Kongsberg Automotive Screws Van Wert Ohio, Again

Kongsberg officials said the decisions were a result of the "global automotive market collapse" that has resulted in a steep drop in demand for automotive components especially in North America.

Kongsberg officials have said a lot, most of it is a bunch of hogswallow.

The Businessweek piece goes on to say:

Kongsberg said its Van Wert, Ohio facility will close sometime in the summer and its production will be transferred to the company's Nuevo Laredo, Mexico facility, eliminating about 105 jobs.

The company said it also plans to move its Haysville, Kan. facility's production to its facility in Matamoros, Mexico. The Haysville facility will also close sometime in the summer, affecting about 100 jobs, Kongsberg said.

Not a problem. When Kongsberg decideds that Mexico is too expensive, they'll move to Poland, Haiti, India, maybe back to the US, you know where ever the taxes are cheap and the workers are so desperate they'd crawl all over themselves to get the jobs. Cause in the end, they're really just greedy bastards.

And why do I call them greedy bastards, well, because while they talk about the poor auto market from one side of their mouth, they accept a huge German contract out of the other side.

Kongsberg Automotive has booked an order valued at MEUR 18 (MNOK 151). The new business includes delivery of Seat Heat to the European market. The contract term is 7 years with production start in 2010.

The seat heaters will be manufactured at Kongsberg Automotive's plant in Pruszkow, Poland.

The customer is a German automaker and one of the world's premier manufacturers of passenger cars.

Ah, yes, Poland. This is the operation begun by closures of Amotfors, Sweden. But don't take my word for it, here's what Kongsberg had to say:

Kongsberg, 8 December 2008.

Kongsberg Automotive (KA) has booked an order valued at MEUR 4,3 (40
MNOK). The new business includes delivery of Seat Heat to the Russian
market, where a German automaker is preparing the launch of a small
sized car.

"The customer is one of Europe's leading carmakers and this contract
represents a door-opener to the emerging Russian automotive market",
says Hans Peter Havdal, President of Automotive Systems at KA.
"Further, this contract is the first ever to this particular
carmaker, and we expect new business opportunities to follow as a
result of this award", he concludes.


###

Kongsberg Automotive is headquartered in Kongsberg, Norway and has
more than 50 facilities in 20 countries on all continents. Kongsberg
Automotive, with revenues of about EUR1 billion and over 9.500
employees, provides system solutions to vehicle makers around the
world. The product portfolio includes gearshift systems, cables for a
wide variety of applications, fuel lines, tubing and hoses,
couplings, clutch actuation, stabilizing rods, seat heaters, seat
ventilation, lumbar supports, head restrains, arm rests, steering
columns, pedals, electronics and displays. Find more information at
www.kongsbergautomotive.com.

Yeah, right, market is down, so we have to close Van Wert (despite an illegal lockout) and we will have to close operations in Kanasas (another 100 jobs) because we have to move those operations into Mexico. It's just business, after all. Just business. Greedy fucking bastards.

Does this Mean that Republican Senators Will Be in Favor of a Bridge Loan?

I mean, how often does an administration lead by a Congress controlled by Republicans for years (unitl 2006) allow deregulation of the financial industry, arguably causing issues like Madoff:

They join a list of more powerful investors that have come forward, all worried about the extent of their losses. The roster of names include former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and J. Ezra Merkin, the chairman of GMAC Financial Services, among others.

So, in a climate of DEREGULATION, a well respected captain of financial markets gets to pull off the scam of all scams, including DEFRAUDING the likes of GM (GMAC is a subsidiary of GM and provides financial services, including mortgages). Now that GM is out BILLIONS (Madoff scammed at least $50 billion that we know of now), does it make it more likely that Republican Senators will be willing to assist the ailing auto industry? Afterall, helping GMAC is a financial services company and seemingly so much more Republican like, as opposed to dirty, hard working, loud, uneducated, unskilled autoworkers represented by a union.

Hmm, the only ones here I think of as dirty, uneducated and unskilled are Republicans in the Seante lead by the likes of Senators Corker and Shelby. Just writing their names makes me want to go take a shower. I feel so dirty.

UAW WORKERS Meet on Capitol Hill

Mostly, watch and listen at 4:11.



The UAW worker speaking is from American Axle and the staffers at the table have never heard of American Axle. NEVER HEARD OF IT. Why is that important? An 11 week strike this past winter.

How can we expect the Republican Senators to be able to pull their heads out of their asses if their staffers can't even keep up on an 11 week strike that SHUT DOWN GM plants all over the country, in Mexico and also hit Canadian autoworkers? Are these rely the people who should be making policy about how and if money should be loaned to manufacturing in this country?

Idiots and asshats. Because of them, there's no money out there in the form of a LOAN for the auto industry!!

Detroit Free Press Editorial on Southern Republican Senator's Asshated

I got this in an e-mail but had to go and read it for myself mostly because at the same time I got this, someone else sent me a link to what states receive the most in Federal aide and those states that utilize the least. And not surprisingly, Republican Senators who receive the most in federal funding are also the senators who voted against a BRIDGE LOAN for Chrysler and GM. Oh and of course the Republicans from Alaska, too (receiving loads, but clearly want to screw Michigan and the rest of the midwest).



Take what Mitt Romney said on Meet the Press this morning, blaming a $2k "disadvantage" on labor, labor benefits and labor legacy (retired workers). Governor Granholm hit the nail on the head when she made sure that everyone knew that this "disadvantage" is about how other countries provide for their citizens. Here, we have companies that must, as in the Detroit Free Press editorial

December 12, 2008

Hey, Southerners: Detroit 3 helped you to survive

BY TOM WALSH
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

When Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana and Alabama on Aug. 29, 2005, the automobile companies of Detroit did not harrumph that the gulf coast should have been better prepared.

They didn't sit back and wait for New Orleans to submit a detailed plan for future repair of the ruptured levees.

General Motors Corp., on Aug. 30, donated $400,000 to the American Red Cross 2005 Hurricane Relief Fund, pledged to match up to $250,000 more in employee contributions, and sent more than 150 vehicles to the stricken area for use in relief work.

Ford Motor Co. and the UAW quickly made a joint donation of $100,000 to the Red Cross. The Chrysler Group gave $150,000 to the Red Cross and $200,000 to local New Orleans charities. DaimlerChrysler Services chipped in $200,000 for the Red Cross and pledged to match employee donations up to $50,000.

The three Detroit auto companies together gave more than $18 million in cash and vehicles to the Katrina relief effort in the ensuing months. No strings attached.

The U.S. Senate's most adamant naysayers about whether Detroit deserves rescue loans should have thought about that before now. It might have made Thursday's futile wrangling over a compromise to get $14 billion in emergency rescue loans for GM and Chrysler a bit less tortuous.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., for one, might have dialed down his earlier rhetoric.

Vitter said Wednesday that he plans to vote against the rescue because, in his words, it is "ass-backwards" to give money to the distressed companies before Congress sees more detailed survival plans.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., should think about Hurricane Katrina, too. He has threatened a filibuster against the bill, calling it "a bridge loan to nowhere" and stating that Detroit's automakers should undergo a fundamental restructuring before they ask Congress for money.

None of the logical arguments made by, or on behalf of, Detroit's auto industry seem to resonate with certain congressional critics.

Not the fact that GM, Ford and Chrysler have slashed billions of dollars in costs. Not the fact that they have the nation's top-selling pickups and minivans. Not the fact that they have lots of high-mileage vehicles and more on the way. Not the fact an auto company bankruptcy would have a horrible ripple effect, wiping out scores of suppliers and making hundreds of thousands more U.S. workers jobless.

No, to the most adamant auto-rescue opponents in the Senate, Detroit doesn't make cars people want. It's a dinosaur not worth preserving.

Could the opinions of these senators be colored by the fact that the foreign-owned plants of Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, BMW, Nissan and Volkswagen -- which compete with the Detroit Three -- are located in their states?

Nah, let's not even go there.

Let's just say that since logic hasn't worked, we should fall back on a simple moral argument.

If you see a fellow American is drowning, gasping for air, do you quiz him for a while about whether he's drunk or why he never learned to swim better? Or do you throw him a life buoy and ask questions later?

That, it seems to me, is where we are with America's car companies.

You have done nothing and failed them, senators.

So now it's up to President George W. Bush and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to, hopefully, rush in with emergency aid from the $700-billion Troubled Assets Relief Program.

They could still hold the Detroit Three's feet to the fire afterward, empowering a strong auto czar to bring all stakeholders together to forge business models for these companies that can withstand future shocks.

Contact TOM WALSH at 313-223-4430 or twalsh@freepress.com.

Just one more time, Damn, Mitt Romney is an ass...ah, and a liar. Wow, glad he's not going to be president. Why are there always more Republicans on the Sunday talks than Democrats? Come on, the CEO of Wal-Mart? Please, focused on working people? Yeah, working them for as little as possible with the smallest wages as possible and then, with little or no benefits. Great model to compare to GM and Chrysler. Why would this joker even be on Meet the Press? Is this what we really want to expand as a model for growth or prosperity?

Mr. Block gets news only from the bosses' paper

some things never change


So who is Mr.Block (from Wikipedia)?

Mr. Block is a United States comic strip character commemorated in a song written by Joe Hill.

Mr. Block, who has no first name, was born 7 November 1912 to Ernest Riebe, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Block appeared that day in the Spokane newspaper Industrial Worker, smoking a cigar and wearing a checkered suit with top hat. Subsequently, Mr. Block lost the fancy clothes but always kept a hat, ten sizes too small, perched on one corner of his wooden blockhead.

"Mr. Block is legion," wrote Walker C. Smith in 1913. "He is representative of that host of slaves who think in terms of their masters. Mr. Block owns nothing, yet he speaks from the standpoint of the millionaire; he is patriotic without patrimony; he is a law-abiding outlaw .. [who] licks the hand that smites him and kisses the boot that kicks him .. the personification of all that a worker should not be."

Former Teamster President Ron Carey dead at 72

Ron Carey, the first Democratically elect President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has passed

From MSNBC

The first democratically elected leader of the Teamsters died yesterday at age 72 in New York City.

Ron Carey was first elected to head the Teamsters in 1991 on a vow to end mob control. In his re-election bid in 1996, he narrowly defeated James Hoffa, Jr. However, in 1998, a court-appointed review board expelled Carey from the Teamsters, concluding, according to the New York Times, he “breached his fiduciary duty by failing to stop an illegal scheme that siphoned more than $750,000 in union money into his 1996 re-election campaign.”

In 2001, Carey was charged with perjury related to the scandal. He was later acquitted on all charges.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara, and five children.

What people are saying

From "Republican Senator Admits Opposition to Auto Bill is All About Union Busting" comment at DU

Unions "appear to be an antiquated concept in today’s economy"?

If anything is true it's the exact opposite. Unions are more important now then ever before as it has become painfully clear the corporate executives have no interest in seeing American workers prosper. For them it's all about getting what you can for as little as possible. Fucking disgusting.

From "Somebody Has to Respond" comment at Truthout

Thirty years of anti-labor propaganda has taken its toll, but us working stiffs have to stick together or we are going to keep getting screwed. It's not a coincidence that, once the interests of the wealthy are threatened, $750 billion materializes instantly. This is after all that preaching about fiscal responsibility to those of us lower on the food chain.

From "Stuff Made In China"

Another gross example of this is from years ago. I had a roommate that worked at an Old Navy. For those of you that don't know, Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic are all the same company. The blue jeans at Old Navy cost around $20, at the Gap $40, and at Banana Republic $60. I don't recall exactly, but I want to say all were made in Indonesia. Undoubted they were produced at the same factory. Really I don' know, maybe the 12 year old sewing the Old Navy jeans got like $8 a month and the one sewing the Banana Republic jeans received $12 a month. However, I seriously doubt it.
Moral is: If you have to buy Chinese made crap, please buy it as cheaply as possible. You should realize those $90 Polo Jeans are probably $7 at Marshalls.

New York construction union shows solidarity with sit-in workers

“In many ways,” said Jessie Jackson, their action “is the beginning of a larger movement for mass action to resist economic violence.”

When the Republic Windows and Doors workers were left shafted without warning they took action, according to the AFL-CIO blog yesterday Dec.11th:

...workers at Republic Windows & Doors who made justice happen. After a six-day sit-in at the plant, workers at Republic Windows & Doors in Chicago voted to accept a settlement late last night.

Somewhere along the line a little thing happened, solidarity. Many of us have heard about the demonstrations across the nation, the support from President-Elect Barack Obama and Jessie Jackson standing in solidarity with the workers, but here's something that you may not have heard.

According to a friend of mine who on December 9th, was at the meeting of New York's own Metallic Lathers Union LU 46, in front of a standing room only crowd of members Business Manager Bob Ledwith made a motion that Local 46 show support for the striking UE workers in Chicago by sending them a gift of $1,000 to help defray their costs and hardship.

The members, all of whom are anticipating a rough ride themselves in the near future voted unanimously to approve the motion.

According to the history of the Metallic Lathers in New York:

All through the years Local 46 has been outstanding in its help to the labor movement and has always aided and endeavored to help others secure their own rights.

I hope that showing of solidarity can rub off on other workers across this great nation. I recall the sentence I used to use to practice typing when I was a kid:

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. (of course, and women too)

Here's more on the struggle and victory of the Republic workers from the UE site:

A bid for fairness that inspired the world.

On Friday, December 5, 2008, an new chapter in labor history was written by about 260 Chicago workers at Republic Windows and Doors.

Three days earlier, they learned the plant was closing. Bank of America, although flush with U.S. government bailout cash, had refused to extend Republic's line of credit and had also refused to allow Republic to pay out what they were owed.

United — as a union of co-workers — they stood together and said "No!"

For the next five days they occupied their plant — something rarely seen in the U.S. since the 1930's The worldwide reaction was stunning.

A World of Support

People organized demonstrations in dozens of cities across the country, from New York to San Francisco, from icy Buffalo to sunny Florida. Solidarity messages poured in from around the world. Their common theme was, "We're behind you — and proud of you! Keep up the fight!"

The UE Local 1110 members had no way of knowing how deeply their courageous action would resonate. But it soon became clear that their action articulated the anger and frustration millions of ordinary people in this worsening economic crisis. of

A World of Hope

They inspired people fed up by the excesses of banks, corporations and the powerful who have led us into the worst economic crisis since the 1930s — and then got the government to bail them out with our money.

They gave hope to people who face the prospect of losing jobs, homes, healthcare, retirement, and for many, the hope for their kids to get a good college education.

A Movement to 'Resist Economic Violence'

Rev. Jesse Jackson expressed it well when he said that, like Rosa Parks 50 years ago, the Republic workers stood up for justice by sitting down. “In many ways,” said Jackson, their action “is the beginning of a larger movement for mass action to resist economic violence.”

Now, it's up to all of us to make sure this moment is a real turning point, when we begin to stand together as working people to demand an economy and government policies that put our needs first.

So what is the latest on these workers?

From Change To Wins Blog:

Republic Workers Win! (For Real This Time)

This time it’s official:

After the conclusion of negotiations Wednesday evening, the membership of Local 1110, more than 200 workers, met in the plant cafeteria to hear and consider the tentative settlement that had been worked out by UE negotiators over the past three days.

The settlement was approved by a unanimous vote…

The settlement totals $1.75 million. It will provide the workers with:

• Eight weeks of pay they are owed under the federal WARN Act,
• Two months of continued health coverage and,
• Pay for all accrued and unused vacation.

JPMorgan Chase will provide $400,000 of the settlement, with the balance coming from Bank of America.

Although the money will be provided as a loan to Republic Windows and Doors, it will go directly into a third-party fund whose sole purpose is to pay the workers what is owed them.

As the Local 1110 leaders characterized the settlement, “We fought to make them pay what they owe us, and we won.”

Hooray! Congratulations!

UPDATE (1:35PM): Great discussion of the victory at Daily Kos, kicked off by Friend of CtW Connect TomP.

Pyramid of the capitalist system redux

They Rule You, They Fool You, They Shoot At You and They Eat For You

That idealization has been around for quite some time, it was on the cover of The Industrial Worker, the newspaper of The Industrial Workers Of The World(The IWW) way back in 1911, the title of the work is Pyramid of the Capitalist System.



So what has changed in the almost 100 years since this masterpiece has been created, the masses fought through the Great Depression gotten some advantage through the 50's and the corporatist have found better ways to fool us.

They have opened our borders to a servitude class, while diverting our pension into mutual funds that invest against our own interests, they have made loopholes for those at the top and given corporations carte blanche over our lives and have taken our constitutional rights while we sat in blind patriotism. They have their media telling us what we need to know about nothing, while constricting the free speech from dissenting views. They have us thinking that labor laws will protect us, while cutting staff and regulations to the bone.

They have used racism, religion, language, and fear to pit us against one another, and have beaten us with the sense that there is nothing any one of us can do about it.

Here is an updated version of the great illustration of 1911, is it so far off the mark.

I wish I were more creative I'd make my own, maybe show the Wal-Mart door crushing out a human life so some scums could save a few dollars on their foreign made crap, maybe add the Haitian bread winner feeding his children dirt sandwiches to stave off the hunger pains after a hard days work making clothes for companies which used to make it here for a living wage.

They sold our future down the drain while you watched American Idol.

Unfortunately I don't know where the image is from

Autoworker bailout fails Senate!

You motherfuckers, you toss trillions at killing in war, a trillion to your cohorts in banking and when it comes to one of the last American industries which is manned by American workers, union American workers who have agreed to give concessions, who's new hires only make $14 at the highest wage and whose companies have asked for a loan of a mere $15 billion, you turn your backs.

Make no mistake about it, this bill was killed by Republican Senators, they are your enemy, and for all of those working in the deep south in the Foreign auto manufacturing, which does not have any legacy costs for retirees yet, be prepared, if the big 3 are gone, your pay is gonna drop like an anchor.

With 1 in 10 US jobs attached to the big three you have tossed our country into a tailspin, the dollar has dropped overnight and how much longer before we have another 3,000,000 unemployed, while you close your eyes and leave the border open and let all help the corporations continue to force undocumented workers into servitude to feed you.

The people have shown that they are getting tired of it at the Republic window and door factory in Chicago, unfortunately it's like alcoholics anonymous, we might all have to hit the bottom before we look for change.

How long will you all bury your head in the sand before you realize that there is a war against the American worker? That's ALL American workers, they will continue to pick us off one at a time..

Bloomberg:

Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar slumped below 90 yen for the first time in 13 years after the U.S. Senate rejected a $14 billion bailout for the nation’s automakers.

The U.S. currency headed for a sixth week of declines versus the yen as General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC failed to obtain the funds they need to survive until next year. Japan isn’t considering intervening in currency markets now, Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa told reporters in Tokyo today.

“The dollar is dropping like a rock,” said Masahiro Sato, joint general manager of the treasury division in Tokyo at Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., a unit of Japan’s second-largest publicly listed lender. “This is a big blow to confidence in the U.S. economy. Bankruptcy protection for U.S. automakers may be the only option left.”

More info from Google

Jim DeMint= Angry Idiot

And I don't say such things lightly.

But then I got to hear his bizarre anti-worker and anti-union rant on NPR and well, read this comment from another listener...pretty well sums it up:

Nellie
I was deeply disturbed at Sen. DeMint's comments about the Unions being the whole problem facing the auto industry. The Unions do not determine what vehicles are to be built or engineering of vehicles, management does. They assemble the vehicles they are directed to assemble. No one seems to think there is anything wrong with CEOs negotiating the best salary and benefits package they can, but somehow its wrong for the workers to do so. Remember, without the workers, the Union members, there would be no product to sell. Further, no one seems to remeber that Toyota, Honda and other foreign auto cos., got a free pass when they negotiated manufacturing their vehicles in the U.S. They were not required to deal with the Unions. Therefore, there is no level playing field. The NPR staff needs to educate itself about Unions and the roll of Unions in the history of this country so they can challenge such outrageous statements from the likes of Sen. DeMint. Unions were prominenet in the most prosperous times of our country. Because of Unions, there are weekends, laws requiring a safe workplace and other standards we all take for granted now. An attack on Unions is an attack on the common working woman and man of this country

And did anyone else notice that not only is this guy an idiot, he also had several moments where it seemed difficult for him to form his thoughts? Is he more than just an idiot, is he also a blithering idiot?

Chicago Workers Take A Stand

A good friend and fellow labor activist wrote this piece for UnionReview.com. I asked her if we can cross-post her article to Joe's site, and she said, "Of course," enjoy!

They say that those who aren’t angry simply aren’t paying attention. When it comes to anger over the country’s financial meltdown, however, not paying attention is becoming less of an option, thanks, in part, to a group of renegade workers from Chicago who have taken matters into their own hands.

In the midst of a financial crisis and government-backed bail outs to save Wall Street, big business and fat-cat CEOs, workers in Chicago are taking a stand.

As reported by CNN.com, 200 members from the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America have joined together in a peaceful protest that is making headlines and causing some of the country’s most powerful to take notice.

The group of 200 were employees at Republic Windows and Doors until just days ago, when the company announced massive layoffs, giving employees only three days notice. The layoffs, Republic Windows and Doors claims, are a result of Bank of America cutting off credit to the company.

Now, the workers are staging a sit-in, saying they won’t leave until they get what is rightfully theirs: severance packages and accrued vacation pay.

Among those to show support for the group include the Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson, President-elect Barack Obama and Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who recently issued an order for the state government to suspend doing business with Bank of America.

“We are going to do everything possible here in Illinois to side with these workers,” Blagojevich said. “And it isn't just lending them moral support, but it's putting pressure on financial institutions like the Bank of America.”

Earlier in the year, Bank of America received a $25 billion tax-payer bailout package which corporate CEOs claimed would save the jobs of working men and women; it’s more and more clear, however, who the bailout really bailed out—and the employees of Republic Windows and Doors are making it harder and harder to forget.

Talking to People About the Union Movement.

I posted this on Union Review over the weekend and thought to share some of these thoughts with Joe and his readers, Richard/ UR

I was at a holiday party where I hardly knew anyone. Conversations were going on all throughout the day, some were better than others. There was, however, one thing that was painfully similar about them all; and this is what came to mind: Not many people outside of the union movement have any clue as to what is taking place at our unions; clearly this not one of those profound utterances, just a matter of fact observation/nugget.

At some point or another I mentioned a number of campaigns that either I am directly or indirectly involved with –or simply know just enough about to share. In the back corners of my mind I thought: This is what we all need to be doing - educating people wherever we are and have the opportunity. I also thought … there is no day off or resting from this mission.

Here is a small capsule of issues I talked about, alluded to or brushed upon at one point or another:

1. FedEx Express workers have a pension freeze that went into affect earlier this year; they are looking at losing tons of money over the course of their careers. While they are working on organizing with the Teamsters, their campaign is one that is long and strenuous. While pension issues are enough to lose sleep over, many of these workers are seeing, in this horrible economy, their work being shipped overseas. The outsourcing at FedEx Express is as bad, if not worse, than its wonderful Independent Contractor policies at another division of that company. To go see what is happening with this campaign, check out http://www.fedxmx.com or http://www.fedexwatch.com. You can sign up for a user name and password at FedXMx to comment on the blog or participate in the forum – and if you do, show your solidarity online as though you walked passed them on a picket line; I believe it goes a long way out here on the Web.

2. School Bus Workers around the United States are NOT experiencing issues with outsourcing, like their brothers and sisters at FedEx Express. Instead, the drivers, mechanics, aides and monitors are dealing with very low, if not sub-standard wages, work rules that are ever changing, and no respect or say at their job. With all that can be said to be wrong about the union movement in the United States (and both members and nonmembers are endlessly finding what is wrong with the union movement in this country) – there is also, undoubtedly a lot that is good; this is one of those campaigns. What started two years ago with a group of First Student workers in Iowa and Baltimore has become multinational worker movement. You can (and should) learn about this campaign at http://www.schoolbusworkersunited.org. Like the FedEx campaign site, get a username and password; show your solidarity with these incredible workers.

3. The Colombian Free Trade Agreements cannot and should not pass through while Bush is leaving office – and be aware that he is /was/has been working on doing just that. While there is much on the Colombian Free Trade Agreement on Union Review – and infused in our daily and national publications, there is nothing that simply comes out and says why this is a bad deal for trade unionists. Today there was a great piece on the AFL-CIO Blog; http://www.aflcionow.org; it said, “Despite the Bush administration's repeated attempts to push through Congress a U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) this year, the reality is that Colombia has not stemmed the violence against trade unionists or brought those responsible to justice.

In short, Colombia has a long way to go before a free trade pact should be considered.

The head of Human Rights Watch recently wrote three top House leaders urging them to remain steadfast in insisting that Colombia clean up its act before approving any new trade deal."

4. Finally, I think that every union supporter will agree that the Big Three loans should not be contingent on UAW workers giving concessions. I read a lot of back and forth on this issue everyday of the week, and for the record, let me write that I think it is BS when business reporters suggest that the reasons the Big Three automakers are in the trouble they are in because of the UAW workers’ wages. I have not yet heard a reporter mention anything about the executive office salaries, and how absurdly huge that salary is; and perhaps they should take a cut to keep their business afloat. What annoys me the most about “this” discussion is that when the government was bailing out Wall Street, AIG and the others … there was never any mention of how much these people at the top were earning, you deal with one unionized industry and sector and suddenly the conversation is about worker wages – come on! There is so much opinion about this – the last one I read hit UnionReview earlier today here: http://unionreview.com/why-uaw-should-not-have-make-any-concessions-big-three-get-loan-congress.

While these are just four items that seemed to come up for me in the last couple days, there are countless others. There are victories to feel proud of and defeats to look back on and re-organize around. Needless to say, we have a ton of work to do … even if we are at parties with a group of people we just met hours ago.

California workers express concerns about Rite Aid management at special shareholder meeting in NY

This is a piece that came to UnionReview.com by way of Rand Wilson of the AFL-CIO, I thought to cross-post it here while Joe is dealing with day-to-day stuff. -Richard /UR

Over 600 workers employed at Rite Aid's giant distribution center in Lancaster, California, sent a representative to attend the company's special shareholder meeting in New York City on Tuesday, December 2.

With the company's stock price hovering at less than 50 cents, and problems plaguing Rite Aid's supply chain serving hundreds of stores in the southwest, workers expressed "serious concerns about the focus and execution of Rite Aid's top management team."

Rite Aid management is blaming its troubles on the economy, but employees offered a different perspective.

"When you work inside a critical point in the supply chain, you can tell if management is really focused on running things efficiently and motivating everyone to work together as a team. Right now, that's not happening at Rite Aid from what we can see." said Carlos "Chico" Rubio who works at Rite Aid's modern million-square-foot distribution center in Lancaster where container-loads of products arrive each day from the Port of Los Angeles and are quickly distributed with just-in-time precision to more than 500 Rite Aid retail stores throughout the southwest.

"The good news is that we've got talented employees who want to be part of a successful solution. But we're missing that opportunity now because management can't seem to focus on solving problems and working together with us as a team," explained Mr. Rubio, who offered three suggestions at the shareholder meeting:

* Rubio invited CEO Mary Sammons to visit the Rite Aid's distribution center in Lancaster to meet with employees, explain the company's goals, and encourage problem-solving.
* Rite Aid executives should consider limiting their compensation to reasonable multiples of what workers earn, and keep executive pay more in line with performance.
* Rite Aid management should abandon its anti-union "we know what's best for you" philosophy, and focus instead on building cooperative relations with its employees' unions.

Morale among Rite Aid workers nationwide has suffered because top management has been taking huge compensation packages despite a 95 percent decline in share value since June 2007. Top executives took over $18.2 million in total compensation in FY 2008, including more than $3.5 million in cash bonuses related to the acquisition of the Brooks and Eckerd drug store chains, a decision some analysts consider to have been a costly mistake.

At Rite Aid's distribution center in Lancaster, workers have struggled with other examples of bad management that surfaced soon after employees expressed interest in joining the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The ILWU already represents dockworkers at the ports who handle Rite Aid shipping containers that are offloaded from ships and then transported to distribution centers, including Lancaster. In March 2008, the distribution center workers voted to form a union, overcoming an expensive and vicious anti-union campaign waged by Rite Aid management. The company engaged in a host of illegal labor activities, including disciplining, harassing, and firing union supporters. The company's behavior was so egregious that the National Labor Relations Board prepared to try Rite Aid on 49 violations of federal labor law. Rite Aid executives chose to settle the charges rather than defend their costly and illegal campaign against employees having a voice at work.

Management's aggressive interference did not end after the Lancaster workers voted to form their union. Rite Aid has continued a costly and intense anti-union campaign that has included harassing workers, issuing warnings and suspensions to union supporters, and firing at least six union supporters on flimsy pretexts. Charges alleging new unfair labor practices, related to the company's failure to bargain in good faith, are pending.

"Rite Aid is wasting precious time and money on their anti-union campaign when all of us should be focused on getting this company back on the right track," said Mr. Rubio. "Management should be working with us, instead of against us, to help this company succeed."

Prior to attending the shareholder meeting, Mr. Rubio met with the AFL-CIO and other unions representing workers at Rite Aid. At the meeting, an AFL-CIO representative announced that a special briefing was being organized for industry analysts and investors in early 2009.

Trustees of union health and welfare funds, which have an important say over lucrative contracts with pharmacies including Rite Aid, are expressing concern about the company's poor labor relations record. At a recent Employee Benefits Conference in San Antonio, hundreds of union plan representatives received detailed information about Rite Aid's ongoing labor dispute in Lancaster.

In addition to financial and labor problems, Rite Aid has been entangled in a number of consumer fraud cases. The company has defended itself against a slew of consumer fraud allegations during the past decade, and is now in litigation with the New York Attorney General. Last summer an investigation by the Attorney General found that 112 Rite Aid stores had carried or sold expired products. The announcement of the New York allegations came as Rite Aid was settling a similar case with Attorney General of New Jersey.

A more detailed report documenting Rite Aid's mismanagement and attempts to suppress workers' rights may be obtained by contacting Rand Wilson at the above number or by email at rand@mindspring.org.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union unites more than 45,000 workers in over 60 local unions in the states of California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii.

Related links:
http://www.ilwu.org

Unionization Substantially Improves the Pay and Benefits of Women Workers

A new report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) documents a large wage and benefit advantage for women workers in unions relative to their non-union counterparts.

The report, "Unions and Upward Mobility for Women Workers," found that unionized women workers earned, on average, 11.2 percent more than their non-union peers. In addition, women in unions were much more likely to have health insurance benefits and a pension plan.

"For women, joining a union makes as much sense as going to college," said John Schmitt, a Senior Economist at CEPR and the author of the study. "All else equal, joining a union raises a woman's wage as much as a full-year of college, and a union raises the chances a woman has health insurance by more than earning a four-year college degree."

The report , which analyzed data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS), found that unionization raises the pay of women workers by almost $2.00 per hour. According to the report, women workers in unions were also 19 percentage points more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, all the more significant, since women pay higher premium rates individually than men. Women workers were also 26 percentage points more likely to have an employer-provided pension plan than women workers who were not in unions.

The study also shows that unionization strongly benefited women workers in otherwise low-wage occupations. Among women workers in the 15 lowest-paying occupations, union members earned 14 percent more than those workers who were not in unions. In the same low-wage occupations, unionized women were 26 percentage points more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 23 percentage points more likely to have a pension plan than their non-union counterparts.

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I Have Nothing To Add About the Chicago Sit-In

Mostly, that's because the stuff out there while I was on vacation has been awesome, like this piece from the Wonkroom:

Over the weekend, laid-off workers from the Chicago-based factory Republic Windows and Doors began what they call a “peaceful occupation,” refusing to leave the shuttered business due to claims that they are “owed vacation and severance pay and were not given the 60 days of notice generally required by federal law when companies make layoffs.” The workers, members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, said that they were given only three days notice that the factory was closing.

During a press conference yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama offered his support to the protesting workers, saying, “The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they’re absolutely right.”
As Matthew Yglesias noted, “How nice it is to have a pro-labor president.” Indeed, by bringing a pro-worker perspective to the White House, Obama has the opportunity to reform a Department of Labor (DOL) that under President Bush has been “widely criticized for walking away from its regulatory function across a range of issues, including wage and hour law and workplace safety.”

In a report released today by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, David Madland and Karla Walter examine the negative effect that current “lax enforcement by DOL” has on “workers, taxpayers, and law-abiding businesses”:

Every year, workers lose $19 billion in wages and benefits through illegal
practices, nearly 6,000 American workers die on the job, and at least 50,000 workers die due to occupational disease. Taxpayers are cheated out of $2.7 billion to $4.3 billion each year in Social Security, unemployment, and income taxes from just one type of workplace fraud that misclassifies employees as independent contractors. Employers who play by the rules have trouble competing with irresponsible firms that keep labor costs illegally low.

In July, Obama sent a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao expressing “serious concern” that the agency “was not fulfilling its enforcement mission.” To correct this, Madland and Walter note that Obama’s DOL can use already-existing penalties to create a “culture of accountability“:

The Obama administration must use penalties forcefully, especially in cases of willful, repeated, or high-hazard violations. It should also work with Congress to increase maximum allowable fines, and it must promote a depoliticized agenda where DOL is again seen as the top labor cop.

As the AFL-CIO pointed out, “Chao’s Labor Department has been consistently anti-worker…[and] Bush appointees in the Labor Department have been handsomely rewarded for their lack of concern for workers’ rights, getting cushy jobs at union-busting law firms and corporate lobbying groups.” Obama has a chance to reverse these practices, and make Labor a department that American workers can trust.

I for one am thrilled with just the possibility of returning to adult leadership at DOL. I'm sure the branches, divisions, bureaus and offices are also looking forward to being treated like adults as well.

I'm So Sick of The Rhee Fawning

No, seriously.

Time? Really? A magazine cover for a woman who really just wants to fire "under performing teachers," oh, please. It's not at all about power and is certainly not about the kids. I've posted before what it's like in DCPS. My kid attended DCPS through Junior High School. Jefferson Junior High School and going there made my bright, articulate, fun and hard working child suicidal. This isn't even an exaggeration. She went to a psychologist; she withdrew; her grades suffered and she was tormented by her classmates.

Teachers can only do so much. Parents who raise kids that like to mentally torture other kids, or who raise kids that are in and out of juvenile hall or in and out of the system, parents who don't parent, bring kids into the world who behave in ways that I can't even begin or care to explain on this blog at this moment. Suffice it to say that in the media's Rheegasma, the media continues to lose site of what's really at stake, kids.

DC has lots and lots of problems.

Extreme poverty in pockets all over the city is just a start of it. Violence, joblessness, drugs, you name it, we've got it here and kids are a microcosm of all of these issues and we don't seem able to deal with any of these issues in a meaningful way, at least, not for the kids.

So, in a comment on another thread, a DCPS (self proclaimed math teacher of 2 years in DCPS) and he writes this about his recent evaluation:

Essentially, the principal has NO idea whether or not good teaching is going on in a classroom based on her observation. In the two years I have worked in my school, my principal has been in my room exactly twice -- both times to observe me in a situation that was totally inorganic. But I digress...

I went in to discuss the observation with my principal, and she basically said she thought everything was perfect. I received "Exceeds Expectations" ratings in every category, and she said that she had no suggestions for improvement. I can't disagree with her rating -- my lesson was very good and my kids were extremely well behaved. But as a teacher, I know I am not outstanding. I'm solidly good, but definitely not great. I'm relatively new at this, and there are lots of days where I really struggle. I'm happy to have the excellent ratings, but this type of observation and discussion doesn't help student achievement and it doesn't help improve teacher quality.

What I find interesting about what he says is that he hasn't been around very long. Evaluations like this are Arbitrary. It's something that Rhee supports, ARBITRARY evaluations.

What the union has been fighting for is the ability of teachers to be fairly evaluated. He's right, what he went through was a bit of a dog and pony show, combining that with say testing results and parent statements should help craft a better overall view of the teacher's performance. But, the arbitrary nature of testing (what tests? what results?) to the lack of discussion about holding parents accountable and actually failing poorly performing students...there's more to this discussion, but Rhee wants to focus only on Principals and Teachers.

From EdWize:

There is an old, tired trope of the education deformer crowd that fawns over Michelle Rhee like star struck 1960s teeny-boppers swooning at the feet of Paul McCartney: they care about the children, while everybody else [read: teachers and their unions] only care about the adults connected to education. Here is the latest rendition at The Quick and The Ed.

The Rhees and Kleins of the world cared so much about the children that they couldn’t wait to get out of the classroom, and as a consequence learned not a thing about the teaching craft.

Luke Laurie, Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year in California and a science teacher, had a particularly witty response to this thinking on the listserv of the Teachers’ Network Leadership Institute:

To say that tenure only benefits adults and has no benefit for kids, is like saying that a stable home provides no benefit for children. Why don’t we just go into homes and take out those unqualified parents every few years and replace them with young, smart and motivated “Parents for America” who will raise these kids right?

My daughter attended Jefferson Jr. High and it was awful. Kids there were violent, didn't try, were cruel and those that did try or learned were taunted by a few really bad apples. If the parents can't control these kids and don't get them to be students (or their grandparents, guardians or foster parents), then how are teachers able to do so?

Rhee isn't the answer. She's a diversion and so are her policies from the real issue about students...how do we do better? As communities, parents and schools. Until it all comes together, blaming teachers and schools is really just intended to distract all of us from what's really happening. And what's really happening is worse than most of us even care to talk about and the reason my kid is now at a private school. Without Emerson Prep, I'm not sure where my kid would be now, but I'm certain, it wouldn't be DCPS, and that has nothing to do with the teachers. She never had a bad one, ever.

Let's Lower Our Expectations; or Who Cares about Workers?

At a rally to organize workers at a supermarket chain recently, a woman stopped as I gave her a leaflet. When I told her that part time workers at this chain didn’t have any health care, she shook her head, and I expected her to sympathize.

Instead, she said, “Health care? Who has health care? They should be glad they have a job at all. It’s unions that are killing this country, trying to make all these demands of companies and dragging them under.”

Yes, I thought to myself, all these demands like affordable health care—demands like a secure retirement—demands like a wage workers can live on with dignity, that lets them provide for their families.

Demands like these aren’t killing America. In fact, they’re the only thing that can save us.

When Lehman Brothers failed, I didn’t hear any talk about how the employees there made too much, needed to accept less, didn’t need these “legacy benefits” like health care. But now that it’s blue collar auto workers in trouble, all we hear is that they need to accept less to be more competitive with foreign companies—and that unions are in the way of that competitiveness. This despite the concession the UAW made and is continuing to make in the spirit of “we’re all in this together-ness.”

You can talk about the obvious class warfare going on there—Michael Moore did last night on Countdown. Seems a little odd that we don’t ask too many questions of our white collar financial masters, but when it comes to blue collar workers in the manufacturing sector, we can’t be too critical or too demanding. How dare they demand middle class wages, not to mention health care and a pension!

But the bigger concern for me is this: what’s left of America when we don’t value our own workers and their economic well-being? How do we keep what made this country great, when our workers are constantly being told to work harder for less and shut up about it or their job will go to India or Taiwan?

It seems like many pundits and politicians (not to mention business executives) have forgotten what allowed America to succeed uniquely in the first place: the drive and determination of America's workers--not our CEOs. And our economic success came when we rewarded those workers and gave them an incentive to work hard in the first place.

As Terrence O’Sullivan puts it:

The American Dream is about upward mobility through middle class jobs, not an
economic race to the bottom. Middle class jobs built our country by allowing one
generation to work hard, support a family and give their kids opportunities they
never had themselves. And those jobs were based on good wages and benefits that
improved over time to meet the demands and costs of a modern society.

I can just hear the argument from my friend in front of the grocery store now. “Oh, but that was before globalization. American workers should be lucky they even have jobs now.”

But I wonder where we stop when we start sliding down the scale of staying competitive. What price do we extract from what is uniquely American when we tell workers their work doesn’t matter anymore? That they need to accept what workers in India or China will accept? That upward mobility is a thing of the past? What happens to America when hard work and ingenuity are replaced by a general sense of disappointed complacency?

What happens to the American Dream once we’ve sold American workers out?

Crossposted at Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/4/141926/425/869/669336

Stuff to work on, recent reading, sites and stuff to write about

Here's all sorts of stuff I'm either gonna re-read, write about, study or promote. Some are sites that link to me, some are new blogs I found, some are from a few months back, but all are interesting and important in their own way, I regard this batch of bookmarks as my sandbox of data which I haven't had a chance to write about. There's more, but here's a sample.

Joe's Sandbox

• Hospital suspends worker who failed to report NFL star's gunshot - CNN.com
  
• Home | International Labor Rights Forum
  
• Yellow turnip
  
• The Modesto Bee | Wal-Mart employee untrained
  
• its3:47pmwelcometoheartbreak
  
• Twitter Fan Wiki / Alternatives to User Search
  
• Ebmeyer6w’s Weblog
  
• scottspeak
  
• FDA Hid Names of Melamine Contaminated Infant Formula Products from the Public
  
• David Macaray: How to Kill a Union
  
• AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | A Falsie Would Fit Corporate Hack Rick Berman—Cast Your Vote Now
  
• Comments on “How an Italian judge made the internet illegal” • The Register
  
• 90.3 WCPN ideastream® | Mahoning Valley sets ‘goal’ to buy American
  
• Safety At Work Blog
  
• New York State Department of Labor - LI CLEANING SERVICE UNLAWFULLY DEDUCTED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS FROM WORKER PAYCHECKS
  
• Workers at Alle Kosher Meat Plant Reject Union in Contested Vote - Forward.com"
  
• Why is this kipa different from all other kipot? | New Jersey Jewish News
  
• UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO
  
• Union Construction For Union Work Clothes
  
• YouTube - Dude Transports 20 bricks on his head
  
• WNYC - News - Part 1: The Cost of Doing Business
  
• FOX and the GOP Fearmongering About Employee Free Choice | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | AlterNet
  
• NGBTC
  
• made in usa - Shoes - Compare Prices, Shop Visually and Buy at Like.com
  
• image7886877ub6.jpg (JPEG Image, 510x377 pixels)
  
• 15-year-old boy had no safety equipment (fell to his death at a construction site), stepfather says - Democratic Underground
  
• OpenCongress - U.S. Congress - H.R.2993 Genuine American Flag Act
  
• Nothing To Lose But Your Chains : Information Clearing House - ICH
  
• The Media Equation - Newspapers Jettisoning Top Talent to Cut Costs - NYTimes.com
  
• Husband Of Murdered Actress Adrienne Shelly Sues Illegal Alien Contractor
  
• blonde sagacity: Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) or “Card Check”
  
• Hard labor at a tender age - The Cruelest Cuts | CharlotteObserver.com
  
• 389 Years Ago - (GRAPHIC)
  
• Long Island Press - Home Away From Home
  
• Burson-Marsteller - SourceWatch
  
• United Professions of Vermont
  
• The Shallowest Generation - Seeking Alpha
  
• Infoshop News - Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth
  
• AWPPW
  
• Connecticut AFL-CIO
  
• John S. Romasko Training Center & Laborers AGC Apprenticeship, Training & Work Preparedness Trust of Montana
  
• www.iueclocal18.org/
  
• www.ctaflcio.org/
  
• Teamsters Local 61
  
• www.mtaflcio.org/
  
• UE LOCAL 222-CILU/CIPU
  
• CGEU: Links
  
• GCC/IBT Local 406 - C
  
• The high price of cheap lube | johninnit
  
• Flickr: The Industrial, Labour and Trade Unions Pool
  
• Chicopee Fire Local 1710
  
• Jason Gooljar: The Working Families Party Man — A New Yorker lost on the DC Metro
  
• The Associated Press: Uniform supplier accused of safety violations
  
• Grazr - Gather Feeds, Create Streams, Publish Widgets
  
• IAFF Local 1264
  
• Comments for 31-year-old Jose Delgado, Sr. killed in Greenwood Indiana construction accident
  
• Open Left:: Media Twice Mistaken on Middle Class Measure
  
• 'Net filters "required" for all Australians, no opt-out
  
• SalisburyPost.com - Opinion - Mooneyham column: Worker safety is key issue
  
• t r u t h o u t | The Moment
  
• $4.8 million Hanford verdict award upheld
  
• CC_Presidential_EFCA.jpg (image)
  
• IBEW 1837
  
• Kenneth MacDougall, IBEW Local 380 | Philadelphia Inquirer | 08/31/2008
  
• www.labortribune.com/
  
• Workers Speak Out at Nation’s New Leading Kosher Producer - Forward.com"
  
• Thinking Outside the Barrel - Weingarten
  
• Supreme Court rejects California law on anti-union speech - Los Angeles Times
  
• SleptOn Magazine: Don't Sleep On The Struggle. Be A Part Of It
  
• H-1B foes argue student-visa extension hurts US tech workers | The Industry Standard
  
• www.dc37.net/news/PEP/9_2008/blogs.html
  
• www.steelbarrelnews.com/
  
• Today's Ideas & Actions | OurFuture.org
  
• Ripoff Report
  
• popurls® | popular urls to the latest web buzz
  
• CraneWatch.com
  
• Sex Work 101 — a public education project from Sex Work Awareness
  
• Jason Gooljar: The Working Families Party Man — A New Yorker lost on the DC Metro
  
• U.S. Labor Department takes legal action against Houston-based CEMEX to secure more than $5 million in overtime wages
  
• OpEdNews » OpEdNews.Com Progressive, Tough Liberal News and Opinion
  
• HARD LABOR
  
• Steelworkers Local 632
  
• Springfield, MA Union News
  
• The Indypendent » How to Wreck the Economy
  
• Factoryrats Unite! Forums-viewtopic-Another Good Article !
  
• GOVERNOR SIGNS REFORMS TO STRENGTHEN WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SYSTEM | Politicker NJ
  
• UA Local 716
  
• BAC LOCAL #1 OREGON
  
• IATSE Local 30, Indianapolis
  
• Building Trades News - Home
  
• The Liberal Doomsayer
  
• logo
  
• Chattanooga Times Free Press | Chattanooga: Hispanics often hesitate to report job dangers
  
• Camden Rose Toys: Wooden Choo Choo Train by Camden Rose (3000) - ChildTrek Toys
  
• SalisburyPost.com - Opinion - Mooneyham column: Worker safety is key issue
  
• Union drive: Pro-union Honda employees host fundraiser for injured coworkers