Archive for May, 2008
Chicago Union Members Ask McCain for Health Care Answers
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Yesterday, Sen. John McCain paid a visit to Chicago, and Chicago union members were there to meet him.
The Chicago Federation of Labor organized the event, which brought 25 union members to a convention center where McCain was speaking. Bearing signs reading “It’s Time to Turn Around America,” these volunteers asked whether McCain would put forth policies to help working families or whether he’d continue the anti-worker Bush agenda.
Hundreds of Workers Sign Up with CWA
Law enforcement officers in Iowa, wireless sales workers in Idaho and print shop employees in Minnesota are the latest workers to choose a voice at work with the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
In Sioux City, Iowa, 100 detention officers and 39 deputy sheriffs in the Woodbury County Sheriff's Department voted to affiliate with the CWA. The officers were part of an independent association but sought a strong voice to deal with their concerns over pay, intimidation by management and job security—issues especially important to the detention workers who—unlike deputies—are at-will employees, meaning they can be fired for any reason and have no due process rights.
Kentucky, West Virginia Union Members Ask McCain About the Economy
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On Friday, Sen. John McCain took a campaign swing through two states and, as they have in cities and towns across the nation, union members mobilized to ask him about the important issues in this election.
In St. Albans, W. Va., the West Virginia AFL-CIO organized a rally that drew 75 activists to a gun shop where McCain had stopped in for a visit. The union members who came out hoped to get answers from McCain about key economic issues, such as why he’s proposing a health care plan that would create a new tax on working families and could lead to millions getting even less coverage than they do now.
McCain quickly departed for an invitation-only meeting with local Republican leaders. Avoiding union members to focus on his elite supporters has become a habit for McCain, as he seeks to evade union members from Oregon to Florida.
Casino Workers Protest Unfair Treatment at Foxwoods
As the celebrities and invitation-only guests poured into the new MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Ledyard, Conn., over the weekend, they met some unexpected greeters—casino employees and their supporters who were protesting the owner’s unfair treatment of workers.
For two days, May 17–18, members of the UAW, along with state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, state legislators, union leaders and their supporters, protested at the front entrances to the casino against a new tipping policy and the owner’s unfair labor practices, including refusing to bargain a contract.
Workers Rally on Rainy Day in Georgia for Delta Flight Attendants
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Nearly 250 people turned out in heavy rain last week to support flight attendants at Delta Air Lines who are struggling to form a union. Chanting, “Find Your Voice” and “No Fear,” they rallied in the parking lot of Delta’s headquarters in Atlanta to send a message to management that the corporation should support workers' efforts to gain a voice at the workplace.
Richard Ray, president of the Georgia State AFL-CIO, told the crowd:
We love Delta. I fly Delta. But I want my flight attendant to be union.
How Fast Can You Surf? Take CWA’s Speed Test
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Are you one of the millions of Americans in rural or low-income urban areas who doesn't have access to high-speed Internet and can only go online via frustratingly slow dial-up? You wait and wait for a connection so you can pay a bill, find some important medical information, or just the latest ball score.
Or maybe you've got so-called "high-speed" Internet access and the big monthly bill that goes with it. But you still find yourself watching that darn little hourglass on your screen, drumming your fingers and muttering, "What am I paying for? Might as well go back to flippin' dial–up."
You can find out just how fast your Internet speed is and at the same time help promote a national broadband policy.
Hundreds of Activists Launch Member Mobilization Walks
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Hundreds of union members launched the biggest union mobilization yet in the 2008 political season with the first round of door-to-door walks, part of the AFL-CIO Labor 2008 political mobilization program.
Union volunteers in more than 20 states shared information on key working family issues, like health care and the economy, reaching thousands of union members in states such as Indiana, New Hampshire, Colorado, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Ohio (watch video). The walks will continue in coming months as millions of union members mobilize to elect a working family-friendly president and Congress.
Strike Set at GM Factory in Ohio and More Bargaining News
Some 1,650 hourly workers at a General Motors metal stamping factory in Ontario, Ohio, gave the company notice it will strike, and more news from "Bargaining Digest Weekly." The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES AND ACTIONS
UAW, General Motors: Some 1,650 hourly workers at a General Motors Corp. (GM) metal stamping factory in Ontario, Ohio, represented by UAW Local 549, gave the company notice it will strike. The company and local have been negotiating for months over local contract issues, which govern such items as overtime, work rules and job duties.
Take It—The 2008 Ask a Working Woman Survey
A woman who spends years in medical school emerges to take her place alongside a panoply of male physicians—who, on average, make 38 percent more than she does. Female attorneys fare better—they make 30 percent less than their male counterparts. But it's not just a matter of higher pay for men in traditionally male occupations: Male registered nurses are paid 10 percent more than women—even though 90 percent of RNs are women.
This data, from a report by the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees, touches on just one of the many "challenges," to utilize a euphemism, U.S. working women face today.
Working women have lots of concerns. Equal pay. Balancing work and family. Job security. Health care coverage. Paid maternity leave.
New Initiative and Websites Help Fight Poverty
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America is the richest nation in the world, yet nearly 40 million Americans, about the population of California, live below the poverty line and millions more struggle to get by every month. Over the past seven years, the number of poor Americans has increased and inequality has increased.
A major study last year by the Poverty Task Force of the Center for American Progress (CAP) took a look at the extent of poverty and outlined a pragmatic plan to reduce it by half over the next 10 years. The plan included passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Click here to read the study.
