Labor Union Blog

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lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/10607Cold War U.S. Atomic Workers Being Paid $4.5 Billiona//li
lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/10608Wayne, Michigan Ford Workers Approve Concessionsa//li
lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/10609Labor Federations Seek To Revoke Tax-Exempt Status Of Two Right-Wing Groupsa//li
lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/10610ACORN Home Defenders Active In 21 U.S. Citiesa//li
lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/10611Housing amp; Financial Crises Threaten Baby Boomer Retirement Securitya//li
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pEconomic Report:/p
pConsumers continue to tighten belts as the economic crisis looms. Personal savings ballooned by 26.6 percent from November 2008 to December 2008. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in November personal savings nationwide were valued at $299.1 billion and in December they were valued at $378.6 billion. Personal savings accounted for 3.6 percent of disposable income in December./p

pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pThe housing and financial crisis in this deepening recession is threatening retirement security for tens of millions of baby boomers, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Economist Dean Baker says the vast majority of these near-retirees have accumulated little or no wealth. It means they will be almost entirely dependent upon Social Security and Medicare after watching trillions of dollars in their home and stock retirement account wealth disappear./p

pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pThe community activist group ACORN is in the midst of a home defender campaign in 21 cities nationwide to fight foreclosures and keep working families in their homes. ACORN is calling for a 90 day moratorium on home foreclosures./p

pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pThe AFL-CIO and Change To Win labor federations are charging that two anti-union groups have violated their tax-exempt status by officially endorsing and raising money to elect Republican Senate candidates. The labor groups have filed a complaint with the IRS against Rick Berman’s Center For Union facts and the Marcus Foundation. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the tax-exempt status of the two anti-union groups should be revoked. Both those organizations oppose the Employee Free Choice Act labor law reform that gives workers the power to freely choose unions without/p

pWorkers at two more Ford Motor Company plants have accepted renegotiated contract concessions. Seventy eight percent of 3900 workers represented by United Auto Workers Local 900 in Wayne, Michigan voted to approve the contract which freezes wages and cuts bonuses. Ford plants will continue voting until March 9./p

pMore than $4.5 billion has been paid to Cold War era workers in the atomic weapons industry. Jesse Russell reports:/p
pWorkers who were in the atomic weapons industry during the Cold War may be eligible for compensation and medical benefits. Under the government’s Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act more than 48,000 former workers have qualified for more than $4.5 billion in compensation since the act was activated in 2001. The program seeks to make lump sum payments to workers or some survivors of workers who may have become ill due to work in the industry and may have been exposed to toxic substances./p

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is asking a federal court to force Fremont-Rideout Health Group to recognize the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) as the representative of RNs at two of its hospitals and return to the bargaining table to negotiate in good faith.

For three years, management has worked to thwart the nurses’ choice to join a union and bargain collectively at hospitals and clinics in Yuba City and Marysville, north of Sacramento.

The NLRB court filing, known as a “10(j) petition,” is rarely used, except in cases the board considers to be the most egregious violations of federal labor law, according to the union.

Says CNA/NNOC Co-President Deborah Burger:

The government could not send a stronger message of condemnation of the hospital’s misconduct. It’s time for hospital officials to stop trampling on the rights of their dedicated registered nurses, and move towards a fair agreement that will benefit the patients, the nurses, the community, and the hospital.

Burger adds the hospital’s “deplorable” campaign against the RNs presents a clear example of why the Employee Free Choice Act should be enacted.

After the RNs voted for CNA/NNOC in 2006, Fremont-Rideout management launched an anti-union campaign, has delayed negotiations and refused to bargain in good faith, the union says. The proposed Employee Free Choice Act would allow either side to request federal mediation if they cannot agree on a deal after 90 days. After 30 days of mediation, if there is still no agreement, the dispute would be referred to binding arbitration.

Burger adds:

Fremont-Rideout has flagrantly worked to undermine the democratic aspirations of the nurses for collective representation to better advocate for their patients and their colleagues with multiple legal delays while implementing a disgraceful campaign of pressure and harassment of CNA/NNOC supporters.

An administrative law judge recently ruled that Fremont-Rideout conducted illegal interrogations and surveillance of the nurses, refused to provide information and bargain with the union, and retaliated against nurses who support the union.

The decision to petition the U.S. District Court for injunctive relief came shortly after a second hearing before an administrative law judge held in Marysville last week in which numerous nurses testified about the employer’s ongoing campaign to undermine the RNs’ choice of a union.

The home foreclosure crisis and the implosion of the nation’s banking system are so closely linked the federal government must address both at the same time—and time is running out, says Damon Silvers, a member of the congressional oversight committee examining how the U.S. Treasury Department is spending taxpayer money in the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) to help bailout the financial system.

At a field hearing of the Congressional Oversight Panel on Friday in Prince Georges (P.G.) County, Md., Silvers, who is associate general counsel of the AFL-CIO, pointed out that policymakers seem to forget that what happens on Main Street affects the rest of the world.

The family put on the street here in P.G. County is not simply a regrettable personal tragedy for that family—it is the beginning of a chain of events that leads to falling property values, collapsed mega banks, trillion-dollar government bailouts, frozen credit markets, 401-K meltdowns, political crises in foreign countries, closed factories, lost jobs from here to China and back.

The panel will release a report in coming days on foreclosure mitigation. In a recent report, the panel said the nation needs smart regulation to help prevent another financial crisis and protect our enomic future.

No one benefits from home foreclosures, Silvers says. Foreclosed homes typically yield less than 40 cents on the dollar to lenders, while destabilizing neighborhoods and driving down real estate values.

Foreclosure should be the last option after all else has failed. But it is impossible to look at the numbers nationwide…and not conclude that foreclosure is not just the first option lenders and servicers offer to homeowners in trouble—it is effectively the only option.

He says now is the time to act to reform the mortgage and banking systems. President Obama has proposed “spending real money to help homeowners in trouble,” and states like Maryland and New York have created models for action to encourage solutions other than foreclosure for struggling homeowners.

Maryland’s plan creates a “Homeownership Crisis Intervention Fund” to provide case-by-case interventions to prevent foreclosures and potential homelessness by assisting households to move to an affordable, stable monthly housing payment or allowing time for the sale of property. It also expands options for homeowners to refinance or restructure mortgages to prevent foreclosure and address affordability.

Powerful corporate interests who oppose the Employee Free Choice Act and workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain are carrying out a campaign in state legislatures, hoping to wrench public opinion in their direction and spread misinformation about the Employee Free Choice Act.

We’ve reported previously about the ”SOS Ballot,” a shady corporate front group, headed by anti-worker ex-congressman and Big Business crony Ernie Istook, which is attempting to maintain corporate dominance over workers’ ability to form a union. We noted that Istook and his non-disclosed donors were hoping to get anti-majority sign-up initiatives on the ballot in at least five states—Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Nevada and Utah. They’ve expanded their reach, however, investing big dollars to push anti-worker ballot initiatives in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, South Carolina and Washington as well.

In addition, corporate front groups are pushing their state legislators to pass resolutions urging Congress not to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. This effort was defeated in at least one state so far—in Wyoming, where a resolution was defeated in a committee vote before it even hit the state House floor.

A good analysis of who “SOS Ballot” is and what it’s up to appeared recently in the Washington Independent. David Weigel writes that there’s a “disagreement of strategy” between corporate funders who want to fight directly against the Employee Free Choice Act in the Senate and those who want to carry out a sneakier strategy in state legislatures.

Why all this frantic, if not particularly effective, activity at the state level? It isn’t about setting policy, it’s about poisoning the atmosphere with disinformation. Quoted in Weigel’s piece, Istook says that the goal is to influence the media and the public against the Employee Free Choice Act and “kill the idea” of making it easier for workers to form unions and bargain.

Fortunately, across the country, union members, the religious community, civil rights leaders and community organizations of all kinds are reaching out to educate the public about the need for the Employee Free Choice Act. That energy and mobilization will be needed to defeat the big-money corporate spin campaigns and protect workers’ freedom to bargain for a better life.