Archive for November 12th, 2008
Global Trade Union Leaders to Call for Reform of World’s Economy
Trade union leaders from the G-20 countries plan to put forward a comprehensive plan to turn around the global economy in meetings with world leaders in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the financial crisis summit this weekend.
The top-level union delegation will discuss the plan with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and heads of government from the G-20 countries.
The AFL-CIO is hosting the meeting of the G-20 union leaders Friday in conjunction with the summit. The meeting is sponsored by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (TUAC-OECD) and Global Unions.
Last-Minute Bush Push Threatens Safety, Family Leave, Environmental Rules
The Bush White House is making “a last minute assault on the public” with a slew of end-of-term regulations that could roll back or weaken rules on job safety, family leave, airline safety and pollution.
Matthew Madia, of the nonprofit watchdog group OMB Watch, told reporters earlier this month:
It’s environmental regulations, it’s workers’ safety, it’s reproductive health, it’s traffic safety, but the common theme is in a lot a cases the Bush administration is trying to remove restrictions on business and allow them to operate without any kind of government oversight….It’s intended to make sure that the kind of ideology and priorities that the Bush administration believes in are affecting the country for many years.
African American Baptists Endorse Employee Free Choice
The momentum for the Employee Free Choice Act is growing. The latest organization to sign on in support of the bill is the National Baptist Convention of America (NBCA), one of the nation’s largest African American religious groups with 3 million members.
In a letter to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, the Rev. Samuel Tolbert, general secretary of the NBCA, writes:
The (NBCA) will join with you in raising the level of awareness of our leadership and our membership of the importance of workers across the spectrum having the right to form and join a union if they so choose.
New Book Showcases Katrina Fire Fighters’ Sacrifices
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When Hurricane Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast in 2005, some 6,000 residents of St. Bernard Parish—a few miles southeast of New Orleans—were stranded, unable to evacuate before the storm hit. But the St. Bernard Fire Department remained on the job.
A new book, The St. Bernard Fire Department in Hurricane Katrina, recounts the experiences of St. Bernard Parish Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 1468 in the days after the storm. It includes amazing and often harrowing stories of the men and women who performed their jobs under extremely dangerous and stressful circumstances.
Most buildings were destroyed or damaged. Nearly the entire parish was under as much as 20 feet of water—including the central fire station—because of failed levies. Most communication was cut off. Parish firefighters ignored their own losses and focused on saving the lives and property of others.
Firefighters became the region’s EMTs, rescue and recovery workers, mechanics, social workers and provisions providers. Says Danny Todd, IAFF 14th District vice president:
These firefighters rescued and assisted residents knowing that they had lost everything while facing uncertainty about their own families. That they operated under such stress makes these stories even more remarkable.
