Channel: Organizing & Bargaining
Senate Dem. Nelson Joins Republican Filibuster Against Obama’s NLRB Choice
With the nation’s capitol under two-plus feet of snow, Nebraska’s Sen. Ben Nelson (D) appears to have come down with a case of snow madness–a delirium that sometimes manifests itself in bizarre and illogical actions and speech.
Nelson announced yesterday that he would back a Republican-led filibuster against President Obama’s nominee to the National Labor Relations Board, Craig Becker. The vote is scheduled for later today. Call your senators today and tell them to stop obstructing President Obama’s nominees, starting with Craig Becker.
Nelson says he believes Becker, the Obama administration’s choice for the NLRB, “would pursue a personal agenda there, rather than that of the administration.”
As Michael Whitney on FireDogLake writes:
How does that make any sense, when it’s the Obama administration that nominated him twice?
Mass. AFL-CIO Futures Convention Spotlights Young Workers
John Drinkwater, organizing and mobilization coordinator for the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, sends us this report on how the state federation is helping build the future by tapping into the skills of today’s young workers.
Continuing its ongoing mission to develop young union leaders in the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO’s Third Annual Futures Convention elected a new Futures representative to a serve on the Massachusetts AFL-CIO Executive Council and head the Futures Program for the coming year.
This year, delegates at the Feb. 5 and 6 convention voted among a group of three candidates nominated by their fellow delegates and chose Daniel Manning of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2325 as their new rep. Ben Sherman of Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 and Christopher Deane of Iron Workers Local 7 also ran for the Futures seat.
Manning will be the third young union member to hold the one-year term Futures seat, taking over for Allison-Doherty-LaCasse, a member of the Boston Teachers Union/AFT who served for the past year and led the Futures program through its successful second year. Jeremy McKeen, a member of the Lynn Teachers Union/AFT, served as the first Futures Representative in 2008.
LabourStart Sponsors Labor Video Contest
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Have a video that depicts the plight of today’s workers? LabourStart, the global online labor news service, is sponsoring a Labor Video of the Year competition, open to trade unionists and film-makers from around the world.
The videos must be on the web and run less than 10 minutes. The films must focus on work, workers or workers’ issues. You do not have to be the owner or producer of a video to submit it for the contest.
The deadline for nominations is Feb. 15 at midnight GMT (Feb. 14 at 7:00 p.m. EST).
An international panel of judges will prepare a short list of finalists, and online voting will begin sometime in March. Winners will be announced after two weeks of online voting and the winning films will screened at the LabourStart conference, July 9-11, 2010, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
For more information or to nominate a video, click here.
LabourStart features daily labor news provided by a global network of more than 500 volunteer correspondents in more than 20 languages. Its news syndication service is used by some 700 trade union websites.
Judge to Pratt & Whitney: Keep Work in U.S.
A federal court issued an injunction Feb. 4 against Pratt & Whitney, preventing the company from moving work and equipment out of their Cheshire and East Hartford, Conn., plants and keeping 1,000 hourly and salaried workers on the job. Machinists (IAM) District 26 had filed suit, saying the decision to move the work violated their contract.
The ruling stops the company’s immediate plans to move the work to Singapore, Japan and the state of Georgiia. The contract expires on Dec.10, 2010. IAM officials say the union is gearing up for a fight to preserve these jobs and expand opportunities in the next contract.
Jim Parent, assistant business rep for District 26, said:
We have a big job ahead of us now, securing these jobs in the next contract. We’re ready for a fight, if that’s what it takes. But we hope that after the dust settles, the company will recognize what we have said all along–these are the most highly skilled overhaul, repair and refurbishment workers in the world. Pratt may think that moving the work will save costs, but quality and reliability are crucial in aerospace operations. If they want the best performance possible for their demanding customers, Pratt should keep the work here.
‘Undercover Boss’: A Fairy Tale That Ignores Grim Reality
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As kids, we all loved the sugar-coated fairy tales of handsome and brave princes rescuing beautiful princesses from despotic kings.
The new CBS “reality” show “Undercover Boss” that debuted last night after the Super Bowl is a 21st century sugar-coated fairy tale. But this time, the brave prince is actually a CEO who goes undercover as a regular worker near the bottom of the food chain. There he finds how hard and dirty the job is; how stifling and draconian the company’s workplace rules are; and how crappy the pay is.
Then after walking so many miles in an employee’s work boots, the boss sees the light and promotes workers, raises pay, eases rules and promises a new found respect for all workers.
(If your boss isn’t going undercover anytime soon, be sure to check out American Rights at Work’s new website, Fix Our Jobs, where you can vent about how lousy—and even how great—your job is and learn how to make it better. Click here to watch the video.)
Labor On the Air Around the Nation and World
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Looking for the latest in international labor news? Now it’s just a click away with the launch of RadioLabour.net and its Solidarity News program. The weekly podcast will focus on union and workers’ activities and issues from around the world with special emphasis on emerging market and developing countries.
A new report, hosted by labor educator Marc Belanger, debuts each Monday morning. RadioLabour reporters will provide regular weekly presentations, and the audio cast will feature reports from unionists on particular events.
For union activists interested in learning more about progressive podcasting, be sure to check out the Labour Podcasting group on UnionBook.
Don’t Forget Haiti’s Workers
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Despite reports of improved conditions in Port-au-Prince, two weeks after the earthquake hit Haiti, workers still lack basic shelter, food, water and medicine, reports Cathy Feingold, the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center representative in the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Feingold met with union leaders in Haiti last week and says:
…the majority of union leaders and members are sleeping outside their homes because many completely collapsed or became unstable as a result of structural damage. Direct access to international humanitarian aid remains challenging; so many workers and their unions depend on the support received from the global labor movement.
You can take action now to help the Haitian survivors by clicking on the AFL-CIO Haitian Disaster Relief site here. You can read Feingold’s full report here.
UMass Researchers Choose UAW
A majority of the 300 postdoctoral researchers working at three University of Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Amherst and Dartmouth have signed cards to join a union to negotiate better wages, health care and working conditions.
A delegation of the workers filed a petition yesterday asking the Massachusetts Division of Labor Relations (DLR) to certify their union, UMass Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/UAW (UMass PRO/UAW), as their representative for collective bargaining.
Says Simona Maccarrone, a postdoctoral researcher from UMass Amherst:
We’ve taken this step so we can protect our rights on the job, and make sure postdocs working on different campuses and in different labs are treated fairly and receive comparable pay and benefits. This will give us the same union rights as other workers and faculty at UMass.
Republicans First Slime, Then Maneuver to Block Labor Board Nominee
Republican Senate leaders are so frightened that a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) might actually have an open mind about workers’ rights, that in two purely partisan maneuvers, they’ve blocked a majority vote on one of President Obama’s nominees for an NLRB seat.
Craig Becker is a highly respected and experienced labor law practitioner and scholar. He has an impressive 27-year record of advocating for and representing workers, especially low-wage workers. He is currently an associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and SEIU.
That experience—as opposed to being the type of management stooge favored by the Bush administration—is what has driven Republicans into a mouth-foaming frenzy.
Wisconsin NEA Local Partners with State Fed in Solidarity Agreement
The 840 members of the Janesville (Wis.) Education Association (JEA) voted to affiliate with the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO and the Rock County Central Labor Council.
JEA President David Parr calls the affiliation “an exciting new partnership.”
Through the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO and the Rock County Central Labor Council, Janesville educators are standing in solidarity with other working people on the issues that impact our community. We intend to take an active role within both organizations.
