Massachusetts Workers Mobilize as Deficit Deadline Looms
AFL-CIO communications staffer Nora Frederickson sends us this report.
As the congressional Super Committee’s deadline for a federal deficit reduction plan nears, more than 2,600 teachers, ironworkers, construction workers, nurses and others took to the streets in Massachusetts in recent days with a single message: no cuts.
Labor leaders and workers across the state have petitioned Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to pledge to protect America’s workers from devastating cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and have been making their voices heard—through postcards, forums with their members of Congress, resolutions and even an electronic billboard or two.
“We’re here to say no cuts to Social Security, no cuts to Medicare, no cuts to Medicaid, no cuts to the Postal Service,” Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman told thousands of workers and seniors from across New England at the Wang Theater in Boston,
and we want it for you, we want it for us and we want it for our children and grandchildren.
Workers Urge Sen. Kerry to Strengthen Social Security, Not Cut It
AFL-CIO communications staffer Nora Frederickson sends us this report.
With the deadline looming for members of a congressional “supercommittee” to decide how to cut the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion, local labor, religious and progressive activists took to the soapbox this week to petition Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the only member of the supercommittee from New England, to oppose any cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Labor leaders in Worchester joined the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and Rep. Jim McGovern for a forum this week that outlined the serious toll that proposed changes to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid would take on ordinary Americans. McGovern emphasized that the programs are essentially solvent, and that Social Security would pay out 100 percent of its obligations through 2036.
Paul Soucy, a representative from the United Steelworkers (USW), explained that raising the eligibility age for Social Security would endanger the lives of workers in hazardous occupations.
Proposed NLRB Rule Change Draws Wide Support
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) modest, common-sense proposed rule to remove roadblocks for workers who want to vote on whether to form a union has drawn praise from working men and women, political leaders and activists around the country. Here’s a sample of the comments:
Electrical Workers (IBEW) President Edwin Hill:
By eliminating delays, the board is not only bringing some balance. It is also saving money for taxpayers who foot the bill because of unnecessary litigation.
Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen:
Workers at T-Mobile USA and nearly every other company know firsthand how U.S. corporations use delay to keep workers from making a fair choice about union representation. The changes proposed by the National Labor Relations Board are a first and modest step toward ending some of that delay.
Republican Senators Kill Jobs Program
Senate Republicans turned their backs on workers one more time before they left town for the Nov. 2 elections when they refused to allow a vote to keep alive a jobs program that has created nearly a quarter of million jobs. Many of those jobs were in some of the communities hardest hit by the nation’s unemployment crisis.
The program was a small part of the economic recovery package known as the TANF Emergency Fund and it directly subsidized jobs in government, nonprofit organizations and small businesses for unemployed workers.
On Tuesday, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.)—with the backing of Republican leaders—used Senate rules to block an extension of the TANF fund. The program expired today and the layoffs are beginning.
According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), the program subsidized jobs in 37 states for nearly
250,000 otherwise unemployed parents and youth—helping families, businesses, and communities across America weather the recession…. The fund has been a “win-win-win,” helping unemployed families find work, businesses expand capacity in a difficult economic environment, and local economies cope with the recession. Read the rest of this entry »
Striking Shaw’s Workers Pick Up Support
Striking workers at the Shaw’s supermarket warehouse in Methuen, Mass., are gaining the support of political, community and religious leaders and union members across New England. The 310 workers, members of Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 791, walked out March 7 after Shaw’s management demanded workers take on the full burden of paying increased costs for health care.
On April 1, Shaw’s cut off health care for workers and families even though many of them have serious medical conditions including advanced pregnancy.
Despite calls from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) and nine other congressional leaders and respected voices in the religious community, Shaw’s and its parent, Supervalu, refuse to reinstate the workers’ health benefits. Local 791 represents Shaw’s workers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine.
Trumka: Green Jobs OR Good Jobs a ‘False Choice’
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With the oil platform explosion that killed 11 workers now is spilling millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico as a sobering background, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told delegates to the 2010 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference:
“Never before has the need been so urgent to produce clean energy, to use energy more efficiently, to prevent climate change and to protect our natural environment.
And not since the Great Depression have so many Americans needed new and better jobs with secure benefits and promising futures–jobs that can’t be off-shored, downsized or downgraded into temporary or part-time positions.”
In its second day, the conference brings together union members, environmentalists, business leaders, lawmakers and administration officials to map out a path to a green economy that creates good jobs, reduces global warming and preserves America’s economic and environmental security. It concludes tomorrow with a Green Jobs Advocacy Day Capitol Hill. Read the rest of this entry »
Still Time to Register for Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference
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There’s still time to register for the 2010 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference set for May 4-6, in Washington, D.C. Click here to register.
The conference brings together union members, environmentalists, business leaders, lawmakers and administration officials to map out the path to green economy that creates good jobs, reduces global warming and preserves America’s economic and environmental security.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) head up an impressive group of speakers, including AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka; United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard; Sierra Club Executive Director Carol Pope; Rick Fedrizzi, president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council; George Miller, president of the American Institute of Architects; high-ranking Obama administration officials; and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter.
AFL-CIO Calls for Release of Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi
The AFL-CIO and the global union movement are demanding that Burma’s military dictatorship immediately free Nobel laureate and democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since last Thursday. She was just six days short of completing her house arrest. She was taken to prison after a U.S. citizen swam a mile across a lake to her home and stayed overnight, which violated the terms of her house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years and reportedly is in poor health and in need of medical care. The military regime has given no indication that it will grant her freedom and just last week denied an appeal made by her lawyer for her release. A few days ago, she was transferred from her home to Insein Prison and threatened with new charges.
Aung San Suu Kyi is the legitimate leader of Burma and a recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Her political party, the National League for Democracy, won 82 percent of the parliamentary seats in a national election in 1990, but the military regime refused to cede power.
