L.A. Transit Agency Program Will Create 260,000 Construction Jobs
 |
||||
|
||||
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.
L.A. Stadium Project Means 23,000 Jobs
The California legislature approved of a bill that would allow expedited judicial reviews of any legal challenges to a proposed downtown Los Angeles NFL stadium and renovation of the neighboring Los Angeles Convention Center. Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, says the action is:
a significant step forward in the creation of 23,000 good middle-class jobs for construction and hotel workers, stage hands and grips and janitors. This is our economic stimulus package and it will be financed with zero public dollars. The LA Labor Movement worked hard to score a major victory for all Angelenos.
The project will create some 12,000 full-time jobs during construction and 11,000 permanent jobs to support the Event Center and Convention Center.
Union Members Share with Those in Need
 |
||||
|
||||
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.
Workers Say Obama/Trumka Labor Day Visit Will Energize Voters
Milwaukee AFT Local 2169 member Ashleigh Lund says she hopes that President Obama’s Labor Day appearance with AFL-CIO President AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka at the annual Laborfest
can spur people to get to the voting booths in support of worker friendly candidates this November…I am excited because this shows me that the rights of workers are still important to Obama.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will Join Obama and Trumka the Milwaukee Area Labor Council’s Laborfest that draws thousands of working families. Fellow AFT Local 2169 member Sagar Tolani says that
Obama spending his Labor Day with people from the community really lets me know that he understands the issues workers are currently facing.
Milwaukee is just one stop on a busy Labor Day weekend schedule for Trumka and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker will travel to Ohio, Michigan, Florida and California calling for good jobs and a strong, middle class economy and boosting Labor 2010’s get-out-the-vote efforts for November’s midterm elections. Read the rest of this entry »
L.A. Carwash Owners Get Jail Time
 |
||||
|
||||
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.
Trumka: ‘We’re Going to Rebuild America With Jobs’
|
|
|||
|
|||
In the political showdown between Wall Street and Main Street, California is a key battleground. With the third highest jobless rate in the country and a towering budget deficit, California needs leaders who can create and save jobs, not just spout ”more of the same corporate bull,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told a crowd of thousands at a mass jobs rally in Los Angeles today.
“How are we going to rebuild America? With jobs! Who’s going to rebuild America? Working people with jobs!”
The choice for voters is clear in California, said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. The Republican candidates for governor and U.S. senator, respectively, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, are mirror images of each other.
Both are failed CEOs. Both slashed thousands of jobs to make themselves richer. And both have a dangerous agenda that will douse any hope for economic recovery. They want to slash jobs. Eliminate pensions. Scale back overtime pay and meal breaks for workers. They’re part of the greed is good crowd. I think it’s pretty clear that’s the wrong direction.
Thousands to Rally in Los Angeles Friday for Jobs
 |
|
With a critical election less than three months away and jobs foremost among voters’ concerns, thousands of working people will join community and labor leaders from across the country Friday in Los Angeles to let our elected leaders and political candidates know we need real action, not campaign rhetoric, on creating good jobs that can’t be outsourced.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D), Letter Carriers (NALC) President Fredric Rolando, Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and community and labor leaders will speak at a massive rally in front of city hall, starting at noon PT.
Community Programs Offer New Vision for America
 |
||||
|
||||
 |
||||
|
||||
 |
||||
|
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.
Workers Protest Mexican President’s Anti-Worker Policies
 |
|
 |
|
Some 160 members of the United Steelworkers (USW), union staff and supporters from around Washington, D.C., today protested Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s visit to the nation’s capital and condemned his government’s repression of workers’ rights in Mexico.
The USW and the AFL-CIO have both denounced the Mexican government’s four-year-long campaign to destroy the independent mine workers’ union, Los Mineros. Members of Los Mineros have been on strike since July 2007 at the Cananea mine in Northern Mexico over health and safety and other contract violations.
Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, told the crowd:
I am here to say that we in the labor movement fight equally for workers in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, in Mexico and all across the globe. We will not let borders divide us and pit us against each other, and we’re serious when we say that an injury to one worker is an injury against all workers.
Solidarity Results in Tentative Pact for Rio Tinto Miners
The combination of worker solidarity and the strong support of their neighbors helped workers at Rio Tinto’s borax mine in Borax, Calif., take on one of the world’s largest mining companies. Today, they won a tentative agreement on a new six-year contract that protects their jobs, calls for raises and maintains protections against discrimination and favoritism.
The 570 workers, members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30, will vote on the tentative deal tomorrow, May 15.
ILWU President Robert McEllrath said:
Local 30 President Dave Liebengood, the negotiating committee and all the members deserve credit for standing up and sticking together to make this victory possible.
