Archive for May, 2007
Join Final Push for Employee Free Choice Act
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Next month, the U.S. Senate is set to vote on the Employee Free Choice Act, the most important improvement to federal labor law in 70 years.
As the vote approaches, thousands of working families have joined the AFL-CIO’s nationwide campaign to collect signed cards in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.
You can join the campaign by signing the Online Card. By doing so, you’ll help bring this important bill one step closer to becoming law.
Every Day Is Groundhog Day Under the Bush Administration
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This is a cross post from the Firedoglake blog.
The recent trade agreement in Congress has generated a lot of excellent discussion, and Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake has done a great job covering it here and here.
Another set of trade concerns came to the fore this week as a delegation of government officials from China—nearly half the Chinese cabinet, in fact—met here in Washington, D.C., for trade talks.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson once again tried to shore up the disastrous state of U.S. trade, and once again failed in staunching the nation’s trade deficit, while refusing to address workers’ rights in any agreements along the way. After all, Paulson, the former Goldman Sachs honcho, and other Bushites must focus on issues of most concern to Big Business, such as reducing intellectual property rights infringement. Some perspective.
Clyde Jones Died on the Job. He Didn’t Have To. Here’s Why.
Clyde Jones was one of more than 8 million local and state workers not covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). That may have cost him his life.
In 2004, Jones was part of a work crew repairing a hurricane-damaged roof at a Daytona Beach waste water plant. The workers didn’t know that highly flammable dangerous gases were escaping from holding tanks directly below the roof.
Pennsylvania House Calls on Congress to Defeat Fast Track Renewal
In another win for working families, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives yesterday approved a resolution calling on Congress to defeat renewal of President Bush’s Fast Track trade authority. Legislatures in Alabama, Hawaii, Maine, Montana and Vermont have approved similar resolutions and nine other states are considering action.
The Fast Track resolutions are part of an extensive state level legislative mobilization by state AFL-CIOs, local labor councils and community allies to win significant working family legislation. Click here to read about more recent victories.
Stretched Thin with Work and Family Duties? In the U.S., You’re Not Alone
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In 1997, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D) from Connecticut introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that would provide more effective remedies to workers who are not being paid equal wages for doing equal work. (Although the Equal Pay Act passed in 1963, women continue to earn just 74 cents for every dollar earned by men.)
The bill got its first hearing last month, when Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) scheduled hearings on April 24, Equal Pay Day.
Only 10 years? If Democrats hadn’t swept Congress last fall, the bill still wouldn’t have had a hearing, much less a chance to be voted on.
Work as a Gas Station Attendant? Your Views Don’t Count
The Bush administration just ended two days of trade talks with China here in Washington, D.C. Unlike the past few discussions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson didn’t need to travel to China to achieve next to nothing. He and others in the Bush camp could achieve very little while staying right here.
They certainly didn’t accomplish anything regarding China’s manipulation of its currency or the abysmal state of workers’ rights in that nation. In fact, they focused on issues of concern to Big Business, such as protecting intellectual property rights. As United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard puts it:
The American public is demanding their lawmakers start to act on their behalf instead of the American multinationals that are off-shoring manufacturing jobs to Beijing.
First Death Officially Tied to Exposure to Ground Zero Toxic Dust and Debris
For the first time, the death of a survivor of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center has been officially linked to exposure to the toxic dust and debris from the towers’ destruction by the city’s medical examiner.
But rescue and recovery workers, their unions, health care advocates and survivors and their families have long said there is a deadly link between the exposure to the poisonous Ground Zero rubble and the debilitating illnesses—and in some cases deaths—of those exposed.
Kaiser, Unions Partner With Labor College in Health Care Bargaining, Education Program
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One of the most difficult issues union leaders face at the bargaining table—and one that union families face every day—is securing quality and affordable health care.
In a move to equip union members with new tools and deeper knowledge of complex health care issues, the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions and health care leader Kaiser Permanente announced a $450,000 joint donation to the National Labor College (NLC) to establish the Kaiser Permanente Healthcare Institute.
The new institute, to be housed at the NLC’s campus in Silver Spring., Md., will establish a program of courses and conferences to educate union leaders and rank-and-file members on health care issues.
With Apologies to Elvis Fans: The Fox Has Left the Henhouse
In this case, the fox was President Bush’s choice to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Michael Baroody, the senior lobbyist and executive vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Baroody announced today he was withdrawing his name from consideration for the CPSC post.
The combination of a $150,000 severance payment from NAM, the fact that he would be investigating and possibly penalizing some of the same NAM members with which he had long-time relationships and his lobbying efforts against several proposed consumer rules while at NAM raised red flags with consumer groups. Several U.S. senators also said they would oppose Baroody’s nomination.
Asheville, N.C., City Workers Get Living Wage
Asheville prides itself on being a tourist and fine arts center in the mountains of western North Carolina. Now the city that includes the largest and most extravagant private residence in the country—the Biltmore House—also can take pride in paying its employees a living wage.
The Asheville City Council voted 5–2 on May 22 to pay all full-time and part-time city employees a minimum of $10.86 an hour or $9.50 with benefits. The council also voted to make payment of the living wage a factor in selecting city contractors.
