People Before Profit blog

Chicago Teachers Union fighting for education, children, families, and community

Mon, 30 Nov 2015 12:22:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Over 5,000 joined the Chicago Teachers Union for a Tailgate Party and Solidarity Rally for public education and a fair contract in Grant Park on Monday November 23rd. The festive event featured music, food, chanting, dancing and speeches. Besides strong turnout from teachers and education workers from all over Chicago, the rally included, children, parents, community leaders and other labor supporters.

Chicago Teachers Union Fighting Back 2015! from Scott Marshall on Vimeo.

Unions to lobby for "energy democracy" at Paris climate talks

Fri, 27 Nov 2015 20:12:00 +0000

Everybody likes to talk about the weather but nobody can do a damn thing about it. Or can they?

Severe weather events that have caused deaths and destruction are linked to climate change - like 2012's Hurricane Sandy that pummeled New York and New Jersey, or the drought in Syria that forced people off their lands and into the cities, helping to create, according to reports, conditions that caused the devastating civil war.

And there is something people can do about climate change.

Despite the billions that Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobil have poured into spreading all kinds of climate change denial narratives, the world's scientists agree overwhelmingly that the planet is warming and it's due to the unprecedented release of human-created greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

And this warming has a cascading effect that even scientists cannot forecast. For one thing, glaciers and gigantic ice floes are melting into the oceans causing sea levels to rise, which in turn, threatens island nations like Fiji or low-lying regions of the United States, like the Florida Everglades. It's changing ocean currents and atmospheric patterns, leading to extreme weather events of all kinds - yes, including more severe blizzards too.

And who are the biggest victims of climate change? Working people around the world - the poor, the underpaid, the jobless, the exploited.

Now, unions worldwide are preparing to make sure the voices and needs of working people are included in the final United Nations Climate Change Summit in Paris, Nov. 30 - Dec. 11. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) plans to lobby negotiators and leaders of some 190 countries during the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference on three issues:

Raise the level of "ambition" in the emission targets and by doing so "realize" job creation potential in the greening of economies;

Guarantee the most vulnerable people and nations get the maximum financial help;

Commit to a "just transition" for workers and their communities involved in industries that rely on fossil fuels.

Among the U.S. union delegates will be Sean Sweeney, PhD, who is the coordinator of a global network called Trade Unions for Energy Democracy. He is also the director of the International Program for Labor, Climate and Environment, which is part of the City University of New York's Murphy Institute. Sweeney told People's World that there will be official union participation that focuses on the formal talks in Paris, but unions will also collaborate with other social movements in hosting discussions, debates and networking events outside of the official UN summit.

On Dec. 8, TUED and other union groups will host Naomi Klein, author of "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate," and British Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in a conversation entitled, "Now Is Not the Time for Small Steps: Solutions to the Climate Crisis and the Role of Trade Unions."

This session is shaping up to be the largest-ever union event at a climate meeting, Sweeney said in a Nov. 23 interview (to be featured in an upcoming People's World podcast). There is not yet widespread activism on climate change among the world's unions, nor is there unanimity on cutting carbon emissions, as jobs are often at stake. But there is a growing recognition among U.S. and other unions worldwide that action on climate change is an issue for working people and their communities.

The Paris summit presents "a great organizing opportunity," Sweeney said. In addition to the Klein/Corbyn event, TUED will be "trying to get unions to support a trade union call for a global moratorium on fracking for shale gas and shale oil. And that has already gotten quite a lot of union support," he said.

The other mission Sweeney will be focused on - reducing carbon emissions - is more complicated as it entails the science of climate change and the calculus of politics and social change in each country, but especially in the United States. Sweeney said the voluntary emission targets currently being proposed are "inadequate" to avoid climate catastrophe, according to the scientific data. In order to have an "adequate" agreement, he said, public control and democratization of energy, transportation, food and other systems would have to be "expanded dramatically."

"The trade union movement needs a bolder narrative. We support the science and must take the solutions more seriously. And that means a bolder agenda," he said.

Nobel-Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has said President Obama's policies on climate change and the environment are shaping up to be a "major legacy" for Obama. But Sweeney pointed to the negative impact of the vociferous right wing in the U.S. that denies the existence of climate change and acts in Congress on behalf of Big Oil and Big Coal. It has limited what the White House has been able to do on the issue. Because of this, he said, he gives the Obama administration only a "B" or "B minus."

"The answer to the deniers and the right wing is not Obama's climate policy. The answer is a truthful assessment of U.S. emission trends and what's really happening," Sweeney said. If methane emissions were accurately reported, emissions would not look good at all, he said.

When the president says the United States is "reducing emissions more than any other country ... It's simply not true," Sweeney said. The United States emits more carbon per capita than any other country except Canada.

Regardless of the frustrations, Sweeney sees a way forward in raising the stakes and pressing for systemic change. "The problem is not emissions, the problem is capitalism," he said. But he cautions, that doesn't mean the way forward is to declare, "It's capitalism, stupid, and we've got to get rid of capitalism first, and then we'll take care of the climate issue."

On the contrary, Sweeney said, "The climate issue is like every other issue, it's very important to working people, poor people, people around the world. It threatens their food, their water, their lives. Extending the political and economic influence of workers is crucial to solving the climate crisis. If workers extend their control and power over politics and economic decision-making, I very much doubt, if it goes to the full process and conclusion, that what's left standing would be called capitalism."

"But I've been wrong on many things in the past," he said. "Maybe we can be surprised with what history comes up with." In any case, he concluded, we may see "an eco-cidal scenario unless we do something about it."

Photo: Murphy Institute, CUNY.

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Walmart workers begin Thanksgiving and Black Friday strikes with fasting

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:00:00 +0000

NEW YORK - Disgusted with having to take free food left by customers in collection boxes in their stores and angry about having to go to food pantries to feed their families, Walmart workers across the country and their supporters are fasting during the 15 days leading up to Thanksgiving and Black Friday later this week. They are foregoing food to demand a $15-an-hour living wage and full-time work.

Jennifer Green, one of the fasting protesters outside the penthouse home of the Waltons here, was fired from Walmart while she was pregnant but has remained active with the OUR Walmart campaign. Still, she says, Walmart is the only place close enough to her home in Norfolk, Va. where she can afford to go shopping.

"I went into my old Walmart yesterday to buy Thanksgiving groceries," she said. "Many of my former co-workers said they want to come by for a plate of dinner at my house but are scheduled to work from 2 to 11 on the holiday.

"My cashier had a miserable look on her face. I told her that I used to work there just like her and that I have been protesting in front of Alice Walton's house. I told her she was not alone and that people are out here fighting for her."

"I've had to forego meals so my boys have enough to eat," Walmart worker Jasmine Dixon said last Thursday at a press conference organized by OUR Walmart. "If it wasn't for food stamps I don't know what I'd do."

Some 1,000 workers and supporters have signed up for fasting this week. Some are doing full fasts, consuming only liquids, while others are limiting intake of just certain food items.

"My mother grew up during the Depression and she passed along lessons on how to get through hard times. They are lessons I use today at Walmart," said Nancy Reynolds, another worker who spoke to the press.

"A lot of times I've had to get chicken nuggets because that's all the money I had," Reynolds said. She described dividing up one order of nuggets in the break room "because my coworkers were hungry."

Earlier this year, embarrassed by the attention it was getting for its low wages, Walmart announced it would raise its wages to $10 an hour. By cutting hours though the company pays man workers less money than they were paid before the increase.

Workers still complain they are often not consulted on schedules that they say make it impossible to do more than scrape by week to week. The schedules also don't allow them to fit in time for second jobs they need to get by.

Walmart relies on taxpayers to foot much of the bill for its workers. Estimates are that a typical large Walmart store, in effect, bills taxpayers $1 million a year for food stamps and welfare payments needed by its underpaid workers.

The hunger strikes this year amount to a stepping up of protests that have been going on for years. Those protests, as they will this year on Black Friday, involve strikes at Walmart stores across the country.

Last year's Black Friday protests happened at 1,000 stores with actions expected at even more stores this year. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year.

Photo: Estevan Nembhard/PW

Today in labor history: First recorded strike in Egypt, maybe ever

Mon, 23 Nov 2015 10:52:00 +0000

On this day in the year 1170 BCE, the first recorded strike took place against the building of pyramids in Egypt. It may be the first documented labor strike in history.

The action occurred at Deir el-Medina, an ancient Egyptian village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th dynasties of the New Kingdom period, ca. 1550-1080 BCE. The settlement's ancient name was Set Maat (The Place of Truth). During the Christian era the temple of Hathor was converted into a church from which the Arabic name Deir el-Medina ("the monastery of the town") is derived.

From 1922-51 a team led by Bernard Bruyère began to excavate the site. Jaroslav Černý, who was on Bruyère's team, went on to study the village for almost fifty years until his death in 1970 and was able to name and describe the lives of many of the inhabitants.This work has resulted in one of the most thoroughly documented accounts of community life in the ancient world that spans almost four hundred years. There is no comparable site in which the organization, social interactions, working and living conditions of a community can be studied in such detail.

The site is located on the west bank of the Nile, across the river from modern-day Luxor. The village is laid out in a small natural amphitheater, within easy walking distance of the Valley of the Kings to the north, funerary temples to the east and south-east, with the Valley of the Queens to the west. The village may have been built apart from the wider population in order to preserve secrecy in view of the sensitive nature of the work carried out in the tombs.

Surviving texts record the events of daily life. Personal letters reveal much about the economy, social relations and family life of the villagers.The settlement was home to a mixed population of Egyptians, Nubians and Asiatics who were employed as laborers (stone-cutters, plasterers, water-carriers), as well as those involved in the administration and decoration of the royal tombs and temples.The artisans and the village were organized into two groups, left and right gangs who worked on opposite sides of the tomb walls similar to a ship's crew, with a foreman for each who supervised the village and its work.

As the main well was thirty minutes walk from the village, carriers worked to keep the village regularly supplied with water. When working on the tombs the artisans stayed overnight in a camp that is still visible today. The workers had cooked meals delivered to them from the village.

Based on analysis of income and prices, the workmen of the village would, in modern terms, be considered middle class. As salaried state employees they were paid in rations at up to three times the rate of a fieldhand, but they often held unofficial second jobs as well. The working week was eight days followed by two days holiday, though the six days off a month could be supplemented frequently due to illness, family reasons and, as recorded by the scribe of the tomb, arguing with your wife or having a hangover.

During their days off the workmen could work on their own tombs, and since they were among the best craftsmen in ancient Egypt who excavated and decorated royal tombs, their own tombs are considered to be some of the most beautiful on the west bank.A large proportion of the community, including women, could at least read and possibly write.

The workers and their families were not slaves but free citizens with recourse to the justice system as required. In principle any Egyptian could petition the vizier and could demand a trial by his peers. The community had its own court of law made up of a foreman, deputies, craftsmen and a court scribe, and were authorized to deal with all civil and some criminal cases, typically relating to the non-payment of goods or services.

The royal building service was usually well run in view of the importance of the work it carried out. Paying proper wages was a religious duty that, if abused, indicated problems in the wider state. The coming of the Iron Age and collapse of empire led to economic instability with inflation a notable feature. The high ideals expressed in the longstanding legal code became strained andprovided the background to worker unrest.

In about the 25th year of the reign of Ramses III, in 1170 BCE, the laborers were so exasperated by delays in supplies they threw down their tools and walked off the job in what comes down to us as the first sit-down strike in recorded history. They wrote a letter to the vizier complaining about lack of wheat rations. Village leaders attempted to reason with them but they refused to return to work until their grievances were addressed. They responded to the elders with "great oaths.""We are hungry," the crews claimed:"Eighteen days have passed this month" and they still had not received their rations. They were forced to buy their own wheat.

After the authorities had heard their complaints they addressed them and the workers went back to work the next day. Several strikes followed as conditions in the village became increasingly unsettled. At times there was no work for fear of enemies. The grain supplies became less dependable. In order to make ends meet, a tomb-robbing culture developed that included fences and even some officials who accepted bribes. Gangs of tomb robbers often tunneled in through the back so they wouldn't break the seal and be exposed. Further complaints by the artisans are recorded forty and fifty years after the initial dispute, during the reigns of Ramses IX and Ramses X.

The French Egyptologist and author Christian Jacq wrote a tetralogy dealing with Deir el-Medina and its artisans, as well as Egyptian political life at the time.

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Photo: Ruins of Deir el-Medina, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

New federal education aid bill: Teachers unions weigh in

Fri, 20 Nov 2015 12:55:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The president of one of the nation's two teachers unions, Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, is lauding lawmakers' agreement on a framework for a new federal education aid bill to replace the controversial Bush-era No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law and its teach-to-the-test mandates.

But while Weingarten looks forward to enactment of the new statute, Lily Eskelsen-Garcia of the National Education Association is more skeptical. She praised lawmakers for dumping NCLB but said lawmakers must still create "a new accountability system," with a wide variety of measurements, to evaluate schools, teachers and students.

A third education union, the School Administrators, had no immediate comment on the new framework. But its president, Diann Woodard, had led her members in a nationwide call-in in April against the mandatory testing and its impact on teachers and administrators.

The statements come after congressional negotiators announced their framework agreement on Nov. 19. They hoped to have an entire education law available for votes just after Congress' Thanksgiving recess. President Obama had no immediate comment on their framework. Neither did the federal Education Department.

NEA, AFT, AFSA and their members lobbied their lawmakers long and hard to change the NCLB and get away not just from its teach-to-the-test, but also its tilt towards yanking funds from public schools and diverting them to private schools, and its insistence that test scores be the sole measure for evaluating - and firing - teachers.

The key provision of the framework replaces the Bush law's mandate that flunks schools unless they meet pre-set "adequate yearly progress" measures with state-crafted programs to measure student progress. State programs must still fulfill student learning goals.

But states would get flexibility in designing their programs and measurements, and students would be subject to less-onerous numbers of tests. The explosion of repetitive testing, in just basic subjects, was a key complaint that students, parents, teachers and unions had with the NCLB.

"We are on our way to a new environment in public education," said Weingarten, a New York City middle school teacher. "The Senate-House conference report" - the final version of the legislation - "resets education policy with a focus on student learning rather than student testing, while maintaining resources to students with the most needs. It creates the potential to bring back the joy of teaching and learning and to really prepare our kids for their future."

"It is time for Congress to usher in a new era in public education that commits America to creating opportunity for all students regardless of background or ZIP code," said Eskelsen Garcia, a Salt Lake City pre-K teacher. "While we appreciate the bipartisan and bicameral work of Congress to finally replace No Child Left Behind, our work isn't done.

"We believe Congress must commit to the success of every student and focus on core goals" in the new education law, she added.

They are "closing opportunity gaps for students" by the new accountability system, dumping the high-stakes testing and its tie to keeping or firing teachers, making states responsible for deciding which tests "best inform instruction and help students learn" and make sure that teachers' voices "are part of the decision making process at all levels: federal, state and local."

The state-created education standards in the compromise Every Student Succeeds Act would " build on state-led innovation in measuring school performance using multiple measures beyond test scores," a congressional fact sheet says.

"States can use other indicators of student achievement and school quality, including student engagement, access to and completion of advanced coursework, and school climate and safety," it says. Under the framework, states must improve student learning in their "lowest-performing 5 percent of schools, high school dropout factories, and schools in which any group of students is consistently underperforming under the state's accountability system, and ensures that all students count for the purposes of accountability."

Schools would still have to evaluate the students "in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, as well as science tests given three times between grades 3 and 12," the framework says. But the reading and math evaluations don't necessarily have to be statewide tests, it adds. If states can create a better evaluation, approved by the federal Education Department, they can use it.

And the legislation bans the Education Department from ordering or giving incentives to states "to adopt any particular set of standards, including the Common Core." The Common Core, a set of standards that education commissioners from 46 states and D.C. originally adopted several years ago, has since become a political lightning rod for the right wing and Congress' ruling Republicans. They charge it imposes national control on local schools.

The framework gives two messages for federal aid to the lowest-performing schools - those the original 1965 federal education law was designed to help the most. Those are also the schools where AFT, in the nation's largest cities, is the dominant union.

In one message, the framework says federal education aid "would supplement, not supplant" local school money.

That was a key problem the NEA had with Congress after Bush's law passed 14 years ago: The promised money for improving student results never showed up. The union and its Michigan affiliates unsuccessfully sued Bush's Education Department for the funds.

In the other, the framework gives states wide discretion and responsibility in choosing which schools and students get aid. And the feds can't tell states and local school districts they must use a "one-size-fits-all" improvement plan - or any other specific plans.

Photo: AFT

High court tackles four important cases involving workers, unions

Fri, 20 Nov 2015 12:47:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (PAI) - From affirmative action to agency fees to whistleblower rights, a spate of worker-oriented cases either wound up before the U.S. Supreme Court in November, or are headed there, with the opposing sides laying out their positions this past month.

And while most of labor focuses on one of the looming conflicts - the agency-fee case Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association - the others are important, too.

That's because the court, and particularly its five-man Republican-named majority, appears poised to drastically rewrite not just labor law, but working conditions in the U.S.

The class action and worker pay case

The first case arose Nov. 10, when the justices heard a confused class-action dispute involving computing how much money Tyson Foods workers lost. The firm did not pay 3,300 of them, at its Storm Lake, Iowa, plant for mandatory time spent putting on and taking off protective gear, such as steel aprons, goggles and heavy work boots.

Ordinarily, a company keeps track, by time cards and clocks, of such donning-and-doffing time, which, under labor law and prior High Court rulings, it must pay for as part of the working day. Though the time involved is often only minutes per day, over the course of a year or more, those minutes add up. And when they're unpaid, lost wages add up, too.

The catch, in Tyson Foods vs. Peg Bouaphakeo et al, is that Tyson didn't add the minutes up. That led both sides, in lower courts, to duel over calculating how much unpaid time workers missed - and if all 3,300 workers should be in one class action suit against the poultry producer for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Lower court judges said "yes."

Tyson's attorney, Carter Phillips, said "no." He told the justices that because the 3,300 workers were split into more than 400 different jobs, each with separate amounts of time for putting on and taking off protective gear, the workers are not a class. If the justices agree, that would leave each worker on his or her own, just as the court majority left 1 million woman workers on their own in the Wal-Mart sex discrimination case several years ago.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg promptly challenged Phillips' claim. "As far as I understand this, there was some donning and doffing that was common... some sanitation and protective gear they all had to wear. And then there was a difference between the knife wielders and the others, but they weren't all that different," she said. "In one case, one wore mesh aprons and in the other case, rubber aprons. It didn't seem to be that wide disparity" between the various workers' time in putting on and taking off the protective gear, Ginsburg added.

Phillips basically ducked her question, even though other justices, with variations, repeated it.

David Frederick, the attorney for the workers, pointed out that Tyson already forced all 3,300 to toil huge amounts of overtime - which FLSA also governs-even before it did not count the time the workers spent on putting on and taking off the protective gear.

"The evidence at trial...by Tyson's own witnesses was the average worker worked 48 hours per week before you even go to any of the counting of the donning and doffing, and that the plant ran on Saturdays 60 percent of the time, which would be a six-day workweek," Frederick told Chief Justice John Roberts.

"And so the evidence, as the jury considered it, found that the vast majority of the class members were already going to be in overtime status, and that's why the fulcrum of this case came down to whether putting on this gear, which was standard sanitary gear for every worker in the class, was compensable (payable) or not," he said.

In short, Frederick said, all the Tyson's workers should be kept together as a class, because they all got shorted pay for donning and doffing protective gear, regardless of how that's computed, or how much pay each individual worker lost.

The AFL-CIO, Chicago-based pro-worker Interfaith Worker Justice and the National Employment Law Project filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the Tyson workers. The IWJ-NELP brief told the justices that letting Tyson get away with its argument would reward employers for breaking the law by not keeping accurate records of time their workers toiled.

The federation said the case is important to all workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act - the wage and overtime law - who are forced to sue when they don't get paid.

"The employer cannot be heard to complain that the damages lack the exactness and precision of measurement that would be possible had he kept records in accordance with the requirements" of the law, Interfaith and NELP said, citing a prior Supreme Court ruling. "To not permit cases to proceed absent exact evidence of damages would reward 'an employer's failure to keep proper records in conformity with his statutory duty.'"

"Tyson's argument is not actually about certification of the class, but about the quality of the evidence at trial concerning hours worked," the AFL-CIO brief said. "Viewed from the perspective of the trial judge deciding to certify a class, the common questions" - about lack of pay for donning and doffing - "predominated because the individual questions did not require wholly individualized proof and could have been efficiently tried in a number of ways."

The Friedrichs agency fee case

Both sides and their supporters have now filed briefs in the most-important workers' case of the session, Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association. The justices have yet to set an argument date for it.

Nine anti-worker California teachers, funded and represented by the radical right so-called National Right to Work Committee, challenged a California law - and a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling - saying that any public worker an union represents, whether the worker is a member or not, can be charged for basic services the union provides, such as contract negotiations and grievances and arbitrations.

In 2014, the five-man GOP-named court majority, in the Quinn case from Illinois, said workers with "dual employers" - namely home health care workers hired by families but paid by states with Medicaid money - did not have to pay such "fair share" agency fees, because they aren't really public workers. In that ruling, Justice Samuel Alito literally invited a challenge to the wider 1977 Abood decision that covers all public workers' agency fees.

The nine dissident teachers challenged the California law that implements that agency fee principle. They argue that ordering them to pay such "fair share fees" - which are less than union dues - violates their 1^st Amendment free speech rights.

If the justices rule for the anti-worker group and its puppets, they would automatically turn every state and local government, from local school boards on up, into so-called "right to work" zones.

Doing so would deprive unions that represent the workers of needed money to do so, while leaving the unions stuck with the responsibility and costs for defending and bargaining for such "free riders," unions defending the agency fee requirement argue.

AFSCME, the Service Employees, both teachers unions, the Fire Fighters, the Communications Workers and other unions with public workers would lose millions of dollars in revenue, crippling them. Depriving unions of money, thus killing them, is RTW's goal.

Arguing for the fair share fees, the California Teachers Association and the American Association of University Professors concentrated on how a negative ruling would upset a careful balance between state interests and worker interests that the court and laws created.

And they discussed the impact not just on the unions, but on the school kids - and the harm to the dissident teachers themselves.

"Whether public employees should be allowed to avoid paying for the representation state law requires unions to provide them is a question debated in the political sphere for many years," the two unions and their allies said. The RTW group and its recruits ask the justices "to end that debate by imposing petitioners' preferred position as a matter of constitutional law.

"To do so, this court must overrule longstanding precedent that extends substantial protections to employees who may disagree with some union positions on political matters,

while at the same time respecting states' authority to accommodate their own compelling interest in efficient management of their institutions and the competing 1st Amendment interests of unions and their members," the California Teachers and AAUP said.

They pointed out that fair share fees cover much more than just "a handful of controversial issues." They also "fund a wide range of other activities that promote the state's compelling interest in providing students a high-quality education and directly benefit nonmembers like petitioners."

Those include education reforms hammered out in collective bargaining, teacher training, "union participation on school health and safety committees that identify school hazards, design student health programs and help plan for emergencies.

Non-members may not always agree with the union, especially on politics, but "they cannot claim they disagree with everything" the union advocates (their emphasis) or "deny they benefit from union activities" to improve pay, working conditions, school safety and bargaining and grievances.

"Providing a constitutional right to a free ride will be far more disruptive to state educational systems than" Friedrichs and her sponsors "are willing to acknowledge. With reduced funds, unions will have fewer resources to devote to implementing school reform measures, participating in health and safety committees, or other collaborative projects."

Friedrichs and the RTW crowd suggest unions could make up the difference by signing up the "free riders," the California Teachers Association and AAUP said. Noting what happened in RTW states, that idea harms states' interests in "collaborative working relationships" with teachers to improve schools, and makes relations nastier, the two retort.

By contrast, in non-RTW states, the union must go to bat for everyone - member or not-in both bargaining and defending members, their brief notes. "In exclusive bargaining states, a union's ability to negotiate on behalf of its own members is conditioned on the union's accepting the obligation to speak on behalf of nonmembers as well, a form of compelled speech that implicates core associational rights...It is difficult to see how this basic framework would survive" if the RTW committee's view "were to prevail," their brief dryly says

In a friend-of-the-court brief siding with the teachers unions, the Fire Fighters pointed out that contracts and laws that let them collect fair share fees also pay for bargaining for adequate fire department staffing, better health and safety programs for Fire Fighters and their communities and other advances that prevent fires, or help contain them when they start.

IAFF also told the justices that fair share fees are constitutional, directly countering the RTW's 1^st Amendment argument.

"IAFF locals in fair share states are better able to secure adequate staffing levels, which protect all employees, because they can properly fund bargaining efforts," the union said. In

one example, "Local 42 in Kansas City, Mo., which also collects fair share fees from non-members, negotiated a collective bargaining agreement providing that fire apparatus shall be staffed in compliance with NFPA standards" of how many Fire Fighters must be on each run.

Aiming squarely at the GOP-named justices - who tossed out the fair share fees in the Illinois case - and at swing Justice Anthony Kennedy, who provided the vital fifth vote then, the IAFF quoted both in explaining the constitutional justification for upholding the fair share fees.

"The court has repeatedly reaffirmed and refined the bedrock 1^st Amendment principles" set forth in the Abood case, which started in Detroit decades ago, IAFF said.

"Justice Scalia, in an opinion joined by Justice Kennedy in all but one part, aptly describes the rationale underpinning Abood, which still is true today: 'Where the state imposes upon the union a duty to deliver services, it may permit the union to demand reimbursement for them; or, looked at from the other end, where the state creates in the non-members a legal entitlement from the union, it may compel them to pay the cost."

Those principles are consistent with the 1^st Amendment, IAFF said.

"As further explained in Justice Scalia's opinion, 'What is distinctive, however, about the free riders who are non-union members of the union's own bargaining unit is that in some respects they are free riders whom the law requires the union to carry - indeed, requires the union to go out of its way to benefit, even at the expense of its other interests.' The interests in promoting labor peace and in preventing free riders are still compelling four decades later."

The whistleblower case

The justices will hear arguments on Nov. 30 on USPS whistleblower Marvin Green's case. Green, who is African-American, says he was "constructively discharged" - in essence forced to quit, which is illegal under labor law - after he filed a whistleblower complaint in 2009.

His complaint arose out of a racial job discrimination claim after he sought a supervisory post in Englewood, Colo. He was turned down, because, he told federal equal employment officials, of his race. USPS later suspended Green for allegedly delaying the mail - a false charge - and the harassment and pressure forced him to quit.

The court must decide how long a whistleblower such as Green has to sue. The Postal Service argues that whistleblowers have 45 days to sue from the time the agency committed the offense - if it did. Green says the time starts from the day he was forced to quit.

"Just as a claim for wrongful termination cannot be brought before an employee has been fired, a claim for constructive discharge cannot be brought until an employee has quit," his lawyer's brief says. "Prior to an employee's resignation no cause of action exists, and any suit brought before resignation will fail to state a claim."

Green's case involving a time limit is similar to that more than a decade ago when the five-man GOP-named majority ruled against Lilly Ledbetter in a sexual pay discrimination case. The justices then said she had 180 days the law allows to sue, but that's 180 days from when her firm, a tire company, broke the anti-discrimination law - 20 years before.

The court majority threw her case out, over the impassioned dissent of Justice Ginsburg. But Congress later passed, and President Obama signed, the Lilly Ledbetter Act, reversing the court and saying any worker could sue within 180 days of learning of past discrimination.

The affirmative action case

In a rerun of a case, the justices thought they had decided several years ago, a woman is again suing the University of Texas, arguing that its "affirmative action" plan discriminates against whites. The court will hear that case on Dec. 9.

The justices said then that Texas' prior plan discriminated against Amy Fisher and told the university to try again. It did, but Fisher says the university's new plan is still "affirmative action" and still discriminates.

The two teachers unions, the AFL-CIO and AFSCME - along with many other organizations and individuals, plus private and public colleges and universities - side with the University of Texas. So does the Obama administration.

Fisher and her allies want to toss out affirmative action and substitute a plan where Texas, and any other university, must accept a guaranteed set percentage of graduating seniors from each state high school. They say that would be race-neutral.

The unions reply that it would be negative.

"Racially diverse classrooms produce long-range benefits because they break the cycle of segregation in neighborhoods, schools, social networks, and occupations. Equally to the point, they demonstrate that by closing the door on racial diversity in schools, we open the door to further racial prejudice and discrimination by perpetuating the racial isolation that breeds such prejudice and discrimination," their brief says.

"Such percentage plans at the higher education level depend entirely on the existence of segregated high schools, which in turn is bottomed on continued residential segregation," the unions' brief responds. "Vestiges of de jure residential segregation by race remain today, intertwined with the country's economic and social life. It is race consciousness, not blindness to race, that drives such plans."

Photo: The Roberts Court, October 2010 Back row (left to right): Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito, and Elena Kagan. Front row (left to right): Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States - The Oyez Project. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.

Today in labor history: Joe Hill ain’t never died

Thu, 19 Nov 2015 12:45:00 +0000

On this day, one hundred years ago, the legendary working-class troubadour Joe Hill. a 33-year-old Swedish immigrant, was executed by a firing squad in the prison yard of the Utah State Penitentiary. He'd been accused on circumstantial evidence of killing a Salt Lake City grocer. Hill's trial was an international causecélèbre, with even President Woodrow Wilson calling for clemency. But the mining bosses were looking for a union activist scapegoat, so he was convicted and shot.

Joe Hill was a militant with the Industrial Workers of the World. The union arranged for his body to be transported to Chicago for the funeral, which was attended by 30,000 mourners. Conveniently, the bulk of the court records of his trial disappeared. It took until 2011 to establish conclusive proof of his innocence (see William M. Adler's 2011 book The Man Who Never Died). Joe Hill's transcendent spirit and stirring songs have been embraced by working people everywhere. "The Preacher and the Slave," "Casey Jones," "Where the Fraser River Flows," and "There is Power in a Union" are just a few of his many enduring songs.

In many places there will be observations of the centenary of Joe's death. Just a few samples:

In Toronto, at the Hirut Restaurant, 2050 Danforth Avenue, on Thurs., Nov. 19 at 7:30 pm. Call 416-556-3513 for more information.

The Joe Hill Centenary with Ross Altman & Friends will take place on Fri., Nov. 20 at 8 pm at Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, Calif. Ross reaches all the way back to the Little Red Songbook, firstpublished in 1910 and never out of print since, to celebrate the music of Joe Hill and the singing Wobblies, the IWW - whose anthem "Solidarity Forever" by Ralph Chaplin is also in its Centennial year. Ross brings to life some of the most colorful characters ever to walk the stage of the American labor movement, including one-eyed silver miner Big Bill Haywood, Rebel Girl Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and of course the bard JoeHill himself. General admission $10, students &seniors $6, Members of Beyond Baroque free.

Voices of Conscience, the social justice chorus of Arbeter Ring/Workmen's Circle SoCal, will offer a special Joe Hilll concert on Sun., Nov. 22, at 2 pm. 1525 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles. Featured performers will be Joanna Cazden, Uncle Ruthie Buell, Eric Gordon, and Ruth Judkowitz. Cosponsored by Jewish Labor Committee Western Region and L.A. Laborfest. Admission: $12 suggested (no one turned away). For further info: (310) 552.2007 or circle@circlesocal.org. Included in the concert will be a musical setting by Ethel Raim of Joe Hill's last poem:

My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don't need to fuss and moan,
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."

My body? Oh, if I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow,
My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my Last and Final Will.
Good luck to all of you,
Joe Hill.

For a great Phil Ochs song, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwKdRodMpWY

Sources: Wally Brooker, "Music Notes for People's Voice," Wikipedia. Click on this site for info about the traveling Joe Hill roadshow: https://www.facebook.com/The-Joe-Hill-Roadshow-joehill100-426997447452407/

Photo: Wikipedia (CC)

SEIU endorses Hillary Clinton

Thu, 19 Nov 2015 12:11:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (PAI) - The Service Employees board voted on Nov. 17 to endorse former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Its decision drew some rank and file flak.

"Hillary Clinton has proven she will fight, deliver and win for working families," SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said in a statement announcing the endorsement. "SEIU members and working families across America are part of a growing movement to build a better future for their families, and Hillary Clinton will support and stand with them. This movement for economic, racial, immigrant and social justice is poised to turn out to vote in November with their families and communities and keep pushing elected officials to deliver once in office."

Henry said the board voted for Clinton after a 1,200-member conference in March, national tele-town halls with 80,000-178,000 participating members, three national member polls and "more than 200 local executive board discussions." She did not disclose the vote.

The SEIU's endorsement is important because of its size - at least two million members - and its activism. It was a key union backing then-Sen. Barack Obama (D) over Clinton in 2008 and its leaders have had frequent entrée to the White House as a result. SEIU is one of four unions in Change To Win.

"Clinton will fight to raise wages and has stood up for the rights of workers to join together in a union," the SEIU board said.

"She has spoken out in support of the Fight for $15 movement on the movement's April 15 national day of action, during the New York wage board fight that resulted in $15 for all fast food workers in the state, for the $15 victories in Los Angeles city and county and again just last week, on Nov. 10, during the biggest day of action yet," it added.

Clinton's also backed child care workers, home care workers, airport workers and other low-wage workers in statements and meetings, the union pointed out, citing reports from its local members.

"Clinton is also a leader on the core issues SEIU members care about in this election, including fighting for commonsense immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship, standing up for voting rights and criminal justice reform that prioritizes ending mass incarceration and supporting and strengthening the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

"Clinton's commitment to quality, affordable healthcare goes back decades to her courageous efforts in 1994 to ensure coverage for all. SEIU members know she will fight hard to strengthen the ACA so we never go backward," the union said.

"I truly believe Hillary Clinton shares our goal of fighting for working people who are trying to provide a good life for our families," said LaDonna Meinecke of Minneapolis, of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, a local union activist whose comments SEIU's blog headlined.

"I had the chance to meet Hillary earlier this year at a small community event and hear her plan for moving our country forward, and it was clear that she stands with us on the issues that matter most to families in Minnesota...I know she will fight tirelessly for working families, and I look forward to doing my part to make sure Hillary is our next President so we can continue to move our country forward."

"I'm very excited about our endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president," said Ann Byrne, a member of SEIU Local 199 and nurse at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. "I'm going to caucus for her, door-knock for her and phone bank for her. As a nurse for 26 years, I know that Hillary Clinton will defend and strengthen the Affordable Care Act so our patients get the care they need."

"Clinton has proven she will fight, deliver and win for working families," said Henry. "SEIU members and working families across America are part of a growing movement to build a better future for their families, and Hillary Clinton will support and stand with them. This movement for economic, racial, immigrant and social justice is poised to turn out to vote in November with their families and communities and keep pushing elected officials to deliver once in office."

But some rank-and-file members disagreed with Henry. And SEIU Local 560, which represents 500 custodial, maintenance, and dining service workers mostly at Dartmouth, backs Sanders. Local President Earl Sweet told his campaign the senator "has always stood up for workers and the middle class, here in New Hampshire and across the country, which is why we're proud to give him our enthusiastic endorsement."

Photo: Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waves to supporters June 13, on Roosevelt Island in New York. Frank Franklin II | AP

Sanders, O’Malley urge Mass. IKEA to recognize union

Thu, 19 Nov 2015 10:53:00 +0000

STOUGHTON, Mass. (PAI) - Workers at the IKEA warehouse in Stoughton, Mass., were forced to strike on Nov. 16, one day after they presented union recognition election cards to their bosses, seeking United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1445 to represent them.

But IKEA, despite a well-deserved reputation in Scandinavia for its pro-worker policies, and despite its own corporate standards, previously hired notorious union-buster Jackson-Lewis to try to kill the organizing drive among the 32 workers in Stoughton.

That sequence drew the attention of Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind.-Vt., and former Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md. They urged IKEA to recognize and bargain with the union. UFCW would represent the Goods Flow In warehouse workers, not workers at the adjacent retail store. Twenty-four Goods Flow In workers signed the cards.

"I love working at IKEA, and I want to make a career here," worker Chris DeAngelo told UFCW's blog. "A union is the best way to work together to live our values and build an even better IKEA. We've gone through a lot at our store, but this is a chance to turn over a new leaf and reset the relationship between IKEA's hard-working men and women and management.

"If IKEA does what is right and chooses to recognize our union, it will show that IKEA respects our right to join a union without fear of retaliation or harassment," he said.

But Jackson-Lewis has apparently engaged in such tactics, Sanders told IKEA's U.S. nationwide director, Lars Petersson. He said such tactics widen income inequality. "Companies that fight workers who wish to bargain collectively are culpable in exacerbating the gap between the rich and poor in America. I know this is not how IKEA USA would like to be considered by the American public. IKEA's vision and values not only allow you to recognize the Stoughton workers decision to unionize, they demand it," he declared.

"For these reasons I was surprised when I heard disturbing reports of anti-worker behavior by IKEA U.S. management. Blatant intimidation plus subtle but effective psychological warfare against workers who wise to unionize have no place within IKEA."

But the anti-union agenda "is no surprise" due to the hiring of Jackson-Lewis, "the pre-eminent union-busting law firm in America," Sanders said. "A good first step would be to immediately sever ties with this firm and the egregious practices it promotes." O'Malley reminded Petersson that IKEA warehouse workers in Maryland just voted on a contract. "I urge you to follow your core values and immediately recognize the (Stoughton) warehouse workers' decision to unionize," he said.

IKEA_Stoughton workers have ended their strike and are back at work. Organizers will continue to #StandWithStoughton until they win their union.

Photo: Alan Hanson, union organizer, Twitter

UBB mine disaster: Blankenship trial's end at hand

Wed, 18 Nov 2015 08:43:00 +0000

BREAKING NEWS - Judge Irene Berger turned Donald L. Blankenship's case over to the jury who began deliberations around 4 p.m., Nov. 16. No verdict had been reached at end of the day by the time the court recessed until this morning. A verdict could come in as early as today or the jury could deliberate for days, even resulting in a hung-jury. The latter two possibilities seem rather unlikely but what is more likely is that a verdict on all three counts will come in within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. People's World will keep our readers posted as news on the Blankenship trial breaks.

CHARLESTON, W.V. -- In a surprising move the defense team for accused coal criminal, Don Blankenship, rested its case Nov. 16 without presenting any witnesses. It had sought last week to Judge Irene Berger to dismiss the case against Blankenship. Closing arguments should begin Nov. 17.

Blankenship was the former CEO of Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch [UBB] Mine at the time when an underground explosion killed 29 miners on April 5, 2010 in Raleigh County, W.V.

This last weekend, I spoke with Dr. Judy Jones-Petersen of Charleston, W.V. whose brother, Edmond Jones, was killed in the 2010 explosion at the UBB mine. Edmond left behind a wife and son to mourn his sudden death. Dr. Petersen has consistently attended the Blankenship trial from its beginning and she gave us invaluably insight into the progress of the trial from the view of a mourning sister.

Dr. Jones seemed confident that the government had put on an excellent case that proved Blankenship's guilt on all counts. She mentioned being particularly impressed with Bill Ross's testimony. Mr. Ross had retired from the Mine Health & Safety Administration [MHSA] and upon his retirement he was coaxed to come to work for Massey to help them improve their relationship with MSHA by instructing their foremen in safe mine practices and by supposedly improving safety in the company's mines.

Ross testified that he had thought he could make a difference, particularly in the area of ventilation, which had been the cause of most of the violations against Massey's UBB mine. He said that Massey's management didn't seem to understand what needed to be done so tried to meet with Blankenship but his recommendations and requests to meet with the company's CEO fell on deaf ears. Ross had even developed a plan to improve conditions but nothing ever came of that plan. Mr. Ross told the court of Massey's seeming lack of intent to improve safety in its drive for non-stop production.

The prosecution witness who spent the longest time on the stand and whose testimony ran into November was Chris Blanchard, former president of Performance Coal. Mr. Blanchard testified that it was well know by management that it was cheaper to pay the fines for safety violations than to improve safety conditions. He testified to management's apparent conspiracy to continue unsafe practices rather than slow production of coal and to hide the mine's lack of compliance with safe standards.

Miners who had worked at the UBB mine testified that the rock-dusting, necessary to prevent mine explosions, was not properly done, leaving the mine vulnerable for a combination of methane gas, coal dust, and a spark that could lead to the kind of massive underground explosion that caused the deaths of 29 miners. The miners testified that their fire-bosses dismissed their requests for rock-dusting because "there wasn't enough time."

It's not known how the jury will decide, but Blankenship's attorneys seem to be saying that they believe that the prosecution has failed to present sufficient evidence to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, Blankenship's guilt on all three charges for which he now stands accused. If convicted on all three charges, Blankenship could face over thirty years imprisonment for conspiracy to violate mine safety standards, impairing government inspectors by covering up hazards to the miners' safety, and making false statements to securities regulators that essentially resulted in securities fraud.

Photo: 29 miners memorial. John Milam/PW

Trumka kicks off anti-TPP drive at town hall meeting in New Hampshire

Tue, 17 Nov 2015 13:17:00 +0000

CONCORD, N.H. (PAI) - It was no coincidence - and he said so - that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka formally kicked off the labor federation's campaign to derail the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) "free trade" pact in Concord, N.H.

That's because New Hampshire is the site of the first presidential primary next year, and the TPP has already become an issue on the campaign trail.

Trumka spoke at a Raise The Wages Summit in the state capital of Concord. It is one of four such forums, all in early primary or caucus states, the AFL-CIO has put together in the run-up to the start of formal voting for nominees for the Oval Office.

A prior Town Hall, in Iowa, the first caucus state, occurred before TPP was finalized and President Obama formally signed it. But even then, enough was known about the trade pact to make workers and their allies dubious.

Obama must send the pact and its implementing legislation to Congress, though he can choose when to do so. Thanks to "fast-track" presidential trade authority, lawmakers can't change the legislation - they don't vote on the TPP itself - and may consider it, with one up-or-down vote, only after limited debate.

Obama contends the TPP has worker rights and other protections in its text. Trumka told the crowd in Concord it doesn't. "We have a responsibility to put real pressure on these candidates and ask them, 'What are you going to do to raise the wages for working families?'" he said. TPP doesn't do that.

"After six long years, the administration finally released the text of the TPP. To our disappointment but not our surprise, it is a bad deal for workers," said Trumka. "It would drive down wages, kill jobs, give corporations special rights, hurt consumers, and jeopardize the public health."

Earlier this year, workers and their congressional allies came within three votes in the U.S. House of killing fast-track, whose defeat would have blocked the TPP and other such job-losing "free trade" pacts, Trumka explained. Only 28 House Democrats joined the huge majority of Republicans in voting to approve fast-track.

But since fast-track enabled the TPP, Trumka said, "Congress must decide to accept or reject it" - the TPP - "once and for all."

Otherwise, he warned, there will be more shuttered factories and more U.S. workers out of jobs, as corporations decamp to the other TPP nations, particularly those with no worker rights and low wages, in pursuit of high profits.

"Unfair trade deals have ripped apart the fabric of our nation. You know it and I know it. We've seen the shuttered factories. We've visited the towns that look like they are stuck in the 1970s. We've talked to the workers who lost everything, only to be told they should retrain in another field. That's why we fought so hard against fast track. We were fighting for the future of the American dream," Trumka declared.

"The release of the TPP text confirmed our worst suspicions: This deal would be a disaster for America. So brothers and sisters, we are going to continue to make our voices heard. We are going to fight like hell against the TPP. And when it comes up for a vote, we are going to kill this bad trade deal once and for all," Trumka stated.

"We are going to stand united and defeat the TPP so we can start investing in working men and women again," said Trumka.

Beating the TPP is just one part of restoring the American dream - and of the AFL-CIO's campaign for its Raise the Wages agenda. Other sections include raising the minimum wage, strengthening and restoring the right to organize, and comprehensive immigration reform that would bring undocumented workers out of exploitative shadows.

Trumka also said the narrow fast-track loss in the House had changed the political landscape: All three Democratic presidential hopefuls now oppose the TPP. And that's where New Hampshire really comes in.

"We have said all along the presidential candidates must explain what they will do to make our economy fairer for working families. That's what we insisted on at our national summit in January, and that's what you are demanding here in New Hampshire today.

"We have also been crystal clear that we do not work for any political party or candidate. We work for working people, plain and simple, because we want the freedom to live better lives, to take care of our families and to improve our jobs and our communities.

"For too long we've worked for the Democratic Party. In this election, we're making the Democratic Party work for us. Heck, even last week's Republican debate included a discussion about inequality," Trumka commented.

"It is clear we are part of a powerful movement at an historic time and you are on the front lines. It starts with us and it starts here in New Hampshire. We're building collective power in the workplace, in the economy and in politics. From now until the New Hampshire primary and beyond, we need to keep up the pressure," he declared.

Even as Trumka spoke, other union leaders joined him and the presidents of the Steelworkers and the Communications Workers, who strongly opposed the TPP when Obama released the text the week before, on Nov. 5: Despite Obama's "promises and reassurances," TPP's "final text is even worse than prior reports predicted. No wonder it was concealed for so long," said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United. Nurses are "particularly appalled" by its continued protection of drug company pricing monopolies and "expansion of the ability of corporate giants to use corporate tribunals to seek to overturn public health and safety laws."

"Americans' fears over how the TPP will tamp down on wages, allow foreign companies to sue governments and create even larger trade deficits due to a lack of currency manipulation controls are very real and justified," said Teamsters President Jim Hoffa.

"And because Congress approved fast-track trade promotion authority earlier this year, there's not a damn thing elected officials can do about it except oppose ratification of this bad deal when it comes to a vote. Officials talked about side deals and special arrangements they say will improve the agreement. But they are unenforceable and won't help protect the jobs of hardworking Americans. That's why there is only one right answer for lawmakers when it comes to TPP: Just say no," Hoffa concluded.

"Proponents of this un-American agreement have no intention of supporting job growth in the U.S. - unless it's the growth of jobs that pay slave wages," Amalgamated Transit Union President Larry Hanley said in a joint statement with NNU the week before.

Teachers President Randi Weingarten said the TPP represents "flawed trade and economic policy that puts corporate special interests above the interests of working people and their communities. At a time when income inequality continues to rise, and working families are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet, this goes in the wrong direction."

And the TPP "looks awfully similar to past trade deals that have paved the way for outsourcing, lifting up multinational corporations at the expense of working families and consumers," added new Electrical Workers President Lonnie Stephenson.

Photo: Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO NOW Blog.

Today in labor history: Mechanics and tradesmen unite in New York City

Tue, 17 Nov 2015 12:40:00 +0000

The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York was founded in 1785 on this date by 22 men who gathered in Walter Heyer's public-house on Pine St. in Lower Manhattan. The Society marked patriotic holidays by carrying banners emblazoned with its slogan "By hammer and hand all arts do stand," echoing the motto of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths. By 1792, the Society had attained a membership of 413, and received a charter of incorporation.

Today, this organization continues to improve the quality of life of the people of New York through its educational, philanthropic and cultural programs, including its Mechanics Institute, The General Society Library, and its century-old Lecture Series. In 1820, The General Society opened one of New York's first free schools as well as the Apprentices Library. The school, which became the Mechanics Institute in 1858, continues to provide tuition-free evening instruction in trades-related education and provides a critical service to improve job opportunities in the building and construction industry. It also provides a trained workforce for the industry. Without a tuition-free education, many of its students would be unable to get the technical education needed to advance in today's environment. The school has over 180,000 alumni.

Each fall, over 350 students enroll in Mechanics Institute programs, including Construction Documents and Design, Electrical Technology, HVAC Systems Design, Plumbing Design, Project Management, Facilities Management and Historic Preservation. Recently, the groundbreaking Building Information Modeling (BIM) program ("BIM for the Trades") was launched.

Founded in 1820, The General Society Library is the second oldest library in New York City and one of three remaining membership circulating libraries. It serves the educational programs of The General Society. It also makes its extensive collections available to other institutions and the public. The book and periodical collections of the Library span two centuries and are suited to both scholarly research and recreational reading. Its archives date back to 1785. Members enjoy access to current fiction, biography, and non-fiction.

The Labor, Literature and Landmarks Series continues a tradition of public lectures that started at the Society in 1837. The Series brings people of diverse interests from the entire New York area into the Library. The Artisan Lecture Series promotes the work and art of skilled master craftsmen, paying tribute to the art of craftsmanship, who speak about the intricacies of their specialized fields and help to ensure that their unique knowledge is understood and carried forth for future generations.

In 1899 The General Society acquired its fifth home, the building at 20 West 44^th St. The façade is a New York City landmark and the building itself is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The library's main reading room soars to a height of three stories and is topped by an impressive skylight. The General Society today is a 501c3 nonprofit organization.

The Society is also home to the John M. Mossman Lock Museum, one of the most complete collections of bank and vault locks in the world, with more than 370 locks, keys and tools dating from 4000 BC to modern times. The museum is open to the public.

Sources: The General Society, Wikipedia, and Modern School.

Photo: Historic logo.

Trans Pacific Partnership deal: Corporations, not nations, call the shots

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 14:20:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - One thing has become clear to worker advocates analyzing the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement: if it is enacted as written, it will give corporations and banks a way to undermine or ignore any and all regulations member nations have put in place to protect consumers and workers.

Under the version of the TPP being promoted by the White House, if investors somehow feel that their "expectations" for profit levels are threatened by a signatory nation's regulations or laws, they could go to an Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) tribunal. The decisions of the tribunal would supersede national laws and could not be appealed.

Through ISDS systems currently being used to enforce trade agreements, corporations have the same power as sovereign governments. Representatives of corporations come before a tribunal, as do representatives of governments. The former attacks and the latter defends regulations.

Observers agree: the tribunals are stacked in favor of corporations and banks.

They consist of three private attorneys who are not accountable to any electorate. More often than not, tribunal members rotate between serving as judges and bringing cases for corporations against governments. Such conflicts of interest are unethical in most legal systems, but ISDS tribunals are not bound by precedents or the opinions of courts.

ISDS tribunals are nothing new. They have been part of almost every international trade agreement since the 1960s, including NAFTA.

The tribunal connected to the proposed TPP is different, however. It has the potential for giving more power to more corporations and banks than any other ISDS in history because the TPP includes more nations than any other trade agreement in history.

Moreover, the TPP comes at a time when corporations and banks are controlling more and more of the global economy.

According to Global Trade Watch, between 1960 and 1990, corporations brought some 50 cases to various ISDS tribunals. However, corporations initiated at least 50 cases each year from 2011-2013; 42 in 2014.

If a tribunal rules against a government, there is no limit to the amount of money it can order the government to fork over to the complaining corporation. Such compensation orders are based on the "expected future profits" an ISDS tribunal figures that an investor would have earned if the policy in question did not exist.

All these policies relate to environmental concerns, energy use, financial regulations, public health protections, transportation development and land use.

Overall, in the past few years, tribunals have ordered the U.S, government to award more than $3.6 billion in "compensation" to investors.

Even when governments win cases, ISDS tribunals often order them to pay up to $8 million toward the tribunal's costs. This adds up and can create a chilling effect on government policymaking and enforcement.

Give-aways to money manipulators

According to President Obama, a central goal of the TPP is to ensure that US-based financial companies are able to sell their services in foreign markets. This has led many experts to be concerned that through the TPP, corporations that manipulate money will be allowed to run amok.

Currently, financial institutions have been reined in by the Dodd-Frank law, which was passed to prevent them from causing another recession like they did in 2008. Among other things, Dodd-Frank regulations make it impossible for a financial institution to become "too big to fail." The rules also make it illegal for banks to use depositors' money in stock market gambles.

Big financial institutions have been trying to shake loose from Dodd-Frank almost from the day the law was enacted. They will have the opportunity to make their wish come true if the TPP passes. They could go before an ISDS tribunal and claim that Dodd-Frank regulations prevent them from making their "expected" profit.

Chances are, an ISDS tribunal would free the money manipulators from any limitations on their operations.

That's why the American Insurance Association, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley have formed the "U.S. Coalition for the TPP."

A long way to go.

The American people can take some hope from the fact that there's a long way to go before the can TPP be enacted.

After six years of secret negotiations, the White House two weeks ago sent a proposed draft of the TPP to Congress, which now has 90 days to study the measure. (The first 30 must be spent consulting with the Administration.)

Then the full trade deal will be open for anyone to review for 60 days, allowing feedback from the public.

Next, the U.S. International Trade Commission has up to 105 days to complete a full review and make recommendations, which is sent to Congress. There, lawmakers will craft a bill to implement the TPP and will have 90 days to vote the bill up or down.

Because of the upcoming presidential elections, lawmakers might be more inclined than usual to act in the public interest in order to win votes. They might greatly modify TPP provisions or defeat it altogether.

Hope springs eternal.

Photo: AFL-CIO NOW blog.

Workers unite across the nation in the Fight for 15

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 15:35:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Hundreds of people gathered on Tuesday afternoon at the Thompson State of Illinois Center here: Demonstrators from various organizations and alliances rallied together in the Fight for 15 action. It was a call for action from the millions of underpaid workers throughout the nation that believe they deserve more than a minimum wage. According to the official Fight for 15 Facebook page, about 2.5 million workers in Illinois make less than $15 an hour. This is partially a product of corporate greed and their inability to respect the right to organize without retaliation.

Many CEO's make up to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, while their workers struggle to survive from paycheck to paycheck. Some of the more vulnerable populations include fast-food employees, child-care, home care, and airport workers, adjunct professors, and students. Demonstrators chanted loudly as energy vibrated throughout the crowd:

"What do we want?"

"Fifteen!"

"When do we want it?"

"Now!"

Several organizers spoke at the rally about the significance of intersectionality in the Fight for Fifteen. Many noting that without the Black Lives Matter movement, or other affiliated organizations, there would not be the same massive following of activists. The speakers were translated into Spanish to accommodate the largely Latino presence -- one that has played an essential role in the creating momentum and supporting the labor unions.

In an exclusive interview with Adriana Alvarez, 22, an official union member and advocate for the Fight for 15, I asked the million dollar question. Do you deserve a 15 dollar minimum wage?

"We do. Being a part of this movement has gotten us more already - before I started with Fight for 15, the management treated us like animals. They would scream at us and degrade us in front of people. Now they can't. Now they actually treat us with respect. They explain something instead of yelling"

When asked if she thought that fifteen dollars an hour was too much for a standard 'burger flipper' to make, she elaborated,

"We all deserve a living wage. We're working, we're not asking for a handout. There are people who have been there for sixteen years that only make 11 dollars and hour, and that doesn't add up."

I inquired further with Adriana about corporate accountability, and whether these multi-billion dollar businesses could ever be trusted to pay their employees a livable wage:

"Corporations are greedy, they want to keep all the profits for themselves while forgetting about the people who actually making their money. We're one year away from election though, we're going to make sure that the politicians hear our voice and listen to what we asking for. We have the power, without our vote they won't win."

The Fight for 15 extends far beyond what some consider "entitlement." Most individuals don't require a degree in mathematics to understand that surviving on such a drastically low wage is nearly impossible. The National Low Income Housing Coalition released an extensive study which displayed a map showing (state by state) how no minimum wage worker can afford a one-bedroom rental unit at Fair Market Rent, working a standard 40-hour work week, without paying more than 30 percent of their income. This last year, lawmakers took it upon themselves to participate in the "Live the Wage" challenge that required them to get by on 77$ a week. What started off as an effort to prove that it was actually possible for low-income earners to survive on such a restricting budget, turned into an eye-opening experience when it became abundantly clear that $7.25 an hour isn't enough to make ends meet.

While the congressmen could easily end their challenge and move forward with their regularly scheduled lives, the real men and women who live at the mercy of minimum wage continue their Fight for 15. As Adriana noted, the election is less than a year away and the working class has sent their message loud and clear; no person, regardless of societal status, deserves to live in poverty.

Photo: Michelle Zacarias/PW

Walmart workers to fast 15 days at Walton family homes

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 14:45:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Walmart workers and their allies announced Nov. 12 at a press conference here that they will "fast for $15 and full time" in front of the homes of the chain's owners. The fasts and many other actions will take place during the 15-day period leading up to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving - traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year.

By declining top join in the national pastime of eating on Thanksgiving Day, Walmart workers intend to bring attention to the poverty wages they receive from their Walmart multi-billion dollar employer. Their salaries, they say, often don't cover the costs of a nutritional lunch.

The 15-day fast is being organized by the Organization United for Respect at Walmart, OUR Walmart, a worker-led group.

"OUR Walmart's purpose is to help Walmart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Walmart over labor rights and standards," a statement on the group's website reads.

"While shoppers get ready to cook their Thanksgiving feasts and take advantage of Black Friday deals, Walmart is still putting profits over their own workers who are unable to buy basic groceries," Said Tyfani Walker at the press conference. Faulkner is a former customer service manager at a Walmart store in Sacramento, Calif . "That's why we're bringing our fight to Walton estates around the country so that they can see the corporate greed that keeps our dinner tables empty."

Andrea Dehlendorf, the co-executive director of OUR Walmart, explained that stories of hungry Walmart workers and their families are far too common, and that they plan on taking the fight right to the doorstep of the Waltons. Dehlendorf said there are at least 22 organizations supporting the movement, along with more than 1,000 people who have signed up to take part in the fasting so far.

She said the number grows each day as Walmart workers, and their supporters, learn of the fasting. There will be varying degrees of fasting, with the core group sustaining themselves with liquids for the 15 days.

Jasmine Dixon, a Walmart worker and mother of two from Denver Colorado, recounted her struggles on her job. Dixon said she has to go to the food bank constantly, and that she was tired of being mistreated on the job.

She said her story is not unique at Walmart and that the protests would bring "this struggle to working mothers everywhere."

Denise Barlage, a nine-year worker who was fired for speaking out at the chain's store in Pico Rivera, Calif., described how her store, a majority of whose workers were Latina women, was closed down due to their protests for better working conditions.

Nancy Reynolds, a Walmart associate in Merritt Island Florida, is petitioning for a 10 percent employee food discount at Walmart. Reynolds explained that due to her diabetes she would not be able to participate in the fast, but was doing her part through the petition.

Rev. Michael Livingston, a church minister and supporter of the movement, said, "There's the Walmart we see on TV commercials, and then there's the real Walmart... Its hard work to be poor. This just shouldn't be what's happening in our country. Something is fundamentally wrong... Walmart has chosen to put profits over people. They [Walmart] have done well economically and its time they do well by their workers."

On Nov. 20 #Fastfor15 will mobilize outside of the Walton home in New York City, and on Nov. 24h they will mobilize outside the Walton home in California. For those that want to support the protests they can visit www.protestBlackFriday.com.

Today in labor history: 113-day strike against GM in 1945

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 13:47:00 +0000

Seventy years ago, from November 21, 1945,* until March 13, 1946 (113 days), the CIO-affiliated United Automobile Workers (UAW), organized 320,000 hourly workers in 96 plants to launch a nationwide strike against the General Motors Corporation. It was "the longest strike against a major manufacturer" that the UAW had yet seen, and it was also "the longest national GM strike in its history," according to labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein.

As director of the UAW's General Motors Department, i.e., coordinator of union relations with GM,Walter Reuther put forth the demands of the strikers: A 30 percent increase in wages and a hold on product prices.

The GM strike was one of a number of large-scale labor actions in the immediate aftermath of World War II, when labor generally endorsed a "no strike" pledge to aid the war effort. Pent-up demands now emerged into the open. Reuther arguedthat the high productivity of modern industrialism offered the potential for permanent prosperity for the American people. But instead the UAW saw GM ownership using their power to maximize profits, creating "planned scarcity" (therefore driving up product prices) while cutting jobs. Such a system caused a cycle of problems, among them that Americans could not even purchase the limited goods they produced.

An anemic economy meant that social needs would go unaddressed, and infrastructural progress, such new schools and hospitals, roads, bridges, and homes, would not be affordable in an austerity economy. Walter Reuther's statement in 1944 explained his central thesis: He said, "'It is my determined belief that there can be no permanent prosperity...so long as the controls of production remain in the hands of a privileged minority."

In such an economy, corporate elites exerted great power over price controls, wage settings, and overall decision making. Reuther and the UAW advocated the democratization of production, which showed through his demands in the UAW-GM bargain.

The union demanded a 30 percent increase in hourly wages and a halt on automobile prices, which GM rejected, arguing that they couldn't afford the wage increase and needed to control the right to determine pricing. Reuther's subsequent proposal allowedfor a smaller increase in wages if GM wouldopen its books for inspection. GM hardened its stance, going a step further by declaring Reuther's demands to be "un-American and socialist."Reuther had received similar criticisms in the past.

The possibility for success declined by the beginning of the year 1946, when the United Steelworkers and the United Electrical Workers accepted 17.5 percent wage increases. In the final contract with GM, UAW workers agreed to a raise of 18.5 cents an hour (17.5 percent), paid vacations, and overtime. The union gained no role in determining product pricing.

Although the strike was only partially successful, it did point the way toward the normalization of a decent working-class standard of living, with price controls geared toward maintaining the economic situation of the nation as a whole in the most socially beneficial way, honoring the sacrifices Americans made to defeat fascism.

In part owing to Walter Reuther leadership of this long strike, he was made president of the UAW in 1946. The decades from the late 1940s until the mid-1970s are seen as the apogee of "middle-class" success, when union density rose to its highest level, and solid union contracts, combined with reforms such as Medicare and expanded voting rights, guaranteed a better future for our children.

*The Solidarity Forever 2015 Labor History Calendar cites Nov. 13 as the start date.

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Photo: Wikipedia (CC)

PW in the streets: Do fast food workers deserve $15?

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 10:32:00 +0000

The #FightFor15 movement had a national day of action on Nov.10, calling for supporters and workers from across the country to mobilize and demand a raise in the minimum wage and the right to unionize on the job. The debate over raising the wage has been making the rounds in the news, with politicians weighing in.

Recently, Republican and presidential hopeful, Ben Carson, said that raising the minimum wage would actually lead to more joblessness. Donald Trump went on record saying he would not be in favor of raising the wage.

Although their answers aren't surprising, the two candidates popularity with certain sections of the population demonstrates that maybe everyone isn't on the same page in seeing the importance of all workers have a livable wage and the right to unionize. Although the movement has had some victories in various cities over the past year, there's still a long way to go.

People's World took it to the streets, asking the question, "Do fast food workers deserve $15 an hour and the right to unionize?" Check out the video below to see what people had to say!

Video: Chauncey K. Robinson, Rossana Cambron, & Earchiel Johnson.

Photo: AP

Fight for $15 comes to Palm Coast, Florida

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 14:37:00 +0000

PALM COAST, Fla. - In one of Florida's newer retiree communities, activists rallied Nov. 10 in support of the national day of action for the Fight for $15.

Team Flagler (Flagler County, Fla.), part of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida, held a sign calling for a $15 minimum wage and the right to form a union at a busy intersection in Palm Coast (30 minutes north of Daytona Beach). They were joined by other Democratic activists, retired union members and representatives from the Volusia/Flagler AFL-CIO.

One of the organizers of the rally, Sheila Zinkerman, said "No one that is working 40 hours a week should be living in poverty." One retiree remarked, "Times sure have changed. You used to be able to work full-time and provide for your family AND get healthcare and a pension. Now folks are just fighting to survive."

The day of action did not end there. Activists from the Volusia/Flagler AFL-CIO also collected a community survey about local jobs and wages from Daytona Beach locals and leafleted local fast food restaurants and retail stores with "15 Reasons for $15."

When asked why the local labor council was engaging in the Fight for $15 National Day of Action, Field Representative Yennifer Mateo said, "Working 40,50,60 hours a week should provide enough for people to not need assistance like food stamps and Medicaid. Why people work so hard and struggle to feed their family makes no sense, especially when those companies they work for make billions and get crazy tax breaks."

See video and from the rally below.

Photo: Joshua Leclair/PW

Thousands across the nation march in “Fight For 15 NOW!” picketlines

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 14:06:00 +0000

BALTIMORE - Hundreds of low-wage workers --- African American, Latino, and white --- marched on a picket line in the rain outside the Amazon Fulfillment Center, here, Nov. 10, chanting "Fight, fight, fight for 15 NOW!"

Sponsored by the Baltimore AFL-CIO, many unions and community organizations, it was one of hundreds of "Fight for $15 Day of Action" protests across the nation.

Flor Vargas, a housekeeper who earns $9 an hour said, "I work every day to support my family but I just can't get ahead, even earning more than the minimum wage. All of my daily living expenses keep going up but not our pay. I think Baltimore workers deserve a $15 minimum wage."

The current minimum wage in Maryland is $8.25 per hour --- one dollar higher than the federal minimum wage. In 2014, the Maryland General Assembly raised the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour but it will not take effect until 2018.

Armeta Dixon, Vice President of Local 1199 Service Employees International Union, responsible for Long Term Care Facilities in Maryland and the District of Columbia was greeted by a steady stream of hospital and health care workers who arrived on a yellow school bus to join the picketline. Local 1199 distributed yellow plastic ponchos to the crowd picketing in the rain. Dixon told the People's World, "Amazon is a symbol of corporate greed. The fact that they pay more than the minimum wage is a good thing but it is still not a living wage. Even if you are earning $13 an hour, you still need a second job to support yourself and your family. We need higher pay to live."

Maryland and Baltimore City gave Amazon $43 million in "tax incentives" to open the "Fulfillment Center" here. Most of the jobs provided at the facility are part time offering low wages with no benefits and no guarantee of full time employment.

Cynthia Murray was wearing her green "Our Walmart" T-shirt as she marched with other Walmart workers employed at Walmart's store in Laurel, Maryland. She has been an employee of Walmart for fifteen years.

"We want a $15 minimum wage and full-time hours," she told the People's World. "I love my co-workers. They are like family. That's why it is important to raise the wages for all of us. I see some workers on payday. They may be able to pay the rent but can't pay for food. And they work for the richest company in the world." Walmart, with 11,500 stores in 28 countries, reported gross profits of $130 billion for the 12 months ending July 31, 2015. Yet Walmart CEO Doug McMillon groused that raising the chain's minimum wage is eating into profits.

Walmart, she said, just recently raised it's minimum wage to $9 an hour. "When they did that, other companies followed suit. We got raises for half a million workers. It is our organizing across the country. We won changes in the company's pregnancy policy for women workers," she added, and also a policy called "Open Available Shifts" Employees who have worked only one day in a week can check a bulletin board for days available in other departments and tell the manager "I need that job," she said.

Walmart workers, she said, will stage another "Black Friday" protest the day after this coming Thanksgiving to press their demand for higher pay.

John Bullock marched with a sign, "Fight for $15 NOW." He is a Political Science teacher at Towson University and a candidate for Baltimore City Council. "I'm here in solidarity with the workers," he said. "Yes, I earn more than the minimum wage. But everybody deserves a living wage. It is hard to support yourself and your family even if the minimum wage was $15. We are a nation of working poor. People work full time and they are still poor. And the corporations? They are doing well. They can pay their workers better. I love this movement. These are people struggling to correct the problem."

Photo: Tim Wheeler/PW

Turncoat Missouri state legislators slammed on anti-worker vote

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 11:15:00 +0000

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (PAI) -- Missouri's turncoat state legislators - four Republican representatives who voted against right-to-work in this year's regular assembly session, then changed their vote to support a veto override of the anti-union, anti-worker legislation - each accepted from hundreds to thousands of dollars in voluntary campaign contributions from union members before showing their true colors.

"It's the height of hypocrisy for these legislators to accept voluntary contributions from hardworking union members and then turn their backs on the members who made those contributions," said Mike Louis, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO. "It's unconscionable to think they would accept these contributions."

One of the worst examples is Robert Cornejo of St. Peters - who not only accepted $6,300 in union campaign contributions, but bragged about it in a venomous e-mail exchange with a member of Bricklayers Local 1, who had e-mailed Cornejo's office to chastise him for changing his vote.

"I received more in campaign contributions from the unions (who received out of state money from the National and International Brotherhoods) than any Koch money (zero)," Cornejo wrote, referencing the billionaire Koch brothers - right wing Kansas City oil barons-and their dark money political influence.

Cornejo's campaign may not have received money directly from Koch brothers, but he certainly benefits from their money. The Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is advertising for Cornejo on KMOX radio asking listeners to "thank him" for turning his back on Missouri's working families.

Despite Cornejo and the other three turncoats, enough Republicans stuck with workers - and all of the legislature's Democratic minority - to uphold Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of right-to-work, which workers and their allies call right-to-work-for-less.

These are the union contributions Cornejo accepted between July 8 and Sept. 14, two days before the veto session:

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen - $300
Glaziers Missouri PAC - $1,000
Fire Fighters Local 2665 - $1,200
Missouri Fraternal Order of Police - $300
Missouri State Council of Fire Fighters $500
Teamsters Local 41, 54 and 618 - $500 each
Teamsters Local 688 - $1,500.

The next closest turncoat in taking union contributions and then voting to override the RTW veto was Rep. Dan Shaul, R-Imperial. He received a total of $2,600 in July and August from the very unions and union workers he voted against on Sept. 16:

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen - $300
IBEW PAC - $300
Teamsters Locals 41, 541, 618 and 688 - $500 each.

In an act of purest deception, Rep. James Neely, R-Cameron, accepted a $750 donation from Sheet Metal Workers Local 2 on Sept. 15 - the day before he voted to override the governor's veto. Combined with $300 Neely accepted from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, he received a total of $1,050 from unions.

And Rep. Randy Pietzman, R-Troy, accepted only one union contribution: $300 from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. That's still too much considering his vote.

"It's shameful," the AFL-CIO's Louis said. "These legislators should return these voluntary contributions to the hardworking union members."

Tim Rowden is Editor, St. Louis Labor Tribune

Photo: St. Louis Labor Tribune, Facebook.