Archive for June, 2008
Alaska, Arizona AFL-CIO State Feds Announce Endorsements
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Signifying a strong national effort to elect a working family-friendly Congress, the Alaska State AFL-CIO and the Arizona AFL-CIO have announced endorsements in important federal races.
The Alaska State AFL-CIO has made history by endorsing, for the first time, a challenger to longtime incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican who voted to block the Employee Free Choice Act when it came up for a vote last year.
The state federation will endorse Mark Begich, the Democratic mayor of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. Begich has pledged to fight for new jobs, protect Social Security and support affordable health care for all.
Bush Legacy Bus Rolling Across the Nation
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There are some famous buses out there. The Rosa Parks’ bus—and the seat she refused to give up to a white man in 1955 in Montgomery, Ala.—is in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. Ken Kesey’s famous psychedelic pranksters’ bus, “Further,” sits in an Oregon farm field. And who knows where the Who’s “Magic Bus” finally ended up.
Now we can add to the list of famous buses—or in this case, perhaps infamous—The Bush Legacy Bus. It’s a museum on wheels describing the George W. Bush legacy—eight years of failed and flawed conservative polices that have dragged down our nation. It’s coming to a town near you soon.
Musicians Don’t Idolize ‘American Idol’ and More Bargaining News
Flight attendants at United Airlines rally for fair treatment, and more news from the “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
AFA-CWA, United Airlines: United Airlines flight attendants, represented by the Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), rallied outside the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference 2008, as UAL Corp. Executive Vice President and CFO Jake Brace presented United’s plans for dealing with the current airline environment. “Workers at United Airlines are united in our resolve to drive out those who have taken from our families, neglected our airline and lined their own pockets,” stated Greg Davidowitch, AFA-CWA president of the United bargaining unit.
Thousands Fill Atlantic City Streets to Demand Justice for Casino Workers
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Thousands of casino workers, elected officials, union leaders and supporters from the East Coast, New England and the Midwest filled the streets of Atlantic City on Saturday in a major march and rally to demand that casino owners stop stalling and negotiate with the workers’ union.
Since March 2007, more than 5,000 casino dealers, slot machine technicians and others have voted overwhelmingly to join the UAW in six union representation elections at four major Atlantic City casinos: Caesars, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Bally’s and Tropicana Casino and Resort. Yet, for more than a year, casino owners have delayed and stalled negotiations.
AFGE Launches Voting Rights Pages on MySpace, Facebook
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Record numbers of young people are signing up to vote for the first time, and the union movement is making sure their votes will be counted.
In past elections, some college students have been denied the right to vote because local officials questioned whether they were full-time residents or if they were voting at the right precinct. So last week, AFGE launched pages on two popular social networking sites—MySpace and Facebook—to ensure students have the information they need to make sure their votes are counted.
Spotlight on AFL-CIO Campaign to Reveal Real John McCain
Polls have shown that union members value the information they receive from their unions about candidates. Getting that information out is especially important in the 2008 elections. An article in today’s Chicago Tribune highlights the AFL-CIO’s voter education program to tell union members where John McCain really stands on issues that affect them such as trade and health care.
In the article, Tribune reporter Jill Zuckman writes:
The union federation is using micro-targeting to determine which members are more interested in learning about health care or trade or the economy to ensure they get the information that will best convince them that McCain does not represent their interests. Labor officials are dogging McCain at his campaign events, raising questions about his policies. On Friday, following McCain’s trade speech in Ottawa, Canada, the AFL-CIO organized a conference call for reporters with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to criticize McCain’s pro-trade stance.The labor federation also created a Web site, mccainrevealed.org, to show where McCain stands on issues.
Mortgage Crisis Hurts Black, Latino Economic Progress
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Not only has the nation’s slumping economy hit black workers and Latino workers hard, the mortgage crisis has had a disproportionate impact on them as well. In fact, some experts fear the mortgage crisis could undo a huge portion of the wealth built up by the growing African American and Latino middle classes.
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies reports that the rate of subprime mortgages for Latinos and African Americans is about double the rate for whites. In 2006, subprimes made up one in four mortgages (26 percent) made to whites, 47 percent of those to Latinos and 53 percent of mortgages that went to African Americans.
McCain’s Trade Policy ‘Is a Third George Bush Term’
The United States needs a new direction in trade that creates good jobs here and protects workers’ rights abroad, not four more years of George Bush’s disastrous policies that John McCain is promising, political leaders and workers said today.
Responding to McCain’s speech this afternoon on trade policy in Ottawa, Canada, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told a conference call with reporters:
Instead of delivering a speech from Ottawa, Canada, Sen.McCain should visit Ottawa, Ohio, where the Phillips plant closed and 1,100 people lost their jobs. We need trade policies that create new jobs at home, not ship them to Mexico. With John McCain, when it comes to trade, it’s a third George Bush term.
Iowa Flood Victims Can Access Union Assistance
As flood waters begin to recede in Iowa, the union movement in the Hawkeye State is assessing the damage left by several tornados that have ravaged the state and much of the Midwest along with what some are calling the biggest flood in 100 years.
Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor, says much of the state still is under mandatory evacuation, and many residents don’t know what sort of impact the flooding has had on their homes and businesses.
He strongly urges union members to call the AFL-CIO’s toll free Disaster Hotline at 877-235-2469. He says you should be prepared to get a message due to the volume of calls. But if you leave your name, local union, international union and a telephone number where you can be reached, an AFL-CIO staff member will get back to connect you with the services that are available from your national union and other sources. To find out about this and other services available to Iowa residents affected by the flood, visit the state AFL-CIO website here.
Air Controllers: FAA Contract ‘Offer’ Just Another Delaying Tactic
The Federal Aviation Administration’s so-called “settlement” offer, what the agency says is its “last and final offer,” is
…just another tactic to delay the only true resolution to the dispute between our organizations, a return to good faith negotiations.
That’s how Patrick Forrey, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), describes the second FAA contract proposal in as many years. Like the FAA’s previous proposal, it fails to address issues that weren’t resolved before the FAA unilaterally walked away from negotiations in September 2006.
