Archive for June, 2007
Fast Track Is Dead Today
Quick note on a happy event: Fast Track trade-promotion authority expires today. Fast Track allows the president to push through trade deals with no amendments from Congress, such as those that would ensure the deals don't destroy good U.S. jobs.
Fast Track has been a major weapon in President Bush's trade arsenal, helping produce flawed agreements such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the proposed agreements with Colombia and South Korea.
Yesterday, four top House leaders said they are united in opposition to two key free trade deals and do not intend to renew Fast Track.
Northern California Worker Center Joins Local AFL-CIO
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The Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, Calif., is the first local worker center in the Golden State to affiliate with a local AFL-CIO central body.
The worker center, which serves low-wage and immigrant workers in the East Bay region of northern California, announced a landmark affiliation with the AFL-CIO Alameda County Central Labor Council (CLC) that will encourage closer cooperation in the advancement of immigrant and worker rights.
House Leaders Say ‘No’ to Fast Track, Korea and Colombia Deals
On the day before Fast Track trade authority expires, four top House leaders said they were united in opposition to two free trade deals and they do not intend to renew Fast Track.In a statement issued today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin (D-Mich.) say:
Our legislative priorities do not include the renewal of fast track authority. Before that debate can even begin, we must expand the benefits of globalization to all Americans.
Paycheck Fairness Act Makes Huge Strides after 10 Years of Republican Opposition
For the past 10 years, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act to close the huge pay gap between the salaries of men and women. In 2006, women earned about 77 percent of what men did. But with Republican control of Congress, the legislation has stood little chance.
Now in the 110th Congress with Democrats in charge of committees, the bill (H.R. 1388) already has reached two milestones—its first hearing and majority support with 219 co-sponsors. In a "Dear Colleague" letter seeking additional sign-ons and help in moving the bill to a floor vote, DeLauro writes:
Today, economic reality and economic insecurity mandate two-earner families, where possible. Yet, even as more women than ever have joined the workforce, they continue to earn lower wages compared to men. In 2006, women still earned only about 77 percent of what men did. In many families, the inequity of the pay gap falls hardest upon children, because so many working women are the primary breadwinners in their households.
WSJ Reporters Walk Out to Protect Paper’s Integrity, Gain Fair Contract
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First, The Wall Street Journal's long tradition of independence, which has been the hallmark of our news coverage for decades, is threatened today. We…want to demonstrate our conviction that the Journal’s editorial integrity depends on an owner committed to journalistic independence.
Second…Dow Jones currently is in contract negotiations with its primary union, seeking severe cutbacks in our health benefits and limits on our pay. At a time when Dow Jones is finding the resources to award golden parachutes to 135 top executives, it should not be seeking to eviscerate employees’ health benefits and impose salary adjustments that amount to a pay cut.
Committee Approves Bill Pushing FAA Back to Bargaining Table
It's time for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to get back to the bargaining table and resume contract talks with the nation's air traffic controllers, says the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Yesterday, the committee approved the FAA reauthorization bill that includes a provision to renew bargaining.
Last April, the FAA stopped bargaining and walked out on contract talks with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). On Labor Day, the FAA unilaterally imposed new work rules and pay cuts for new hires. (Click here to read how those rules made an already serious staffing and morale crisis in the nation's control towers even worse.)
Along with restarting the talks, the House bill calls for binding arbitration if a contract cannot be reached.
AFL-CIO Coalition Approves Guidelines for CEO Performance, Pay
The AFL-CIO and a broad coalition of institutional investors, large corporations and prominent academics agreed to a core set of principles aimed at shifting the focus of management to long-term goals for performance and executive compensation instead of being rewarded on the basis of meeting quarterly earnings targets.
The guidelines, announced June 18, have been dubbed the “Aspen Principles” for the place where the idea germinated. They attempt to break the cycle of top managements’ knee-jerk reactions to Wall Street’s expectations for quarterly earnings. Instead, the signatories to the Aspen Principles recommend rewarding top executives for creating long-term strategic values for buy-and-hold investors.
Obstructionist Senate Republicans Blocking Anti-Terrorism Bill
Stubborn, obstructionist and downright mulish is the best way to describe the legislative strategy of Senate Republicans since voters stripped them of majority status in November.
Yesterday, we told you about the verbal spanking given by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) to the "We'll Hold Our Breath Until We Turn Blue" tactics used by Republicans on the ethics and lobbying reform bill—a bill for which almost every Republican voted in January but now find objectionable.
That same Republican, mule-stubborn minority leadership is now digging its hooves in to block a conference on an anti-terrorism bill that also won a Senate bipartisan majority on a 60–38 vote in March. Apparently, they agree with President Bush that busting unions is more important then implementing the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission.
Dems Discuss Issues in Depth in Latest Debate
Once again, the Democratic presidential hopefuls met last night for a debate, this time at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Focusing on issues facing African Americans, the “All-American Debate,” as it was billed by sponsor PBS, also provided an opportunity for the candidates to talk seriously about the challenges of working families.
Held just hours after the Supreme Court struck down school choice plans in two school districts that were designed to bring diversity and avoid racial segregation to the cities' school systems, much of the debate focused on the role of race and racial issues.
The event was kicked off by Priscilla Scott Cohen, who won the chance to ask her question in an online contest. Her question about the challenges posed by the racial divide in this country set the tone for the night.
Education, trade and economic development were other themes that emerged throughout the night.
Got a Workplace Problem? Ask a Lawyer
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The AFL-CIO community affiliate, Working America, is sponsoring Cliff Schecter, political analyst and national commentator, to cover its relaunch of Ask a Lawyer. Check out Schecter's blog here and at Americablog.
Can my boss really do that? How many of us find ourselves asking that very question on a weekly, if not daily basis? Well now we just may get the answers we seek. Because Working America, the 1.6 million-member community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, which provides a voice for those of us denied the right to union membership on the job, has started its "Ask a Lawyer" program.
