State Lawmakers Leery Over Trade Pact Benefits

Tue. August 16, 2011

State legislators gathered this week in San Antonio, TX for the National Conference of State Legislatures are paying close attention to real-world impact of poorly-negotiated trade agreements.

Many state legislators remain highly skeptical of the free trade agreement’s (FTA) benefits despite three years of intense propaganda, including at least two visits to conference meetings by the U.S. Trade Representative and many visits by his staff and representatives of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

At one conference event titled, “Trade 101,” legislators heard from IAM member Clem Smith, who also serves as a Missouri Democratic State Representative. Smith joined other union activists asking hard questions about the negative impacts of current trade agreements on the American people.

Later in the week, Smith joined John A. Kowalko, Jr., a retired IAM member and member of the Delaware General Assembly, who led a series of progressive policy discussions on Social Security cuts, mine safety, World Trade Organization (WTO) policies and the need for states to have a voice in the granting of any new Trade Promotion Authority.

“IAM members like Reps. Smith, Kowalko and others who serve as elected officials are part of the union’s mission to secure justice on the job while providing service to the community,” said IAM Director of Legislative and Political Action Matt McKinnon. “Their leadership and common-sense recommendations during trade policy debates provided lawmakers at the conference with a choice of progressive policy solutions.”

IAM Salutes Those Who Made the Shuttle Soar

Tue. August 16, 2011

Near the end of 2009, the Machinists News Network (MNN) ran a story about the IAM members who worked as part of NASA’s shuttle program. These were the men and women who made sure, time and time again, that manned space flight took our breaths away.

Unfortunately, following the government’s decision to outsource the iconic U.S. space program, the shuttle program at NASA is no longer a reality. Private spacecraft maker, SpaceX, announced it will be running a cargo test run to the International Space Station as early as November.

As thousands of people coast to coast wonder what their next step is going to be, the Machinists Union is taking a minute to say “thank you” to all the members of the labor movement who worked as part of NASA's shuttle program over the years. The MNN has reposted the original video “IAM’s Journey to Space,” featuring these great American heroes. Their dedication and service to this great American industry will not be forgotten.

Click here to see the original video.

Join Verizon Workers and Their Fight for Middle-Class Jobs

by Mike Hall, Aug 15, 2011
This afternoon, members from unions in the Northern Virginia Area Labor Federation are joining striking Verizon workers and Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen at rally in Ashburn, Va.

Meanwhile the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO is urging workers and community allies to rally with the CWA’s and the Electrical Workers (IBEW) fight for middle class jobs at four area demonstrations this week.
•Tuesday:
12 p.m.: Verizon Strike Demo (MD; Montgomery County) 13101 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring.
•12 p.m.: Verizon Wireless Picketing – DC L Street Verizon Wireless Store; 1744 L St NW
•Wednesday:
12 p.m.: F Street Verizon Wireless Picketing
F Street Verizon Wireless Store; 1314 F Street NW
•Thursday:
12 p.m.: Verizon Wireless Picketing- DC
L Street Verizon Wireless Store; 1744 L St NW.

For more information on events and how can support striking Verizon workers all along the East Coast, click here and here for events in New York and New Jersey.

Victory for Workers’ Rights in Santa Barbara ‘News-Press Mess’

This is an excerpt from a cross-post at the California Labor Federation by Melinda Burns, Teamsters Graphic Communications Conference.

The National Labor Relations Board last week ordered the Santa Barbara News-Press to reinstate me and seven other reporters who were illegally fired nearly five years ago, after our newsroom voted to unionize. I was the first to be escorted out of the building in October 2006, one month after we voted overwhelmingly to join the union. I was a senior writer, I had been at the paper for 21 years, and I had won local, state, regional and national awards for the paper with my reporting.

Back in July of 2006, the News-Press newsroom faced a crisis. Five top editors resigned, alleging that Wendy McCaw, the multimillionaire owner, was improperly meddling in news coverage, in part by arbitrarily disciplining her own reporters and editors. In September of that year, seeking to protect our professional integrity and job security, we newsroom employees voted 33-6 to join the Graphics Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

During the past five years, McCaw has proved to be one of the most blatantly anti-union employers in California, if not the whole country. She has racked up more than 25 violations of federal labor law, lost four trials before federal labor law judges, and two out of four appeals so far, with two still pending before the NLRB. One judge cited News-Press management for its “widespread, general disregard for the fundamental rights of the employees.”

Victory is sweet, but it is taking a very long time. Last week, McCaw vowed to appeal the board’s recent decision, a 3-0 vote by two Democrats and a Republican. The NLRB declared the labor law violations at the News-Press to be “serious and widespread.”

McCaw also has been found guilty of illegally harassing, threatening and spying on union members and demanding that reporters remove “McCaw Obey the Law” buttons.

We have tremendous allies in our fight for workers’ rights at the News-Press. The Teamsters have pledged never to abandon us, no matter how long it takes. The union has put its best organizers into our campaign and has spent more than half a million dollars to help bring McCaw to justice. More than 16,000 subscribers have quit the News-Press during the last five years, a drop of nearly 40 percent. We are urging people not to buy or read the News-Press or advertise in the paper until McCaw signs a fair contract with her newsroom.

Thank you to all our brothers and sisters in the labor movement, especially you dedicated Teamsters who have stood up for us all these years. We will not lose this fight. United, we will prevail!

Billionaire Buffett: Tax the Really Rich

by Tula Connell, Aug 15, 2011

Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest men, has said repeatedly U.S. taxes should be higher on him and his fellow billionaires and millionaires. Today he lays it on the line in a New York Times op-ed piece.

Buffett points out that he is taxed at only a 17.4 percent rate—while the office workers on his staff are taxed between 33 percent and 41 percent. While tea party Republicans in Congress fought off any moves to help balance the budget through higher taxes on the extremely rich, Buffett has this advice for Congress: Stop coddling the rich. Here’s what he recommends:

…for those making more than $1 million—there were 236,883 such households in 2009—I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. And for those who make $10 million or more—there were 8,274 in 2009—I would suggest an additional increase in rate.

A special subset of Congress—12 members—will begin meeting after Labor Day to devise a plan that reduces the nation’s 10-year deficit by at least $1.5 trillion. They should listen to Buffett:

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.

Read his full op-ed here.

Support Grows for Striking Verizon Workers’ Fight for Middle-Class Jobs

by Mike Hall, Aug 15, 2011

The huge crowd outside the Verizon Center in downtown Washington, D.C., Saturday wasn’t there for a basketball game or concert. They came to tell Verizon to stop its attack on middle-class jobs.

The Verizon Center demonstration and dozens and dozens of other actions at Verizon worksites and Verizon Wireless stores are part of the growing support for the 45,000 Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Electrical Workers (IBEW) members forced on strike by Verizon Aug. 6.

The company, with $32.5 billion in revenue in the past three years, is demanding $1 billion in concessions from workers, which amounts to $20,000 per Verizon worker per year. While talks resumed last week, those demands remain on the table. Says CWA Communications Director Candice Johnson:

If wealthy companies like Verizon can continue to cut working families’ pay and benefits, we will never have an economic recovery in this country. This is a fight for all middle-class working families.

Verizon’s demands include outsourcing jobs overseas, gutting pension security, eliminating benefits for workers injured on the job, eliminating job security, slashing paid sick leave and raising health care costs.

CWA filed unfair labor practice charges against Verizon Aug. 12 with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), charging the company with refusal to bargain in good faith.

Union workers and community allies are joining striking CWA and IBEW members on the picket lines. Barbara Smith of CWA Local 1109 In Brooklyn, N.Y., told Labor Notes that when Verizon Wireless pickets are up:

pedestrians stop and thank us because they understand that this fight is about more than Verizon.

While Verizon is demanding that workers take home less, it paid its top five executives more than $258 million over the past four years, including $80.8 million for its former CEO Ivan Seidenberg. Friday night, more than 500 CWA, IBEW members and their allies held a candlelight vigil outside Seidenberg’ West Nyack, N.Y., home.

They carried a coffin to symbolize the death of the middle class. CWA Local 1101 member Ron Canterino, told reporters:

The middle class is dying here, and we’re here to be together as one class, one people—whether it’s union or nonunion working people.

Here are some other actions you can take to support the strikers:
•Find a local picket line to support here.
•Download leaflets here.
•“Like” the strikers on Facebook here and change your Facebook and/or Twitter profile picture in solidarity here.
•Click here to demand that Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam value employees’ work and share his corporation’s success with those who make it possible.
•Click here for a list of picket sites in the New York and New Jersey area. `
•Click here to sign and Tweet an act.ly petition demanding Verizon drop its outrageous concessionary demands.
•To Tweet about the strike, use the hashtag #verizonstrike and feel free to direct to @VZLaborfacts.