Labor Union Blog

The badly needed economic recovery package included some substantial assistance for states that are facing growing budget shortfalls, possible layoffs and cuts in vital services. But despite critics’ noise about the amount of spending in the package, even with that helping hand, the fiscal outlook for states is still “dire” and likely will worsen, says the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP):

The state fiscal situation is dire. Revenues are declining, and the need for services such as Medicaid is rising as people lose income and jobs….If revenue declines persist as expected in many states, additional budget cuts are likely. Budget cuts often are more severe in the second year of a state fiscal crisis, after reserves have been largely depleted and thus are no longer an option for closing deficits.

Even with the federal aid, CBPP estimates that states—which are required to balance their budgets each year—still face a $350 billion short fall in their operating budgets over the next 30 months. Most of the federal money will go to specific projects, such as infrastructure, Medicaid funding, education or local government needs. But not to the day-to-day operating budgets.

A stunning 43 states and the District of Columbia have fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget gaps totaling $89.2 billion. Midyear budget gaps for 41 states and the District of Columbia in FY 2009 already have reached $42 billion—on top of the $48 billion combined shortfall that 29 states had to make up when enacting their FY 2009 budgets. (Get more economic info and solutions at our Turn Around America site.)

That’s why Arizona, which already has laid off 350 state employees, may sell of government property to help balance its budget—and even then, could force more layoffs and cuts. Pennsylvania may lay off as many as 900 workers in July. New Jersey has announced furloughs for all state workers and may even look for salary givebacks.

As states develop their fiscal year 2010 budgets, working families are mobilizing to fight for their priorities.

In Minnesota, union, community and religious activists packed a dozen town hall meetings with state legislators to speak out against Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s (R) proposed budget that slashes public services and jobs.

The state’s budget woes have spurred the creation of a new coalition of union and community groups to seek long-term solutions to the state’s economic crisis. Read more about the new “Minnesota Recipe for Economic Security, Fairness and Opportunity” at Workday Minnesota.

Meanwhile in Oregon, while the state faces more than $700 million in a budget shortfall this year, unions, community and some business groups backed passage of a state-level stimulus package that could put thousands of Oregonians back to work and raise revenue for the state. It won legislative approval and was signed into law earlier this month.

The plan provides $175 million for construction, renovation and deferred maintenance at government facilities, universities and community colleges. Says Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain:

Every dollar earned by workers coming out of unemployment or every contract state agencies sign with a small business owner who can now avoid layoffs means more money spent at local businesses, rippling through that community many times over.

Yet despite the states’ fiscal crisis, as many as nine governors may turn down federal funds to help their states’ jobless workers—based on sheer ideological insanity that would deny the taxpayers of their own state’s badly needed assistance in pursuit of a national Republican strategy to trash the recovery bill.

The federal recovery package includes funds for states to extend and expand unemployment benefits that governors such as this week’s fallen Republican star Bobby Jindal of Louisiana find objectionable because the new rules allow more workers to qualify for help—and the last thing such far-right extremists want to do is aid more jobless workers.

Henry Kight is one of the nation’s 11.5 million unemployed workers. The 59-year-old Austin, Texas, engineering technician was laid off last year and denied benefits under the state’s complex rules. But under the provisions of the recovery package, he would qualify for unemployment aid. However, Gov. Rick Perry (R) says he will not accept the federal unemployment insurance funds, thus avoiding the new eligibility rules. Kight told The New York Times:

It just seems unreasonable that when people probably need the help the most, that because of partisan activity, or partisan feelings, against the current new administration, that Perry is willing to sacrifice the lives of so many Texans that have been out of work in the last year.

CBPP warns that any state that refuses stimulus funds will

weaken its economy [and] is also undermining federal efforts to run the economy around.

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lia href=http://www.laborradio.org/node/10598Sitdown strikers when new jobs/a/li
lia href=http://www.laborradio.org/node/10599High end food market in NYC must pay $150 million in back wages/a/li
lia href=http://www.laborradio.org/node/10600Obama’s budget would set federal worker raises at two percent/a/li
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pPresident Barack Obama is tightening belts all around, including those of federal workers. Under Obama’s budget civilian federal workers would have pay raises capped at 2 percent in 2010. Military personnel would be giving a slightly larger pay raise of 2.9 percent. The administration says they made the decision to tighten pay raises so public sector worker increases would be similar to what is happening in the private sector. In 2009 workers received a pay increase of 3.9 percent and in 2008 they received an increase of 3.5 percent. Military personnel received a pay increase of 3.9 percent in 2009. The two percent cap is Obama’s suggested pay raise for the federal workforce, but the actual raise given to workers would be based on promotions and regional factors./p

pPresident Barack Obama is tightening belts all around, including those of federal workers. Under Obama’s budget civilian federal workers would have pay raises capped at 2 percent in 2010. Military personnel would be giving a slightly larger pay raise of 2.9 percent. The administration says they made the decision to tighten pay raises so public sector worker increases would be similar to what is happening in the private sector. In 2009 workers received a pay increase of 3.9 percent and in 2008 they received an increase of 3.5 percent. Military personnel received a pay increase of 3.9 percent in 2009. The two percent cap is Obama’s suggested pay raise for the federal workforce, but the actual raise given to workers would be based on promotions and regional factors./p

pA Department of Labor investigation of Amish Market’s chain of upscale “on-the-go” stores found the company had violated overtime laws. According to the Department, man workers were putting in up to 60 hours of work per week without overtime compensation. Amish Market has agreed to pay $1.2 million in overtime wages to nearly 550 employees. The violations were brought to the attention of the labor department by UFCW Local 1500 as part of the New York State Wage Watchers Program./p

pA Department of Labor investigation of Amish Market’s chain of upscale “on-the-go” stores found the company had violated overtime laws. According to the Department man workers were putting in up to 60 hours of work per week without overtime compensation. Amish Market has agreed to pay $1.2 million in overtime wages to nearly 550 employees. The violations were brought to the attention of the labor department by UFCW Local 1500 as part of the New York State Wage Watchers Program./p

pLede: Militant solidarity not only won the day for Chicago workers who took over their factory last year, that action will keep them employed this year. Doug Cunningham reports./p
pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pWhen United Electrical workers members used a sitdown strike to occupy their Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago they wanted wages and vacation pay they were owed after the plant owners abruptly announced the plant was closing. The workers got their money and now they’ll be returning to work at the factory, still represented by their union. Serious Materials has completed the purchase of Republic Windows and Doors, clearing the way for the plant to reopen. UE Local 1110 has also reached a collective bargaining agreement with the new plant owners and the sitdown strike workers will be rehired at their former rate of pay. UE says that an announcement regarding the opening day of the new Serious Materials production facility will be forthcoming. UE says it looks forward to working with the new company to create and sustain green jobs at living wages. Militant solidarity and the bold sitdown strike tactic scored a big victory for these workers in the midst of the worst economy in a generation./p

pLede: Militant solidarity not only won the day for Chicago workers who took over their factory last year, that action will keep them employed this year. Doug Cunningham reports./p
pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pWhen United Electrical workers members used a sitdown strike to occupy their Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago they wanted wages and vacation pay they were owed after the plant owners abruptly announced the plant was closing. The workers got their money and now they’ll be returning to work at the factory, still represented by their union. Serious Materials has completed the purchase of Republic Windows and Doors, clearing the way for the plant to reopen. UE Local 1110 has also reached a collective bargaining agreement with the new plant owners and the sitdown strike workers will be rehired at their former rate of pay. UE says that an announcement regarding the opening day of the new Serious Materials production facility will be forthcoming. UE says it looks forward to working with the new company to create and sustain green jobs at living wages. Militant solidarity and the bold sitdown strike tactic scored a big victory for these workers in the midst of the worst economy in a generation./p

A new snapshot study from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) debunks the myth that unions have a negative effect on a nation’s ability to compete in a global economy.

Check out the above graph, comparing current account deficit—a measure of international competitiveness—with rates of union membership in major industrialized nations. As we’ve noted, strong unions are compatible with a strong economy, and yet another measure shows it: many nations with higher levels of union membership than the United States, like Canada, Germany and Denmark, have very strong export sectors and a positive trade balance.

As EPI’s Josh Bivens notes, the relationship between competitiveness and union density doesn’t show that unions hurt a nation’s ability to compete:

Note that the United States has the lowest union coverage rate in the sample yet also has the biggest current account deficit. There is, in short, nothing about highly unionized economies that suggests they can’t be internationally competitive.

This analysis proves the falsity of opponents who contend the increased union membership resulting from the Employee Free Choice Act will harm the nation’s standing in the global economy.

Find more EPI research on labor policy here.

Green jobs can be a pathway to middle class for millions of Americans, but only if we ensure they come with good wages and benefits, union and environmental leaders told a White House panel. 

Speaking to the first meeting of Vice President Biden’s Middle Class Task Force in Philadelphia today, United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard said any new green jobs also must be good jobs. 

To rebuild our middle class, we must also be sure that the jobs created in this new, green economy are good jobs with family-supporting wages and benefits, that we maximize the number of jobs created in this economy, and that these jobs truly contribute to the protection of our environment for future generations of Americans. 

The task force heard presentations from experts on the potential to create green jobs as a part of the economic recovery and on connecting working people with training opportunities in the green economy. 

Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope praised President Obama for his emphasis on green jobs, saying: 

Creating jobs and protecting the environment go hand-in-hand, and that is why creating green jobs is so important to our economic recovery. The development of a clean-energy economy in the United States confronts the dual challenges of unemployment and climate change, and will help to set America back on the path to economic prosperity while beginning our nation’s transformation to a cleaner, more efficient economy.

Gerard also outlined some of the steps unions are taking to train workers for the green economy, including creation of the new AFL-CIO Center for Green Jobs, which will expand the research, training and policy work in support of good green jobs. He also mentioned how the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) is leading a national initiative joining their affiliates and 1,100 apprenticeship training centers with community organizations to train workers for the opportunities offered by new energy investment. 

Both Gerard and Pope are founding members of the Blue Green Alliance, a national partnership of unions and environmental organizations dedicated to expanding the number and quality of jobs created in a new, green economy.

Gerard summed up the sentiment of all in the room when he said: 

With investments in the green economy—including those in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—we can put people back to work in the United States and start the enormous task of mitigating climate change.

Biden was joined at the meeting by eight members of Obama’s Cabinet and an audience of top national leaders, including AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, as well as students, academics, public officials and activists.