Check Out Visits by Jobless Workers to Lawmakers’ Capitol Hill Offices
Jobless workers and members of the faith and labor communities visited lawmakers in Congress yesterday to urge them to extend unemployment insurance (UI) for the long-term unemployed. Hundreds gathered for a rally on Capitol Hill before fanning out to talk with individual lawmakers.
Check out these video clips of visits to lawmakers from New Hampshire, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina.
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8 Signs Your Governor Has a Koch Problem
Andy Richards on our Field Communications staff describes the eight signs to look for to see if your governor is hooked on the Kochs.
The addiction of governors across the country to the Koch brothers’ agenda seems to be growing stronger every day. Here are some warning signs your governor might have a Koch problem:
1. Are they planning on attending the upcoming Koch brothers invitation-only strategy session in ritzy Vail, Colorado?
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has already confirmed his attendance. Just because your governor hasn’t announced his or her attendance doesn’t mean he or she is not planning on going. The Koch brothers hold biannual seminars but like to keep their strategy sessions secret so they don’t out their followers. If you have the opportunity, ask them!
2. Did your governor support attacks on collective bargaining rights for public service workers?
The Koch brothers’ front group, Americans for Prosperity, pushed attacks on the collective bargaining rights of firefighters, teachers, nurses, police officers and other public service workers in Wisconsin and Ohio and other states. During the Wisconsin struggle, Gov. Scott Walker was recorded taking a call from a prank caller he thought was David Koch and openly discussed the assault on working families.
3. Is your governor pushing massive tax breaks that would benefit the Koch brothers and other corporate cronies?
Working Families Vote: Election 2010 Thread
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10:27: Looks like Ken Buck won’t be going to the tea party. The Denver Post has just projected Sen. Michael Bennet (D) the winner over the arch conservative Buck in the Colorado U.S. Senate race.
Nov. 3: Sen. Majority Harry Reid of Nevada defeated Sharron Angle with a big boost from working family voters, who provided his margin of victory.
- Some 270,162 union members voted for Reid by 69 percent, with 29 percent voting for Angle. Among non-union members, Reid lost 49-44.
Also, another former CEO needs to check her business plan. Sen. Barbara Boxer defeated former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina because, reports the Times, Boxer was able to turn “Fiorina’s record at the company against her, accusing the former CEO of outsourcing jobs and laying off 30,000 workers.” It certainly is about jobs.
Union members voted for Brown by a 36 point margin and gave Boxer by a 34 point edge. Some 30,000 union volunteers knocked on 413,000 doors, helped make 4.1 million calls and distributed 2.94 million worksite fliers.
Be sure and check back tomorrow for late results and other election news. Read the rest of this entry »
Door to Door in Denver to Get Out the Vote
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Kate Rosenbarger, communications field coordinator for Colorado, sent us this report.
There are many doors to knock on and many union members to talk with—and Colorado workers know there is no time to waste to get out the vote for the November elections.
Many people see Sundays as the time to relax—but not the more than 75 Labor 2010 volunteers who turned out in Denver this past Sunday. They were joined by several national union leaders who traveled to Denver to take part: AFGE National Vice President Gerry Swanke, NALC Vice President-elect Tim O’Malley and NALC National Executive Board Member Roger Bledsoe.
In an election where every vote matters, every day gives members a chance to talk with other members about issues important to working families. With fewer than six weeks until Election Day and ballots dropping in Colorado on Oct. 12, union members took time on a beautiful Colorado day to deliver a crucial message to their fellow union members.
Dena McClung, a NATCA member, was among them.
Seeing so many union members out walking—especially on a Sunday—really proves a point. Working families are ready to move forward. And we’re not going to sit around and wait for it to happen. We are going to make it happen, one day at a time, one door at a time, and one conversation at a time.
800 Steelworkers at Kaiser Win Wage Increases—and More Bargaining News
Some 800 United Steelworkers members at Kaiser Aluminum negotiate a wage increase and signing bonus in their new five-year pact, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,200 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
USW, Kaiser Aluminum: 800 Kaiser Aluminum workers in Heath, Ohio, and Spokane, Wash., ratified a new five-year contract effective Oct. 1. The contract provides the United Steelworkers (USW) members a signing bonus and wage increases.
The Cost of ‘No’ and Other Health Care Perspectives
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Here’s the latest news from the fight for real health care reform:
• In the Baltimore Sun, Tom Schaller looks at how the nation’s broken health care system is undermining our economy. The cost of doing nothing to reform health care would be trillions of dollars, he says.
• In a great new piece at the Huffington Post, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) explains why he’s saying “Yes” to health care reform. We’re at a defining historical moment, Bennet says, and we can’t afford to continue the status quo.
• Think Progress looks at how insurance company bureaucrats are standing between patients and their doctors.
• The National Farmers Union has come out in support of health care reform, saying rural families need lower costs, more choices and better access to care. Senators from heavily rural states like Arkansas, Maine and Nebraska should pay attention.
House Health Reform Bill Would Cover Millions—Affordably
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Today, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a comprehensive reform bill that would guarantee coverage for 96 percent of the U.S. public.
Among other things, the bill, H.R. 3962, includes a public option, expands Medicaid coverage to families who earn up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, provides help for middle-class families to get coverage and sets tough new rules for insurers, making sure that no one can be denied care or be rejected from coverage because of pre-existing conditions. It’s fairly funded through a combination of employer responsibility, cost savings and a surtax on the extremely wealthy—and does not get its funding from taxes on middle-class workers’ benefits. All that, and it will reduce the deficit in the long term.
It’s the kind of change America voted for last fall. You can read the full bill here.
Working Women Speak Out for Employee Free Choice
Here are three great op-ed pieces from around the country—Colorado, Pennsylvania and Maine—that highlight why the Employee Free Choice Act is critical to working women in this tough economy.
Linda Meric, the executive director of 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women, writes a great op-ed about the need for Employee Free Choice in the Denver Post. Meric notes the advantages that the chance to form a union offers to women in Colorado and around the country:
The Employee Free Choice Act is one sure way to address this gender-based pay gap. Unionization can provide important economic security for low-wage Colorado women and their families.
The benefits of union membership for women in low-wage occupations are even greater. Among those working in the 15 lowest-paying occupations, union members not only earned more than their non-union counterparts, they were also 26 percentage points more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 23 percentage points more likely to have a pension plan than those who were not members of a union….
House Recess Begins, Fight for Employee Free Choice Continues
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Members of the U.S. House return home today for a monthlong recess, and the U.S. Senate is set to adjourn at the end of the week. Back home, lawmakers already are hearing from union activists and our allies in the field who are telling them to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act.
As the AFL-CIO’s Stewart Acuff noted at a rally in Colorado last week, working men and women around the country need to speak out for the freedom to form unions and bargain:
“Victory is in our reach. Turning Around America is up to us…the President can’t do it by himself. It’s up to us to make him a great president. Winning health care for all, creating good jobs and fair trade, and restoring the freedom to organize and bargain are a matter of mobilizing the most effective ground campaign in our history. One and a half million workers signed the Million Member Mobilization, tens of thousands have taken action, it’s up to us to move hundreds of thousands to turn around America, to restore economic health and growth.”
Hightower: Unions the Escalator to the Middle Class
Author and radio commentator Jim Hightower paid a visit to Colorado this week where he met with members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 7 as part of an Employee Free Choice Act mobilization campaign.
Hightower said the freedom to form unions and bargain is crucial to a healthy and fair economy.
Unions are the escalator to the middle class. Unions are the key to America’s productivity. Unions are a real hope for real change—fairness, justice, opportunity.
Hightower told CWA members they need to get involved and get active if the Employee Free Choice Act is to become law:
Now, we’ve put the Employee Free Choice Act on the table…are we going to give working people a chance again? This is when you have got to stand up.
Check out video of Hightower’s speech here.
