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From Passage of Minimum Wage to Senate Block of Employee Free Choice: AFL-CIO Blog Looks at 2007 (Part 2)
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From a brand new Congress taking the reins on Capitol Hill in January to the AFL-CIO’s first-ever global organizing conference in December, working families have seen some significant victories, unfortunate setbacks and a lot of unfinished business this year. We take a look back at 2007 in a series of posts. Today in Part 2, a quick glance at top items from April through June. Click here to read Part 1.
April
* It’s good work and pays well if you can get it. In 2006, the average CEO of Standard and Poor’s 500 company made $14.78 million. But as the 2007 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch reported, some of that was what some might call “funny money”—backdated stock options, a scandal that exploded in 2006.
* On the other end of the pay scale, the fight to raise the federal minimum wage continued as the U.S. House and Senate prepared to vote on a compromise minimum wage bill that would raise the wage floor from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 and included $4.8 billion in incentives for small business, down from the $8.3 billion in business tax breaks Senate Republicans called for. Meanwhile some business owners tried to weaken state minimum wage laws and New Hampshire raised its minimum wage, while Maryland passed a living wage law.
* Speaking of pay, 2007′s Equal Pay Day showed that women still lag far behind men, earning just 77 cents on the dollar. These figures were even worse for women of color. African American women earned only 68 cents and Latinas 57 cents for every dollar that men earned in 2006.
* In the first of a series of AFL-CIO Presidential Town Hall Forums, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) answered questions from working union families in Sacramento, Calif. As part of the AFL-CIO’s drive to give union members a strong voice in the presidential selection process and mobilize working families for the 2008 elections, the AFL-CIO launched Working Families Vote 2008, a unique interactive online center that offers, resources, information, forums and more.
* Senate Republicans handed out another favor to the pharmaceutical industry when they filibustered a bill that would have allowed Medicare to negotiate with “Big Pharma” for lower drug prices as part of its prescription drug program. A bill passed by the House in January would have required the negotiations.
Check out these April stories:
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Workers Around the World Remember Those Who Were Killed on the Job
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Coalition of Immokalee Workers Wins Agreement With McDonalds
May
* After Senate Republicans held a minimum wage raise hostage for 134 days, through filibusters and other maneuvers, they finally relented and passed the law raising the $5.15 an hour wage to $7.25 as part of supplemental spending bill. President Bush, who vetoed an earlier supplemental bill that included the pay raise, signed the bill. The House passed the first bill Jan. 24. The 134-day delay cost minimum wage workers $750, money they would have earned under the bill’s pay hike.
* Three Democratic presidential candidates took part in the AFL-CIO’s special Town Hall Forums and answered questions from union members about their policies and goals. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) spoke to union families at Pipe Fitters Local 725 in Opa-Locke, Fla. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) appeared before 700 working men and women in Trenton, N.J. Nearly 1,000 union members attended John Edwards’ appearance at the Machinists’ District 751 hall in Seattle.
* Thousands of working family voters responded to a forum question on the AFL-CIO’s Working Families Vote 2008 website about what issues would most likely drive them to the polls in November. Topping the issues agenda were health care, the war in Iraq, jobs and the economy, trade and environmental concerns.
* The Economic Policy Institute reported that the U.S. trade deficit with China, $233 billion in 2006, cost more than 2.1 million U.S. jobs, including 1.8 million since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. While U.S. markets are open to China, it’s a one-way street. China refuses to lower its trade barriers and bring its laws and regulations into compliance with international standards.
* The Missouri Supreme Court threw out a 1947 law that said the state’s public-sector workers had no right to collectively bargain. The ruling gave some 390,000 public sector workers a chance for a voice at work. Said Missouri AFL-CIO President Herb Johnson, “This decision rights a wrong that was created in 1947 and gives public employees equal status with their brothers and sisters in the private sector. It’s good for Missouri.”
See these other stories from May:
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Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebrates Worker’ Struggle for Justice
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Mine Safety Report on Lighting at Sago a ‘Far-Fetched Theory’
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Despite Congressional Deal, ‘Our Trade Policy Will Not Be Fixed Overnight.’
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Bush Outsources Public Sector Jobs During Public Service Recognition Week
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Employee Free Choice Support Gaining Momentum Around the Country
June
* Despite topping Bush’s trade wish list, Fast Track Trade authority died. Fast Track allows presidents to push through bad trade deals without any amendments from Congress. The death of Fast Track should slow down Bush’s job-killing agenda that AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said has been, “one bad trade deal after another.”
* The Employee Free Choice Act won a majority vote in the Senate, 51–48, but 60 votes were needed to end the Republican filibuster against the workers’ rights bill. The vote capped months of our 2007 mobilization to win passage of the bill that would allow workers the freedom to form unions without the employer intimidation, harassment and threats. In the weeks leading up to the Senate vote (the House passed the bill in March), 4,500 workers rallied on Capitol Hill and thousands more took part in more than 100 rallies nationwide. Middle-class Americans generated 50,000 telephone calls to the Senate, 156,000 faxes and e-mail messages and 220,000 postcards, including 120,000 delivered to the Senate the week before the vote. But union leaders and pro-worker lawmakers vowed to carry on the fight, especially as part of the 2008 election campaign.
* Nearly 500 union leaders and activists mapped ways to ensure the leadership of the union movement is as diverse as its membership in the first of three of the AFL-CIO’s Power in Diversity dialogues. The meetings in Detroit, Atlanta and Philadelphia were frank discussions to pinpoint areas in the local state and national union movement where diversity is lacking and discuss strategies to ensure women and people of color are included in union leadership.
* Just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workers only have 180 days to file a pay discrimination suit, even if they don’t find out about the unequal pay until years later, House Democrats introduce the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Ledbetter worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in Alabama for 19 years, but didn’t find out she was being paid less than men who were doing the same job until years into her career. She sued, and lower courts found in her favor. But Goodyear pursued the case to the Supreme Court, where the justices in a 5–4 decision essentially said: “Tough luck you missed the 180 day deadline.”
* More than 3,000 activists and leaders from across the wide spectrum of the nation’s progressive movement—workers, environmentalists, civil rights activists, community organizers and economists—took part in the two-day Take Back America conference to move the country away from the corporate and conservative model of the past 25 years to a more progressive and democratic system. The conference explored the economy—including the AFL-CIO’s “An Economy That Works for All” initiative, “green” jobs, globalization, trade and corporate behavior.
Here some other June headlines:
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Paycheck Fairness Act Makes Huge Strides After 10 years of Republican Opposition
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AFL-CIO Coalition Approves Guidelines of CEO Performance, Pay
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New Mine Safety Bill Would Give Workers Major New Protections
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Rejected on Social Security, Bush Stealthily Tries to Privatize Medicare
Don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we look at news from July through September.
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4 Comments
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Organized Labor Should Dump the Democrats!
We Need a New People’s Peace Party
Independent of Corporate Money!
As both Democratic and Republican parties are now corporate funded, they both support corporate agendas. Both Obama and Clinton support a continuation of the war in Iraq, both support corporate “for-profit” health care agendas. On many issues essential to corporate profit there has been, for many years, bi-partisan support. We essentially have a corporate political establishment party with two branches. We need to establish a new party independent of corporate money that is free to represent the interests of the people.
We must go beyond looking for any one “candidate” or individual who can be trusted to become elected and then solve all our problems. Historically, these individuals end up being targets of assassination and corruption. Non-corporate third parties are typically very small, financially impoverished, and often committed to an ideology that is often incomprehensible to most people. The Green Parties are hopelessly split between Greens and Green-Democrats, a division that has kept the Green Parties from growing.
Now is the time to establish a new political party, a People’s Peace Party
The People’s Peace Party (PPP) shall be an “umbrella party” that will unite the millions of people now in opposition to the current corporate regime and it’s various foreign and domestic policies. Millions are opposed to the war in Iraq. Millions are of Americans are concerned about global warming, lack of affordable health care, lack of living wage jobs, the destruction of public education, etc. The massive shift in wealth to the benefit of a few is destroying the living standards of the vast majority of people.
There now exists a “virtual” third party among the tens of millions of people who are opposed to the on-going destruction of this country and it’s peoples. We are atomized and left powerless by the existing political situation. For many years we have joined single issue campaigns and have marched, protested, written letters, supported Pacifica Radio KPFK, listened to “Democracy Now!”, and tried to be as “activist” as personally possible. Despite all these efforts we remain collectively powerless and the needs of the people for peace go unfulfilled.
“Divide and conquer” has been used throughout history by ruling elites to maintain power and control over exploited populations. The existing corporate regime in the U.S. has constantly tried to destroy any natural alliances between oppressed peoples. Race, language, nationality, and class are constantly used to keep the people atomized and politically powerless. We the people of the United States, forever exploited and increasingly impoverished by these divisive tactics, understand how this has worked in the past. We must now seek a new way to unite our forces and energies to create an ecologically sustainable society that seeks to end the vast social in-equalities that are destroying us all.
Corporate control of government has meant that corporate agendas to maximize corporate profit have become federal policy. Or more simply put – the corporations are looting the federal government. War will continue as long as war is to make profit for oil companies and the military-industrial complex. Bush has stated that he would not endorse any environmental policy that threatens the profit of polluting business. No serious reconstruction aid for Katrina victims because there is essentially no profit to corporate business in helping poor people. Privatization of all social institutions is relentlessly pursued.
The principle of maximizing corporate profit now controls every aspect of social, economic and cultural life. This control and looting by the corporations of the government has led to massive federal debt, decline in the dollar, unending financial corruption, until the U.S. is now on the brink of economic collapse.
The People’s Peace Party (PPP) Founding Principles
* The PPP affirms the principle that the government of the United States is a government “of, by, and for the people”. In order to remain independent of corporate corruption, the PPP does not accept contributions from corporations or their representatives.
* The PPP seeks to prohibit corporate money (and thus agendas) in election campaigns by seeking government funding of elections at all levels of government, not just the federal level. The PPP seeks to end the “person hood” of corporations which grants them rights of citizenship without the responsibilities expected in society.
* The PPP seeks to end war. War will never end as long as war is waged for profit. Thus we will end the privatization of the federal government, especially privatization of the military (mercenaries, CIA outsourcing, etc.).
* The PPP seeks to end the corporate control of mass media. The corporate profit agendas has totally blocked accessible public discussion and dialog on the critical issues we are now facing. Public oversight and democratic local control of the mass media is essential for democracy to function. The vast potential of television to expand the cultural and intellectual life of the people has been subordinated and destroyed by corporate advertising and political agendas. Corporate advertising and control of mass media must be minimized and eliminated where possible.
* The PPP will create mass media programs of various types to educate the people on the PPP agenda, platforms, candidates to be widely distributed through existing non-profit networks. We would urge everyone in agreement to become active at what ever level is personally possible.
* The PPP would implement a program to transition to a peace economy. The proposal by Dennis Kucinich to establish a Department of Peace should be implemented. We would withdraw all U.S. troops for the Middle East. The PPP would reduce the military budget by 50%. Shut down the 700 plus foreign military bases. Shut down costly and failed military systems. (planes that don’t fly, “star wars” programs that don’t work, etc.) We would re-instate all tax cuts implemented by the Bush regime for corporations and wealthy individuals. A vigorous audit of corporations and wealthy indivuals would be undertaken to minimize tax fraud.
* The PPP works towards a humanistic immigration policy that uses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as it’s guide. We would end all immigrant concentration camps, ICE raids that has incarcerated thousands and broken families. We would seek to examine and correct the conditions that have cause this mass migration into the U.S.
The PPP would end all “free-trade” treaties such as NAFTA, CAFTA that are destroying the economic life of millions of farmers and workers in Mexico. We would end subsidies to corporate agriculture that have dumped cheap corn into Mexico, causing subsistence farmers to leave the land.
The majority of people of Mexico are living in poverty. The PPP would insist that the Mexican government begin a vigorous program to upgrade the living standards of it’s citizens. Minimum wages, national health care, massively increase funding for schools and teacher salaries, etc. must be undertaken to stem the flow of immigration. Foreign and domestic corporations operating in Mexico, business and wealth in Mexico must be taxed in addition to massive foreign aid from the United States to remedy the massive inequality between the two countries.
By ending war and militarism, the “peace dividend” that was possible with the collapse of the Soviet Union would finally become a reality. The peace dividend would mean that the vast funds for war and destruction would become available to cope with the many crises humanity now faces.
Note: On January 15th, 2008, Cindy Sheehan is holding a “Peace Summit” in San Francisco area (?). Cindy Sheehan left the Democratic Party. Hopefully at this Summit she would consider the above proposal and call for a founding convention of such a party. Perhaps Dennis Kucinich, Cindy Sheehan, Ralph Nader, with many other supporters, could issue a call for a founding convention of a PPP.
The November 2008 election should be considered a starting point to establish the PPP, which would run candidates at federal, state, and local elections. Millions of people know WHY we need to end corporate control of government. We must create the MEANS to make this happen.
While I agree with the issues that Jerry Wells has so clearly set forth, I offer a somewhat different (though not at all belligerent) course of action
Since 1955 too many labor “leaders” have taken a hike on New Deal principles and class struggle unionism. Their strategy of “partnership” with big-business was doomed to fail ever since the first worker was enslaved to set the first stone in the first pyramid in ancient Egypt.
Our “salvation” is neither a political party nor an ideologically-challenged labor movement. We are our own salvation! It’s up to us to demand programs and policies that benerfit the working class. Elected officials failing to respond should be sent packing!
Get involved. The price of silence is both tragic and enormous.
Rich,
Don’t you think that labor should look at itself as a commodity, and that it does not need to get in bed with corperations or any buisness. If we trained are selves internaly ever job and Slilled Journeymen and women were abe to move from Job to Job in there trade be it autoamaker, nurse or whaever just like in the construction trades do. Unions would be much stronger Than hey are now. Internally trained and highly skilled wokers should comand the best price on an open market don’t you think?
We need to require a minimum wage in order to receive most favoured nation trading status. This would help the poor in the third world and also help local manufacturing.
http://www.freedomsringmall.com