Executive Council Focuses on Jobs, Election, Workers’ Rights
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In the midst of the worst jobs crisis since the Depression, the AFL-CIO Executive Council laid out a road map for how the Obama administration and Congress can fundamentally revamp the nation’s economy so that it puts workers first. President Barack Obama, who addressed the Council on Aug. 4, seemed to get it when he said that making things in America is at the heart of the economic recovery. The Council also laid out plans for the critical fall elections.
In a series of statements, Council members reaffirmed the need for immediate adoption of the AFL-CIO’s five point plan to create new jobs and warned that reducing the deficit must come after we create more revenue-producing jobs. You can check out all the new Executive Council statements here.
Five New Members Named to Executive Council
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The AFL-CIO today elected five new members to the Executive Council. The Council also voted to add two seats to the council to promote and establishing diversity as well as giving a greater role to state and local labor leaders.
The council is meeting this week in Washington, D.C., to discuss plans for a major push in the fall elections, the union movement’s ongoing strategy to address the jobs crisis and efforts to reach out to young workers. President Obama will address the council today.
The new members of the Executive Council include: UAW President Bob King, UAW Vice President General Holiefield, AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders, North Carolina State AFL-CIO President James Andrews and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo.
The Council also honored two departing members—former UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and former United American Nurses President Ann Converso for their service to working people. Former UAW Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn announced her retirement from the Council in March to become AFL-CIO organizing director. Holiefield was elected to fill that vacancy.
King Elected UAW President
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Delegates to the UAW’s Constitutional Convention today overwhelmingly elected Bob King as president. King has been a UAW vice president since 1998 and has headed the union’s National Ford Department since 2006. He succeeds retiring President Ron Gettelfinger.
Delegates also elected by acclamation UAW Region 4 Director Dennis Williams as secretary-treasurer. He succeeds Elizabeth Bunn, who is the new organizing director of the AFL-CIO.
Delegates re-elected by acclamation incumbent UAW vice presidents James Settles and General Holiefield, as well as new vice presidents Joe Ashton and Cindy Estrada, the union’s first Latina vice president.
Ruling a Major Win for UAW American Axle Workers
An arbitrator has ruled that American Axle and Manufacturing violated the job security clause in its agreement with the UAW and must make whole the workers affected by its decision last year to move work to Mexico.
The ruling, issued earlier this week by umpire Paul Glendon, found the company violated the terms of its 2008 National Agreement with the union when it moved its 8.25 axle production away from its plant in Detroit to a plant in Guanajuato, Mexico.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said:
This is a major victory for these workers, and we’re very gratified that the umpire upheld our strong outsourcing language reached in the 2008 agreements. Our American Axle members went on strike for three months in part to win this measure of job security.
Building Green Cars Could Create 150,000 Jobs
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Congress has the power to put thousands of Americans in some of the hardest-hit industries back to work and help protect the environment at the same time, according to a new report. New vehicle technology and the right policy choices, including incentives for higher fuel efficiency vehicles, could create up to 150,000 jobs for U.S. workers. But it will take strong, visionary action by our elected leaders to ensure those jobs are created here, the report says.
In “Driving Growth: How Clean Cars and Climate Policy Can Create Jobs,” the UAW, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Center for American Progress demonstrate how a new fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles would allow drivers to enhance energy security, reduce carbon emissions and put autoworkers and many others back to work.
The economic and environmental benefits underscore the need for Congress to pass strong clean energy and climate legislation that would promote good-paying domestic jobs and encourage investments in efficient, oil-saving technologies, the report says.
UAW Donates $500,000 to Haiti Relief as Unions Continue Strong Aid Efforts
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Despite the impact of one of the worse recessions in U.S. history, union members continue to generously support efforts to help survivors of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. You can take action now to help the Haitian survivors by clicking on the AFL-CIO Haitian Disaster Relief site here.
The UAW yesterday announced it is donating $500,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation to help victims of the earthquake. Says UAW President Ron Gettelfinger:
The people of Haiti desperately need food, water, medical care and hope. The women and men of the UAW stand with thousands of other organizations and ordinary citizens in their desire to help the Haitian people meet their basic human needs.
Cash for Clunkers Is Record-Setting Success
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The Obama administration’s “cash for clunkers” program, which expired yesterday, was a smashing success. It delivered important benefits to the environment and the U.S. economy, the UAW says. And one highly respected analyst reports the program spawned record car sales.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger pointed out that consumers responded enthusiastically to the program, which explains why it ran its course faster than anyone expected. He says:
In just a few weeks, Americans have traded in hundreds of thousands of older vehicles for new, higher-mileage models.
The result is higher fuel economy, lower carbon emissions—and an increase in production and employment that means increased opportunity for American workers and American companies.
UAW Members Ratify GM Agreement
Members of the UAW overwhelmingly ratified an agreement with General Motors (GM) Corp. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told a Detroit press conference today that 74 percent of GM’s U.S. production and skilled-trade workers voted in favor of the deal.
Under the agreement, the union-run retiree health care trust will gain 17.5 percent ownership of a post-bankruptcy GM, with an option to buy another 2.5 percent.
“UAW members have once again stepped up to make necessary and painful sacrifices to preserve U.S. manufacturing jobs,” Gettelfinger said.
This settlement agreement will give GM a chance to survive the worldwide collapse of industry sales and return as a viable company once the economy recovers and consumers begin purchasing vehicles again.
New Fuel Standards Protect Environment and Workers
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney praised today’s agreement on nationwide fuel economy standards as “a major step forward and a victory for America’s workers, consumers and the environment.”
The agreement, announced today by President Obama, requires vehicle carbon dioxide emissions be reduced by about one-third. Under the changes, the overall fleet average would have to be 35.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2016, with passenger cars reaching 39 mpg and light trucks hitting 30 mpg. Manufacturers also would be required to hit individual mileage targets.
Keep It Made in America: Our Future Depends On It
The pundits and politicians inside the Washington Beltway don’t get: If the United States continues to send its manufacturing jobs overseas—as General Motors and Chrysler are now proposing—the result will be more low-income U.S. families.
So today, workers, economists, academics and business and union leaders, fresh from the “Keep It Made in America” bus tour through the nation’s heartland, brought that message to the policymakers’ doorstep as part of a teach-in on Capitol Hill.
The 11-day, 34-city bus tour showcased the ripple effect on communities of the lost jobs in manufacturing. (See video.) Today, during the teach-in, those who took part brought the stories they heard along the tour and presented principles for revitalizing the auto industry to members of Congress and the press.
