Archive for May, 2008
Cool Tools Takes a Trip to ‘Nixonland’
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Right now, our Cool Tools section—the AFL-CIO’s pick of recent books, DVDs and more—features books that examine the way the extreme right has taken and held power in American politics.
This edition of Cool Tools features one of the most impressive and illuminating books that’s ever been written about American politics in the 1960s and 1970s: Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. Rick Perlstein, a sharp historian, examines these turbulent years in America through the lens of the rise of Richard Nixon, from his defeats in the early 1960s, to his landslide 1972 victory, to his disgrace and fall in the Watergate scandal.
Nixonland traces the breaking of the American social contract and asks how it was all possible. America went from the triumphant passage of Medicare and the Voting Rights Act to a divided nation in which the social contract was re-written to leave workers on their own.
New Steelworkers’ Website Sets Record Straight on Grupo Mexico
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The United Steelworkers (USW) has launched a new website to shine the spotlight on the business practices of Grupo México, a Mexican conglomerate that owns numerous businesses in the Western Hemisphere.
The Record Speaks for Itself hosts links to resources to educate the public about Grupo México’s treatment of its workers at home and abroad, and its sorry record on the environment.
Grupo México, a mining and railroad company, is the world’s third-largest copper producer. It has ties to ASARCO Inc., an Arizona-based metals company that employs USW members in Arizona and Texas. USW members in Arizona struck Grupo México-owned copper mines for four months in 2005 over the company’s refusal to bargain in good faith.
Burger King Agrees to Better Wages, Conditions for Tomato Workers
Florida farm workers who harvest tomatoes for the Burger King system will see improved wages and working conditions following an historic agreement announced yesterday between the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the fast food giant.
The agreement follows a more than year-long drive that mobilized union members, students, religious and community activists and lawmakers in marches, rallies, congressional hearings and petition drives demanding justice for the workers.
California Labor Federation Conference Highlights Green Economy and Jobs
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Some 400 union leaders, educators, environmentalists, economists, policymakers and others are set to gather June 11-13 in Los Angeles to explore ways to fight climate change, move to a green economy and promote economic security.
You still have time to register for the Adapting to Change conference, sponsored by the California Labor Federation’s Workforce and Economic Development (WED) program and its Building Workforce Partnerships initiative.
New G.I. Bill Would Help Vets Get College Education
While passing the extension of unemployment assistance by a veto-proof margin yesterday, the Senate also overwhelmingly approved a new bill to help veterans pay for college.
The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act is an expansion of the historic G.I. Bill, which helped a generation of veterans attend college and work their way into the middle class. The original G.I. Bill, enacted in June 1944, helped millions of veterans returning from World War II (and later from other wars) get needed education or job training and enabled broad prosperity.
But its benefits have been watered down and now covers only a portion of the rising cost of education for today’s returning veterans. Service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan are finding they can’t cover the cost of attending a college or university. The new bill will modernize the benefits so today’s veterans returning to civilian life can enjoy the same access to education as post-World War II veterans did.
UAW Members at American Axle Approve Pact
UAW workers at five American Axle & Manufacturing plants in Michigan and New York voted to ratify a new four-year labor agreement reached last week, ending a strike that began Feb. 26.
The union reports that 78 percent of the workers voted in favor of ratification and 22 percent voted against it.
Says UAW President Ron Gettelfinger:
Our members have had to make some tough decisions for themselves and their families and have done so with careful deliberation.
America’s Workers Caught in ‘The Big Squeeze’
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America’s workers are being squeezed by declining wages, rising health care costs, evaporating pensions, job insecurity and globalization, according to Steven Greenhouse, one of the few full-time labor reporters in the country. In a new Point of View column on the AFL-CIO website, Greenhouse, who covers workplace issues for The New York Times, talks about his new book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker.
I asked Greenhouse why he titled his book The Big Squeeze. Here’s what he had to say:
In many ways corporate America is clamping down on its workers. Wages have been cut over the past few years. We’ve seen health benefits get worse. Middle class Americans have health insurance while the typical worker has to pay twice as much for health insurance as was the case seven years ago.
The U.S. Must Not Reward Murder
This is a cross-post from the Firedoglake blog.
AFL-CIO blog writer James Parks talked with Colombian trade unionists who traveled here last week to urge Congress not to pass the U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement. As James relates below, Colombian trade unionists do not want Congress to reward that nation with a trade deal in a climate of fear and death that they and their union compatriots face daily.
On April 23, 2008, Jorge Gamboa was in Yarima accompanying a group of African Palm workers who were on strike to demand respect for their basic labor rights and to seek negotiations with their employer. Two individuals targeted Gamboa, one of them holding a revolver. Gamboa was fortunately able to disarm the individual before any shots were fired. The striking workers then apprehended the two assailants and turned them over to the police.
Senate Ignores Bush Veto Threat, Approves Extended Jobless Aid
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The more than 200,000 workers a month who run out of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits before finding new jobs may get a helping hand. Today, the U.S. Senate, by a surprising 75-22 veto-proof vote, approved a measure to extend UI benefits for the long-term jobless.
The vote was on an amendment to a supplemental spending bill to fund the war in Iraq. President Bush has repeatedly said he would veto the bill if it includes a UI extension.
Said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney before the vote:
Extending unemployment benefits is the right thing and the responsible thing to do, and now is the time. Working families are footing the bill for the war. The least Congress can do is give them the help they need in these tough times.
Anti-Worker Republicans Stall First Responders’ Rights Bill
Faced with a “filibuster-by-amendment” from a group of anti-worker Republicans, Senate Democratic leaders have delayed a final vote on legislation that would protect the collective bargaining rights of tens of thousands of firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians and other public safety officers.
More than 20 states do not fully protect the bargaining rights of firefighters and other first responders. Two states—Virginia and North Carolina—prohibit public safety employees from collectively bargaining.
