The UAW IS NOT Responsible for GM or Ford or Chrysler

Blaming the union and its membership (um, I mean WORKERS here) is absolutely ridiculous.

Emptywheel has an excellent post up right now on this that deserves a closer look:

What the AP Left Out about the UAWBy: emptywheel Saturday November 15, 2008 1:42 pm

21diggs digg it

The AP has an article reporting that Ron Gettelfinger, head of the UAW, says the union will not make any more concessions to keep the Big Three in business. I guess the editor cut a big chunk--because the article obviously falls short of explaining why the UAW is taking this stand. Here's what the AP left in:

''The focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract,'' Gettelfinger told reporters on a conference call, noting the labor costs now make up 8 percent to 10 percent of the cost of a vehicle.

''We have made dramatic, dramatic changes and the UAW was applauded for that,'' he said.

Instead, Gettelfinger blamed the problems the auto industry is suffering from on things beyond its control -- the housing slump, the credit crunch that has made financing a vehicle tough and the 1.2 million jobs that have been lost in the past year.
''We're here not because of what the auto industry has done,'' he said. ''We're here because of what has happened to the economy.''

And here's what the AP didn't report (I'm sure it was just an oversight, really).

In its contract last year, the UAW made painful concessions, adopting a two-tier wage structure, such that new employees make just $12 to $15 an hour. The move is projected to bring the American manufacturers in line with their Japanese rivals' non-union labor costs in the near future.

In addition, the union has taken responsibility for providing retiree healthcare, thereby eliminating one of the last remaining competitive disadvantages for the American manufacturers' unionized workforce as compared to their Japanese rivals.

With these agreements, the UAW has managed to save jobs, while still providing the superior labor force that leads most segments (big PDF, see page 10-11) in terms of the most efficient plants measured in hours per vehicle.

The UAW's workers have made deep concessions to ensure American-owned auto industry remains competitive with its foreign competitors. Now that the American-owned manufacturers have eliminated some of the structural disadvantages that gave foreign competitors a market advantage, it would be a terrible waste for its country not to do what's necessary to sustain American manufacturing though this tough financial period.

There. Now it tells a more complete story.

I actually discussed the Media's anti-union bias yesterday after watching Andrea Mitchell and Tom Brokaw shilling for the right wing on Meet the Press. Here's what I had to say yesterday:

I don't normally watch the Sunday talk shows, they just end up being so damn insulting to my intelligence. But for some odd reason I started watching it this morning and no, I wasn't disappointed, it completely insulted my intelligence and that of everyone else who happened to have the misfortune of listening.

Andrea Mitchell decided on a whim to bring up the Employee Free Choice Act, but of course, she used the Right Wing Talking Points, only to be re-enforced in those wingnut talk points.

Mitchell: ...The labor unions will be asked to make some kind of concessions, and what the uaw leaders said in an unusual press conference only yesterday was we’ve made enough concessions. So, as you point out there is the clash, the ability to organize, card check is the short term for it.

Brokaw: Without a secret ballot

Mitchell: without a secret ballot, is a BIG concession to labor. and that is gonna be one of the the early fights in this congress. And Barack Obama is going to have to make a choice on all these things as to whether he can find ways around it. And can answer the economists question as to why Toyota is successful, which is producing American jobs it’s just that their not union jobs.

Okay, I can answer that for you Andrea and let me put it into a way that your little mind can understand:

Toyota competes with GM and Ford for labor, assembly line work and precision assembly workers. Because they compete in the same market as GM and Ford and Chrysler, they have to pay the same wages. However, their benefits are not as good as those of GM, Ford and Chrysler. In fact, Toyota doesn’t provide a pension, health care to retirees and a number of other incentives that the unions which you hate have secured for their membership over YEARS and YEARS of work. But if you want to toss that out the window and ask why doesn't GM just declare Bankruptcy and gut all of their retirees pensions, health care and agreements with their employees, then Andrea, you also need to ask yourself what happens to all of those people? What happens to the pensioner who has no income or health care?

Toyota and Honda do not play on equal footing with GM and Chrysler and Andrea and Brokaw should know that. See, I think they do, they just don't really care. It's not like the economy is hurting them or that NBC is just going to turn off their spigot.

And Tom, let me also explain something else to you, something that you obviously don’t understand.

The Employee Free Choice Act makes it possible for EMPLOYEES to CHOOSE an election or CHOOSE to sign their card and leave it to that. Right now, it’s up to the BOSS and NOT the EMPLOYEE. And there is no SECRECY in today’s standards because the Boss gets to know who the employees are that have signed their cards and want a union.

But what you and Andrea also ignored as a concept is that organizing a union isn’t nearly as important as having a way to get employers to the table to negotiate. The Employee Free Choice Act provides for stiff penalties for employers who ignore the bargaining rights of their employees. I think this is what really is the heart in this fight. It's not that employees can organize, it's that the employers who screw with the results face actual penalties. There are penalties now, but it takes forever and the results of the penalties take YEARS to be realized if ever.

Despite what the rightwing says or lies about in terms of workers and unions, it is still the policy of the United States of America to ENCOURAGE UNIONIZATION:

National Labor Relations Act

The denial by some employers of the right of employees to organize and the refusal by some employers to accept the procedure of collective bargaining lead to strikes and other forms of industrial strife or unrest, which have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce by (a) impairing the efficiency, safety, or operation of the instrumentalities of commerce; (b) occurring in the current of commerce; (c) materially affecting, restraining, or controlling the flow of raw materials or manufactured or processed goods from or into the channels of commerce, or the prices of such materials or goods in commerce; or (d) causing diminution of employment and wages in such volume as substantially to impair or disrupt the market for goods flowing from or into the channels of commerce.

The inequality of bargaining power between employees who do not possess full freedom of association or actual liberty of contract and employers who are organized in the corporate or other forms of ownership association substantially burdens and affects the flow of commerce, and tends to aggravate recurrent business depressions, by depressing wage rates and the purchasing power of wage earners in industry and by preventing the stabilization of competitive wage rates and working conditions within and between industries.

Experience has proved that protection by law of the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively safeguards commerce from injury, impairment, or interruption, and promotes the flow of commerce by removing certain recognized sources of industrial strife and unrest, by encouraging practices fundamental to the friendly adjustment of industrial disputes arising out of differences as to wages, hours, or other working conditions, and by restoring equality of bargaining power between employers and employees.

Experience has further demonstrated that certain practices by some labor organizations, their officers, and members have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce by preventing the free flow of goods in such commerce through strikes and other forms of industrial unrest or through concerted activities which impair the interest of the public in the free flow of such commerce. The elimination of such practices is a necessary condition to the assurance of the rights herein guaranteed.

It is declared to be the policy of the United States to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions to the free flow of commerce and to mitigate and eliminate these obstructions when they have occurred by encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection.

So, Andrea and Tom, please understand that not only are you two shills for the anti-union anti-worker establishment fronted by the likes of Hannity, Limbaugh and McCain, but you two also don't seem to know your asses from a hole in the ground.

Employee Free Choice is Good For The Economy BECAUSE it is good for workers, unless of course you don't think workers are part of the economy or deserve to be represented by a union, a union of their own choosing.

Why does the Media hate workers so much? And worse, why are union production crews and writers continuing to spill out this garabage when in the end, they know it's garbage? If you're producing CBS, NBC, ABC or any other cable or network news and YOU are a union member, can you just think a minute before you write for a teleprompter anything that's anti-union and anti-worker garbage? Your brothers and sisters of the UAW would appreciate it.

Hell, I'd appreciate it.

Honoring Workers with a Cooler and Pop

Don't get fooled by McGovern's anti- Employee Free Choice Act ad's during the debate tonight

Wow, the union avoidance firms are spending millions against the Employee Free Choice Act, tonight they are digging even deeper in their wallet's using their newest front man, turncoat George McGovern, to spread their misleading venom onto the American public.

I believe the ad will be featured in the following states:
Senatorial election states :MN, NH, MS, NC, OR
Swing states: LA, KY, ME

Here's the YouTube video

From Michael Whitney, at the Oxdown Gazette:

Don’t Be Fooled Tonight

In August former Democratic Presidential candidate George McGovern wrote a fretful op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in which he cautioned "fellow" Democrats against supporting the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier for workers to form unions. At the time Ian Welsh concluded McGovern was "out of step" with mainstream views.

Tonight McGovern will cross yet another line at the behest of business interests - during the Presidential debate, an ad featuring George McGovern will air in which he "condemns his own party" for supporting legislation that makes it easier for workers to join unions. McGovern's ad is part of a $120 million campaign by business groups and wealthy special interests who are trying to confuse & divide pro-worker leaders who support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Don't be fooled. Here's why.

First things first. McGovern is the *only* major Democratic figure who doesn't support the Employee Free Choice Act. Every single Democrat in the Senate and all but two in the House voted for the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007, excluding Tim Johnson, who was hospitalized. Even Joe Lieberman joined the Democratic caucus on this vote, and 1 Republican Senator and 13 GOP House members supported it as well. McGovern is virtually alone in his opposition to this bill.

Second, McGovern's claim - that the Employee Free Choice Act takes away "secret ballots" for union elections - is not true. The Employee Free Choice Act gives workers the choice to form a union, taking away businesses' veto power on the matter. Basically, once 50% +1 of workers in a workplace say they want a union, they get their union if the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law. But today, even if 100% of workers want a union, the employer can veto it. Rick Perlstein explains the situation well, via economist Dean Baker:

"The only change with the Employee Free Choice Act is whether card check recognition is at the discretion of the employer of the worker. In other words, it changes absolutely ZERO about whether the right of workers to organize is determined by secret ballot or not. The only thing it changes is who gets to decide the manner of certification, workers or employers."

Why is it a good thing if it's easier for workers to form unions? Take a look around. Do you think it's any surprise that the worst economic crisis in decades comes when the fewest workers are organized in unions?

When workers are able to form or join a union, workplaces across the country are more fair, giving people the chance to earn better wages and benefits - and protecting against excesses like we're seeing in corporate America today.

Look at what kind of a difference unions make:

• Union members earn 30% more than non-union workers.
• Workers in unions are 59% more likely be covered by employer-provided health insurance.
• A large union presence in an industry or region can raise wages even for non-union workers.
• Patients suffering heart attacks have a 5.5% greater chance of survival if their nurses are union members.

For months now, business groups like the one running McGovern's ad have poured literally tens of millions of dollars into 8 Senate races and national TV advertisements, even hiring some guy to dress up as Death and chase Senate candidates around their campaign events. This is for whom George McGovern now speaks.

Wealthy interests are running scared that workers can soon have their voice at work. The Employee Free Choice Act will restore the Middle Class and bring balance back to our country - something these groups just can't stand.

So, don't be fooled tonight - George McGovern and the Employee Freedom Action Committee speak only for themselves and their wealthy funders, not for anyone else in the country. The remainder of the Democratic Party, and a good chunk of the GOP, supports Free Choice for workers. And in January, we'll have the chance to make that choice.

Home Depot needs unions, the Employee Free Choice Act and a labor relations firm

I took a look at the RSS feed which I got from the US Chamber Of Congress, this one searches the term "employee free choice" when it's posted on blogs, while the organization is vehemently against The Employee Free Choice Act they have given me a great RSS feed. Thanks US Chamber Of Commerce.

So one of the latest blog entries which used the term was by one of a a pair of labor management experts who run a blog about many issues at hand, The Contended Cows Blog, it's actually a great read. When checking their actual web page, The Contended Cow, I read that they are in the employee relations business, and their aim is to create a great workplace for employees to make better returns for the company. Well I certainly can agree with that, they have a ton of info, and while they might not be favorable to unions, I really don't see much against them.

But, I was a bit taken aback by the same old rhetoric used against the Employee Free Choice Act which I see on less scrupulous sites, the misinformation which is being perpetrated by many union avoidance firms around the net which state that the Bill will "take away secret-ballot" elections for workers wishing to join a union. That's just not true, I really wish they didn't play into that BS. At a quick glance of their site, it really seems that they sincerely want to create good jobs for workers, have good workers for the employers and have a means to retain those employees.

So I read through the article, which was written by Bill Catlette, I would guess is 1/2 of the Contended Cows, and while some of it isn't exactly clear in the message in which the author is trying to convey, the part that Bill made clear is that he is opposed to the Employee Free Choice Act and unfortunately in his explaining that he used the "scripted" untruths about the bill, I'm saddened as this looks like a blog I would really like to hang around, so here's what he said in the article entitled "Employee Free Choice Act isn’t Free, Fair, or Necessary":

The proposed legislation would overturn a 43 year old system in which union representation elections are conducted via a federally overseen secret ballot process, and replace it with a less formal “card check” procedure where the rules are enforced not by an unbiased federal representative, but a decidedly partisan union organizer. In essence, it is designed to do one thing and one thing only - to make it easier for labor unions to shore up their shrinking membership rolls, ‘er bank accounts.

And continues...

As one who for thirty years has been more than a casual student of employee relations, I can attest with some certainty that there is nothing about this bill that is good for American business or its employees. Moreover, as with many of the other labels (e.g., conservative, liberal, values voter) that seem to float unchallenged through our conversation these days, I am totally and completely perplexed by the name of this bill. How in the world can something that actually reduces freedom and eviscerates a scrupulously fair process be known as “employee free choice?”

So I had to reply, and it gave me a chance to explain why Home Depot could use a union

Let's be realistic, it would enormously benefit American employees and as far as the spin-doctored idea of "losing freedom", the Bill actually would let the workers decide if they would like a "secret ballot" election. Obviously the current system is completely in favor of the employers and is the cash cow for quite a few law firms who rely on "the fear of a unionized" work force to make a living. The true difference is that those union avoidance law firms would need to find new areas to make themselves needed. As far as helping American companies, it sure would, imagine if we had some more people with a little disposable income, that's a huge help for businesses, maybe people could actually afford to buy more stuff, consumerism at it's best.

Plus there is a huge benefit to have a work force that has something to work for, like keeping a good union job as opposed to a the fly by night minimum wagers who couldn't care less.

Take for instance the local Home Depot, where there is no union and it has a huge "us against them" worker attitude, the last time I shopped in the store I needed a small part for a shelving system, now without delving into the "if it were a mom and pop" there would have been an employee who went into a back room and came back to me within 2 minutes with the parts needed part of my story, lets focus on what happened.

I walked into the store, around 7:00PM, noticed there was a lot of people on line, around 12 with all sorts of stuff to purchase, with only one cash register opened, that's fine, I know the policy of big box stores, if they spent all that time shopping and they have no alternatives they will wait forever if they have to, but lets continue, I went to the area that the shelves are stored and noticed that the shelving I use was in short supply, sorta like Home Depot was phasing it out, which would be a shame because I see the same shelving in stores all over the place, so I have been in this store for around 15 minutes already, locating exactly where the shelving is as they tend to move stuff around frequently, and notice that the pieces I need are not displayed with the shelving, so I look around and see a worker and I ask the fellow if he could help me and I was told immediately that it was not his section and I need to push an assistance button located every 5 racks or so and wait.

I waited, then I waited some more, having been in the store for over a 1/2 an hour I was kinda getting a little peeved, so I grabbed a young fella and asked him if the button thing actually works and he said "it's supposed to" and explained that if the customer service personnel isn't extremely busy they are to stock shelves in different departments, that sounded fine as I can understand not paying someone for nothing, but if that's the case, make sure the button system works AND make sure you have employees who are willing to do what is needed to attend to the customers needs. I of course asked him if he knew where I could find the part needed, he said that they only let him learn a few aisles and he stated that he wanted o learn some more, but it was against their policy. I asked the kid if he was in a union, he said that Home Depot had one, the managers union, and I laughed, I told him not to mention the word or he would lose his job and he told me he didn't care as they were only being payed a touch above minimum wage and were treated like garbage. He did however find the person who was supposed to be covering the area and then he came over and did not have a clue what I was asking for, he said that maybe I should go to the "hardware" section and seek assistance. Now I'm in Home Depot, a bit angry for the fact that I had already spoken to 3 employees and been in the store for about 45 minutes already, I started making my 1/4 mile trek to the hardware section.

Once in the 'hardware section" I started searching for assistance, aside from the 3 people who asked me for assistance, I wound up figuring after roaming around the 3 aisles of 'hardware' that there was no store employees at all in the section, now it's more than an hour, I decide that I'm a little more than peeved at this point and noticed a desk in the middle of the store which would likely have someone who could get me assistance in a matter of seconds with a phone call, I approached and noticed that the fellow just sitting there BS'ing on the phone, yes he was laughing away, was a part of their management team.

Surely when seeing a customer heading towards him, he would end the call ASAP, but NO, he just waved his hand up with 2 fingers pointing up and mouthed the word "2 seconds" and gave a nod of assurance that he would be right with me. I would guess that his actions are supposed to have me feel as if I'm a friend that should understand his neglect and not a cash paying customer, when I was a kid working in stores, the customer came first, but I guess like pricing merchandise that went the way of the dinosaur too.

Eventually after about 3 minutes, Mr. Manager had decided he laughed enough and hung up the phone and asked me "What do you need?", I said I needed some help finding a certain part, he stated assuredly "I know exactly what you need and where to find it". I was thrilled and said lets get it and he said that he was busy, I guess someone need to keep the seat warm at the Home Depot desk, and that would get someone to meet me in the aisle immediately. There was a call over the store PA system for someone to come to my aid so I made the trek back to "hardware".

I was thrilled, not only did the store have it, but someone was going to help me right away, it may have taken an hour and a half, but if I got the parts I needed it was worth it.

I wait, and wait, and wait some more, it's now past 8:30 and I've been in Home Depot almost 2 hours when an employee walks down the aisle, i think "here she is, I'll be out of here in a few minutes, once again I'm disappointed, she doesn't work in the section and she is on her break, BUT she goes the extra mile and knows exactly where the fellow who works the aisle is and feels really bad for what I've been going through, she tells me it's nothing new and it happens all the time, she further explains that they don't even want the employees to help the customers as that takes too much time and the management feels that the customers will help one another without the company paying for it. I feel like this corporation is really mismanaged and with it's short sided nature will eventually go out of business, but that's another story for another day.

She feels so bad in fact for my plight that she takes me to the section where the guy who knows hardware is working, hes within a football field's distance, so she takes me to the "tool section", mind you, she did this on her own time, to meet the fellow. He's on a giant ladder getting cases of merchandise to stock the shelves, he doesn't hesitate to put down the boxes and assist me, maybe he though I was a friend of the other employee, maybe he was just a person with the old idea that a customer comes first, whatever the case he finds out what i need and without a shadow of a doubt informs me that Home Depot does not carry the hardware components for that particular shelving unit. He explains to me that I should just buy another one and open it, take out the parts I need and return it.

This is what my experience at the local Home Depot was like, and I know for a fact that Home Depot is a huge lobbyist against the Employee Free Choice Act. The would rather spend 10 times the money than it would cost them if they had a conscientious unionized work staff. They could have a union that actually trains employees at the trade of being a hardware store employee, they could have a dedicated staff who really wants to learn and be a part of a corporation that could have workers who believe that there is a real reason to do a good job, to make money for a business that hires union workers, that creates jobs that have a living wage and a sense of responsibility to get the job done each working day, so that job will still be there tomorrow. The current system at Home Depot is a failure to anyone who invests in it for the long term, for their employees and for the United States of America.

One only need to look towards a company that has the right progressive ideals and has a wonderful customer service and employees who work with enthusiasm, take a walk into a COSTCO, where their open to unionization policies have just a fraction of their stores unionized. They treat their workers with respect, it shows when shopping there, the workers in the store by me do not stop unless they are on a break, they know where everything is and they smile when you speak to them. The local Brooklyn store is not unionized, and if there were more employers like COSTCO, they might not need unions in Big Box stores at all. They start their employees with a bit more than $11 an hour. They have something to work for and it shows. They don't want to lose their job. They want customers to come back.

Remember employees are your first line of offense, they can get people to come back and be dedicated consumers, when you have the us against them attitude and the false ideas that when someone who cannot afford to eat is a partner of a major corporation, it is doomed to failure. Starbucks, Home Depot are closing stores by the hundreds. Their anti-union policies and their mistreatment of their workers, along with their short-sightedness and the economic downturn are all a major factor.

Thanks for reading,
Joe

My comment is awaiting moderation over at the Cow's, I anxiously await the response by Home Depot, um, probably wont say a word, but at least their investors will read it and think.

More blatant discrimination against construction workers comes to light, this time prevailing wage violations across America

Kinda, sorta follow up to "Blatant discrimination! Another disposable worker death in New York's underground sweatshop construction industry" from Jan. 2007


ow do you under bid the union contractors?

By using a work force that does not understand the law of the land. This construction company forced it's largely Cantonese workers to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no overtime pay, no breaks and massive safety violations, on jobs that were publicly funded. That's right, if you live in Oakland, California, there's a good chance that the school you send your kids to was built with the help of the criminal activity of a few at the top, who profited on the backs of their workers, while screwing the contracting firms who obey the laws, the public who didn't get what they paid for and the workers who worked in pre-1900 conditions.

I thought the abuses of Chinese workers here in the United States sorta ended after the railroads were built, yes for those of you not well versed in history, from the "end of slavery" years of 1864 to 1867, on just one leg of the transcontinental railroad construction it is estimated that 1200-1300 Chinese workers died in that three year span. For more information on the atrocities against Chinese workers on the railroads there's a book written by William F. Chew, who is the grandson of two of the railroad workers. His book is called "Nameless Builders of the Transcontinental Railroad". Mr. Chew isn't just a bump on a log, he's a pretty smart fella, in his 45 year career as an aerospace engineer he created components that were critical for spacecraft travel.

So now back to our story, here in New York the homelands might be different but the story is the same, get workers new to the country and cheat the workers and the public out of their legally bound responsibility. Capitalism at it's finest. Screw everyone to get ahead.

Just two weeks ago it came to light that a local scumbag General Contractor pocketed $550,000 of public money which was supposed to go to his employees, according to The New York Times article from July 31st. entitled "Officials of Building Firm Accused of Cheating Workers and City ":

The officials, Yuly Aronson, owner of the May Construction Company, and Anthony Branca, the company’s accountant, ran their scheme from April 2005 through November 2006 during work on two dozen city buildings and courthouses, according to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.

They were charged in Manhattan Criminal Court with falsifying payroll filings to receive roughly $2 million from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services for employee wages and withholdings, of which Mr. Aronson, 46, and Mr. Branca, 50, ended up pocketing about $550,000 that was supposed to go toward the salaries of 84 workers, the attorney general said.

Here's the how to screw your work force part:

May Construction lured many of its employees with an advertisement in the Polish-language newspaper Nowy Dziennik, according to the attorney general’s office. Most of the company’s workers were secured through those advertisements and were each paid the minimum of the prevailing wage, even though the jobs they were doing required they be paid higher wages, the attorney general’s office said.

The good news, if convicted, according to New York State's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo:

“Contractors on public works projects should be warned: Obey the law and pay the prevailing wage, or face the consequences,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement.

Mr. Aronson and Mr. Branca face several charges including grand larceny. If convicted, they could spend up to 15 years in prison.

So that's the story of how Polish immigrants are getting screwed on prevailing wage violations here in New York, let's get back to what transpired in Oakland, California, it took a Cantonese speaking organizer working with the International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers (IBEW Local 595) to bring the violations to light and that's a good thing. Here's some snips from the East Bay Business Times, from the August 12th. story entitled "Former employees sue Oakland contractor NBC General":

NBC General Contractors Corp., an Oakland construction company that is working on several publicly funded projects in the city’s downtown, has been hit with a lawsuit filed by former employees seeking millions of dollars for prevailing-wage, overtime, meal break and safety violations.

Sounds like your average non-union construction company nowadays, sometimes it's Chinese, sometimes it's Guatemalan's, Mexican's, whoever they can screw and threaten the best. The less they are allowed to speak up, the less they know about US labor law, the more they can be screwed, but enough of my ranting, the story continues:

NBC General became the subject of the organization’s scrutiny because some contractors perceived its bids on projects were often lower than others and that prompted questions about whether its books truly reflected hours worked, said the partnership’s Alameda County compliance officer, Andreas Cluver. The union group wasn’t able to investigate efficiently, however, until it made contact with a Cantonese-speaking organizer who understood the language and culture of many of the NBC General workers.

That's the way to do it fellas, IBEW did exactly what needs to be done, just because the workers did not speak English, did not mean they were stupid, they just needed someone to explain to them their rights. How bad were these workers treated, heres more:

The suit filed July 17 in Alameda Superior Court seeks to represent a group of what is probably about 150 workers who worked on NBC General projects for a period of four years, from July 2004 to the present, said plaintiff attorney Sharon Seidenstein. A judge would have to grant class-action status.

“The company is working on prevailing-wage jobs and they are not paying the prevailing wage,” said Seidenstein. “They are also working them extremely long hours; for instance, during the summer the workers are alleged to be working 12-hour days, seven-day weeks, with no overtime.”

Also named in the complaint is J.H. Fitzmaurice Inc., the Emeryville-based firm that is the general contractor for the Fox Courts housing project.

It is unclear how much plaintiffs will recoup if they prevail, although Seidenstein said it could be “millions.”

Cluver stated that he had calculated about $6.6 million in underpayments to workers, based solely on his calculations and not taking into account any penalties a court might issue.

Monica Mui Ung, president and CEO of Oakland-based NBC General, and J.H. Fitzmaurice, did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment on Tuesday.

I just hope the owners of these companies in NY and CA see the inside of jail, they really deserve it. One can only wonder how badly they treat workers on non-prevailing wage jobs, but you can see that in my first article entitled "Blatant discrimination! Another disposable worker death in New York's underground sweatshop construction industry"

Immigration: the wedge issue of the labor movement

This country is delving deeper into the 3rd. world as anyone is allowed to enter here illegally without penalty, and until recently one of the only times ICE, our Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, has raided a work place it was in the middle of a union organizing drive. Here's just a few facts to ponder.

In Iowa, ICE raided AgriProcessors, the countries largest Kosher meat packing plant and found almost 400 illegal alien workers, reports of weapons and get this, a Crystal Meth lab! There were over 60 underage workers at the plant, the youngest of which was 13 years old.

In California, a pregnant Mexican teenager died on a California vineyard, she wasn't allowed to have water! 5 more immigrant farmworkers in California have died in the fields since.

In New York, undocumented immigrant construction workers were threatened with guns if they decided to join a union. On other sites workers are told to say that if hurt at work, they are to report the injury as happening on the soccer field. On a nearby house getting remodeled I asked the owner of a construction company why he only gave his Guatemalan workers doing siding one plank for each teir of the 32 foot high scaffold, he told me they were like monkeys, they would be OK. I could go on about New York, about how when Fresh Direct, the internet supermarket was raided by ICE right in the middle of a NLRB wait period for a unionization vote. But lets get to the legal issues that are encouraging more illegal immigration, the laws against working rights and the laws that are helping to fracture labor protections. Here's two I reported on recently. Oh yeah, by the way they are both in Right to work states.

Kansas, a state in this United States, has passed a bill through it's Senate that will exclude punishment for the employers of undocumented workers, but would fine a union who lets the worker into it's ranks. You got that? They do not blame the employers and they want to stop anyone from helping the workers.

Utah, there is now a law which will exclude an injured worker from getting Workmans Compensation who has committed any crime, BUT the law does not hold the company responsible for hiring the illegal immigrant, nor will their premimum go up. Now theres a couple of great places to open up business.

To Be Continued, what I've been up to lately

I can continue with this but I really need some rest, you may have noticed I have been writing scarcely recently at Joe's Union Review, there's just so much to write about and so little time lately, I too have a full time job and I'm teaching an apprentice in my trade, it's an honor and a privilege to help her in her career, I was a little concerned that I might not have been ready to train someone, but I'm doing my best, she is my union brother (talk about a weird line) and it's important.

Something you may want to check out

Just in case you don't read Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal, you may have missed the news of the meeting they had with their workers that threatened that if Obama were to be elected President, that there would be almost nothing standing in the way of the Employee Free Choice Act getting passed, which would of course pave the way for those damned unions to corrupt the wonderful working environment that their workers currently enjoy by giving them a fighting chance to seek collective bargaining representation. Was it illegal what they did? Was Wal-Mart being a good employer and informing their workers about the candidates or did they threaten them as to how they should vote?

Here's a little fact that slipped through the media unreported, Wal-Mart was recently sued by none other than the US Dept. Of Justice, why would you ask? They refused to rehire a returning veteran in their Florida store. That's right, Wal-Mart, that great American franchise said a big F you to someone who went out and risked their life for them. They of course settled for $12,000 out of court.

Wal-Mart is most likely a big contributor to the organizations against The Employee Free Choice Act, but I'll have more on that soon. As American Right's At Work puts it:

What Wal-Mart is doing for November's political elections is what it, and hundreds of other anti-union companies, do all the time when workers say they want a union: intimidating them to go against their own self-interests.

The most ironic part of this news is that Wal-Mart's political ally, the Chamber of Commerce, sees itself as "David" versus the supposed "Goliath" of unions in the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act.

"This is a David-and-Goliath confrontation, but we believe we'll have enough stones in the sling to knock this out," said Mr. Steven Law, chief legal officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Maybe, if David first set up a front group to defame Goliath with a $30 million television advertising campaign before he loaded up his slingshot.

I'll write some more on this soon, but for now,

Peace, have a great weekend

Joe

Joe's Union Review welcomes another Labor blog, a letter to the editor that made my day, SEIU performs ABBA at John McCain camp

Was noticing where my links were coming from and saw a new blog out there, I'm used to the US Chamber of Commerce and other anti-union agencies websites popping up unexpected, but it's always a pleasure to find yet another person who has been motivated enough to jump into the action and help promote our struggle, from the upcoming election and explaining that in his field videography, The Employee Free Choice Act is as necessary as in my own, the construction industry, so without further ado, a big welcome to Decision List, who's latest post is a great music video.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON - NATALIE MERCHANT

Though many folks try to make things more complex than they really are, it really always comes down to a simple question.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

Hope to be reading more, and I hope he checks out Broadcast Union News, who has a lot of entertainment and broadcasting news.

Speaking of broadcasts, UnionGal posted a great video on her site, from 7/17, of a SEIU(Service Employees) theater production outside of John McCains headquarters on her site called "McCain as the "Loophole King"

Last week SEIU protested outside of McCain's campaign headquarters in Virginia. How they got ABBA to join them, I'll never know...

Richard at Union Review and Kirsten at UnionGal have been crazy busy, Richard attended Netroots Nation and Kirsten is running for office in DC, I will eventually be posting about all that sooner or later, I'm still reading through it, but I have a ton of stuff on my plate and a guy I worked with has passed away, a great guy who would give you the shirt off his back if you were in need, I feel really bad, I'm gonna miss him.

So I'm kinda doing all sorts of stuff, including getting more information about The Employee Free Choice Act petition for my own local to sign up, I'm meeting with the NYS AFL-CIO rep here in NYC tomorrow to get that stuff. Found a great article from over a year ago entitled "Who's afraid of The Employee Free Choice Act" from Common Dreams.

It's also nice to see Omaha Steve is still posting away at Democratic Underground, especially a letter to the editor he spotted from a The Providence Journal :

Brian Wilder: What union have brought us

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, July 17, 2008

It’s tiresome reading such nonsense as the letter from Steve Lemois (June 18) who claims to know what unions are doing.

Here are some of the programs and laws that union workers have fought hard to create, many of which we still protect from regular attack by wealthy interests: Social Security, Medicare, the 40-hour work week, overtime pay, child-labor laws, family/medical leave with employer-paid insurance, unemployment insurance, temporary-disability insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, and the minimum-wage law. And we have much more hard work ahead of us, such as the need for affordable access to health care for everyone and human-rights protections for workers making our products both here and abroad.

We union workers sure do manage to do an awful lot for non-union people while just “looking after our own behinds,” which Mr. Lemois claims is all we do. Can he even be serious?

BRIAN WILDER

Cranston

Spread the word people, the American worker, the heart of the labor movement, will not go down without a fight.

That's about it for now, sorry for the lapse in covering recent news, maybe if we had a few more writers, ah, but we can all just dream a little...

Telling our veterans about the Employee Free Choice Act and John McCain's record

Had to say something, so I was reading through the NY Times article about how the AFL-CIO has launched a Veterans Vs. McCain website and when readin the comments I just had to chime in, from the NY Times, "Union Veterans’ Group Starts Ad Campaign Against McCain"
(7/11/08):

Wow, reading through I can see the paid for posts, yes that’s right, today’s Big Law firm fat cats pay people to post on major news sites spreading bull misinforming people about The Employee Free Choice Act, the one true good piece of legislation that will allow people, that’s right American working people, to decide if they want to be in a union by signing a card. If more than 50% sign they get a union. The current method allows these union avoidance law firms to swoop in and divide and conquer the work force in the interim before the vaunted “secret ballot” election, using any means necessary, whether legal or not, by the time the election is over they deal with the legalities. This is a multi-billion dollar industry. Union avoidance and busting, a bunch of lawyers who spread the misinformation, and terrorize workers in their business see the passage of The Employee Free Choice Act as a tremendous loss to their cash cow, when was the last time you saw a “non-profit” so adamantly oppose legislation under the guise of taking away our democracy, where obviously money is no object, creating and running TV ad’s at will, that takes BIG money, even bigger than the AFL launching this campaign. Don’t let the billion dollar lawyers tell you how to think. They have owned the NLRB for the past 8 years under the guidance of a Bush appointee, Robert Battista, who has thoroughly contracted the power of all workers and given even more power to multi-national corporations who are ruling our world. He has done such a good job that when his appointment as the chairman came up this year, he decided to refuse in order to join one of the biggest union busting law firms in the world, that’s a fact that Main Stream Media doesn’t speak about.

And yes, Mr.McCain, who would make us all pay for our own health insurance with taxed money, and feed us into the hands of the big insurance companies is not the choice for any American worker, union or otherwise.

He also opposed the new GI Bill. I have been writing about the new GI Bill for quite some time and was completely surprised that this maverick veteran, ex-pow, would allow our returning vets to not get the care they needed, to not get funding to higher education, to not get the mental health care they needed. While both Republicans and Democrats supported the GIBILL 2008, McCain threatened cloture, and Bush threatened Veto, until a few weeks ago. This bill will allow our returning veterans a chance to become workers, company owners, supervisors, and modern day heroes, not the Vietnam era bill that flooded our country with homeless returnees. McCain did not want this! Bush did not want this! The military industrial complex did not want this! We the American people wanted this!

As a labor writer, do I staunchly back Obama? absolutely not, I despise the current 2 party system, I despise the fact that MSM censored the candidates I would have easily voted for in favor of the ones they could control through campaign finance. But Obama has a better chance of helping working people here in our country, and is a little less of a world eating profiteer that the reagan/bush/clinton/bush travesty that has lead us to where we are today. Especially if we, as working American’s hold Obama accountable if lected, remember, if you have 1 term in office, you will want another.

We can change the world a bit if Obama is elected, we can not if McCain is.

All of you here are among the Americans who can read independent news on the internet, do it, don’t just read the NY Times(no offense Mr.Greenhouse, I read your stuff, and it has been heading in a much better direction lately), don’t just read USA Today, spread yourself out onto Mother Jones, The Man Common blog, Peoples Weekly World, UTNE Reader, Consumers Union, Corp Watch, the list goes on, see the social interests links on my site. We have many issues, if this country continues on its path of separatism, the powers that be will take it all away from our little satellite groups at a whim.

As far as unions destroying America’s workplace, keep thinking that way.

Did the unions allow our industry to go to Haiti, where the people eat dirt sandwiches and the ones who are lucky enough to work in the former US Made Levi’s factory make about $2 a week, yeah blame the unions for that, or the other place where they make Levi’s, Bangladesh, where even the school teachers and policemen have to wait on thousand people lines to get government subsidized rice because they are paid so poorly, or in Vietnam, home of sneakers that were made her, where workers work 12 hours a day and recently went on strike to make a whopping $62 a month, instead of their current $58.

Yeah, the unions killed American jobs, yep

Open your eyes.

Gotta run, going to attend a function of the Wounded Warriors Project, where my friend, a retired union Steamfitter, who, along with a retired Firefighter, sell shirts and help our severely wounded returning vets do things they wouldn’t think they were capable to do.

Today they are scuba diving, yeah, that’s right, guys and girls with no legs going scuba diving, and union workers help, not because we want to, because in our hearts, just like running down to the trade center site after 9/11, we have to.

Joe
Joe’s Union Review
http://joesunionreview.com

— Posted by JoeUnionReview

Labor bloggers to promote Employee Free Choice Act at NYC Labor Day parade? Strike updates, got a Joe's MySpace, and HR676 US National Health Care Act

Firstly, Labor Day 2008 in New York, trying to promote the Employee Free Choice Act

Myself, Richard from Union Review and Kirsten from Uniongal, the Women, Unions and Our Stories blog, are looking for sponsors to get some Employee Free Choice Act shirts, with our sites listed as supporters, to be given away at this years Labor Day Parade in New York, if all goes well we will have a major labor union donation to help us get our message out there, we are hoping that all our readers, and some people who are not as active out there in the streets will get educated on the Bill and spread the word of the facts on this legislation. It is possibly the most important bill in my lifetime.

Many law firms stand to lose a tremendous cash cow if The Employee Free Choice Act is enacted

Usually, unless the company agrees to a card check vote, when a MAJORITY of workers signs cards to be in a union there is a wait time, usually over a month later, when the employees get a chance to vote via "secret ballot" to be in a union. That's where the Lawyers and Union Avoidance law firms come into play, they make multi-billions in figuring ways to turn workers against the idea of being in a union, turning workers against one another and using any means , such as unlawful firing. . These law firms thrive on fear. They make companies whose workers are engaged in organizing drives terrified of a collective voice , which unfortunately in today's day and age is really not looking at the facts at all.

Many companies could stand to gain a great deal if they mimicked the business practices of COSTCO, who has a hands off policy and allows their workers to join a union by a simple MAJORITY card signing, some stores sign up and some do not, but their employees all benefit from not being denied that basic right. Consider how disgruntled almost every Home Depot employee is, it's a down right shame, they don't care about their shit job one bit, give them a fairs day wage, nice pension to worry about keeping, and decent medical and they would likely make the Home Depot experiance a much better one for customers and would most likely raise their share value far beyond just the next quarter. Corporations however usually do not think like that, you can learn more at "The Corporation- 23 chapters in YouTube playlist form", but let's get back to the facts in this matter.

What employers and law firms do to keep workers from joining unions and who's on their side, why America needs the Employee Free Choice Act

FACT: Many companies have closed door meetings with employees without their own pro-union workers in attendance, brain washing them to fear being in a union and in fact fear to even mention the word. In one recent article I wrote about a construction contractor here in New York, whose MAJORITY of employees signed cards to be in a union, were sent to another jobsite for a closed door meeting, were told they would get a $5 an hour raise if they voted against joining a union and in fact a former supervisor, who stood to gain nothing testifying, in an affidavit to Federal labor officials, stated when he asked his boss about the union:"He said he had about six guns on the job, and he had people there who would do whatever needed to be done. He said that he could dig a hole and put me in it and make the records showing I worked for the company disappear.", the workers fearing reprisal and thinking they were going to get a raise wound up voting overwhelmingly against the union. From: "High-Cost Condos, Low-Cost Labor—and Threats of Violence to Union Organizers"- Village Voice (6/24/08)

Last November, the NLRB ordered Auringer to post a notice promising not to make such threats. A new vote was canceled after Auringer fired 10 pro-union employees on the election's eve.

This is a good reason that America needs the Employee Free Choice Act. They sign the cards, they get into a union. No guns, no threats, no bullshit propaganda.

More reasons that the current NLRB "secret ballot' hurts working Americans

FACT: 30% of pro union employees are fired during an organizing drive, even though it is against the law, they just don't care as the NLRB has been battered by lobbyist and mega-corporations to the point of intellectuality. This is in no small part due to President Bush's appointment as NLRB Chairman, Robert Battista who just recently declined the reappointment to join a union avoidence and union busting law firm, from American Rights at Work, which I first published here on 5/5 in a story, titled "Former Bush NLRB Chairman Robert Battista, joins union avoidance law firm" which highlights the deterioration of the rights of workers during his tenure at the NLRB:

For years I've been writing that Robert Battista, former chair of the National Labor Relations Board, has been doing the bidding of anti-union employers by dismantling protections for workers under the law. Apparently, he's now going to be doing the bidding of anti-union employers and making a lot more money at notorious unionbusting firm Littler Mendelson (see a sample of their unionbusting strategies: Littler Mendelson’s Dos & Don’ts).

Battista asked Bush to withdraw his nomination as Labor Board chair, which was going nowhere, and joined the firm that John Logan of the London School of Economics called one of the "nation’s first law firms to conduct aggressive union avoidance campaigns."

Now Battista can make money telling employers how to exploit the law he helped to weaken in order to prevent their workers from organizing.

Battista is not alone, spin-doctor lawyer and lobbyist Rick Berman, the self proclaimed "Dr.Evil", corporate lobbyist for Big tobacco and the liquor industry among others, and creator of such fun filled sites as The Center for Union Facts is working hard on getting the American public against the Employee Free Choice Act, by advertising on local networks against the bill, using that d1ckhead who played Johnny Sachs in the Sopranos (probably a rank-and-file SAG member like Ronald Reagan, except a hell of a lot less talented), to scare people into thinking that if the Bill is

passed that their Democracy will be erased by ending 'secret ballot'. It's more like it will end

Mr.Berman's and other lawyers cash cow. Lawyers, corrupt politicians and corporations are the modern day gangsters, I'm starting that when they went after the Mafia they really wanted to eliminate their competition.

The commercial shows a gangster over the card signers shoulder, yeah maybe it should show a corporate lawyer counting money if this doesn't get passed

**Click the image to add your name to the petition that will wind up on the desk of the next US President

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Strike News and Job Loss
UA LU 699, IBT 282 NY Concrete drivers, American Axle updates

Lots of news going on, I've been trying to contact the Business Manager for UA Local 699 Sprinklerfitters to see if I can get any more info on the strike in Seattle Washington, last night I sent him an e-mail, still waiting for a response, I'm sure the guy is busy.

I have read that the New York concrete truck Teamsters Local 282 have gone back to the negotiating table as of yesterday, the NY Times reports that there is some progress.

Also received news of American Axle, who I recently wrote is gearing up to destroy the environment, is now looking to get rid of 400 white collar workers in the United States, now that they are escaping the land of labor rights to distant shores. What a disgrace, maybe they can rename the company to "3rd. World Nation Axle"

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Health Care For All, supported by doctors and now the Mayors Council

Big news, the single payer health care bill is being endorsed by the US Conference of Mayors(The U.S. Conference of Mayors is a nonpartisan organization of mayors representing cities with a population of 30,000 or more. It currently has about 1,100 members.), this is a bill that would get health insurance for all Americans and is strongly endorsed by a whopping 59% of American doctors, here's the text of the resolution in support of the United States National Health Insurance Act, H.R. 676:

Submitted By:
The Honorable Lois J. Frankel, Mayor of West Palm Beach, Fla.
The Honorable Wayne J. Hall Sr., Mayor of Mayor of Hempstead, N.Y.
The Honorable Carolyn K. Peterson, Mayor of Ithaca, N.Y.
The Honorable John E. Marks, III, Mayor of Tallahassee, Fla.
The Honorable Sheila Dixon, Mayor of Baltimore, Md.
The Honorable Becky Tooley, Mayor of Coconut Creek, Fla.
The Honorable Ryan Coonerty, Mayor of Santa Cruz, Calif.

WHEREAS, every person deserves access to affordable quality health care; and

WHEREAS, the number of Americans without health insurance now exceeds 47 million; and

WHEREAS, millions with insurance have coverage so inadequate that a major illness would lead to financial ruin, and medical illness and bills contribute to one-half of all bankruptcies; and

WHEREAS, proposals for “consumer directed health care” such as Health Savings Accounts or Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs) would only worsen this situation by penalizing the sick, discouraging prevention and saddling many working families with huge medical bills; and

WHEREAS, managed care and other market-based reforms have failed to contain health care costs, which now threaten the international competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers; and

WHEREAS, administrative waste stemming from our reliance on private insurers consumes one-third of private health spending while the single payer Medicare system has administrative costs of less than 5 percent; and

WHEREAS, U.S. hospitals spend 24.3 percent of their budgets on billing and administration while hospitals under Canada’s single payer system spend only 12.9 percent; and

WHEREAS, Harvard researchers estimate that more than $300 billion could be recovered by replacing private insurance companies with a single public payer, enough to cover the uninsured and to improve coverage for all those who now have only partial coverage; and

WHEREAS, entrusting care to profit-oriented firms diverts billions of dollars to outrageous incomes for CEOs and threatens the quality of care; and

WHEREAS, The United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676) would assure universal coverage of all medically necessary services, contain costs by slashing bureaucracy, protect the doctor patient relationship, assure patients a completely free choice of doctors, and allow physicians a free choice of practice settings; and

WHEREAS, most polls show that the majority of Americans support universal health care; and

WHEREAS, as of the date of this resolution, the majority of American physicians (59 percent) believe that Single Payer is the best method of securing universal health care; and

WHEREAS, The United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676) will guarantee every mayor that all residents and employees of his/her city will be fully covered for health care and save millions of taxpayer dollars now spent on premiums to provide less than full health insurance coverage for government employees; and

NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED, that the United States Conference of Mayors expresses its support for The United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676), and calls upon federal legislators to work towards its immediate enactment and further urges the adoption of a process to insure that health care providers justify any increase in health care costs.

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Got the MySpace up, and a shoutbox. Next we will change the layout here.

Finally did it, got a dedicated Joe's Union Review MySpace account that mirrors the blog here into the MySpace social network, it's how I met Richard at union review, theres a whole lot more to that story, but in a nutshell, I'm looking to meet more Richard's, Joe's and Kirsten's.

I also added a "shoutbox' to this site, you can easily add messages onto the site by entering text into the box and submitting it, try it out, it's right under the title "Say something even if it's wrong"

Seriously thinking of updating the site, I have been working with a layout that has more features, like having just the story introduction on the front page, with a read more lnk, ala Union review and the Building Bridges Radio blog i have been working on, let me know what you think.

Working behind the scenes a bit lately, a great win for the future of New York's labor solidarity was achieved yesterday, I'm waiting for a press release to write on it, stay tuned, and finally I leave you with...

Con-Ed to workers: Take your 0.5%, give us a 2-tier and shut up

UPDATED (7/1/08)->: Midnight strike looms for Con Edison workers, keep up to date with the newsfeed

On June 13th. 9000 members of The Utility Workers local 1-2 (UWUA1-2), when faced with the idea of no raise in their upcoming contract(note: the last expired this morning), voted overwhelmingly to strike if their memberships needs were not addressed by the "Privately owned" Consolidated Edison.

In talks with a high ranking official of Local 1-2, the latest offer by Con Ed included a two-tier system where new workers would see a serious lack of benefits, almost no raise and as expected in todays day and age, raises in co-payments of health care. While the Governor has negotiated a 72 hour "cooling off period" whereby negotiations will continue Tuesday at 9AM, and the workers will remain on the job at least until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday night, there is the great possibility of a strike as of Wednesday.

According to Stephen Greenhouse and Ken Belson's article in Fridays NY Times, "Union Says It and Con Edison Are Far Apart on Contract", (6/27/08):

The union is opposed to company proposals to phase out a defined-benefit pension plan and to deduct workers’ compensation awards from employee pensions.

“If they continue to press the issue, we will walk,” promised Joe Flaherty, a spokesman for the union, which represents Con Edison workers everywhere but on Staten Island. “It seems to us that they want to force us out.”

Mr. Flaherty said his union was asking for wage increases because of rising prices for fuel, food and other basics. He noted that many cable splicers, meter readers, engineers and others must drive to work because they often travel among several locations.

Mr. Flaherty said that unlike previous negotiations, when only a handful of details remained unresolved so close to the contract’s expiration, this time the two sides had yet to agree on a host of significant issues.

“I’ve never seen it at this stage, when there’s absolutely nothing resolved,” he said. “I would say their position is stonewalling.”

A spokesman for Con Edison, Michael S. Clendenin, declined to respond to the union’s claims, saying: “We don’t negotiate in the press.”

That sounds a lot like the 2-tier system that I warned you about, and has made the auto-industry in the United States a working poor job.

If I worked for Con Ed, i would gladly go on strike, but I await the Main Stream Media's response that will ignore the facts and make it a "Unions fuck the people of New York" front page story like the NY Post editorial which attacked the striking Broadway Stagehands back in November 2007. (see "NY Post spin-doctoring and the IATSE Stagehands" (11/20/07) and "Remember if there is a strike, BLAME AMTRAK, not the union workers!" (1/17/08) )

Be prepared reader, Crain's and some other publications are already trying to make it a construction worker Vs. utility worker fight, meanwhile my source has assured me that they have gotten countless calls of support from other union officials, including many in the Building and Construction trades. They see the writing on the wall, and know that the greater fight is for a better future for New York's workers against this private utility monster.

Privatization Vs. American Workers, what GHI and HIP workers should expect
"One can only hope that the Utility Workers Union is serious about its strike threat. Pulling the workforce off the job for a protracted amount of time may help New Yorkers see that vital city functions such as the operation of utilities cannot be run privately." -Counterhegemonic at Independent Media Center

Talk about avoidance of a real news story, I have been following the misdeeds of HIP for quite some time, since I learned how the company fleeced our tax money to build downtown after 9/11 and promised to keep good paying jobs in the city and then moved those jobs out of the area, in fact 1 1/2 hours away by train to Long Island, in the article "HIP replaces 186 Downtown, NY jobs, breaking a massive promise", and how the privatization of both HIP and GHI will devastate New Yorker's who rely on their medical coverage in the article by "Building Bridges"

Heres a great article I found at NYC Independent Media Center entitled "Con Edison Workers and the Real Face of Privatization" (6/28/08):

Administrative workers at the currently non-profit health insurance companies GHI & HIP face the very real prospect of having their employer become a for-profit company. The exact meaning of this may seem murky. Nearly every study of privatization, particularly privatization in the healthcare industry, has demonstrated that spending on administration increases. Bad news for subscribers who need healthcare but seemingly great news for workers in search of fat paychecks, right?

Well, the more than 9,000 workers currently employed by Con Edison would beg to differ. Contract talks between their now privately held employer and the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2 have reached an impasse. The utility's stingy management has offered a 0.5% per -year wage increase and the union has threatened to walk off the job. As usual, the employer has appealed for mediation and "productive discussion" despite the fact that their wage offer is nearly 3% below the annual rate of inflation.

Con Ed supplies and maintains most of New York City's electric, gas and steam service. Since the company was de-regulated in 1998 there have been a series of high profile disasters. In 2005, stray voltage killed a woman who was walking her dog after she stepped on an electrified plate. 2007's disaster was even larger as an 83 year-old steam pipe burst in Midtown resulting in the death of one person and 40 injuries. Finally, the company is largely blamed for a massive blackout in Queens in 2006 for which they offered "inconvenienced" customers a $100 rebate check and a "brief apology."

Con Ed is the largest for-profit utility company in the country. Most urban utilities are either run by state-owned companies or tightly regulated non-profits. Con Ed has also spun out an energy subsidiary called Con Ed Energy which nationally markets electricity produced in NYC plants. This practice is held to be a root cause of a persistent wave of blackouts nation-wide.

So, in NYC a massive for-profit company is charged with servicing an infrastructure which is essentially crumbling under the weight of its own age. There has been no substantial effort post-1970s fiscal crisis to upgrade the urban infrastructure. This is perfectly fine with Con Ed executives as it ensures a steady line of funding for patchwork projects.

Now, however, even this is not enough. Now the company intends to squeeze every last penny out of both NYC citizens and its own workers paychecks. One can only hope that the Utility Workers Union is serious about its strike threat. Pulling the workforce off the job for a protracted amount of time may help New Yorkers see that vital city functions such as the operation of utilities cannot be run privately. The only motivation is profit - whether it come from soaring customer bills, work contracts from our city budget or from the wallets of workers.

Mark this as a little lesson for GHI & HIP workers and other folks facing possible privatization. The promised returns to you are just thinly veiled mirages. Lurking behind the seduction is a grim future where management is preparing to grind every last penny out of your pocket. The less protection you have the easier this will be.

By Counterhegemonic http://counterhegemonic.blogspot.com/

This is the third and last in my tirade against the Main Stream, you can view some of my favorites below:

• Now Big Media can hurt workers better - Freepress (12/19/07)
• I'm As Mad As Hell #1 - "The Part That Big Media Left Out !!! - Union Review (10/27/07)
• Video: Bill Moyers addresses conference for media reform: labor, health care, middle-class, tying it all together - (6/7/08)
• Iraq Veterans Against War, one Long Island mans account, and the bigger issue of propaganda and censorship in the war - (5/7/08)
• Stop union buster Rupert Murdoch from owning more NY media! - (4/24/08)
• Carpenters video release: Globalization, who's next? A must see for all US construction workers (4/7/08)
• KS: State passes bill that will encourage more illegal immigration and punishes unions who try to help the workers (4/2/08)
  
• Slavery: Alive and well in USA Pt.2, Indian pipefitters abused in H2B Visa scam, main stream media picks up story full year after facts are released (3/13/08)
• Anti-Union blogging, adding more misinformation for the masses (1/26/08)
• Center For Union Facts ? Anti-Union Lobby At It's Worst - Union Review (9/17/07)
• Offshoring and H1B Visa abuse, the 1-2 punch to knockout US tech workers (2/26/08)
• The state of the media in the USA today - via Broadcast Union News reposting an article from IBEW Local 1212 website (2/25/08)

The Employee Free Choice Act

Oh, just so I don't forget, those powers that control the media also don't want you to sign the petition that will be delivered to the next president of the United States with 1,000,000 American signatures on it, since I got your attention, give a minute of you time and sign the petition for the Employee free Choice Act. It's getting blatantly obvious that the corporations and the law firms that profit on our misery are terrified of the labor movement and will do everything in their power to curb this legislation. I recently wrote about how with guns and threats towards their employees, and the corporate controlled NLRB, who's last chairman, Robert Battista has joined up with America's largest union-avoidance law firm, how the current system does not work.

Click the image on the left to sign your name to the petition, do it for the 58 million American's who desperately want to be union, but are terrified of the bosses reprisals in the wait between signing the cards and the election.

NY nonunion construction: With guns, threats and empty promises this modern day gangster keeps his workers from joining a union

Capoccia rose as a housing developer as he donated thousands of dollars to the campaigns of Mayor Giuliani, Governor Pataki, and President Bush. He recently told the newsletter The Real Deal that he launched his career by using a truck full of day laborers hired from a street corner.

Word is that there are about 52 hotels in the works that will be built completely Nonunion in New York, when they are complete there will be no Hotel workers union either, heres a kinda/sorta follow up to NYC: Four Points by Sheraton Paying Poverty Wages / Using Taxpayers For Workers Healthcare

How does New Yorks biggest Non-Union contractor stop his employees from being union?

With guns and threats, this isn't a new thing, but in todays main stream media, it's hard to come by. We have focused on the contractors in the past and the illegalities in the nature of their business, these are the scum bags that are building high rise towers for the likes of Sheraton all over the city. They have immense Bush/Neo-Con/corp ties, and hire an almost entire undocumented workforce. Not only that, when the business opens up they treat their employees like shit too. I know, on previous I have been on the picket lines and when there was a union vote about a month after the employees signed cards to become union, I was there in support of these workers getting the rights to collective bargaining they deserve. Think about it, these workers who work in fear and have absolutely no voice signed the majority of the cards needed to be in a union and a month and a half later, from the amazingly accurate "High-Cost Condos, Low-Cost Labor—and Threats of Violence to Union Organizers"- Village Voice (6/24/08):

Workers there tried to vote in the carpenters union last year. In an affidavit to federal labor officials, a former supervisor at the hotel project described the response from Auringer's project manager after he asked the boss about the union: "He said he had about six guns on the job, and he had people there who would do whatever needed to be done. He said that he could dig a hole and put me in it and make the records showing I worked for the company disappear."

Other workers at the project told the National Labor Relations Board that managers promised them a $5-an-hour raise to vote against the union. Last November, the NLRB ordered Auringer to post a notice promising not to make such threats. A new vote was canceled after Auringer fired 10 pro-union employees on the election's eve. An NLRB official said the matter is under investigation.

The article fails to mention, the private meetings that the employees had to sit through.

This is a good reason that America needs the Employee Free Choice Act. They sign the cards, they get into a union. No guns, no threats, no bullshit propaganda.

Today the corporate backed, immigration enforcement ignored, slave owners of multi national corporations get everything on a silver platter, while the working class people and those that actually want to embrace them and get them representation are almost totally ignored in the anti-union main stream media. Thank goodness for people like Tom Robbins, from the Village Voice and Steven Greenhouse at the Times for actually writing facts about workers here in New York.

Response to Bernie Carr at New York State Association for Affordable Housing

This mans comment to the story in the Voice must be responded to, if indeed he wrote them he is an utter asshole. When a poster wrote:

robbins said: crane accidents=union, corruption=union, middle class=union, ...get the facts straight....nyc was built on the minortiy working class.. we have a right to work in this city too cause you white people in the unions will not let us in..please tell the union not too burn anymore vehicles and physically beat us up in the streets of nyc.. your nazi regime is not going to work in the costruction industry anymore...

Which is amazingly stupid to say in it's own right, considering that in much of this article the unions are trying to actually get these workers into their ranks, please read the entire Voice story and see how these nonunion thugs operate, not to mention how many times union workers are attacked on the street on front of these jobsites when they are peacefully protesting, again I have been there to witness it. We then have this asshole agreeing with the above comment, thats all fine and dandy, because we expect ignorance written in comments on the internet, but after being in quite a few Central Trades and Labor(NYCCLC) meetings when building projects are spoken of and affordable housing and middle income housing is always mentioned as something worth fighting for the next comment threw me for a loop. It seems from the nickname he chose that he is none other than Executive Director of the obviously corporate backed(see picture and logos on the sign behind Mr.Carr) NYS Association For Affordable Housing:

bernie@nysafah.org: The last comment was absolutely right! NYC construction jobs should go to NYC residents, especially minority residents, not a bunch of corrupt union guys from the suburbs. No one spends more on lobbyists and campaign contributions than unions, that's why they're so powerful even though they haven't represented the little guy for decades.

This makes me wonder, who owns this guy? He agrees with the obviously racist post of the guy before him, then goes on to attack union workers even more so, doesn't he have a clue, did he read the story? the entire body of which is how the unions are trying to get these non-union workers into their ranks. How the non-union developer has even gone as far as having a thug follow Omar Lopez, the organizer for the Ironworkers Local 361, to his home while he was with his daughter and threaten him at his door.

Did he read that the threatened union ironworker is a native of El Salvador and a current Queens resident? From the same article as above:

The ironworkers decided to blow up a photo of Capoccia and mount it on a truck. They wrote beneath it: "Shame on Donald Capoccia—Don't profit off immigrant worker poverty." It also carried the developers' office and cell-phone numbers. Then they drove the truck around the work site, City Hall, and Capoccia's bank.

On Saturday evening, June 14, Lopez was in front of his Elmhurst home about to take his nine-year-old daughter to buy some ice cream when a menacing figure appeared. "The guy was about five-foot-nine; he's carrying this big green umbrella and glaring at us. I had a bad feeling. I told my daughter we had to go back. She knew something was wrong. She ran right upstairs and told my wife to call 911, that Daddy was in trouble."

Lopez ducked inside and peered through the window. The lurker walked past his door and disappeared. When he opened the door to look down the street, the man was standing on an adjacent stoop, staring. "I said, 'Are you looking for me?' He cupped his ear like he didn't hear me. I said, 'Are you fucking looking for me?' Then he ran at me with the umbrella and reached under his jacket. I closed the door. He hit the door a bunch of times with the handle of the umbrella. He was shouting, 'I find you and I got you now!' He did that a few times and then went away.' "

Mr.Carr, you attack union workers who live in this city and you attack our entire organizations from a glass house, you speak of lobbyist, just one look at that picture above and it all seems clear, all the banks who helped lend out mortgages that people now cannot afford.

You and your group have done nothing to help keep mid-range wage earners stay in this city, wheres my affordable housing?

Every time an apprentice recruitment is released for the union trades I try my best to post it on this site, there is no discrimination in the hiring practices, any New York City resident can apply.

I have often spoken of how people of all race who get what is known as a "good union job" choose to leave the city as the sentiment of a better life for your family is often thought of as not achievable in this city. Everyone I talk to about where to find an affordable place to live with my girl and her 2 children talks of upstate New York and New Jersey, most recently my Laborer friend, who is a native from the Bronx and a Puerto Rican(since you all like to talk shit about race) found a nice home Upstate. Oh, and 3 out of the 4 last work partners I had were not white, only 1 chose to remain in Brooklyn, only for the fact that his grandparents bought his house many years ago.

So a big fuck you Mr.Carr, for talking shit and rubbing shoulder of the enablers of mistreatment of immigrants, citizens and financial enslavers of the working class. You yourself are a lobbyist for the people and companies that help deny my fellow New Yorkers a fair days wages for a hard days work, just another stuffed white shirt sucking up corporate money disguised as a fighter for the people, say hello to that other divisional profiteer for hire, Al Sharpton for me.

Oh, I'm sorry, looks like you only hang with white people.

WOW, the pictures were removed by the New York States Division Of Affordable Housing?? They seem to have read this article and don't want the dirty little 'secret's' about our friendly Mr.Carr let out to the public.

Mr.Carr, since you agree with all the bullshit that robbins posted, why not in your high and mighty position take a stand against New Yorks sweatshop construction practices?

Till then, thanks for nothing!

A HUGE thanks to Michael, the UFT writer who pointed this article out.