LaHood Urges Republicans Back to Work So FAA Can Get Back to Work
The Republican shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can still be resolved before Congress returns to work in September and all it would take, says Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, is for Congress to:
Come back to Washington. Leave your vacations, just for a couple hours. Come back, Congress. Help your friends and neighbors get back to work.
The FAA shutdown began after House Republicans blocked an FAA reauthorization bill and held a temporary reauthorization hostage because they want to eliminate the rights of aviation and rail workers to democratic union elections. Since then, 4,000 FAA workers have been furloughed and $2.5 billion airport construction funds held up, threatening another 70,000 jobs.
At a press conference today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agreed with LaHood. “We could take care of this in a second,” because Congress is in pro forma session and could still act on the FAA bill, he said.
Support Keeps Coming for NLRB Rule Change
Support continues to pour in for the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) proposed rule designed to ensure a fair process for workers who want to vote on whether to form a union. Congressional leaders and civil rights and faith groups have joined working people and workers’ rights advocates in voicing their support for Tuesday’s proposed election rule changes from the NLRB.
Here are a few of the people and organizations who’ve weighed in so far in support of the rule change:
Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.):
The current union election system is badly broken and breeds fear in the workplace. It’s no secret that expensive litigation and intimidation are often used to prevent employees from forming a union and negotiating for fair wages and benefits. The NLRB’s proposed rules will instill fairness for both employers and workers by ensuring a fair, timely vote.
America Fast Forward Boosts Jobs, Rebuilds Infrastructure
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says that a new transportation and jobs infrastructure plan “will help revive manufacturing. It means jobs.”
The America Fast Forward initiative has bipartisan and labor/management support. At the Capitol Hill press conference announcing the new initiative today, Trumka joined U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Mayor Scott Smith of Mesa, Ariz.
America Fast Forward will improve the way transportation projects are financed so that cities and states can access and disseminate funds directly to projects, creating a faster and more efficient system. The plan could create nearly 1 million jobs, produce $158 billion in economic output and generate $51 billion in worker income.
The plan is a national extension of Villaraigosa’s 30/10 initiative for transportation in Los Angeles County. He told the Los Angeles Times:
We’ve also won the support of 105 mayors—20 percent of them Republicans—because they understand the prospect of getting federal assistance through the traditional channels is now remote….This is a program that puts people to work now at little cost, since 98 percent of the federal dollars would be repaid from local sources. This is more than a step we’re proposing; it’s a leap forward.
Californians Urged to Vote and Avoid a ‘Meg Moment’
One of the worse things that could happen next Wednesday would be for Californians to wake up and find out they’re having a “Meg Moment”—the awful realization that you should have voted, but didn’t.
To make sure Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman doesn’t buy the election after spending $163 million of her own money, the California Labor Federation has launched a new TV ad urging Californians to “Protect Yourself from a Meg Moment” by voting. The ad uses Whitman’s own words to expose her failure to vote for much of her adult life, while at the same time urging people to get to the polls.
The ad is part of the state federation’s largest-ever get out the vote (GOTV) mobilization effort supporting Jerry Brown for governor, Sen. Barbara Boxer and other working family candidates on the Nov. 2 ballot.
1,000 Nurses to Rally, Lobby for Safer Patient Care on Capitol Hill
Nearly 1,000 members of National Nurses United (NNU) are in Washington, D.C., today and tomorrow, where they are meeting with their lawmakers in support of legislation that combats the nursing shortage and makes patient care safer. They are calling for a more ambitious overhaul of the nation’s health care system.
As part of NNU’s legislative conference, nurses will march and rally on Capitol Hill tomorrow before talking with their representatives and senators.
This morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told the nurses that members of Congress need to hear what it’s really like at Ground Zero in health care.
…our elected representatives can hear right from you about what working families need most today. Not from the big-money K Street lobbyists. Not from the Chamber of Commerce mouthpieces. Not from the hospital CEOs or industry suits. Right from heroes like you.
A Tribute to the Nurses of Our Nation
Before more than 1,000 registered nurses and their supporters hit the halls of Congress last week to lobby lawmakers on key nursing and health care reform legislation and the Employee Free Choice Act, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney took time out to praise and encourage the sponsors of the event: the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), United American Nurses (UAN), Massachusetts Nurses Association, Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, New York State Nurses Association and the SEIU Nurse Alliance.
The nurses had traveled from all around the nation to take part in the National RN Day of Action as part of National Nurses Week. We thought we’d share some of Sweeney’s remarks as a reminder to all of us of the great work nurses do—work that sometimes too many of us take for granted—and as a way to highlight the need for safe working conditions so nurses can continue to give their patients the best care possible.
Thanks to all of you for what you do every day for all of our families—what a terrific gathering, what a great tribute to the nurses of our nation to have you here in Washington during National Nurses Week.
Senate Confirms Hilda Solis as Labor Secretary
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Hilda Solis is the new secretary of labor. After Republicans backed away from an expected filibuster and agreed to stop their weeks of delaying tactics, the Senate this afternoon approved Solis’s nomination by an 80-17 vote.
Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:
The confirmation of Rep. Hilda Solis is a huge victory: Finally, Americans will have a secretary of labor who represents working people, not wealthy CEO’s. It is also a historic moment as Rep. Solis becomes the first Hispanic secretary of labor.
The delay of Rep. Solis’s nomination for partisan and ideological reasons was overcome by the grassroots support of millions of Americans who are struggling and desperately need a secretary of labor who will be their voice.
In the vote, 54 Democrats, 24 Republicans and two Independents voted for confirmation. All 17 votes against confirmation were cast by Republicans. Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) did not vote.
