Archive for November, 2007
Marchers to Burger King: We Will Not Be Turned Back
Hundreds of union members, religious activists and concerned consumers from across the country joined with members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to draw attention to Burger King’s refusal to pay its tomato workers a decent wage. They marched 9 miles across Miami today for a rally in front of Burger King headquarters.
The march began at the Miami offices of Goldman Sachs, one of three multibillion-dollar private equity firms that own a substantial share of Burger King stock.
The workers are demanding that Burger King follow in the steps of Yum! Brands and McDonald´s by paying a penny more per pound for its tomatoes to improve workers' subpoverty wages.
Fire Fighters Get on the Bus for Dodd
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The Fire Fighters (IAFF) were among the first unions to endorse in the 2008 presidential race, backing Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). Now, they’re going on the road in a 19-city bus tour to support him in the Iowa caucuses, the Democratic nomination and the presidency.
Fire Fighters President Harold Schaitberger helped kick off the tour yesterday in Council Bluffs and appeared today alongside Dodd in Ames. In a statement yesterday, Schaitberger said the tour would get the Fire Fighters engaged with the Dodd campaign and help propel him in the Jan. 3 caucuses.
Two Years After BP Explosion, USW Survey Shows Refineries Still Not Safe
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Even after the explosion that killed 15 and injured 170 at a BP refinery two years ago, the oil industry still has not made the changes needed to protect workers from serious injury, a new survey by the United Steelworkers (USW) reveals.
According to Beyond Texas City: The State of Process Safety in the Unionized U.S. Oil Refining Industry, the conditions that led to the March 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City refinery are widespread throughout the refining sector and the industry is failing to learn from such explosions and near-misses.
The report is based on a survey sent to local unions at 71 USW-represented refineries nine months after the Texas City explosion. The 51 sites that responded represented 49 percent of the U.S. refining capacity and 22 refining companies.
Don’t Blame Yourself for the Economy. Blame Bush and His Corporate Cronies
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There has been so much bad news about the economy in the past few days, it's hard to know where to start. But amid the piles of data, two things are clear: Corporations are getting the assistance they need to deal with the nation's financial crises—and working families are left to fend for themselves.
Big banks got another helping hand from the Bush administration this week when the Federal Reserve announced it would provide them $8 billion in low-interest loans. They also got a longer time period than usual to pay back the loans.
Despite Subsidy Deal, U.S. Still Needs to Push China on Currency, Workers’ Rights
Yesterday’s agreement by the Chinese government to eliminate some of its export subsidies is an important accomplishment, but the Bush administration needs to show the same determination to address issues such as worker rights violations, import safety and currency manipulation, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says.
Last February, the United States announced it would challenge China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over state subsidies of exports of steel, wood and information technology products, among other goods, as well as “import substitution” subsidies that encouraged Chinese companies to buy domestic products instead of imports.
Bush Emergency Board Order Halts Amtrak Strike—for Now
Just a few days before Amtrak workers could strike for a fair contract, President Bush intervened and issued an executive order establishing a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to investigate failed contract talks between the nation's passenger railroad and eight unions.
The order prevents any potential strikes by Amtrak’s 7,500 union employees for 60 days. Several of the unions had taken strike votes.
The PEB becomes effective 12:01 a.m. Dec. 1. The railroad's union employees have been working without a new contract since negotiations began in January 2000. Under the Railway Labor Act, contracts do not expire.
Nation’s Nurses Rally in Kentucky to Support Strikers at ARH
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Nurses from coast to coast rallied today in Lexington, Ky., to show support for strikers at Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH). With the strike soon entering its third month, the financial resources of the picketers are running low, but their resolve is strong.
Rue Hairston, a nurse for 31 years at ARH’s hospital in Beckley, W.Va., says the strikers are not yet in dire straits because of the generous help they’ve received from their brothers and sisters in the union movement. But if they are unable to get a contract soon, many nurses could face tough times, possibly losing homes or having trouble making ends meet, she says.
But Hairston says the struggles and hardships are worth it. She joined with about 50 other nurses and family members early this morning for the nearly four-hour ride to Lexington because “if you believe in something strong enough, you do what you have to do.”
Corporate Hypocrisy and Appalachian Regional Healthcare
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Never underestimate corporate hypocrisy—the kind of in-your-face, no-shame demonstration of Big Business nose-thumbing like that of Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH).
It's not enough for ARH to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on the services of a slick union-busting company to bash its striking nurses in expensive TV ads.
Even as the nurses, members of the United American Nurses (UAN), are entering their 10th week on the picket line, scraping by to feed their families without a job, the hospital chain continues to proudly feature the founder of the original Appalachia hospitals, John L. Lewis, on its website. Lewis, iconic president of the Mine Workers (1920-1960) and founder of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, was one of the nation's best known and toughest union leaders—and not one to take lightly employers' egregious behavior toward workers. As Lewis famously said:
Let the workers organize. Let the toilers assemble. Let their crystallized voice proclaim their injustices and demand their privileges. Let all thoughtful citizens sustain them, for the future of Labor is the future of America.
Heartland Forum Will Focus on ‘Real People, Real Issues’
Two dozen community-based organizations in Iowa have come together to host the Heartland Presidential Forum tomorrow afternoon in Des Moines. Five Democratic candidates will attend the forum, where more than 5,000 Iowans will gather to ask them about the social and economic challenges facing the country.
Sponsored by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and the Center for Community Change, the forum will feature Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
At the forum, which begins at 1:30 p.m. CDT, Iowans will have the chance to ask questions in person and share their own stories from the stage.
Medicare Drug Plan Premiums Jump by 25 Percent
Seniors are paying nearly 25 percent more in premiums for their 2008 Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage than they did for their 2007 coverage, according to a new report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
Changes in the Cost of Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, 2007-2008 suggests the increased premium costs may be the result of insurers deliberately setting low introductory premiums when the program began in January 2006 to attract seniors—and later springing the higher costs on participants.
It is possible that the insurers taking part in Part D are following the same pattern as the insurers who participated in the Medicare Plus Choice program in the mid-nineties. Insurers in that program originally charged low premiums in order to gain market share. They then raised their premiums sharply in subsequent years in order to cover their costs.
