Labor Union Blog

The former President wasn’t the only politician born in Hope, Arkansas stumping in Wisconsin on Thursday. Jesse Russell was in Madison for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee:

A Republican Presidential candidate is a rare sight in the progressive state capitol of Wisconsin. The last visit came from Bob Dole in 1996, but the politics didn’t stop former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who spoke in front of a crowd of more than 100 supporters and the curious at the Concourse Hotel. Huckabee, the only Republican candidate to be endorsed by a labor union, touched on the economy during his speech, saying that if he is elected President he will implement a “flat tax.”

By Doug Cunningham

On Thursday Senator Hillary Clinton won a closely contested New Mexico caucus that had been too close to call. At a big Texas political rally Senator Hillary Clinton said she feels the struggles of working people and is determined to make changes that will help us if she’s elected president.

[Hillary Clinton]: “I know from what people tell me that a lot of really hard working folks are concerned. You know, they’re workin’ as hard as they can but they don’t feel like they’re getting ahead. I hear the mothers who tell me they don’t know what they’re going to do because they can’t afford health care. I’ve been in the homes of families that are on the brink of losing the American dream because they got sucked in to one of these sub-prime mortgages

Alaska State AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami (center) at an Anchorage rally for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Vince Beltrami says his bulky 250-pound frame, shaved head, Italian last name and “mean-looking” appearance conjure up the “typical stereotype image of a union boss.”

Dubbing his Anchorage Daily News guest column, “Confessions of a Union Boss,” the president of the Alaska AFL-CIO dispels some of the stereotyped images of union boss” and “Big Labor” bandied about by the extremist anti-worker right, including Alaska talk-radio mouth Dan Fagan.

Beltrami says that when he hands an Alaskan candidate a check, it comes from small contributions from hundreds of union members, not from an oil company bigwig.

However, he says Fagan:

calls my colleagues and me “Big Labor” and says we run the government. I wish! He says labor outspends oil companies in elections three to one. Huh? Obviously, with this considerable dominant position, we should have three Democrats to every Republican in the Legislature. My fuzzy math still can’t make that one work.

The global community—investors, workers and government—must come together to create a stable climate and a strong global economy that creates good jobs. Anything else will lead to global disaster, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said today at the Investor Summit on Climate Risk in New York City.

The global economy cannot prosper unless we secure a stable climate and sustainable sources of energy. Global warming means global depression, food and water shortages and drowned cities. I have stood in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward and seen that future.

The one-day summit, held at the United Nations, was sponsored by the United Nations Foundation, CERES and the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships. More than 450 investor, financial and corporate leaders—together controlling more than $20 trillion in investment capital—attended the summit.

No recession. That’s the word from U.S. Treasury Secretary Ben Bernanke and Federal Reserve Chairman Henry Paulson.

And just to make sure no one second-guesses the Bush administration in its pronouncement of impending nationwide prosperity, the Bushies have killed the government website that provides U.S. economic data.

As the Center for American Progress reports today:

Forbes had awarded EconomicIndicators.gov one of its “Best of the Web” awards. As Forbes explains, the government site provides an invaluable service to the public for accessing U.S. economic data. Economic Indicators is particularly useful because people can sign up to receive e-mails as soon as new economic data across government agencies becomes available. While the data will still be available online at various federal websites, it will be less readily accessible to members of the public.

If bad economic data isn’t available, then it must not exist.

Feel better now about those 3 million U.S. jobs lost since Bush took office?

Delta Flight attendants from left, Rick Smaglo, Marianne Bicksler and Mark Stell deliver signed union cards to the NMB.

After nearly seven years of intense outreach and worker-to-worker contacts, 14,000 flight attendants at Delta Air Lines today took a big step toward having a voice on the job. They filed a petition with the National Mediation Board (NMB) to hold an election to be represented by the Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA).

In 2006, a small group of flight attendants started collecting the signatures necessary for the NMB to call an election. Today, a solid majority of Delta flight attendants have signed cards.

AFA-CWA President Patricia Friend says:

Delta flight attendants deserve to have a voice in their careers and they have recognized that by joining together, they can accomplish that. They want the right to negotiate rather than simply having to accept what management decides. They want a contract with improvements in pay, benefits and working conditions. They want a seat at the table—whether it is during regular contract negotiations or mergers—so that their voice is heard. Their goals are our goals and we will work together to achieve them.

Runway incursions—including fully loaded airliners taking off and landing within 35 feet of each other—last year reached the highest level since 2001, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). As Capt. John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots (ALPA), told a House subcommittee yesterday:

Considering the consequences of a high speed collision, the potential for catastrophe is high….The runway incursion risk is real and growing larger as our National Airspace System is pushed to the max….This rate of occurrence is inexcusable.

The record $256 billion trade deficit with China announced today by the U.S. Department of Commerce “drives home the fact that our nation’s trade policies are failing working families,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says.

Our government must take immediate and effective actions to ensure that the Chinese government plays by the rules—with respect to currency, illegal subsidies, tax policies and workers’ rights. We know the Bush administration won’t act, so Congress must step in.

Click here to read President Sweeney’s entire statement.

Earlier this week, Holman Carter, president of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1001 in Denver, discussed how the local’s 2,500 members already are gearing up for the November elections.

One of the key issues on the Colorado ballot might be a so-called “right to work” for less initiative.

Such laws limit workers’ rights to collectively bargain contracts, including wages and benefits. In 2004, average pay in so-called “right to work” states was 14.4 percent lower than in states where workers have the freedom to form strong unions.