Labor Union Blog

WIN Week In Review December 7-9, 2007

By Doug Cunningham

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says after sitting idly by for months while countless Americans saw their home ownership dreams slip away the Bush administration is now doing too little too late to address the crisis. Sweeny says a moratorium on sub-prime mortgage foreclosures for at least 6-12 months is needed; not just a limited freeze on some interest rates. Without such a moratorium on foreclosures so loans can restructured, Sweeney says the record wave of foreclosures will crush the economy.

WIN Week In Review December 7-9, 2007

By Doug Cunningham

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says after sitting idly by for months while countless Americans saw their home ownership dreams slip away the Bush administration is now doing too little too late to address the crisis. Sweeny says a moratorium on sub-prime mortgage foreclosures for at least 6-12 months is needed; not just a limited freeze on some interest rates. Without such a moratorium on foreclosures so loans can restructured, Sweeney says the record wave of foreclosures will crush the economy.

The nation needs an economic turnaround package of policies that address the long-term problems of stagnant wages and growing inequality, while in the short-term providing immediate relief for families who are facing tough times, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told some of the nation’s top economic and political leaders today.

Sweeney was one of 11 union and business leaders and economists who met with the House Democratic leadership at an economic forum to address the state of the nation’s economy. According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the goal of the meeting was to discuss the best ways to:

grow businesses and keep good-paying jobs in America and to make us strong internationally from an economic standpoint.

After voting down a contract offer, striking nurses in Kentucky and West Virginia say they are willing to go back to work for 90 days while negotiators hammer out a new deal, under a proposal by Kentucky Gov.-elect Steve Beshear and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, both Democrats. The nearly 700 members of the United American Nurses (UAN) union have been on strike at nine Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) hospitals since Oct. 1.

Last week, ARH President and CEO Jerry Haynes rejected a similar back-to-work plan. He said other nurses at the nonprofit’s hospitals are working under “under the new contract terms.” He neglected to say the nurses are permanent replacements recruited from across the country and who are being housed in dormitories created out of vacant areas of the hospitals.

Our good friends over at Firedoglake have thrown their support behind the striking television writers since they hit the picket lines Nov. 5. Now, Firedoglake’s Jane Hamsher has made it possible for you to weigh in and tell network executives to give the writers their fair share.

Click here and you can pick out your favorite show or shows and tell the CEO and executives they need to reach a fair contract with the Writers Guild of America that includes the writers’ fair share of revenue from DVDs, online broadcasts, iPod downloads and other new forms of media—the central issues fueling the strike.