Archive for January, 2010
AFT, NEA Offer Black History Month Teaching Tools
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AFT and the National Education Association (NEA) have compiled a variety of resources to help educators celebrate Black History Month, which begins Feb. 1.
The AFT site here highlights key facts and figures about African Americans, important historical events, influential figures and the continuing contributions of African Americans. For instance, did you know that African Americans were largely responsible for developing our railway system? More than 40 different patents were awarded to African Americans for inventions of machinery and parts vital to the function of trains, tracks and passenger safety.
This AFT site features a special focus on the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which made segregation in public schools illegal. The site includes profiles of the suit’s leaders, key events, recommended readings for grades K-12 and links to primary documents and lesson plans. There also is a video highlighting AFT’s efforts to obtain civil rights for all and desegregate America’s classrooms.
Winners Picked in IBEW Photo Contest
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The image of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 369 apprentice Sam Simms climbing to the top of an electrical pole, as a cloud-breaking sun provides a ragged pink halo above, was the top vote-getter in the 2009 IBEW Photo Contest.
Nearly 4,000 online votes were cast for the 15 finalists—out of more than 300 submissions.
The first place winner—shot with an iPhone by Danny Doss of IBEW Local 317 in Huntington, W.Va.—captures the Louisville, Ky., apprentice as he is earning his Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wood pole certification. Says Doss, who trains new workers:
“I was in the right place at the right time. I never expected to win.”
Dave Gable of IBEW Local 160 in Minneapolis nabbed second place with his colorful shot of windmills at sunrise on the Minnesota-South Dakota border. Voters awarded third place to Vacaville, Calif., Local 1245 member Don Porter for his photo of the Fort Churchill power plant in Mason Valley, Nev., at sunset.
One Year After Ledbetter: Work Still Needed on Pay Equity
One year ago today, working people celebrated a milestone in the battle for pay equity when the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law.
The law corrected the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that Ledbetter, a 20-year employee of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., had sued too late when she discovered her pay was far below that of men doing similar work. President Obama signed the bill into law Jan. 29, 2009.
In observance of the anniversary, Ledbetter, writing on Alternet, said there is still work to do:
We need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. This bill gives teeth to the protections against pay discrimination. And women, who are still shortchanged in the workplace, deserve just that. The bill would empower women to negotiate for equal pay, create stronger incentives for employers to follow the law, and strengthen federal outreach and enforcement efforts. It would also strengthen penalties for equal pay violations.
Like 5.7 Percent GDP Growth? Pass a Real Jobs Bill
In this cross-post from the Campaign for America’s Future, Bill Scher explains the need for a real jobs bill to keep the economy growing.
Today’s estimate of 5.7 percent annual rate of growth in the Gross Domestic Product for the last quarter of 2009 sure beats a kick in the teeth. And if we sustain this rate of growth, we will have a robust recovery and come near full employment.
But we won’t sustain this growth unless Congress acts and passes a real jobs bill.
As economist Paul Krugman notes in the New York Times, today’s number may end up being just a “blip.” The economic consensus is that much of today’s growth number is an “inventory bounce” in which “businesses that were emptying their warehouses a year ago are now buying enough goods to keep stockpiles steady.”
Workers Across Nation Choose a Voice with AFL-CIO Unions
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County workers, professional employees, bakery workers, airborne pilots and “ghost” pilots and sheriff’s deputies are among the latest workers to choose a voice at work with AFL-CIO unions.
In Utah, more than 400 Salt Lake County workers won a union voice with AFSCME Local 1004. The 408 county employees—skilled trades, maintenance and service workers—could vote for union representation only after AFSCME fought and won passage of a county collective bargaining ordinance last year.
John Farrer, a Highway Department worker, says:
This is definitely a positive thing for workers, and that’s why they voted it in. With all that’s happened, the wage cuts, benefits going down and insurance going up, we need a strong union voice to represent the interests of working families.
Trumka on ‘Moyers’ Tonight, CNN Sunday
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AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is tonight’s featured guest on “Bill Moyers Journal” on PBS. In an in-depth 30-minute interview, Trumka will outline steps to restore the nation’s economy, create jobs and rebuild the middle class.
He will talk about the AFL-CIO’s role in creating a broad movement of Americans to demand jobs and an economy that works for families on Main Street and why bankers and brokers on Wall Street must be held accountable with strong new financial reform rules.
Trumka will discuss why health care reform must pass and what it must include. He will explain why it’s time to restore the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain for a better life.
Visit PBS to find the TV schedule for the time and channel in your area.
Trumka also will appear on CNN’s “State of the Union with John King” Sunday at 12:40 p.m. EST to discuss jobs, the economy, health care and deliver labor’s response to President Obama’s State of the Union address.
‘Buy America’ Puts People to Work
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A new report presents clear evidence that including Buy America provisions in last year’s stimulus package has created jobs and makes the case that the rules should be strengthened in jobs legislation being considered on Capitol Hill.
The 17-page report, “Buy America Works,” by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), highlights success stories showing how Buy America provisions have benefited U.S. companies. Like United Streetcar in Oregon, that is manufacturing the first U.S.-made streetcars in 60 years and supporting a supply chain across the nation. Or Arcelor Mittal in Pennsylvania, that is building rail tracks for southeastern Pennsylvania.
Earlier this week, AAM field staff converged on Capitol Hill to urge their lawmakers to maintain and enhance Buy America requirements in jobs legislation now before the Senate, where some Republicans want to weaken the rules.
U.S.: Bottom of the Pack for Bread-and-Butter Basics
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Dr. Jody Heymann is a professor in the Faculties of Medicine and Arts at McGill University, where she is founding director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy and founding chair of the Project on Global Working Families. She also is an adjunct associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Heymann has authored and edited more than 150 publications, including Raising the Global Floor and Forgotten Families. She has led the development of a unique graduate and undergraduate multidisciplinary training program that bridges research and policy development with students gaining experience in 18 countries. Also, check out the interactive world legal rights database created by Dr. Heymann and her team.
When it comes to ensuring working families have the bread-and-butter basics, the United States is an outlier, there’s no doubt. For example:
- 177 nations guarantee paid leave for new mothers; the U.S. does not.
- 74 nations guarantee paid leave for new fathers; the U.S. does not.
- 132 nations guarantee breastfeeding breaks at work; the U.S. does not.
- 163 nations guarantee paid sick leave; the U.S. does not.
- 48 nations guarantee paid time off to care for children’s health; the U.S. does not.
- 41 nations provide leave that can be used for child education needs; the U.S. does not.
- 33 nations provide paid leave to care for adult family members; the U.S. does not.
Tell the Senate: JOBS NOW!
In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama made jobs the top priority of his administration, and today you can act to let Congress know jobs are the top priority of working people, as well.
Obama praised the House for passing a jobs bill last month and urged the Senate to do the same. You can tell the Senate we need action on jobs NOW! The Campaign for America’s Future is urging everyone who needs a job or who has a friend or relative suffering in this Great Recession to send a message to their senators to follow the House’s lead and pass the jobs bill without cutting or weakening it. To send a message, click here.
The bill is just a first step toward putting America back to work. The AFL-CIO has proposed a five-point plan to create jobs immediately and ease the economic hardships on Main Street’s working families.
AFL-CIO Unveils 2010 State Jobs Agenda
Last night in his State of the Union message, President Obama called on Congress to pass a jobs bill to help put millions of Americans back to work. But the U.S. Congress is not the only lawmaking body that can fuel job creation. State legislatures have important roles to play.
The AFL -CIO has developed a State Jobs Agenda that union and community allies and working family lawmakers can use as a guideline in developing legislation and policies to protect and create jobs, address budget issues and protect the safety net.
The agenda offers dozens of innovative and effective ways to develop job-centric laws and policy that put working families first.
