Labor Union Blog

Economic Report:

Here’s a helpful tip for online shoppers during the holidays – escape dynamic pricing. According to the website ConsumerWorld.org websites like Amazon.com often subscribe to the same pricing principals as airfares, prices can fluctuate based on demand and other factors. The website suggests that users can combat dynamic prices by switching between browsers or by simply clearing out your browser cookies.

By Doug Cunningham

The UAW is backing a bill on fuel economy requirements for passenger vehicles that requires an average 35 miles per gallon by 2020. It’s a compromise bill now before Congress. The UAW says it will help the environment while protecting U.S. jobs.

By Doug Cunningham

As the sub-prime mortgage crisis and record home foreclosures continue to reverberate through the U.S. economy, UNITE-HERE has launched a multi-state effort encouraging people not to invest in Countrywide Financial Corporation. The union representing hotel and textile workers says Countrywide is a lead player in the sub-prime lending practices that resulted in the current crisis and needs to do more to grant serious relief to many borrowers at risk of foreclosure. Countrywide is both the largest mortgage lender in the U.S. and the biggest sub-prime lender.

By Doug Cunningham

The AFL-CIO will be on capitol hill today urging Congress to restore fairness and transparency to a home mortgage market that’s poised to trigger a full-blown economic crisis. The labor federation says it will be offering sweeping recommendations to curb the mortgage crisis, save homes and halt the economic slide. The Afl-CIO says it’s a bold plan that would keep millions of Americans in the homes they’ve worked so hard to own.

The Teamsters continued there push against an attempt by the Bush Administration to open up the border to Mexican trucks with a border rally early Wednesday morning.
Jesse Russell reports:

A pilot program intended to eventually open United States highways to Mexican trucks is under fire by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The Teamsters rallied in San Diego on Wednesday morning to express their opposition to the plan which they say is more than just a safety issue:

Tom Keeger is the Teamsters General Secretary Treasurer:

[Keeger]: Mexican drivers don’t have to live up to the same standards that the drivers in the United States have to. It’s a safety issue, it’s an environmental issue. It’s an issue that could be a terrorist issue. Our drivers have to have a commercial drivers license, they have to have random drug testing, standardized hours – none of that applies to Mexican drivers.

The Fire Fighters (IAFF) visited Clinton and Dubuque today on their weeklong bus tour through Iowa in support of Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd.

The Fire Fighters endorsed the Connecticut senator in August, and the union is mobilizing members in Iowa to help him in the Jan. 3 presidential caucuses. You can see footage from the bus tour in this video.

Paul became the first presidential candidate to cross the picket line of the Writers Guild yesterday when he appeared on ABC’s “The View.”

The television writers have been on strike since Nov. 5, seeking a fair share of revenue from online broadcasts, DVDs and other electronic formats. The union returned to the bargaining table yesterday in the continuing effort to achieve a fair contract. While so far no other Republican candidate has crossed a picket line, none has made a significant effort to support striking workers this year.