Union Volunteers Open Outdoors to Special Needs Youth
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More than 30 young people with varying physical and intellectual disabilities had the opportunity to take part in Ohio’s Youth Deer Gun Season earlier this month, thanks to the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA) Boots on the Ground program and 50 volunteers from Bricklayers (BAC) locals 7 and 39 in southeastern Ohio.
Participants, ranging in age from 12 to 17 years, are students at two Lawrence and Scioto county schools. Each youth and their family received a practice round and instruction at a local shooting range, a guided whitetail hunt, food and lodging for two nights at Shawnee State Park and an invitation to a kids-style banquet. The hunts took place on public lands—specifically designated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources—in the Wayne National Forest as well as on select, private lands.
The project originated from a desire to provide kids with something they rarely or never get—access to the great outdoors, BAC Local 7 member David Tibbetts says.
I feel blessed to have been able to attend and help by being a guide at this event. My hunting partner and his father are now my friends and the bond formed in the blind and at the banquet and dinner will last a lifetime.
For more information on the hunt and the Boots on the Ground program, click here.
Volunteers from Building Trades Rehab Homes for Those in Need
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AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer profiles the work of Building Trades union members in Sacramento repairing and rehabbing homes for seniors and low-income families.
The Sacramento Sierra’s Building and Construction Trades Council frequently fields requests for volunteer work. Recently, working with Rebuilding Together, an organization that rehabs houses for seniors and low-income homeowners, they took their skills to Del Paso Heights.
The council was initially approached by Sandy Sheedy, a Sacramento City Council member from the area. Sheedy is a longtime supporter of the labor community, and when she asked, they responded with a resounding, “Yes.” Says council Business Manager Matt Kelly:
The Building Trades are always happy and quick to participate in community service projects. Rebuilding Together gives our members the opportunity to use the skill sets they use at the job site every day to help those most in need.
The project involved a pair of homes with a variety of serious issues, including out-of-code electrical and mechanical problems, roofing, kitchen repairs and more.
Boland, Smith Join Executive Council
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The AFL-CIO Executive Council welcomed two new members at its meeting in Orlando today: Bricklayers (BAC) President James Boland and Bruce Smith, president of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers (GMP).
The council also honored retiring council members John Ryan,, John Flynn and UAW Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn.
New council member Boland served as BAC’s secretary-treasurer before taking over from Flynn, who recently retired. In its statement honoring Flynn’s service, the council says;
Organizing heads up Flynn’s legacies to the BAC, but there are many others-stewards training, new member orientation, labor-management craft committees, the National Training Center, health care purchasing coalitions and much more.
Smith joined GMP in 1972 and held various offices until he was elected as secretary-treasurer in 2004. He was sworn in as GMP president in January, taking over for Ryan, who now serves as assistant to the president.
The council statement said one of Ryan’s most important accomplishments is the contracts he helped win for his members.
In 2008 alone, GMP negotiated contracts with three giant glass companies-Owens Illinois, St. Gobain and Anchor Glass-that actually improved on earlier contracts despite overwhelming pressure to make concessions.
Bunn, the highest ranking woman in her union’s history, was honored in the council statement as “a pioneer in the organizing of graduate employees and other white-collar workers.”
Her strategic vision and creativity are credited with helping tens of thousands of people win better lives.
Bunn has been named AFL-CIO Organizing Director.
BAC’s Flynn, AFSCME’s Lucy Announce Retirements
Two major union leaders announced their retirement this week. On Monday, the Bricklayers (BAC) Executive Council elected James Boland as the union’s new president succeeding John Flynn, who retired after more than 10 years. Boland previously served as BAC’s secretary-treasurer.
Yesterday, AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy announced he will retire, after serving 38 years in that post. His retirement is effective June 25. Delegates to the AFSCME convention on June 28-July 2 in Boston will choose his successor.
New Season for Union Member Adventures in ‘Escape to the Wild’
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Illinois Firefighter (IAFF) Greg Curry’s elk-hunting adventure in some of Colorado’s most breathtaking countryside kicks off the fourth season of ”Escape to the Wild” on VERUS Country. The season premiere of the show, which takes union members on once-in-a-lifetime hunting and fishing adventures, will air Sunday, Jan. 3, at 9:30 a.m. EST.
The show is a union-sponsored television series of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP). “Escape to the Wild” is supported by the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA), a joint venture of the TRCP and 21 unions to promote conservation and access for hunters and anglers.
While the show chronicles each union member’s outdoor adventure, it also gives viewers a look into the lives of the winners—their struggles, their triumphs and their commitment to their union, families and the outdoors.
Netroots Nation: Eye on Employee Free Choice
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If you’d like to follow this session live, we’ll be covering it on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/aflcio ).
Thursday kicks off the second annual Netroots Nation conference in Pittsburgh.
And at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, we’ll be discussing one of the most critical changes that progressives are fighting for, both online and off—the Employee Free Choice Act.
Here are the folks who will weigh in at the afternoon panel, “The Secret Plan to Defeat the Right Forever,” on why labor law reform like the Employee Free Choice Act must be a top progressive priority:
- Stewart Acuff, special assistant to the president of the AFL-CIO. A longtime organizer and the former director of organizing for the AFL-CIO, Acuff has traveled the country in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.
- Jake McIntyre, a front page writer at Daily Kos and assistant to the secretary-treasurer of the Bricklayers (BAC).
- Tanya Tarr, director of legislative and political mobilization for the Texas AFT and a specialist on union voter turnout.
- Elana Levin of Workers United, a writer with a long record in collaboration between the union movement and the progressive netroots.
Netroots Nation: Why the Fight for Employee Free Choice Matters
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We’re getting excited this week for the second annual Netroots Nation conference, where more than 1,000 progressive bloggers and activists will meet face to face. We’ll discuss issues key to the future of our nation—including building a stronger, fairer economy by restoring the freedom to form unions and bargain.
Thursday afternoon’s panel, “The Secret Plan to Defeat the Right Forever,” offers an up-close look at why labor law reform like the Employee Free Choice Act is critical to a bigger, stronger empowered middle class and progressive movement.
The AFL-CIO’s Stewart Acuff, a longtime organizer who has traveled the country working on the Employee Free Choice Act campaign, will talk about what union members and their allies are doing to fight for new labor laws that will restore the freedom to form unions to workers.
National Memorial Dedicated to Fallen Workers
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| On Workers Memorial Day, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka take part in a dedication for a national workers memorial at the National Labor College. |
The names were repeated in a chorus of tragedy. Conrad Johnson, a bus driver killed by a sniper while taking a rest break. Linda Redman, a factory worker who died a slow, painful death from “popcorn lung” disease. An elevator operator killed when an elaveator crushed him on the job. Thirteen coal miners killed by an explosion when they went into a mine to rescue injured co-workers.
Today, on Workers Memorial Day, these and dozens more workers were remembered by their co-workers, family and friends who placed bricks in their memory as part of the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new national workers memorial at the National Labor College (NLC) in Silver Spring, Md.
Hundreds of people who lost a loved one who was killed on the job have sponsored bricks for the memorial, which will be constructed in the center of the NLC campus.
New Job Safety Bill, Workers Memorial Day Events at Labor Dept., Labor College
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Fantastic news from Congress this week as we move closer to commemorating Workers Memorial Day on April 28. A new bill, the Protecting America’s Workers Act (H.R. 2067), introduced yesterday, will strengthen and modernize the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
How great it is to see the strong commitment by the Obama administration and the new Congress to worker safety and health after eight years of neglect and scorn for worker safety by the Bush White House.
This Workers Memorial Day, family members of workers killed on the job will join with safety and health activists in Washington, D.C., to attend two congressional hearings on workplace safety and health and gather for a Workers Memorial Day observance and rally at 8 a.m. on the front steps of the Department of Labor. Later that day, at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., we will join with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis for a groundbreaking of a new national workers memorial.
