Labor Union Blog

Seth Michaels is posting live from Netroots Nation.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka is among the keynote speakers at 5 p.m. today at the Netroots Nation conference.

It’s a great way to close out an exciting weekend.

Follow us here for live coverage of Trumka’s speech.

The union movement has come a long way online, and at this year’s Netroots Nation conference, online union activists got a chance to check in and talk about where we still need to go. This year’s Labor Caucus was the largest yet since we first got together at what was then the YearlyKos convention in 2006.

About 60 people came out for the caucus, mostly union members and union staffers from across the movement but also bloggers and activists who support workers. Our own Tula Connell and Michael Whitney of SEIU moderated the session.

We kicked off the caucus by noting what we’ve accomplished thus far. The strong union participation in Netroots Nation is a good sign we’re a vibrant, important part of the progressive blogging community now.  We’ve made the case that working family issues are progressive issues.

But there’s a lot more we can do. How do we build our own online union community? How do we connect labor to blogs? And how do we utilize our resources to make changes at the state and local level, to support union members and campaigns?

Michael Morrill of Pennsylvania-based blog Keystone Progress and Julielyn Gibbons, a web strategist and blogger, talked about stategies for getting info to bloggers in ways they can use—bloggers rely upon materials and resources to create content and unions can serve as a resource. Gibbons also noted the effectiveness of using online tools to tell stories—working people telling their own stories about how issues affect them personally. To get in touch with bloggers, union members and staff can become part of the community, including posting stories on community blogs at the state level to get their message out.

We need to educate people in the netroots community, who have been and will continue to be important allies, about unions and union issues—getting in touch directly, building strong ongoing relationships—to get past stereotypes and misinformation, and help people see what unions do and who union members are.

Many of those present discussed the need to educate rank-and-file members about new media. They’re what the movement is about; they are the people whose stories need to be told. They can be blogging, twittering, putting up photos and videos—new media is just another tool to do what unions have to do already: meet people where they are, letting people tell their stories.

As an example, Beth Caskie of the California School Employees Association described how her union used YouTube videos to influence public debate—filling a room for a protest happens once, but when you get images of that online, it can have an ongoing impact.

Beth Allen of the Communications Workers (CWA) discussed the successes and struggles of the union’s program, which empowered members to blog about issues important to them. Allen noted that in a new project, union retirees are using Twitter now to drive conversation.

It was a constructive discussion, one that we need to continue to move forward online. It’s a great feeling to have such a large and active presence from the union movement among the netroots.

As the state with the most extensive union membership, it’s no surprise that New Jersey working families have a strong social contract, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said today. Speaking at a lunchtime panel at Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh, Corzine told the hundreds of progressive bloggers in the audience: 

There is no question that the association of the union movement with shared wealth is absolutely a reality—and we need to get back to it.

Corzine, who is in a tough fight with challenger Chris Christie in one of two governor’s races this fall, said the distribution of income in this country is skewed—with the nation’s tax policy ”completely tilted toward corporations against labor.” (Media reports today tie Bush-backer Christie with Karl Rove and the illegal firing of U.S. attorneys. Find out more about Christi’s anti-worker stances here.)

Economist Dean Baker, who also took part in the panel along with Change to Win chair Anna Burger, said it is a well-researched fact that

unions are associated with more equaity….So when unionization rates are higher, you’ll see more inconme equality.

Baker, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), pointed to the nation’s strong economy in the post-World War II years as due in large part to the strength of the union movement in those years, Those gains weren’t just between union members and their employers, Baker said, but across the board for working people because union support has been key to the passage of every piece of major working family legilslation. 

Baker also hit hard against U.S. trade policy, summing it up this way:

Let’s assume we have almost everything wrong in trade.

For instance, while the United States has strict laws requiring higher-end professional insitutions like universities to hire foreign workers only after they can’t find anyone in this nation to do the job, there are no requrements slowing down Wal-Mart from buying goods from China. Wal-Mart accounts for approximately 10 percent of the goods shipped to this country from China.

Check out live webstreaming of Netroots Nations events here and here.

ALPA honored the crew of US Airways Flight 1549.

They are the everyday unsung heroes who fly planes around the world and, with the help of their crews, keep millions of passengers safe. The Air Line Pilots last week gave some of them their due, honoring them at the union’s 55th Air Safety Awards banquet. The awards were given for outstanding work in the fields of safety, security, pilot assistance, as well as extraordinary acts of airmanship and courage.

A highlight of the evening was the presentation of ALPA’s first-ever Distinguished Crew Safety Award to the crew of US Airways Flight 1549. The crew was responsible for the “Miracle on the Hudson” in which 155 people survived an emergency landing of the Airbus A320 in the icy Hudson River in January.

Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who piloted Flight 1549 to safety, told the audience:

I am very happy to know that, unlike other appearances we’ve made, I don’t have to explain here what “crew” means.

The crew includes members of the Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). Sullenberger, with 40 years of flight experience, served as instructor and safety committee chairman for ALPA. Following the US Airways merger with America West, the airline’s pilots are now members of an independent union.

Two employees of Colgan Air and American Airlines who assisted in evacuating the crippled Airbus were also honored along with the crew. It was the first gathering of this entire group since the accident.

Speaking for the crew, Sullenberger said the support of his fellow pilots after the accident was “a heartfelt, touching, indescribable experience.”

I feel a renewed pride in our profession. Those of us who have chosen this profession in life have chosen a noble calling. We act as we do for three reasons: our passengers deserve it, our colleagues expect it, and profession demands it.

Building on this year’s Air Safety Forum theme of “It Takes a Pilot,” ALPA leaders honored a unique collection of airline pilots who set the standard for excellence in the industry.

ALPA’s 2008 Superior Airmanship Award was presented to Compass Airlines Capt. Steven Peterka, First Officer Clifton “Lee” Cain and Flight Attendant Gloria Heurematte for successfully conducting an emergency landing as a result of an in-flight cabin fire on a flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Regina, Saskatchewan.

Others honored at the event included:

• United Airlines Capt. Everett “Ross” Miller and First Officer Douglas Cochran received a second Superior Airmanship Award for their exemplary performance in preventing a catastrophe aboard United Airlines Flight 731, which suffered a near-total electrical failure with accompanying loss of all radio communications moments after taking off from Newark Liberty Airport.
• CanJet Capt. James Murphy and First Officer Glenn Johnson were recognized with ALPA’s Aviation Security Award for Valour for their bravery during an attempted hijacking of CanJet Flight 918.
• FedEx Express Capt. David Wells received the association’s highest safety honor for his unwavering commitment to aviation safety.
• ALPA conferred its highest security honor on Air Canada Jazz Capt. Craig Hall for his longstanding contributions to aviation security.
• Delta Air Lines Capt. Bob Hesselbein was presented with ALPA’s 2008 Presidential Recognition Award for his exemplary efforts to advance aviation security. His drive and determination have been among the deciding factors in many of the most important aviation security advancements since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

 ALPA President Capt. John Prater told the audience they were all heroes:

 It’s truly amazing to see the breadth and depth of our union’s efforts embodied in you. You represent that backbone that makes our work possible.

Prater closed the banquet with a tribute to the late FedEx Express Capt. John Lux, who posthumously received ALPA’s inaugural Pilot Assistance Award for his many years of exemplary service in building and maintaining pilot assistance programs at his airline and for many other ALPA pilot groups.