Executive Council Welcomes New Vice Presidents
Of the 51 vice presidents elected today to the AFL-CIO Executive Council, there are nine new additions, who are expanding the range of voices that will be heard. We congratulate the following new vice presidents of the AFL-CIO:
- Patrick D. Finley, Plasterers and Cement Masons (OP&CMIA)
- M.B. “Mike” Futhey, United Transportation Union (UTU)
- Newton Jones, Boilermakers (IBB)
- D. Michael Langford, Utility Workers (UWUA)
- Robert McEllrath, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)
- Roberta Reardon, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
- John Ryan, Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Works (GMP)
- DeMaurice Smith, Professional Athletes
- Baldemar Velasquez, Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC)
UTU Leader Picked to Head Federal Railroad Administration
Joe Szabo, United Transportation Union’s (UTU’s) Illinois state legislative director and a vice president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, was nominated last week by President Obama to serve as head of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). A Senate confirmation vote is expected soon.
The FRA administers and enforces federal rail safety laws and writes and enforces federal rail safety regulations.
Szabo is a fifth-generation railroader who began work with the Illinois Central in 1976 as a yard switchman and also worked as a road trainman and commuter passenger conductor. He was elected UTU Local 1290 secretary-treasurer in 1984 and began serving as UTU state legislative director in 1996. UTU President Mike Futhey says Szabo is
the first FRA administrator to come out of the ranks of rail labor. It is a validation that the Obama administration is a friend of organized labor.
What’s the Timeline for Reducing Greenhouse Emissions?
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Roxanne D. Brown, assistant legislative director of the United Steelworkers (USW), is among union delegates taking part in the 12-day United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) in Poznan, Poland. The meeting is building upon the framework negotiated last year in Bali, Indonesia. Of the nearly 100 union delegates, Brown is among the more than 20 from North America and sends us this report.
What Comes First?
That’s the question everyone is asking in Poznan, Poland. Does the United States take actions to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by passing legislation in 2009, or do we wait for a new international agreement on climate change to be finalized in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the end of 2009? It’s the classic chicken and egg question. Which should precede the other? Which is most necessary to occur first? Like the chicken and egg question, no one has an answer (or at least a real good one), but one thing is clear: All eyes are on the United States.
