Unions Respond to Devastating Montana Floods

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer reports on the flood relief efforts unions are mounting in Montana.

Montana has been hit hard by a series of recent severe storms coupled with runoff from mountain snow melt. The combination has caused serious flooding across the state. Forty-eight of the state’s 56 counties have declared flood emergencies and federal disaster declarations have been issued for 31 counties, plus four American Indian reservations.

The central Montana town of Roundup has been completely submerged in floodwaters. In northeast Montana, there is massive flooding in the town of Glasgow. The Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana has been devastated by floodwaters displacing hundreds from their homes, and forcing more than 50 families to live in a gymnasium.

The Montana State AFL-CIO is working with coalition partners Montana Organizing Project, Forward Montana, along with central labor councils and union members throughout the state to coordinate a response effort to bring supplies to those in need and protect homes and other public buildings from water damage.

The Missoula Area Central Labor Council is collecting donations at the union hall from members in the western region of the state. In Great Falls, the Labor Temple in Great Falls is a drop off point for donations as well.

Electrical Workers (IBEW) Region 5 lead organizer Bob Brock is spearheading a volunteer operation in Butte to pick up supplies from donors and delivering them to the Carpenters (UBC) union hall for distribution. Also, Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 400 is offering the use of its and the Teamsters (IBT) are lending their vans to transport relief directly to the hardest hit communities.

AFSCME members in central Montana have been building earthen berms to help control the floodwaters that are threatening residential areas of Livingston. Union members in Missoula, Helena and Billings have come out in force to help with sandbagging efforts. Fire Fighters (IAFF) union has volunteered countless hours to help neighbors and friends protect their homes. Says Montana State AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Al Ekblad:

So much of what we aim to do when improving workplace standards is anchored in fostering stronger, healthier communities. It’s not surprising that our long tradition of raising standards would be employed by union members as volunteers in their community, long after the workday is over. In a community crisis, we’re just people helping people.

If you wish to donate to the Montana flood relief efforts you may send a check payable to “Montana State AFL-CIO Flood Victims Fund” to Montana State AFL-CIO, 810 Hialeah Court, Helena, MT 59601 or click here to donate online to the Montana State AFL-CIO – Union Community Fund.

NYU Teaching Assistants Move Closer to Union Recognition

by James Parks, Jun 20, 2011

Research and teaching assistants at New York University (NYU) last week moved one step closer to regaining their rights under federal law to form a union and bargain for improvements at work.

Graduate assistants won a major victory in 2010, when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered a new hearing on a ruling, which had prevented some 1,800 graduate assistants at NYU from voting for union representation. The board based its ruling on a 2004 NLRB decision that graduate teaching and research assistants were not employees and could not form a union.

Last week, in the NLRB-ordered hearing, acting NLRB Regional Director Elbert Tellem accepted the key claim presented by the assistants, members of Graduate Student Organizing Committee/UAW (GSOC/UAW Local 2110), that they are university employees.

“This decision clearly recognizes that we are employees, who work for and receive compensation from NYU,” said Jan Padios, a teaching assistant in NYU’s Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.

We’re glad we got a timely ruling. Now we’re going to take this case to the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., and claim our rights as workers.

UAW President Bob King praised the NYU employees’ resolve.

Our members at NYU have been an amazing example for all of us in the UAW. A very narrow, very partisan decision by the labor board in 2004 tried to strip them of their rights, but these workers know better. They’re standing firm, and we’re proud to stand with them.

Because of precedent of the 2004 decision, the case now goes to the full NLRB.

The NYU teaching and research assistants have repeatedly demonstrated majority support for their union, most recently verified in April 2010 by the American Arbitration Association. The student employees held a mass rally in April 2010 where a large majority of the students signed the petition to the NLRB (see video above).

Unions Use Paris Air Show Video to Spotlight High-Skilled Washington Aerospace Workforce

by Mike Hall, Jun 21, 2011

The Paris Air Show—the largest and most prestigious in the world—draws thousands of aviation and aerospace companies looking for new products and technology and, in many cases, new manufacturing locations.

This year, representatives from Machinists (IAM) District 751 and SPEEA/International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 2001—their high-skilled members work at the Boeing Co.—are joining with Washington State officials to showcase the state’s aerospace industry and workforce.

The video above—produced by Kathy Cummings, Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) communications director—will be showing at the Washington State Pavilion at the Le Bourget Airport in Paris. In it union workers talk about the pride they take in producing the world’s best airliners, the skill and education level of the workers not just at Boeing, but throughout the states’ aerospace workforce that numbers about 84,000 people at 650 companies.

SPEEA member Michael Hochberg says that if he was “an aerospace company and wanted to find,”

a large pool of talented people to help me make airplanes or make other aerospace products, I would think the Puget Sound is a great place because we have literally generations of people who have worked in airplanes, kids who have grown up with aerospace…it’s just an amazing place to do business for an aerospace company.

The workers also talk about the positive role unions play making a quality product. Says SPEEA member Jennifer McKay:

I think a union is really an airline customer’s best friend and it’s a shareholder’s best friend. It’s a place that can work with the company’s leaders to make sure the right things happen, so that our products can be efficient and in the most cost-effective manner that we can get them out of here.

New NLRB Rules ‘Modest Step to Election Fairness’

by Mike Hall, Jun 21, 2011

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this morning released proposed changes in the way union representation elections are conducted that the NLRB says will “reduce unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of questions concerning representation.”

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the proposed changes are a “modest step to remove roadblocks and reduce unnecessary and costly litigation—and that’s good news for employers as well as employees. But he adds:

The proposed rule does not address many of the fundamental problems with our labor laws, but it will help bring critically needed fairness and balance to this part of the process.

Trumka says the rules “appear to be a common sense approach to clean up an outdated system and help ensure that working women and men can make their own choice about whether to form a union.”


When workers want to vote on a union, they should get a fair chance to vote. That’s a basic right. But our current system has become a broken, bureaucratic maze that stalls and stymies workers’ choices. And that diminishes the voice of working people, creates imbalance in our economy and shrinks the middle class.

Because the changes will clean up a system plagued by delays, bureaucracy and litigation, the rule is good for employers, employees and taxpayers who foot the bill.

The proposed changes would:

•Allow for electronic filing of election petitions and other documents.
•Ensure that employees, employers and unions receive and exchange timely information they need to understand and participate in the representation case process.
•Standardize timeframes for parties to resolve or litigate issues before and after elections.
•Require parties to identify issues and describe evidence soon after an election petition is filed to facilitate resolution and eliminate unnecessary litigation.
•Defer litigation of most voter eligibility issues until after the election.
•Require employers to provide a final voter list in electronic form soon after the scheduling of an election, including voters’ telephone numbers and email addresses when available.
•Consolidate all election-related appeals to the Board into a single post-election appeals process and thereby eliminate delay in holding elections currently attributable to the possibility of pre-election appeals.
Make Board review of post-election decisions discretionary rather than mandatory.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, says that a key part to rebuilding the middle class “is ensuring that every American worker has the same right that powerful CEOs take for granted—the right to sign a contract ensuring fair treatment on the job.”

The [NLRB’s] modernized election rules take an important step forward in making this right a reality. By giving workers the right to a fair, up-or-down vote, the rules don’t encourage unionization or discourage it —workers get to make the decision that is best for them. But preserving this right brings some balance to the system, so that the deck isn’t always stacked against ordinary working people and in favor of the wealthy and the powerful.

Trumka warns that while the proposed changes are modest, he expects that in “poisonous political environment” there will be a torrent of attacks from politicians and ideologues opposed to any protection of workers’ rights.” Such opposition is pure politics, part of unprecedented attacks on workers’ rights. Whether you’re a teacher, firefighter or nurse’s aide – right-wing legislators and their corporate funders have made it clear that their ultimate aim is to take away workers’ rights on the job

We call on leaders from both sides of the aisle to defend the independence of the NLRB. Political interference with any independent agency sets a dangerous precedent that should not be tolerated.

Click here for a fact sheet and summary of the proposed changes from the NLRB.

IAM Charges GOP Senator with Ethics Violations in Boeing Case

Tue. June 21, 2011

Lindsey Graham, U.S. Senator, R-SC

The IAM released a letter sent to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics calling for an investigation into South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s conduct and statements regarding the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) pending complaint against the Boeing Company.

The IAM letter cites potentially unethical efforts by Sen. Graham and others to pressure NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon to drop the law enforcement proceeding against Boeing.

“I believe that prior to the issuance of the Boeing complaint on April 20 th, Senator Lindsey Graham communicated with NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon in one or more attempts to pressure him not to do so,” said IAM General Counsel Chris Corson. “I also believe that these communications included threats that the Senator would seek to defund or otherwise adversely affect the funding of the NLRB if the Boeing complaint were pursued.”

The IAM letter also cites a letter from Sen. Graham to President Obama, in which Graham declares he will pursue sanctions against Solomon and the NLRB even if it turns out that the NLRB’s law enforcement action against Boeing is upheld.

“I don’t believe that a Senator or any other politician should be trying to interfere with and prevent a law enforcement trial,” said Corson, who cited possible violation of Senate Rule 43. “Americans expect law enforcement to be there for them when they are victimized by discrimination or other unlawful behavior. When politicians intervene on behalf of a rich businessman or corporation in order to stop law enforcement from doing its job, our Constitution and rule of law are put in jeopardy.”

To view full text of the IAM letter, click here.

Wisconsin Conservative Justices Uphold Walker Budget Bill

Tue. June 21, 2011

A narrow conservative majority on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court upheld GOP Governor Scott Walker’s union-busting budget bill and cleared the way for its implementation. The court’s decision to vacate an injunction against the bill by lower court judge Maryann Sumi is highly suspect.

The court ignored relevant facts and decided the case the same day it agreed to hear it. “This court gives this important case short shrift. Today the majority announces for the first time that it is accepting this case. And today the majority decides the case,” noted Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in a stinging dissent.

Abrahamson said the conservative majority on the court “make their own findings of fact, mischaracterize the parties’ arguments, misinterpret statutes, minimize (if not eliminate) Wisconsin constitutional guarantees, and misstate case law, appearing to silently overrule case law dating back to at least 1891.”

A key vote in the conservative majority decision came from David Prosser, who initially lost a re-election bid to progressive candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg in April. More than 24 hours after the polls closed with Kloppenburg in the lead, Republican Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus “found” thousands of votes and the race went to Prosser.

Walker’s union-busting budget bill still faces challenges in federal court as several groups, including a coalition of unions, have filed suits against the bill.

UCubed Attends 6th Annual Netroots Nation Convention

Tue. June 21, 2011

The Union of Unemployed (UCubed) joined thousands of labor activists and progressive bloggers at the 2011 Netroots Nation Convention in Minneapolis, MN.

Dozens visited the UCubed booth for brochures, a chance to see UCubed’s newest online political ad The Game, to ask questions about UCubed’s 21–point Hire US, America plan and to receive free JOBS Now! t-shirts.

The sixth annual gathering included speeches, workshops and panels led by national and international experts, including a keynote address by Minnesota Sen. Al Franken. “Our movement is about putting the concerns of working families at the forefront of our national agenda,” said Sen. Franken. “I urge you all to stand up for the America our movement helped to build. Stand up for the principle that we should grow together, instead of growing apart. Stand up for the principle that we all do better when we all do better. We have a tough fight ahead, but it’s one that we have to win.”

Other speakers included AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler who called out the conservative agenda for its attack on workers and showed how the decline in union membership is correlated to a decline in the middle class. “No individual worker. No single union. No one progressive activist or one single blogger alone can counter the entrenched, money-drenched power of corporations and the wealthy,” said Shuler. “But together, we have a chance. That’s the one thing I hope I leave you with. Together, we actually have a chance.”

Former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, Rep. Debra Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) and White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer also spoke to convention attendees. For a complete recap of the week’s events, click here.

Photo Contest Deadline Extended to July 8

Tue. June 21, 2011

Don’t miss your chance to have your photo featured in the 2012 IAM Calendar! The deadline for the IAM Photo Contest has been extended to July 8, 2011. The annual IAM Photo Contest 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. Winning photos will be featured in the 2012 IAM Calendar. Click here for the official call, contest rules and entry forms. Click here to see the winners of the 2010 photo contest.