Archive for December, 2007
Republican Obstruction Strategy Stalls Key Legislation in Senate
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Senate Republicans have hit a dubious record this year. On Dec. 18, they forced the 62nd cloture vote of the 110th Congress, effectively blocking yet another bill. With half of the session still ahead, the roadblock Republicans have broken the record for the use of the filibuster to halt Senate legislation.
In a new report, the Campaign for America’s Future examined the record of reactionary obstruction in the Senate, and the media’s ineffective response. In short, the report’s authors note:
The first session of Congress was more marked by conservative obstruction than by progressive gains.
$38 Billion in Bonuses for Wall Streeters, Home Foreclosures for Regular Folks. Really?
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While executives at the top five Wall Street firms are getting a record $38 billion in bonuses this Christmas season, millions of working families are worrying whether they will lose their homes in the New Year—in the wake of the nation’s mortgage crisis.
The AFL-CIO called today for major mortgage lenders to impose a one-year moratorium on subprime mortgage foreclosures. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, in a letter to the largest subprime mortgage lenders and underwriters, writes:
Wall Street seems to be giving unprecedented cash rewards to the very people whose conduct threatens to strip millions of Americans of their homes and drive our country into recession, while at the same time refusing to take the actions necessary to address the crisis.
Wrap Up of Bali: Time for Us to Save the Planet
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More than 10,000 delegates and observers from around the world traveled to Bali, Indonesia, for the U.N. Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) from Dec. 3-14. Of the 90 union delegates, more than 20 were from North America, including Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council and chair of the Energy Task Force, who finalized this report after he got back to the United States. U.S. delegates sent us a series of posts from the conference: here, here, here, here, here and here.
When I began this blog, I was sitting in the opening ministry session for the UNCCC. The new prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, addressed the delegation. Earlier that day, he signed the Kyoto protocol and delivered it to the United Nations before speaking. We heard from the president of Indonesia and watched a compelling video from Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the World Meteorological Organization and U.N. Environment Program Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). There was a somber note and a moment of silence for those U.N. workers and citizens in Algeria who died in the terrorist attack in Algeria.
300 Southern California Nurses Join CNA/NNOC
For the third time in three weeks, registered nurses have voted for the California Nurses Association/ National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) to represent them. This time, the 300 nurses at Whittier Hospital Medical Center in the Los Angeles area voted by a whopping 87 percent for the union last night.
Whittier nurse Irma San Luis says the workers are happy about the win:
It will help bring a strong united nurse voice for patient care at Whittier.
Fight Just Beginning Over FCC’s Big-Media Ownership Rule
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Unions representing media workers roundly condemned yesterday’s decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow big-media moguls like Rupert Murdoch to swallow up more local media across the country and reduce the diversity of news and programming.
Ignoring strong public sentiment against the move, the FCC approved on a 3–2 party-line vote Chairman Kevin Martin’s proposal to allow a single corporation to own both a broadcast and newspaper operation in the 20 largest markets as long as at least eight other independent news sources exist in that market.
UAW Holds Off on Presidential Primary Endorsement
The UAW will not make an endorsement in the 2008 presidential primaries.
Members of the UAW International Executive Board have chosen an official “no endorsement” position. As a result, UAW locals, retiree groups and other bodies also will make no primary endorsement.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger says the decision was made, in part, because many candidates have offered proposals that would protect working families.
Painters and Allied Trades Endorses Clinton
The Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) union has endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for president in 2008.
The endorsement came as a result of a major outreach program to the union’s 160,000 active members and retirees. All members and retirees received a survey by mail.
Writers Rack Up More Support for Strike
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With negotiations on hold until January, striking members of the Writers Guild continue to gain support across the industry and the country. They also are trying a few new ideas in their effort to gain a fair share of the expected revenues from new media such as the Internet.
After negotiators for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) stalked out of talks last week, writers announced they plan to begin negotiations with individual producers. They will formally approach studios today to discuss their willingness to make individual deals with companies.
Candidates’ Letters Help New Hampshire TV Workers Win at WMUR
TV workers in New Hampshire are celebrating a new contract, aided by letters from six presidential candidates. Meanwhile, their union brothers and sisters in Boston are making their own news in a struggle to win a fair deal that protects good jobs in a time of increasing Internet-based broadcasting.
Members of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1228 reached a tentative agreement Dec. 12 with management of WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H. In 2004, live-van operators and master control personnel at the station voted to join the IBEW, but management refused to negotiate a contract—until now.
The new three-year agreement follows letters to WMUR-TV General Manager Jeff Bartlett from six Democratic presidential contenders urging the station to bargain with workers. The contract includes wage increases ranging from 18 percent to 35 percent and improvements in the pension and vacation benefits.
Still Waiting for Justice Under Bush Labor Board
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Wanted to point out some great video clips from the House Education and Labor Committee from last week’s dynamic House and Senate hearing on the Bush National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and its routinely anti-worker rulings.
The clips include testimony from one of the two Democrats on the Bush NLRB, Wilma Liebman (bottom), who decried the ideological extremism of the Bush board, noting:
Virtually every recent policy choice by the board impedes collective bargaining, creates obstacles to union representation, or favors employer interests.
There’s also great testimony from Feliza Ryland (top), a housekeeper at a Florida hotel who was fired after going on strike when contract negotiations stalled. In 2001, before Bush stacked the NLRB with anti-worker members, the NLRB agreed the workers were illegally fired and entitled to back pay.
