Archive for November, 2007
School Kids of the World Unite—for Striking Writers
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It’s tough to stand in solidarity with striking workers when you’re a school kid. But rebel girl Danae, in the syndicated comic strip “Non Sequitur,” made a good try today when she came out in support of the strike by television writers.
Wiley Miller’s cartoon includes this exchange between Danae and her elementary school teacher:
Why didn’t you do the essay homework assignment, Danae?
I’m taking an ethical stand ma’am.
Um…an ethical stand on what?
The writers’ strike! I feel that writing an essay now is the same as crossing a picket line.
[Danae now sits outside the vice principal’s office] The AFL-CIO is going to have a field day with this lady!!!
Broadway Lights Back on After Striking Stagehands Reach Tentative Agreement
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The lights are on again on Broadway. After two days of marathon negotiations, striking members of the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 1 last night reached a tentative agreement with Broadway producers. Most of the shows that had been shut down during the two-week strike will resume performances tonight.
Details of the new five-year deal with the League of American Theatres and Producers were not released pending approval of the union members.
Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for the union, says:
We’re glad there’s a deal, and everyone should go back to work and the public should go see a Broadway show.
Theater owners and producers in the billion-dollar-a-year industry were demanding a 38 percent cut in jobs and wages, according to IATSE. About a quarter of the 2,200 members of Local 1, who build scenery, maintain props and install and operate lighting and sound equipment, work in Broadway theaters. Entertainment unions strongly backed IATSE members, including Actors’ Equity, American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) Local 802 and the New York City Central Labor Council (NYCLC).
This is the second strike on Broadway in the past five years. Musicians walked out for four days in 2003.
Dems Cancel CBS Debate After Vowing Not to Cross Picket Line
The scheduled Dec. 10 Democratic presidential candidates’ debate on CBS television was canceled last night by the Democratic National Committees (DNC) because of a possible strike by CBS News writers.
On Monday, we reported that the leading Democratic candidates vowed to not cross any picket lines if the writers, members of the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), strike the network. They have been without a contract since April 2005 and contract talks have stalled. The writers have authorized a strike.
Middle Class by a Thread
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Nearly everyone but the Bush administration acknowledges America’s middle class has been teetering on the economic edge for some time. Now, a project by the nonpartisan Dēmos and Brandeis University quantifies the extent to which the nation’s middle class is, as the report’s title puts it, hanging By a Thread.
Here are its key—and chilling—findings:
- Only 31 percent of families who would be considered middle class by income are financially secure.
- One in four middle-class families are at high risk of slipping out of the middle class.
- Nearly four out of five families earning a middle-class income do not have sufficient assets to survive for just three months should their income source fluctuate or disappear.
- Twenty-one percent of middle-class families have less than $100 per week ($5,000 per year) remaining after meeting essential living expenses.
- In nearly one in four middle-class families, at least one family member lacks health insurance.
- More than half of middle-class families have no net financial assets whatsoever.
Steelworkers, Sierra Club Sue to Protect Consumers from Cancer-Causing Chemical
The United Steelworkers (USW), the Sierra Club and several other labor and environmental groups are going to court to force California to protect residents from a “likely” cancer-causing chemical used in the manufacture of Teflon.
The chemical, known as PFOA, is used by DuPont in making nonstick and stain-resistant coatings for products from pots and pans to carpets and clothes. It has been found to be a “likely” carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The groups filed suit last week after the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment failed to consider adding PFOA to a list of cancer-causing chemicals that fall under strict exposure and discharge regulations.
Under Proposition 65—approved by California voters in 1986—the governor-appointed Carcinogen Identification Committee (CIC) must annually update the list of cancer-causing chemicals. The union and environmental groups had petitioned the health hazard assessment agency to expedite consideration of the DuPont chemical, but the agency refused.
Helping Low-Income Families Is Good for Business, Government
It’s not unusual for state legislatures to hand out tax breaks, subsidies and other financial goodies to Big Business. But shamefully, some lawmakers need to be convinced to focus on the needs of low-income working families.
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The Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College has pulled together a compelling list of the challenges low-income working families face and how legislation aimed at those working families benefits the state and the business community.
The latest installment of the group’s Policy Leadership Series reports:
Legislation supporting low-income working families can meet the state’s fiscal goals, encourage workforce participation and promote a healthy, productive workforce.
Womack Receives Bill Lucy Award
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Richard Womack, an assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, recently received the Bill Lucy Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Memphis, Tenn., regional chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU). The award is given to a trade unionist whose life work demonstrates a commitment to activism and engagement on behalf of working people.
Womack says:
I was surprised and honored that they were considering me. I consider Bill Lucy to be the consummate labor statesman because of the stands he has taken over the years to enhance the lives of working people both in this country and around the world.
Lucy, the president of CBTU and secretary-treasurer of AFSCME, presented the award to Womack:
Richard’s career-long commitment to equality and justice has had a tremendous impact on the union movement. Even though this award was given by a regional group, it represents the respect and affection people across the union movement have for Richard and his work. What he does at the AFL-CIO is very important and it makes a big difference for working people.
Womack has worked at the AFL-CIO for 30 years. He was appointed director of the Civil Rights Department in 1986 and served there until he was named to his present post in 2003.
Join Tomato Workers in Miami to Fight for Justice at Burger King
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Thousands of religious, community, union and immigrant rights activists and working people are set to converge in Miami to let Burger King know that it is making a whopper of a mistake if it thinks it can continue to exploit the workers who pick tomatoes for its products.
The three-day event begins Friday morning when marchers will walk nine miles from the center of Miami’s Burger King headquarters, where they will rally to demand that the nation’s second-largest hamburger chain join its competitors in paying workers a better wage.
Bush Administration Abandons Current Anti-Worker ‘No Match’ Rule
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has abandoned its attempt to enforce its proposed “no match” rule that would improperly use Social Security records for immigration enforcement.
Last Friday, the department asked a federal court in San Francisco to put on hold until March 2008 a lawsuit challenging the rule, which could affect more than 8 million workers. The government says it plans to publish a revised rule next month.
The lawsuit charges the rule would require employers to penalize U.S. citizens and legal workers whose Social Security numbers don’t match up with the Social Security Administration (SSA) database.
Ed Mayne Dies: Led Utah AFL-CIO for 30 Years
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The union movement is mourning the loss of Ed Mayne, the president of the Utah State AFL-CIO, who died Nov. 25 of cancer. Mayne, 62, led the Utah union movement for 30 years.
Mayne began his union career as a member of the United Steelworkers while he was working for Kennecott Copper in the Bingham Canyon mine. He was elected president of USW Local 485 in 1977, leading a tough contract negotiation with Kennecott that year. Shortly after that, he was elected president of the Utah State AFL-CIO at age 32, making him the youngest state federation president in the country at the time.
He was elected to the Utah state Senate in 1994 and was in his fourth term when he died. In the Senate, just as in the union movement, Mayne fought for those who had no voice, working to maintain benefits for the most needy on Medicaid and legislation to raise the minimum wage, among other issues.
