Choose Union: Raise a Glass for the Working Class

by Manny Herrmann, Jun 16, 2011

When you’re out with friends on a beautiful summer Thursday night in Minneapolis, Minn., supporting good union jobs might not be the first thing that comes to mind. At the Netroots Nation Conference, we’re working to change that. One glass of beer at a time.

Here at the conference, all you have to do is take actions that support workers’ rights, like signing up for Working America and taking our Real or Not Quiz, to get free union-made beer to wash down your union-made Pop Tarts (distributed the Alliance for American Manufacturing booth).

Today, I washed down my frosted brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tarts (made by the United Steelworkers) with two excellent union-made beers: Schnell’s Zommerfest from New Ulm, Minn., a local farming community just under two hours from Minneapolis, and Leinenkugel’s, from Chippawa Falls, Wis.

Wish you were here? Well, soon you’ll soon be able to sign up for Netroots Nation 2012. But until then, I’d recommend you sample these great union-made beers.

New Jersey Union Members Arrested Protesting Bill to End Collective Bargaining

This is a cross post from the New Jersey State AFL-CIO.

Thousands of working men and women protested the New Jersey Statehouse today against legislation that would effectively eliminate public employee collective bargaining rights over health care benefits. Chanting “Kill the bill” and “Worker rights are human rights,” 25 union members, including New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech and Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan were arrested for disorderly conduct.

“It is with a heavy heart that we even had to be here today to testify against a piece of legislation that would destroy collective bargaining rights for thousands of taxpaying working men and women,” Wowkanech said.

…we had to stand up for the right to collectively bargain, just as we did for project labor agreements, paid family leave, prevailing wage and card check in the public sector.

Only through collective bargaining do workers have a voice – and those who vote for this legislation will be voting to silence the voices of approximately 500,000 workers,” Wowkanech warned the state Senate budget committee as the voices of chanting protesters outside filtered into the hearing room.

“If legislative leadership has the ability to sit down with the governor and negotiate, why shouldn’t we?” he demanded.

Wowkanech noted that the current negative economic conditions were not created by middle class workers. They were created by the greed of Wall Street profiteers, but workers are being blamed.

Click here to read Wowkanech’s testimony and here to view a video of the arrests.

Great Labor Arts Exchange Kicks Off June 17

by James Parks, Jun 16, 2011

Don’t miss the explosion of arts and activism at the 2011 Great Labor Arts Exchange June 17-19 at the National Labor College (NLC) in Silver Spring, Md.. The three-day festival brings together union and social justice activists who combine union mobilization and outreach with songs, skits, art, poetry, theater, posters, cartoons and film.

The festival will be topped off Sunday June 19 with a public gala concert with conference participants and national and international artists, such as Anne Feeney, Bev Grant, Pam Parker and Charlie King. Members of four labor choruses—D.C., New York City, Solidarity Notes, and Charm City— and others will perform in the concert in the NLC Auditorium.

Also check out the the Creative Organizing Conference, where activists discuss the best ways to use art to help spread the union message.

For more information on either event, click here.

Sponsored for more than 30 years by the Labor Heritage Foundation, the Great Labor Arts Exchange celebrates the rich cultural heritage of working people and serves as a forum that brings together talented labor artists, activists, cultural workers, educators and students.

New this year is Camp Solidarity, designed to bring the arts and cultures of the union and progressive movements to a new generation.

Advice From The Field

Thu. June 16, 2011

As the Largest Union in the defense industry, it was an honor and a privilege for the Machinists to hear from a war hero on their last day in Toronto as part of the National Staff Conference. Click here to watch the video.

Par For The Guide Dogs

Thu. June 16, 2011

It was straight down the fairway for Guide Dogs this year at the 15th Annual Dave Ritchie Golf Invitational. Click here to watch the video.

Just The Beginning

Wed. June 15, 2011

These are the voices and ideas of the next generation of Machinists who were brought together here at the National Staff Conference in Toronto. Click here to watch the video.

2011 IAM National Staff Confernce Opening Day

Wed. June 15, 2011

Whether the topic is embracing technology, securing pensions, or protecting the next generation of workers. A look at the future is the machine behind this year's National Staff Conference in Toronto. Click here to watch the video.

At Last: Case Against Boeing Goes to Trial

Wed. June 15, 2011

A courtroom in Seattle, WA was the setting for the opening day of a highly anticipated legal showdown between the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Boeing Company over charges that Boeing violated federal labor law when it moved 787 Dreamliner production from Puget Sound to South Carolina.

The case, which will be heard by an Administrative Law Judge, is expected to continue for at least several months and gets underway in the wake of an extraordinary campaign by conservative politicians and pundits determined to hijack the dispute.

In the weeks leading up to the trial, Boeing and its allies have attacked the NLRB, smeared its representative and dismissed the decades-old law that protects workers’ rights as arcane, unnecessary and anti-American.

NLRB Acting General Counsel Leif Solomon, who filed the complaint against Boeing, has been the subject of unprecedented political pressure. Ten Republican Senators have linked his 39-year career to the Boeing case, while the GOP-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform threatened to subpoena Solomon to appear before a thinly-veiled partisan hearing titled, “Unionization Through Regulation: The NLRB's Holding Pattern on Free Enterprise.”

IAM attorney David Campbell responded to the politicization of the case. “In my 28 years of practicing law, I have never seen an employer use these types of overtly political tactics to avoid a legal proceeding,” said Campbell. “This tactic shows all too clearly how desperate the Company is to avoid litigating the merits of a case it knows it will lose.”

The actual dispute involves Boeing’s decision to establish a 787 assembly line in North Charleston, SC, and is based on federal labor law that prohibits retaliation against union-represented employees. In repeated public statements, senior Boeing executives cited lawful work stoppages by IAM members in Puget Sound among the reasons for their decision to locate the 787 facility in South Carolina.

IAM Fair Trade Campaign Gains Momentum on Facebook

Wed. June 15, 2011

Hundreds have joined the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ (IAM) Facebook campaign to stop the pending unfair trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

Countering GOP demands for the passage of the three seriously-flawed trade deals, the targeted, informational ad campaign on Facebook unveils the truths behind each proposed agreement and the effects each will have on the U.S. jobs deficit. The campaign began last week with the release of an infographic detailing the North American Free Trade Agreement’s (NAFTA) failed trade policies as a foreshadowing of what is to come.

“This is a campaign to save American jobs,” explains IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “NAFTA has already cost the U.S. 682,900 jobs. The pending free trade agreements are projected to cost even more.

“Before passing any new trade deals, Congress must first establish a new and fair U.S. trade policy that puts the interests of workers first. Sound trade policy must be based on fundamental human rights and not provide more incentives for U.S. corporations to move our work to other countries.

See the IAM’s new ad campaign on Facebook.

Anti-Sweatshop Movement Profiled at Staff Conference

IAM members taking part in workshops at the Young Machinists Symposium provided concrete suggestions about how the IAM can train and involve the next generation of union leaders.

Wed. June 15, 2011

Among the high points of the 2011 National Staff Conference was an up close and personal presentation from IAM Assistant General Counsel Maria Roeper, who helped organize the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC).

Roeper came to the labor movement by way of the “Code of Conduct” campaign to persuade colleges and universities to write labor rights standards into the licensing contracts for college-branded hats, sweatshirts and other material. While the codes aren’t as detailed as a union contract, they set basic labor standards.

“We saw Codes of Conduct as a first step to changing an international race-to-the bottom economy that benefited a few and exploited many,” said Roeper. “Strategically, we thought if we got enough of our campuses to write these codes into licensing agreements, the companies would have to change and improve working conditions. And if we could change the lives of poor workers in the developing world maybe, just maybe we could improve the lives of workers everywhere.

“I’ve seen countless students get introduced to labor rights through international anti-sweatshop work, and then move on to support domestic workers and I feel confident when I say that youth can bring a lot to our labor movement,” said Roeper, who urged delegates to reach out to youth, “not just because they are the future of our union, but reach out to them because I assure you, they have some fresh ideas and new energy. When we join together, it makes our union stronger.”

Leo Hindery Proposes Realistic Plan for Recovery

Wed. June 15, 2011

JOBS Now! must be the rallying cry of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections says Leo Hindery, Chairman of the Smart Globalization Initiative at the New America Foundation.

“We intend to ask every candidate running for federal office in 2012, especially Mr. Obama and whomever the Republicans nominate for President, one simple question,” said Hindery in remarks to nearly 600 IAM delegates and guests at the 2011 IAM National Staff Conference in Toronto, Ontario. “What is your agenda to create 22 million jobs, eliminate our trade deficit, bring ‘tax fairness’ back to the middle class, enact the Employee Free Choice Act, and stop union-busting?”

Hindery provided a six-point action plan for putting America on the road to recovery, including a manufacturing and industrial policy that mirrors the mercantilist practices of our major trading partners, especially China; a major long-term public investment program to upgrade and rebuild our nation's major infrastructure; and an end to tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.

“For our country to be ascendant again, American workers everywhere must be treated as the highly-skilled, enormously-productive and wealth-producing ‘assets’ you are,” said Hindery. “When you strive to protect American jobs and eliminate unfair trade practices, you are not being anti-growth and protectionist. What you are being is patriotic.”