Labor Union Blog

Economic Report:

By Jesse Russell

A new record was set in September as existing home sales plummeted by eight percent. The decline was the largest since 1999 and as a result home prices also continue to fall. A 4.5 percent decrease had been projected by economists. Struggling credit and mortgage markets continue to bear the brunt of the blame. The number of homes now sitting on the market has risen to 4.4 million units. Economists are now projecting that at the end of the year the country will see its first decline in home prices on record.

That chill in the air for may low-income families is more than just winter, it is also the wind from the President’s veto pen slashing funds. Jesse Russell reports:

Just in time for winter one point one million households could be dropped from a program that provides struggling Americans with assistance on their energy. President George W. Bush is seeking to nearly cut in half the Labor, Health, and Human Services appropriations bill. According to the Energy Information Administration the average household could pay 22 percent more in home heating oil this year. The bill contains the government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance program which, even without pushes axe, already only covers 16 percent of the 38 million low income households that are eligible. The funding for the program has changed very little since it was created by Congress in 1981. The annual budget is $2.18 billion and the White House is seeking to trim it down to $1.78 billion starting October 1. Meanwhile the House of Representatives has passed legislation that would boost funding to $2.66 billion. In order to keep up with inflation since the early 80s funding would need to be increased to $4.2 billion.

By Doug Cunningham

Four thousand UAW workers in six states are on strike against International Truck And Engine. The UAW struck the maker of Navistar trucks over unfair labor practices.

The UAW says ITE has violated labor laws and the UAW’s contract. “International Truck and Engine has shredded our agreement, shipped
our work out of the country, and trampled our nation’s labor laws,”
said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. “When UAW members are on strike
for justice anywhere, they have the support of UAW members everywhere
and our entire union is standing shoulder to shoulder with our members

By Doug Cunningham

Bill Parker, the UAW’s Chrysler national negotiating Committee Chair, is dead set against the tentative deal at Chrysler and it’s lower wages for new hires.

[Parker 1]: “The UAW has in many ways embodied the gains of the New Deal and industrial unionism from the ’30′s forward. And now in many ways we’re retreating from that. And I don’t see abandoning what industrial unionism and the New Deal has meant for progress in the United States.”

Parker wants solid job security guarantees from Chrysler. He says this concessionary tentative agreement are a huge blow to industrial unionism and the U.S. middle class.

A dozen Democratic senators and one Independent paved the way for Mississippi Judge Leslie Southwick—whose judicial record is marked with one anti-worker, pro-business decision after another—to take a lifetime seat on the of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

By joining with all 49 Republican senators in the 62–35 vote to end debate on Southwick’s nomination, the 13 lawmakers gave President Bush what he long has sought for the Fifth Circuit—an out-of-the mainstream, anti-worker jurist opposed by the nation’s civil rights community. After voting to end the Southwick debate, three of the 13 senators voted against confirmation, which passed by a 59–38 count.

Bernard Pollack, AFL-CIO field coordinator, is working on the union movement’s campaign to elect a working family-friendly governor in Kentucky. Last week, he joined AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff and 153 union members and allies in a labor luncheon with workers at Ohio Valley Aluminum Co. who are seeking to form a union with the United Steelworkers. Nurses on strike at Appalachian Regional Healthcare hospitals also took part.

United Steelworkers (USW) member Harold Johnson worked for 33 years as a truck driver for Ohio Valley Aluminum Co. (OVACO). During our luncheon at the UAW hall in Louisville last week, Johnson talked about the heavy opposition he and his co-workers faced in trying to form a union, including letters sent to the house, mandatory anti-worker meetings, movies and other intimidation tactics.

Two airline industry unions have merged. The executive board of the Air Line Pilots (ALPA) yesterday unanimously approved the merger agreement between ALPA and The Aviators Group (TAG), which will go into effect Nov. 1.