Archive for January, 2007
Weird Colorado Labor Law that Forces Two Union Votes May Be on Its Way Out
Colorado workers and their unions are close to changing one of the most bizarre labor laws in anybody’s book.
In Colorado, after workers vote to join a union, they can sit across the bargaining table from their employer and negotiate everything from wages to health care to hours to working conditions.
But even after the workers can overcome the already difficult and employer-weighted election process and elect to join a union, Colorado law forbids the workers and their union to begin negotiations over one item—a union security clause. A union security clause doesn’t force anyone to join the union, it simply requires that all workers, member or non-member, pay representational costs.
Bush Request for Fast Track Should Be Derailed
Voters made it clear in the 2006 elections they wanted big changes in U.S. trade policy, which, because it’s skewed to benefiting corporations at the expense of U.S. workers, has contributed to the loss of more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2001 and has put an increasing number of white-collar service-sector jobs at risk.
But President Bush doesn’t seem to have gotten the message. Today, speaking in New York City on the state of the economy, Bush called for extending trade promotion authority or “Fast Track.”
Bay Area Activists Protest Iraq War and Anti-Worker Alcatraz Ferry Operator
San Francisco area anti-war activists and unionists joined together Jan. 27 to protest both Bush's war in Iraq and his war on waterfront workers. On the day set aside to demonstrate against the White House plan to “surge” troops in Baghdad, thousands assembled downtown and marched to the city's waterfront to form the biggest picket line yet at the scab Alcatraz Island ferry pier.
As the throngs filled Market Street, signs calling for the troops to come home intermingled with others urging the boycott of the new Alcatraz ferry operator, Hornblower Yachts Inc. At the front of the march, the U.S. Labor Against the War banner bobbed directly behind the "Troops Out Now" and Veterans of Foreign Wars' "Wage Peace" banners.
Revere [Mass.] Rides to Living Wage Win
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| Greater Boston Labor Council union members celebrate their living wage victory in Revere, Mass. |
Some 200-plus workers at firms with service contracts with the city of Revere, Mass., will get a bump in their pay starting July 1 when the city’s just-passed living wage ordinance goes into effect.
Rich Rogers, executive secretary-treasurer of the Greater Boston Labor Council reports the Revere City Council unanimously adopted the new wage law Jan. 29 after the labor council, 11 unions and Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino testified about the need to pay workers a living wage. The new $10-an-hour wage floor for service contract workers also includes an annual cost-of-living adjustment.
Costco CEO Says Higher Minimum Wage Means ‘Better Jobs and Wages’
Opponents of a clean bill to the raise the minimum wage—which is at its lowest buying power in more than 50 years—claim that without a multibillion dollar tax break lifeline, the nation’s business community faces economic disaster. We are not the only ones who say that is balderdash.
Jim Sinegal, who founded the discount chain Costco Wholesale Corp., told The Washington Post yesterday that it makes good economic sense to raise the minimum wage.
CEOs Take Big Contracts, Deny Workers Same Chance
PaulVA’s diary on Daily KOS today offers another look at why workers in this country would benefit from passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. He points out the “barefaced hypocrisy” and “double standard” of CEOs who enjoy the fruits of their lucrative contracts while shutting the door on their employees who want the freedom to negotiate union contracts that would better their lives.
If CEOs such as Robert Nardelli—who walked away from Home Depot with $200 million—can believe in negotiated contracts for themselves, PaulVA reasons,
then most certainly, there is no reason to oppose the same for the 58 million workers in this country who would form a union at work if they could do so.
That is why the Employee Free Choice Act is so important, so that there is a fair playing field for people who want to choose the path of a negotiated agreement with their employer.
We couldn’t have said it better. To read all of PaulVA’s diary, click here.
Minimum Wage Bill Inches Forward in Senate
Step by slow, painful step, the U.S. Senate moves closer to a vote on raising the federal minimum wage. Today, after more than a week of what was described as a Republican “filibuster by amendment,” the Senate voted 87–10 to end debate on a bill to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25.
But the fight is far from ended. The unofficial filibuster may be over, but between now and a final vote on the Senate package—which includes the more than $8 billion in business tax breaks Republicans demanded as ransom before ending their weeklong stall—more amendments likely will be offered and that could slow the process even further. And it will take still longer for a conference committee to iron out differences between the Senate bill and the House version, which the Republican minority voted to kill because it was a clean bill with no business tax giveaways.
‘It’s Un-American for Children to Not Be Able to Get an Education’
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| Maria Alexander says children in New Orleans have a right to a decent education. | |
In his State of the Union address, President Bush called for reauthorization the No Child Left Behind Act but did not mention that children in New Orleans whose lives were devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are being left further behind because his administration and state and local officials have bungled the recovery effort.
Just last week, 300 New Orleans school children were shut out of schools and denied an education they badly need because the city says it doesn’t have enough space or teachers. So, instead of studying in classrooms, 300 students are sitting at home waiting for space to open up in schools. All the while, more students are coming into the city daily as families who left after Katrina are beginning to return home.
What makes the lockout of school children even more outrageous is that the city’s school enrollment is less than half of pre-Katrina levels and there are thousands of unemployed school teachers in the city who lost their jobs or were forced to retire when local officials closed schools to gut the teachers’ union. Shortly after Katrina, some 4,900 public school teachers, mostly members of the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO)/AFT, and 1,900 support staff were forced to retire or just lost their jobs.
Bush Executive Order End Runs Agencies Protecting Worker Health, Environment
Very quietly, the Bush administration recently set into motion a new plan to rein in the experts, scientists and professionals at federal agencies charged with protecting the public’s health, worker safety, the environment and more.
In an executive order signed Jan. 18, The New York Times reports Bush ordered:
that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president’s priorities.
King and Queen Crowned at SAG Awards
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Last night, with dazzle and glitz and millions of fans, actors honored their own at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The winners in the theatrical motion picture category were Helen Mirren in "The Queen" for best female lead actor, Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland" for best male lead actor, Jennifer Hudson in "Dreamgirls" for best female supporting actor, Eddie Murphy in "Dreamgirls" for best male supporting actor and "Little Miss Sunshine" for best motion picture cast.
And for prime-time TV, the winners were Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons, both in "Elizabeth I," for best female and male actor in a TV movie or miniseries. Chandra Wilson in "Grey's Anatomy" won for best female actor in a drama and Hugh Laurie in "House" won for best male actor in a drama. In a comedy series, America Ferrera in "Ugly Betty" won for best female actor and Alec Baldwin in "30 Rock" for best male actor.
"Grey's Anatomy" won for best ensemble performance in a drama, "The Office" for best ensemble performance in a comedy and, of course, Julie Andrews was honored with the Life Achievement Award.
