Archive for May, 2006
Enron Execs Go Down. Former Worker Says, ‘I’m Thrilled’
Enron founder Kenneth Lay was convicted today of all six counts against him, including conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. Former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling also was convicted of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.
“I am thrilled, absolutely thrilled! This finally settles things,” shouted Debbie Perrotta on hearing the verdict. Perrotta, along with 21,000 of her co-workers, lost everything when Houston-based Enron went belly-up five years ago in a maze of bogus offshore companies, outright lies and fraud.
“I was afraid that…they would be acquitted. But I’m so happy,” says Perrotta, who now lives in Dallas and is working for the Texas Federation of Teachers. “This just shows corporations can’t lie and deceive you and the public and get away with it.”
Outrageous CEO Pay Costs Workers, AFL-CIO Tells Congress
Outrageous CEO pay and perks aren’t just obnoxious—they cost workers, Brandon Rees, assistant director of the AFL-CIO’s Office of Investment, told a congressional hearing today.
“Executive compensation abuse takes dollars out of the pockets of shareholders, including the retirement savings of America’s working families,” Rees told the House Financial Services Committee. Led by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), all 33 Democrats on the committee demanded the hearing on a bill proposed by Frank that would give shareholders a real voice in CEO pay decisions.
Today, the average pay for the CEO of a major company is 431 times the worker’s average pay, up from 42 times in 1980—an imbalance Rees says is “not sustainable” and “not in the long-term interests of a company, its shareholders or employees.”
On Mine Safety, ‘We Do Not Have a Moment to Waste’
The four key senators who crafted the bipartisan coal mine safety bill that won unanimous support May 24 from the full Senate have urged their House counterparts to move quickly and pass mine safety legislation. You can do the same. Click here to tell your U.S. representative to pass strong mine safety legislation (H.R. 5389) now.
Passage of the Senate bill (S. 2803) came on the heels of a coal mine explosion that killed five workers at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Kentucky and the death of another worker at a Kentucky mountain strip mine. So far this year, 33 coal miners have been killed on the job, including 12 who died Jan. 2 in the Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia.
The 33rd miner to die on the job was killed yesterday in an International Coal Group Inc. (IGC) mine in Harrison County, W.Va. IGC also operates the Sago Mine. More miners have been killed on the job in five months this year than in any full year since 2001.
‘Give Missourians a Raise’
The campaign to “Give Missourians a Raise” kicked off yesterday in St. Louis with a coalition of unions, community and faith groups and low-wage workers outlining their plans to win a November ballot issue to boost the Show-Me state’s minimum wage.
As in all states that match their wage to the federal level, minimum wage workers in Missouri have earned just $5.15 an hour since 1997, while inflation, gas prices and other expenses have eaten more deeply into its already low value.
“This is an issue of human dignity and common sense. We’re not a third world country,” says Bob Soutier, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO’s Greater St. Louis Labor Council.
The Missouri proposal would increase the state’s minimum wage to $6.50 an hour and index the wage to the cost of living, ensuring inflation doesn’t diminish the value.
Working America Comes to Rochester, Minn., and Allentown, Pa.
Working families in Rochester, Minn., and Allentown, Pa., and the surrounding areas who want a powerful voice in critical political and legislative debates now can turn to the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate, Working America, to help make themselves heard. The grassroots group opens offices in both cities today.
Working America gives working families that lack the benefits of union membership the opportunity to join forces with the AFL-CIO’s 9 million members in the fight for good jobs, health care, retirement security and more.
Nurses to Rally to Protect Freedom to Have a Voice at Work
With a big decision expected soon from the Bush National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that could further erode fundamental workers’ rights, nurses are fighting back. Some 7,000 nurses and other health care workers in nine New Jersey hospitals voted overwhelmingly to strike if they cannot reach a fair contract agreement. Continuing negotiations at all nine hospitals are focused on safe staffing ratios and working conditions and retirement security.
Tonight, the nurses and their allies in the union movement and the community will rally to protect their rights.
Senate Passes Mine Safety Bill; Another Coal Miner Dies
With the nation’s coal mines claiming more lives than any full year since 2001—32 so far this year, including a driver on a mountaintop strip mine in Martin County, Ky., killed yesterday when his truck went over an embankment—the U.S. Senate passed legislation this morning to strengthen coal mine safety laws.
Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts said:
As tragedies in the mines continue to create more widows and make more children fatherless, all Americans are reminded we still have a long way to go to make America’s coal mines as safe as they must be. This legislation is a step in the right direction, and I urge the House to pass it as soon as possible and President Bush to sign it into law without delay.
The bipartisan bill would require additional emergency oxygen supplies in the mines and pave the way for better communication, tracking devices and procedures to help miners caught in explosions, fires and other serious accidents.
Watch this space for more details and reaction.
Gang of Southern Republicans Holding Voting Rights Act Hostage
A group of Southern Republicans has stalled plans to renew key provisions of the Voting Rights Act before lawmakers recess for the Memorial Day holiday.
About 20 Republican House members—mainly from Georgia, Texas and Mississippi and led by Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia—claim some provisions of the act are no longer needed or impose a financial burden on states. Although House Republican leaders pledged early this month to push for a vote by Memorial Day, Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said last week there is no “commitment” on when the measure will come to the floor because of opposition from the Southern lawmakers.
Unless Congress acts soon, three key sections of the Voting Rights Act will expire in August 2007. The legislation needs to be renewed now, supporters say, because next year’s crowded congressional calendar may not allow the bill to complete the legislative hurdles before the act expires.
Arnold’s Minimum Wage Fantasy
Hey you. Here’s a buck. Now go away, you bother me!
That’s what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) seems to be saying.
He’s proposing a $1-an-hour increase in the state’s minimum wage. But what he really wants to do is head off bills in the Legislature that not only would increase the state’s minimum wage from its current $6.75 an hour but also would protect it from losing its value to inflation by tying it to the cost of living (a move known as “indexing”).
Laborers to Leave AFL-CIO
The Laborers (LIUNA) will disaffiliate from the AFL-CIO effective June 1, the union’s president, Terence O’Sullivan, said in a letter to the AFL-CIO.
LIUNA’s governing board voted in February to leave the federation, giving O’Sullivan the choice of when to go. Last July, O’Sullivan stepped down from the AFL-CIO Executive Council, reiterating that his union intended to leave the federation.
O’Sullivan’s May 22 letter says the union will disaffiliate “in order to pursue full participation in Change to Win,” the organization formed last year by unions disaffiliating from the AFL-CIO.
