More Union/Labor News

Monday, August 29, 2011 by Bob Campbell, Communicator IAM LL731

Here are some more Union/Labor websites from the AFL-CIO.

Union Related Blogs

Interfaith Worker Justice http://www.iwj.org/blog/

Joe's Union Review http://www.anti-union.blogspot.com/

Labor is Not a Commodity http://www.laborrightsblog.typepad.com/

Labor Notes http://labornotes.org/

Labor Project for Working Families http://www.working-families.org/

LabourStart http://www.labourstart.org/blogs/

LAUNION http://launionaflcio.org/index.php#

A Big Fish Story: Electrician Lands Possible Record Catch

by James Parks, Aug 28, 2011

Unlike many other fishermen’s tales, Greg Myerson’s fish story is true and he has the fish and the photos to prove it.

The nine-year New Haven, Conn., journeyman wireman and member of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 90 landed what looks to be a world record 81.8-pound striped bass earlier this month, making him a huge celebrity on the hunting and fishing circuit. He has applied to the International Game Fish Association to certify his catch for the record book. Authentication will take at least 60 days.

Myerson, 43, has been fishing since he was 12. He says, “You fish long enough and, like anything else, you get good at it.”


I have learned about the tides, the moon and the best days to fish. The big ones don’t like to fight tides and only feed for a short time.

The 6-foot-4-inch 275-pound former high school and college linebacker struggled for 20 minutes to reel in the 54-inch trophy during a slack tide in the Long Island Sound off Westbrook, Conn. He told Mama Mia Fishing he knew he had something special on his line:

I noticed the line rising, and I told my buddy, “Watch this, the fish is going to break the surface.” He porpoised out of the water and I got my first look at him. Oh, man, I knew I had something special then. It’s only the big stripers that will jump like that. I was just hoping the hook was stuck good.

Local 90 business manager Frank Halloran says he is not surprised at Myerson’s success and newfound celebrity. He says, “When Greg puts his mind to something, it gets done.”

The New York Post reports that a nearby bait and tackle shop owner says, in the last year alone, Myerson has caught three fish weighing more than 60 pounds, including a 71-pounder he caught and released.

Myerson, who is currently unemployed, plans to keep fishing and, hopefully, return to work with his tools.

More Union/Labor News

Sunday August 28, 2011 by Bob Campbell, Communicator IAM LL731

Here are more websites where you can get Union/Labor news.

AFL-CIO Union & Related Blogs
American Federation of Government Employees http://afgeunionblog.wordpress.com/

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees http://www.afscme.org/blog/

Broadcast Union News http://broadcastunionnews.blogspot.com/

California Labor Federation http://www.californialabor.org/

Dignity at Work http://dignityatwork.wordpress.com/

Free Exchange on Campus http://www.freeexchangeoncampus.org/

Green Jobs, Safe Jobs http://www.hazards.org/greenjobs/blog/

More Union/Labor News

Saturday August 27, 2011 by Bob Campbell, Communicator IAM LL731

Looking for more Union/Labor News? You have several choices: go to a specified Union/Labor website or visit The AFL-CIO http://aflcio.org/

The following are AFL-CIO Allied Groups:
Alliance for Retired Americans http://www.retiredamericans.org/

International Labor Communications Association http://ilcaonline.org/

National Labor College http://www.nlc.edu/

Solidarity Center http://www.solidaritycenter.org/

Union Plus Benefits http://www.unionplus.org/

Working America http://www.workingamerica.org/wa_splash3.cfm

Working for America Institute http://www.workingforamerica.org/

The following are AFL-CIO Constituency Groups
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance http://www.apalanet.org/

A Philip Randolh Institute http://www.apri.org/

Coalition of Black Trade Unionist http://www.cbtu.org/

Coalition of Labor Union Women http://www.cluw.org/

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement http://www.lclaa.org/

Look for more Union/Labor news links in the coming days.

Mark Pearce Named NLRB Chairman

by James Parks, Aug 27, 2011

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka today praised outgoing National Labor Relations Board Chairwoman Wilma Liebman and congratulated Mark Pearce on his nomination as chairman.

In a statement, Trumka said workers owe Liebman a “deep debt of graditude” for her service and “unwavering commitment” to enforcing the National Labor Relations Act.

Pearce, who has served on the NLRB since 2010, worked on the NLRB staff for 15 years before moving to private practice

Pirate Attacks Increase, but Fewer Ships Taken

by Mike Hall, Aug 27, 2011

We’ve brought you several stories on high seas piracy, especially in the Arabian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and described how the Seafarers (SIU) and global maritime unions are responding, including the “Save Our Seafarers” (SOS), anti-piracy campaign to push governments to do more to protect sailors and ships.

A new report shows attacks totaled 266 in the first six months of 2011, up from 196 incidents in the same period last year. But the pirates have captured fewer ships due to an increased naval presence in the troubled areas, one of the key elements that international seafaring unions pressed for with the SOS program.

Click here to read an update on the problems from the Seafarers LOG and here for more on the SOS program.

IAM Workers' Memorial 2001-2011

Fri. August 26, 2011

NFL Continues Unreasonable Demands on Players

by James Parks, Aug 26, 2011

The NFL is continuing to make unreasonable demands on players even after agreeing to a new collective bargaining agreement.

Writing in Phanatic Magazine, Matt Chaney says the players were getting railroaded on testing for recombinant human growth hormone or HGH. and they are refusing to go along any more.

For the last seven years, the players have questioned the accuracy and reliability of the HGH test the NFL seeks to implement. Chaney says the tests are part of the “shady dealings” of the quasi-governmental entities World Anti-Doping Agency and its American arm USADA, which are funded by government and sports groups. Chaney says:

WADA-USADA bureaucrats incessantly promote their closed “science” for dubious synthetic GH detection that’s ripped mercilessly by independent experts worldwide.

WADA has refused for years to provide scientific information justifying the reliability of their HGH test (validation studies, population studies, performance testing between labs, etc.),” according to Chaney. And players are fed up.

Read the entire article “WADA Stonewalls NFL Players on Suspect HGH Test” here.

King’s Dream of Economic Justice Still Far From Reality

by James Parks, Aug 26, 2011

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said organizing must begin at the grassroots.

Davon Lomax, a member of the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 9 in New York, hasn’t worked for more than a year. One of his colleagues lost his home and ended up panhandling in the subways.

Katie Hofmann, a teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio, says more and more of her students are homeless. Teachers who have not had a pay raise for five years regularly go into their pockets to buy lunch for children who are hungry and whose families have no money.

King Center President Martin Luther King III recalled the close ties his father had with unions.

Lomax and Hofmann were two of the panelists who spoke at the AFL-CIO and The King Center symposium on “Jobs, Justice and the American Dream” this morning. Participants in the first panel, Jobs and the American Dream, agreed that 48 years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the nation is still far from achieving his vision of a nation where everyone who wants to work has a good job and the freedom to achieve to the best of his or her abilities.

Rep. John Lewis called for working people to “make some noise.”

This morning’s panel on ”Jobs and the American Dream” was the first of two in the symposium. A second panel on “Justice and the American Dream” will follow.

(Watch a replay of the live panel here.)

Martin Luther King III, president of The King Center, echoed that theme, saying economic justice is even more of a concern today than 48 years ago.

Unemployed painter Davon Lomax said it’s time to create more jobs.

We’re here to do the work that must be done to represent what Martin Luther King stood for.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka reminded the crowd of about 300 that King’s vision was not simply an end to racism. He saw ending racism as part of a larger struggle for human dignity—a larger struggle centered on economic justice.

Jobs with Justice Director Sarita Gupta called for listening to ordinary Americans.

The tragedy of American history in our lifetime is that today, while we have defeated legal segregation and driven open racism from our public life, we live in a country less economically equal than in Dr. King’s time. Jobs are scarcer, it’s harder to go to college and the right to a voice on the job has been largely taken away from America’s workers.

Harvard professor Bruce Western said unions are key to fighting poverty.

To get Americans back to work will require people to come together and “make some noise” and “to get in trouble again” by taking to the streets and demanding that Congress approve the money for a massive national jobs program, said Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the last living speaker from the 1963 March on Washington.

Both Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs with Justice, and Hofmann said organizing and mobilizing ordinary people are key to building the movement that will realize King’s dream of economic equality. Gupta said our leaders must listen to the concerns and the visions of ordinary Americans who know what’s wrong

Cincinnati teacher Katie Hofmann said Ohio workers are stepping up for change.

Hofmann pointed out that there is a passion for change in the country, citing one of her fellow teachers who ran the 100 miles between Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, to deliver petitions to get a referendum to overturn Gov. John Kasich’s law that took away public workers’ ability to bargain collectively.

Harvard professor Bruce Western added that unions are the key to creating the kinds of jobs we will need to restore our nation’s economy. He pointed out that the decline of unions coincides with the decline in good-paying jobs and the increase in job insecurity.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker summed up the call for good jobs this way:

For months now, the lives of millions of Americans have been shaken up by economic uncertainty. Just as our nation’s capital literally shook this week, we hope that discussions like the one we will have today will shake our elected officials to move with boldness and a fierce urgency of now. We call on our leaders to respond to the desperate cries of the people for jobs and justice

Protecting the Rights of Pregnant Women

This is a cross-post from MomsRising.org by Vibhuti Mehra from the Labor Project for Working Families.

It’s October 20, 2009. My lab results have just confirmed the news that my husband and I have been eagerly waiting to hear. I am pregnant. I am excited. I am overjoyed. I am nervous. I am anxious. My mind and body are gearing up to experience a plethora of emotions and sensations that will last for nine months and beyond. The first trimester goes without incident. We have just started announcing the news to family and friends. And then, unexpectedly, four months into my pregnancy, I experience bleeding. Memories of a past miscarriage take over the joyous experience. I am fearful. My ob-gyn advises reducing my workload and taking it easy until things settle back into rhythm. I call my workplace and, without much ado, my supervisor and I settle on a work-from-home arrangement until all is well.

Fortunately, all did go well and I gave birth to a healthy baby boy in July 2010. As I recovered from childbirth and later took time off to bond with my child, my union contract guaranteed that I wouldn’t lose pay or my family health coverage for the duration of my leave.

In 2009, Victoria Guillen, a dishwasher at the Grand Hyatt hotel in San Francisco, was pregnant, too. Victoria had a difficult, high-risk pregnancy, was advised by her doctor to take a long leave of absence. However, unlike my experience, Victoria had to struggle with her employers for her rights. Her managers wanted her to return to work three days after her due date or not come back at all. Victoria couldn’t return to work three days after her C-section. She lost her job. She fought back with the support of her union UNITEHERE! Local 2. After months of petitioning, Hyatt gave in and Victoria was allowed to return to her job. (Read Victoria’s story in her own words).

Pregnancy can be the most joyful and the most vulnerable time of a woman’s life. And the risk of complications during pregnancy or childbirth is a very real one. Statistics show that approximately 13 percent of women will have a complication from pregnancy requiring them to be hospitalized before delivery. 20 percent of pregnant women spend a minimum of one week on bed rest during the course of their pregnancy.

Working women make up nearly half of the American workforce. Three quarters of women in today’s workforce will become pregnant while employed. Nearly 30 percent of employed women in the United States take prenatal leave. But for too many women workers, pregnancy leave is simply not affordable. And for low-wage workers like Victoria, it is especially hard.

It is, therefore, important that we have workplace standards that safeguard not only the physical well-being of an expectant/new mother and her child, but also her economic security during the pregnancy and after childbirth. The benefits of pregnancy leave to the health of mothers and their babies are well-documented. Women need access to affordable pregnancy leave so that they can take time off before and after birth without losing pay and benefits.

In California, we are fortunate to have a State Disability Insurance (SDI) program that provides pregnant women and new mothers partial wage replacement while on disability and bonding leave. SDI includes the Paid Family Leave program which researchers recently found benefits both workers and employers.

The California Work & Family Coalition is advocating for an important legislation to protect the health of working mothers and their babies. Existing state law does not require that health insurance coverage be continued for women on pregnancy leave. This puts many pregnant women and new mothers at risk of losing their health coverage at the time they need it most. SB 299 will fix this problem. Learn more about this campaign.

For legal advice about pregnancy leave in California, please call Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center: (800) 880-8047 or Equal Rights Advocates: (800) 839-4372.