IAM Local Lodge 731 Business Meeting

IAM Local Lodge 731 will hold its monthly business meeting on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at the Union Hall, 277 Tallulah Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32208 at 7:00pm. If you arrive early please be respectful and wait for the Executive Board meeting to conclude. Go to the LL731 page at www.iam731.org for directions.

NFL Talks Continue, Deadline at End of Friday

Mar 7, 6:15 AM EST
By BARRY WILNER
AP Pro Football Writer

Negotiators for the NFL and the players' union begin five days and nights - at least - of talks toward reaching a new collective bargaining agreement on Monday. Failure by the time Friday ends could mean the first pro football work stoppage since 1987.

Enough progress was made in 11 days of meetings overseen by federal mediator George Cohen that two extensions to the current CBA were granted: first for 24 hours, then for seven days. That doesn't mean the owners and players association are on the verge of any major breakthroughs.

But, unlike in the previous months when there was little movement - except in opposite directions - the two reprieves last week were encouraging.

Wisconsin Sheriff Stands Up for Democracy

Sheriff David Mahoney

by James Parks, Mar 6, 2011

Dane County (Wis.) Sheriff Scott Mahoney is a man who respects the Constitution and the right of people to protest. Mahoney pulled his deputies from the guarding the Wisconsin Capitol building entrances this week after Gov. Scott Walker and his aides tried to crack down on dissent by closing the building. Walker was trying to stifle the mass demonstrations by working people who were protesting his plan to take away bargaining rights for state employees.

As Mahoney said during a press conference on March 1:

When asked to stand guard at the doors that duty was turned over to the Wisconsin State Patrol because our deputies would not stand and be palace guards. I refused to put deputy sheriffs in a position to be palace guards.

In an article on TheNation.com, John Nichols profiles Mahoney and asks why he would refuse to act as the governor’s palace guard. Mahoney’s straightforward response: He believes it is important to respect the Constitution and maintain a free and open space for honest debate and dissent.

“I smile every day at what I am seeing take place in this building,” Mahoney says.

We’re an example to the world about how to run a democracy.

21 Airlines Fined for Fixing Passenger, Cargo Fees

AP Photo/Jacques Brinon





Mar 6, 1:22 AM EST
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- When the airline industry took a nose dive a decade ago, executives at global carriers scrambled to find a quick fix to avoid financial ruin.

What they came up with, according to federal prosecutors, was a massive price-fixing scheme among airlines that artificially inflated passenger and cargo fuel surcharges between 2000 and 2006 to make up for lost profits.

The airlines' crimes cost U.S. consumers and businesses - mostly international passengers and cargo shippers - hundreds of millions of dollars, prosecutors say.

But the airlines caught by the Justice Department have paid a hefty price in the five years since the government's widespread investigation became public.

To date, 19 executives have been charged with wrongdoing - four have gone to prison - and 21 airlines have coughed up more than $1.7 billion in fines in one of the largest criminal antitrust investigations in U.S. history.

The court cases reveal a complex web of schemes between mostly international carriers willing to fix fees in lockstep with competitors for flights to and from the United States.

Convicted airlines include British Airways, Korean Air, and Air France-KLM. No major U.S. carriers have been charged.

Michael Moore Rallies Wis. Pro-Union Protesters

AP Photo/Andy Manis

Mar 6, 4:30 AM EST
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore urged Wisconsin residents Saturday to fight against Republican efforts to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights, telling thousands of protesters that "Madison is only the beginning."

The crowd roared in approval as Moore implored demonstrators to keep up their struggle against Republican Gov. Scott Walker's legislation, saying they've galvanized the nation against the wealthy elite and comparing their fight to Egypt's revolt. He also thanked the 14 state Democratic senators who fled Wisconsin to block a vote on the bill, saying they'll go down in history books.

"We're going to do this together. Don't give up. Please don't give up," Moore told the protesters, who have swarmed the Capitol every day for close to three weeks.

Police said there were "tens of thousands" of protesters but didn't give a specific count. The vast majority of the crowd was pro-union, and no one was arrested or cited. Rallies drew huge crowds the previous two Saturdays, too: about 70,000 on Feb. 19, and an even larger one on Feb. 26.

Wisconsin Republicans Getting Nervous About Losing Senate Votes

by James Parks, Mar 4, 2011

Opponents of the right of public employees to bargain for middle-class jobs in Wisconsin are getting nervous that three Republican state senators may switch their votes and support public employees. Stephen Moore writes in the Wall Street Journal that with a 19-14 majority in the state Senate, Republicans cannot lose more than two votes if they want to ram through Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-worker agenda.

The pressure is building on the Republicans. Consider, 14 Democratic senators have been out of state since Feb. 17 and the public response to their action has been overwhelmingly positive.

Now a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows that 62 percent of respondents oppose eliminating collective-bargaining rights for public-sector workers over health care, pensions or other benefits. And working people have launched recall efforts against eight of the GOP senators.

NFL Exec: We Are Committed to Collective Bargaining

by Tula Connell, Mar 4, 2011

This afternoon, the National Football League Players Association and managers extended the contract deadline for another seven days while negotiations continue.

After the extension was announced, Jeff Pash, executive vice president of labor for the National Football League and the chief negotiator for a $9 billion business said he backed the collective bargaining process.

…we are committed to collective bargaining. All over this country, collective bargaining is being challenged. We’re committed to it. We believe it can work. It has worked. We believe it will work across the country is being challenged and he supports the collectivel bargaining process.

Someone get Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on the phone. Oh, the Koch brothers already did.…

New Director Wants Tampa International Airport to Offer More International Nonstops

By Steve Huettel, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, March 6, 2011

Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers handles fewer than half as many passengers as Tampa International, yet has the same number of nonstop flights to Europe.

One.

TIA's new boss, Joe Lopano, hopes to reverse his airport's long-standing failure to improve international service by taking a page from the playbook of his neighbor to the south.

As it turns out, the Fort Myers Metro area is home to more than 93,000 Germans and people of German ancestry. That's why Air Berlin, Germany's second-biggest airline, offers direct flights to its hub in Dusseldorf.

Does that explain why Lopano now wants to know how many Europeans own property in Tampa Bay?

Pilots' Union Leaders Re-elected at Continental

On Friday March 4, 2011, 6:06 pm EST

HOUSTON (AP) -- Pilots at Continental Airlines re-elected three top officials of their union, and said there would be a new election after Continental is absorbed into United Airlines.

The Air Line Pilots Association said Friday that Jay Pierce was re-elected to a 2-year term as chairman of the Continental unit, and Doug Marotta and Randy Hodge were re-elected as vice chairman and secretary-treasurer.

Parent company United Continental Holdings Inc. plans to combine the two carriers, including reaching a labor contract covering both groups of pilots and combining pilot seniority lists. After that, the union would hold new elections. The United pilots are also represented by ALPA.

US Airways Pilots Issue Statement of Support for Wisconsin Workers' Right to Union Representation

Press Release Source: US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA) On Friday March 4, 2011, 5:23 pm EST

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA), representing the pilots of US Airways, supports the state, local and municipal employees of Wisconsin in their fight to maintain their collective bargaining rights. Below is a statement provided by Captain Mike Cleary, president of USAPA:

"The governor and legislature of Wisconsin have embarked on an extremist attack on established labor laws that have existed for more than 50 years. Middle class families are at risk as Governor Walker attempts to blame and punish public sector workers for the state's economic woes. The economic crisis we find ourselves in wasn't caused by union workers in this country; it was caused by those in corporate America and on Wall Street who engaged in irresponsible lending practices.