Wisconsin Working Families Win 2 of 6 in Recall Elections

by Tula Connell, Aug 10, 2011

Wisconsin working families won two of six recall elections yesterday, ousting incumbent state senators who backed Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s attacks on the collective bargaining rights of public employees. Democrat Jessica King defeated Republican incumbent Randy Hopper in Senate District 18 and Democrat Jennifer Shilling (D) won over incumbent state Sen. Dan Kapanke (R) in Senate District 32. The victories narrow the Wisconsin Republican Senate majority to one.

The districts with recalls are in largely rural areas which have consistently elected Republicans–voters in one have not elected a Democrat since the late 1800s. Although Barack Obama carried Wisconsin by 14 points in 2008, no Democrat won in these disticts. A columnist for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel examined the party make-up of the districts and concluded that Democrats faced a severe disadvantage. As Craig Gilbert wrote:

Democrats are running “uphill” in five of the six elections Tuesday, trying to capture districts that are more Republican than the state as a whole in their partisan makeup.

The elections are a wake up call for every governor who thinks about giving massive new tax giveaways to the rich while cutting the benefits and rights of hard-working middle-class families and every state lawmaker who tries to ram through pro-Wall Street, anti-community legislation.

More than 12,000 volunteers mobilized for months in recall districts, contacting more than 1 million voters and knocking on 125,000 doors just over this past weekend alone. Wisconsin will go to the polls again Aug. 16, in the final set of recall elections.

One race, which pitted Republican incumbent Roberta Darling against Democrat Sandy Pasche, was not called under early this morning because the vote counting was so slow. The district is partly in Waukesha County, where vote-counting troubles surfaced earlier this year when JoAnne Kloppenburg was defeated by Republican David Prosser in a state Supreme Court race. The Waukesha county clerk has a history of vote-counting errors, and following the Supreme Court race, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel called for an investigation.

The other three Republican incumbents who held onto their seats are Walker ally state Sen. Robert Cowles (R), who survived a challenge by Nancy Nusbaum (D), incumbent state Sen. Shelia Harsdorf (R) over Sherry Moore (D) and Republican Olson over Luther Clark.

Support Growing for Verizon Strikers

by James Parks, Aug 9, 2011

The strike by some 45,000 Verizon workers, members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Electrical Workers (IBEW), continued into its third day today as workers across the country offer support to the strikers, whose struggle reflects the situation for millions of workers.

Rather than reward the hard work of Verizon employees who have provided the quality service that earned the company more than $32.5 billion in revenue over the past three years, management continues to insist on cuts that total $1 billion. These workers have played by the rules—and now Verizon wants to break them.

Verizon’s concession demands would strip away the standard of living workers have gained through bargaining over the past 50 years, workers say.

It is all too common for workers to face the prospect of losing benefits even though you have worked hard and valued your work, IBEW President Edwin Hill says:

This is a company with a $100 billion dividend. The top five company executives were paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars over the past four years. If a company like this is not willing to provide wages and benefits to enable its workers to be part of the mainstream middle class in America, then all who work for a living have reason to fear.

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.

You also can 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.

The company also paid nothing (that’s ZERO) in corporate income taxes. In fact, it actually received nearly $1 billion in tax benefits from the federal government during that time, according to the Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ).

In fact, if Verizon had paid its corporate income tax at the official rate of 35 percent, it would have owed more than $11 billion, according to CTJ. This alone would have been enough to avoid the recent cuts in the debt deal to student loan programs.

Read updates on the strike at www.cwa-union.org/verizon.

Locked-Out Sugar Workers Call on Company to Negotiate

by James Parks, Aug 9, 2011

Saying locked-out workers at the American Crystal Sugar Co. want to work and negotiate a fair contract, the local union president urged the company to come back to the bargaining table.

Some 1,300 American Crystal employees were locked out in three states Aug. 1 after the workers, members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 167G, rejected the company’s final offer by a more than nine-to-one margin.

Writing on the INFORUM website, Local 167G President John Riskey says management could stop this lockout immediately.

Union workers have never threatened a work stoppage. All we have asked is to keep working while we negotiate a contract that benefits the company, workers, farmers and the community.

Although the company has proposed wage increases, it also wants workers to pay more for health care insurance, which would negate the wage increases, says Riskey.

The longer the lockout lasts, he says, the worse it is for the local communities that depend on the plants. Read the full column here.

The lockout isn’t just hurting our families, it’s also hurting our local economy and this company’s standing in the community. We want to get back to work and back to the negotiating table.

American Crystal reportedly has hired replacement workers at its seven plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. Contract negotiations to replace a seven-year contract began in May. The union has filed an unfair labor practice charge against American Crystal, claiming the company has not bargained in good faith.

Pensions Preserved in Hawker Beechcraft Contract

Tue. August 09, 2011

Local 733 members in Wichita, KS ratified a new agreement with Hawker Beechcraft by a 69 percent margin. The five-year contract protects jobs and preserves the defined-benefit pension plan for current and future employees.

The contract also includes a new partnership agreement and guarantees job classifications will remain in Wichita, while providing training for workers who have been laid off. The contract covers 2,600 members at the Wichita facility.

“All of our aircraft manufacturing contracts in Wichita have good defined-benefit pension plans for everyone,” said Southern Territory General Vice President Bob Martinez. “We will continue to hold the line on pensions in Wichita.”

Senate Passes Temporary FAA Funding Measure

Tue. August 09, 2011

The IAM applauds the Senate leadership for rising above the political games on Capitol Hill and passing a bi-partisan compromise to end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As a result, over 4,000 FAA employees and tens of thousands of airport construction workers can go back to work.

The short-term extension expires on September 16, 2011, providing lawmakers with six weeks to resolve their differences with the full FAA Reauthorization bill.

Meanwhile, New Jersey Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo this week introduced the “Furloughed FAA Employees Compensation Act” that would grant the U.S. Secretary of Transportation the authority to pay the salaries and related benefits of those federal employees who were furloughed during the partial shutdown of the FAA.

The IAM strongly urges Congress to complete a final comprehensive FAA bill that provides real safety improvements and protects air and rail workers’ rights to organize.

A special thanks is due to the thousands of IAM members who contacted their Congressional representatives and urged them to end the unnecessary stalemate over the FAA short-term extension.

Buy Union & American Made Products

Monday August 8, 2011
by Bob Campbell, Communicator IAM LL731

During a period in the mid 20th century American workers made superb, high quality products. But as the cost to make products increased, it cost more to buy the products. However, foreign companies found ways to make similar products cheaper and sell them cheaper to U.S. consumers. Shortly, American companies started to invest overseas to make their products cheaper (wages were and are cheaper overseas - corporate bottom line). The term is "outsourcing."

It makes no difference if it is jobs being done overseas such as call centers for American companies or products being made, in some cases using child labor, and the companies in America can no longeer compete.

American companies can compete. Consumers must change their way of shopping; stop buying foreign made products. If the products aren't selling then the company will stop inporting the products - again corporate bottom line.

When we starting buying American, then more jobs become available. More people working means more products become available. As volume increases prices will start to fall.

How do you know if a product is Union Made or even American Made? I have done research online and provide the following websites for you, the consumer.

What could be more American than beer?
http://www.unionplus.org/union-made/beers

Here are other websites for Union Made and American Made products.

http://www.unionlabel.com/

http://www.theunionshop.org/

http://www.unionmade.com/

http://www.imagepointe.com/store/

http://unionmadegoods.com/

http://www.unionplus.org/union-made/clothing

http://www.unionmadeclothing.com/

http://www.theunionbootpro.com/

http://www.americanaisle.com/

http://www.unionlabel.org/

http://ethixmerch.com/union-made

http://www.unionfriendly.com/

http://greatamericangeneralstore.com/catalog/

http://www.floridasnatural.com/?gclid=CKipsvSRwKoCFQgDbAodzHKvpg

And the granddaddy of them all - a list by category, brand and Union.
http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/content/db/b-db-american-union-made.shtml

Support your Union Sisters & Brothers by Buying Union Made and American Made products only. Let's put America back on its feet and keep YOUR dollars locally and in America.

45,000 Verizon Workers on Strike

by Tula Connell, Aug 7, 2011

UPDATE: Tomorrow morning, Aug. 8, thousands of striking workers will join mass picket lines and rallies at more than 100 Verizon work locations across New York and New Jersey to push the highly profitable company to back off its sweeping demands. The list of picket lines and rallies is here: http://district1.cwa-union.org/news/entry/verizon_workers_fight_for_middle_class_jobs_-_join_the_picket_line

And in the Washington, D.C., area, you can show your support for striking workers at a mobilization rally Monday at noon at the Chesapeake Complex, 13100 Columbia Pike Silver Spring.

More than 45,000 workers from New England to Virginia went on strike just after midnight today at Verizon Communications. Since bargaining began July 22, Verizon has refused to move from a long list of concession demands. As the contract expired, Verizon, a $100 billion dollar company, was still was looking for $1 billion in concessions from 45,000 workers and families. That’s about $20,000 in givebacks for every family.nearly 100 concessionary proposals remained on the table.

This despite Verizon’s 2011 annualized revenues of $108 billion and net profits of $6 billion. At the same time, Verizon Wireless just paid its parent compny, Vodaphone, a $10 billion dividend. Meanwile, Verizon’s four top executives received $258 mllion over the past four years.

The workers, members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Electrical Workers (IBEW), say they are striking until Verizon “stops its Wisconsin-style tactics and start bargaining seriously.”

Read updates at www.cwa-union.org/verizon

Verizon already has outsourced some 25,000 jobs. It’s trying to destroy middle-class jobs and the middle-class standard of living that workers have gained over the past 50 years.

Follow the events on Twitter with the hashtag #verizonstrike and direct tweets to @VZLaborfacts.

Black Foreign-Born Workers Have Highest Jobless Rate

by James Parks, Aug 7, 2011

A new study dispels the myth that immigrant workers are taking good-paying jobs away from American-born workers. According to “The Low Wages of Black Immigrants” released last week by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), black workers, whether they were born in the United States or in a foreign country, have the highest unemployment rate, period.

In the United States, the black unemployment rate in July was 15.9 percent, compared with an overall rate of 9.1 percent. The 12.4 percent jobless rate among black immigrant workers last year was slightly higher than for Hispanic immigrants (11.3 percent) and significantly higher than for white (7.4 percent) and Asian immigrants (7.3 percent).

At the same time, black workers, whether native-born or immigrant, earn significantly less than white workers, the report shows. This is especially true for men. U.S.-born black men earn 19.1 percent less than white men while black immigrant men from English-speaking Caribbean countries earn 20.7 percent less. Haitian men (33.8 percent less) and African men (34.7 percent less) do substantially worse than any other group.

All groups of black women have lower weekly wages than similar U.S.-born white women, but the size of the wage gaps is smaller for women than it is for men.

The report’s co-authors, Patrick Mason, economics professor at Florida State University, and Algernon Austin, director of EPI’s Race, Ethnicity and the Economy program, point out that it’s not a matter of education that cretaes the job and wage gap for blacks. In 2008, more than one-third of African immigrants (36.6 percent) had at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 29.5 percent of whites. A higher percentage of native-born blacks (32 percent) had high school education than whites (30 percent), according to the study.

The EPI study follows a U.S. Labor Department report released last month that shows African Americans lag behind the rest of the nation in the slow economic recovery. Other studies show that blacks are disproportionately hurt by cuts in public employment and attacks on public workers.

Mason and Austin said their study makes it clear that:

because this disadvantage in the labor market affects both U.S.- and foreign-born blacks, it points to a problem that stems from race and not cultural background.

Read the full report, “The Low Wages of Black Immigrants,” here.

Help Locked-Out American Crystal Workers

by James Parks, Aug 5, 2011

The 1,300 locked-out employees at American Crystal Sugar Co. in three states need your help. The members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 167G have been locked out since Aug. 1 after they rejected the company’s final offer by a nine-to-one margin.

American Crystal reportedly has hired replacement workers at its seven plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. Negotiations to replace a seven-year contract began in May. The union has filed an unfair labor practice charge against American Crystal, claiming the company has not bargained in good faith.

You can help the American Crystal workers, who want to work and who are standing up for workers’ rights by signing a petition here telling American Crystal’s CEO Dave Berg to not turn his back on the community.

You also can contribute to the Sugar Beet Workers fund that will help workers during the hardship faced while being locked out. Make checks out to: Minnesota AFL-CIO, 175 Aurora Ave., St. Paul, MN 55103. In the memo line, print “BCTGM Lockout 2011.”

Republican Shutdown of FAA Over—For Now

by Mike Hall, Aug 5, 2011

The Republican shutdown for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is over—for now—and the 4,000 furloughed FAA workers will return to work Monday and 70,000 construction workers should be back on the job soon now that airport improvement funds will flow again.

The Senate—even though it was adjourned—approved a House-passed bill that extends FAA funding until Sept. 16. That was possible because it was in what is known as pro forma session. Here’s how The Associated Press described it:

Employing the so-called “unanimous consent” procedure which took less than 30 seconds, two senators were present to approve a House-passed bill extending FAA’s operating authority through mid-September.

Democratic Sen. James Webb of Virginia stood up, called up the bill and asked that it be passed. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the presiding officer, agreed and it was done.

The House-passed temporary extension of FAA funding authority eliminated some rural air service subsidies that senators objected to, but news report indicate that the Obama administration will be able to waive or otherwise negate those cuts.

But the real reason behind the Republican shutdown remains. House Republicans want to overturn democratic union election rules for aviation and rail workers. House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. John Mica (Fla.) admitted the rural air subsidy “poison pill” in the temporary extension was a ploy to pressure to pressure senators to go along with overturning the fair election rules adopted last year by the National Mediation Board (NMB).

Those rules say air and rail elections should be decided by a majority of votes cast. Previously under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), which covers rail and airline workers, each worker who did not cast a vote in a representation election was automatically counted as a “No” vote.

BTW, if Mica ran for Congress under the election rules he wants for rail and aviation workers, he wouldn’t be a member of Congress.

The long-term FAA reauthorization bill in the House would overturn the fair election rules. The Senate version does not. House leaders say they will continue their fight to deny workers the right to a fair election. So Sept. 16, we might be facing another shutdown.