Labor Union Blog

Economic Report:

By Jesse Russell

Who will a recession hurt the most? According to the Economic Policy Institute African American communities. During the recession of 2001 through 2003 African Americans saw their unemployment rate rise from 7.6 percent that first year to 10.8 percent by the end. White annual unemployment increased from 3.5 percent to 5.2 percent. In 2007 the African American unemployment rate was 8.3 percent. By 2009 that would be 11 percent.

Economic Report:

By Jesse Russell

Who will a recession hurt the most? According to the Economic Policy Institute African American communities. During the recession of 2001 through 2003 African Americans saw their unemployment rate rise from 7.6 percent that first year to 10.8 percent by the end. White annual unemployment increased from 3.5 percent to 5.2 percent. In 2007 the African American unemployment rate was 8.3 percent. By 2009 that would be 11 percent.

By Doug Cunningham

When United Steelworkers member Eric Powell decided to run for Mississippi State Senate, he thought he could keep his main job with Packaging Corporation of America. But after he was sworn in, the company fired him. Without a union, that would have bee nthe end of the story. But USW District 9 Director Stan Johnson says the union just got State Senator Eric Powell his job back.

[Johnson]: “Without representational rights and intervention on behalf of the union, the senator would have clearly been terminated. That’s what we do, that’s how we do business. And we’re proud of the fact that he was elected to the Mississippi statehouse as a senator. We encourage our members to get involved politically and we support our members who do. And we were certainly going to support him and his efforts to do so. We did that in the election and we certainly did so in the resulting termination.”

By Doug Cunningham

When United Steelworkers member Eric Powell decided to run for Mississippi State Senate, he thought he could keep his main job with Packaging Corporation of America. But after he was sworn in, the company fired him. Without a union, that would have bee nthe end of the story. But USW District 9 Director Stan Johnson says the union just got State Senator Eric Powell his job back.

[Johnson]: “Without representational rights and intervention on behalf of the union, the senator would have clearly been terminated. That’s what we do, that’s how we do business. And we’re proud of the fact that he was elected to the Mississippi statehouse as a senator. We encourage our members to get involved politically and we support our members who do. And we were certainly going to support him and his efforts to do so. We did that in the election and we certainly did so in the resulting termination.”

In the race for the White House former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has placed most of his Presidential chips on Florida. However, the anti-Rudy campaign has been heating up as New York City firefighters follow him to the sunshine state. Jesse Russell reports:

Coming out of the gate Rudy Giuliani was seen as one of the potential front runners on the Republican side of the Presidential campaign. Now, five states into the primary season, Giuliani has barely done better than last place. Giuliani has shrugged the results off saying he has his sights set on winning Florida. However, as Giuliani campaigns up and down the peninsula as the 9-11 candidate, he is dogged by firefighters who view his leadership leading up to and on that tragic day as less than Presidential. The firefighters have said they were not prepared for the attacks and Giuliani knew they were outfitted with defective radios. As a result 100 of emergency personnel lost their lives when they failed to hear the orders to evacuate. Jim Riches is a Deputy Chief in the New York City Fire Department; he told the press on Tuesday that Giuliani is “lying to America.”

In the race for the White House former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has placed most of his Presidential chips on Florida. However, the anti-Rudy campaign has been heating up as New York City firefighters follow him to the sunshine state. Jesse Russell reports:

Coming out of the gate Rudy Giuliani was seen as one of the potential front runners on the Republican side of the Presidential campaign. Now, five states into the primary season, Giuliani has barely done better than last place. Giuliani has shrugged the results off saying he has his sights set on winning Florida. However, as Giuliani campaigns up and down the peninsula as the 9-11 candidate, he is dogged by firefighters who view his leadership leading up to and on that tragic day as less than Presidential. The firefighters have said they were not prepared for the attacks and Giuliani knew they were outfitted with defective radios. As a result 100 of emergency personnel lost their lives when they failed to hear the orders to evacuate. Jim Riches is a Deputy Chief in the New York City Fire Department; he told the press on Tuesday that Giuliani is “lying to America.”

With less than a year before the Bush administration packs up and moves out, employers and their allies at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are pulling out every stop to squelch the freedom of workers to form unions. For example, the board now says employers can stop unions from communicating with workers by e-mail.

It comes as no surprise that employers are practically giddy over the ruling.

The NLRB—which is supposed to protect workers’ freedom to join a union—issued a decision days before Christmas that an employer can prohibit the use of its e-mail system for “non-job-related solicitations” and not be in violation of federal labor laws.