Archive for May, 2008
Amado Uno: New APALA Director Passionate About His Work
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Amado Uno got an early start as a union movement activist—he was about five years old at the time. As he recalls it:
I was with my aunt on a picket line. I was helping out. She was a teacher in the Oakland Unified School District, and I learned that picket lines were not to be crossed.
Once on a picket line, Uno never turned back. Today, he’s the executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), the AFL-CIO constituency group for Asian and Pacific Islander American workers. Uno was named executive director in March.
The union movement has been an integral part of his life. His mother, whose parents came from Guam, organized health care and home care workers for years and now works for Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums. Uno’s father was the first mainland-born Japanese American to be elected business manager of an Electrical Workers local. They met in the anti-Vietnam War movement and have been involved in progressive causes ever since—along with their son. Says Uno:
I remember going to rallies and picket lines with my parents before I could walk.
Two Construction Workers Die in Latest New York Crane Collapse
A huge construction crane on an Upper East Side high-rise condominium tower in New York City collapsed this morning, killing the crane operator and a worker on the ground, and seriously injuring another worker.
The collapse is the third deadly crane incident in recent months. On March 15, a 300-foot construction crane collapsed—also in Manhattan—and killed six construction workers and an out-of-town visitor. On March 25 in Miami, a 20-foot section of a construction crane tumbled 30 stories to the ground, killing two workers and injuring five others.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates that between 64 and 82 construction workers are killed and 263 are injured working around cranes and derricks each year. But OSHA has failed to issue a crane and derrick safety standard, despite the urging of both industry and unions.
Pennsylvania Labor Movement Stronger with New Alliance
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Frank Snyder, AFL-CIO political director for Pennsylvania, reports on the Pennsylvania union movement’s restructuring efforts.
Just more than two years ago, over the course of nine months, the Pennsylvania labor movement restructured and created organizations called area labor federations to better mobilize, strengthen and organize union members. Through the labor councils, the area labor federations were designed to support affiliate organizing and contract, legislative and electoral campaigns. This week, the Pennsylvania New Alliance Coordinating Committee met to discuss the progress of the relatively new structure and to plan strategies to ensure that the area labor federations can become even more effective tools of mobilization.
Milwaukee Union Members Rally as McCain Rakes in Big Money
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Sen. John McCain came to Milwaukee yesterday, and Wisconsin union members were there to greet him and get out the message about McCain’s record and his plans for our country.
Despite pouring rain, more than 100 people attended the rally, including some in costume, dressed as McCain, Bush and their millionaire allies.
McCain himself didn’t come out to meet the workers—he was attending a $10,000-a-person fundraiser, instead.
Union members held “Turn Around America” signs and kept the focus on the core economic issues that will be critical in this battleground state.
Greg Hinds, a member of the United Steelworkers (USW), said McCain needed to pay attention to the effects of trade agreements on jobs.
Through the years, the costs of our plant have not been able to stay competitive with international firms. We talk about free trade and fair trade, but what we need is something like a balanced trade.
Check Out Our Updated ‘McCain Revealed’ Online Briefing Book
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Sen. John McCain has worked to craft a media image as an unconventional, straight-talking maverick as he runs for the presidency. But where does he really stand on the issues that matter to working families?
You can find out at our updated McCain Revealed site. We’ve researched McCain’s record and his plans for the country to find out what a McCain presidency would mean for working families. The new and improved online briefing book includes the latest information on McCain’s stances on the important issues in 2008: the economy, health care, trade, jobs, retirement security, workers’ rights and the Bush agenda.
‘The Real McCain’
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| If you’re in Washington, D.C., stop by to meet Cliff Schecter, who’ll discuss his new book at the AFL-CIO from 6-8 p.m. Free beer and wine reception follows. |
When John McCain showed up to campaign recently in Seattle and Bellevue, Wash., union members were there to ask him about his role in awarding a major military contract to a foreign company. Word has it, he encouraged the U.S. Department of Defense in February to give a $40 billion-to-$100 billion contract for the construction of Air Force refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman and to the European firm EADS, which makes the Airbus, rather than U.S.-based Boeing.
In Cleveland, as McCain met with wealthy corporate donors at a high-priced reception at the Intercontinental hotel, workers and their families gathered outside to ask for real solutions to the problems they face. They carried hundreds of giant, signed “band-aids” from their fellow workers, a symbol of the need for real solutions to America’s health care crisis.
Top McCain Campaign Adviser Outsources U.S. Jobs
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It seems that each day that goes by reveals a new surprise in Sen. John McCain’s campaign for president.
Last week, we learned one of McCain’s fundraisers lobbied for the Colombian government, pushing an anti-worker trade deal that McCain supports (despite the fact that dozens of union members are killed every month). This week, it comes out that McCain is taking his economic advice from a former lobbyist for a bank with interests in the housing market. And already there’s another revelation about someone on McCain’s campaign staff: One of his top money men is responsible for outsourcing thousands of jobs.
One Year Today Since the Supreme Court Ruled Pay Discrimination OK
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A year ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court told Lilly Ledbetter “tough luck,” in a 5–4 decision that made it much easier for corporations to get away with pay discrimination.
Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, says since the ruling,
lower courts have relied on that unjust ruling to deny relief to other victims of discrimination [and] President Bush’s effort to make our highest court friendlier to employers that discriminate has prevailed.
Missouri AFL-CIO Announces Key Endorsements
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Randy Kiser, state director of the Missouri AFL-CIO, reports on the state federation’s endorsements for the 2008 election.
The Missouri AFL-CIO Executive Board met in Jefferson City yesterday to vote on candidate endorsements for the November ’08 election.
Board members unanimously voted to endorse Jay Nixon (the current Missouri state attorney general) for governor of Missouri.
Following the vote, Nixon gave a brief speech thanking the board for its endorsement, as well as the support he has received from the AFL-CIO throughout his public career. He expressed appreciation for the union movement’s assistance in defeating the Voter ID requirement and regressive Worker Compensation legislation. (The Voter ID law was stopped in the state Senate when the legislative session ended. This month, state legislators also defeated a proposal to gut a workers’ compensation fund.) Nixon asked those present to reach out to their members as they have in the past and do the hard work to aid in his election. He stated that he feels good about where his campaign is now and the Democrat’s chances of winning not just his race, but others in November. He looks forward to Missouri becoming a state that respects union membership and our freedom to form unions and bargain collectively.
Pilots, Meter Readers, Mechanics and More Join AFL-CIO Unions
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Pilots, translators, meter readers, mechanics and drivers are among the latest workers to win a union voice at work.
Pilots at CommutAir overwhelmingly voted to join the Air Line Pilots (ALPA). Some 135 pilots fly for the airline that operates as a Continental Connection carrier and serves 23 cities in the Upper Midwest and Northeast from its Cleveland base.
