Video Finalists Picked in LabourStart’s Video of the Year Contest

by Mike Hall, May 8, 2011

The five finalists have been selected for LabourStart’s second annual Labor Video of the Year competition and you have until midnight GMT (8 p.m. EDT) May 31 to select your favorite.

The five videos were produced by:
•The United Steelworkers (USW), highlighting Honeywell’s use of inexperienced, temporary workers at a uranium facility following a lockout;
•The Electrical Workers (IBEW), portraying corporate-style “workplace democracy”;
•The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), showing how a union contract means job safety;
•The Transport Workers (TWU), reviewing the fight for workers’ rights in Wisconsin; and
•Melissa Koch, who tracks her father’s outsourced airline mechanic job to China.

Click here to view the entries and vote.

The producer of the overall winning video will receive a subscription to IMDb Pro, worth $100. Winners in the various categories also will be recognized. The overall winning video and runner up will be featured Nov. 18–20 in a special screening at the LabourStart global solidarity conference in Istanbul.

Last year’s winner was “What Have Unions Ever Done for Us?” a Monty Python-like look at a scowling CEO and his minions as they prepare to bring a union to its knees (click here). The video was produced by Your Rights At Work, the Australian counterpart of the AFL-CIO community affiliate, Working America.

Join OSHA’s Safe Workplaces Photo Contest

by James Parks, May 7, 2011

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is sponsoring a nationwide photography contest: “Picture It! Safe Workplaces for Everyone.”

The contest, which is part of OSHA’s yearlong 40th anniversary celebration, will help kick off a national effort to raise awareness about workplace safety and health.

The contest is open to anyone age 18 and older and will run through Aug. 12. Both professional and amateur photographers are welcome to enter. Participants can find contest rules and submit photographs at www.osha.gov/osha40/photo-contest.html.

Photographs must be taken in the United States or its territories. An expert panel of professionals in the fields of photography and public affairs will determine the contest winners. The panel includes photojournalist Earl Dotter; Carl Fillichio, senior adviser to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis for communications and public affairs; Kathleen Klech, photo director for Condé Nast Traveler magazine; Shawn Moore, chief photographer at the U.S. Department of Labor; and George Tolbert, retired photographer for the U.S. Senate.

First-, second- and third-place prizes will be awarded for the most outstanding portrayals of occupational safety and health in areas of artistic value and the ability to raise awareness about safety and health to the general public.

All winning and finalist photographs will be displayed on the OSHA photo contest webpage. The first-place winner also will receive a framed letter of congratulations from Solis, and the three winning photos will be framed and hung in OSHA’s national office in Washington, D.C.

Along with the general public, OSHA contractors and special government employees may participate in the contest. However, federal OSHA, “state plan” state OSHA employees and on-site consultation employees are not eligible.

If you have questions, call OSHA’s Office of Communications at 202-693-1999 or photocontest@osha.gov.

Alliance for Retired Americans - Friday Alert, May 6, 2011

May 06, 2011

May is Older Americans Month

Honoring the contributions of older Americans across the nation, President Obama proclaimed the Older Americans Month theme this year is “Connecting the Community.” The President acknowledges how social media and new technology allow seniors to remain actively engaged in their communities and connected to their far-away friends and families well into their later years. The proclamation also relates to seniors’ health care.
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TWU Video Shows Strength of Pa. Rally

by Mike Hall, May 6, 2011

Earlier this week 5,000 workers from dozens of unions marched on the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg to let Gov. Tom Corbett (R) know his budget is an attack on workers and communities. Said Gordy Moretton of Transport Workers (TWU) Local 2009:

The governor wants to make cuts to services that everyday people need. We need to stop this attack on the middle class.

Check out this TWU video for a great wrap up of the rally and click here to read more from the TWU blog.

Taxing Family Health Care for Deficit Reduction is Wrong

by Mike Hall, May 6, 2011

More than 156 million Americans get their health care coverage through their employers. Employer and most worker contributions to health insurance premiums are excluded from workers’ taxable incomes.

Even after health care reform is fully phased in, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that nearly 160 million people will hold employer-sponsored insurance plans.

But recent proposals—under the guise deficit reduction—have called for ending or reducing that exclusion. The most recent came from last year’s budget deficit commission report that calls for a cap on the premium tax exclusion before eliminating it entirely.

A new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) finds that the cap would impact almost all family health plans by 2018, including “middle of the road” plans—not just high-cost plans. Not only would taxing the plans encourage employers to drop coverage, it would also lead to less comprehensive care for working families.

The report “Reducing the federal deficit by increasing households’ risk: Phaseout of tax exclusion for health insurance premiums leads to less health and financial security,” also finds that despite claims by its backers, the tax cap and eventual complete exclusion won’t lead to reduced health care costs, just reduced health care coverage for working families.

Removing the tax exclusion has the potential to create a financial hard­ship for many working families, particularly those who rely on comprehensive coverage to cover costs of their se­rious illnesses. It is equivalent to a cut in benefits, a cut in total compensation, and a shift of risk onto workers. While it is touted as a cost-containment mechanism, the tax ex­clusion may simply lower health care usage, not prices, and actually increase total health costs for chronically ill people who go without cost-effective treatments.

Click here for the full report.

This Money Trail Leads Straight to Prisons—Private Ones

by Mike Hall, May 6, 2011

After the November elections, with its raft of new Republicans in governors’ seats and in control of state legislatures, we’ve seen many of those states implement a corporate agenda that includes attacks on workers rights, new corporate tax cuts and privatization of state services.

Some of the biggest privatization prizes are state prison systems. A new report from AFSCME follows the money from corporations to the lawmakers who are now pushing lucrative prison privatization contracts in several states.

According to, “Making A Killing: How Prison Corporations Are Profiting From Campaign Contributions and Putting Taxpayers at Risk,” the three largest private prison companies are The GEO Group, Inc., Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), and the Management & Training Corporation (MTC). Each election cycle, according to the report, these corporations

pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaigns of governors, state legislators, and judges, in the hopes f advancing their political agenda—establishing more private prisons and reducing the number of public ones.

November’s Republican victories provided the private prison industry with new friends on the state level.

The upshot is a broad network of powerful private prison companies and pro-privatization legislation and budget initiatives linked by thousands of dollars in political donations to the party in power. This year, the industry is betting on these newly-elected allies to deliver the contracts they were losing under former state leadership.

Here are two examples from the report.

Florida: The Miami Herald reports that since 2001, the Florida GOP has received more than $1.5 million from the two largest prison contractors and their affiliates. Over two thirds of that total can be traced to the GEO Group of Boca Raton, which manages two of the state’s private prisons. The Florida Senate is now pushing to outsource corrections facilities to private companies in 18 additional counties.

Texas: In Texas, private prison companies and their PACs have given over $130,000 to candidates for public office since 2006. Texas has more privately operated correction facilities than any other state in the country. Harris County—the most populous county in the state—is now deliberating a plan to privatize the state’s largest jail.

The AFSCME report also points out that private prisons “routinely experience more inmate escapes and higher rates of violence due to chronically lax security and poorly trained minimally paid staff.” It also notes that there is no

conclusive evidence showing that private prisons save states money. Policy Matters Ohio, a state think-tank whose report on prison privatization was released earlier this year, stated: “While debate over prison privatization has been heated and divisive, there is little or no consensus on whether it actually saves money…” In fact, in some cases, the opposite is true.

Click here for the full report and check out this report from the Teamsters (IBT) on the move to privatize prisons in Florida.

Guide Lists Worker-Friendly San Francisco Restaurants

by James Parks, May 6, 2011

Young Workers United (YWU) members issued their second annual edition of “Dining With Justice,” which highlights food establishments that follow labor laws and treat their employees with dignity and respect.

The San Francisco-based group released the updated guide on May Day, as members participate in May Day marches in support of workers’ rights.

Because of the recession, restaurant owners and managers have a greater incentive to increase profits by cutting corners with food quality, health and safety and labor rights, YWU says.

As a result, most restaurant workers have been victims of wage theft. They may not receive overtime pay or breaks, or are forced to work off the clock. Workers have been increasingly apprehensive of speaking out about work grievances, fearing job loss and prolonged unemployment.

YWU presented awards to restaurant owners who care not only about the food they serve but also the people they employ. To determine the winners, YWU surveyed workers and employers in 35 restaurants in a variety of price ranges throughout San Francisco.

Check out the “Dining With Justice” guide here.

Ohioans Protest Kasich Budget, Build Support for S.B. 5 Repeal

by Mike Hall, May 6, 2011

More than 3,000 Ohio workers, students and other activists rallied outside the state Capitol in Columbus to protest Gov. John Kasich’s (R) budget, which makes drastic cuts to education and public services, privatizes state services and gives tax breaks for businesses and the wealthy—including a repeal of the state’s estate tax on large estates.

They also used the event to gather signatures to put on the ballot a repeal of Kaisch’s Senate Bill 5 (S.B. 5) that eliminates collective bargaining rights for public employees.

Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga says Kasich’s budget “is less about balancing our budget and more about a partisan political agenda…we will certainly see the loss of jobs for Ohio’s middle class.”

Kris Harsh, state coordinator for Stand up for Ohio, said between the passage of S.B. 5 and Kasich’s budget, more jobs and more of the middle-class in Ohio will erode.

We’re talking about destroying up to 50,000 jobs. And the budget pulls over $2 billion from public education and ignores closing any tax loopholes. We’re calling for a more balanced approach to solve Ohio’s budget problems.

Kasich claims his budget provides “a tool box” for cities and towns to solve their financial problems. But in a column today in the Youngstown Vindicator, Janetta King, president of Innovation Ohio, says Kasich’s budget is a:

shell game in which the state simply passes the buck to local jurisdictions and taxpayers…Gov. Kasich’s tool box holds a chainsaw for cutting local services; a hammer for beating public employees; and a screwdriver to use on local taxpayers.

The rally was organized by Stand Up for Ohio and We Are Ohio.

Report: Wage and Hour Law Enforcement Is Lax

by James Parks, May 6, 2011

While 45 states and the District of Columbia have minimum wage laws, that does not mean they are followed or enforced, according to a new report released by the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia University Law School.

The first-of-its-kind nationwide study found that enforcement is lax in many states, in part because of a lack of funds and also an unwillingness to use every available weapon to ensure compliance.

Among the study’s key findings:
•While the number of low-wage workers actually rose in 2009, funding for wage enforcement decreased as governors and state legislators looked to balance state budgets in the recession.
•Wage and hour enforcement varies widely among the states. Some state labor departments have comprehensive mandates, which include oversight of child labor, worker training and employment discrimination. But Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida have no state agency that enforces wage and hour standards. Workers in those five states must rely on the federal government or private lawyers to seek back wages.
•A majority of states do not fine or penalize employers who violate wage and hour laws. So employers have little incentive to obey wage and hour laws if the only repercussion for violating them is to have to pay wages owed in the first place.

As the study’s authors warn:

Without meaningful enforcement by state regulators, some employers will simply disregard their legal obligations if doing so allows them to save time, money or effort, putting the majority who wish to abide by the law at a significant competitive disadvantage. This creates a regulatory race to the bottom by states as they seek to compete to attract businesses.

Read the full report here.

Lion TV Recognizes WGAE

by James Parks, May 6, 2011

Lion Television has agreed to recognize its employees’ choice of the Writers Guild of America, East, (WGAE) as its bargaining representative.

The nearly 100 Lion producers, associate producers, researchers and writers, who work on such shows as “Cash Cab” for Discovery Network, “Megadrive” for MTV and “History Detectives” and “America Revealed” for PBS, voted in December for WGAE. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certified the results this week.

WGAE Executive Director Lowell Peterson says:

We welcome the Lion employees into our creative community, where they will join thousands of other members who do some of the best work in television, film, radio, and digital. We are pleased that Lion respects their decision to become part of the Writers Guild and we look forward to a long and productive relationship.

WGAE also recently won the majority of votes in two other NLRB elections at Atlas Media Corp. and ITV Studios.