Labor Union Blog

The average consumers might be tightening their purse strings, but those who can afford luxury items are still shopping. Sales in the U.S. of items like expensive jewelry continue. According to the Wall Street journal much of the continued success of luxury items is foreigners who are taking advantage of a weak dollar while visiting the states.

The average consumers might be tightening their purse strings, but those who can afford luxury items are still shopping. Sales in the U.S. of items like expensive jewelry continue. According to the Wall Street journal much of the continued success of luxury items is foreigners who are taking advantage of a weak dollar while visiting the states.

Representative George Miller of California has stepped up to block a so called “secret rule” he says that is intended to block the next President from trying to impose regulation on workplace toxins. The Washington Post obtained the details of the previously confidential proposal last week. According to the Post the rule could “increase the chances that future chemical regulations would allow workers to come into contact with higher levels of toxins on the job than previously allowed.”

A restructuring plan announced by American Axle will result in the company cutting its workforce by 40 percent. The number includes more 2,000 workers who took a buyout plan negotiated with the co0mpany by the United Auto Workers. The cutbacks come on the heels of what the company says was its most difficult financial quarter in history. American Axle’s major customer, General Motors, cut production of trucks and SUVs, the two primary products for which the company supplies parts. In addition to the 2000 salaried workers who are taking the buyout plan, the company plans to lay off an additional 350 workers.

Lede: The CWA rallies the union troops as contract deadline with Verizon approaches. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham

Thousands of Verizon workers rallied at the company’s headquarters in New York on Saturday as the Communications Workers of America press the company for a fair contract. Verizon’s 60,000 East Coast union workers have authorized the CWA to strike if necessary should a new contract not be in place by August 2nd. Verizon is hostile to unions and is using every trick in the book to oppose union efforts to organize more Verizon workers. In Massachusetts, Verizon management tried to stamp out the circulation of union leaflets by stripping everything off the common wall in the office where notices were posted. That included an American flag flown in Afghanistan and Iraq by a Verizon employee.

A series of “rolling” rallies is building solidarity for 70,000 Communications Workers of America members and 15,000 Electrical Workers whose contract with Verizon East expires Aug. 2. Local AFL-CIO labor councils and state federations have pitched their support to the Verizon workers in the Northeast.

Contact talks are under way, and earlier this month members of both unions voted to authorize a strike if a fair agreement isn’t reached. Says CWA President Larry Cohen:

We hope to achieve a fair settlement, but this demonstrates our members’ solid support for their bargaining teams and their own strong determination to achieve a fair settlement with Verizon.