Archive for January, 2008
Smirk This: Oil Giants Profit, Working Families Struggle to Pay the Bills
The Campaign for America’s Future website captured the essence of last night’s State of the Union (SOTU) address when the progressive organization titled its package of SOTU articles: Smirk of the Union. Indeed, while working families face the loss of their homes, lack of health care on their jobs, skyrocketing debt and low-wage jobs, President Bush figuratively—and literally—smirks.
When Bush recognized individual audience members in the Capitol during his speech last night, he somehow missed the 9/11 workers who sacrificed their health in the minutes and weeks after the terrorist attacks, and yet who can’t get health care coverage for the often debilitating conditions that ensued. The 9/11 workers, attending the State of the Union address as guests of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, held a press conference on Capitol Hill yesterday to ask: “Is the state of our union strong enough to provide for the health needs of 9/11 workers?”
AFTRA Honors Donaldson, Lucci, McGovern
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Veteran journalist and union activist Sam Donaldson last night received the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) Media and Entertainment Excellence Award, known as the AMEE. Award-winning singer Maureen McGovern and soap-opera star Susan Lucci, a daytime Emmy winner, also were honored.
AFTRA presents the AMEEs annually to performers and journalists who have made significant contributions to American culture.
Donaldson, who has been with ABC for nearly four decades, is a longtime AFTRA member who helped organize CBS News correspondents in the early 1960s. He also has served as president of AFTRA’s Washington/Baltimore local. He probably is best known for his assertive questioning of presidents as White House correspondent and co-anchoring of “Primetime” with Diane Sawyer.
Family Medical Leave Expanded to Cover Wounded Military
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Through the efforts of the Democratic majority in Congress, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has been extended for the first time since the bill was passed 15 years ago. The legislation extends unpaid family and medical leave for up to six months for the families of wounded military personnel.
The law enables military family members to take FMLA leave for “any qualifying exigency” relating to a family member’s call up to active duty or deployment.
Just three weeks ago, President Bush vetoed defense authorization legislation that included provisions to extend the FMLA to family members of wounded service members. The White House said Bush opposed a provision in the bill, which could freeze the assets of the Iraqi government in the United States if an American sued that country. He signed the FMLA extension this week.
Bush Renominates Anti-Worker Lawyer to Labor Board
If it’s late on a Friday, look out for the Bush administration to take an action it hopes the public won’t notice. And so it was Friday, when President Bush renominated Robert Battista, the point man in Bush’s war on workers, to another term on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Battista’s five-year term expired in December.
The former NLRB chairman constantly voted against workers and their unions and in favor of management rights during his tenure. Last month, Battista told a joint Senate-House hearing he doesn’t believe the primary purpose of the National Labor Relations Act is to promote collective bargaining. (For a good look at the NLRB’s actions, check out the American Rights at Work’s blog, Eye on the NLRB.)
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says Bush’s action is a
blatant attempt to keep a Labor board with an unbalanced, anti-worker bias, and they would be poisonous to America’s working families.
Florida Primary Highlights Issues Key to Seniors
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Today’s winner-take-all presidential primary in Florida, the state with the largest population to vote so far in the 2008 election, also takes place in a state with the largest population of senior citizens. So it’s worth taking a look at what presidential candidates have to say about retirement security and health care for seniors.
On the Democratic side, the Florida primary won’t have much practical impact. Because Florida moved its primary up in violation of Democratic National Committee rules, the Florida primary will not assign delegates to the Democratic Convention this summer. (However, all Democratic candidates will appear on the ballot.)
Out of Touch and Almost Out of Office. Bush and the State of the Union
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Not surprisingly last night, President Bush painted a far prettier picture of the state of the union than most American families see and live everyday. From the economy to trade to health care to war, the words of Bush’s last State of the Union address collided with reality. Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
President Bush’s rose-colored glasses need a new prescription—he is blind to Americans’ day-to-day economic realities and the truth about our nation’s standing in the world.
How out of touch is Bush? A recent Harris Poll finds that 81 percent of Americans think the current state of the country is fair or poor while just 19 percent think it is excellent or good.
Ground Zero Workers Ask Bush: Where Are You Now?
President Bush is expected tonight to tell us that the state of the nation is strong. Here’s one question among many he may not answer: “Is the state of our union strong enough to provide for the health needs of 9/11 workers?”
On Capitol Hill today, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes joined members of Congress and the heroes of Sept. 11 in asking that crucial question.
First responders, cleanup crews and other workers directly involved with responding to the 9/11 attacks have experienced serious health problems, and the Bush administration has failed to respond to their health care needs. Thousands of Ground Zero workers need monitoring and special care to deal with the complex health problems that resulted from their work that day and in the months after the terrorist attacks.
Sweeney said the failure to provide for these workers showed a fundamental disrespect for their sacrifices:
Year after year, President Bush has refused to request the necessary funding to provide medical care for the 9/11 workers. Today, we are here to call upon our government to help those who came forward and helped the nation during one of its darkest hours.
Oakland Latest Airport With Staffing Emergency as Air Traffic Control Crisis Grows
The staffing crisis in the nation’s air traffic control system has reached a dangerous level and it’s getting worse. Just two weeks after the Air Traffic Controllers (NATCA) declared a staffing emergency in five cities, the union now has added Oakland to the list and is warning that Miami may be next.
NATCA says the emergency declaration means controllers do not have sufficient numbers of trained and experienced personnel on the ground to safely handle the volume of traffic in the air and takeoffs and landings at major airports.
Late last week, air traffic controllers at both the Northern California Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) and the Oakland Traffic Control Center declared a staffing emergency and called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Transportation to act immediately to stem the loss of veteran controllers.
Strikers Tell Ford Dealership to Shift Out of Reverse
A year ago, Ford Motor Co. introduced a slogan “Way Forward” to tout its turnaround. But for the nearly 30 workers at the Valley Ford dealership in Hazelwood, Mo., the way is decidedly backward with management demanding pay cuts for workers and elimination of health care coverage.
Over the weekend, more than 300 union members and their families along with elected officials, turned out in the suburb of St. Louis to support the workers, members of the Machinists (IAM) and Teamsters. The workers walked out Nov. 1 after they could not reach a contract agreement with the dealership.
Safety Agency Never Assessed Thousands of Fines—Including Mine Where Worker Died
Since 2000, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has failed to issue more than 4,000 fines for violations of mine safety laws—including a mine where a Kentucky coal miner died in 2005.
According to a report published yesterday in the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette, MSHA inspectors had issued citations for safety violations in all the cases, but the fines were never assessed within 18 months of the citations. The 18-month time limit was spelled out in a 1999 MSHA policy memo.
Agency officials acknowledged the failure to assess the fines. Richard Stickler, acting head of the agency, told the paper:
There is no doubt that there is a problem. Any violation that we write and don’t asses a penalty for, that’s a big problem.
