North Carolina Coast Guard Workers Join IAM

Tue. May 03, 2011

One hundred and thirty workers at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, NC voted for IAM representation to improve their pay and benefits. The Service Contract workers are employed by URS Corporation and provide service to the base and helicopter fleet.

Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City is one of the busiest Air Stations in the Coast Guard. On any single day, aircrews may be as far away as Greenland, the Azores or the Caribbean. Aircrews from the base are constantly putting their training and knowledge to the test in missions including maritime law enforcement, environmental response as well as search and rescue. URS employees also ensure the equipment at the station is in top shape at all times.

“Local Lodge 2203 already represents federal workers at the base,” said District Lodge 74 Directing Business Representative Larry Young. “Our federal members talked to the Service Contract workers about the importance of having a union contract. The URS employees recently had pay and benefits cut. I want to thank Local 2203 member Willard Jenkins, and his wife, Tabatha, who is a URS employee. They led the organizing effort.”

“Hard-working professionals don’t need pay cuts. They need the protection of an IAM contract to ensure their future,” said Southern Territory GVP Bob Martinez. “This was a great move for the 130 workers and their families. Congratulations to DBR Young, and I want to welcome our newest IAM members.”

IAM Leaders Address Ohio State Council Delegates

Andy Buffenbarger addressed the Ohio State Machinists Council meeting in Cleveland and provided an update on the IAM’s Young Machinists Program.

Tue. May 03, 2011

Members of the Ohio State Council of Machinists met on April 30 in Cleveland, OH, to coordinate their efforts on behalf of members in the Buckeye State and to review the unprecedented assault on collective bargaining taking place in Ohio and elsewhere.

International President Tom Buffenbarger, General Secretary-Treasurer Warren Mart and Eastern Territory GVP Lynn D. Tucker, Jr. were among the IAM leaders who addressed the group and spoke about the importance of resisting the anti-union agenda being pushed by Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich.

“In little more than a year, we’ve gone from a solid ally in Gov. Ted Strickland to John Kasich, a former investment banker for Lehman Bros. and Fox television host, and the results have been disastrous,” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that elections don’t matter, because Ohio is proof how much difference a single election can make.”

GST Mart echoed Buffenbarger’s remarks, calling on members to be leery of watered-down proposals from anti-union lawmakers that are only slightly less odious than the frontal assaults in Wisconsin. “It will be up to us to keep our members advised about subtle changes that would gut their collective bargaining rights, just over a slightly longer period of time,” said Mart.

Delegates at the annual meeting were updated about the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council and the IAM’s Young Machinists Program, an organizing and outreach effort designed to build connections with new members and potential new members. “We have an obligation to educate the next generation about the value and importance of union membership,” said Andy Buffenbarger from the Young Machinists. “The Young Machinists Program is intended to do exactly that.”

Ohio Gov. Kasich Pays Lip Service to Public Employees

Ohio Governor John Kasich

by Tula Connell, May 3, 2011

Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich has taken hypocracy to a new low. After months of pushing a bill to kill collective bargaining rights for public employees, he now has issued proclamations making this week “Public Service Appreciation Week” and “Teacher Appreciation Week.” Seriously.

Kasich signed the draconian bill into law, and workers–many of them teachers and other public employee–now are gathering signatures to put repeal of the bill on the November ballot. Kasich’s actions prompted this respsonse from Ohio State House Miniority Leader Armond Budish:

Gov. Kasich’s statements forced me to check my calendar, and much to my surprise today is not April Fool’s Day….While he’s putting out statements of praise, he and his Republican cronies are working to systematically destroy public employees and teachers… So Gov. Kasich, do you commend the police officer for doing his job well before or after you call him an ‘idiot’? Do you thank teachers and firefighters for the invaluable work before or after you slash their wages and benefits?

Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga called Kasich’s proclamation “superficial” and “disingenuous” given Kasich’s support for the legislation.

Those words describe Kasich’s two-year budget as well. Like many Republicans who ran and won in 2010 by promising they would create jobs, he has done the opposite after getting elected. Kasich’s budget would result in the direct loss of 51,052 jobs in that state, according to a study by Innovation Ohio.

IAM Report Highlights U.S. Manufacturing Jobs

Tue. May 03, 2011

Unlike most industrialized countries, the U.S. has no definitive policy to preserve and protect its homegrown manufacturing jobs. A new IAM report, “Creating and Sustaining U.S. Manufacturing Jobs,” includes a nine-point plan that could provide the basis for a desperately-needed national policy.

“While there are many reasons for the decline in manufacturing and the closely-related economic crises, one of the fundamental reasons is the simple fact that the U.S. does not have a national manufacturing strategy and has not established a framework for creating one,” said IAM Trade and Globalization Department Director Owen Herrnstadt.

Included in the nine-point plan is a provision to require that “Made in the U.S.” actually means “Made in the U.S.” An additional point in the plan calls for policies that will curtail states battling with one another for manufacturing jobs.

“It is imperative that the administration demonstrate much-needed leadership in pursuing policies that will have immediate and long-term impact on ensuring support and creation of U.S. manufacturing jobs,” said Herrnstadt.

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.