Archive for October, 2007
N.C. Tobacco Farm Workers March on R.J. Reynolds for a Voice at Work
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Katrina Blomdahl, AFL-CIO Voice@Work communications specialist, describes a rally backing the nearly 25,000 tobacco farm workers in North Carolina and their efforts to win justice on the job.
Nearly 400 tobacco farm workers and community and religious leaders from more than a dozen faith groups on Sunday marched at the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. corporate headquarters with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC)—the largest-ever FLOC event in the state.
Dressed in bright red T-shirts and carrying signs saying “End Oppression in the Tobacco Fields” and “Hasta la Victoria,” the energized crowd rallied behind a fundamental request: For R.J. Reynolds CEO Susan Ivey to meet with the workers to learn about the horrendous conditions suffered not only by tobacco farm workers in North Carolina, but across the southern United States and in Mexico.
Virginia—It’s Time for an Intervention!
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Eileen Toback, AFL-CIO political organizer in the Voice@Work campaign, updates us on what’s at stake for working families in the November elections in Virginia, where state Senate races are expected to be decided by just a few hundred votes.
Joyce Putnam, a member of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 2, is one the superstar activists working on Virginia’s Labor 2007 program. As a working mother, she understands why it is so important to elect representatives who advocate for working families.
Bad News for Kentucky Gov. Is Good News for Working Families
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Rachele Huennekens, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, is blogging and leafleting her way through the eighth day of a 10-day bus tour through Kentucky, where former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear (D) is challenging Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R), who has canceled bargaining rights for state employees and taken other anti-worker stands. Dozens of local labor leaders and union volunteers are taking part in the Bluegrass Express tour, which over the weekend made stops at many diverse worksites.
On Friday, Kentucky State AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan, AFL-CIO field representative Don Slaiman, Labor 2007 zone coordinator Eddie Bowling and I were joined by United Steelworkers (USW) Local 14300 President Ben Suttles and USW Vice President Gary Smith. Together, we distributed leaflets at the Jackson/MSC steel plant in Barbourville in southeastern Kentucky. Next, we visited the nearby Seal Technologies plant and then made our way to Lexington, where we distributed leaflets to Brenda Lynn, SEIU Local 541 vice president, to pass on to members of her local union who are employed at the famous Keeneland horse race track.
Kentucky Get Out the Vote Setting the Pace for 2008
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Bernard Pollack, AFL-CIO field coordinator, is working on the union movement’s campaign to elect a working family-friendly governor in Kentucky, where working families’ candidate Steve Beshear is running against anti-worker Gov. Ernie Fletcher. He fills us in on the weekend’s union-member-to-union-member get out the vote walk.
The front page, above-the-fold article and photo in Sunday’s Ashland Daily Independent says it all:
Union members deliver message to community.
Workers Mourn Death of UAN President Cheryl Johnson
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Working families are mourning the loss of Cheryl Johnson, RN, president of the United American Nurses (UAN) and a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council. Johnson died early Sunday morning surrounded by family and friends.
Johnson was the first president of the UAN, which was founded in 2000 and affiliated with the AFL-CIO in 2001. Susan Bianchi-Sand, national executive director of UAN, says:
We have been richly privileged to work with Cheryl. We learned from her to take risks, to speak boldly for staff nurses, and not to be afraid of progress or change. Cheryl acted on the integrity of her beliefs and made other people strong as a result. Her voice and her values will never go away.
Right to Strike as Important as Freedom to Form a Union
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The National Labor Relations Act was passed to make it easier for workers to form unions and to ensure their right to collectively bargain for a better life and strike if need be. But today, rather than protecting the rights of workers, Julius Getman says:
Our labor laws constitute a massive impediment to the basic rights to organize, bargain collectively and strike.
Getman, professor of law at the University of Texas and pre-eminent scholar in the field of labor law, writes in a new Point of View column at the AFL-CIO website that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union election process has been transformed by judicial decisions that make it easy for management to fight unions. Calling the election process “absurdly one-sided,” Getman says employers can almost always violate the law through threats and acts of reprisal with impunity.
In Ukraine, Union Movement Meets Many Challenges Head-On
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Todd Anderson, AFL-CIO Midwest regional director, is taking part in an AFL-CIO delegation to Ukraine, where members of the group are meeting with their state federation/central labor council counterparts. Anderson will send several dispatches during the trip.
Greetings from our delegation to Ukraine, where we are traveling as part of an AFL-CIO State and Local Labor Council Leadership Development Institute initiative in collaboration with the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.
Groups like ours have taken part in trips to 10 countries over the past several years, holding roundtable discussions and sharing movement-building strategies.
Walking in Virginia With 10 Days Until Election
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It’s Saturday, Oct. 27, and the second-to-last door-to-door walk in Virginia is in full force. Mother Nature showed at least parts of the state her pro-labor bias by giving us a break from the rain and even letting the sunshine through just as volunteers reached their neighborhood destinations to knock on union household doors.
Communications Workers of America (CWA) Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, Virginia AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Doris Crouse-Mays, AFL-CIO Political Director Karen Ackerman and Northern Virginia Central Labor Council President Dan Duncan welcomed the slightly damp, but stalwart volunteers ready to hit the streets.
Quality Time with a Quality Candidate for Kentucky Governor
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AFL-CIO representative Joseph Holland has been working in Kentucky with union members to help get out the vote for the state’s critical gubernatorial elections. Steve Beshear (D) is challenging Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R), who has canceled bargaining rights for state employees, privatized Kentucky’s Medicaid program and taken other anti-worker stands.
Steve Beshear visited our Labor 2007 member-to-member phone bank in Louisville Thursday evening. Our UAW Local 862 phone bank was full, with more than 50 union members from six different International Unions.
Here are some quotes from our hardworking volunteers upon meeting and phone banking with Beshear.
Rob Tanner, Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 369 Business Rep:
It was a pleasant surprise to see him come through. Nice to shake hands with the next governor. We are going to see a governor that will stand with us on our issues. It’s time someone did.
Bus Drivers Join AFSCME and Lots More
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For the second time in two months, employees of First Student Inc. have gained a voice on the job by choosing AFSCME to represent them. This week, some 50 First Student bus drivers in Augusta, Maine, voted to join Council 93, according to the “Across The Nation” section on the AFSCME website.
Says First Student driver Helen Perry:
“We want to create the safest environment for the kids we drive. Now, we will have the power to improve safety standards.”
