Video: AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka on the only really bad reason for an American worker to vote against Barack Obama

From the United Steelworker's Convention July 1st., 2008

NY concrete drivers walk, Peterbuilt workers locked out, USW massive Vegas solidarity with Taxi driver demonstration, LIUNA "Build America" petition

• Drivers’ Strike Stalls New York City Construction - 7/2/08 - NY Times

The two sides engaged in intense bargaining until 12:30 a.m. Tuesday at Local 282’s headquarters in Lake Success, N.Y., but then the union informed the concrete companies that it was walking out. The contract expired at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

“Teamsters Local 282 regrets that it was unable to reach an agreement,” Bruce Levine, the lead lawyer for the union, said in a statement. “Local 282 is particularly disappointed because in the past month, it has succeeded in reaching innovative, far-reaching and fair agreements with hundreds of employers” that handle demolition as well as lumber, steel and other non-concrete building materials.

Construction is continuing at nonunion projects, which are generally smaller than the unionized sites affected by the strike. Work continued at some unionized sites where all the concrete had been poured, allowing laborers to do interior work or work on heating and air-conditioning.

Mr. Greco, who is also the secretary-treasurer of the Greco Brothers Concrete Corporation, said that under the expired contract, drivers earned $33.11 an hour, rising to $59.01 when health insurance, pension contributions and other benefits are included.

He said the union earlier this week demanded raises of $5 an hour in the overall compensation package each year for three years, although the union did not specify how much would go to wages and how much to benefits..

Mr. Greco said that during Monday’s bargaining, Gary La Barbera, Local 282’s president, reduced that demand to $3.50 an hour.

“They didn’t give us a chance to answer the $3.50 package before they walked out,” Mr. Greco said.

That $3.50 would represent a 6 percent increase in the drivers’ $59-an-hour compensation package.

“That is absolutely not a correct number or a correct version of events,” said a member of the union’s bargaining team, who insisted on anonymity because union officials said they would not negotiate in the news media. “And I’m surprised that a member of management’s bargaining team would be saying these things in public.”

Local 282 had long been notorious because the Gambino crime family controlled it for decades. But government officials placed it into trusteeship, and Mr. La Barbera was brought in to help root out corruption. Government officials say the cleanup has been quite successful.
More at the link above, article by Steven Greenhouse, Picture by Rob Bennett

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• Peterbilt workers still locked out - 06/30/08 - Workers Independent News
  

A lockout of United Auto Worker members continues at a Peterbilt plant in Madison, Tennessee. The workers have been locked out since last Monday. Their contract expiring on Friday, June 20. The two sides have been unable to reach an agreement. The local representing the workers has expressed that it would like to sit down and continue negotiations, but no new discussions have been set. The company is asking workers to pay 25 percent of health insurance premiums, a move that could triple premiums for some workers. The company has offered to pay each worker a $1,200 bonus when the new contract is ratified, in exchange for a wage freeze until 2010. The contract would also institute a two-tier wage structure where new hires would start at much lower rate than predecessors.

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• Ignorant America: Just How Stupid Are We? - 7/2/08 - AlterNet
  

Today, conservatives argue that the Social Security Trust Fund is a fiction. They are correct. The money was spent. They helped spend it.

To this debate about Social Security -- which, once one understands what has been happening, is actually quite absorbing -- the public has largely been an indifferent spectator. A surprising 2001 Pew study found that just 19% of Americans understand that the United States ever ran a surplus at all, however defined, in the 1990s or 2000's. And only 50% of Americans, according to an Annenberg study in 2004, understand that President Bush favors privatizing Social Security. Polls indicate that people are scared that the system is going bust, no doubt thanks in part to Bush's gloom-and-doom prognostications. But they haven't the faintest idea what going bust means. And in fact, the system can be kept going without fundamental change simply by raising the cap on taxed income and pushing back the retirement age a few years.
Rick Shenkman, Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter, New York Times bestselling author, and associate professor of history at George Mason University, is the founder and editor of History News Network, a website that features articles by historians on current events. This essay is adapted from chapter two of his new book, Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth about the American Voter (Basic Books, 2008). His observations about the 2008 election can be followed on his blog, "How Stupid?" His recent appearance on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" can be viewed by clicking here.

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• USW Convention Delegates Support Vegas Taxi Drivers -7/1/08- USW website

Thousands of USW members chanting “No Justice, No Peace” lined Las Vegas Boulevard outside the union’s convention hall this morning to support union taxi cab drivers who have been working without a labor contract.

USW members waving yellow placards lined the boulevard to show their support for the 5,000 member Las Vegas Alliance for Taxi and Limousine Drivers and to raise the heat in stalled contract negotiations.
The alliance is a partnership of the USW and the Industrial Technical Professional Employees Union (ITPE) local, an affiliate of the Office and Professional Employees International Union.

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• Sign the Petition to Build America - 6/30/08- CTWConnect
  

It's no secret that America's infrastructure is crumbling. But, you may wonder, is anyone doing anything about it? And is there any way you can help?

Someone is, and you can. The Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) has launched a new campaign called "Build America So America Works" that's calling for the Federal government to finally do something about our crumbling infrastructure. And to promote awareness of the campaign, they've just launched this new TV spot

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• Worker Abuse Not Just North Carolina's Problem -7/1/08- Women, Unions, and Our Stories

According to a press release sent out by the Justice at Smithfield campaign:

Washington, DC Councilmembers Phil Mendelson, Muriel Bowser, Jack Evans, Harry Thomas, Marion Barry, Kwame Brown, Jim Graham and Tommy Wells will introduce a Sense of the Council resolution on Smithfield Foods today that asks area supermarkets, corner stores and other establishments to stop stocking Smithfield pork and other meat products.

Washington, DC is one of the largest markets for products from the Smithfield Tar Heel, North Carolina plant--which has been implicated in abuse of its workers. The DC council members and supports first pledged to help on June 20th, after a kickoff rally on the 19th for the boycott and ad campaign. As the Washington Post reported then:

"Our work here is to make Smithfield uncomfortable," council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) said in an interview.

Here's one of the television ads the campaign has created:

You can find out more about the abuses at Smithfield, Tar Heel, and sign up to help at http://www.smithfieldjustice.com/.

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Also take a look at "Pic- Links for the hell of it" - for more recent labor headlines

Tell the Senate Banking Committee to block Wal-Mart for good! With a dash of Toxic product, health care, UAW, USW and Chinese product news included

Figured I'd get a bit of info out there today.

FROM: Wal-Mart Watch

The Senate Banking Committee is currently considering legislation to permanently block commercial retailers like Wal-Mart from receiving industrial loan charters. Please send a note to the Senate Banking Committee and ask them to stop the Bank of Wal-Mart.

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Toxic products, the newest issue of Wal-Mart Watch shows the utter lack of the corporation taking responsibility. *Clicking the link orpicture will open a PDF file.

Danger for Sale: How Wal-Mart's Unethical Practices Endanger Consumers

In this issue, “Danger for Sale,” we expose Wal-Mart’s woeful record on consumer product safety issues. Whether it is E. Coli in the meat, melamine in the dog food, or lead paint on the children’s toys – far too many dangerous products have turned up on Wal-Mart’s shelves, and far too little effort has been given by Wal-Mart to ensure the safety and well-being of its customers.

As the largest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart could use its clout to push manufacturers into raising the safety standards of their products. Instead, Wal-Mart continues to demand low prices at any cost and any standard from manufacturers, putting consumers at risk.

Click here to download Issue 4 of Wal-Mart Watch In Depth: Danger for Sale >>

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In other news Trader Joe's is eliminating 1 ingredient products from China from it's shelves. More info on that and background can be found below

• [SFGate.com] Food Conscious: Battle over country of origin heating up

(1-16-08) "I wouldn't buy it," McPherson says. She likes to buy American, because she thinks "made in the USA" makes a product better and safer, and also because she wants to support the U.S. economy.

It seems that Trader Joe's is hearing directly from consumers who feel the same way. Customer concern about Trader Joe's selling fresh garlic from China prompted the chain to announce that it would phase out "single ingredient" foods from China early this year. Processed foods that contain ingredients from China would still be sold, presumably.

• [USA Today] Trader Joe's to exclude some food imports from China

(2-11-08) By April 1, Trader Joe's will phase out single-ingredient Chinese imports such as garlic, frozen organic spinach, ginger and edamame, a green soybean, says spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki. The ban doesn't include products with ingredients from China, a leading source of vitamins and minerals used in many processed foods.

With 285 stores in 23 states, Trader Joe's is known for good prices on a wide selection of exotic items, from Australian licorice to Indian pilaf. Trader Joe's says the products it bought from China were safe. But "our customers have voiced their concerns about products from this region, and we have listened," Mochizuki said.

Federal regulators last year warned about contaminated Chinese pet food ingredients, fish containing antibiotics not allowed in human food, and toothpaste laced with a chemical used in antifreeze.

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And let's not forget, I got the Health Care survey, which the AFL-CIO has been asking people to take, reminded to me again via the NYC Central Labor Council's E-Mail. So heres a reminder:

Take the AFL-CIO Health Care for America Survey

Make your voice heard on health care
Take the 2008 Health Care for America Survey today.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO

More Info:
Tell Us Your Health Care Story at AFL-CIO WebBlog

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This is also some noteworthy news.

• [Guardian.co.uk] British union plans merger with American steelworkers

(2-11-08) Two of the largest British and American unions are hoping to announce an agreement this summer to create a transatlantic super-union capable of defending workers' rights in the globalised marketplace.

Unite, which has about two million members, and the United Steelworkers union (USW), which represents about a million members in the US, Canada and the Caribbean, see the creation of an international union presence as the key to meeting the challenges posed by the onward march of globalisation.

Unite's joint general secretary, Derek Simpson, said: "Unions which are organised nationally are not in a position to successfully challenge multinational companies over employment terms. There are some things over which you have no control or influence at all and many where you have so little it amounts to nothing." Simpson argues that, by contrast, multinational companies can use the threat of relocating to other countries to make their influence felt.

• [Bloomberg] Ford May Cut 9,000 More U.S. Plant Jobs, Person Says (Update4)

(2-11-08) The cuts would be in addition to the 33,600 union workers who left through buyouts and early retirements in 2006 and 2007, when Ford lost a combined $15.3 billion. Further reductions may help Ford restore profit by speeding the hiring of new workers who would be paid about half as much as current employees.

Can't say I didn't see that one coming, I tried to warn you guys, now your stuck with a POS contract and the entire US auto industry, which by the way isn't securely staying on American soil (no wording in the contract), is a $19 an hour job.

• [UnionReview by me] UAW: Some Reasons for GM Workers to Vote NO!

(9-29-07) They said (UAW) the strike was for job security , that management (GM) wouldn't meet them at all in negotiations, what they came back with doesn't address job security, only an empty promise that the company (GM) would try to invest in US manufacturing, This contract from an outsiders point of view is a disgrace , it takes away wage increases under the terms of "bonuses" instead of raises, it gives a union that seems more focused to organize outside of its natural boundaries , writers , student workers, etc. complete control of all welfare monies of its GM membership. And lastly it divides the entire group of GM workers into two separate tiers, who obviously will not be able to ever fight as a unified body ever again.

Nobody listens anymore.