by Tula Connell, Nov 28, 2006

Catching up with the mailbox this week. If you have news, send it to blognews@aflcio.org.

Tens of thousands of air travelers made their destinations safely this busy Thanksgiving holiday in large part because of the skill of the nation’s air traffic controllers. But moves by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to cut back breaks and reduce time between shifts means controllers aren’t getting the necessary rest they need to concentrate on guiding planes.

Thomas Thompson, vice president for the local National Air Traffic Controllers Association in Indianapolis, sends in several links to recent media coverage of the danger of such cutbacks, including this video on the increase in controller error due to understaffing and overscheduling: www.nbcsandiego.com/video/10374645/index.html?taf=dgo.

Thompson also recommends the following article and video about a series of close calls recently at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=special_coverage&id=4801578.

The recent one-man play about legendary longshore organizer Harry Bridges staged recently at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., caught the attention of Alma Glover from Morris Plains, N.J., who took time out from the challenge of studying college physics to read about Bridges in the AFL-CIO Now daily news e-mail (sign up for the daily e-mail here.)

Thank you for sending this intellectual, academic, humanitarian, cognitive, knowledgeable, mind-moving, and universal documentary concerning Harry Bridges. I enjoyed immensely reading about this man—his endeavors, his accomplishments and most of all his struggles and battles concerning unionism(s).

I work full time, and I attend college in the evening—struggling to procure a college degree and procure that reality of a college education and all a college education awards.  I would not have known about this man, Harry Bridges, 15 minutes ago, if AFL-CIO had not e-mailed me this [information] on him….I will attempt to read more about Harry Bridges during my semester break, because college physics is a demanding course, and I am preparing for the second part of physics. I have already passed the first semester of college physics.

Todd Iverson, co-founder of America In Solidarity and member of International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union (ILWU) Local 23, sends in this request for America In Solidarity:

Know a good labor politician? America In Solidarity searching for leaders to sign the pledge.

America In Solidarity is a grassroots campaign to educate voters on working family issues and to help elect politicians who care about America’s working families. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan group started up by members of ILWU Local 23 in Tacoma, Wash. Over the past three years, we have given thousands of volunteer hours to help elect politicians who have signed our pledge to protect working families, produced several community events to educate the public on the issues and signed up hundreds of new voters.

Our goal is to build up our database for 2007, 2008 and beyond. I need outstanding examples of politicians to reach out to. I know who the national figures are, but how about the George Miller-types in your local state legislature? Or who on your local council speaks with the same convictions of a Dennis Kucinich?

More than 50 politicians have signed our pledge to support working families including Kucinich and Howard Dean.

Find out more about America In Solidarity here, and read the pledge here.

Carl Thomas in Elkton, Md., offers this thought on tackling anti-worker retailers such as Wal-Mart.

Back in the day when the union was strong, we used to go out to local stores that refused to have the Carpenters union build the stores, fill the shopping carts, then hand the folks a large fake $100 bill. I believe this would help Wal-Mart to see things in a new way. Just a few hundred men could change things.

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