Labor Union Blog

On Friday, FedEx announced it would be cutting 1000 jobs worldwide. The announcement comes four months after the company cut pay to salaried workers by five percent. Five hundred of the job cuts will come from the company’s headquarters and workers will be given first notice if positions reopen. The company additionally plans to cut hours and put in place a temporary hiring freeze.

On Friday FedEx announced it would be cutting 1000 jobs worldwide. The announcement comes four months after the company cut pay to salaried workers by five percent. Five hundred of the job cuts will come from the company’s headquarters and workers will be given first notice if positions reopen. The company additionally plans to cut hours and put in place a temporary hiring freeze.

We know unemployment rates are on the rise, but who is being hit the hardest? According to the most recent report from the Economic Policy Institute, the jobless rate for African Americans is the highest at 13.1 percent followed by Hispanics at 11.4 percent. As for specific industries, construction workers are the most likely to be jobless with 21.1 percent of those workers unemployed. Teenagers are the most likely to be unemployed age group at 21.7 percent.

We know unemployment rates are on the rise, but who is being hit the hardest? According to the most recent report from the Economic Policy Institute the jobless rate for African Americans is the highest at 13.1 percent followed by Hispanics at 11.4 percent. As for specific industries construction workers are the most likely to be jobless with 21.1 percent of those workers unemployed. Teenagers are the most likely to be unemployed age group at 21.7 percent.

Lede: Two million workers have lost their jobs this year alone. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham

In March another 663,000 people lost their jobs in America. The accelerating job losses pushed the official national unemployment rate to 8.5 percent with no relief in sight. This is the highest unemployment U.S. workers have experienced since 1983. Since this recession started 5.1 million jobs have been lost. The Center fir Economic and Policy Research says we’ll be really lucky if we stop losing jobs by the end of this year. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says this dire employment emergency calls for broad-based reforms to build sustained economic growth and a second economic stimulus may well be needed. More than 3.2 million workers have been unemployed for six months or longer. More than 30 million Americans are on food stamps according to the Food research and Action Center. Despite a few mild signs of improvement in the economy workers continue to be devastated by this recession.

While many state workers are sacrificing pay raises and submitting to wage freezes – or worse, being forced to take unpaid furloughs – federal workers may be about to get a 2.9-percent bump in their wages. The new budget being considered by Congress seeks the pay raise which is .9 percent higher than the raise proposed by President Barack Obama. The Congressional raise would make the non-military federal workers raise equal to the raise that will likely be received by military personnel. According to the Office of Management and Budget estimates the increase would cost the government $1.3 million. The 2.9 percent raise is already a cut for federal workers. The current raise approved for this year is 3.9 percent. The last two pay raises approved by the administration of George W. Bush sought pay raise parity between military and non-military federal workers.

While many state workers are sacrificing pay raises and submitting to wage freezes – or worse, being forced to take unpaid furloughs – federal workers may be about to get a 2.9-percent bump in their wages. The new budget being considered by Congress seeks the pay raise which is .9 percent higher than the raise proposed by President Barack Obama. The Congressional raise would make the non-military federal workers raise equal to the raise that will likely be received by military personnel. According to the Office of Management and Budget estimates the increase would cost the government $1.3 million. The 2.9 percent raise is already a cut for federal workers. The current raise approved for this year is 3.9 percent. The last two pay raises approved by the administration of George W. Bush sought pay raise parity between military and non-military federal workers.

Working families in financial distress can turn for help to Union Plus, which provides consumer benefits to union members and retirees of participating unions.

The $3 million Union SAFE program—which stands for Security, Assistance and Financial Education—demonstrates the union movement’s answer to President Obama’s call for a new era of responsibility to help those who have fallen on hard times, says Leslie Tolf, president of Union Privilege, provider of the Union Plus benefits.

We are all hopeful today because President Obama is working to help middle class Americans struggling in this worsening recession. America’s unions and Union Plus are doing what we can right now to assist members in trouble—especially those who participate in a Union Plus program.

The new benefits program provides a wide array of benefits, including help for those suffering from layoffs to soaring hospital costs to problems paying mortgage to help saving for college. The benefits include:

• Credit counseling services, budgeting advice and no-fee debt management and bankruptcy counseling.
• Save My Home Hotline to help avoid mortgage foreclosure.
• Hospital Care Grants of $1,000 to help members who have been hit with large, unreimbursed hospital expenses who participate in the Union Plus Credit Card, Mortgage or UnionSecure Insurance programs.
• Job Loss Grants of $250 for Union Plus Credit Card holders who have been recently laid off for more than 90 days.
• Disability Grants of $1,000 to $2,000 for qualified Union Plus Credit Card holders who have significant income loss due to a recent long-term illness or disability.
• Mortgage Assistance to help Union Plus Mortgage holders who become unemployed, disabled or go on strike to make their mortgage payments.

To help members finance their children’s college educations, Union SAFE offers College Savings Grants of $500 to members who open new 529 tax-free college savings accounts or prepaid tuition accounts of at least $1,000 by June 30, 2009.

For more information and grant applications, click here.