Operating Engineers’ Counsel Among Picks for NLRB
Operating Engineers (IUOE) General Counsel Richard Griffin is among the three new members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) President Obama will appoint through recess appointments, the White House announced.
Also named is Sharon Block, currently deputy assistant secretary for congressional affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor. She has served as the senior labor and employment counsel for the Senate HELP Committee. The third member named is Terence F. Flynn, chief counsel to NLRB member Brian Hayes. He also was counsel in the labor and employment law firm Crowell & Moring.
IUOE President James T. Callahan says Griffin is “highly respected by lawyers on both the labor and business side of labor law.”
His fair-minded approach to legal questions is exactly what the NLRB needs….Richard Griffin and the President’s other pick Sharon Block are distinguished attorneys who will bring an even-handed approach to labor and management issues. They deserve to be seated—and workers and employers deserve a functioning National Labor Relations Board.
The Heat’s On in Albuquerque
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AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer sends us this report:
Members of the Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 412 Plumbers and P ipefitters (UA) Local 412 held their 20th annual Heat’s On program in September. As a service provided free of charge to low-income seniors, Heat’s On volunteers service furnaces, winterize swamp coolers, install smoke alarms and change out batteries. This is a joint project among UA Local 412, Mechanical Contractors Association-New Mexico, United Way of Central New Mexico and the City of Albuquerque’s Office of Senior Affairs.
This year, more than 80 volunteers serviced 114 homes on a Saturday morning. Volunteers met for coffee and donuts at 7 a.m., split up into groups of two crews and serviced four homes. They are dispatched from the union hall at 8 a.m. and return after their projects are completed in time to enjoy lunch at the union hall. Heat’s On coordinators are business agent Dan Beavers and Dan Glass, an organizer.
Tom Montano, business manager of IUOE 412, UA Local 412, says, “Heat’s On is a great way for our members to join other community partners in providing a vital service to people who couldn’t otherwise afford it.”
Hudson Valley Union Members Raise Funds for Habitat for Humanity
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Brian Pugh, deputy political director for the Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation, sends us this report.
The Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation celebrated the end of summer with a Brunch to Build Homes on behalf of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh. Dozens of union members took part in the Sept. 10 fundraiser on the Newburgh Waterfront and raised $2,000. Labor sponsors included the HVALF, the Wappingers Congress of Teachers, AFGE Local 3740, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Local 302, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1500 and Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 30.
Event sponsors praised the event.
Mike Salvia, vice president for the Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation, said:
Pa. AFSCME Members Ratify Pact with State—and More Bargaining News
AFSCME members in Pennsylvania ratify a new contract covering 45,000 workers, 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 1,400 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS:
AFSCME, State of Pennsylvania: Members of AFSCME Council 13 ratified a four-year contract with the state of Pennsylvania that covers 45,000 workers. Another 10,000 state workers, represented by SEIU, are voting on a similar deal.
Unions Respond to Devastating Montana Floods
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AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer reports on the flood relief efforts unions are mounting in Montana.
Montana has been hit hard by a series of recent severe storms coupled with runoff from mountain snow melt. The combination has caused serious flooding across the state. Forty-eight of the state’s 56 counties have declared flood emergencies and federal disaster declarations have been issued for 31 counties, plus four American Indian reservations.
The central Montana town of Roundup has been completely submerged in floodwaters. In northeast Montana, there is massive flooding in the town of Glasgow. The Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana has been devastated by floodwaters displacing hundreds from their homes, and forcing more than 50 families to live in a gymnasium.
The Montana State AFL-CIO is working with coalition partners Montana Organizing Project, Forward Montana, along with central labor councils and union members throughout the state to coordinate a response effort to bring supplies to those in need and protect homes and other public buildings from water damage.
Job Safety Laws Must Not Go Backward
In Michigan yesterday, workers not only honored those killed and injured on the job as part of Workers Memorial Day ceremonies at the state Capitol in Lansing, they warned that plans to dismantle the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) and repeal the state’s workplace safety law would put workers at risk.
UAW Region1C Director Norwood Jewell said:
We remember those that are injured and it brings to light the fact they are talking about defunding MIOSHA. We still have people dying in workplaces. We have come too far to go backwards.
Michigan AFL-CIO Health and Safety Director Derrick Quinney says, “Even in a common-sense topic like public safety, our Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation in Michigan that will repeal the Michigan Occupational and Safety Health Act in favor of a federal OSHA program.”
Instead of stripping away our law that we know works, why not update it with further rules and regulations to keep our workers safe on the job?
The real goal of our Republican legislature is to take away workers’ rights and weaken the role of protecting workers in the public. These are the same coordinated attacks that are happening in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio. This isn’t about the budget—these attacks threaten the economic security and safety of all workers.
Read more here.
Elsewhere on Workers Memorial Day, Mike Staley of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 649, offered a prayer during services at Laborers (LIUNA) Local 538 in Galesburg, Ill.
Indiana Workers Continue Monthlong Capitol Vigil
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Today marks the 23rd day Indiana teachers, public employees and other workers have been at the state Capitol protesting more than 30 bills backed by Republican lawmakers and Gov. Mitch Daniels (R). The legislative package includes bills that slash public school budgets, defund women’s health care and eliminate public-sector unions.
Indiana State AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott says the four weeks of large crowds and actions:
have proven that the working men and women cannot be ignored. We will continue to make our voices heard until these politicians end this assault on working families in Indiana.
Mike Uehlein, AFL-CIO Field Communications Director for Indiana sends us these comments from workers who have been part of the month-long vigil.
Jeff Withered, Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 399—We’re down here in the fight at the Statehouse for workers and also for the public schools. This is truly a fight about the working class, not the unions. We’re down here trying to get our word and get our message out and bring as much support as we can.
Pipeline Project Creates Thousands of Skilled Construction Jobs
More than 13,000 American workers will build the U.S. portion of a 2,000-mile oil pipeline running from Alberta, Canada, to Port Arthur, Texas, under a project labor agreement (PLA) signed this week by four U.S. unions and pipeline builder TransCanada Corp.
Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), says:
At a time when corporations and industries are seeking to ensure maximum efficiencies and a proper return on their investments, America’s building trades unions are pleased that TransCanada Corporation has recognized that a project labor agreement is a valuable tool to assist them in achieving those important objectives.
PLAs are pre-hire agreements between labor and management. The agreements require all construction jobs to be filled by local workers, include diversity requirements, establish wages and work rules covering overtime, working hours and dispute resolution and ensure that safety guidelines on the job site are enforced.
Lehigh Valley Union Activists to Rep. Dent: Show Us the Jobs!
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Yael Foa, AFL-CIO senior field representative for the Northeast Region, recently rallied with Pennsylvania union members at the Bethlehem offices of Rep. Charlie Dent to protest his lack of action in creating good jobs. The event is one of dozens union activists are holding around the nation to hold lawmakers accountable for Good Jobs Now.
The sweltering heat did not stop more than 50 union members from turning out to rally outside Rep. Charlie Dent’s office in Bethlehem, Pa., during the congressional recess last week. The rally, organized by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Area Labor Federation, the Lehigh Valley Central Labor Council and the Lehigh Valley Building and Construction Trades Council, highlighted Dent’s failure to address the jobs crisis and rising unemployment in his district.
Workers’ Stories Put Face on Victims of Wall Street Greed
One worker says she lost four jobs during the past seven years. Another saw his unemployment insurance (UI) benefits evaporate due to Sen. Jim Bunning’s (R-Ky.) callous filibuster of an UI extension last month.
Those are just two of the personal stories jobless workers and others have shared at the AFL-CIO’s Good Jobs Now site. Our interactive site is part of the AFL-CIO’s fight for good jobs that today kicked off two weeks of action across the country with rallies and demonstrations at branches of the Big Six Wall Street banks—Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo. (Find out about events in your area here.)
The Big Six’s reckless greed played the major role in wrecking the U.S. economy and killing American jobs. The workers sharing their stories have seen firsthand the damage left behind.
