RESIST OPPRESSION

UMWA support “critical” to worker-friendly candidate victories across America, results show

2006-11-09T15:34:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOVEMBER 9, 2006

CONTACT: Phil Smith 703-208-7241

The support and votes of members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and their families proved to be critical in securing victories for worker-friendly candidates in states and localities across America, UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said today.

“In Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Colorado and the Navajo Nation, UMWA members and their families made the difference,” Roberts said. “They knocked on doors, made phone calls, put up signs and most importantly turned out to vote for candidates who are on our side.”

“Our UMWA phone bank made over 20,000 calls to working families in southwest Virginia, leading to a near-record coalfield turnout for Jim Webb,” Roberts said. Webb carried Buchanan, Dickenson and Russell counties and the city of Norton in Virginia’s coal-mining region by a cumulative 1,633 votes. “Those votes were critical to his margin of victory in the Virginia U.S. Senate race,” Roberts said.

Bob Casey, Jr.’s big win in Pennsylvania and Sherrod Brown’s victory in Ohio also benefitted from UMWA families’ support and votes. Casey’s margin of victory in the coal counties of Cambria, Green and Fayette outpaced his overall victory margin, while Brown’s margin of victory in the Ohio coal counties of Belmont, Jefferson and Monroe was larger than his statewide
margin.

Roberts noted that the UMWA put over 90 staff and members on the ground throughout the nation as part of the AFL-CIO’s Labor 2006 effort the last weeks before the election to help with voter turnout, including staffing phone banks, leafleting, and going door-to-door talking to voters.

“A quick look at the map of counties that switched from Republican to Democratic support in the U.S. House races shows that areas with high concentration of UMWA members and retirees played a crucial role in determining the outcome of several Congressional races across the nation,” Roberts said, pointing to counties in southern Indiana, southwestern and central Pennsylvania and upstate New York

Two victories by Democrats Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill in southern Indiana were fueled by UMWA efforts, Roberts said, as was the election of Mike Arcuri in upstate New York. “These areas have high concentrations of UMWA members and retirees who worked hard in their campaigns and then turned out in droves to vote for these UMWA-endorsed candidates.”

“I’m also especially proud of UMWA families’ support of Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.),” Roberts said. “His margins of victory in the coal counties throughout the state–south and north–were of landslide proportions. UMWA members and their families know Sen. Byrd is their strongest advocate in the U.S. Senate, and they demonstrated their love and support for him loud and clear.”

Byrd captured 84% of the vote in Mingo County, 83% in McDowell County, 81% in Logan County, 80% in Boone County, 74% in Fayette County and 72% in Marion County–all areas with many thousands of UMWA members and retirees.

Roberts also said that the defeat of Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s campaign in West Virginia to grab control of the West Virginia House of Delegates was due in large measure to the UMWA’s active campaign against Blankenship.

“Our members were out in force throughout West Virginia in the weeks leading up to Election Day, working to set the record straight about the half-truths and outright lies that Blankenship was running in ads,” Roberts said. “West Virginia voters didn’t buy into Blankenship’s campaign of fear, and that’s largely due to coal miners and their families telling the truth about him
and his campaign.”

The re-election of Dr. Joe Shirley as the President of the Navajo Nation was cited by Roberts as another instance of UMWA support helping to carry the day. Shirley won by just over 4,000 votes, while the UMWA represents nearly 4,000 Navajo workers. “We’re looking forward to continuing to work with President Shirley in his efforts to bring a greater measure of prosperity to his people,” Roberts said.

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NLRB Files Complaint in Massey Dispute

2006-08-22T13:26:00.000-04:00

In a rare case of the National Labor Relations Board actually doing something beneficial for workers....

NLRB Files Complaint in Massey Dispute

Massey's refusal to rehire union miners who worked at the mines at the time of the Horizon Natural Resources bankruptcy (8/31/2004) seems to be getting ol' Dirty Donnie Blankenship (Massey CEO) in hot water.

Once again this is a testament to the United Mine Workers of America union for not backing down in this fight and hopefully in the near future these miners will have their jobs back that they rightfully deserve.

In other UMWA news the fight continues at Justice At Peabody.

Defective mine air packs

2006-07-12T10:47:00.000-04:00

Source: Louisville Courier-Journal

The news that 119 self-contained self-rescuers (SCSRs), the kind used by coal miners throughout America, have been found to be defective in ongoing inspections by the state of Kentucky lends credence to the reports of survivors of recent coal mine tragedies in Kentucky and West Virginia that these units are not working as they should. (MORE >>>)

UMWA Ready for Fight

2006-06-22T11:28:00.000-04:00

Source: WV Metro News

The rank and file of the United Mine Workers Union will be out in full force Thursday to let Peabody Energy know they won't be intimidated.

The union claims employees who work for Peabody around the country say they've been intimidated while trying to join the UMWA. Union spokesman Phil Smith says, "We've been contacted from Peabody employees from all over the country about wanting to form a union and wanting to do so without fear of intimidation or threats. We want to make sure that message carries loud and clear to Peabody.

" That's why the union is holding a rally called "The Fight Starts Now" Thursday afternoon in the Boone County town of Wharton. They're expecting anywhere from 1,500-2,000 people to attend. Miners are busing in for the event from all over the state. But they'll also get support from members of the union from surrounding states.

Peabody owns two mines in the Wharton area, one is unionized, and the other is not but UMWA says workers there want union representation. Smith says at first it was a contentious issue in the community, but people are starting to change their minds. "We've been getting a lot more support over the last several months. Many more people are signing our petitions, signing our cards and welcoming us into their homes. And they're asking us to come."

On the list of speakers for Thursday’s event include UMWA President Cecil Roberts, the president of the West Virginia AFL-CIO Kenny Perdue and former state AFL-CIO head Jim Bowen.

Peabody is the world's largest coal company. In 2005, the company unearthed 240 million tons of coal and sold it for $4.6 billion.

City and County governments continue to back Peabody miners right to organize

2006-06-07T10:38:00.000-04:00

Source: Justice at Peabody

Booneville City Council backs union campaign at Peabody (06/07/2006 09:23)
Boonville City Council backs Peabody Energy miners' right to form a unionBoonville, IN – The Boonville City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting the area’s non-union Peabody Energy coal miners’ right to organize a union. The resolution passed by a unanimous vote of 4-0 on June 1.“I am strong supporter of the resolution. I came from a family of coalminers and a life long member of the IBEW and the Steelworkers Local 104,” said city council member Bob Canada. (MORE >>>)

Evansville Courier & Press: Boonville City Council backs union campaign at Peabody
By MARK WILSON

The Boonville City Council is officially supporting a union campaign to persuade coal industry giant Peabody Energy not to interfere with attempts of its employees to form a union.The United Mine Workers and the AFL-CIO joined forces to mount the campaign in 2004 in response to what they have termed as a groundswell of support from workers wanting better benefits and working conditions as the corporation continues to grow. (MORE >>>)

Nortonville City Council backs Peabody Energy miners' right to form a union (06/06/2006 12:31)
Nortonville City Council backs Peabody Energy miners' right to form a union Nortonville, KY - The Nortonville City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting the area’s non-union Peabody Energy coal miners’ right to organize a union. The resolution passed by a vote of 5-0 on June 5.

“This resolution simply states that if Peabody Energy wants to mine coal in our community they must respect workers’ rights,” said Nortonville Mayor James Noel. “We expect every company that does business in our community to be a good corporate citizen.”

The resolution states that Peabody Energy Corp., the world’s largest private sector coal company, should allow its employees to choose freely whether to unionize. The resolution requests that Peabody remain neutral and not resort to the use of pressure tactics, such as mandatory meetings on unionization, threats to close the mine, or any other form of interference or intimidation. The resolution also requests that Peabody agree to an expedited and fair process by which the employees can make a decision about unionization.A copy of the passed resolution will be sent to Peabody Energy’s CEO Greg Boyce.

Danville, Illinois Township Board of Trustees passes town resolution supporting the area’s Peabody non-union coal miners’ right to organize

Visit http://www.justiceatpeabody.org/for more information.

Peabody Miners Fighting for a Union

2006-06-01T16:20:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO Now Blog

Tired of being forced to work overtime every week and getting precious little in return, nonunion coal miners who work for Peabody Energy, the world’s largest coal company, have joined together with the AFL-CIO, the Mine Workers, community religious leaders and miners in Australia to say, “Enough! We want a union.”

Peabody has systematically closed its union mines and replaced production with nonunion mines over the past 15 years, says Bob Gaydos, UMWA’s assistant organizing director. Today, only 40 percent of Peabody’s miners worldwide are union members, he says, down from about 70 percent in the 1990s.

For the past couple of years, the UMWA has responded to the requests of hundreds of nonunion miners at Peabody’s facilities across the country for assistance in organizing unions. In December 2005, the workers launched the Justice at Peabody campaign. Peabody, which provides 10 percent of the nation’s electricity and 3 percent of the world’s power, employs some 8,300 miners at 33 mines in nine states. (MORE >>>)

Tell CEO Greg Boyce to allow Peabody coal miners the organize free from fear, intimidation and harassment

2006-05-26T23:45:00.000-04:00

Source: Justice At Peabody

In response to demands by its workers and the United Mine Workers of America, Peabody now acknowledges in its code of conduct, the freedom of its employees to organize and bargain collectively. But Peabody continues its 15-year anti-union campaign. Send a fax to CEO Greg Boyce telling him to allow coal miners to organize free from fear, intimidation and harassment. A copy of your fax will be sent to your congressman. (Tell me more >>>)

UMWA statement regarding Darby mine tragedy in Kentucky

2006-05-23T14:31:00.000-04:00

Source: UMWA

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil Roberts issued the following statement:

"The hearts and prayers of every UMWA member are with the families of the five miners killed in the explosion at the Darby #1 mine in Holmes Mill, Kentucky early this morning. We are also praying for the recovery of the injured miner who is in the hospital.

"Though the Darby #1 mine is a non-union mine and its workers are not UMWA members, we stand ready to provide whatever assistance we can for the families of the lost miners and the survivor.

"This tragedy only compounds what has already been a horrific year in America's coal mines. There have now been 31 coal miners killed in the nation's mines in 2006, and we are not yet even halfway through the year.

"It is imperative that the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and the state mine safety agencies redouble their inspection and enforcement activities, starting now."

UMWA President Roberts calls for “passage” of Senate mine safety legislation

2006-05-18T15:21:00.000-04:00

Source: UMWA

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

“The bi-partisan legislation passed today by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will move mine safety and health several steps forward, and I urge the entire U.S. Senate to pass this bill as soon as possible. Miners are still needlessly dying in America’s coal mines, and this legislation can help stem that awful tide.

“Several senators worked very hard to get this legislation passed in the HELP Committee, especially Senator Enzi (R-Wy.), Senator Kennedy (D-Mass.), Senator Byrd (D-W. Va.), Senator Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), Senator Isakson (R-Ga.), Senator Murray (D-Wash..) and Senator Clinton (D-N.Y.).

“I also want to thank Senator Specter (R-Pa.) for his leadership on this issue and the initiative he has taken by sponsoring his own legislation.

“These senators heard the voices of the families of those so tragically killed this year, and followed through on their promise to act. That is a true testament to the senators’ commitment to improve coal mine safety and health, and on behalf of this nation’s coal miners, I thank them all.

“This legislation will give miners a fighting chance to survive incidents like what happened at the Sago mine and the Aracoma Alma mine earlier this year. It mandates increased storage of life-saving oxygen units in underground mines in areas where miners can get to those caches as they make their way out of a mine. It mandates flame-resistant lifelines so that miners can find their way out when visibility is impaired.

“The bill will also move us several steps forward in implementing improvements in communications with miners trapped underground and tracking their whereabouts, and it starts us down the path to improving both the number of and response time of trained, experienced mine rescue teams.

“Coal miners and their families need legislation improving mine safety and health, and they need it now. There have been none more eloquent and more persistent in fighting for better safety in the mines than those families who lost loved ones in the Sago and Aracoma tragedies this year. Frankly, I don’t believe we would be seeing action this soon by Congress had it not been for those brave widows and fatherless children stepping up and demanding it.

“This legislation is a good start in the direction of improved coal mine safety and I urge Congress to act swiftly to pass it. But there is still more to do before America’s coal miners will have the confidence–which every American worker should have–that they can come home safely to their families at the end of each day’s work.”

CWA Ad Campaign Promotes Cingular – the Only Unionized Wireless Company

2006-05-18T15:17:00.000-04:00

Source: CWA

The Communications Workers of America this week launched an online and radio advertising campaign urging the public to switch their wireless phone service to Cingular – the only unionized wireless company. CWA's Web ads appear on the popular blogs Salon.com, DailyKos.com, and Atrios.blogspot.com (Eschaton), as well as on Yahoo and Google. Radio spots are running on Air America stations in the Northeast.Viewers and listeners are invited to visit www.CingularSwitch.com for information about making the switch to "the company that cares about workers' rights," or to register for follow up information if they are still under contract to another carrier.CWA's message points out that customers can support a socially responsible wireless company and also get great deals on phones and service, as well as Cingular's exclusive Rollover minutes and access to the nation's largest wireless network.Some 40,000 Cingular workers are represented by CWA and work under union contracts providing regular wage increases, good benefits and a voice on the job.

Here is a link to one of the online ads:CWA Web Ad

Religious Leaders Call on Peabody Energy to Respect Workers’ Rights

2006-04-28T01:24:00.000-04:00

ST. LOUIS – Ministers from Religious Leaders for Coalfield Justice (RLCJ) presented a statement signed by over 500 religious leaders to a senior Peabody Energy executive here today, calling on the company to respect workers’ rights at its coal mines.

The signatories consist of pastors, priests, deacons, rabbis, and other religious leaders from the coalfields and across the nation, including 62 judicatory heads and 5 heads of national faith denominations.

“We support the efforts of miners who work in Peabody Energy’s non-union mines to gain dignity, respect, fairness and safety on the job by forming a union with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA),” the religious leaders said in their statement. “Coal mining is dangerous and demanding work. The workers in this industry endure peril daily to help provide for our nation’s energy needs.”

The religious leaders’ statement, entitled “A Call for Justice at Peabody Energy,” urges the nation’s largest coal company “to be truly neutral with respect to employees’ rights to form or join a union and to voluntarily recognize a union when a majority of their employees sign authorizations.” The statement mirrors the endorsement of over 43 religious and community organizations calling for corporations to allow workers to organize through card check (majority verification) neutrality agreements.

“If Peabody will embrace ethical teachings including respect for the right of workers to form unions without threats, intimidation and harassment, it will serve the long-term interests of the workers, the community and the company,” said Tena Willemsma, one of the conveners of RLCJ and Executive Director of the Commission on Religion in Appalachia.”

Workers at non-union Peabody mines and the UMWA launched the Justice at Peabody campaign on Dec. 9, 2005 to call on Peabody Energy to adopt a card check neutrality agreement so that workers could organize free from threats, intimidation and harassment.

RLCJ leaders delivered the signed statement and expressed their concerns about mine workers’ rights to senior Peabody Energy executives at the company’s corporate headquarters here today.

Religious Leaders for Coalfield Justice is a national organization of religious leaders committed to justice for coal miners and other residents of coal communities.

Support grows for Justice At Peabody campaign

2006-04-19T13:46:00.000-04:00

Source: Justice At Peabody

Mortons Gap City Council backs non-union Peabody miners right to form a union
MORTONS GAP, KY – The Mortons Gap City Council unanimously passed a town resolution supporting the area’s non-union coal miners’ right to organize who are employed by Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private sector coal company. (MORE >>>)

Kentucky county votes unanimously to support Peabody miners right to organize
UNIONTOWN, KY -- The Union County Fiscal Court approved a resolution on March 29th showing support for the non-union Peabody Energy miners right to petition their employer for United Mine Workers of America representation. (MORE >>>)

Economic Report: Union membership on the rise

2006-03-20T15:36:00.000-05:00

Union membership increased significantly over the past year.

According to The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, union membership grew by 213,000 workers, while union density remained steady at 12.5 percent.

These numbers reverse a multi-year trend where union membership dropped due to a political climate hostile to workers rights and where good union jobs disappeared.

What does this mean?

It means that working people will join a union even when faced with high levels of employer opposition.

April 28th: Workers Memorial Day

2006-03-16T11:34:00.000-05:00

Source: AFL-CIO
Decades of struggle by workers and their unions have resulted in significant improvements in working conditions. But the toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths remains enormous. Each year more than 56,000 workers die from job injuries and illnesses and another 6 million are injured. The unions of the AFL-CIO remember these workers on April 28, Workers Memorial Day.
(More>>>)

UMWA: Sago lightning excuse is premature and reckless

2006-03-16T11:27:00.000-05:00

By Doug Cunningham
Workers Independent News

The United Mine Workers of America says an attempt by the Sago mine owners to blame lightning for the explosion that led to the deaths of 12 West Virginia coal miners is reckless and premature. UMWA's Phil Smith says this is NOT an official finding.

[Phil Smith 1] : "It is important to note that this is ICG investigating itself. These folks have a vested interest in pointing the finger somewhere else besides what their own actions may have done to cause this explosion. You know, if it was lightning then that's an act of God. And you can't sue God."

The UMWA has been involved in the investigation into the Sago tragedy, making sure workers have a voice in the probe. Smith says the UMWA will also be involved in the next phase - public hearings.

[Smith 2] : "What is important here is that we find out what caused this explosion so it doesn't happen again at Sago or anywhere else. And also what we hope comes out of this is a series of recommendations for what can be done to prevent in the first place explosions like this from happening. And in the second place prevent what was really tragic about this, which was those miners being trapped in there - or believing that they were trapped in there - and being able to come out, not being able to survive except for Mr. McCloy."

The Sago mine reopened Wednesday.
____________________________________________________________________________

The following is the UMWA's official press release regarding the International Coal Group's excuse:

ICG ‘s release of “findings” in Sago disaster “unprecedented, reckless andpremature,” UMWA says

The release of an internal investigation by the International Coal Group(ICG) claiming that lightning caused the explosion at the Sago mine inUpshur County, W. Va., is “unprecedented, reckless and premature,” Cecil E.Roberts, International President of the United Mine Workers of America(UMWA) said today.

“This action does a disservice to the families of those who were killed at Sago,” Roberts said.

“ICG even acknowledges that it doesn’t know how anelectrical charge could have traveled from the surface to the mine andignited the explosion. To publicize their unfounded conclusion now, wellbefore the official investigation by federal and state experts is finished,is extremely reckless.”

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the State of West Virginia are continuing their investigation at the mine and havepublicly said they have reached no conclusions about the cause of the explosion. “Material was removed from the mine just a few weeks ago so thatit could be examined to see if there was evidence of a lightning strike,”Roberts said. “That examination has not been concluded yet. Other aspects ofthis investigation have not even begun, including the public hearings. ICG has drawn a lot of conclusions on its own without regard to the judgement ofthe experienced, impartial experts who are charged with finding out thecauses of this tragedy.”

The UMWA’s safety experts can not recall a company issuing its own reportprior to the release of an official report from federal and/or state investigators. “Responsible coal companies recognize the primacy of MSHA andstate agencies in accident investigations,” Roberts said.

“There is a reason companies aren’t allowed to investigate themselves in these kinds ofinstances, which is that they’ll do or say anything to limit their liability and point the blame somewhere else.

“I believe it’s fair to ask why ICG is leaping to this conclusion andpublicizing its version now,” Roberts said. “ICG is essentially saying this was an act of God, and we all know you can’t sue God. One can make a casethat this announcement is more about future litigation defense purposes thatit is about actually shining a light of truth on what really happened."

“There are still many more unanswered questions here,” Roberts said. “The responsible thing for all parties to do is to assist the official investigation through to its completion, and not leap to unfounded conclusions before all the facts are in. The families of the Sago victims deserve no less.”

Victory for working families in Kentucky

2006-03-08T12:38:00.000-05:00

Working families of the Commonwealth of Kentucky win a major victory on March 7, as the House Labor and Industry Committee voted to kill the Right to Work for Less and Prevailing Wage Bills.

For more photos from March 7, Click Here!

Source: Kentucky AFL-CIO

U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan supports Peabody Energy coal miners’ right to organize

2006-02-28T13:11:00.000-05:00

Source: Justice At Peabody

ST. LOUIS-- U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) today pledged his support for coal miners employed at Peabody Energy Corp. who are trying to form a union, and urged the company to remain neutral in the miners’ struggle for unionization. Peabody is headquartered in St. Louis near Carnahan’s congressional district.

"I support the rights of all Americans to organize in their workplaces,” said Carnahan. “Today I stand with coal miners from Peabody Energy and encourage them in their efforts to organize with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), and I urge Peabody Energy to remain neutral when it comes to its employees' choice to form a union.”

Hundreds of non-union miners at Peabody Energy’s facilities across the country have requested assistance from the UMWA to organize a union. In December, the UMWA responded by launching the Justice at Peabody campaign.

Rep. Carnahan’s statement echoed his speech to a crowd of well over 1,200 Peabody Energy workers and community leaders at the UMWA’s December organizing campaign kick-off in front of the company’s headquarters in St. Louis.

“Provisions in the U.S. labor laws to prevent employer pressure on employees who seek to organize unions are either too weak or non-existent,” Carnahan said. “I have consistently advocated in Congress for legislation, like the Employee Free Choice Act, that ensures that American workers receive the rights and protections that they deserve.”

Carnahan is a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act and is a strong advocate of a workers’ right to form a union free from employer threats, harassment and intimidation. The Employee Free Choice Act requires employer neutrality during organizing campaigns and union recognition upon a majority of employees signing cards stating their desire to be part of a union. The pending legislation, which also establishes stronger penalties for violation of employee rights, has gained bipartisan support with 208 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives and the 42 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate.

“We warmly welcome Congressman Carnahan’s support for these miners’ right to join a union of their choice,” said UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts. “In such a dangerous industry, miners need to be empowered to have a voice in their workplace.”

Statement from Congressman Russ Carnahan:

"I support the rights of all Americans to organize in their work places. Today I stand with coal miners from Peabody Energy and encourage them in their efforts to organize with the United Mine Workers of America. I urge Peabody Energy to remain neutral when it comes to its employees' choice to form a union.

Many of America's most successful companies have concluded that a non-adversarial relationship with unions is mutually beneficial.Provisions in the U.S. labor laws to prevent employer pressure on employees who seek to organize unions are either too weak or non-existent. I have consistently advocated in Congress for legislation, like the Employee Free Choice Act, that ensures that American workers receive the rights and protections that they deserve. The Employee Free Choice Act requires employer neutrality during organizing campaigns and union recognition upon a majority of employees signing cards stating their desire to be part of a union.

It is just good business when companies protect the basic human and labor rights of their workers and respect their right to organize a union."

Massey Energy's insult to Kentucky workers is outrageous

2006-02-20T15:05:00.000-05:00

Source: UMWA

Massey insult to Kentucky workers outrageous, UMWA President Roberts says
Proposal to hire non-English speaking workers a scam to lower wages, benefits for all Massey miners

A proposal by a Massey Energy subsidiary to hire non-English speaking workers from Mexico to fully staff a mine in Eastern Kentucky because the company says there is a lowered work ethic and rampant drug abuse among workers in the region is simply outrageous, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts said today.

This is the equivalent of an obscene gesture from Massey to every working man and woman in Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia, Roberts said. It says a lot about what Massey thinks about the people who live and work there.

Noting that over 12,000 people have received training and been issued mining certificates from the state of Kentucky over the last two years, Roberts said, There are thousands of people in Kentucky and Southern West Virginia who are eager to go to work in the coal mines. All they're asking for is a decent job, with fair treatment and safe working conditions. If Massey is having trouble hiring qualified miners, perhaps the company needs to look at how it treats its workers and what the safety conditions are in its mines.

The truth is that this isn't about the work ethic or the sobriety of workers in Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia, Roberts said. This is really the first step in a scam by coal operators like Massey which are trying to find ways to slash wages and benefits for all miners, whether they're American citizens or immigrants. If Massey is able to get away with doing this, they'll be able to push down wages and benefits for every miner they employ in every non-union mine they operate by threatening to replace them with immigrants if the current miners don't go along.

The UMWA does not oppose Latino workers in America's coal mines. We're fighting right now for Mexican immigrants in Utah who are struggling to form a union at their mine after being exploited for years,Roberts said. Over 40 Mexican immigrants at C.W. Mining's Co-Op mine in Huntington, Ut. have been trying to organize with the UMWA for over two years, and are awaiting a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board upholding their December, 2004 representation election.

C. W Mining was paying these workers under $8.00 per hour, with no benefits, Roberts said. Working conditions in the Co-Op mine were terrible, and the workers were subjected to intimidation and harassment if they spoke up. The company used their immigrant status as a weapon against them, and tried to exploit these immigrants lack of knowledge about their rights under American law to keep them under the company's thumb.

Now Massey comes along and is trying to set up the same scenario in Eastern Kentucky, Roberts said. We've seen this before. Our Union was founded by immigrants who were brought to this country by the coal barons of the late 19th Century. They couldn't speak to each other. The companies exploited them, playing one group off the other and keeping each suspicious of the other. They courageously overcame all that to form the UMWA in 1890.

We welcome diversity in our Union, because we know it makes us stronger,Roberts said. And we will fight against exploitation of miners wherever it occurs and to whomever it occurs.

UNION OFFICIAL SAYS MINER SHORTAGE A “FARCE”
(Combined news reports)

COAL RUN, KY - - - A United Mine Workers of America union official said talk of a shortage of coal miners in Kentucky is “the biggest farce out there right now,” and a movement to bring Mexican miners to the Appalachian coalfields is seen as an effort to reduce mining costs through lower wages.

United Mine Workers union organizer Tim Miller said a miners' shortage is nonsense.

In the past two years, the state of Kentucky has issued nearly 13,000 "green cards" - inexperienced miner's work permits. During a recent week, Kentucky labor officials counted 7,187 people actively seeking coal mining work, 5,390 of whom claimed prior mining experience.

Miller, one of the state mining board's seven members, said there are 1,400 laid-off union miners in western Kentucky who could go to work today. He echoed the sentiments of many who believe the industry is simply hoping to exploit Hispanics and drive down wages.

"They want people who don't have the ability to protect themselves," Miller said.

"If they can flood the market with Hispanic workers, if they can get away with paying a guy $8 an hour, the next guy will be willing to work for $7."

Miller's comments were in response to Sidney Coal Co. President Charlie Bearse's plea to the state mining board to allow non-English speaking miners to obtain “green cards” and work in Kentucky's mining industry.

In a letter to the board, Bearse said, “"It is common knowledge that the work ethic of the Eastern Kentucky worker has declined from where it once was," Bearse wrote to the state mining board. Bad attitudes and drug abuse, he argued, were affecting attendance "and, ultimately, productivity."

Bearse said more than a third of his 800 employees have been hired in the past year. Sidney, a subsidiary of No. 4 U.S. coal producer Massey Energy of Richmond, Virginia, has recruited miners from out West and advertised as far away as Charlotte, N.C., but still can't fill its rosters.

So Bearse turned to Hispanic workers already on his payroll and asked if they had a dozen or so relatives or friends who might consider taking part in a "pilot program." He emphasized they would get the same wages and benefits as the company's other miners.

Bearse's request has been tabled by the board for the moment.

Dept. of Labor Cuts Budget, Urges Flexibility

2006-02-16T10:41:00.000-05:00

Source: Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)

WASHINGTON (PAI) — GOP President George W. Bush’s proposed Labor Department budget for the year starting Oct. 1 again pushes worker training “flexibility,” an idea that previously sank from sight even in the GOP-run Congress. In her Feb. 6 press conference on her agency’s proposed $54 billion spending plan, Chao highlighted what she said was an increase in DOL’s budget, and said it would go to improve workforce competitiveness.

But the budget proposals she released include a $3.2 billion increase in mandatory programs, such as unemployment benefits and black lung payments. Funding for job training, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and other “discretionary” programs dropped by $400 million.

The centerpiece of DOL’s spending plan, and an idea Bush touted in his State of the Union address the week before, was workforce retraining. “We must prepare workers to compete in the 21st century economy,” Chao said.

To do that, Bush and Chao propose combining four worker training programs into one “funding stream,” and use it to pay for Bush’s “Career Advancement Accounts.” She said the $3.4 billion program would let 800,000 workers nationwide get grants of $3,000 each to retrain themselves in any way they choose in new skills for new jobs.

The states would run the accounts “and that gives governors greater flexibility to create programs” tailored to their workers, Chao added. Bush proposed the same idea last year. Congress rejected it. The AFL-CIO didn’t like it then — and doesn’t like it now.Bush’s budget has “reprehensible” cuts in programs for workers, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney said. Its cuts in job training, Trade Adjustment Assistance for workers who lose jobs to subsidized imports, and lack of new funds for job safety and health and mine safety and health are “one more indication of the indifference of the Bush administration to the real needs of working families,” he added in a statement.

Chao also touted DOL’s immediate response — $274 million in grants and aid in the first weeks — to Hurricane Katrina’s devastation last August. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Feb. 2 that the January jobless rate among the half of all Katrina-hit workers who have not returned home is 26.3 percent.

Chao answered a question about how the budget would help them by saying: “A lot of the population…left in the aftermath and they were able to access assistance programs regardless of where they were. Many have found permanent jobs elsewhere and other opportunities.”

ICG Circumventing the Law with Sago Petition

2006-01-23T15:48:00.000-05:00

Source: UMWA

The news that the International Coal Group (ICG) is signing up employees at the Sago mine in Upshur County, West Virginia to a company-sponsored petition “only compounds the tragedy at that mine,” United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts said today.

“It is our understanding that this petition was an initiative of ICG management,” Roberts said.

“This is yet another frantic attempt by ICG to circumvent the law in this matter and we call on the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the West Virginia Office and Mine Health, Safety and Training to investigate this action by ICG management.

“It is simply astonishing that ICG would go to such lengths to impede the investigation into what happened at Sago,” Roberts said. “I ask again: What are they afraid of?

“The only thing that we are focused on is finding out what happened to cause the explosion at Sago so that such an event never happens again–at Sago or at any other mine,” Roberts said. “That’s what the UMWA wants, that’s what MSHA wants, that’s what the state wants and that’s what the American people want.

“Despite this, ICG management has placed roadblocks at every turn in the path of this critical investigation in ways that do not comply with the laws and regulations of the United States,” Roberts said.

“The fact remains that several miners at Sago have requested–and continue to request–UMWA representation in the investigation of this tragedy,” Roberts said. “That is their right under MSHA regulations, and both MSHA and the state have formally recognized the UMWA as the representative of the Sago miners in this investigation.

“We will not abandon them, nor will we abandon the families of the miners who died there,” Roberts said. “It is unconscionable for ICG to compound their suffering by continuing its attempts to muddy the waters of this investigation.”

UMWA Statement on Aracoma Alma #1 Tragedy

2006-01-23T15:45:00.000-05:00

Source: UMWA

“Our hearts and our prayers are with the families, friends and neighbors of Don Bragg and Ellery Hatfield, brave coal miners who lost their lives in the fire at the Aracoma Alma #1 mine in Logan County, West Virginia. We stand ready to offer any assistance to them and their communities we possibly can.

“In the wake of this tragedy and the explosion at the Sago mine in Upshur County nearly three weeks ago, we strongly support the calls of our political leaders for immediate action to improve the chances of miners surviving situations like these. It is incumbent upon Congress and the state legislatures to take whatever steps they need to take to make sure our federal and state mine safety agencies strictly enforce existing safety rules and regulations in our nation’s mines. We must also develop new initiatives that will give every miner a vastly improved chance to walk out of a mine after an accident, alive and well and safe in the arms of their loved ones.

“Just as we have done for 116 years, the UMWA will continue to be in the forefront of this fight. We cannot let the sacrifices of these miners and their families to be in vain.”

UMWA offers "any assistance we can give" in response to Aracoma Alma Mine #1 fire

2006-01-20T10:16:00.000-05:00

Source: UMWA

United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

"Once again, coal miners' families in West Virginia anxiously await word about their loved ones trapped underground. Our hearts and our prayers are with them as the mine rescue teams work to reach the miners who are unaccounted for at the Aracoma Alma Mine #1 in Logan County.

"The Aracoma Alma Mine #1 is under the control of Massey Energy and, like the Sago mine in Upshur County, is a non-union mine. But it does not matter whether they are members of the UMWA or not-these are brother coal miners trapped underground.

"The UMWA stands ready to respond in any way we possibly can. Upon hearing about this fire early this morning, I immediately dispatched a representative of the UMWA to the scene to assist in any way that is appropriate.

"Let us all pray that these miners are found, safe and sound, as soon as possible. We also pray that the mine rescue teams who are working to find them remain safe as they risk their lives to perform this rescue operation."

Sago miners have the right to ask for UMWA representation in investigation

2006-01-18T17:05:00.000-05:00

Source: UMWA

United Mine Workers of America President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

"The International Coal Group (ICG) has objected to the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) representing the miners at the Sago mine as theinvestigation into the causes of this tragedy gets underway. What theirstatements fail to point out is that miners at the Sago mine have a right todesignate the UMWA as their representative, and the union has a right toparticipate in the investigation under federal law."

Federal regulations developed to implement the Mine Safety and Health Actpermit the UMWA to represent the miners at any mine if two or more of themdesignate us to represent them on safety issues. That has happened in thiscase. We are not 'manipulating' anything–we are fulfilling ourresponsibility under the MSHA regulations and we will continue to do so tothe best of our ability.

"ICG may not like the law, and they may not like the fact that their employees have designated the UMWA as their representative in thisinvestigation. But that does not change the fact that the law is what it is.Just because ICG doesn't like the law doesn't give them license to trample it."

The fact is that the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)recognizes our right to be party to the investigation, as does the state ofWest Virginia, and they have both said so in writing. They do not view ourparticipation as interference in the investigation. The only party who does is ICG, leading one to ask: Why? What do they fear?

"It's interesting to note that the very first thing ICG did this morning aspart of the interview process that is taking place in Clarksburg was toattempt to get the identities of the miners who designated the UMWA as theirrepresentative. MSHA did not release their identities, nor will we. But thebigger questions are: Why do they need to know that, and what would they do with that information if they did know it?"It seems to us that ICG's priorities have shifted from seeking to determine the true cause of this accident and means for preventing similar occurrences,' to trying to find out which of their employees had the courage to want representation from an independent organization with 116 yearsexperience of working to improve safety and health in all of America'smines, whether we represent the workers or not.

"This investigation is about finding out the truth. If the company hasnothing to hide, it should favor an open investigation with all partiesparticipating fully."

UMWA PRESIDENT HAILS STATE, CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO SAGO DISASTER

2006-01-11T13:09:00.000-05:00

Source: UMWA

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E.Roberts said today that West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin’s announcementyesterday of a state investigation into the Sago disaster “is a first stepin the right direction of improving coal mine safety in the wake of thisterrible disaster.”

Roberts applauded Gov. Manchin’s selection of Davitt McAteer to head theWest Virginia investigation, saying, “Mr. McAteer has the experience toundertake this critical investigation, and the UMWA believes he has thedetermination to pursue this investigation wherever it may lead. That’sexactly what is needed here.”

The state investigation will be held in conjunction with the U.S. MineSafety and Health Administration (MSHA). MSHA and Gov. Manchin announcedyesterday that the investigation will include a public hearing, which is ararity in coal mine accident investigations.

“The public hearing can be a beneficial part of this investigation,” Roberts miners to know as a result of this investigation is that mine safety andhealth regulations will be strictly enforced at every mine in the UnitedStates. MSHA and the state mine safety agencies must view these regulationsas requirements for companies to follow, not mere suggestions.”

Roberts also said that the announcement by Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.)that a U. S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee will hold a hearing nextweek on the disaster “will help us all understand what happened at thismine, so that we can do whatever needs to be done to ensure that no familywill ever again have to go through what the families of the Sago miners hadto endure.“

Sen. Byrd, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the chair of the subcommittee andSen. Tom Harkin (D-Ia.), the ranking member, all have a long-term commitmentto coal miners and their health and safety,” Roberts said. “I haveconfidence that with them taking the lead, we will get answers and we willbegin the process of working towards real, enforceable solutions.”

Roberts added that it is critical for the UMWA to be an integral part ofboth the state and congressional inquiries. “We have the expertise andexperience within our union to make a significant contribution to theinvestigation and the recommendations that come out of this. Our Director ofOccupational Health and Safety, Dennis O’Dell, has years of experience withmine safety issues and was on-site at the Sago mine during the rescueefforts while our UMWA mine rescue teams were involved. There is no onebetter qualified to be a strong voice for the safety of miners during thisinvestigation than Dennis.”

Stop Anti-Worker Bill in Kentucky

2006-01-11T13:07:00.000-05:00

Anti-worker legislators in the Kentucky House of Representatives are trying to pass a bill—H.B. 38—that would hurt working families by cutting our paychecks and benefits.

They will succeed if we don't take action now to stop them. Please send an urgent message to your state representatives and tell them to oppose H.B. 38.Tell me more

Stunning reversal - just one Sago miner made it out alive

2006-01-04T11:48:00.000-05:00

Click to Listen To Audio

Source: Workers Independent News

Statement of United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts on the tragedy at the Sago Mine

2006-01-04T10:14:00.000-05:00

Source: UMWA

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E.Roberts issued the following statement today:

We are deeply saddened by the terrible tragedy that befell the Sago miners.Our hearts and our prayers go out to the miners’ families, their loved onesand their communities. We are also praying for the full recovery of Mr.Randal McCloy, Jr., and for his family and friends. We continue to offer ourassistance to the entire community to help in any way we can.

This terrible event was made worse for the families by the inexplicableconfusion regarding initial reports that twelve of the miners had been foundalive. That the families were allowed to believe for three hours that theirloved ones were alive–when in fact only Mr. McCloy was–is inexcusable. The UMWA strongly encourages the appropriate state and federal officials toinvestigate how this could have happened, so that no family will ever have to suffer like this again.

This tragedy affects every coal miner in America, union and non-union alike.Though not members of the UMWA, the miners who work in the Sago mine includeneighbors and relatives of UMWA members. I want to commend the brave membersof the mine rescue teams, especially those from the UMWA-represented mineswho risked their lives to go into the mine. Their efforts demonstrate onceagain that we are all brothers and sisters in the coal fields, and we pulltogether to help each other in times like these.

Exporting American Jobs

2005-12-28T15:47:00.000-05:00

Here is a list of companies CNN'S Lou Dobbs Tonight program has confirmed are "Exporting America." These are U.S. companies either sending American jobs overseas, or choosing to employ cheap overseas labor, instead of American workers.

Click Here To View List

Help 57 million workers gain a union

2005-12-28T15:41:00.000-05:00

Sign the Petition: Tell Congress It’s Time to Support the Employee Free Choice Act

Today, 57 million workers in America want to join unions. But employers routinely block their efforts—and our laws are too weak to protect them. It's time for Congress to support the Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow workers to make their own uncoerced decisions on whether or not to form a union. Please sign the following petition urging members of Congress to support this important legislation.

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Peabody Energy coal miners rally in St. Louis for recognition of their right to form a union

2005-12-12T18:29:00.000-05:00

St. Louis, MO —Peabody Energy workers and community leaders today decried routine violations of basic human rights in the workplace as they marched on Peabody’s headquarters here to kick off a major campaign by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to help workers at Peabody mines across America form a union.

“We’re here today to let Peabody know loud and clear that the UMWA hasn’t gone away, we’re not going away, and we will be part of Peabody’s future in North America,” said UMWA International President Cecil Roberts. “The workers in Peabody’s non-union mines work under terrible conditions. More and more of them are asking for us to help them form a union, and we’re going to do just that.”

Peabody miners say they want to raise their standard of living with better pay, benefits and workplace safety improvements. Miners in attendance at the rally said union jobs with good benefits will boost morale and productivity and help their local economies.

“I pay anywhere between $300 to $500 a month in prescription drug costs because of Peabody’s sub-par health benefit package. Only with a union contract will we have better pay and benefits because its obvious Peabody is not going to give it to us,” said John Cox, a Peabody miner from Illinois.

Another Peabody miner, Greg Arnold of Indiana, said that he works “eleven-hour shifts Monday through Friday, then another eight hours on Saturday–without a lunch break.” Arnold said that despite this grueling 63-hour a week schedule, he receives no sick days. “I’d like a voice about my job—a seat at the table,” Arnold said.

To show support for their American counterparts, a delegation from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) traveled from Australia to attend the event.

CFMEU National Secretary John Maitland said the Australian mine workers union stands firmly behind the Peabody miners in the United States.

“Peabody has operations in Australia and miners there have chosen union representation. These U.S. Peabody miners deserve the same freedom to form a union if they so choose,” said Maitland.

The march and rally in St. Louis coincided with educational workshops, rallies, hearings and town hall meetings around the country organized by the AFL-CIO. Across America, workers called on elected officials to support workers’ efforts to form unions and to push for strong legislation to back up their support. Event organizers said the St. Louis events are only the beginning and the campaign will continue until workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain collectively is restored.

“The entire American labor movement is solidly behind the courageous miners at Peabody Energy who want to organize with the UMWA,” said Stewart Acuff, Organizing Director of the AFL-CIO. “Peabody’s management needs to do the right thing, remain neutral and let the workers decide this issue, free from company intimidation and harassment. The freedom to organize is a basic human right that must be respected by every American company.”

At a press conference before the rally, Roberts noted that Peabody Energy President and Chief Operating Officer Gregory H. Boyce said during a recent shareholders meeting the company had reduced the intensity of unionization at its facilities and would continue on that path.

“American workers are supposed to have the right to form a union and collectively bargain with their employers,” Roberts said. “In fact, many often do not get to enjoy this right because of the atmosphere of intimidation, fear and reprisal companies use to scare them away from organizing. It’s wrong, it violates the spirit of America, and we’re going to fight against it wherever it occurs – including at Peabody,” Roberts said.

Wal-Marts Faulted on Errors in Pricing

2005-11-22T10:32:00.000-05:00

Source: Wake Up Wal-Mart Blog & LA Times

Wal-Mart stores in California and three other states have problems charging customers the right amount for their purchases, according to two studies to be released today.

Researchers at UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois-Chicago, funded by a union that is a leading critic of the retailer, found that nearly 9 in 10 stores studied in California fell short of federal standards for accurate pricing.

WakeUpWalmart.com, an advocacy group funded by the food workers union, said it would call on the attorneys general of all 50 states to investigate the retailer's pricing and scanning.

A spokesman for California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said pricing accuracy was an important consumer protection issue.

"The working men and women of California have enough to worry about without wondering whether they are going to be on the wrong end of a pricing lottery when they get up to the Wal-Mart checkout stand," said Tom Dresslar, who said he knew of the study's conclusions but had not seen the full report. "It is a serious concern, and if it turns out action is warranted, we will go after Wal-Mart to make sure its consumers are protected."

WakeUpWalMart.com also said it would distribute more than 1 million fliers the day after Thanksgiving, the traditional beginning of the holiday shopping season, urging Wal-Mart customers to verify that they are charged the posted prices.

Wal-Mart has an obligation to meet federal standards, said Paul Blank, WakeUpWalMart.com's campaign director, "and in these four states, the studies show they have failed to meet those standards."

Labor Researchers: Bush Policies Perpetuate Black Poverty

2005-11-22T10:28:00.000-05:00

Source: AFL-CIO

Bush administration policies that cut education and basic anti-poverty programs in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy have exacerbated sharp differences in job opportunities for white and black workers, according to a new report by the Labor Research Association (LRA), a New York-based research and advocacy group.

The report, The Perpetuation of Poverty and Race Discrimination, released Nov. 15, calls for a greater investment in such programs as education and fair housing that help low-income workers find better jobs.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployment rate last month for white men was 3.8 percent, compared with 8.5 percent for black men. White women were unemployed at a rate of 4.1 percent, while 7.6 percent of black women were jobless. The hardest hit workers are black youths, with an unemployment rate of 32.9 percent, compared with a rate of 14.2 percent for white youths.

The key to better job opportunities for people of color and the poor is a college education, LRA reports, with only 2.3 percent of college graduates unemployed. But rather than increasing funding to educate the nation’s poor, the Bush administration and Republican congressional leaders plan to slash some $14 billion from student aid programs, a move that likely would raise the cost of education for students and their families with increased student loan interest rates and fees. Federal assistance is what makes it possible for many students of color and low-income students to attend college.

The Bush administration also is proposing deep cuts in federal housing assistance that helps poor families find better housing and relocate to areas with better job and education opportunities, LRA says.

“The administration can help black youths enter college and end a long-standing cycle of poverty or leave them to fall into the ranks of the chronically unemployed and underemployed,” the report says. “Republican support for the budget cuts indicates that the Bush administration and its allies prefer to leave young black people stuck in a desperate situation while tax cuts for the rich continue.”

Republican leaders in the U.S. House on Nov. 10 postponed action on a budget bill that would cut more than $50 billion from vital working family programs because they failed to find the votes to win. But House leaders and the Bush administration are expected to continue pressuring lawmakers to pass the budget cuts before the Thanksgiving recess.

The House bill includes $10 billion in cuts for Medicaid health services for poor children and long-term care patients and would raise the costs of prescription drugs for beneficiaries. It also would take some $5 billion from child support enforcement, $1.3 billion from foster care and Social Security disability payments and $844 million from food stamps.

Earlier that day, the Senate Finance Committee refused to move a $70 billion package of tax cuts for the wealthy promoted by congressional leaders and the Bush administration. Republican leaders, unable to secure enough votes on the 11-Republican, nine-Democrat panel to move the bill to the full Senate, postponed the vote on the tax cuts.

More
Read AFL-CIO President John Sweeney’s statement on the House budget bill.
Read why tax cuts for the wealthy are the wrong priority.
See how Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy have undermined the economy.
Read how the budget bill hurts vital programs for low-income families

UAW statement on GM's plant closing announcement

2005-11-22T10:19:00.000-05:00

Source: UAW

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and Vice President Richard Shoemaker, who directs the UAW General Motors Department, issued this statement on today’s announcement by General Motors:

“Today’s action by General Motors is not only extremely disappointing, unfair and unfortunate, it is devastating to many thousands of workers, their families and their communities. While GM’s continuing decline in market share is not the fault of workers or our communities, it is these groups that will suffer because of the actions announced today. For the workers, their families and the thousands of other people who work in the small businesses that supply these facilities, hope is diminished, the future is unclear and communities are less stable.

“The UAW-represented workers impacted by today’s action are protected by our job security program as well as the other provisions and protections of the UAW-GM National Agreement. The UAW will do everything in its power to enforce those programs and protect the interests of the workers impacted by today’s action.

“We have said consistently that General Motors cannot shrink itself to prosperity. In fact, shrinking General Motors only exacerbates its problems.

“Workers and their unions have worked hard to improve product quality and productivity at GM facilities in the United States and Canada, and these efforts have produced strong gains in both these critical areas, as reported in recent studies by J.D. Power & Associates and the Harbour Report.

“The actions covered by today’s announcement will be the subject of ongoing discussions and the 2007 negotiations between the UAW and General Motors. Today’s announcement clearly makes those negotiations much more difficult.

“GM’s return to prosperity depends on it offering products that consumers find attractive, exciting and want to buy. Only then will GM’s market share stabilize and grow, only then will revenues increase and only then will General Motors return to prosperity. Being successful in this regard is the exclusive responsibility of management: Workers have no control over GM’s capital investment, product development, design, marketing and advertising decisions. But, unfortunately, it is workers, their families and our communities that are being forced to suffer because of the failures of others.”

WAL-MART: Rolling Back Wages, Workers’ Rights,and the American Dream

2005-11-18T10:26:00.000-05:00

Source: American Rights at Work

American Rights at Work’s report, “WAL-MART: Rolling Back Workers’ Wages, Rights, and the American Dream,” offers a comprehensive examination of the company’s abysmal labor standards, including an investigation into Wal-Mart’s unapologetic, systematic manner of aggressively interfering with its employees’ democratic right to form unions as a method to address their mistreatment. The study also demonstrates how Wal-Martization is eroding middle-class standards for workers in the grocery industry.

Download the Wal-Mart report in its entirety. (PDF: 674 KB, 40 pages)
Read the report press release.
Download our flyer, The 5 Things You Should Know about Wal-Mart & Unionbusting.
View links to other organizations that care about Wal-Mart and workers' rights.
Sign the petition to urge Wal-Mart to stop its anti-union campaign.

Labour Start TV website launches

2005-11-17T16:26:00.000-05:00

Don't just read union news. See it and hear it.
Your guide to online video produced by and for trade union members around the world. Labour Start TV is part of the LabourStart network.

Wal-Mart execs knew about illegal use of cleaning workers

2005-11-09T15:55:00.000-05:00

Source: Workers Independent News

Senior Wal-Mart executives were aware cleaning contractors hired illegal immigrants. An affidavit filed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service was unsealed at the request of an attorney representing more than 200 former employees in a civil lawsuit. In taped conversations senior Wal-Mart executives discussed the use of illegal immigrants to clean stores across the country. In 2003 a raid on 60 Wal-Mart stores resulted in the arrest of more than 200 illegal workers - many from Eastern Europe. Many of the workers were living in small apartments and in some cases sleeping in the back of stores. Wal-Mart maintains that officials for the world's largest retailer did not know of the use of illegal immigrants in stores.

UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA PRESIDENT CECIL ROBERTS "BITTERLY DISAPPOINTED" IN JIM WALTERS RESOURCES RULING

2005-11-09T15:29:00.000-05:00

Source: UMWA

Federal Administrative Law Judge David F. Barbour today issued a ruling that vacates or modifies all eight citations and orders issued by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) against Jim Walters Resources (JWR) that were a result of MSHA's findings after the September 23, 2001 explosions at JWR's #5 mine in Brookwood, Ala.

Reacting to the decision, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts said that, "this decision is a bitter disappointment for our union and the families of those who lost their lives on that tragic day four years ago. Judge Barbour found that MSHA simply did not do its job when it came to proving its case against JWR."

At approximately 5:20 pm on September 23, 2001, an explosion in the mine trapped a miner under debris. Twelve of his fellow workers were on their way to attempt to rescue him when a second explosion occurred that killed all thirteen of them.

"Thirteen miners lost their lives that day. Wives lost husbands, mothers lost sons and children lost fathers, " Roberts said. "Ever since then, Jim Walters Resources has spent great sums of money and hours upon hours of time trying to deflect their responsibility for this accident. If they had spent all that money and all that time improving conditions in the mine prior to September 23, 2001, then we would in all likelihood not be having this discussion today."

After its investigation into the accident was completed in 2002, MSHA issued citations and orders against JWR for violations ranging from roof control to mine dust levels to evacuation and fire drill procedures. MSHA levied $435,000 in fines relating to these violations. In his ruling today, ALJ Barbour found that MSHA did not prove most of the violations. Barbour vacated all but two of those citations, and modified or only partly affirmed those two. His decision reduced the amount of fines to $3,000. "This amount is just a pittance compared to the lives of 13 coal miners" Roberts said.

"MSHA must become better at defending its citations and orders when it brings them against companies which will fight those citations to the end even when they're guilty," Roberts said. "It's high time MSHA started devoting more funding, more scientific and forensic expertise and more institutional concern to its investigations.

"The UMWA has been saying for years that MSHA has been extremely casual and cavalier in its enforcement of the laws and regulations regarding mine safety and health," Roberts said. "The fact is that our members and our union at JWR #5 had made dozens upon dozens of formal complaints about conditions in the mine," Roberts said. "The company wasn't going to do anything about those conditions unless someone made them, and MSHA is the agency charged with doing just that. MSHA failed in that responsibility, and it continues to fail coal miners in Alabama and elsewhere in America."

"Despite this ruling, the UMWA has not and will never stop fighting for better and safer conditions in America's coal mines, including Jim Walters Resources mines in Alabama," Roberts said. "Our hearts and souls are with the families of those who lost their lives there. On their behalf, and in the memory of our fallen brothers and the over 100,000 miners who have been killed in this nation's mines in the last 100 years, we will continue our fight."

Statement of United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts On Election of Tim Kaine as Governor of Virginia

2005-11-09T15:26:00.000-05:00

Source: UMWA

This election represents an enormous victory for working families in every corner of Virginia.

From the coal fields of Southwest Virginia to the beaches of Tidewater, from the great city of Richmond to the northern suburbs where our union is headquartered, the citizens of the Old Dominion have shown with their ballots that they refuse to see the clock turned back on restoration of the state's essential social programs and reclaimed fiscal sanity. They have also sent a strong message to Congress and the White House that unrelenting attacks on workers' rights, medical care and retirement security will no longer be tolerated.

The UMWA coal miners, retirees and their families in Southwest Virginia played a critical role in this victory, and we want to thank them for their strong support.

‘Labor Laws No Longer Protect Workers’ Rights’

2005-11-07T11:26:00.000-05:00

Source: AFL-CIO

American workers’ freedom to form unions, which has enabled millions of employees to make family-supportive wages and benefits, is under attack by employers—and the nation’s labor laws are not protecting against employer intimidation and harassment, according to both Reagan- and Clinton-appointed members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

“The law’s remedies for labor law violations are weak and ineffective. Many underlying assumptions and doctrines of the law are out of synch with changing realities, especially the changing nature of the employment relationship, the workplace and communications,” said Wilma Liebman in her keynote address to the Robert Fuchs Labor Law Conference at Boston’s Suffolk University Law School Oct. 27.

Liebman is the only Democratic member of the five-member NLRB, which currently has two vacant seats. The NLRB is a federal agency created by Congress in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act, the primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sector.

Marshall Babson, a management attorney and former NLRB member appointed to the board by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, spoke in favor of majority sign-up agreements in which an employer voluntarily agrees to recognize the union after a majority of workers signs cards supporting the union. Currently, most workers seeking to join unions are forced to go through the cumbersome NLRB election process, which employers often drag out as a way to intimidate and discourage workers from joining unions. The majority sign-up process enables workers to join unions without fear of employer threats.

But according to Babson, the NLRB has announced it intends to review majority sign-up.

“We should be long past questions about the right of employers and unions to enter into voluntary recognition agreements,” Babson told the conference. Many employers see it as in their interest to sign a voluntary recognition agreement, and they are “not rare or unusual,” said Babson.

MORE...
Working Families Set for Dec. 10 Mobilization to Restore Freedom to Form Unions
Working Families Back Employee Free Choice Act

TAKE ACTION
Tell Congress: Restore workers’ freedom to form unions. Send a message to your U.S. senators and representative urging them to co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act.

Illinois Unions Help Win ‘All Kids’ Health Care

2005-11-03T11:10:00.000-05:00

Source: AFL-CIO

Union activists and children’s advocates across Illinois are celebrating a huge win after the state legislature approved the nation’s first health insurance program covering every child in the state, including 253,000 children who currently have no health coverage. As a safeguard to guarantee that employers will not abuse the new insurance system by immediately dropping health coverage for families with children, children must be uninsured for a full year.

“Affordable health care for all working families has long been a top priority for labor and All Kids is a great step towards that goal. The sad fact is…the majority of children who don’t have health insurance come from working families. All Kids is a sound solution. It’s not free health care. It’s affordable health care for kids,” says Margaret Blackshere, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO.

Providing quality and affordable health care is a top priority for state and local union movements nationwide, and union activists in Illinois were a key part of the coalition that led the fight to pass the “All Kids” bill. Grassroots union members packed town hall meetings around the state to show their support for the legislation, proposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D). On Oct. 8, more than 2,000 union members and their allies rallied in Chicago in support of the bill.

Two top legislative leaders, Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and House Speaker Michael Madigan, both Democrats, sponsored the legislation, which passed the state legislature Oct. 28.

The “All Kids” program will cover doctors’ visits, emergency care, dental and vision benefits, mental health services, prescription drugs and more for all children in Illinois regardless of income, health conditions or citizenship. Parents will pay affordable monthly premiums and co-payments, according to a statement by Blagojevich.

“Every child deserves the chance to be healthy,” Blagojevich says. “Thousands of kids from working-class and middle-class families have fallen through the cracks because their families earn too much to qualify for government programs, but still can’t afford private insurance.”

Nearly 46 million Americans do not have health insurance, and rapidly increasing costs soon will put quality health care out of reach of a majority of the American population, health care advocates warn.

Nearly every employer is confronted with double-digit increases in health insurance premiums and many are facing increases well above 20 percent annually. Most employers try to shift these costs to their workers—who either can’t afford to pay these additional costs or else experience a declining standard of living to maintain access to health care.

More Info About Labor Dept Rebuking Over Wal-Mart Deal

2005-11-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

Over at the Confined Spaces blog you can check out detailed information about the Department of Labor and Wal-Mart unscrupulous pact.

Source: Confined Spaces
Labor Dept Rebuked Over Wal-Mart Deal
The Bush administration's bad week continues.While this won't make the same headlines as the Miers withdrawal or Scooter's journey to the dark side, the underbelly of the Bush administration's coziness with its special corporate friends was revealed for all to see as the Bush Labor Department was taken to the woodshed yesterday by its inspector general who criticized the Department for an agreement promising the stores 15 day notice before labor invstigators woud inspect its stores for child labor violations. (MORE >>>)

Wal-Mart Sweetheart Deal With Labor Department Involved “Serious Breakdowns” that Benefited the Company, Government Report Concludes

2005-11-01T10:49:00.000-05:00

Representative Miller Says Report Underscores Special Relationship Between Bush Administration and Major GOP Donor Wal-Mart

WASHINGTON, DC -- A federal inspector general has found that a secret and controversial agreement between Wal-Mart and the U.S. Department of Labor, signed in January, was the result of “serious breakdowns” in the Labor Department’s normal procedures and resulted in an agreement that was “significantly different” than other agreements signed by the Department. The investigators also concluded that the agreement has brought significant benefits to Wal-Mart while weakening future federal oversight of labor practices at Wal-Mart.

The breakdowns resulted in Wal-Mart being able to author “key provisions” of the agreement, reached after the Labor Department found the company had violated child labor laws at operations in three states, the IG reported.

Representative George Miller (D-CA), the lawmaker who requested that the DOL’s Inspector General investigate the sweetheart deal after it was revealed in news accounts in February, said today that the IG report bolsters his belief that the Bush Administration was doing a favor for a powerful friend by making the deal. Miller said that he would join legislation, offered by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), to prevent DOL from making these sweetheart deals with companies in the future.

“Instead of looking out for all Americans, the Bush Administration took care of one of its closest friends, Wal-Mart,” said Miller, the senior Democrat on the House labor committee. “The Bush Labor Department chose to do an unprecedented favor for Wal-Mart, despite the fact it is well known for violating labor laws, including child labor laws. The sweetheart deal put Wal-Mart employees at risk, undermined government effectiveness, and further undermined public confidence that the government is acting on its behalf.”

The controversial arrangement reached in January only became public when it was leaked in February. Under the arrangement, Wal-Mart is given 15 days advance notice before any wage and hour audit or investigation by the Department of Labor. Upon receiving a complaint about a potential violation of wage and hour laws, DOL’s field offices around the country are now instructed to notify the DOL office in Little Rock, Arkansas, which will then notify Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas of the complaint. The Department will not launch its own investigation during that time.

Miller said that such an arrangement could allow the giant employer to cover up evidence of a violation and would discourage aggrieved employees who might fear retribution from the company from ever filing a complaint. In addition to the 15 days advance notice, if a violation is ultimately found, Wal-Mart is given an additional 10 days to come into compliance with the law, in order to avoid any penalties for such violation. Finally, the deal included a provision that restricts how the DOL may disseminate information to the press or public about the agreement.
The Inspector General said today that the Labor Department had entered “into an agreement that gave significant concessions to Wal-Mart…in exchange for little commitment from the employer beyond what it was already doing or required to do by law.”

The Department entered into the deal – formally known as a “compliance agreement” – in settlement of dozens of child labor violations by Wal-Mart in three states involving the use of dangerous equipment by minors. The deal included the payment of $135,000 in fines, amounting to just 15 seconds of sales for the retailer. Compliance agreements are meant to prevent similar violations by the employer from recurring, not to give employers advance notification of future violations.

“This report proves what we have known all along – that Wal-Mart’s settlement with the Department of Labor put the interests of one of the nation’s worst labor law violators ahead of the protection of America’s workers,” said DeLauro. “Imposing a fine equivalent to what Wal-Mart generates every 15 seconds and granting the company advance notice before any federal labor investigation was not only unprecedented for labor settlements, but literally a slap on the wrist for the country’s largest employer.”

Wal-Mart is a major contributor to the Republican Party. In the 2004 election cycle, Wal-Mart donated $2.1 million to candidates and campaigns – more than any other retailer. Eighty percent of those donations went to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets.org. Wal-Mart’s closeness to Republicans was further demonstrated in May 2004, when Vice President Dick Cheney said, “The story of Wal-Mart exemplifies some of the very best qualities in our country – hard work, the spirit of enterprise, fair dealing, and integrity.”

In fact, Wal-Mart has a long history of labor violations, from failing to pay workers for overtime hours, violating child labor laws, and locking workers into stores at night. Last year, Miller’s staff prepared a report that detailed Wal-Mart’s egregious labor practices, and the costs to taxpayers who pick up medical, educational and other costs associated with the company’s well-known low wage policy.

For a copy of the IG report, visit: http://www.democraticleader.house.gov/GM/DOL_ESA.pdf (pdf file).
For more information, go to: http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/laborabuseinfo.html.

ALITO WOULD STRIKE DOWN THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

2005-10-31T15:49:00.000-05:00

Bush's newest Supreme Court nomination already has a track record of denying workers of their rights.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) “guarantees most workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a loved one.” The 2003 Supreme Court ruling upholding FMLA essentially reversed a 2000 decision by Alito which found that Congress exceeded its power in passing the law.

Fmr. Congressman Tony Coehlo on Wal-Mart's secret memo

2005-10-27T13:21:00.000-04:00

Source: Wake Up Wal-Mart.Com

Statement by former congressman and author of the Americans with Disabilities Act Tony Coelho:

"As the author of the American’s with Disabilities Act and long-time advocate for people with disabilities, I am deeply troubled by Wal-Mart’s internal memo exposed by the New York Times this morning.

This is one of the most profitable companies in the world and this memo shows that in their pursuit for greed and power, they have chosen to cut costs even at the price of human dignity. Wal-Mart’s desire to “dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at Wal-Mart” is chilling and unconscionable. No company or organization should be able to discriminate against an employee on the basis of age, level of fitness, disability status or potential cost to the company.

It is a sad day when American’s largest employer callously treats its employees as products in its stores. Wal-Mart has a moral responsibility to immediately disavow itself of this memo and not selectively hire Americans on the basis of their potential cost to the company."

Workers Win Fair Wages as Bush Backs off Davis-Bacon Suspension

2005-10-27T12:03:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

In response to working families and their unions, as well as community and religious groups and some members of Congress, President George W. Bush on Oct. 26 rescinded his executive order that allowed contractors to pay substandard wages to construction workers rebuilding Gulf Coast areas devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The order, which suspended the federal Davis-Bacon Act, now will expire Nov. 8.

Grassroots activists sent more than 350,000 e-mails and letters to their representatives demanding fair wages be reinstated for the Gulf Coast, where skilled, full-time workers average less than $20,000 a year in pay.

One of Bush’s first acts after Hurricane Katrina hit was suspending Davis-Bacon. Enacted in 1931, Davis-Bacon ensures high-quality work standards and community prevailing wage requirements for federally funded rebuilding projects. A few days after suspending Davis-Bacon, Bush also suspended affirmative action rules for Katrina contractors.

“President Bush has done the right thing by reversing his decision to suspend prevailing wage—but it’s only the first step. He must now reinstate affirmative action requirements for contractors in the Gulf and end his attempts to slash programs for working families while adding new tax breaks for the rich,” says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

Thirty-seven House Republicans urged the White House to reverse the suspension, and Rep. George Miller led unanimous opposition by Democrats to the president’s suspension.

Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs

2005-10-26T14:58:00.000-04:00

Source: Wake Up Wal-Mart.Com

From NY Times 10/26/05 Story:

An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.

In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.

To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering)."

The memo acknowledged that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had to walk a fine line in restraining benefit costs because critics had attacked it for being stingy on wages and health coverage. Ms. Chambers acknowledged that 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees were uninsured or on Medicaid.

Statement by Paul Blank, campaign director, WakeUpWalMart.com:

“An internal Wal-Mart memo, released by the New York Times this morning, exposes what a farce the last two days have been. Wal-Mart’s CEO had the gall to come out this week and try to spin Wal-Mart as a company changing. Wal-Mart is not a company trying to change. Today’s memo proves Wal-Mart’s announcements are nothing more than a publicity stunt by exposing the truth behind Wal-Mart’s culture of greed and moral corruption.

The memo, authored by Susan Chambers, Executive Vice President for Benefits, robs Wal-Mart workers of their human dignity and instead treats them like products in their stores. It is simply appalling that Wal-Mart’s senior management would actually write a memo suggesting not to hire certain workers because they may be unhealthy or obese.

Most startlingly, Wal-Mart, for the first time, admitted there is a Wal-Mart health care crisis in America. The memo specifically states, ‘Wal-Mart has a significant percentage of associates and their children on public assistance.’ In fact, Wal-Mart revealed 46% of the children of Wal-Mart employees are either uninsured or on taxpayer funded public health care programs. No wonder Wal-Mart so vehemently opposes legislators’ efforts to expose the truth about the true cost of the Wal-Mart economy. It is inexcusable and unconscionable for a company, with $10 billion in profits, to know 1 out of every 2 of their employees’ children has no health care or is forced to rely on our public safety net and do nothing about it.

The key question becomes: What else does Wal-Mart know and when will they reveal it? Wal-Mart’s great American deception of the past two days will not stand and Lee Scott ought to be ashamed of himself for perpetuating such a fraudulent image to the American people.”

WAL-MART OFFERS SHAM HEALTH CARE PLAN AS PUBLICITY STUNT

2005-10-26T10:25:00.000-04:00

Source: UFCW

New Name, Same Basic Plan - Extremely High Deductibles & Strict Eligibility Requirements

Today, Wal-Mart's CEO Lee Scott is announcing Wal-Mart's "new" health care plans for 2006. Wal-Mart falsely claims its plans will increase the number of employees who can afford health insurance. In fact, Wal-Mart's so-called "new" Value Plan is simply a repackaging of the poor health care plans Wal-Mart already offers, which already leave over half of its employees without company provided health care.

"Wal-Mart's new health care plan is another empty promise wrapped in a publicity stunt that will do nothing to increase health care coverage for over 600,000 Wal-Mart employees who go without company provided health care," said Paul Blank, campaign director of WakeUpWalMart.com.

"Wal-Mart fails to address the key reasons more than half of its employees aren't covered under their health care plan - ridiculously high deductible costs and overly strict eligibility requirements. Wal-Mart latest publicity stunt will do nothing to help their employees and is more reflective of a morally bankrupt company trying to deceive the American public than live up to its responsibilities as America's largest corporation," added Blank.

Here are the facts.

Last year, Wal-Mart had two major health care plan options: 1) the Standard plan and 2) the Network plan. Each of those plans has 4 options within them: 1) a $350 deductible; 2) a $500 deductible; 3) a $750 deductible; and, 4) a $1,000 deductible.

This year, Wal-Mart is introducing two additional options: 1) a so-called Value plan and 2) Health Savings Accounts (HSA's). Since the HSA's are only available to employees who have already been enrolled in a Wal-Mart health care plan for one year, the HSA's are not designed to, nor will the HSA's, increase health care coverage for anyone.

Therefore, the only plan that has the potential to increase the abysmal fact that Wal-Mart only provides health insurance coverage to 48% of its employees is the Value plan. The Value plan, however, comes with a $1,000 deductible. In addition, the Value plan has additional deductibles for in-hospital care, prescription drugs and surgical care. All told, the Value plan's deductibles plus premiums could be as much as 25% of an employee's take-home pay for individual coverage and up to 40% for family coverage.

Even more disturbing is the fact that the Value plan is almost identical, if not worse, than the $1,000 deductible versions of the existing Standard and Network plans already offered to Wal-Mart employees.

The following is a comparison of the rates between Wal-Mart's proposed plan for 2006 and last year's plans.

Jan. 2005 Jan 2006
Network Plan $1000 deductible $17.50 $18
Standard Plan $1000 deductible $21.00 $21.50
Value Plan $1000 deductible Not Available $25 (on average)
$10.50 (limited areas)

Wal-Mart's business model has already paved the way for other corporations to try and reduce their health benefits to employees. Currently, the average company with 200 or more employees has 67% of its workers covered under the company health care plan, Wal-Mart is well below that average with only 48% of its employees covered under the company health care plan.

"Wal-Mart's so-called Value health care plan offers nothing but an empty promise of higher deductibles that remain unaffordable and out-of-reach to most Wal-Mart workers. With Wal-Mart's poverty-level wages, the average worker would have to spend up to 40% of their take-home pay to purchase the family option of this so-called Value plan. No wonder Wal-Mart admits the taxpayer-funded public safety net is often a 'better value' than their own inadequate health care plan."

America’s Middle Class at Risk—Here’s Why

2005-10-25T10:58:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

America’s middle class is at risk—as demonstrated by increased personal bankruptcies, record levels of debt and growing job instability. Meanwhile, the nation’s safety net is shredding at the public level—with the latest Bush administration budget proposal set to further slash critical social programs—as well as in the private sector, where employers are backing away from providing health care, pensions and family-supporting wages.

“Families are experiencing much more income instability since the 1970s, and over the last 20 years, the increase in [economic] volatility is roughly the same for the educated and those with less education,” says Jacob Hacker, political science professor at Yale University.

Hacker was among five top policy analysts meeting recently in Washington, D.C., for a panel discussion on The Middle Class at Risk: Economic Insecurity in America Today, sponsored by the nonprofit Center for American Progress.

“Today, job loss is increasingly likely to be persistent. Workers are less often able to return to a similar job in a similar industry, so unemployment frequently ends only when workers accept a new job that requires major cuts in pay, hours, or both,” Hacker says. (MORE >>>)

Hoffa Delivers Unity Message During Kentucky Visit

2005-10-25T10:00:00.000-04:00

During Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. visit to Louisville, KY (home to one of the largest union branches in the country) called for changes to help the workers at the Kentuckiana UPS plant.

The Teamsters hope to finish old negotiations while adding hundreds of new jobs to the Louisville area in the next few years. Kentuckiana, it appears, is evolving into a focal point for union revival efforts.

"This whole area is growing and its a fertile area for unions right now," Hoffa said.

Republicans in Congress Vote Against Minimum Wage Workers—Again

2005-10-20T10:19:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

For the second time this year, Senate Republicans voted against giving the nation’s lowest-paid workers a pay raise, killing a proposal by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to boost the minimum wage to $6.25 an hour. Yet members of Congress are set to give themselves their eighth pay raise since the last minimum wage increase in 1997. The new pay raise for Congress means the salaries of senators and representatives have gone up by $31,600 since 1997 while minimum wage workers still earn only $10,700 a year.

Senate Democrats also successfully beat back a second proposal by Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), which would have raised the minimum wage but that included draconian provisions to exempt millions of workers from the minimum wage, cut overtime pay and weaken job safety and health protection.

Under the Enzi amendment, Fair Labor Standards Act protections for all workers at businesses with revenues up to $1 million would be eliminated. In 1997, 6.8 million employees worked at firms with revenues of between $500,000 and $1 million, according to the nonprofit Economic Profit Institute (EPI).

In addition, the Enzi amendment would have abolished the 40-hour workweek and replaced it with an 80-hour, two-week work period. Today, those who work 50 hours in one week and 30 the next receive 10 hours of time-and-a-half overtime pay. Under the amendment, such workers would no longer get overtime pay, making mandatory overtime cheaper for employers, according to EPI.

Kennedy originally proposed a minimum wage amendment to the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. But in an effort to gain support for passage of a minimum wage increase, he later offered a compromise amendment that would have boosted the minimum wage by $1.10 an hour. (MORE >>>)

The official trailer for Wal-Mart Movie is now online

2005-10-19T13:05:00.000-04:00

The official trailer for Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price is now online!

View the trailer in Quicktime (High), Quicktime (Low), Windows Media Player or download it in MPEG4.

Economic Report: Just one fourth of U.S. workers have good jobs

2005-10-19T10:33:00.000-04:00

Source: Workers Independent News

How Good Is The Economy at Creating Good Jobs? Not very, judging by results of a study by that name done by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. The study says just 25.2 percent of U.S. workers have jobs that pay at least $16 an hour and provide health insurance and a pension. Despite economic growth from 1974 through 2004 the percentage of good jobs has stayed the same, leaving 75 percent of American workers struggling in jobs that don't provide a middle class wage with a pension and health care.

JibJab takes on a new target...Wal-Mart

2005-10-14T16:53:00.000-04:00

JibJab, makers of infamous satirical cartoons during the 2004 Election, have taken on a new target in an animated piece they call "Big Box Mart."

You can see the video by visiting the JibJab website:
http://jibjab.com/

Miers Law Firm Is Anti-Union Business Advisor

2005-10-11T16:10:00.000-04:00

The law firm that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers belonged to before joining the Bush administration in 2001 offers a comprehensive "union avoidance" strategy for businesses.

The Locke Liddell & Sapp website details services to prevent businesses from being organized:

" . . . we handle all matters that arise under the National Labor Relations Act, including NLRB elections, anti-union campaign materials, collective bargaining, arbitrations, strikes and picketing . . .For union-free companies, we provide union-avoidance advice and strategies in emerging situations."

While it is not known whether Miers personally provided anti-union services, she was a co-managing partner of the firm and was elected its president in 1996. She began working at what is now Locke Liddell & Sapp in 1972.

Judge Stops Bush Effort to Eliminate Federal Workers’ Rights

2005-10-11T15:21:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

In a major win for federal workers, a U.S. judge for the second time denied the Bush administration’s efforts to destroy the civil service system covering 160,000 employees at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Bush administration had asked U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer to narrow her Aug. 12 ruling blocking new personnel rules that would have virtually eliminated employees’ bargaining and workplace rights and ended civil service pay scales. On Oct. 7, Collyer rejected the administration’s request and accepted the unions’ argument that the rules essentially would eliminate the collective bargaining process.

After DHS issued the rules in January, AFGE and four other unions filed suit, arguing that significant parts of the proposed personnel system would violate the Homeland Security Act.

Five myths about today’s auto industry

2005-10-10T16:58:00.000-04:00

Source: UAW
by Ron Gettelfinger

Is the unionized American auto industry dead?
There are some who claim Detroit automakers are stuck in old ways of doing business and unable to compete with their more flexible Asian and European competitors.
It’s true that today’s auto companies and autoworkers face more challenges than ever. But much of what is said about the auto industry doesn’t square with the reality of what’s being done inside today’s auto factories.

For one thing, several popular vehicles that carry foreign nameplates are actually built here in the U.S. by UAW members, working with the same union contracts that supposedly make auto plants “uncompetitive.” Our members now build vehicles not only for Detroit-based automakers, but also for Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Volvo Trucks.
Some other common misconceptions:

Nobody builds auto plants in Michigan anymore.
All the new factories are down South. That would be news to GM, which just spent $1.5 billion on assembly operations in Lansing; to Ford, which spent $2 billion to rebuild the Rouge complex in Dearborn; and to DaimlerChrysler, which partnered with Hyundai and Mitsubishi to build a new $700 million engine complex in Dundee.

Packed with the latest technology and powered by ultra-modern conveyors, these facilities are flexible enough to produce multiple vehicle and engine models – and ergonomically designed to prevent workplace hazards and injuries.

The Big Three are going broke because their labor costs are too high.
UAW members are proud of the value we produce for employers: $463,000 per worker in a typical auto assembly plant, according to output-per-worker calculations from the Annual Survey of Manufacturers by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Thanks to this extraordinary productivity, the average auto assembly worker produces far more than he or she gets paid, by a margin of hundreds of thousands of dollars per worker. This remains true even when overtime, health care, pensions and other labor costs are included.

When it comes to quality, the Big Three are still way behind their competitors.
Not according to J.D. Power’s 2005 Initial Quality Study. This influential report found that the top three quality plants in North and South America are all unionized GM facilities – two in Canada and one in the United States. GM produced the top-quality performer in five vehicle segments, including the mid-size and full-size car segments; Ford was a winner in two product categories.

UAW members recognize the link between quality and productivity and job security, and we are working every day in every way to ensure that we make a difference when it comes to quality. The customers who purchase the products we build deserve no less. The quality measurement gap used throughout the industry has narrowed to a small margin, and our members are proud of that. But, until we are the very best, it will not be good enough.

Detroit builds nothing but gas guzzlers.
UAW members build the hybrid Ford Escape, the hybrid Mercury Mariner, and light hybrid versions of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra. Other models are scheduled to come on line in 2007, and Ford recently announced it will produce 250,000 hybrids by 2010.

The Big Three are also using new fuel-saving technologies – like diesel powertrains, cylinder deactivation, continuously variable transmissions and lightweight materials – which can cut fuel consumption by 20 percent or more. These innovations aren’t visible to most consumers or the media. But they’re being installed on high-volume products like the Ford Explorer, the Jeep Cherokee and the Chevy Malibu, which sell hundreds of thousands of units per year. Even a small improvement in fuel economy on that many cars can make a big difference for America’s energy supply.

In a global industry, with cars coming from all over, it doesn’t make any difference what car I buy.
According to the Automotive Trade Policy Council, DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors accounted for 85 percent of the total investment in the U.S. auto industry between 1980 and 2002, a total of $176 billion invested in U.S. communities. These three companies alone purchase 80 percent of the auto parts now produced in the United States.

Big Three investment and purchasing supports millions of U.S. workers, retirees and their dependents. Yet the U.S. remains the most open automotive market in the world. Forty percent of vehicles sold in the U.S. have foreign nameplates, compared to 22 percent in the Europe, 5 percent in Japan, and just 2 percent in Korea.

Additionally, the Big Three are faced with free trade agreements that allow unfair trade practices like currency manipulation which give some foreign automakers an artificial advantage. These are not complaints – just facts.

It does matter and you will find union-made vehicles in every segment and in every price range, from fuel-sipping small compacts to family-size minivans. The auto industry can have a strong future in Michigan – if we all work together to make it happen.

This article first appeared on Oct. 7, 2005, in the Detroit News’ Labor Voices

UAW statement on Delphi filing for bankruptcy

2005-10-10T13:43:00.000-04:00

Source: UAW

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker today issued this statement on the decision by Delphi Corp. to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection:
“The UAW is deeply disappointed by the decision by the Board of Directors of Delphi Corp. to today file for bankruptcy.

“Delphi’s decision is obviously an extremely bitter pill for the 25,000 Delphi workers represented by the UAW as well as for the thousands of workers represented by other unions and non-union salaried Delphi employees – all of whom have worked hard to try to make Delphi’s U.S. operations successful.

“The UAW is committed to doing everything we possibly can to protect the interests of our active and retired members and their families. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the UAW has had to deal with a court-ordered corporate restructuring, and we will vigorously use our experience, expertise and resources to represent the interests of UAW-Delphi workers and retirees throughout this process.

“Over the past several months, the UAW has engaged in discussions with Delphi to craft a mutually agreeable approach to the company’s financial problems that would have enabled Delphi to avoid filing for bankruptcy. We made it clear to Delphi that we were willing to continue discussions and to consider a wide range of options. However, from the outset of talks about a possible bankruptcy filing, Delphi made it clear that the UAW alone could not solve the company’s problems. “Delphi today informed the UAW that it was filing for bankruptcy – more than a week before the new federal bankruptcy law will go into effect.

“Delphi’s decision would be extremely disappointing under any circumstances, but it is all the more so in light of the company’s announcement on Friday – just one day before filing bankruptcy -- that it had sweetened the severance packages for Delph’s 21 most highly compensated executives because the old severance package was – as a Delphi spokesperson put it -- ‘uncompetitive.’

“Once again, we see the disgusting spectacle of the people at the top taking care of themselves at the same time they are demanding extraordinary sacrifices from their hourly workers, engineers, administrative and support staff, mid-level managers and others. All of them deserved better from Delphi’s senior executive leadership.”

Union renews tie with the AFL-CIO

2005-10-07T10:19:00.000-04:00

Source: Washington Times

The AFL-CIO yesterday approved the return of the United Transportation Union to the federation, four years after its departure.

The 60,000-member union is the second labor group in two weeks to indicate it wants membership in the AFL-CIO. The California Nurses Association last month decided to ask the AFL-CIO for a charter and is petitioning for membership. (MORE >>>)

Union sponsors contest to help the economy

2005-10-06T10:38:00.000-04:00

Have an idea on how to preserve the American dream? It could be worth $100,000.

A contest sponsored by the Service Employees International Union is looking for ideas that will help the economy grow, encourage existing companies to expand and create well-paying jobs. The winning idea will be worth $100,000 and two runners-up will claim a second prize of $50,000 each.

The country needs new ideas for how to strengthen its economy and compete in the fast-changing international marketplace, said SEIU President Andrew Stern. And he thinks ordinary Americans are the best people to ask for those ideas.

The contest entries should outline, in 175 words or less, a problem or issue, how it should be fixed, and how fixing it will benefit working men and women. A panel of two dozen judges includes Democrats, Republicans, economists, chief executives and interest group leaders.

Entries should be postmarked by Dec. 5, 2005, and mailed to The Best Idea Since Sliced Bread, SEIU, Fifth Floor, 1313 L St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005. Details of the contest are available at a special Web site set up by the sponsors: http://www.sinceslicedbread.com.

The Rich Get Richer

2005-10-06T10:27:00.000-04:00

Although it comes as a shock to the true working class people of this country and those who monitor profits made by corporations, the New York Times did print a story this week about how "At The Very Top, A Surge in Income in '03".

Good read, but since it was in the Times it is doubtful it will reach Red State voters whom seem to have embraced this administration's corporate love.

AFL-CIO Union Community Fund Tops $500,000 Goal in Less Than a Month

2005-10-06T10:24:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

In a less than a month, the AFL-CIO Union Community Fund’s Hurricane Relief Fund surpassed its goal of raising $500,000 to help the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The fund collected $507,500 in donations by Oct. 4 and donations are still coming in. Some 3,725 donors generously gave an average gift of $136. The overwhelming generosity of union members and allies will go a long way toward helping restore the lives of working families that have lost homes and jobs along the Gulf Coast.

The Union Community Fund’s fund-raising drive is part of a massive effort by the union movement to aid hurricane survivors. Many union members, including firefighters, police, electrical workers, nurses and medical personnel, were the first on the scene to provide relief and aid to Gulf Coast survivors.

The real looter of the Gulf Coast

2005-10-04T16:03:00.000-04:00

Source: Workers Independent News

Missouri GOP U.S. Senator courts the Carpenters union

2005-10-04T15:59:00.000-04:00

Source: Workers Independent News

Missouri Republican U.S. Senator Jim Talent is courting the Carpenters union for support in next year's election. Democrats have made unseating Talent a top priority. Talent met privately last week with Carpenters local and national leaders. In return for union support , Talent and Missouri's Republican governor have reportedly offered not to turn Missouri into a so-called "Right To Work" state.

More Americans then ever before missing credit card payments

2005-09-29T15:03:00.000-04:00

Source: Workers Independent News

As Congress debates whether or not to protect Hurricane Katrina victims from bankruptcy reform laws that take effect October 17th, a record number of Americans hit by high gas prices are missing their credit card payments. The American Bankers Association reports that past due payments for April-to-June rose to 4.81 percent the highest level since the organization began monitoring the information in 1973. The organization says that in addition to higher gas prices, personal savings rate, typically a cushion for jumps in energy prices, have dropped to a record low of 0.6 percent.

United Mine Workers of America "Proud to Endorse" Sen. Robert C. Byrd for Reelection

2005-09-29T11:16:00.000-04:00

Source: UMWA

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts today announced that the union has endorsed Senator Robert C. Byrd (D- W. Va.) for reelection in 2006.

"We are proud to endorse Senator Byrd for reelection," said Roberts. "There is no better friend in Congress of working and retired coal miners and their families than Senator Byrd. He has stood with us time and time again in our hours of need, and we're going to stand with him.

"He's a leader in the fight for continued funding for the Coal Act, making sure the federal government lives up to its promise of health care for retired miners and their widows. Because of his efforts, hundreds of millions of dollars are returned to West Virginia coalfield communities each year, supporting local economies throughout our state.

"Senator Byrd has worked to enact and strengthen coal mine health and safety legislation, helping to transform coal mines from dangerous, dusty places where life and limb were at constant risk into workplaces where workers can have a reasonable expectation of returning home from work safely every day," Roberts said.

"But Senator Byrd doesn't just stand up for coal miners and our families, he stands up for every working family in West Virginia and always has in his years as a United States Senator," Roberts said. "His is a voice of strength and courage in the Senate, one working families cannot afford to lose at this critical time in our nation's history. He is on our side, and we're on his."

The UMWA endorsement of Senator Byrd was recommended by the West Virginia Coal Miners Political Action Committee (COMPAC) Council earlier in September. The UMWA National COMPAC Council voted unanimously to endorse Byrd on September 22.

Click here to listen to a moving speech Sen. Byrd made May 17, 1999 at the Save the Coal Act rally in Washington, D.C.

Wal-Mart movie releases two trailers

2005-09-28T15:03:00.000-04:00

Brave New Films has just released two movie trailers to advertise their upcoming film, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" .

Click on the links below to watch the movie trailers
1. The Gospel According to Sam Walton: Ever since their friends started working for Wal-Mart, Bob and Wendy haven't seen them much. Features James Cromwell and Frances Fisher.

2. Betty's Diet Plan: Betty's job at Wal-Mart has done wonders for her physique.

AFL-CIO Calls for 'New Direction'

2005-09-23T13:40:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

Hurricane Katrina has illustrated the failed priorities of national leadership, according to top union officials who called today for a “new direction” for our country.

America not only must rebuild the devastated Gulf Coast region but also must redefine national priorities to focus on better jobs, stronger communities and a just economy, the 10-member AFL-CIO Executive Committee said in announcing a dramatic “America Needs a New Direction” initiative.

“The inability of our federal leaders to deal with this continuing tragedy is a failure of huge proportions. What happened on the Gulf Coast broke our hearts, but it also opened our eyes and confronted us with graphic evidence that our leaders have broken faith with the American Dream,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who, along with AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, recently visited the storm-damaged areas.

The New Direction initiative includes immediate steps to address Katrina’s damage—including restoring wage protections for construction workers in the region, which President George W. Bush revoked, and demanding accountability in all reconstruction contracts—as well as longer term nationwide efforts. (MORE >>>)

Wal-Mart Accused of Denying Lunch Breaks

2005-09-21T12:12:00.000-04:00

Source: AP

Lawyers representing about 116,000 former and current Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) employees in California told a jury Monday that the world's largest retailer systematically and illegally denied workers lunch breaks.

The suit in Alameda County Superior Court is among about 40 cases nationwide alleging workplace violations against Wal-Mart, and the first to go to trial. Wal-Mart, which earned $10 billion last year, settled a lawsuit in Colorado for $50 million that contains similar allegations to California's class action. The company also is accused of paying men more than women in a federal lawsuit pending in San Francisco federal court.

The workers in the class-action suit are owed more than $66 million plus interest, attorney Fred Furth told the 12 jurors and four alternates.

"I will prove the reason they did this was for the God Almighty dollar," Furth said in his opening statement. (MORE >>>)

Two Change-to-Win unions battle over Edison workers

2005-09-19T15:01:00.000-04:00

Source: NJ.COM

At the national level, the Service Employees International Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers are allies.

The SEIU and the UFCW are part of the Change-to-Win coalition that broke from the AFL-CIO this summer.

But in Edison, locals of the two unions are on opposite sides of a battle involving one of the state's largest developers and managers of office buildings. (MORE>>>)

All of this comes on the heels of SEIU last Friday releasing an internal memo (Source: Working Life) announcing it had reached a "no raiding" agreement with the AFL-CIO affiliated American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

STATEMENT BY MICHAEL MOORE ON THE CBC LOCKOUT

2005-09-19T14:34:00.000-04:00

Source: Michael Moore.Com

Oscar-winning filmmaker and best-selling author Michael Moore issued the following statement today on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's decision to air "Bowling for Columbine" while in the midst of a lockout:

"CBC has locked out its union workers, an action that is abhorrent to all who believe in the rights of people to collectively bargain. Why the great and honorable CBC is behaving like an American corporation is beyond me.

The CBC is planning to show my film, "Bowling for Columbine," this Sunday evening. I do not want my film being broadcast on the network unless it is willing to let its own workers back in to work and promises to bargain with them in good faith. That is the historical tradition of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and I expect no less than for them to continue this tradition of respecting its workers and their union."

Bush Buddies Get No-Bid Contracts While Workers Get the Shaft

2005-09-15T17:36:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

Some of the first large-scale Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery contracts awarded by the Bush administration were awarded on a no-bid basis to corporations with strong ties to the administration and the Republican Party, according to news stories in The Wall Street Journal and other media. At the same time, the administration is using the catastrophe to push a reactionary anti-worker agenda, gutting federal regulations that protect worker safety and ensure quality work and living wages.

The no-bid deals include $100 million contracts to the Fluor Corp., a major donor to the GOP, and the Shaw Group, which is client of Joe M. Allbaugh, President George W. Bush’s campaign manager in 2000 and the former director the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Meanwhile Halliburton Co., subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root Services received a $29.8 million clean-up contract, while Halliburton, formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney, is doing repair work at three Navy facilities in Mississippi under an existing contract. The company also has been awarded billions of dollars of federal contracts for work in Iraq and that work and the Bush administration’s Iraq procurement policies have been heavily criticized in recent years.

The Bush administration also is using the disaster to attack federal standards ensuring quality work and worker safety. Last week, the administration announced it was eliminating the high-quality work standards set by the federal Davis-Bacon law for hurricane reconstruction contracts work, allowing contractors to pay substandard wages to construction workers in the affected areas, and the administration also is lifting many affirmative action rules for reconstruction contracts.

Bush now wants to suspend wage supports for service workers in the hurricane zone as it did for construction workers on federal contracts last week, according to The Washington Post.

The administration also has suspended regulations limiting the number of hours truckers can drive when transporting fuel. In addition, Bush has weakened restrictions giving contracting preferences to small and minority-owned businesses and has suspended the Jones Act, which requires transport of petroleum, gasoline and other petroleum products on U.S.-flagged ships while operating in U.S. coastal waters.

The no-bid contracts “guarantee profits regardless of how much those companies spend or waste,” says AFT President Edward J. McElroy. “This is happening at the same time that the local hires of these firms will, in many cases, not earn a living wage. It is unconscionable that our national government would act to hurt those most in need while delivering a windfall to wealthy contractors. These decisions must be reversed.”

House Democratic leaders have requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate the hurricane reconstruction deals.

In a letter to the GAO, Democrats wrote: “The history of this administration’s handling of federal contracts is one of persistent and costly mismanagement. Oversight of federal contracts has been turned over to private companies with blatant conflicts of interest. In Iraq, billions have been appropriated for the reconstruction effort, yet oil and electricity production remain below prewar levels.…The contracting strategy adopted by the administration suppressed competition on thousands of reconstruction projects, while favored companies like Halliburton received special treatment and lucrative monopoly contracts.”

During a tour of hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, the Rev. Jesse Jackson slammed the no-bid deals.

“We still got families that don’t know if people are dead or missing. While the disconnected and the needy are running from shelter to shelter, the connected and greedy are getting FEMA contracts.…It’s almost like white-collar looting,” he said.

UMWA Funds Receive $200 million for Prescription Drug Demonstration Program

2005-09-15T13:36:00.000-04:00

Source: UMWA

Federal demonstration program funding helps keep retiree health care benefits intact

United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts announced today that the UMWA Health and Retirement Funds will receive over $200 million in federal funds to extend a Prescription Drug Demonstration Program for UMWA retirees and widows. The funding will extend the demonstration program through the end of September, 2007.

"The Demonstration Program is a critical component of the UMWA Health and Retirement Funds' continuing effort to provide the best possible benefits to UMWA retirees and widows," said Roberts. "There are over 55,000 beneficiaries across America who are covered by the UMWA Health and Retirement Funds and who will be helped tremendously by the extension of this demonstration.

"This extension means that the Combined Benefit Fund will have the cash it needs to keep benefits on an even keel for the next two years," Roberts said. "It will also mean that the 1993 Benefit Plan will be able to maintain current levels of benefits through the middle of next year.

"We are very thankful to those in Congress and the Administration who helped get this extension through," Roberts said. "They have taken another step in living up to the federal government's promise of health care to miners and their families, and we appreciate that very much.

"I also want to thank the members of the UMWA Pensioner Leadership Committee and all the rank-and-file members and retirees who contacted their members of Congress and the Administration, urging them to live up to the government's promise. It once again demonstrates that when we speak with one strong voice, the politicians listen."

Roberts pointed out that there is more to do in this fight. "Though this action is very welcome, it is not the complete solution to funding for retired miners' and widows' health care that is needed," he said. "It's a stop-gap measure that buys Congress more time to reach a permanent solution that fulfills America's promise to its coal miners."

Health care fund for retired miners bailed out

2005-09-15T10:53:00.000-04:00

A financially troubled program that provides prescription drug benefits to 55-thousand retired coal miners and miners' widows has received a $200 million-dollar federal bailout.The Department of Health and Human Services will continue to offer benefits to mining families in Virginia and other coal-producing states through an extension of a Medicare drug program.

Under the agreement, the Department of Health and Human Services will increase its Medicare reimbursement to the United Mine Workers Association Health and Retirement Funds by an additional $100 million dollars in each of the next two years. The funds were created by the 1992 Coal Act.

West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd said the announcement provides relief to thousands of miners but it is only a short-term solution to a looming financial crisis confronting the union's health care funds.

Unite Here Leaves AFL-CIO Over Dispute

2005-09-14T12:34:00.000-04:00

Source: Washington Post

Unite Here, a union of 450,000 workers in the apparel and hospitality industry, is leaving the AFL-CIO to join a group of dissident unions that want the organized labor movement to spend more time and money recruiting new members.

Unite Here is joining the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Carpenters in forming a dissident labor federation that has been calling itself the Change To Win Coalition. The Laborers International Union of North America and the United Farm Workers are also part of the new federation, but have not left the AFL-CIO. (MORE >>>)

Bush waives affirmative action for federal contracts for hurricane relief

2005-09-14T12:22:00.000-04:00

Source: Political Affairs.Net

The day after Bush signed the executive order that allows contractors awarded federal money to help rebuild the Hurricane Katrina devastated Gulf Coast to pay substandard wages to construction workers, the U.S. Department of Labor waived most federal affirmative action laws for contractors. The affirmative action waiver applies to companies that do not have existing government contacts and are awarded federal relief work contracts. The waiver is for three months but could be extended. (MORE >>>)

AFT president's statement on Bush's decision to allow no-bid contracts for Katrina

2005-09-13T12:25:00.000-04:00

Source: AFT

The newspapers and airwaves have been filled with discussion about the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Some issues are surely beyond the control of government at any level. But two recent actions the Bush administration is directly responsible for—suspension of the Davis Bacon Act in the Gulf Coast, and the awarding to friends of large-scale rebuilding contracts without a bidding process—are a national disgrace and the wrong response.

The president’s suspension of Davis Bacon Act protections in areas affected by Katrina means that workers on federally funded projects will be paid less than they were before the storm. The prevailing wages on the Gulf Coast are already among the lowest in the country—under $10 per hour in most job categories. For the president to drive down wages further at a time when so many are in need is both exploitative and cruel.

At the same time that the president chose to undercut working people who live in the disaster areas, he awarded his friends at firms such as Halliburton, Bechtel Group and Fluor Corp. with billions in noncompetitive, cost-plus contracts. These agreements guarantee profits regardless of how much those companies spend or waste. This is happening at the same time that the local hires of these firms will, in many cases, not earn a living wage.

It is unconscionable that our national government would act to hurt those most in need while delivering a windfall to wealthy contractors. These decisions must be reversed.

Update: President agrees to suspend prevailing wage for Katrina workers

2005-09-09T11:09:00.000-04:00

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

I hereby report that I have exercised my statutory authority under section 6 of the Davis-Bacon Act, 40 U.S.C. 276a-5, to suspend the provisions of sections 276a to 276a-5 of the Davis-Bacon Act in the event of a national emergency. I have found that the conditions caused by Hurricane Katrina constitute a "national emergency" within the meaning of section 6. I have, therefore, suspended the provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act in designated areas in the States of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. This action is more fully set out in the enclosed proclamation that I have issued today.

GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE
September 8, 2005

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price movie set to premiere Nov. 13

2005-09-08T12:23:00.000-04:00

WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.

Watch the Trailer in: Quicktime High / Low Windows Media Player...or download in MPEG4

Members of Congress wanting to deny Katrina clean up workers a prevaling wage

2005-09-08T11:54:00.000-04:00

The Working Life blog has posted an informative piece about Congress wanting to take away a chance for workers to make a decent living, particularly in the reconstruction efforts that will be fed by tens of billions of our tax dollars.

34 Republicans sent a letter to President Bush yesterday asking that he use emergency powers to suspend Davis-Bacon, which requires that workers on federally-financed projects be paid the prevailing wage.

Go to Working Life and read the posting.

Economic Report: Four Year Increase in US Poverty

2005-09-06T13:27:00.000-04:00

The images coming out of the gulf coast last week brought to the surface an invisible demographic in the United States: those living in poverty.Just days before the hurricane struck the US Census Bureau released their annual report showing that, for the fourth year in a row, poverty in the US incresed. What it means is that 37 million people are living on an income of 19000 dollars or less for a family of four, an increase of 1.1 million since 2003.

United Mine Workers of America Kicks off "Blankenship Truth" Campaign

2005-09-06T10:48:00.000-04:00

Source: UMWA

Declaring that "the people of West Virginia need to know the truth about who Don Blankenship is and what he represents," United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts today announced the beginning of a campaign that takes on the various misleading and self-serving ad campaigns sponsored by Blankenship and his company, Massey Energy.

The initial kick-off of the campaign begins today with a print ad placed in eight newspapers throughout the state, likening Blankenship to another famous Donald–New York's Donald Trump, often called "The Donald." Over time, the campaign will consist of occasional print ads, radio and TV spots, public events and more.

"We're not going to try to match The Donald dollar for dollar," Roberts said. "But we'll definitely be a strong voice for working families in the debate over the future of West Virginia."

Roberts noted that Blankenship has the highest pay of any CEO in the state of West Virginia, "and isn't shy about spending it. That's his right, but it doesn't make what he says right. He's had some success in driving the debate about issues in West Virginia, but when you look past the slick ads and misleading rhetoric, more often than not the solutions he advocates are the wrong ones for working families."

Roberts also said that a suit filed by Blankenship and Massey Energy against the UMWA and Roberts–which was dismissed last week by a Virginia judge–has not and will not intimidate the union or Roberts into silence. "Some may lay low and shut up in the face of The Donald's bullying tactics, but that just plays into his hands." he said. "If you let bullies get away with intimidation, it just makes them bolder. The UMWA and this union leader have never and will never give in to people who want to silence us."

The UMWA's print ads (attached to this release) are running in the Charleston Gazette, the Charleston Daily Mail, the Beckley Register-Herald, the Huntington Herald-Dispatch, the Morgantown Dominion-Post, the Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram and weekly papers in Putnam and Cabell counties.

UMWA - Blankenship Ad PDF

Massey and Blankenship lose more decisions in Virginia court as Judge throws out "fishing expedition"

Fairfax County, Va. Judge Jane Marum Roush today ruled against Massey Energy and its CEO, Don Blankenship, thwarting their attempts to shore up their suit against the Charleston Gazette and the West Virginia Citizens for Justice.

"Don Blankenship and Massey Energy have now lost three out of three rounds in their attempt to silence the voices of West Virginians," said United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) President Cecil E. Roberts. "Their case against me and the UMWA was dismissed last week.

Today they lost two more rounds, as their efforts to engage in a fishing expedition to drag the West Virginia Citizens for Justice (WVCJ) and the Charleston Gazette into a court they don't belong in were rebuffed."

Blankenship and Massey filed a defamation suit against the UMWA, Roberts, WVCJ and its head, West Virginia AFL-CIO President Ken Purdue, and the Gazette in Fairfax County, Va., in June. The UMWA's international headquarters are located in Fairfax County, but none of the other defendants are. WVCJ and the Gazette argued that any case against them should not have been filed in a Virginia court, since they had no ties to Virginia. Blankenship and Massey wanted to engage in discovery to see if there were any Virginia ties. Judge Roush denied their motion to do so.

"It's becoming more and more clear that this case never should have been filed," Roberts said.

"Blankenship and Massey filed this case in a blatant effort to shut us all up and send a chill over the First Amendment rights of every West Virginian who may have a different view from Blankenship's. I can't speak for anyone else, but this union and this union leader have every intention of continuing to speak out on issues important to our members and working families in West Virginia."

United Mine Workers of America donates $10,000 for Katrina relief

2005-09-06T10:42:00.000-04:00

Source: UMWA

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) today sent a check for $5,000 to the American Red Cross and another $5,000 to a relief fund established by the AFL-CIO in support of efforts to rescue, feed and shelter victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"We believe that an injury to one is an injury to all," said International President Cecil E. Roberts, "whether it's in the workplace or in the world where we live. In the face of the unimaginable suffering and loss working families throughout the Gulf Coast are going through, none of us should stand on the sidelines."

Hundreds of thousands in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have been rendered homeless by the Category 4 storm that made landfall August 29, and millions more lack electricity, running water and other basic necessities. The UMWA donation will be used to provide essential supplies and services in the most severely affected areas.

"The destruction and chaos throughout the Gulf region have prompted many to refer to the region as a war zone," Roberts said. "And as in times of war, all of us are called upon to stand united with our fellow Americans. The federal government's response to this disaster has been shockingly slow and uncoordinated, adding to the misery in that region. We call on the federal government to step up efforts complementing the struggle by non-governmental organizations to get relief aid delivered as quickly as possible."

AFL-CIO: Roberts’ ‘Troubling’ Record Demands Extensive Questioning of Chief Justice Nominee

2005-09-05T08:02:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

Judge John Roberts, President George Bush’s nominee for chief justice of the Supreme Court, must undergo “vigorous and extensive” questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee to ascertain his views on fundamental rights, according to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

In a Sept. 2 letter to committee Chair Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Sweeney called for a “deliberate, methodical and complete inquiry” into Roberts' thinking on workers' rights and civil rights.

Sweeney based “grave concerns” about Roberts' judicial philosophy and commitment to equal rights, in part, on his urging the Reagan administration to oppose strengthening the Voting Rights Act and Fair Housing Act, criticism of a Supreme Court ruling that public education cannot be eliminated for children of undocumented immigrants, defense of a narrow Supreme Court decision denying the right to recover unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act and his opinion that equal protection under law should not be enforced if it costs a defendant significantly. Sweeney also cited “troubling” views on state-sponsored gender discrimination.

Bush’s nomination of the conservative Roberts to become an associate justice, replacing moderate Sandra Day O'Connor, raised widespread concern—concern that has been amplified since Bush announced he will push for Roberts to be named chief justice following the death Sept. 4 of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.

Read AFL-CIO President John Sweeney's letter to Sens. Arlen Specter and Patrick Leahy.

Kentucky Quebecor Workers Vote Yes!

2005-09-02T17:16:00.000-04:00

Source: Teamsters

On September 1, pressmen, assistants, roll tenders, stackers and pre-press workers in Versailles, Kentucky overwhelmingly voted to join the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters (GCC/IBT) by nearly a 3-1 margin. There are 244 workers in the bargaining unit.

The Versailles vote marks the second Teamster victory under the neutrality agreement on union organizing between Quebecor World and the GCC/IBT in May of this year. Quebecor workers in Fernley, Nevada voted to unionize this past July.

The victory came after a two-and-a-half year struggle for justice at the plant.

“I’m so glad we finally have our union,” said Rich Woods, a veteran pressman at the plant.

“Being Teamsters means dignity and respect on the job for all of us. And to my fellow Quebecor workers across the country, all I can say is 'Come join us.'"

Support from the local religious and political community, as well as the local labor movement, was integral to the Quebecor workers’ victory. In a community rally shortly before the election, 70 people from eight different local unions came out to support the Quebecor workers despite strong winds and rain left over from Hurricane Katrina.

Missing! Five million workers are missing, and almost nobody has noticed

2005-09-02T11:43:00.000-04:00

Source: People's World Weekly

When the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that July’s unemployment rate was only 5 percent, President Bush interrupted his five-week vacation to take credit for a strong economy. But a report released earlier this summer strikes a jarring note.

Katherine Bradbury, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, took a closer look at the numbers. Her conclusion: there may be as many as 5.1 million additional workers who are unemployed but are not counted. When they are added to the 7.5 million officially unemployed, the unemployment rate rises to 8 percent. (Part-timers are not discussed in her analysis, but if we add those who want full-time work, unemployment reaches 11 percent.)

The BLS has always understated the real unemployment rate. But Bradbury’s research indicates that there are far more missing workers today than after recessions in the past. (MORE >>>)

Statement by President Sweeney on AFL-CIO Support for Boeing Machinists Strike

2005-09-02T10:58:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

The unions of the AFL-CIO are in full support of the strike at Boeing by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. These 18,000 men and women are in a very real sense fighting a fight for all working families.

At a time when nearly 46 million Americans are without health insurance, Boeing tried to use scare tactics to shift nearly $1,000 per year in health care costs to every employee. And the company wants to jump on to national trends by eliminating health care for future retirees, outsourcing more mechanics’ jobs and shortchanging them on pension benefits.

It is outrageous that this profitable company refuses to meet the most basic needs of its workers, while awarding millions of dollars in unrestricted stock to its executives.

Help Working Families Devastated by Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-02T10:23:00.000-04:00

Source: Union Community Fund

Working families in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama desperately need your help. Please contribute as generously as you possibly can to the special Hurricane Relief Fund of the AFL-CIO's Union Community Fund, labor's charity for working families and communities in distress. We are working with the labor federations in the affected states and with relief organizations to target help to our working brothers and sisters who need it most. UCF is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) public charity. Donations to UCF are tax-deductible to the extent provided by law.

Please don't wait—the needs are urgent.

CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE AFL-CIO UNION COMMUNITY FUND

OR MAIL YOUR CHECK TO:
Union Community Fund Hurricane Relief Fund
P.O. Box 27306
Washington, D.C. 20038-7306.

One Year Anniversary of the Horizon Natural Resources Bankruptcy

2005-09-01T12:43:00.000-04:00

August 31 marked the one-year anniversary of the Horizon Natural Resources bankruptcy an event that changed myself and nearly 5,000 United Mine Workers of America members and their families forever.

Federal judge William S. Howard ruled to terminate the health care benefits for some 5,000 active and retired miners, many of which suffered from black lung and other disabilities as result for their years of service in the coal industry.

The UMWA stood behind the Horizon miners providing health care for those who qualified and eventually was able to place 2,500 of the affected miners on the 1993 UMWA Benefits Fund. Although the fund has been described as being in “ precarious financial position”, the union was able to sway the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) to provide enough funding for the fund to provide benefits at current levels through the end of this year.

This unyielding dedication to its rank & file should be applauded and used as a moral benchmark that all unions should use when faced with problems (and injustices) regarding retirees’ benefits.

Although the fight to reform bankruptcy laws seems to almost be over thanks to the Bush Administration’s changes to the bankruptcy codes, let us not forget what happened a year ago and lets continue to fight like hell to make sure it never happens again.

Photos of the Horizon Protest Rallies in Lexington, KY
The Lexington 17
UMWA President Cecil Roberts protest of Massey Energy's refusal hire laid off Horizon miners

NWA mechanics move picket line where scabs are staying

2005-08-31T15:15:00.000-04:00

Northwest mechanics move a strike line to hotel where "scabs" are staying
(CLICK TO LISTEN)

About 100 striking Northwest Airlines mechanics and supporters picketed Tuesday at a hotel that is housing replacement mechanics.

Chanting "Scabs go home!" — the picketers protested the fact that the Radisson Metrodome Hotel in Minneapolis is housing replacement mechanics for Northwest.

It is the eleventh day of the mechanics' strike. About 4,400 mechanics, cleaners and custodians refused to take pay cuts of 25 percent and accept layoffs that would have reduced their ranks by nearly 50 percent. The offer they did make to NWA officals would have cut their pay by 20 percent.

No new talks are scheduled between the union and the airline.

Mechanics and their supporters planned to picket at the homes of several Northwest executives on Thursday.

Judge dismisses UMWA from Massey defamation lawsuit

2005-08-30T10:11:00.000-04:00

A Virginia judge has dismissed the United Mine Workers of America from a lawsuit that accused the union and two other defendants of defaming Massey Energy and its president, Don Blankenship.Fairfax County Circuit Judge Dennis Smith on Friday granted a motion by the union and its president, Cecil Roberts, to dismiss the claims against them. However, Smith's order was without prejudice, which means the company and Blankenship can amend and refile their claims. Smith gave the plaintiffs 21 days to file an amended lawsuit.

Ben Chew, an attorney representing Richmond, Virginia-based Massey and Blankenship, says the company will file an amended complaint.

West Virginia Consumers for Justice, a political advocacy group, and The Charleston Gazette remain as defendants. They also have asked Smith to dismiss the claims against them.

Blankenship and Massey sued the UMWA and West Virginia Consumers for Justice in June, alleging defamation. Also as part of the lawsuit, Blankenship -- but not his company -- is suing the newspaper. The lawsuit seeks more than $300 million dollars in damages.

***

Source: UMWA Press Release

Virginia court dismisses Massey-Blankenship suit against the United Mine Workers of America and International President Cecil Roberts

On August 26, 2005, a Fairfax County, Va. judge dismissed a defamation suit filed by Massey Energy Co. and its CEO, Don Blankenship, against the United Mine Workers of America and its International President, Cecil E. Roberts.

"This is the latest indication that Don Blankenship and Massey Energy won't be successful in their attempt to bully the UMWA and the citizens of West Virginia into silence," said Roberts. "It would appear from the judge's ruling that ‘The Donald' and his multi-million dollar law firm are confused about just how he was defamed. We will continue to vigorously contest this suit if it is re-filed, and we're confident we will continue to prevail."

The lawsuit, which sought damages for statements allegedly harmful to Massey's business and to the company's and Blankenship's reputation, was dismissed without prejudice after the Fairfax County judge found that Massey had not presented a sufficient basis for the defamation case in its complaint. The plaintiffs have 21 days to file an amended complaint, which in Virginia is called a motion for judgement.

United Federation of Teachers launches blog

2005-08-29T10:58:00.000-04:00

Source: Workers Independent News

The United Federation of Teachers have taken a step into territory rarely tred by organized labor - the so-called blogosphere. The UFT has launched EdWize.org a site that describes itself as a place union members, educators and others can express opinions "in an effort to establish an agora of informed commentary on public education and labor issues." Its a big step for a labor union as organized labor has been slow to take advantage of burdgeoning internet technologies. The site has already created quite a buzz in the city with a write-up in the Daily News and two editorials attacking the blog in the New York Post less then two weeks after the sites launch.

Disney’s Children’s Books Made with Blood, Sweat and Tears of Young Workers in China

2005-08-22T16:46:00.000-04:00

Source: National Labor Committee

Click Here For Video
Summary Report (PDF)

In China, young women and men are forced to work 10 to 13 hours a day producing Disney’s children’s books six and seven days a week, working a grueling 60 to 90 hours a week. The workers are paid just 33 to 41 cents an hour, trapping them in misery. It is common for the workers to be cheated of their overtime pay. In some factories, women are denied their legal maternity rights. Eight to 12 workers are housed in primitive dorm rooms sleeping on double level bunk beds and fed horrible food at the factory canteen. Workers often faint from exhaustion and the unbearably stifling heat in the factories. Workers have no health insurance, no pension, no rights. They have no right to freedom of association or to organize.

But the workers are fighting back in search of basic justice. And—in what is a hugely important development—students and scholars in Hong Kong (formed as SACOM—Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior) are joining their sisters and brothers in China in this struggle.
The National Labor Committee, together with SACOM and our NGO partners in Hong Kong, intend to launch an international campaign to shame Disney into doing the right thing.

The demands of the Chinese workers are simple and doable. Disney must release the names and addresses of the factories they use across China to make their goods. Disney must allow SACOM and other human, women’s and worker rights NGOs access to these plants to train the workers so they can play the key role in monitoring these factories. This will bring an end to the violations. (MORE >>>)

Navajo Committee Approves Tentative Agreement with UMWA for Head Start Workers

2005-08-22T16:34:00.000-04:00

Source: UMWA

The Human Resources Committee of the Navajo Nation Council voted unanimously to approve a tentative agreement that would be a first contract for more than 800 Head Start workers, represented by the United Mine Workers of America, who work in schools throughout the Nation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

"This is a tremendous step forward for these hard-working members, who only recently gained a voice at work through UMWA representation" said UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts. "I salute the Human Resources Committee members for their historic decision."

Roberts noted that the workers will now have the opportunity to review the details of the tentative agreement as part of the ratification process. "The final decision on this contract is now up to them, through the UMWA's democratic ratification process," Roberts said. "We look forward to that process being completed within the next several weeks."

Unions Worldwide Mobilize Support for Gate Gourmet Workers in Britain

2005-08-22T12:10:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

Unions in the United States and worldwide are mobilizing an e-mail campaign in support of the 800 members of Great Britain’s Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) fired by airline caterer Gate Gourmet Aug. 10.

Last week, after a solidarity strike by British Airways baggage staff and loaders in support of the fired Gate Gourmet workers, major media focused on passengers stranded at London’s Heathrow Airport––ignoring the corporation’s efforts to replace its employees with lower-wage workers.

According to the United Kingdom’s Daily Mirror, in a secret, internal briefing, Gate Gourmet wrote: “Recruit, train and security check drivers. Announce intention to trade union, provoking unofficial industrial action from staff. Dismiss current workforce. Replace with new staff.”

The Mirror reports Gate Gourmet created a 15-week timetable to provoke workers into striking so they could be replaced with lower-paid Eastern European workers trained at secret bases. Last year, 10 Eastern European nations joined the European Union, and some Western European corporations immediately began seeking to replace their unionized workers with Eastern Europe’s lower-paid workforce.

Send a Message Demanding Gate Gourmet Reinstate its Workers
Union members and leaders can send a messageto Gate Gourmet urging the company to reinstate the workers.

Owned by the Fort Worth-based Texas Pacific Group, Gate Gourmet also provides airline and other catering services in the United States, where many of its workers are represented by UNITE HERE.

Following the two-day solidarity strike, negotiations resumed between Gate Gourmet but and catering employees, but talks broke off Aug. 16 because Gate Gourmet wanted “to selectively re-employ those who had been sacked even though there is enough for everyone,” says TGWU General Secretary Tony Woodley.

Hours of Service Regulation A Major Setback

2005-08-22T10:40:00.000-04:00

Source: Teamsters

The proposed Hours of Service (HOS) rule for truck drivers issued today by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is a major setback for highway safety, increasing the potential for deadly accidents by forcing drivers to log even more hours on the road.

The new regulation is a repackaged version of the old rule that was struck down last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit because the government failed to consider the health of drivers in crafting the rule. Today’s proposal has once again ignored the health of drivers and the safety of the driving public, increasing the number of hours that drivers can stay behind the wheel without a rest break.

“This proposed rule is yet another outrageous power grab by ruthless companies,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “Some greedy employers are trying to squeeze drivers to enrich their bottom line at the expense of public safety on America’s highways.”

Two years ago, the Bush administration overhauled the HOS rule, raising drivers’ time on the road for the first time in six decades. The appeals court said the changes were “arbitrary and capricious” and struck down the rule that raised driving time without rest from 10 hours to 11 hours. Today’s proposed rule would still force drivers to stay behind the wheel for 11 hours.
Under the rules, truck drivers not required to have a commercial license who travel within a radius of 150 miles, now would be allowed to work two, 16-hour days a week. Wal-Mart and other retailers pushed unsuccessfully for the change in Congress earlier this year.

“Since Congress couldn’t do Wal-Mart’s bidding, it appears the Transportation Department will,” Hoffa said. “What reasonable person who has traveled our nation’s roads and highways thinks that forcing tired truck drivers to stay behind the wheel even longer is good public policy?”

Truckers who use sleeper berths will be required to rest for eight hours and take another two hours off duty before resetting their daily driving schedule.

“It’s ludicrous,” said Tyson Johnson, Teamsters’ National Freight Director. “This requires a driver to drive 10 hours every 20 to 22 hours, which will significantly increase fatigue.”

Four Iowa Democrats compete to pledge tougher labor laws

2005-08-18T17:09:00.000-04:00

Source: Sioux City Journal

Four potential Democratic gubernatorial candidates competed in promising to work for tougher labor laws, including giving unions a chance to collect dues from nonunion workers for whom they bargain.

One would go even further, pledging to seek repeal of a state law prohibiting agreements that require workers to join a union as a condition of employment.Making their case the Iowa Federation of Labor's convention, all four stuck to bread-and-butter issues important to labor.

"My background is one where I have spent nearly 20 years creating the kind of jobs that have a future in this state," said Michael Blouin, former head of the Iowa Department of Economic Development.

"We have begun a process of putting us on the right track."

"You won't find anyone in the Legislature more committed to labor," said Rep. Ed Fallon, of Des Moines, who said he would push for laws to create "a firewall between corporate greed and human need." (MORE >>>)

Economic Report: Millions of Americans face housing crisis

2005-08-18T10:29:00.000-04:00

Source: Workers Independent News

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates 5 million U.S. families are facing "crisis level" housing needs. HUD says never before has there been such a large gap between the number of low-income families needing affordable housing and the supply of affordable housing units. A minimum wage worker would have to work 86 hours a week to afford a two bedroom rental unit in the U.S. Housing costs are rising and incomes aren't keeping up.

Workers Lose Wages While Big Business Gains

2005-08-17T17:53:00.000-04:00

Even while on a five-week vacation in Crawford, Texas, President George W. Bush continues his efforts to convince the American public the nation’s recent economic recovery—after years of job losses and dismal performance—is good news for all Americans. But two recent studies show the economy is doing a lot better for Big Business than for working families.

While the Bush administration hailed the news that wages of blue collar, nonmanagerial workers rose 0.4 percent in July, a new study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) finds that those wages actually declined in July, as inflation sliced into the wage increase––and more.

“The real hourly wages [adjusted for inflation] of those workers remain at almost the exact same level as when the current recovery began.…In fact, real hourly earnings fell in all but two of the last 15 months,” EPI reports.

Meanwhile, a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report looks at seven standard economic indicators—including income from wages and salaries, employment and corporate profits—and compares their performance in this economic recovery to other post-World War II recoveries.

The study finds the performances of six of the seven indicators in this recovery are below the average for comparable post-war economic upturns.

“The current period,” the report finds, “has outperformed the average in only one respect: corporate profits, which have grown far more rapidly than average.”

See the Economic Policy Institute report, “Inflation Trumps Wage Gains Again.”

Read “How Does This Recovery Measure Up?” from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Learn more about Jobs, Wages and the Global Economy and get more info, including downloadable fact sheets, at the AFL-CIO Facts and Stats site.

Poll: Public Backs Social Security Now More Than Ever

2005-08-16T16:25:00.000-04:00

Source: AFL-CIO

The Bush administration’s attempts to sell Social Security privatization not only have failed to win public support, they have broadened and strengthened positive attitudes toward Social Security, a recent poll by the AARP found. As Social Security marks its 70th anniversary in August, AARP found public confidence in Social Security has increased in recent years and Social Security has surpassed pensions and savings as the top source of income Americans expect to rely on in retirement.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law on Aug. 14, 1935, and it since has become the nation’s most successful safety net, keeping millions of elderly and disabled workers out of poverty.

See the details of the survey, Social Security 70th Anniversary Survey Report: Trends Over Time, by AARP, a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people ages 50 and older, and get information, fact sheets and more on Social Security and other sources of retirement income at the AFL-CIO Retirement Security website.

IL Governor to Sign the Humane Treatment of Hotel Room Attendants Act; Hotel housekeepers will get two, paid 15-minute rest breaks

2005-08-16T13:10:00.000-04:00

Thousands of women who clean hotel rooms will benefit from a new law passed by the Illinois General Assembly this spring. The law requires hotels to give two, paid 15-minute rest breaks per day. Room attendants - overwhelmingly female - have been struggling with increased workloads as hotels upgrade their bedding and amenities.

The signing ceremony will feature room attendants representing their co-workers, who come from Chicago and all over the globe - Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa - to provide for their families.

The law was sponsored by State Rep. John Fritchey and State Sen. Ira Silverstein, and supported by Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones.