After Three Years, Reynolds Agrees to Meet with Tobacco Workers

Tobacco workers march in front of Reynolds American headquarters last week

by James Parks, May 13, 2011

In a major turnaround, officials of Reynolds American, who have refused for three years to meet with representatives of tobacco workers, agreed last week to look into the labor practices in their supply chain and work with other parties, including the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) to ensure they are not complicit with human rights violations.

More than 50 FLOC members entered the Reynolds American shareholders’ meeting last week in Winston-Salem, N.C., to deliver a report on the horrible conditions in the fields. Nearly 100,000 immigrant tobacco workers in North Carolina are paid sub-minimum wages and are exposed to dangerous conditions in the fields.

The FLOC representatives pressed company executives to ensure that this new stance is more than just words and is backed up with serious action, including meeting with farmworkers and their representatives. No date for a meeting has yet been set.

In a statement, FLOC said:

While this represents a vindication of the past three years of struggle, the campaign will continue until real progress is made in the supply chain of tobacco giant Reynolds American.

Late last month, the workers gained another major victory when executives of British American Tobacco (BAT), which owns 42 percent of Reynolds American, agreed to meet with FLOC later this month. This is the first time any corporation with close ties to Reynolds American has agreed to meet with workers.

Farm workers, union members and members of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) also protested at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and at British consulates in nine cities in support of the tobacco workers.

GOP Attack on NLRB Goes Viral

Thu. May 12, 2011

The right-wing screech-fest over the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaint against Boeing is reaching circus-like proportions, with conservative commentators and Republican presidential candidates competing to see who can make the most outrageous and incendiary remarks about the case.

The always reliable anti-union demagogue from South Carolina, Republican Senator James DeMint, blasted the complaint against Boeing as “thuggery” and “ something you would expect in a Third World country, not in America.” Meanwhile, South Carolina Republican Governor and Tea Party darling Nikki Haley describes the complaint as nothing less than an attack on the American free-enterprise system, a sentiment echoed by Boeing CEO James McNerney in a Wall Street Journal editorial.

It was left to Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin to restore sanity to the controversy with a statement describing what he called the GOP’s mission of misinformation.

“This overly dramatic response and the disturbing misinformation they are peddling has needlessly complicated the legal process and distorted the public discussion of this case,” said Harkin. “Unions are one of the few voices left in our society speaking up for the little guy, and if we let powerful CEOs trample all over these rights without consequences, we might as well give up on having a middle class altogether.”

Sen. Harkin, who serves as Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, also held a hearing this week where he grilled Boeing’s General Counsel about the unprecedented and virulent opposition among Republican lawmakers against the NLRB. A video of the hearing is available here: http://help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=bf9cac77-5056-9502-5d75-3499b6f85bd2

Boeing Exec Says $3.7 Mil Not Enough

Boeing Co. Executive Vice President and General Counsel Michael Luttig pulled in $3.7 million in compensation in 2009. That’s a whopping 34 percent increase from 2008—and it came during a major recession.

Meanwhile, as Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) pointed out during a hearing yesterday (see video) on the shrinking American middle class, Boeing’s workers have seen just a 3 percent increase in their average compensation over the past 20 years!

Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wanted to know that if things were going so swimmingly for Boeing that Luttig could pocket a 34 percent pay hike,

Why shouldn’t employees have a share of that? I’m just asking about fairness for workers.

Luttig turned to the old let’s-duck-the-question-with-a-little-humor dodge. But his lame attempt at humor just showed how out of touch he is with the real-life, middle-class problem of stagnant wages.

Mr. Chairman, my compensation is a matter of public record. I have to say, at this very instant, I have the sense that maybe it’s not enough.

Tell that to Boeing’s workers.

BTW, Boeing CEO W. James McNerney Jr. isn’t doing too bad either. He made $19.7 million in compensation in 2010. By comparison, the median Boeing worker made $33,190 in 2010. McNerney Jr. made 594 times the median worker’s pay. Check out more on CEO pay at the AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch website.

Continental Micronesia Flight Attendants Ready for Election

From left to right: Bee Fugate, Barbara Tudela, Ron Jackson, Lalia Valdez, Vilma Santos, Paula Segal, Cynthia Iverson, Laurel Baker, Jack Hegg, Marvin Fernandez and Linda Hiton Santos

Thu. May 12, 2011

An enthusiastic group of IAM-Continental Micronesia Flight Attendants visited the IAM's Education and Technology Center in Southern Maryland to help coordinate resources for the upcoming representation election. The group discussed key issues surrounding the campaign and the importance of maintaining their IAM contract.

“We’ve worked so hard to obtain the best contract for us,” said Guam-based Continental Micronesia Flight Attendant Cynthia Iverson. “Of the three carriers, I believe our contract stands out as the best, hands down. To compromise any of that is absolutely unacceptable.”

“As a single mother, I was able to put my children through college, while at the same time earning my Master’s degree,” said Continental Micronesia Flight Attendant Barbara Tudela. “I was able to buy a house. I could not have done that with the United contract. I feel my quality of life is being threatened. If CWA-AFA wins, my life will be turned upside down.”

The Flight Attendants say one of their key concerns is the preservation of a secure pension. Continental Micronesia Flight Attendants voted five years ago to participate in the IAM National Pension Plan, a guaranteed, defined benefit plan that is 105 percent funded.

44 Million Could Lose Health Coverage Under Republican Budget

by Mike Hall, May 12, 2011

The House Republican budget plan would throw as many as 44 million low-income adults and children out of Medicaid over the next 10 years and likely leave them with no health care coverage, according to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).

Under the House Republican budget plan developed by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, Medicaid would be converted to a block grant program and the new health care reform law—the Affordable Care Act—would be repealed. That, says the study,

would trigger major reductions in program spending and enrollment compared to current projections, a shift with big implications for states, hospitals and tens of millions of low-income Americans who likely would become uninsured.

Currently, the federal government provides states with about 60 percent of the cost for the low-income health care program. Under the Republican budget, the spending reductions and block grants would cut the federal share to states by about 44 percent.

This reduction could result in large reductions in payments to providers and enrollment. In turn, these reductions would likely worsen the problem of the uninsured and strain the nation’s safety net.

Diane Rowland, executive director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, says the Republican budget plan would “substantially reduce states’ ability to provide coverage to low-income Americans.”

The repeal of the [Affordable Care Act], combined with the adoption of the Medicaid block grant, would add millions more to the number of uninsured Americans and compromise Medicaid’s role as the health safety net in the next recession.”

Click here for the full study and here for a fact sheet on the Republican budget plan.

In addition to funding the cuts, the Republican budget lifts current federal Medicaid standards states must meet and would allow each state to design its own program. The result would be a confusing array of 50 different Medicaid programs with varying eligibility requirements and benefit standards.

Deadline Extended for Photo, Newsletter and Website Contests

Thu. May 12, 2011

The deadline for the IAM Photo Contest and the Newsletter and Website Contest has been extended to June 13, 2011. The 2011 IAM Newsletter and Website Contest is open to all local and district lodges that publish an official newsletter or website. The contest is also open to TCU lodges. Click here for the official call, contest rules and entry forms.

The IAM also holds an annual photo contest that showcases IAM members and the many jobs they do. Photos should be of IAM or TCU members in good standing and taken by an IAM or TCU member in good standing. Click here for the official call, contest rules and entry forms. Click here to see the winners of the 2010 photo contest.

Postal Workers Ratify New Contract

More than 90,000 mail ballots for the APWU contract were tallied yesterday by the American Arbitration Association.

by James Parks, May 12, 2011

By a margin of more than three-to-one, members of the Postal Workers (APWU) ratified a new four-and-one-half-year contract with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) that calls for increasing wages by 3.5 percent over term, creates new positions and provides job security.

APWU President Cliff Guffey said that as a result of the new contract, the Postal Service will begin hiring again for the first time in many years. In addition, he said, the union was “able to retain protection against layoffs, bring back thousands of jobs in each craft, and limit excessing.”

New positions for non-career postal support employees will be created under the agreement, Guffey said. These employees will have the opportunity to join the permanent, career workforce by seniority, he said, explaining that they will be part of the APWU bargaining unit and will receive regular salary raises, health benefits, and leave.

The agreement also includes protections against layoffs for career employees on the rolls as of Nov. 20, 2010, and calls for 1,100 call center jobs that had been contracted out to return to the APWU bargaining unit.

New contracting out provisions will give the union the opportunity to develop proposals to compete with contractors for work. If APWU-represented employees can perform the work less expensively than contractors, the work must be performed by the APWU-represented employees, according to the union’s summary of the contract.

The contract covers some 176,000 USPS employees. More than 90,000 APWU members returned mail ballots in the month-long vote.

WWW Center Hosts Largest Ever Spanish Leadership I Class

Thu. May 12, 2011

This week the William W. Winpisinger Center is hosting the largest Spanish Leadership I class since the program was initiated four years ago, underscoring the growth that the Spanish Leadership programs have achieved. IAM members from every Territory are participating in the program and are taking another step towards activism and involvement in their union.

“As we continue to organize and negotiate top-notch contracts, there will continue to be the need for this kind of training,” said IAMAW International President Tom Buffenbarger. “We are committed to making the educational opportunities at the Winpisinger Center available to all IAM members.”

Chris Wagoner, Director of the Winpisinger Center added, “The Spanish Leadership programs are a culmination of a lot of hard work and outreach, and my hat goes off to the members of the Spanish Leadership Working Group, whose time and efforts made these programs a success.”

There are still opportunities for Locals and Districts that would like to enroll Spanish-speaking members in the 2011 Leadership programs. A second Spanish Leadership I class will take place on September 25th – 30th, and the Spanish Leadership II program is scheduled for November 13th – 18th. Enroll early to save a seat!

Any member who has taken Leadership I, in either Spanish or English, is eligible to take Spanish Leadership II. Spaces are still available for the Spanish Leadership II class scheduled for June 21st – 26th .

Enrollments in both the Spanish Leadership I and Leadership II programs do not count against a lodge's regular leadership program allotment. Click here for the enrollment forms or contact Pam Kinney at 301-373-8820.