Labor Union Blog

WIN Week In Review May 30-June 1, 2008

By Doug Cunningham

Twenty thousand workers at ten University of California campuses and hospitals could strike as soon as June 4th. Many of the workers are in poverty and qualify for public assistance. The workers want better wages and benefits and they’ve been negotiating with UC for ten months. Lakesha Harrison is President of AFSCME Local 3299.

[Harrison]: “This whole fight is not about resources, it’s about priorities. UC has the money to do what’s right by the workers and they refuse to do it. If UC really values the workers and the workforce and the patient care folks they need to pay a wage that’ll help sustain that workforce and pay the wage that needs to be paid – which is at least 25 percent more than what they pay now.”

Amado Uno got an early start as a union movement activist—he was about five years old at the time. As he recalls it:

I was with my aunt on a picket line. I was helping out. She was a teacher in the Oakland Unified School District, and I learned that picket lines were not to be crossed.

Once on a picket line, Uno never turned back. Today, he’s the executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), the AFL-CIO constituency group for Asian and Pacific Islander American workers. Uno was named executive director in March.

The union movement has been an integral part of his life. His mother, whose parents came from Guam, organized health care and home care workers for years and now works for Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums. Uno’s father was the first mainland-born Japanese American to be elected business manager of an Electrical Workers local. They met in the anti-Vietnam War movement and have been involved in progressive causes ever since—along with their son. Says Uno:

I remember going to rallies and picket lines with my parents before I could walk.

A huge construction crane on an Upper East Side high-rise condominium tower in New York City collapsed this morning, killing the crane operator and a worker on the ground, and seriously injuring another worker.

The collapse is the third deadly crane incident in recent months. On March 15, a 300-foot construction crane collapsed—also in Manhattan—and killed six construction workers and an out-of-town visitor. On March 25 in Miami, a 20-foot section of a construction crane tumbled 30 stories to the ground, killing two workers and injuring five others.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates that between 64 and 82 construction workers are killed and 263 are injured working around cranes and derricks each year. But OSHA has failed to issue a crane and derrick safety standard, despite the urging of both industry and unions.

Frank Snyder, state director of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, reports on the Pennsylvania union movement’s restructuring efforts.

Just more than two years ago, over the course of nine months, the Pennsylvania labor movement restructured and created organizations called area labor federations to better mobilize, strengthen and organize union members. Through the labor councils, the area labor federations were designed to support affiliate organizing and contract, legislative and electoral campaigns. This week, the Pennsylvania New Alliance Coordinating Committee met to discuss the progress of the relatively new structure and to plan strategies to ensure that the area labor federations can become even more effective tools of mobilization.

Frank Snyder, state director of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, reports on the Pennsylvania union movement’s restructuring efforts.

Just more than two years ago, over the course of nine months, the Pennsylvania labor movement restructured and created organizations called area labor federations to better mobilize, strengthen and organize union members. Through the labor councils, the area labor federations were designed to support affiliate organizing and contract, legislative and electoral campaigns. This week, the Pennsylvania New Alliance Coordinating Committee met to discuss the progress of the relatively new structure and to plan strategies to ensure that the area labor federations can become even more effective tools of mobilization.

While the real John McCain was holding a fundraiser with wealthy supporters, this ‘John McCain’ joined union members at a rally.

Sen. John McCain came to Milwaukee yesterday, and Wisconsin union members were there to greet him and get out the message about McCain’s record and his plans for our country.

Despite pouring rain, more than 100 people attended the rally, including some in costume, dressed as McCain, Bush and their millionaire allies.

McCain himself didn’t come out to meet the workers—he was attending a $10,000-a-person fundraiser, instead.

Union members held “Turn Around America” signs and kept the focus on the core economic issues that will be critical in this battleground state.

Greg Hinds, a member of the United Steelworkers (USW), said McCain needed to pay attention to the effects of trade agreements on jobs.

Through the years, the costs of our plant have not been able to stay competitive with international firms. We talk about free trade and fair trade, but what we need is something like a balanced trade.

Sen. John McCain has worked to craft a media image as an unconventional, straight-talking maverick as he runs for the presidency. But where does he really stand on the issues that matter to working families?

You can find out at our updated McCain Revealed site. We’ve researched McCain’s record and his plans for the country to find out what a McCain presidency would mean for working families. The new and improved online briefing book includes the latest information on McCain’s stances on the important issues in 2008: the economy, health care, trade, jobs, retirement security, workers’ rights and the Bush agenda.

If you’re in Washington, D.C., stop by to meet Cliff Schecter, who’ll discuss his new book at the AFL-CIO from 6-8 p.m. Free beer and wine reception follows.

When John McCain showed up to campaign recently in Seattle and Bellevue, Wash., union members were there to ask him about his role in awarding a major military contract to a foreign company. Word has it, he encouraged the U.S. Department of Defense in February to give a $40 billion-to-$100 billion contract for the construction of Air Force refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman and to the European firm EADS, which makes the Airbus, rather than U.S.-based Boeing.

In Cleveland, as McCain met with wealthy corporate donors at a high-priced reception at the Intercontinental hotel, workers and their families gathered outside to ask for real solutions to the problems they face. They carried hundreds of giant, signed “band-aids” from their fellow workers, a symbol of the need for real solutions to America’s health care crisis.