Labor Union Blog

On Sunday, the national board for the Screen Actors Guild approved a two-year tentative contract with studios. The contract now goes to members for approval and SAG President Alan Rosenberg said he will encourage members to vote down the contract because it fails to include appropriate residual payments for new media. The 120,000 members of SAG have been working under an expired contract since June 2008.

On Sunday the national board for the Screen Actors Guild approved a two-year tentative contract with studios. The contract now goes to members for approval and SAG President Alan Rosenberg said he will encourage members to vote down the contract because it fails to include appropriate residual payments for new media. The 120,000 members of SAG have been working under an expired contract since June 2008.

UAW workers aren’t the only union members lobbying the Obama administration. On Monday the United Steelworkers sent a petition asking the administration to restrict tire imports from China. In a statement USW President Leo Gerard said the U.S. tire industry is “collapsing under the weight of 46 million Chinese tires entering our shrinking market annually.

UAW workers aren’t the only union members lobbying the Obama administration. On Monday the United Steelworkers sent a petition asking the administration to restrict tire imports from China. In a statement USW President Leo Gerard said the U.S. tire industry is “collapsing under the weight of 46 million Chinese tires entering our shrinking market annually.

With a federal deadline that could determine whether or not GM receives a government loan to help it avoid bankruptcy fast approaching, General Motors has begun cutting jobs. The U.S. automaker plans to slash 1600 white collar jobs this week. The company needs to cut operational costs by June 1 in order to receive additional government aid on top of the $13.4 billion it has already received. In a sign of forward company GM said employees likely not to lose jobs are those working in the company’s plug-in electric car division. Meanwhile, the United Autoworkers Union is encouraging members to lobby President Barack Obama asking that they be treated “fair and equitable” as GM and Chrysler face drastic restructuring.

With a federal deadline that could determine whether or not GM receives a government loan to help it avoid bankruptcy fast approaching, General Motors has begun cutting jobs. The U.S. automaker plans to slash 1600 white collar jobs this week. The company needs to cut operational costs by June 1 in order to receive additional government aid on top of the $13.4 billion it has already received. In a sign of forward company GM said employees likely not to lose jobs are those working in the company’s plug-in electric car division. Meanwhile, the United Autoworkers Union is encouraging members to lobby President Barack Obama asking that they be treated “fair and equitable” as GM and Chrysler face drastic restructuring.

Lede: A rally by Warehouse Workers United turned into a sit-in a few days ago as efforts to organize the workers who move and store goods for America’s retail giants heats up. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham

[Chant]: “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

Half of the 100,000 warehouse workers are employed by temp agencies and are paid $8-10 an hour with few or no benefits. They are actively kept from being able to work full-time 40-hour weeks. Warehouse Workers United is fighting this injustice in an effort to turn these jobs into god middle class jobs. Isabel Castelan is a warehouse worker arrested at the recent sit-in. It took courage to defy authority in her struggle for justice, but she’s proud of taking a stand.

Lede: A rally by Warehouse Workers United turned into a sit-in a few days ago as efforts to organize the workers who move and store goods for America’s retail giants heats up. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham

[Chant]: “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

Half of the 100,000 warehouse workers are employed by temp agencies and are paid $8-10 an hour with few or no benefits. They are actively kept from being able to work full-time 40-hour weeks. Warehouse Workers United is fighting this injustice in an effort to turn these jobs into god middle class jobs. Isabel Castelan is a warehouse worker arrested at the recent sit-in. It took courage to defy authority in her struggle for justice, but she’s proud of taking a stand.

Pennsylvania union members have delivered tens of thousands of letters in support of the Employee Free Choice Act to Sen. Arlen Specter.

Is it common practice for congressional staff to throw away letters from constituents hoping to have their voices heard? That’s what some of Sen. Arlen Specter’s staff threatened to do to thousands of Pennsylvanians who support the freedom to form unions and bargain.

Specter, who once co-sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act before he flipped on the bill last month, announced he would support a minority filibuster to prevent it from coming to a vote. Despite once saying he was “delighted” to support it, Specter now is advancing falsehoods about the bill, parroting the extremist charge that it would take away the secret ballot process, which it would not.

Rallies asking Specter to support the Employee Free Choice Act have taken place across the state.

In response, thousands of union members, community activists, religious and civil rights leaders and other members of the broad coalition in support of the Employee Free Choice Act have taken action across the state to make their voices heard. In the past two weeks, they have held seven rallies outside of Specter’s offices in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Harrisburg, Erie, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. Supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act have gathered more than 50,000 letters, 35,000 postcards and 12,000 petitions from Pennsylvanians who support the freedom to form unions and bargain.

Specter’s staff grew increasingly aggressive at every event, Pennsylvania union members report. At Specter’s Wilkes-Barre office, where union members and allies delivered thousands of letters and petitions, United Steelworkers (USW) member Tim Waters reports that they were told by a staffer, “as soon as you leave, your letters will go straight in the trash.” 

Hello? These are Pennsylvania residents whom the senator represents. This is the way you treat your constituents?

Hundreds of Pennsylvanians took time out this week to make their feelings known to their senator, bringing with them postcards, letters and petitions from tens of thousands of supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act.

They deserve a respectful hearing.