by Mike Hall, Dec 31, 2007

At the AFL-CIO’s Presidential Candidates Forum in August, retired Steelworker Steve Skvara, who had his pension and health care slashed when his company declared bankruptcy, asked, “What’s wrong with America?”

From a 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 significant victories, unfortunate setbacks and a lot of unfinished business this year. We take a look back at 2007 in a series of posts, continuing today with a quick glance at the top items from July through September. Click here to read Part 1 and Part 2.

July

* Tens of thousands of public employees in New Hampshire, Oregon and Massachusetts won a voice at work with unions in 2007. The victories came after union members in 2006 elected pro-working family candidates to governors’ offices and state legislatures, where lawmakers passed majority sign-up legislation. Under majority sign-up—which is a key part of the Employee Free Choice Act—workers form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.

* At a Steelworkers (USW) conference in Cleveland, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), former Democratic Sen. John Edwards and Rep Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) outlined their plans and policies before 800 USW members. With the AFL-CIO’s Presidential Candidates Forum set for August, Working Families Vote 2008 asked union members, “What Question Do You Want to Ask the Candidates?” More than 2,200 questions were submitted, and 25,000 people voted on their favorites, with the top question being asked at the forum.

* Entering its 11th year, the AFL-CIO’s Union Summer gave 48 student activists a first-hand look at how to help workers join a union. They joined construction workers in Phoenix, educators in New Orleans and organizing drives in Las Vegas and Boston. Since 1996, more than 3,000 young activists have taken part in Union Summer, with many going on to become union organizers, researchers, trainers and labor lawyers, through the Law Student Union Summer.

* A new report provids further evidence on just how badly the Bush National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) stacks the deck against worker trying to form unions. A study by University of Oregon political scientist Gordon Lafer finds elections under NLRB rules more closely resemble phony “free elections” in authoritarian regimes than real democratic elections. As he wrote: “Union-busting activity in the weeks leading up to union elections resembles practices that our government routinely denounces when performed by rouge regimes abroad.”

* Some 80 teachers and other school personnel from around the country spent part of their summer in New Orleans painting high schools, tutoring students and doing other community projects as part of AFT’s “Lend a Hand” summer program. The devastation from Hurricane Katrina, coupled with the Bush administration’s failed rebuilding response, leaves schools and homes in desperate need of repair more than two years after the hurricane. Click here for videos of the teachers at work

Here are some other July headlines

House Says Supreme Court Fair Pay Ruling Wrong, Passes Ledbetter Fair Pay Bill

Bush to Ledbetter, ‘Tough Luck’; Veto in Store for Fair Pay Bill

Does Bush Admin. See Union Membership as Sign of Terrorism?

U.S. Workers: Running in Place or Getting Behind

10,000 Child Care Providers Getting a Voice on the Job

Bush Opposes Health Care for Children. Really

Union Sportsmen’s Alliance Launched

Legislators Getting the Message: Trade Policies Must Change

‘You Can Have Clean Environment and Good Jobs’

August

* More than 15,000 union family voters stream into Chicago’s Soldier Field to ask questions and hear what the seven major Democratic presidential candidates have to say about jobs, health care, workers’ rights, the war in Iraq and more. Moderated by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and broadcast live nationwide, the AFL-CIO Presidential Candidates Forum included questions submitted by union members through the Internet and in person.

* At the AFL-CIO presidential forum, retired United Steelworkers member Steve Skvara captured the national spotlight when he described how, after working for decades at LTV Steel, the company cut his pension by one-third and abolished his health care coverage. Skvara broke down as he described being unable to pay for health care coverage for his wife who had devoted her life to him and their family. His question for the candidates:

What’s wrong with America, and what will you do to change it?

* The AFL-CIO launched a massive new Health Care Campaign to fix the nation’s broken system with. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the drive “will put the full force of the 10 million union members and 3 million union retirees behind winning high-quality, secure health care for every person in America by 2009.”

* The deaths of six coal miners and three rescuers at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah riveted the nation’s attention for nearly two weeks until rescue attempts were called off. The tragedy also focused attention on the serious safety problems in the nation’s coal mines under the Bush administration’s Mine Safety and Heath Administration (MSHA). Asked Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.): “What is the problem at MSHA? What the hell is the problem at MSHA?”

* Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate, announced the winner in its second annual “My Bad Boss” contest. And it was one baaad boss! This boss was so bad that he made sure one of his workers couldn’t take paid time off for treatment of a rare form of cancer by throwing away the worker’s leave paperwork.

Here are some other August headlines:

Corporate Welfare Kings Lounging on America’s Sofa

Rally Calls for New Orleans Marshall Plan

Bush’s Medicare Drug Program Fails to Cut Costs

Casino Workers Say ‘Pay the Dealer’ and Vote for UAW Card

Union Membership Means Mobility for Low-Wage Workers

Machinist Member Wins House Seat in Special Election

Grassroots Reports Expose Wrongheaded Conservative Ideas

A Working People’s Global Summit

Time to Burst the Economic Bubbleheads

September

*The Houses and Senate defied President Bush’s threat to veto a bill to renew the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and offer health coverage to an additional 4 million kids along with the 6 million low-income children already covered. Bush claimed the bill would hurt the private insurance industry, ignoring the fact that none of these children have insurance to begin with. Though both chambers passed the bill by wide margins, the House vote fell short of being veto-proof, setting the stage for a battle that would last the rest of the year.

* It seemed like every week in 2007 we read about the dangerous and toxic imports flooding this country from low-wage foreign manufacturers, including the most troubling: toxic toys for kids. The USW decided to take action and launched a nationwide campaign, “Protect Our Kids—Stop Toxic Imports,” which includes “Safe Home Sessions” to show parents how to test for lead in their children’s toys. The USW also is distributing free lead testing kits and information on how families can fight the failed trade and regulatory policies that allow these products to threaten families.

* Retired union members and union leaders take to Capitol Hill to tell Congress the nation’s bankruptcy laws must be fixed so corporations cannot break the pension and health care promises they made to workers. James Robertson, a Steelworker retiree, was among them. After he retired, Bethlehem Steel Co. declared bankruptcy. Although Robertson worked six-day weeks and 10-hour shifts for 33 years, he saw his pension cut by one-third and lost all of his health insurance. He told lawmakers: “I thought a deal was a deal. Turns out it wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.”

* Linda Chavez Thompson, AFL-CIO executive vice president since 1995 and a 40-year veteran of the union movement, retired to return to Texas and spend time with her family. She was the first person of color to hold one of the AFL-CIO’s top elected offices. Arlene Holt Baker, the daughter of a Texas domestic worker and laborer, was elected executive vice president. With 30 years of experience as a union and grassroots organizer and political activist, Holt Baker is the first African American women to hold one of the AFL-CIO’s top posts.

Here some other September headlines

Kicking Ass for the Working Class

Murders of Union Members Worldwide Increase 25 Percent

O! USW Member Skvara Set to Chat with Oprah, Michael Moore

Un-American: Employers’ Dirty Tricks at the Workplace

Passenger Bill of Rights: Band-Aid on a Wound

Federal Analysts Choose Union in First-Ever Vote at GAO

‘Supercapitalism Threatens Democracy’

Hundreds Rally for Health Care for 9/11 Workers

Health Care Takes Center Stage at Labor Day Celebrations

Check back tomorrow when we wrap up 2007 with a look at the news from October through December.

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