Schumer: Jobs, Not Cuts, Are Top Economic Issue
 |
The Republican budget approach of “cut, cut, cut” has jeopardized our economic recovery and Democrats are poised to turn the debate back to what’s most on American’s minds: creating and maintaining good jobs, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said today.
Speaking at an Economic Policy Institute (EPI) forum, Schumer said political gamesmanship on the part of congressional Republicans is “trumping the vital needs of hard-working Americans.”
We know from history, as well as from what we are seeing in other parts of the world right now, that cuts on the scale they have proposed in the middle of a recession will lead to lower economic growth and less job creation, not more.
Support Grows 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.
Here are some of the latest statements:
Sen. Charles Schumer:
The NLRB took an important step toward preserving workplace fairness by proposing new rules that promote equality and efficiency in union elections. These common-sense rules will level the playing field and help bring more American men and women into the middle class.
Sen. Daniel Akaka: (Read the full statement here):
Workers – many of whom are struggling during these difficult economic times – deserve the right to decide if they wish to join a union without delay or intimidation. This common sense proposal will protect that right, and will make the private sector union election process more efficient and less costly.
Rep. Steve Israel:
The NLRB proposed rules changes will inject clarity and fairness into the organizing process. Working families have been hit hard by the recession. Our workers deserve the right to choose to stand together in defense of their pay, hours and benefits.
Check out other statements in favor of the proposed rule here and here.
USW Signs Wind Farm Deals with China Power Companies
The United Steelworkers (USW) is partnering with two leading Chinese power generation companies to work together on all aspects of the companies’ U.S. market strategies—including manufacturing, assembly, component sourcing, distribution and wind energy project development.
The agreements with A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd. and Shenyang Power Group (SPG) provide a strong foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship between China’s renewable energy equipment manufacturers and U.S. workers, the union said in a press release.
“We will work with A-Power and SPG to create long-term, good-paying, green American jobs,” says USW President Leo W. Gerard.
Senate Breaks Republican Filibuster on State Aid, Teachers’ Jobs
The Senate today voted 61-38, to end a Republican filibuster of aid to state and local governments that would save or create nearly a million jobs for teachers, public employees, police officers, firefighters and others.
The bill provides $16 billion for a Medicaid funding assistance program known as FMAP and $10 billion for teachers’ jobs. Without such funding, the states facing huge budget shortfalls will be forced to begin massive layoffs that could cost nearly a million workers their jobs. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) put it this way: Read the rest of this entry »
Call-In Day, July 13: Tell Congress to Pass Currency Legislation
 |
|
Now that the Treasury Department once again has refused to label China as a currency manipulator, it is more important than ever for Congress to pass strong legislation quickly to stop the unfair and illegal advantage against U.S. producers that China and other nations gain by undervaluing their currency.
On July 13, tens of thousands of manufacturers across the country—members of the Fair Currency Coalition and the Coalition for a Prosperous America—will join with union members and citizen trade groups in a National Currency Call-In Day to ratchet up the pressure on the Obama administration and Congress to hold currency manipulators accountable.
Trade Deficit Costs Jobs in Every Congressional District
 |
|
Members of Congress, listen up: The nation’s huge trade deficit, mainly with China, has cost jobs in every congressional district, according to a report issued today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Contrary to conventional wisdom, high-tech industries are losing jobs faster than any other sector of the economy.
Since 2001, some 2.4 million jobs have been lost or displaced in this country as a result of the massive trade deficit with China, the report says. More than one-quarter—26 percent or about 628,000 jobs—displaced by trade between 2001 and 2008 are in computer, electronic equipment and parts industries. Last year alone, China was responsible for more than 80 percent of our total, nonoil trade deficit in goods.
The report cites China’s currency manipulation as a major cause of the trade deficit. Over the past decade, China has consistently undervalued its currency by an estimated 35 percent to 40 percent. As a result, while imports from China and U.S. trade deficits set records, American manufacturing employment has plummeted. Other causes of the deficit include massive industrial subsidies in China, lax labor and environmental law enforcement, intellectual property theft and piracy and Chinese policies that block U.S. imports. Click here to read the report.
China Currency Bill: ‘Major Step’ Forward
Bipartisan legislation to address “egregious and ongoing” currency manipulation by China and other nations is a major step in the fight for good jobs and fair trade, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.
The Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2010 was introduced today by Democrat Sens. Charles Schumer (N.Y.) Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) and Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Olympia Snowe (Maine), with 10 other co-sponsors. In a statement, Trumka said:
At a time when America’s working families need good jobs now, the illegal undervaluation of currency, by China and other governments, has spelled the loss of millions of American manufacturing jobs.
The U.S. Treasury Department for years has refused to cite China’s government for currency manipulation, which would set off a process by which the administration can impose trade penalties. The legislation would bring the Treasury definitions more in line with International Monetary Fund guidelines, making it easier to determine currency manipulation. The bill also provides meaningful sanctions, including countervailing duties or tariffs, if currency negotiations fail.
China and Its U.S. Wind Farm Partner Promise More American Jobs
After a public outcry over China’s plan to seek $450 million in economic recovery funds to build a wind farm in Texas that would create only 30 U.S. jobs, the companies involved are now promising to put more Americans to work.
USA Today reports the companies—a U.S. private equity firm and a Chinese turbine maker—also will build a plant in the United States that will make wind turbines while employing 1,000 people. The companies did not indicate the timeframe for building the plant, which would be one of the biggest in the nation for wind turbines.
Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, says:
It’s a start, but it just shows how far we have to go [to catch up in the production of wind turbines and other clean-energy products.]
Health Insurance Profits Soar as Industry Mergers Create Near-Monopoly
Profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007, while consumers paid more for less coverage. One of the major reasons, according to a new study, is the growing lack of competition in the private health insurance industry that has led to near monopoly conditions in many markets.
The report says such conditions warrant a Justice Department investigation and, says Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), provide compelling evidence of the need for a public health insurance plan option as part of the health care reform initiative President Obama and Congress are developing.
Schumer says the report from Health Care for America Now! (HCAN)
is the starkest evidence yet that the private health care insurance market is in bad need of some healthy competition. A public health insurance option is critical to ensure the greatest amount of choice possible for consumers.
Senate-Passed Recovery Bill Would Create Jobs; Republicans Bent on Killing It
The Senate this afternoon approved (61-37) an $838 billion economic recovery package that reflects much of what President Obama sought in legislation to get the nation’s economy moving again. But it eliminates more than $40 billion in aid to fiscally strapped states and other job-creating provisions that are part of the House-passed version of the bill.
The Senate bill is somewhat of a compromise to win the votes of three moderate Republicans—Arlen Specter (Penn.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Olympia Snowe (Maine)—and prevent a filibuster by Republican leaders. The filibuster threat was turned back last night.
The bill now goes to a House-Senate conference, where House leaders say they will attempt to focus on restoring the jobs provisions, while maintaining 61-vote filibuster-proof support in the Senate.
