Archive for December, 2006
BushWatch 2006: Another Year of Attacks on Workers
Every year since taking office in 2001, the Bush administration has attacked working families. This past year was no exception. Here is a look at some of the most egregious anti-worker actions supported, proposed and taken by the Bush administration in 2006.
For a complete list of President Bush’s attacks on workers, visit the AFL-CIO BushWatch.
Wonder What Unions Do? Here’s a Sample
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After watching her local go through several rounds of tough contract negotiations, Christine Campbell, a bus operator for the Denver Regional Transit Authority, decided to get involved. “If you don’t like what is going on, you have to get active.”
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There’s so much going on at AFL-CIO unions that it’s impossible for us to regularly cover the range of action. So we thought we’d share a sample from several union websites that give a glimpse of the range of events, programs and member involvement in their unions. We’ll follow up on Jan. 1 with more news.
The Transport Workers (ATU) profile several of their political and legislative activists, including Lisa Thompson of Seattle’s ATU Local 587, who says this about her recent Labor 2006 efforts:
When I volunteer, I feel like making a difference in this world. If we don’t get involved and elect people who will represent our interests, things could get pretty bad, pretty quickly.
Click here to read all the profiles.
USW Members Approve Goodyear Contract, Ending Three-Month Strike
By more than a 2-1 margin, United Steelworkers (USW) members have approved a new three-year contract with the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., officially ending an 86-day strike that began Oct. 5, the union announced today.
Voting was completed Thursday at 12 Goodyear locations in the United States, where 14,000 USW members were on strike, the union said. The strikers will begin returning to work on Tuesday.
“The credit really belongs to our members and their families, whose solidarity prevented the company from short-changing them, despite all its attempts,” USW International President Leo W. Gerard said after the vote.
Didn’t Get What You Wanted for Holidays? Hope Is Still at Hand
Didn’t get that red Camaro? Not real thrilled with the fuzzy socks from Aunt Sara. Is that what’s giving you the post-holiday blues?
Help is at hand. Click on over to the Union Shop Online where you can find all kinds of fun goodies to treat yourself.
We’ve still got those great “Kicking Ass for the Working Class” T-shirts. Click here to order.
Looking for something warm for you and the kids? Take a look at the black zip-front AFL-CIO hoodies for adults. For your kids, check out sweatshirts with the skateboarding union bug across the front. Click here for more clothing, caps and other accessories.
Working America: ‘The World Cannot Change Unless We Make Our Issues Known’
The holidays always are a great time to look back at what we’ve accomplished and prepare to move forward in the coming year. For Working America, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO and the nation’s fastest-growing organization for working families, the biggest news in 2006 was our victory as part of the Labor 2006 political action program. We’re proud to report that our 1.55 million members (and growing) made a big difference.
If there’s any doubt that union power equals working family power, check out the AFL-CIO 2006 post-election survey from Peter D. Hart Research Associates. In House races, union voters supported Democratic candidates 74 percent of the time (versus 26 percent for Republican candidates). In battleground Senate races, union voters supported Democratic candidates 73 percent of the time.
In New Congress, Kennedy, Miller Put Working Families at Top of Committees’ Agendas
The leaders of the U.S. House and Senate committees where most vital working family legislation is born—the House Education and Workforce and Senate Health Education, Labor and Pension committees—plan to take those panels into new directions after nearly a dozen years of Republican agenda-setting power.
Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) say their committees’ focus include improving and protecting workers’ paychecks, retirement security and health care, strengthening workers’ rights and workplace safety laws and easing the financial burden of college many working families face. Says Kennedy:
We are determined to not let the American people down and to fight for solutions that will improve their everyday lives.
Union Members Make Up Heart of the Movement
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Terry Walls
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Joanne Borts
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Marie Justice
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Don’t look for any monuments to Terry Walls, Joanne Borts or Marie Justice. No bridges or airports or skyscrapers are named in their honor.
But they’re real heroes—the men and women at the heart of the union movement, just like all the other women and men who pitch in with their locals, volunteer to help other workers organize into unions, and get out the vote during election years.
(Read more profiles of union members here.)
In fact, Walls, Borts and Justice are the movement.
A long-time activist with Local Lodge B of the Machinists (IAM) District 37, Walls was the lodge’s safety committeeman at a McDonnell-Douglas (now Boeing) plant when a container of dangerous chemicals fell and burst open on a warehouse floor. After the superintendent failed to act, Terry took matters into his own hands and called the fire department. Firefighters cleaned up the dangerously toxic spill and saved workers from the risk of serious injury or even death.
Walls could act only because of his union. He says:
If you’re not at the table, you don’t have a say. Getting involved―it’s what makes unions strong. It’s the best thing for you.
Borts, an activist in the Actors’ Equity union, has appeared with Eartha Kitt at Madison Square Garden, sung duets with Neil Sedaka and performed at Carnegie Hall. As she puts it:
I’m a union maid through and through.
She’s also a councilor—a working performer elected by her union sisters and brothers to represent chorus actors, the nonprincipal performers in live musicals.
She stresses that even though her union peers range from the “stars above the title making buckets of money” to the vast majority struggling to make ends meet, the goals of Actor’s Equity are the same as those of other unions: better wages, affordable high-quality health care, safe and healthy workplaces.
Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Snow…
Colorado and Wyoming may be under feet of snow from last week’s blizzard—but they’re still getting their holiday packages. AP reports some 1,500 U.S. Postal Service mail carriers volunteered to deliver blizzard-delayed packages in those snowbound states on Christmas Eve, with 500 expected to play Santa today. Gotta love ’em.
Diary of a Dance Captain
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Didn’t get to see the annual performance of “The Nutcracker” this year?
How about a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to mount a major musical with dancing and singing at its heart?
Actors Equity member Michelle Kittrell is giving visitors to the union’s website a peak behind the curtains in her weekly Diary of a Dance Captain, which moves from preproduction meetings all the way to opening night of the Broadway musical, “Legally Blonde.” A dance captain facilitates communication between the choreographer and director and the cast, presenting and helping other actors with the steps and sometimes leading rehearsals.
Gender Pay Gap Stuck
Since the mid-1990s, the pay gap between men and women has pretty much gotten stuck, according to a report in today’s New York Times.
The gap actually has widened for women with four-year college degrees, while narrowing only slightly for other women. The Times says:
These trends suggest that all the recent high-profile achievements—the first female secretary of state, the first female lead anchor of a nightly newscast, the first female president of Princeton, and, next month, the first female speaker of the House—do not reflect what is happening to most women, researchers say.
Overall, in 2005 women were paid about 77 cents for every $1 a man made.
