Mission Impossible with Heston Blumenthal

Posted on February 16th, 2011

Not many chefs have faced the challenge of serving food for 100,000 customers a day at 35,000ft, so when famously innovative chef Heston Blumenthal asked British Airways if he could try it, the airline jumped at the opportunity.

The experiment is part of Heston’s new Channel 4 programme, ‘Heston’s Mission Impossible’ where he pushes the boundaries of food development across a number of great British institutions.

Union Plus Can Help with Health Care Costs

Jennifer Wright Dorr at Union Plus sends us this feature examining Union Plus health care savings plans for union members.
As high health care costs keep working families away from the doctor or dentist, Union Plus is fighting back with a health savings program that can make health care services more affordable.

With the help of savings on dental care, union member JonDa Tanner was able to land her dream job at sea by allowing her to pass the medical exams.

“Without the Union Plus Health Savings Program, I wouldn’t have my Seafarers International Union (SIU) job,” says Tanner, an adventurous 32-year-old from Seattle. Tanner explains that the dental discounts available through the Union Plus Health Savings Program allowed her to afford dental work necessary to show that she was in good health, a requirement for the SIU apprentice program to which she was applying.

Though not an insurance program, the Union Plus Health Savings Program makes health care services affordable to union members and union retirees through a discount program covering a wide variety of health care needs. Participating union members can enjoy significant discounts on dental, vision, hearing, physicians and hospitals, foot and ankle, and prescription drugs. In addition, union members may add other members of their household—children, spouses, parents—to their plan, for no additional fee.

Moreover, the Union Plus Health Savings Program features an extensive network of providers throughout the country. A full listing of participating providers is available for viewing at UnionPlus.org/HealthSavings or by calling 1-877-570-4845.

Tanner, who was drawn to the union movement because of her passionate belief that workers benefit from a collective voice, makes a point of learning what union benefits are available to her union sisters and brothers.

She says:

The Health Savings Program has been great. I’ve enjoyed savings on dental work and on prescriptions. You really can save a lot of money. I hope other union members take advantage of the savings.

No doubt, Tanner will have a plenty of time to inform her fellow crewmates of the value of unions and the array of union benefits, including those offered by Union Plus, that are available to them. Her job as a cook for about 24 crew members on a cargo or container ship will last from 60 to 142 days per trip. It is a job that gives her the opportunity to travel around the globe, exploring everything from the rare wildlife of Africa to the unique markets of Turkey.

The Union Plus Health Savings program is just one of a wide array of offerings available to union members and retirees. Union Plus’ hallmark programs include the Union Plus Credit Card, Union Plus Insurance, and the Union Plus Mortgage.

Union Plus also offers discounts on AT&T wireless service, college test preparation, Goodyear tires, car rentals, hardship assistance, movie tickets and much more. To learn about the more than 40 Union Plus programs available to union members, visit www.UnionPlus.org.

Showdown in Indiana over Right to Work

Fri. February 18, 2011

February 18, 2011 - The Republican leadership of the Indiana House of Representatives has just announced that the House's Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee will hear House Bill 1468, which contains so-called "right to work" language on Monday, February 21at 9:00 a.m. at the Indiana Statehouse.

This last minute addition to the schedule is designed to give the public as little notice as possible and prevent working men and women from coming to Indianapolis to oppose this bill.

It's time to fight back.

Indiana residents should call their state representatives at 1-800-382-9842 immediately and tell them to vote "NO" on House Bill 1468.

Email your state representative here, right now, and tell them to oppose House Bill 1468

Come to the Indiana Statehouse on Monday, February 21 to stand up and oppose this bill.

House Bill 1468 will be heard in Room 156 at 9:00 a.m.

Union Difference

Mon. February 14, 2011

Some of the most important benefits that workers get from Union membership are impossible to put a price tag on: representatives in the workplace of our own choosing, an active, collective voice to bargain over working conditions, and due process on the job. As union members, we know that collective bargaining is the best way to promote basic, democratic principles of fairness and dignity at work. But being in a union confers significant economic benefits as well. Unions have historically been the most effective institutions in our society at making sure the economic gains that workers help to create are shared widely rather than being channeled solely to the executive suite. The data below illustrates “The Union Difference” and shows why more and more people are joining unions today.

Best Protest Signs and Trumka Delivers Speech and Brats

by Mike Hall, Feb 19, 2011

The serious work of fighting against Gov. Scott Walker’s vendetta against Wisconsin’s teachers and other public workers was the focus all our time and coverage during the past few days.

So here are a few things from the lighter side. When it comes to sign making and sloganeering progressive activists are usually pretty creative and sometimes find that funny bone that seems to be missing from the conservative body politic. For example

Labor College Offers Green Workplace Representative Program

by James Parks, Feb 19, 2011

Courses in the National Labor College’s (NLC’s) new Green Workplace Representative Certificate Program will begin on June 26. The program consists of four required, weeklong courses. Students must complete 12 credits to earn the certificate.

Students who enroll in the program will learn how to conduct workplace sustainability audits, which can save energy and water, reduce waste, use environmentally-friendly products, recycle materials, maintain employee health, adopt clean technologies and reduce carbon emissions, while retaining good jobs at family-sustaining wages.