L.A. Transit Agency Program Will Create 260,000 Construction Jobs
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Working people are applauding the Los Angeles County Metro Board of Directors vote last week in favor of a sweeping, agency-wide program that will create 260,000 construction jobs. Officials said the program will dramatically increase the number of workers hired from communities near upcoming transit projects and special attention will be given to applicants who live in areas of high unemployment.
The Construction Careers Policy covers Metro transit construction projects for the next 30 years, including projects funded under Measure R, the half-cent sales tax recently approved in 2008 by voters to fund transportation upgrades.
Union Summer Interns Help Rebuild Louisiana Homes
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Emily Mendenhall, an AFL-CIO Union Summer intern in New Orleans, reports the interns there joined a home rebuilding project in Chalmette, La.
The New Orleans Union Summer team volunteered to spend a day last week joining the St. Bernard Project in rebuilding a house in Chalmette, La., just outside New Orleans.
Established in 2006 by Liz McCartney and Zack Rosenburg, the St. Bernard Project is an award-winning, nonprofit organization that has rebuilt more than 385 homes in the greater New Orleans area. The project also has restored the hope of many people by offering free therapy to help citizens deal with the lasting psychological effects of Hurricane Katrina.
Human Rights Day: Workers Ask, ‘What’s Gone Wrong at Chase?’
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Today is International Human Rights Day and hundreds of union members, religious leaders, activists, farm workers and victims of bank home foreclosures are protesting at 100 JPMorgan Chase Bank branches across the country to demand the bank respect the basic human rights of people to have decent places to live and work.
Large banks such as Chase are flush with cash and protestors handed out fliers asking, “What’s Gone Wrong at Chase?” and demanded the bank declare a one-year moratorium on home foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chase has $19.5 billion worth of home loans in foreclosure, more than any other bank.
Union Members Share with Those in Need
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The unemployment rate among building and construction workers in Los Angeles County is nearly 40 percent, which means many families face a bleak holiday. But one thing the workers can be thankful for is that they belong to a union and their union brothers and sisters will be there for them.
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor selected unemployed construction workers and their families as this year’s recipients of its annual holiday “Turkeys and Toys” campaign, which helps out working families in need. The federation and its affiliated unions bought the makings of Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, including a turkey, for 4,000 unemployed building trades workers.
More than 40 different unions contributed to the Thanksgiving turkey and food distribution, including grocery workers, truck drivers, hotel workers, sanitation workers, teachers and school employees, firefighters, college faculty, costume designers, telecommunications workers, courtroom clerks and more. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) also helped distribute food to the workers.
Oklahoma Laborfest Conquers All
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Stuart Elliott from the Wichita/Hutchinson Labor Federation of Central Kansas reports on the Oklahoma Laborfest, Aug. 26-28 in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City rocked for three days with the sounds of a celebration of working people. The big show: the premiere of “Oklahoma Speaks,” a performance that brought the state’s dramatic labor history to life.
The production spotlighted the tremendous impact of the union movement in Oklahoma. The state’s motto is ‘Labor Omnia Vincitÿ”—“Labor Conquers All”—a phrase commonly used by former AFL President Samuel Gompers. Union members, in alliance with tenant farmers, won majority support for 24 demands at the state’s constitutional convention in 1906. Oklahoma’s legislature eventually passed laws prohibiting child labor and mandating compulsory school attendance, established state mining and factory inspectors, regulated the use of strike breakers during labor disputes and outlawed the blacklisting of union sympathizers by employers.
The dramatic readings in “Oklahoma Speaks” were matched by musical selections and featured the voices of both leaders and everyday people who lived through powerful historic changes.
L.A. Carwash Owners Get Jail Time
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After two and a half years of fighting for justice, southern California carwasheros celebrated a big win today. Two of the most unrepentant abusers of carwash workers’ rights—the Pirian brothers, Benny and Nissan, have each been sentenced to one year in jail for labor law violations.
“Today marks an important step on the path out of poverty for tens of thousands of carwash workers in Los Angeles in the fight for respect on the job for tens of thousands of carwash workers,” said Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles Federation of Labor.
These carwash owners are on notice that this is a new day in Los Angeles. Abuse of workers will no longer go unchecked.
Durazo joined a rally with members of the Community-Labor-Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) at the Vermont Hand Wash, one of the Pirians’ four carwashes in the Los Angeles area.
U.S. Social Forum: Marchers Demand ‘Money for Jobs, Not Banks’
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Devon Whitham on the AFL-CIO staff is attending the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit. She reports on yesterday’s “Money for Jobs, Not for Banks” march.
Thousands of community, religious and labor activists from across the country marched through the streets of Detroit yesterday calling for urgent action to save and create jobs, extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, stop foreclosures and preserve public services.
Chanting “Full and Fair Employment Now!” and “Money for Jobs, Not for Banks!” union members and our allies in town for the U.S. Social Forum joined forces to demand Congress address the pressing jobs emergency.
Saundra Williams, president of the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO, told the crowd:
We’re here today, marching in the hot sun because we have seen too many homes, jobs and hopes destroyed. We’re fighting for our rights, our dignity, our families and our futures, and we’re calling on Congress to do its job and take urgent action to end this crisis which has so devastated much of the nation.
Hundreds of Labor Activists Taking Part in U.S. Social Forum June 22-26
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While the leaders of the world’s top economies are meeting in Ontario this week, across the border in Detroit, nearly 15,000 grassroots activists and organizers are coming together to share strategies to transform the nation and create lasting economic and environmental change.
Organizers say the second U.S. Social Forum (USSF) held June 22-26 in Detroit is designed to develop the people’s solutions to our nation’s economic and ecological crises. To illustrate the forum’s commitment to real change, this year’s theme is “Another World Is Possible. Another U.S. Is Necessary.” Activists will participate in more than 1,000 workshops, assemblies and trainings and 300 cultural events and performances. You can check out streaming video, radio and uploaded photos from the events here.
Union members will play key roles in many of the forum events. In the first major action, thousands will march through downtown Detroit June 23 to demand urgent action on the creation and protection of good American jobs. Workers impacted by the economic crisis will call on Congress to take action to protect Americans from privatization, layoffs, outsourcing, furloughs, foreclosures and Wall Street greed. They will specifically call for the passage of the Local Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4812), which would create or save more than 675,000 local community jobs and more than 250,000 education jobs, and the emergency extension of jobless benefits.
Community Programs Offer New Vision for America
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In 2008, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor joined with the Teamsters, the city administration and the Port of Los Angeles to create the innovative Clean Truck Program to combat the toxic emissions that had caused spikes in asthma, cancer and mortality rates among children, truck drivers, the elderly, dockworkers and residents near Southern California’s transportation corridors.
The Clean Truck Program is a prime example of the ways workers and community leaders can work together to rebuild our economy and create a new vision for the future, Northeastern University professor Joan Fitzgerald told a forum on “Rebuilding America From The Bottom Up” at the America’s Future Now conference, which ends today.
Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation, praised the Clean Truck Program in a statement last year:
“Small and large companies alike have seen the economic advantages of environmental stewardship, and have invested over $500 million in low-emission fleets. Over 60 percent of the cargo that arrives at our shores is now moved to American stores by professional, hard-working drivers in clean trucks—three years ahead of schedule to meet emission-reduction targets.”
While national policy issues remain important, in our nation’s cities, rural areas and regions, workers and community leaders are creating and testing new and innovative ideas to turn the country around. In the process, progressives are finding support from liberals and conservatives for a new vision of America, Fitzgerald and other panelists said.
Southeast Minnesota Labor Council Leader Honored as ‘Rising Star’
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Laura Askelin, president of the Southeast Minnesota Area Labor Council in Rochester, is being honored as one of the state’s future leaders within the union movement and the political arena. Recently, Askelin received the 2010 DFL Rising Star award from the Women’s Summit Committee of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
The committee called Askelin a “force to be reckoned with now and in the future.” Askelin entered politics as a volunteer in Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in 2008. She later signed on as the campaign manager for the winning candidate in an election for state representative.
She now works as a political organizer for AFSCME Council 5 as well as serves as president of the labor council and holds several local and state party positions. She tirelessly campaigned for health care reform over the last year.
Lynn Wilson, DFL chairwoman in Olmsted County, Askelin’s home county, says:
Laura has the “it” factor in politics equivalent to what Simon Cowell looks for on “American Idol.” She views the world with astute political perception and then embarks on making it a reality. She personifies what [late Minnesota Democrat] Senator Paul Wellstone was talking about.
