Answering the Call

Mon. May 02, 2011

May 2, 2011 - Each time Congress cuts the budget, a social program usually suffers. For the Machinists and the labor movement, that means, if you aren't already doing so it's time to step up and answer the call of community service.

Communicator's Note: Watch the video here.

Sweeney: Renewal of Social Justice Spirit Desperately Needed

AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney

by James Parks, May 2, 2011

Working families in our country are in desperate trouble and in desperate need of the spirit and strength of Catholic social teaching which embraces social justice and the right of workers to form unions, AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney said today.

Sweeney delivered the keynote address at the Church, Labor and the New Things of the Modern World conference at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. The conference celebrates the 120th anniversary of the landmark papal encyclical Rerum Novarum (Of New Things). Written by Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum laid the foundation for the Catholic Church’s longtime involvement in workers’ issues. Read the entire speech here.

Labor unions, the “free associations” Rerum Novarum said should protect them, are under attack as never before, Sweeney said.

Earlier this year, politicians began taking America’s anti-union, anti-worker crusade a step even further by trampling the rights of public employees and boldly trying to eliminate their unions altogether.

If unchecked, this assault on the very existence of unions is sure to spread, and the impact on Catholic social teachings and, indeed, the moral and economic fiber of our nation, will be profound.

Sweeney reminded the participants it will take more than words and admonitions to rescue working families from a society that insists they should have no say in the decisions affecting them.

It will take a genuine renewal of the social teaching tradition in the Church and the willingness of the leadership to challenge the economic and political “powers that be.” It is that tradition and that willingness that together brought us so far towards the goal of dignity for all work and dignity for all workers.

The conference, which ends tomorrow, brings together top Catholic religious leaders and scholars, including His Eminence, Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and journalists Harold Meyerson and E.J. Dionne and others to discuss the relevance of Catholic social teaching in the modern world.

NNU: Lawmakers Have ‘Real Choice’ to Reform Medicare

by James Parks, May 2, 2011

In a letter to the New York Times today, Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United (NNU), says the Republican plan put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is “little more than a thinly veiled scheme to destroy one of the most fundamental reforms in American history through privatization and further cost-shifting to many of the most vulnerable in our society.”

The “real choice,” DeMoro says:

would be securing the future of Medicare once and for all by extending it to cover everyone. Through its proven formula of global budgeting and federal bulk-purchasing power, it is the best way to effectively control costs while ensuring that we change our broken health care system from one based on ability to pay to one based on patient need.

Wis. Protests Inspire Morello’s ‘Union Town’—Download It Free

by James Parks, May 2, 2011

Singer Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine has always been a strong supporter of working people. Morello was so inspired after taking part in a demonstration and headlining a concert in February for the protesters at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., that he wrote what he calls “fighting songs.”

Not only did he write and record the songs, he’s donating the proceeds of the new eight-song extended play (EP) “Union Town” to help working people. There’s more: For a limited time, you can download the title song free here.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler says this is a very special action by Morello.

Do you remember the last time a leading recording artist put out a labor EP? And do you remember one ever donating the proceeds entirely to the cause of workers’ struggles at a critical moment—or anytime?

The EP will be released in digital form on May 17 and on CD and vinyl on July 19 under Morello’s new deal with New West Records. Proceeds from sale of the album will go to the America Votes Labor Unity Fund to support mobilization for pushing back against the state attacks on workers.

“I was so inspired by what I saw in Madison,” Morello says.

It seems very much like we’re at an important crossroad, and that this movement was not just about stopping some bad legislation, but possibly harnessing the energy of 100,000 to 150,000 people who were in the streets and want to put some teeth back in the labor movement in the U.S.

Check out an interview with Morello today at Politico.com here.

A National Manufacturing Strategy Key to Job Growth

Click here to read the story.

US Airways CEO's pay package rises to $2.8 million

Doug Parker, Chairman, President and CEO, US Airways

CEO of US Airways sees $2.8 million in compensation after profitable 2010

Joshua Freed, AP Airlines Writer, On Friday April 29, 2011, 7:55 pm EDT

The head of U.S. Airways Group Inc. saw his compensation rise 7 percent to $2.8 million last year, according to an Associated Press calculation from the company's proxy statement, as it logged its first profitable year since 2007.

Chairman and CEO Doug Parker's salary was unchanged at $550,000.

Options awards valued at $1.1 million were down from 2009, but incentive pay of $987,800 was more than double the $429,000 he got for 2009. The stock options will only have value if the company's shares increase in value, and they must vest over the next three years.

He got nothing under a long-term incentive plan because U.S. Airways shares did not perform better than the shares of other airlines from 2008 through 2010.

US Airways is the fifth-biggest U.S. airline, and Parker's pay is less than the CEOs of the other big U.S. carriers.

"While my compensation remains below those of other airline CEOs, it is still a significant expense for our company and with this level of compensation comes significant responsibility," he wrote in a letter to employees on Friday, the same day his pay was detailed in a filing. "I take that responsibility very seriously and will continue to do so as we continue to run a great operation, take care of our customers and ensure US Airways is successful for many years to come."

The airline, based in Tempe, Ariz., reported net income for 2010 of $502 million after losing $205 million in 2009. Revenue rose 13.9 percent to $11.9 billion.

During 2010, its shares more than doubled to finish the year at $10.01, up from a close of $4.84 at the end of 2009. On Friday they rose 32 cents, or 3.7 percent, to close at $9.09.

The AP compensation formula calculates an executive's total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest the company pays on deferred compensation (which Parker didn't receive) and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits. That makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The value that a company assigned to an executive's stock and option awards for 2010 was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over time. Companies use one of several formulas to calculate that value. However, the number is just an estimate, and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company's stock in the years after the awards are granted. Most stock compensation programs require an executive to wait a specified amount of time to receive shares or exercise options.

US Airways said it would hold its annual shareholder meeting on June 9 in New York.

Breaking: Court Rules NFL Can Lock Out Players

by Tula Connell, Apr 29, 2011

This just in. According to CNN:

A Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the National Football League (NFL) request to restore a lockout, according to a court clerk.

The temporary stay of an April 25 lower court order allows NFL owners to again suspend football operations as they seek to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA).

If the players are locked out when the season starts in September, it would be the first NFL work stoppage since 1987.

A New Yorker article has pointed out what’s behind the owners’ lockout of the players:

It’s about very rich businessmen thinking that they should be even richer.

Read requests from the NFLPA to owners seeking financial information to back the owners’ claims that they are losing money and need to cut players’ pay $1 billion. The owners refused.

Here’s a listing of the owners’ final demands that they characterized as a meet-in-the middle compromise offer. But in fact was little different from their long-standing give-back demands.

Mich. Financial Martial Law Sponsor Faces Recall, Ties to Benton Harbor Developer Probed

by Mike Hall, Apr 29, 2011

The sponsor of Michigan’s “financial martial law” bill that Gov. Rick Snyder (R) pushed and then signed last month is facing a recall because the first city—Benton Harbor—to be placed under the law that virtually abolishes local government is in his district and local officials and residents want their government back.

In addition, news reports have uncovered his ties to a major developer that wants to take over the city’s crown jewel—a lakeshore park deeded to the city in 1917.

Today, Benton Harbor City Commissioner Dennis Knowles, filed a document that is the first step to recalling State Rep. Al Pscholka (R). The document is proposed language for a recall petition and if approved by the Berrien County Commission, activists can begin collecting signatures for recall. The county commission is expected to rule on the recall move May 9.

The document says Pscholka should be recalled “for sponsoring and supporting Public Act 4 that has robbed the citizens in District 79, namely the city of Benton Harbor, of their democratic rights…empowering a nonelected emergency financial manager…(and) striking local municipal government representation for, of and by the people.”

Meanwhile MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has traced the connections between Pscholka, the Whirlpool Corp.’s development of a luxury golf course and estate home community and a Benton Harbor lakeshore city park it’s drooling over to add to the Golf Club at Harbor Shores.

In a nutshell, Pscholka is a former aide to Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) heir to the Whirlpool fortune. Its corporate headquarters is in Benton Harbor and Whirlpool is using some of its land in Benton Harbor for the project. But it is eyeing Jean Klock Park along Lake Michigan’s shores for even more McMansions. After leasing a small portion of the park to Harbor Shores when the project began, Benton Harbor residents and city officials have opposed any expansion.

Pscholka is the former vice-president of a development company involved in the Harbor Shores project and was on the Board of Directors of a non-profit also involved in the Harbor Shores project.

Under the financial martial law bill, the city officials who have opposed Harbor Shores don’t have much power anymore. Here’s what they can do, according to the recently appointed “Emergency Financial Manager” Joseph Harris. They can an only call meetings to order, adjourn them and approve minutes of meetings. All other decision–making powers rest with Harris.

Click here for Maddow’s segment on Pscholka, here to visit Save Jean Klock Park and here, and here.

1968 Memphis Sanitation Strikers Inducted Into Labor Hall of Fame

President Obama met this morning with participants in the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike.

by James Parks, Apr 29, 2011

In an emotional ceremony, punctuated by several standing ovations, the U.S. Labor Department inducted into the Labor Hall of Fame 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers whose 1968 strike the right to join a union and collective bargaining was Martin Luther King’s last campaign. King was killed in the midst of the strike.

This is the first time the Hall of Fame has inducted a group of workers. U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said the sanitation workers were “ordinary men who took an extraordinary stand for what is right.”

The 1,300 workers walked out in 1968 after two of their co-workers were crushed on the job. They withstood beatings, harassment and firings to gain a raise and win recognition of their union, AFSCME Local 1733. Their simple slogan ”I Am A Man” has become a labor history icon.

Solis related that President Obama, who met with eight of the strikers this morning (above), told them he stood on their shoulders and he never would have been president if it were not for their courageous actions.

Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, a King aide who was in Memphis in 1968, said the men represented not only themselves, but all poor people.

Alvin Turner, one of the strikers, drew strong parallels between the problems they faced in 1968 and the attacks on public employees today in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and other states. He said in times like these, it is essential workers stick together. He pointed out that not one of the 1,300 sanitation workers crossed the line in 1968.

If it hadn’t been for unity, we never would have won the strike. I see they’re trying to balance the budget on the backs of poor people. They’re staring at the top with the teachers, but they’re coming down to the little man. I go to union meetings and only 10 people are there. They’re coming after you and if you don’t start coming to union meetings, they’re gonna get you.

Workers Could Be ‘Unstoppable’ with Unity, Solidarity, Democracy

by James Parks, Apr 29, 2011

The attempts to blame the nation’s economic mess on teachers, firefighters, nurses and other public employees provide a great opportunity for working people to regain the American Dream, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said this week.

But reviving the Dream will require working families and unions to rededicate themselves to organizing, reach out in solidarity to other workers at home and around the world and develop strategies to win back state legislatures as well as keep the White House in 2012, Trumka said. Read the entire speech here.

Speaking to the Lawyers Coordinating Committee (LCC), a group of union and labor lawyers, Trumka said the public is learning what the CEO-backed Republican attackers are trying to do to working people and their rights. Over the next 18 months, he said, “working people and our allies across these battleground states are going to win—not every fight, but the big ones and the day. “

But he warned that victory over the likes of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will not mean victory for all workers and our unions. We need to win at the ballot box in 2012 to create the changes that will help working people and the nation reverse all the damage from these anti-worker policies, he said:

We need a 2012 election that puts the Scott Walkers of the world on notice that their agenda is not a viable political strategy. We need to win back the House, keep the Senate and win state and local races across the country. We need to win back at least one house in every one of these embattled state legislatures. Political strategies that are simply about low-risk ways of holding the White House will not help workers—they will lengthen a losing end game and will not give us a path to victory.

Global solidarity among workers is critical as well. Trumka said:

In the age of Internet globalization, we live our cause as one with workers around the world. The U.S. labor movement’s voice has been clear in support of democracy and workers’ rights in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Bahrain, in Syria, in Iran—and our voice has been heard.

“Now we must take that same spirit that brought working people to the streets of Indianapolis and Madison and Columbus—and Tunis and Cairo—and bring it to all our nation’s workplaces—and to our polling places, our state capitols and our national capitol,” Trumka said.

With this spirit of unity, of solidarity, of democracy itself, we can be unstoppable in 2011, in 2012 and in the years to come.