Archive for December, 2006
Still Time to Vote for Corporate Grinch of the Year
It’s a tough choice—like deciding between a poke in the eye with a sharp stick or a kick in the stomach by an angry mule. Both options are equally awful—just like the two finalists in this year’s Grinch of the Year contest.
Now in its sixth year, the Grinch contest is seeking nominations for the grouchiest and greediest corporate player in North America who most harms working families. This year’s Jobs with Justice (JWJ) contest pits the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. against Joseph Luter III, meatpacking giant Smithfield’s former CEO and current chairman of the board.
Lots to Say
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| Members of United Steelworkers Local 904 leafleted in Madison, Wis., on Dec. 16. | |
Catching up on the mailbox, we see there’s lots to say about the Goodyear strike, support for improved health and family leave policies at the corporate and governmental levels and more. Got news? Send it to: blognews@aflcio.org.
From Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, where unions have joined in sympathy strikes with striking Goodyear workers, a supporter writes:
Just like to thank the AFL-CIO for your support for the striking workers of Goodyear. It just doesn’t seem to end how these corporate terrorists will do their best for a buck and screw the people that got them there.
As more adults become caretakers of their aging parents, Jane Donohue in Lilburn, Ga., suggests a tax credit for elder care:
In the 1970s, there was a fight to establish tax credits for child care. This brought about a whole new cottage industry, improved the level of day care as well as enabled women to work outside the home. Now we have our parents to care for. Last year, the Georgia General Assembly provided for a state tax credit for elder care by changing the word “child” to “dependent.” It is time for the federal government to give working families this same break.
Supporters Rally for Goodyear Strikers at 150 Events
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| Union members participated in Goodyear Day of Action events across the nation, including one at Harrisburg, Pa. | |
They were singing a familiar holiday tune Saturday outside a Goodyear tire store in Portland, Ore.
But the lyrics to “Away in a Manger” intoned by United Steelworkers (USW) and other area union members and allies had a twist:
“Away in the future, no health care at all.
“No pensions or good jobs or sweet union hall.
“We can’t let that happen, that’s why we must be
“Supporting this strike till justice we see.”
The Oregon action was just one of more than 150 National Day of Action events at Goodyear tire stores around the country Saturday to support some 15,000 USW members forced out on strike in October.
Catholic Scholars Back Resurrection Workers
More than 50 prominent Catholic theologians and scholars are calling on Resurrection Health Care (RHC) to respect the rights of its employees to join a union. RHC is Illinois’ largest Catholic health care chain and one of the largest in the nation.
Bush Decision: A Bad Deal on Steel
The Bush administration’s decision yesterday to lift anti-dumping orders and other restrictions on subsidized steel imports threatens U.S. steel industry and steel jobs, according to the United Steelworkers (USW). The union says several of the nations covered under the decision are engaged in unfair trade practices.
USW President Leo W. Gerard says the International Trade Commission’s (ITC’s) action:
turned a blind eye to the unfair trade practices harming our steel industry. Their decision upends important orders that have helped counteract unfair trade practices and kept good steelworker jobs here in the United States.
Bargaining Digest Weekly
The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 800 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
The United Steelworkers (USW) union has a new Goodyear Solidarity Blog built in part on the news from Collective Bargaining Digest. Take a look there for breaking strike news and to vote for Goodyear as the Jobs With Justice Grinch of the Year and to post your comments about the strike. Goodyear is putting out news saying that hundreds of workers have crossed the picket lines. The USW acknowledges some problems at the right-to-work-for-less plant in Fayetteville, N.C., but says more than 97 percent remain on strike and company production is down 90 percent.
Goodyear Day of Action Taking a Stand for the Middle Class
Just as striking Goodyear workers are preparing to stage a National Day of Action, the company agreed to return to the bargaining table. The United Steelworkers (USW) announced today that Goodyear offered to return to the bargaining table for meaningful negotiations and that talks would resume Dec. 18.
The massive protest against Goodyear this weekend will still go on, the union says. And when the thousands of union members and community activists protest against Goodyear this weekend, they also will be taking a stand to save our nation’s middle class.
Sago Families Question Agency’s Findings Blaming Lightning
Families of the 12 coal miners killed in the Jan. 2 Sago, W.Va., mine explosion are extremely angry at the treatment they received from the head of the state’s top mine safety official at what was supposed to be a thorough briefing on the causes of the blast. And the Mine Workers (UMWA) union seriously questions the agency’s finding that lightning caused the explosion.
On Monday, Ron Wooten, director of the state’s Office of Miner’s Health Safety and Training, called the Sago families together for a pre-release briefing on the report. The Charleston Gazette reported:
Families were upset when Wooten simply provided them with copies of the thick report, told them lightning caused the disaster, and asked for questions.
When families asked questions, they were told the answers were in the report and that they should read it.
New Director Plans to ‘Pump Up the Volume’ at LCLAA
On the wall of Gabriela Lemus’ office, an autographed photo of the famous Rosie the Riveter poster seems familiar. But there’s a twist: Her face is that of soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The picture, which combines the fight for workers’ rights and women’s rights with political power symbolizes the changes Lemus wants to make as the new executive director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), one of six AFL-CIO constituency groups. Prior to coming to LCLAA, she was policy and legislation director at the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
Lemus, who has been on the job since mid-September, is LCLAA’s first Latina director and says she hopes to re-invigorate LCLAA and “pump up the volume” on issues that affect Latinos in this country.
During the recent runoff election in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, Lemus says LCLAA members worked hard to ensure every vote was counted in the election. Volunteers walked door to door, reminding voters of their voting rights and urging them to cast their ballots. But Lemus says this get-out-the-vote effort was different:
We had the first brown-black precinct walk in San Antonio. We joined up with the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI). There are those out there that are trying to divide our communities. We have to be smarter than they are.
New Congress: Raising the Minimum Wage Comes First
Some people understand the need to raise the federal minimum wage—and some people don’t. In November, a lot of those who don’t get it—specifically Republican members of Congress who blocked a decade’s worth of attempts to raise the wage—lost their jobs to Democratic opponents who do get it.
This month, many of those new lawmakers are joining with union and community leaders and reinforcing their support for increasing the 10-year-old, $5.15-an-hour minimum wage and letting their constituents know it will be one of the first votes cast when the Democratic majority takes over Congress in January. They also are pledging their backing for other vital working family issues.
