Archive for April, 2008
‘Confessions of a Sweatshop Inspector’ Shows Need for Standards in Trade Deals
Both Democratic presidential candidates and a majority of the American public believe U.S. trade deals should include assurances that workers’ basic rights are respected. But until such provisions become part of trade agreements and are enforced, private corporations who contract with foreign suppliers hold the reins.
In response to press reports and demands by consumers, workers, students and human rights groups, many major companies created voluntary codes of conduct to try to ensure their products are produced “ethically.” But do those codes really work?
In this month’s Washington Monthly magazine, T.A. Frank, a former sweatshop inspector or “corporate social responsibility monitor,” describes what it’s like on the ground for those who are charged with enforcing codes of conduct.
L.A. Plan Gives Low-Income Workers Access to the American Dream
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After a strong push by union members, clergy and community groups, the city of Los Angeles last week passed a landmark law that will fight poverty by expanding opportunities for low-income residents to access union construction jobs.
The new “Construction Careers and Project Stabilization Policy” requires that most of the projects funded by the city’s community redevelopment agency hire more local and low-income residents from the communities where a project is being built. The policy also encourages partnership, through a project labor agreement (PLA), between developers and contractors and the Los Angeles/Orange County Building Trades Council. A PLA defines wages and work rules for a project based on community standards and is approved by the workers’ representatives and the agency awarding the contract before the project begins.
New Era Cap Workers Join CWA
The 400 workers at New Era Cap Co. in Demopolis, Ala., now have a voice on the job after they voted for the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
“We found a boldness and courage that we didn’t know we had,” said Alma Null and Laurie Fendley, two workers on the CWA organizing committee.
It has been a great experience and a cause that we have come to believe in.
Bear Sterns B.S.
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“We just lost a big chunk of our retirement,” grumbled more than one person down at the Union Hall last week, when General Electric Co. (GE) stock tumbled. “I got two houses on my street under foreclosure already,” added Pete Capano, an IUE-CWA Local 201 Executive Board member and Ward 6 city councilor in Lynn, Mass. We are entering the fear stage of the recession, where people swap stories about the trouble we’re in.
We in the United States work the longest hours of any workers in the industrialized world.
Our productivity is up by any standard—two-thirds or more in the past 10 years.
So why were 102 houses in Lynn facing foreclosure in February, more than double the 44 houses one year ago? Why did GE workers and retirees take a beating on their 401(k)s last week, when GE stock dropped $4 a share? Why have more than one hundred people stopped by my office for help in getting jobs—jobs that I don’t have to offer? Why is nearly every city and town in Massachusetts facing layoffs?
Why is the economy falling apart?
Missouri Union Members Get the Facts on Health Care
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More than 60 union members, their families and local candidates came together for a health care presentation sponsored by the Northwest Missouri Central Labor Council in St. Joseph yesterday. Members reviewed a video, talked about their personal experiences with the health care system and passed a resolution promising to educate their fellow members about health care and how candidates running for office stand on the issue.
They also committed to taking part in the May 17 labor walks in Missouri. Much of the discussion centered on distributing fliers at their worksites. Union leaders and activists learned about what’s at stake in the November elections, including the dangers posed by John McCain’s health care proposals, which would raise taxes and undermine the health care of millions.
Every $1 Billion Spent on Rebuilding Infrastructure Creates 42,000 Jobs
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Too often, the only time lawmakers think seriously about rebuilding our nation’s aging and crumbling infrastructure is after a disaster like the collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis or the destruction of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Then a few months later, the issue is pushed back to make way for less-expensive priorities.
But the ability of the United States to compete in the global economy and continue its growth depends on our willingness to improve our roads, bridges, waterways, transit systems and the electrical grid, says Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D).
McCain’s Health Care Plan: Increases Taxes, Decreases Coverage
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Today in Tampa, Fla., Sen. John McCain gave an address his advisers claimed would “unveil” his health care proposal—but he essentially offered the same tired proposal he’s been touting for months. Most policy analysts agree this plan won’t cut costs, won’t cover more people and won’t fix the real problems in the health care system.
McCain wants to address our nation’s health care crisis by merely shifting costs around—and millions of people would pay higher health care costs as a result. McCain would tax health care benefits as income and push more people out of group insurance pools and into the often-predatory private market. In short, McCain would increase our taxes and ensure fewer of us could afford quality health care.
AFL-CIO union members in Florida were on hand as McCain spoke to ask him to change course and offer some real answers on health care.
Drywall Finishers Reaffirm Their Support of Painters Union
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A unit of 580 drywall finishers in New Jersey voted overwhelmingly—94 percent—to stick with their union, the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 71, and rejected an attempt by the Carpenters (UBC), which left the AFL-CIO in 2001, to sign up the workers.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certified the results yesterday. IUPAT General President James Williams says he wasn’t surprised by the outcome because IUPAT drywall finishers repeatedly have reaffirmed their support of IUPAT.
This vote was, as the man says, “Déjà vu all over again.” The Carpenters came at us—again—hoping to raid those who are already organized and we voted them down—again.
They have done the same thing in over a dozen cities in the United States and Canada and they lost every time. The word is out on their empty promises for more work and more money and the men and women we represent in this trade will not be fooled by the UBC leaders in Washington, D.C.
More Potentially Deadly Moves by Bush’s FAA
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)—under fire for failing to meet inspection deadlines for the nation’s passenger air fleet—is now putting off inspections of equally vital ground-based equipment such as radar and instrument landing systems.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) says that in March, the FAA relaxed certification and maintenance requirements and removed the time element for the inspections. Appropriate maintenance and certification that the equipment is operating correctly is a critical function in ensuring passenger safety, says NATCA.
Supreme Court Ruling on Indiana Voter ID Law the ‘Wrong Decision’
In a decision today that could disenfranchise millions of average Americans, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld, on a 6–3 vote, Indiana’s voter identification law, the most restrictive law of its kind in the country.
In his dissent, Justice David Souter echoed what critics of the law have said all along:
Indiana’s voter ID law threatens to impose nontrivial burdens on the voting rights of tens of thousands of the state’s citizens, and a significant percentage of those individuals are likely to be deterred from voting.
After the 2000 election, Republicans in many states have pushed for voter ID laws, claiming voter fraud is rampant. But studies have shown the problem does not exist.
