset by a loss of 61,000 in the public sector, making the overall rate of union membership in 2011 basically unchanged from 2010 at 11.8 percent. There are 14.8 million American workers who are members of unions.

The percentage of public sector workers in unions is 37 percent, up from 36.2 percent a year earlier while private sector union membership remains at 6.9 percent.

Most of the gains in union membership happened in construction, health care, retail, metals trades, hospitals, transportation and warehousing.

While no one is celebrating the figures as a rebirth of the American labor movement, "the bottom line," according to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, "is that despite an unprecedented volley of partisan political attacks on workers' rights and the continuing insecurity of the economic crisis, union membership increased slightly last year. Working men and women want to come together to improve their lives."

Union membership is also seen as much more important than just making conditions better on the job for union members.

"The way to get the economy back on track is to boost the purchasing power of the middle class and the way to do this is to expand the number of working Americans in unions," said Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor in one of his recent newspaper columns. "Working families aren't asking for a handout or a bailout, but they need and deserve to have a fair share of the prosperity they are creating. They need a level playing field and the freedom to bargain for a better life," Reich added.

To that end unions mounted, over the last several years, and Republicans have successfully blocked passage of the Employee Free Choice Act which would require employers to recognize unions as soon as a majority of workers sign authorization cards. Workers would be able to avoid the long, drawn-out company-controlled elections during which employers routinely harass, intimidate and even fire union backers.

When the Obama administration and the National Labor Relations Board stepped in to try to do administratively, some of the things the Employee Free Choice Act would have done legislatively, Republicans moved on several fronts to try to cripple the labor board itself.

In December the NLRB put in new rules to shorten the time that lapses between filing for a union election and the date of the election itself and rules that limit employer challenges that can be mounted to delay an election. The GOP retaliated by vowing to block any Obama appointment to the board, a move that would have crippled it because, due to resignations, it would no longer have the necessary quorum to function.

The president then filled the three vacancies by making recess appointments, thus bypassing the Senate where a Republican minority had vowed to block the appointments.

And the battle continues, now with Mark Pearce, the new chairman of the board, vowing to push for yet another set of rules changes that would make it still easier for unions to organize.

One change Pearce wants to make is to require businesses to hand over lists of employee phone numbers and emails to union leaders before an election. He would also like to allow electronic filings for union elections and quicker timetables for a number of other procedures.

The recess appointments, including that of Pearce himself, raised an outcry from Republicans and anti-union groups who said the appointments were unconstitutional because the Senate was not technically in recess when they were made.

If the new rules are approved they will go into effect on April 30 and effectively speed up the process for holding union elections, one of the major goals of those who backed the stalled Employee Free Choice Act.

Auto jobs grow despite Republican opposition

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:05:00 +0000

DETROIT - "The American auto industry is back," President Obama said in his State of the Union address. And in fact, though very far below previous levels of employment, the U.S. domestic auto industry has rebounded from the disaster of 2008 when General Motors and Chrysler were on the verge of going under, jeopardizing thousands of jobs, until the president helped mobilize support for government-guaranteed loans.

More than jobs are back. New polls in Michigan show Obama has jumped ahead of his Republican opponents here.

And in what will prove to be tough sledding for Michigan Republicans, one of the biggest opponents of saving auto jobs was Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. In a 2008 New York Times editorial, titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," Romney argued against the job-saving loans. "If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye," he claimed. "Detroit needs a turnaround not a check," Romney argued.

Whether it was Romney's hatred of unions (a Chapter 9 bankruptcy would have decimated the powerful United Auto Workers union) or his thinking only bankers and the 1 percent have a right to be helped by the government, the fact remains that most Republicans argued against saving the industry and many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs in the U.S.

It is revealing that Republicans opposed what amounted to $80 billion in loans to General Motors and Chrysler aimed at saving those jobs, but had no problem giving $700 billion, with no strings attached, to banks and insurance companies.

What also riled Republicans was that much of the money used to bring the auto industry back was in the form of the government taking an equity stake in the companies. Republicans derisively labeled General Motors "Government Motors." Their philosophy seems to be that large amounts of money can be freely given to banks but anything that goes in the direction of the government having a seat at the table, as it did for a while with the auto companies, is dangerous and un-American.

And in sharp contrast to the fleecing of the public by the banks, the government money used by the auto companies has largely been repaid.

Following the president's State of the Union speech, UAW President Bob King issued a statement saying, "Thanks to the Obama administration's commitment to U.S. manufacturing, domestic auto manufacturers have added 160,000 jobs."

In addition, the Detroit Free Press reported, the Automotive Research Council says about 15,000 auto-related jobs could be created in Michigan this year.

Are the new jobs enough? Not at all. While Chrysler's North Jefferson plant in Detroit is adding 1,100 jobs, over 10,000 have applied - a sign of the dire economic times. With a local unemployment rate near 50 percent, it is no surprise.

Many of the new jobs come at a lower, second-tier pay rate, a growing problem that confronts labor in many industries here and around the world. In its recent contract negotiations, the UAW placed a priority on reducing that gap, and won a significant $4 hourly raise increase for tier-two workers that will have them making approximately $19/hour by the time the contract expires - a step in the direction of parity with the $27 that workers with more seniority earn.

King argues that the job growth, and the union's work to both bring back and keep jobs here in the U.S., destroys an argument of the union-haters. To "those who say unions chase jobs out of the country, the facts prove them wrong," he said.

Union-bashing Republicans pushing "right-to-work" laws in Indiana, Michigan and elsewhere should take notice.

Photo: Megan McCormack // CC 2.0

Union leaders praise Obama's economic themes

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:40:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Union leaders view positively the emphasis President Obama put on economic themes in his State of the Union address, particularly his call for the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes while payroll taxes on the middle class do not rise.

The leaders also blasted the Republicans - both the party's presidential hopefuls and its congressional controllers - for blocking needed legislation , proposed by Obama and backed by labor, to put the U.S. back to work as high unemployment continues.

"Leaders are judged not just by what they say but to whom they listen," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said after Obama's Jan. 24 speech. The president "listened to the single mom working two jobs to get by, to the out-of-work construction worker, to the retired factory worker, to the student serving coffee to help pay for college.

"By laying out a vision of an America that can create jobs and prosperity for all instead of wealth for the few, the president voiced the aspirations and concerns of those who are too often ignored.

"And he made clear the era of the one percent getting rich by looting the economy, rather than creating jobs, is over," Trumka added. "What a contrast to the vision presented by presidential candidates squabbling over how much further to cut the taxes of the one percent," the AFL-CIO leader said, referring to GOP presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul, though not by name.

Obama "insisted on a more humble Wall Street subject to a thorough investigation of the misconduct in the mortgage markets that wrecked our economy by the full range of federal and state civil and criminal authorities. We applaud creation of a new mortgage crisis unit" for such probes, Trumka said. He also demanded Congress get out of the way of preventing economic recovery. Other comments included:

Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said his union supports Obama's demands for higher taxes on the rich, trade enforcement-especially against China-and revitalizing U.S. manufacturing. The Steelworkers, he added, "are ready to go to work," with the administration for those goals. Gerard, too, contrasted Obama's proposals positively, compared to those from the GOP hopefuls.

Obama "laid out a vision of the America we want and need, one that creates jobs and prosperity for us and not the one percent who have looted the economy," Gerard said. "Strengthening manufacturing by looking to build good jobs, green jobs, and sustainable jobs with American energy, skills, and values is a program for us.

"The president's commitment to discourage job outsourcing and promote insourcing is a ticket to a better economy...but the president cannot do this alone. Congress must immediately act on a massive scale to pass legislation, starting with a major investment in infrastructure. Congress should also approve pro-American manufacturing tax incentives or innovation, insourcing, training, and domestic capital investments, plus renewable energy to support American jobs.

"American workers and middle class families will respond to his saying that everyone must play by the same set of rules and pay their fair share under the 'Buffett Rule.' Millionaires and billionaires should pay at least the same tax rate as their office secretary. The president's record and blueprint are a stark contrast to the Republicans' campaign of obstruction that denies the right of workers to collective bargaining in the private and public sectors," Gerard stated.

Amalgamated Transit Union President Larry Hanley applauded Obama's "call to build an equitable economy" rather than what the U.S. has become: "A nation of two classes-the small cadre of the super rich and the rest of us, bus drivers, restaurant workers, telecom workers, fire fighters, and working families who have been victims of and taken the blame for this recession.

"It's time for Republican leaders in Congress to get serious about shared sacrifice in our nation by requiring the richest one percent to pay their fair share of taxes," he said.

Hanley also cited Obama's jobs-creation call-and said one key way to increase jobs is to finally pass a mass transit-highway construction law. "Few things can do more to help our economy dig out of this deep recession than investing in public transportation," he said. "The federal transit program that ensures accessible and affordable mass transit to safely get to and from work, school, the doctor and other important daily tasks. It creates good jobs, delivers customers to businesses, and helps clear the air. There is literally nothing more effective in getting our economy moving."

American federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Gerald McEntee focused on the congressional obstructionists who block Obama's proposals. Doing so, he said, has already hampered the recovery from the Great Recession.

"The choices Congress makes in 2012 will determine whether we save the middle class," warned McEntee. "We can do that by enacting Obama's jobs agenda. Or we can focus on misguided policies that do nothing but give more tax breaks to Wall Street financiers and transfer even more wealth to those at the top of the economic ladder. This nation cannot continue to be held hostage by corporate-backed politicians who have rejected every meaningful jobs plan. Their reckless games harmed the recovery and cost us our credit rating-all because they care more about political games than creating jobs...It's time for Congress to stop their games and get to work. It's time to enact the president's agenda for jobs."

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was one of the few union leaders to concentrate solely on Obama's discussion of her union's issues. Obama devoted a short section of his speech to education.

Obama "made clear what teachers have long understood: We can't test our way to a middle class; we must educate our way to a middle class," she said. "The overemphasis on testing has led to narrowing of the curriculum, rather than creating a path to critical thinking and problem solving. These are the kinds of knowledge and skills our children need to compete in the global economy," she added.

"Respecting public school teachers and providing them with the tools and resources they need to help our children learn and grow are essential to building a strong public education system, competing in a global economy, and restoring economic opportunity for all," said Weingarten.

The Communications Workers of America liked Obama's plans to raise taxes on firms that outsource jobs. "It's critical to bring quality jobs back to the U.S. by eliminating tax benefits for companies that send U.S. jobs overseas," the union stated. "CWA strongly supports legislation to end taxpayer subsidies for corporations that get tax breaks, then, among other measures, move call center jobs offshore." It also declared firms "have too much power in writing legislation that rewards corporate interests and abandons U.S. workers, when it comes to manufacturing and services. Too many corporations routinely put short-term profits ahead of loyalty to the nation and workers who made their success possible. An America built to last cannot be one in which corporate money determines...what issues are debated."

Photo: Union members at a "March for Jobs & Economic Justice," Dec. 1, 2011, in New York City, John Minchillo/AP

Indy Occupy movement joins with labor unions in protest at Super Bowl Village

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:41:00 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS - About 200 people including union members from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), members of Indianapolis Jobs with Justice, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Tthe Indianapolis Teachers Association, Occupy Purdue, Occupy Anderson, and Occupy Indianapolis gathered on the South steps of the Indiana State House recently to voice their outrage over the American Legislative Exchange Council-backed "Right to Work" bill that will face a final vote in the Indiana Senate as soon as Wednesday.

Co-organizer Bill Mullen, professor at Purdue University, said "We want to make it impossible for the Republicans of the state to pass this bill without knowing that there's going to be dire consequences."

Those consequences were evident as the vibrant crowd of young and old, black Latino, and white marched through the throngs of Super Bowl Village attendees shouting, "What's disgusting? Union busting!" and "Hey hey, ho ho, right to work's got to go!"

Local news outlets were forced to turn their cameras on the march and acknowledge that despite the pretty picture painted by the downtown festivities, working people in Indiana are under harsh attacks by the wealthy one percent.

As the city geared up for the Super Bowl, the Indiana House passed the bill with a final vote of 54-44 last Wednesday. Five Republicans and all the Democrats voted against it. The bill now has to go back to the Senate where only four votes are needed to kill it. Democratic State Senator Jean D. Breaux attended the rally and reminded everyone to "reward our allies and punish our enemies."

Jim Ogden, a union electrician from Local 668 in Lafayette, pointed out the consequences for Republicans who support right to work. "At this point, I think we're looking at this as a kickoff for the elections come November and trying to do whatever we can to get the Republicans that had voted for this, out office."

Photo: Jason Jones

Workers want tax-dodger Verizon to settle contract dispute

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:46:00 +0000

NEW YORK CITY -- It was an overcast morning at Verizon Headquarters but spirits were not dampened. Several hundred CWA Local 1101 Verizon workers and their supporters rallied Jan. 26 in front of 140 West Street to say, "Settle our contract!"

Josie Allgor, shop steward and rank and file member of CWA Local 1101 made her voice heard: "We are here to bring light to the tax evasion that Verizon is not so famous for now but we will make them famous for. They don't pay their taxes but they can't settle our contract. We just want a fair contract. So we have to shine a light on their negative side. We are the people who built their network. They are a multi-billion dollar profit company".

In November, Daily Kos Labor reported that the group Citizens for Tax Justice along with Good Jobs First found that from 2008 to 2010, Verizon paid an effective federal income tax rate of -2.9 percent; that meant that instead of the $11.4 billion the corporation would have paid at the statutory rate of 35 percent, "it got $951 million in rebates, putting its federal tax subsidies at $12.3 billion."

Contract negotiations with Verizon have been stalled for five months . Local 1101 went on strike for two weeks back in August of 2011, but returned to work because Verizon seemed committed to settling the contact dispute in a fair way. It was suggested by a CWA staff person that Verizon has been dragging their feet with the express purpose of having the negotiations go to a mediation board.

That possibility could have a negative impact for the workers in this present economic environment. Many workers in the public and private sector have been losing ground in contract negotiation givebacks, e.g., health care costs, longer contracts and undercutting pensions.

Chris Shelton, first Vice President District One, told the rally, "We can tell this company it's time to give us a contract. We need every member of every local to guarantee us presence in the street every week so we can tell this company, settle this contract".

Greg Altieri a member for 35 years had this to say, "I'm out here in support of my union, we're trying to get a fair contract from Verizon. We've been out here every Tuesday and Thursday since August and we still haven't got a contract. We are trying to fight corporate greed and just get a contract for people who work every day and work very hard for a company that is making billions of dollars'.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who are also involved in these negotiations, are being asked by Verizon to freeze pension accruals, with no pensions for new hires, and to contribute at least $100 per month to their health-insurance premiums, among other items.

Paula Martinez, with the New York Civic Participation Project, is a student and a working mom who supports Local 1101: "I'm defending my rights as a student. I'm facing hikes in my tuition while Verizon is getting millions in tax breaks. I can't believe this is possible I'm here because I want to make my voice heard".

There was street theatre with the "Brooklyn Tax Dodgers" performing as Verizon. Cheers went up when demonstrators responded to the absurd excuses by the BTD for not paying their fair share!

Bob Master, Political Director for CWA District One, spoke to the most pressing issue facing all working people in America today, "Verizon epitomizes everything that has gone wrong with this country... I mean it is really a case of the 1% vs. the 99%; they treat their workers the same way they treat the public... right, they are trying to drive down middle class jobs at the same time they are avoiding their obligations to pay taxes that run the government. So we are out here today to make that connection between how they treat the work force and how they treat the public".

Some of the organizations that participated in the rally: Community Voices Heard, SEIU 32BJ, Make The Road, New York Civic Participation Project.

Photo: Gabe Falsetta/PW

Workers brave cold to lobby lawmakers on "right-to-work" danger

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:45:00 +0000

CHAMPLIN, Minn. - Jan. 19 was the coldest night of the winter here - so far - but that didn't deter a roomful of union members from turning out to Champlin City Hall to learn more about a coming threat: a proposed "Right to Work" amendment to the Minnesota constitution.

Union members at the meeting, organized by the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, learned the drive to bring "Right to Work" to Minnesota is part of a national campaign funded by the same group of corporate CEOs pushing for similar legislation in other states, including Indiana. Its senate passed a RTW law on Jan. 25.

"It's a coordinated national effort to take out unions and eliminate working peoples' voices in the workplace and in politics," the Minnesotans heard from Adam Robinson, MRLF community and political organizer.

First, however, Robinson posed a question to the group: "What are some of the values and benefits you receive from belonging to a union?"

The room of some 60 union members didn't need much prompting. People quickly shouted out: A living wage, health care, safety, training, pensions, "building strong communities" and "being treated fairly and respectfully in the workplace."

One person cited a bumper sticker she saw: "The middle class: Brought to you by your union."

"These are the things we're fighting for when we talk about stopping 'Right to Work,'" Robinson explained.

In the 22 states which currently have "Right to Work" laws, wages for union and non-union workers are an average of $5,538 per year less than in states without such laws. Employers in "Right to Work" states also are less likely to offer benefits like health insurance and pensions. Right to Work legislation is also pending in Indiana.

The broader community suffers, too, when "Right to Work" laws undermine the collective power of workers.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of workplace deaths is 50 percent higher in "Right to Work" states.

"Right to Work" also impacts public education, bringing lower school funding and larger class sizes. For example, during the 2008-2009 school year, "Right to Work" states spent only $9,005 per student compared to $10,966 in Minnesota.

Robinson said he didn't like using the anti-union side's language,"Right to Work." He noted: "It's confusing language. It's misleading and it's not fair."

Technically, he explained, so-called "Right to Work" laws prohibit employers and unions from negotiating agreements that make union membership and payment of dues a condition of employment. What people really need to know about "Right to Work," he said: "It's an attack on unions and an attack on workers' rights to collectively bargain."

On a large screen, Robinson's PowerPoint presentation projected the language of a possible constitutional amendment in Minnesota: It uses nice-sounding language like "individual freedom to decide."

The language is so confusing, Robinson said, that even many union members could think "Right to Work" is something they should support. "It's frustrating as hell to know they're trying to pull the wool over our eyes," said James Samuelson of St. Paul, a member of IBEW Local 160.

"If this thing passes, it would be devastating for the whole state," said Bruce Blasé of Blaine, a member of Pipefitters Local 539. "We don't want any part of it. We'd end up like South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska."

"You know, this is the beginning of a fight and we need to keep moving forward from here," Robinson said.

The most important thing, Robinson noted, was for everyone to begin talking to co-workers, neighbors, and friends about the "Right to Work" amendment and how it threatens Minnesota's middle class. He also encouraged everyone to call their state legislators and tell them, "'Right to Work' is wrong for the middle class."

Passing a "Right to Work" amendment through the legislature requires only a simple majority in both the House and Senate. Gov. Mark Dayton (D) would have no veto and the question would go on the November 2012 general election ballot.

Before adjourning, the group took some time to try putting the message in their own words with practice conversations with the person sitting next to them.

The message about the threat from "Right to Work," Robinson said, is most effective when coming from a fellow union member. He encouraged people to come to "train the trainer" briefings to learn to become effective messengers. "We need to rise up like Wisconsin did; like Ohio did," said Robinson. "We can beat this."

Steve Share is editor of the Minneapolis Labor Review. This story was distributed by Press Associates Inc.

Oregon state Public Interest Research Group fires pro-union workers

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:40:00 +0000

PORTLAND, Ore. (PAI) - A non-profit fundraiser for the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group and its spinoff group Environment Oregon has fired two workers who helped lead a campaign to unionize.

On Oct. 12, workers at the Portland call center run by the Fund for the Public Interest voted 19-5 to join Communications Workers of America Local 7901. In December, the Fund terminated Kris Humbird and Mike Schultz, who were two of the three workers elected to the union's contract bargaining team.

Fund for the Public Interest is a national non-profit organization linked to state public interest advocacy groups known as PIRGs. The Fund runs PIRG canvass operations in multiple states, and telephone outreach call centers in Boston, Sacramento, and Portland.

The Fund may have a history of union busting. One press account says that after Fund workers in Los Angeles voted in 2005 to unionize, management fired union supporters, refused to negotiate, and put a freeze on new hiring in the high-turnover workplace. Eleven months after the union vote, the Fund closed the Los Angeles office altogether, and moved the operation to Sacramento.

Humbird says he learned of the Los Angeles case soon after he began working for the Fund six years ago, when a donor told him he would no longer give to CalPIRG because it was a union buster.

After the union vote, workers say, the Fund directed the Portland office to stop calling a donor list for U.S. PIRG. It transferred that list to the Sacramento call center, and gave the Portland call center less-lucrative lists. For example, the Portland callers were made to ask for end-of-year donations from donors who'd given just months before, or were given donors to Environment Colorado who had moved out of Colorado.

Soon after, three workers were placed on probation for failing to meet fundraising quotas, and a fourth worker, Schultz, was fired. As for Humbird, officially he was fired for calling in sick too late. He says that was a pretext.

Local 7901 filed three charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging the Fund broke federal labor law - for firing Humbird, changing the list, and refusing to provide information about the list after the union asked for it in bargaining. It also appears the Fund may have outsourced calling for Environment Oregon to Gordon and Schwenkmeyer Inc., a for-profit political telemarketing firm in El Segundo, Calif.

Job security was one of several motives workers had for unionizing, says Local 7901 President Madelyn Elder. Workers want a fairer pay system, she says, including more control over the quotas they're judged by. Workers start at $8.50 an hour and can rise to $14.50.

Every 80 hours, they're evaluated. If they meet targets, their hourly pay goes up $0.50, but if they do poorly, pay can drop much more than $0.50. There are bonuses that average $40 every two weeks, depending on how much money workers raise on the phone. But workers who don't meet the weekly quota are placed on "ultimatum," and if they miss the quota two weeks in a row, they're terminated - regardless of how long they've worked there.

Workers that the Labor Press interviewed said they may work one or two four-hour shifts from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., but are prevented from working full-time. They have no paid sick days or any other paid time off. "There's a long history in the Fund of treating workers as if they're disposable," said Schultz, who was fired for missing quota.

Schultz worked as a canvasser for the Fund from 2001-2005, and was in the call center six months when he was fired for missing quotas on the new list two weeks in a row. Workers have no say in choosing or preparing the call lists or setting the quotas. "I feel like I was fired because I was one of the most vocal pro-union people in the office," Schultz told the Labor Press.

The workers have set up a support page on Facebook. They also wrote a letter to the heads of OSPIRG and Environment Oregon, asking them to intervene. Humbird said their replies were nearly identical: The groups only contract with the Fund, and they believe the Fund is negotiating in good faith.

Workers also wear red CWA t-shirts on Wednesdays, and borrow tactics from Occupy Wall Street: Before a shift begins, a worker will yell, "mic check!" and co-workers will respond, setting up a group amplification system to voice complaints about the list and fired co-workers. On Dec. 15, workers and supporters picketed - and caroled -outside the Fund office in Portland.

Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain met with OSPIRG Executive Director David Rosenfeld to convey labor's concerns. "I told him workers should be treated fairly, and to me this didn't pass the sniff test," Chamberlain said. The state labor federation has at times worked closely with OSPIRG in lobbying the Oregon legislature. "We're going to support our affiliate CWA and the workers at that call center, whatever it takes," Chamberlain told the Labor Press. "The rights of those workers outweigh any relationship we may have with OSPIRG."

Don McIntosh is associate editor of The Northwest Labor Press.

Tentative agreement could end West Coast longshore battle

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:44:00 +0000

LONGVIEW, Wash. - Washington State Governor, Chris Gregoire, announced Jan. 23 that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and EGT have reached a tentative agreement to settle a bitter, years-long, dispute on EGT's hiring of non-ILWU dockworkers at its giant new grain terminal at the Port of Longview.

"I asked EGT and ILWU to come together in a good faith effort to overcome their differences," Gregoire said. "Both parties should be commended for their willingness to work together and compromise. This framework reflects considerable effort to put the interests of the Longview community and the entire Columbia River basin first. I am confident an agreement can be reached that will satisfy both parties and allow the new grain terminal to become fully operational."

ILWU International President, Robert McEllrath said, "This is a win for the ILWU, EGT, and the Longview community. I want to thank Governor Gregoire for her leadership in working with both parties to find common ground. The ILWU has eight decades of grain export experience in the Northwest and we look forward to the opportunity to develop a positive working relationship with EGT."

Larry Clarke, CEO of EGT said, "While the parties are still working to finalize certain conditions over the next several days, we are optimistic we can resolve the dispute and get on with the business of operating the facility."

The tentative agreement may defuse a tense standoff as the Longview dockworkers wage a valiant battle to defend their jobs.

It took a general strike in 1934 led by the great ILWU founder, Harry Bridges, to win the ILWU's system of hiring halls and the exclusive right of ILWU dockworkers to move cargo at West Coast ports and Hawaii. EGT was spearheading the corporate drive to destroy that huge victory for democracy in the workplace.

McEllrath sent out a call Jan. 3 to all ILWU locals. "We believe that at some point this month a vessel will call at the EGT facility," he wrote. "We have been told that this vessel will be escorted by armed United States Coast Guard, including the use of small vessels and helicopters....and that the facility itself will be protected by a full complement of local law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions."

He added, "The purpose of this letter is to inform and prepare the Longshore Division locals for the action that we will take when the vessel calls at EGT's facility."

McEllath reminded the locals of the "narrow path that we must cut" to avoid enforcement of the Taft Hartley Act. Months ago, EGT obtained an injunction restricting solidarity activity in support of ILWU Local 21 which represents the Longview stevedores. The workers have faced mass arrests and fines totaling more than $321,000. Yet the court also upheld the right of ILWU members to picket the terminal, "preserving our First Amendment rights to peacefully picket the company," McEllrath continued.

EGT broke off talks with ILWU in 2011 when the union rejected EGT's plan to force the workers to accept 12 hour shifts with no overtime pay in flagrant violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The company hired a Seattle-based firm, General Construction (GC), to supply labor for the terminal. GC in turn, brought in members of Oregon-based Operating Engineers Local 701 to move the grain. EGT is 51 percent owned by St. Louis-based Bunge Corporation, one of the world's biggest grain corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange with $9 billion in assets.

The workers, mostly young women and men, have maintained their picket lines for many months, joined by an outpouring of workers from other unions who joined them on the line.

More than 700 workers stood on the tracks July 14 and blocked a mile-long grain train from delivering hundreds of tons of grain to the terminal. Later, workers occupied the terminal to stop production and dumped grain from the railroad cars to block the shipment of scab grain.

The Occupy Wall Street movement initiated solidarity actions including daylong protests last Nov. 2 that shut down the Port of Oakland.

The labor movement and the "Occupy" movement were preparing to mobilize thousands to converge on Longview to protest the arrival of the grain ship. U.S. Labor Against the War initiated an online petition to President Obama urging him to order the Coast Guard to "stand down and prevent its deployment to Longview or any other labor dispute...to keep the military out of our workplaces and union halls."

McEllrath cautioned the ILWU locals not to take any action that opens the union to further prosecution under Taft Hartley. That includes maintaining work gangs sufficient to continue loading and unloading ships as required by their contract, even as they prepare to send caravans to Longview to meet any ship arriving at the EGT terminal.

McEllrath ends his letter, "We fully understand that the ILWU's labor dispute with EGT is symbolic of what is wrong in the United States today. Corporations, no matter how harmful the conduct to society, enjoy full state and federal protection while workers and the middle class are treated as criminals for trying to protect their jobs and communities."

Until members of ILWU Local 21 have approved the tentative agreement, the labor movement and its allies will remain on alert, ready for solidarity action, union officials said.

Photo: ILWU pickets at Port of Longview, July 25, 2011. Peoples World photo.

Ignoring public opinion, Indiana Senate approves “right to work”

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:31:00 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS - Despite mass opposition, the Indiana State Senate yesterday approved a so-called right to work bill by 28-22.

In the Republican-controlled House, meanwhile, Speaker Brian Bosma continued maneuvers to force the working people of the state to accept the legislation.

Thousands of workers throughout Indiana have been holding meetings, staffing phone banks, writing letters and signing petitions to show opposition to "right to work" measures.

There are actually two separate "right to work" bills, HB 1001 in the House and SB 269 in the Senate. The bill that passed in the Senate now goes to a House committee where amendments can be tacked on. After that it gets a second reading and a final vote.

If there are no changes made in the House, the bill goes straight to the governor's desk for his signature. If changes are made the measure goes back to the Senate which votes again to approve or disapprove.

As the Republicans in the state Senate were ramming through the bill yesterday 10,000 workers packed into the Indiana Statehouse in protest. The senators cast their vote, siding with the big corporations backing the bill, as thousands in the building chanted in opposition, demanding that the senators consider, instead, the interests of the working people of Indiana.

"Big corporate dollars and national politics are threatening Hoosier wages and middle-class jobs," said AFL-CIO field communications staffer Cathy Sherwin, who was in the Indiana Statehouse with the thousands protesting the Senate's action.

"Worse," she said, "politicians like Speaker Bosma and Gov. Mitch Daniels are playing fast and loose with the democratic process. They want to push our unions right out of Indiana."

The national Republican Party is giving Indiana governor and chief "right to work" backer in the state Mitch Daniels the top spot in the GOP's post-State of the Union commentary tonight. Labor and its allies say that decision signals that Republicans are dead serious about making attacks on workers the cornerstone of their 2012 election campaigns.

"We're back at the Statehouse today," Sherwin said. "Our voices have ensured bipartisan opposition to right to work for less."

The protests have had had a major effect on the legislative process in Indianapolis. Throughout the day yesterday, Democratic lawmakers, at least, brought up amendments to the Republican bill in an attempt to lessen the blow to the state's workers.

All the Democratic amendments, however, were rejected along party lines.

Included among the rejected amendments was the most popular one, which called for a referendum in which the voters would decide on the question of right to work for less.

Bosma shut down discussion on the amendments, denying them a hearing and cutting off debate. In protest, House Democrats left the chamber as a group and went to "caucus."

Democrats have been describing their ongoing filibuster blocking final action on the bill as a "caucus" and Republicans have countered by voting to fine them $1,000 for every day they stay out.

"Closing doors and cutting off debate is no way to represent Indiana voters," said Sherwin, as she blamed Republicans for the legislative mess. "We see a stark divide between legislators working on behalf of lobbyists and special interests and those working for their constituents to stop the rush to ram through right to work for less legislation."

Jewish labor’s Appelbaum supports good-faith Israeli-Palestinian negotiations

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:21:00 +0000

NEW YORK - The path to Middle East peace is through good-faith negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which U.S. President Barack Obama recognizes, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not, a top Jewish union leader says - comparing Netanyahu to a businessman funding a decertification drive.

Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Jewish Labor Committee, criticized Netanyahu in a Jan. 12 speech to its annual human rights dinner. The JLC and the labor movement are long, strong supporters of Israel, he said, but that does not mean uncritical agreement with everything Israel does.

"Together with our allies overseas, the JLC is pushing back against a well-orchestrated campaign to demonize Israel as an apartheid state; it's a campaign whose end goal is to undermine the very idea of a Jewish state. And they've made some headway in doing that," Appelbaum said.

The thrilling "winds of change in the Middle East" also brought "new contempt for Israel within the Arab world," he explained. "It's a contempt that's rooted, in no small part, in the conviction that Israel will never accept the right of the Palestinians to an independent state. And, sadly, Israel is cursed with a right-wing coalition government that's regularly giving credence to that view.

"We all know Netanyahu talks a good game about a two-state solution, but, at the very same time, his administration continues to shamelessly promote the construction of illegal settlements on the West Bank - a policy that so severely impedes negotiations.

"It's like an employer who comes to the bargaining table telling us he wants a contract that's a win-win for both sides while, at the same time, he has his lawyers working on decertification petitions.

"The upshot is that Hamas - a terrorist organization that murders Israelis and Palestinians - is winning new support and, as they do, moderates who were once ready to negotiate peace are backing away and trying to sound as tough as the terrorists.

"The truth is, if Netanyahu doesn't negotiate with Palestinian moderates today, there simply won't be any moderates left to negotiate with tomorrow. That's why it's time all of us - Jew and non-Jew - send a message to Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition that the only path to peace is through good faith negotiations with the Palestinians. There's nothing anti-Israel about being pro-peace and looking for a settlement worked out fairly by both sides," he concluded in that speech section.

Appelbaum also had a few sharp words for business foes of the Occupy Wall Street movement. "When some tried to brand Occupy Wall Street as an anti-Semitic mob, we stood up and told the truth: That it's not the Occupy movement that's anti-Semitic, it's the right-wing hate machine and the corporations that fund it," he said.

2012: More battles ahead on Capitol Hill for workers

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:19:00 +0000

Workers, their unions and their allies are gearing up for more tough legislative fights in 2012.

With the possible exception of an extension of extra federal jobless benefits by the end of February, little or nothing in the way of pro-worker legislation should be expected from the God-forsaken 112th Congress.

And even the jobless benefits extension may not get smooth sailing. The GOP-dominated House and the Democratic-run Senate, controlled or hamstrung by GOP filibusters and filibuster threats, have yet to agree on how to pay for the benefits.

So where do we go from here? Interviews and news reports - indeed one roll call already taken in the House - show us what to expect from Congress in 2012: Lots of posturing, little else.

There are some items the lawmakers must enact, however.

First out of the box, by the end of January, is legislation renewing the Federal Aviation Administration's programs, including its multi-billion-dollar plan to bring U.S. air traffic control out of 1950s-era radar to a 21st-century GPS-based system.

This legislation is important to workers for several reasons. One big one is the law would let the government release funds for airport improvements, which could employ at least 100,000 construction workers.

Another is the long-running partisan fight over union election rules for railroad and airline workers. The Republicans want to roll back the rule so unions would win recognition only when they get an absolute majority of all voters, with non-voters counted as "no" votes.

Labor, the National Mediation Board, and the Democrats want the wins to be by simple majority of those voting. The Chamber of Commerce has apparently dropped its opposition to the simple-majority requirement, so the GOP may - may - do so, too.

Once Congress gets done with the FAA bill, the unemployment benefits extension will be the number two must-do item. But even there, expect shenanigans, such as Republicans trying to load it down with pro-business provisions that have nothing to do with either benefits or jobs.

After that, there may be legislation authorizing highway and mass transit projects. Again, this is important for construction workers, and for anyone who takes the bus or subway to work.

Labor estimates that every billion dollars in highway construction spending creates 47,000 jobs. The Amalgamated Transit Union cites a similar, though smaller, job creation figure for building a subway.

With construction unemployment running at 16 percent, almost double the national rate, both the FAA and highway-mass transit measures are important job creators.

And the mass transit bill is also important for cutting air pollution, by encouraging mass transit use. Workers at participating government employers got subsidies of $230 each to take mass transit to work, until last Dec. 31. Then it dropped to $125.

That decline pushed people back into their cars. The bill would presumably restore the $230.

But after those three items of legislation, expect very little out of the 112th Congress. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will call up other job creation bills - and watch the GOP filibuster stymie them. The House GOP leadership will call up and pass anti-worker, pro-business, pro-Right Wing bills - and see them deep-sixed in the Senate. All those votes will be just for show. You get the idea.

That means nothing gets done between say, March and the election - and maybe not even after that. Post-November, you'll have a Congress full of lame ducks, and a President Obama who will be a lame duck regardless of whether he's re-elected, given the GOP's unanimous stonewalling of anything Obama proposes.

The Bush tax cuts expire at the end of this year. Congress will have to raise the debt ceiling again, foreshadowing a rerun of this past summer's to-the-brink impasse. The jobless benefits end again. And unless lawmakers find other ways to cut the federal budget deficit, $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts, all from domestic programs, will take effect in Jan. 2013.

Put all this together and 2012 on Capitol Hill spells more of the same for workers: Gridlock, deadlock, and little to no action on jobs. Ugh.

Photo by People's World.

Unions split on Obama Keystone pipeline turndown

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:39:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Union leaders split on President Obama's Jan. 18 denial of a federal permit to build the 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline from the U.S.-Canada border to the Texas Gulf Coast. Construction unions called Obama's ruling a "job killer," and two leaders said members would remember in November. But at least five unions sided with environmental groups against Keystone.

Obama said the controversial project could not be constructed as planned by its sponsor, TransCanada, because it would endanger a valuable underground aquifer in Nebraska. He said TransCanada could apply again once it worked out a new route around the aquifer. TransCanada said it would do so.

Environmental groups strongly opposed the pipeline because they said it would pump bitumen-laden "dirty oil" from Albertan tar sands to the Gulf Coast, increasing the pollution that leads to global warming. The Transport Workers, Steel Workers, Communications Workers, Auto Workers, and Service Employees sided with the environmentalists.

Construction union presidents were particularly upset as four unions signed a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with TransCanada several years ago to use unionized labor to build Keystone. At that time, the unions calculated the pipeline's construction would employ 20,000 workers directly and many more thousands of people indirectly.

But an environmental impact statement by the State Department, which evaluated Keystone since it crossed the international border, put the construction job figure at 5,000-7,000. Still, it meant jobs, and Obama's decision led two union leaders, Laborers' President Terry O'Sullivan and Building Trades Department President Mark Ayers to blast the politics behind it, and the environmentalists, too.

Both also warned the decision to block Keystone could cost Obama votes.

"The score is job-killers, two, American workers, zero," said O'Sullivan. "We are completely and totally disappointed. This is politics at its worst.

"Once again the president has sided with environmentalists instead of blue collar construction workers, even though environmental concerns were more than adequately addressed. Blue collar construction workers across the U.S. will not forget this," he said. O'Sullivan called environmentalists' links of Keystone to global warming "disingenuous."

"The administration and environmentalists have blown the whistle on workers trying to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. Instead of celebrating their victory by hugging a tree they should hug a jobless construction worker because they're the ones who are going to need it," O'Sullivan concluded.

"Today, the words 'we can't wait' truly ring hollow for skilled craft construction professionals across this nation," Ayers said, referring to Obama's pro-jobs theme and his chastisement of the GOP-run House for not passing jobs bills. The House GOP supported Keystone. Its idea, tacked onto a jobless benefits bill, forced Obama to rule.

"With a national unemployment rate in construction at 16 percent, it is beyond disappointing that President Obama placed a higher priority on politics rather than our nation's number one challenge: jobs," Ayers added. "Environmental activists not saddled with the economic and psychological scars that accompany long-term unemployment successfully induced the White House to block this project.

"Meanwhile, thousands of proud Americans throughout the heartland will once again be faced with the terrifying prospect of losing their homes and livelihoods as they struggle to find work."

Unions and environmental groups that praised Obama issued a joint statement lauding his decision to go slow and blaming the House GOP for forcing the ruling by mid-February for political purposes, while ignoring or killing other pro-jobs legislation.

"Keystone XL is a complex project which deserved the careful consideration regarding its environmental and economic impacts that the Obama administration planned to provide," the five unions that praised Obama's decision said.

"In a cynical move, the House Republican leadership called for a rapid decision on the pipeline in exchange for agreeing to keep the payroll tax cut in place. The payroll tax cut enacted last year has been an important part of efforts to turn around our struggling economy. While the House Republicans wrapped job creation rhetoric around their pipeline demands, they have rejected numerous opportunities to support programs creating good U.S. jobs,' the union leaders added.

"A project this far-reaching deserved better than the 'politics as usual' strategy of a do-nothing Republican Congress. Their job blackmail agenda is simply wedge politics. Addressing global climate change, establishing sustainable and secure energy sources, and creating and retaining safe and family-supportive jobs are keys to a positive future for our children and grandchildren. President Obama has acted wisely," the union leaders concluded.

IBEW President Ed Hill said his union is "disappointed" by Obama's decision, but he also cited the second chance Obama gave Keystone.

"We are treating today's decision as a temporary setback," Hill said. "We believe the decision-making process has been caught up in political gamesmanship. To Democrats who oppose the pipeline on well-meaning but misguided environmental grounds, and Republicans who routinely vote against every jobs bill except Keystone, we pose this question: What are your plans to replace the 20,000 (sic) jobs that are now on hold?"

AFL-CIO calls for urgent action to stop Indiana "right-to-work"

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:18:00 +0000

The AFL-CIO has issued a national appeal for help to stop passage of a so-called "right-to-work" law in Indiana as Democratic lawmakers there continue to incur thousands of dollars in fines for boycotting the legislature in order to prevent a vote on the measure.

"We are at war," the AFL-CIO appeal, released on Friday, reads. "The assault on workers in Indiana continues. For the second time in less than twelve months, over 35 elected members of Indiana's State House are denying Republicans a quorum, and this year they are incurring fines of $1,000 per day to stand with the labor movement."

Unions and their allies are canvassing the districts of wavering Republicans and thousands continue to lobby daily in the state Capitol. Busloads of workers from all over the state continue to arrive and phone lines are barely able to keep up with the thousands of calls coming in, urging representatives to turn down the Republican-backed measure.

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who is slated to give the GOP's national response to President Obama's State of the Union message Tuesday night, is aiming for passage of the right-wing measure in the next two weeks, before the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. The National Football Players Association has denounced the "right-to-work" proposal and the game, itself, could end up as a serious embarrassment for both Daniels and the national GOP. Republicans fear that players and fans might use the games as an opportunity to expose to the nation what Republicans are doing.

The federation says people all over the country can help by calling their local labor federations and unions to get information about where they can get hooked up with a phone bank, or by sending funds to "A Working Person Like You," 1701 W. 18^th St., Indianapolis, IN 46202.

Last week a judge ruled that Republicans trying to ram through the bill could not, in addition to the fines, seize the pay of Democrats staying off the floor in their filibuster.

A Marion County judge issued a temporary restraining order barring the pay seizure after three of the House Democrats challenged Republicans' decision to fine filibusters $1,000 a day by stealing their pay. The ruling still allows the fines to be levied but blocks withholding of paychecks.

The fines follow a number of other Republican tactics designed to ram through their bill. On numerous occasions they have shut the protesting public out of the statehouse and they have gone back on their one-time promise to consider amendments to their bill that would result in putting the issue up for a statewide vote.

Polls show that 71 percent of the public in Indiana supports pitting "right to work" on the ballot rather than having it rammed through the legislature.

Photo: Ben Fairchild of Decatur, Ind., displaying a sign outside of the Statehouse in Indianapolis. Darron Cummings/AP

Labor maps legislative battle for 2012

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:52:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Organized labor will push several top legislative measures in the second session of the 112th Congress, but the outlook for most of them is uncertain, AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel says.

In a Jan. 17 interview with Press Associates Union News Service, Samuel said the list includes fighting for a two-year transportation (highway-mass transit) funding bill, pushing for final resolution of a long-running war over airport construction and airways modernization - and union rights for airline workers - and extension of jobless benefits.

It also includes legislation to curb Internet piracy of intellectual property, since the piracy robs dollars from royalty-based wages for musicians, actors, screenwriters, and other unionized creative professionals. And the agenda includes a longer extension of emergency federal jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.

But the outlook is cloudy for all. Even the jobless benefits bill, which both parties agree upon, is hung up by a partisan dispute over how to pay for the $150 billion measure.

Congress returned to town Jan. 17 to start this year's session, after a first year characterized by Senate GOP filibusters on just about everything and by a tea party-dominated House GOP attacking spending and workers.

Samuel expects those attacks to continue. He forecasts congressional Republicans will use the Congressional Review Act - a Gingrich-era GOP law - to try to overturn new federal rules streamlining union recognition election procedures.

The big fights will be over job creation. Samuel expects the Obama administration to again support the infrastructure bill, jobless benefits, and other measures, though he concedes that aid to state and local governments may be iffy. Obama will outline his agenda in the Jan. 24 State of the Union address.

Labor may have, finally, won one battle with the House GOP, Samuel said, over recognition elections for airline and railroad workers. "The Chamber of Commerce has finally dropped its opposition" to new rules for those elections, contained in the airport construction and modernization bill. That legislation would create 80,000-100,000 jobs.

House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., has insisted that rules governing union recognition elections at airlines and railroads should force unions to win an absolute majority of all eligible voters at a worksite, with non-voters counted as "no" votes.

That was the rule until last year when, after pressure from the labor movement and its allies, the government changed it. The requirement in union elections now is the same as in any other election - the winner is determined by the majority of those who actually cast ballots.

Business and Mica fought the change, but with the 23rd temporary extension of the airport and airspace construction bill set to expire at the end of January, business seems to have given up. The question for congressional negotiators is if Mica will.

As for extending jobless benefits, "we and the Democrats are hopeful" that Congress will OK an extension before the benefits expire Feb. 29, Samuel said. He also said the Democrats are holding fast against cutting any major programs to pay for the cost - even though in the past, Congress did not require cuts elsewhere to pay for aiding the unemployed. The House GOP is insisting on cuts, at least so far.

If the GOP holds fast to its no-taxes-on-millionaires stand and the Democrats protect major programs, there could be a stalemate on jobless benefits, Samuel concedes. "But the Republicans badly miscalculated" when the last benefits extension was debated in December that their no-taxes stand was a winner. Instead, they got a political black eye for protecting the rich at the expense of unemployed workers.

The two-year highway-mass transit bill, worth $106 billion plus inflation, still needs some details: Its mass transit sections are incomplete and so is its financing, outside of the federal gasoline tax. The measure would create tens of thousands of construction jobs and its passage is a major goal of building trades unions.

Once Senate panels finish drafting the measure, the Democratic-run Senate is expected to approve it, Samuel said. The problem is the GOP-run House, again. Mica earlier proposed a five-year bill with much less spending per year - so much less that Laborers President Terry O'Sullivan called Mica's legislation a "job killer."

Finally, the stop Internet piracy bill hit flak from Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Facebook, d Craigslist and millions of Internet users. All say it could lead to Internet censorship. Wikipedia and search engines dramatized the issue with a one-day ban on access on Jan. 18. Google set up a legislative link on its site.

By contrast, "Our affiliates see this as a jobs bill, for income for the stagehands, the artists, the actors, and the recording artists," Samuel explained.

Obama's spokesman has already said the jobless benefits extension will be the administration's top legislative priority this year, and it will let other things go, though Samuel expects support for other job-creating legislation. The president intends to campaign against a GOP-run Congress that did nothing to create jobs, just as Democratic President Harry S. Truman ran in 1948 against a then do-nothing GOP-run Congress.

"It'll be hard" for Obama "to do that if Congress does its job - which no one thinks it will," Samuel says.

Photo: Unions have pushed hard for legislation that would create jobs and say they will continue that fight, despite the likelihood that the GOP will fight, tooth and nail, against such legislation. unemployedworkers.org

Unions to world leaders: Choose “jobs” or “social collapse”

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:21:00 +0000

GENEVA, Switzerland - The world's unions are delivering a strong message to international political and business leaders: Create jobs - millions of jobs - or face the consequences.

Those consequences include everything from a widening income chasm between the rich and the rest of the world to a social collapse, according to a top world union leader, who in turn is backed by a report prepared for the business and political leaders, who will meet Jan. 25-29 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Global Risks 2012, released Jan. 11, paints a gloomy picture of the current and future world economy. Philip Jennings, General Secretary of UNI, the international global union organization, says responsibility for pulling the world out of its prolonged economic slump rests squarely with private capital and public investment in the U.S.

The rest of the world neither developed the right policies nor created the political pull to drag the globe and world workers out of the recession, Jennings told Press Associates Union News Service in an exclusive telephone interview from Switzerland.

Jennings is the top union leader who will present labor's findings at the meeting in Switzerland to both labor ministers from the G-20 - the 20 richest world economies - and to G-20 presidents, prime ministers, and leading business executives.

He says all of them must unite to create jobs, like they did in 2008 to pull the world back from the brink of a second Great Depression, after the financial collapse. The report, prepared by the World Economic Forum's own staff, says the world needs 80 million jobs to get back to pre-crisis levels of employment, and 600 million over the next decade.

U.S. economists say even though the U.S. economy has created three million jobs, it needs 10 million more. Jennings told PAI that business must invest to provide them.

"What we're seeing right now isn't working," he said, referring to government fiscal retrenchment, tax hikes, and job cuts in European countries and the U.S. "It would be good for your country" and the world "if people raised the question of why U.S. businesses are sitting on $2 trillion" in un-invested capital.

"Your housing system is in trouble, your infrastructure is of third world quality, your unemployment is high. Why aren't they doing anything about it?" he asked of U.S. businesses and officials.

The Obama administration offered a job-creation package, including rebuilding infrastructure, extending jobless benefits, retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, and funneling money to state and local governments, all of which organized labor strongly supports.

But the GOP House majority and Senate GOP filibusters stymied all those measures, except jobless benefits. In a separate interview, AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel gave a mixed outlook for progressive legislation this year: He said a two-year infrastructure bill is possible and extension of jobless benefits is likely. The rest is not.

That leaves the problem up to private business, which has to weigh the risk - highlighted by the report - that the widening gap between the wealthy few and the rest of the world, along with lack of jobs, could lead to social unrest worldwide.

That's especially important, Jennings noted, because the current worldwide recession "is not the normal type of business collapse" but caused by the widening income and wealth gap and by the shift of capital to financial instruments and away from productive uses, according to the report. That shift makes recovery harder.

"Does the business community have a grudge" against U.S. unions and workers?" Jennings asked. "We have to get increased job growth back on the world agenda, because that leads to increased consumption," which leads to more growth.

Besides, he noted, workers' wages still account for some 70 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, and workers' consumption here drives the world economy. But U.S. workers' purchasing power is drained by weakened U.S. unions, which cannot often demand a greater share for workers in the profits of production - though such a greater share would lead to more purchases, consumption, jobs, and investment.

"This is more of a political argument than an economic argument," Jennings says. "But the U.S. business community has crushed the union movement - and America is paying the price in its economy."

Jennings said he will tell the world's political and business leaders there's a possibility of worldwide social collapse. Academic research, he added, reveals three factors that could lead to such. One is income inequality itself. The second is governmental austerity. And the third is "the perception of unfairness, along with the perception of society not caring about it."

"They have to realize that what we're seeing now is not sustainable" for the world, its workers or for their own good, Jennings added. "There's potential for social collapse as well."

Photo: Labor leaders are telling world leaders that failure to create jobs can lead to the type of social unrest seen recently in the UK, Greece and elsewhere in Europe. Martyn Hayhow/AP Photos

Flight attendants reach tentative pact with United

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:27:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Calling it a step forward from 10 years of contract concessions forced by United's bankruptcy, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA reached a tentative contract for the original 15,000 flight attendants at Chicago-based United.

The agreement, which the union's Master Executive Council recommended to the members on Jan. 8, does not cover thousands of flight attendants at Continental, which merged into United late last year. A Machinists' contract covers those attendants.

"United AFA members will carefully consider the tentative agreement for ratification," council President Greg Dawidowitch said. "Together, we will better our lives and our profession through our solidarity as we work towards improving our future. Next, we will achieve a single contract that is good for Flight Attendants, good for the company, and unite us all."

The United pact will be sent to AFA-CWA members at the carrier by the end of this month, with results due by mid-February after an electronic vote, said national union communications director Corey Caldwell. "It's the first time United Flight Attendants had the opportunity for improvements after a decade of concessions," she added.

Job security was a top issue, with management demanding productivity changes while refusing to provide it, Dawidowitch said in an Oct. 28 letter to members.

"We made clear from the start that for us to consider any productivity changes they will have to be structured in such a way as to be beneficial for Flight Attendants; and they cannot result in the devastating consequences of people being laid off," he wrote as bargaining accelerated through a special process, aided by a federal mediator.

"Our commitment to protecting job security of our most junior Flight Attendants remains a paramount component in resolving any productivity proposals from management. Any proposed reductions to our population must be accomplished through voluntary programs such as an early out, programs that give our members opportunity and a choice," Dawidowitch's letter added.

The summary confirms that: There is "protection against involuntary furlough as a direct result of modifications in the new agreement," it says.

For the first time in a decade, the flight attendants will get a raise: 10 percent upon ratification, then raises of two percent after one year, and 2.5 percent after the second and third years, according to AFA's summary of the pact's details. There's also a $5,000 signing bonus and higher company contributions to workers' 401(k) plans.

California car washers win $1 million in back pay

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:17:00 +0000

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - The first-ever group of unionized carwash workers, at Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica, Calif., won a $1 million back pay settlement on Jan. 11, advocates and the state's attorney general announced.

The settlement is important because it bolsters the Steelworkers' campaign to organize the "carwasheros," virtually all of them Spanish-speaking, in the Los Angeles area. The union targeted eight area carwashes that exploit their workers, though at least one has closed. Steelworkers Local 675 now represents the car wash workers.

It's also important because the L.A. car wash workers, along with day laborers nationwide and taxi drivers in New York and Philadelphia, are among the groups of unorganized workers that unions are targeting now - despite lack of labor law protection for the workers - in attempts to both expand their numbers and to ethnically diversify.

The million dollars will be divided among several hundred past and present workers at Bonus, and repays them for five years of lost back pay due to the firm's violations of California law, said Neidi Dominguez, legal organizer for the Clean (Community Labor Environmental Action Network) Campaign, the grass-roots group that helped the Steelworkers' organizing drive.

With the settlement "and the first contract with Bonus, we can go to other workers at carwashes in western Los Angeles and in southern Los Angeles" to show tangible benefits of unionization, Dominguez added.

Clean and the attorney general sued the carwash firm in 2010 for lack of proper break times, lack of overtime pay, wages that did not meet minimum wage standards, and lack of proper compensation for wages owed. With the settlement, Clean is urging area residents to get their cars cleaned at Bonus.

Photo: Washers at Marina Car Wash in Venice, Calif., want to wash away injustice to workers. Via Clean Carwash

Nationwide protests demand: End Cooper Tire lockout, with video

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:56:00 +0000

CLEVELAND - "Corporate greed at Cooper Tire is flat out wrong!" That was the message brought by pickets at over 100 retail tire stores in the U.S. and Canada Saturday, Jan. 14, protesting the lockout of 1051 workers by Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. at its plant in Findlay, Ohio.

Cooper, the fourth largest U.S. tire manufacturer, locked out the workers, members of United Steelworkers Local 207L, Nov. 28 after they voted two-to-one against company demands for more cuts in pay and benefits. The company then brought in several hundred out-of-state "replacement workers."

Thirty of the protest actions took place in Ohio, including five in Findlay, a town of 41,000 residents 50 miles south of Toledo.

In Cleveland, two dozen protesters stood on a snow-covered sidewalk in front of a National Tire and Battery store. USW leader Pat Gallagher took in a delegation, promising to end picketing if the manager would sign a letter to Cooper's top executives. The letter voices concern about the lockout and its effect on product quality and urges a resumption of "meaningful bargaining." The manager said he would refer the letter to his district manager.

Local 207L had already made $31.2 million in concessions in the 2008 contract negotiations helping the company make $448 million in operating profits and $360 million in pre-tax income.

The union workers average $23 an hour, Gallagher said. But, according to the U.S. Survey of Manufactures, production workers in Ohio generate over five times that amount - $130 - every hour. That means in a five-day workweek, tire workers create the value of their wages in one day and for the next four days create wealth for the company effectively without pay.

That is how Cooper got its massive profits and was able to pay its five top executives more than $9.5 million in salaries and purchase a new corporate jet.

As taxpayers, the Cooper workers also contributed to the millions the company got in city and state grants, abatements and subsidies. That included three years of an estimated $900,000 worth of free water from the city and $2.5 million in state grants to increase worker productivity and skills.

But Cooper is not satisfied. It wants to squeeze more out of its labor force, not only demanding cuts in wages and benefits but also the right to employ non-union temporary workers. When the workers balked, the company locked them out and brought in scabs.

This is the true face of corporate class warfare, which their mouthpieces hypocritically denounce whenever working people ask them to pay their fair share in taxes and act responsibly towards the communities where they operate and the workforce that creates their profits.

The Steelworkers are fighting back: organizing rallies, food banks and broad community and international labor support.

All last week a delegation of locked out workers met in Serbia with leaders of Nezavisnost, the union representing workers at Cooper's recently purchased facility in Krusevac, to discuss mutual support. When the plant was bought in September, Nezavisnost sent a letter to the company demanding an end to the lockout and pledging support for Local 207L.

Unite the Union, representing Cooper workers in Melksham, England, also pledged support. The company additionally has plants in China and Mexico with worldwide sales of $3.4 billion and employment of 13,000.

Thousands rallied in Findlay Dec. 17 to support the locked out workers. At that event Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga denounced the "outrageous, unnecessary and unprovoked attack on the loyal, productive and highly skilled workers in Findlay" and said the state labor federation "shares in your disgust and will continue to stand and fight with the USW until justice is restored."

The Steelworkers have set up a website: www.stopcoopertire.org, where supporters can sign a petition to the company and make donations to help the locked out workers.

The union is also in contract negotiations with Cooper at the company's plant in Texarkana, Arkansas. Cooper's third U.S. tire plant in Tugaloo, Miss., is non-union.

Pictures of the Findlay rally are available here.

Video made by the Findlay Courier with interviews of locked out workers who formed a "Human Chain of Solidarity" Dec. 5.

Photo: At the Cleveland protest. Pat Gallagher

Unions scramble to protect pensions in Hostess bankruptcy

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:58:00 +0000

KENSINGTON, Md. - The Bakery Workers (BCTGM), the Teamsters, and other unions representing Hostess Foods employees scrambled to protect their members as the snack food company filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 11 for the second time this century.

The 2011 filing, like that of '04, could affect some 5,500 BCTGM workers at Hostess plants nationwide, union President Frank Hurt told Press Associates Union News Service. The Teamsters report that they represent 7,500 Hostess drivers and merchandisers. Several other unions have smaller contingents at Hostess.

Regardless of the final details, Hurt predicted his members would be harmed by whatever the federal bankruptcy judge in New York City permits the firm's owners - mostly a group of venture capitalists - to do.

"Those with the gold make the rules," he said, including the company's lawyers in that group. "And hourly workers are left holding the bag."

The big question, Hurt said, will be if the bankruptcy court gives the reorganizers of Hostess so much leeway in cutting workers' pay, pensions, and benefits and tearing up union contracts that it doesn't make sense to continue the effort to save Hostess.

"I haven't heard from our attorneys to what extent the law will let them" - the company's bankruptcy overseers - "gut our contracts," he added. "I'm telling our members we want to keep the company in business."

Hurt instructed his union's attorneys, appearing at the Jan. 11 hearing, to get the court to order company officials "to tell us the bottom line you need to keep it in business - and let us decide whether we will work under those conditions or not."

Hostess first flagged the unions that it was headed for the financial rocks last summer, Hurt explained. It approached the unions and told them it would stop paying the firm's share of pension plan contributions. It also wanted to cut costs by proposing "a lousy-ass" health insurance plan for the workers, he added.

The Teamsters said, and Hurt agreed, that workers' sacrifices helped Hostess emerge in 2009 from its first bankruptcy. In a statement, Teamsters Bakery Conference Director Dennis Raymond said his union "remains committed to working with all stakeholders during the bankruptcy to find a mutually agreeable solution, if possible."

In a formal statement, Hurt said Hostess' financial problems - which have prompted the firm to stop its payment into the jointly run union-management Taft-Hartley multi-employer plan covering the industry - were the result of mismanagement. Hostess claims its pension obligation of $1 billion is too much.

"I find it deeply offensive and highly disingenuous for the company to claim [that] its financial woes are the result of its union contracts and pension and health benefits obligations," Hurt's statement said. "We contend the company is in dire financial shape because of a string of failed business decisions made by a series of ineffective executives who have been running this company for the past decade.

"BCTGM has contracts with dozens of baking companies across the country, including Bimbo Bakeries USA, the nation's largest and most successful. The vast majority of those companies are doing just fine because they have experienced baking industry professionals managing them," he added.

BCTGM called Hostess "a longstanding participant" in the Taft-Hartley pension fund. It said $1 billion is the Hostess' "withdrawal liability"-the cumulative amount it would have to pay present retirees and workers when they retire if Hostess dropped out of the multi-employer plan.

"Contributions Hostess paid into the fund were negotiated through the collective bargaining process and are part of an overall economic compensation package. Pension benefits that retirees receive each month are paid by the fund and not the individual companies," BCTGM noted.

Both unions hope Hostess gets back on its feet and members retain their jobs, and will fight for that, while working with other stakeholders to restructure the firm.

"We remain hopeful that solutions can be found to ensure the permanent continuation of Hostess Brands," Hurt said in the statement. "We will work with the stakeholders throughout the process to find a solution that protects the interests of our members and helps enable the company to remain a viable business entity.

The Teamsters' Raymond said that management must sacrifice, too. "Our members have already given at the well, and this time it will take sacrifices among all parties - management, lenders, equity holders, and employees - to restructure Hostess into a viable enterprise well-positioned for future growth," he said.

But Hurt was more pessimistic in the interview. Noting the venture capital firms that control Hostess are in it to make money for themselves, he said that their interests "are driving" the bankruptcy filing, "and that doesn't bode well for us."

Hurt concluded, "It's criminal what happens to workers in this country" in corporate bankruptcies.

Workers file for union recognition at Aer Lingus

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:34:00 +0000

RESTON, Va. - There's an old song entitled "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," that the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA wants to change to "When Irish Flight Attendants Are Smiling."

That's because the union filed on Jan. 6 with the National Mediation Board - which oversees labor-management relations on airlines and railroads - for a recognition election among the 53 U.S.-based flight attendants of Aer Lingus, Ireland's national airline. All are based at Washington's Dulles Airport.

If approved, the election would be held in March, AFA-CWA spokeswoman Corey Caldwell added. The vote will be electronic "but it would be great" if the union won "by St. Patrick's Day."

Under current federal rules, AFA-CWA needs only a majority of those voting - not a majority of all 53 eligible voters - to win. The House GOP majority is trying to force airline and rail unions to win absolute majorities among all workers, with non-voters counted as "no" votes.

The U.S.-based flight attendants were left out when United and Aer Lingus, both of which have unionized flight attendants, started a code-sharing program in 2009, Caldwell said. That also deprived the Aer Lingus U.S. flight attendants of union-based job protections and particularly of AFA-CWA's emphasis on cabin safety for attendants.

The two carriers "sort of rammed" their arrangement through, leaving the Dulles-based flight attendants out in the cold, she added.

"The U.S. based Flight Attendants working for Aer Lingus perform the same essential first responder duties as their Irish counterparts and 25,000 United flight attendants, without the same pay, benefits, and work rule protections afforded by a legally binding contract," AFA-CWA President Veda Shook said when she announced the union's filing with the board.

Shook said management at the two carriers "dreamed up this joint venture for the sole purpose of avoiding legal obligations of a labor model and the U.S.-based Aer Lingus flight attendants are making that clear by calling for an election."

"Our Irish-based flying partners have been happily unionized for many years and the collaborative worker/management relationship is a benefit for everyone. We, 'Unite Aer Lingus IAD,' look forward to the same benefits: Collaborating on improvements that will benefit our airline and Aer Lingus flight attendants," the Aer Lingus attendants said.

Photo: An Aer Lingus jet landing at Dublin Airport, Ireland. Haydn West, PA/AP