USW President Gerard Sets the Record Right on Employee Free Choice Act
It’s awfully hard to find accurate and fair descriptions of unions, their leaders and issues in the mainstream media. Clichés and stereotypes that just won’t die far too often substitute for fair reporting or analysis.
That’s why yesterday’s in-depth profile of United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was so refreshing. In addition, Gerard’s appearance Friday on “Bill Moyers Journal” on PBS was a great rebuttal to the many ill-informed, slanted or just down-right lies about the Employee Free Choice Act filling the airwaves and news columns.
Post-Gazette reporter Ann Belser explores Gerard’s deep commitment to working hard for working families and the union on issues such as universal health care and getting the economy back on track.
Click here to read the profile.
Auto Crisis Threatens Entire Economy; Union Ready to Do Its Part—Again
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If Congress does not soon approve emergency loan legislation to keep Detroit’s Big Three automakers operating as they ride out the nation’s financial crisis, job losses will ripple not just through the auto industry but through the entire economy, warned UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.
At a news conference today following an emergency meeting with UAW local and regional leaders, Gettelfinger said the union is willing to “take the extra step” to aid the industry. Union leaders, he said, have agreed to delay automakers’ payments to a union-administered health care fund and to modify the union’s job banks program that provides laid-off workers with a portion of their wages and benefits.
But he reiterated that UAW members already have agreed to wage and benefit concessions that have lowered labor costs at the Big Three.
