Labor Union Blog

Income inequality has reached an all-time high. According to the study by University of California, Professor Emmanuel Saez the top one percent of wage earners in America took home 49.7 percent of all wages in the country in 2007. Between 2002 and 2007 the top one percent captured two-thirds of income growth while incomes for the bottom 99 percent only grew by 1.3 percent.

Income inequality has reached an all-time high. According to the study by University of California Professor Emmanuel Saez the top one percent of wage earners in America took home 49.7 percent of all wages in the country in 2007. Between 2002 and 2007 the top one percent captured two-thirds of income growth while incomes for the bottom 99 percent only grew by 1.3 percent.

August continues to be a scorcher for members of Congress as they host town halls around the country and try to highlight the truth of the health care bill being drafted. One common assertion by health care protesters is that the bill contains language that will put taxpayer dollars toward abortions. Not true says Laurie Rubiner, vice president of public policy and advocacy with Planned Parenthood:

[Rubiner]: “Nothing could be further from the truth. There is nothing in any of the health care bills that even references abortion, or, for that matter, any other specific medical procedure.”

August continues to be a scorcher for members of Congress as they host town halls around the country and try to highlight the truth of the health care bill being drafted. One common assertion by health care protesters is that the bill contains language that will put taxpayer dollars toward abortions. Not true says Laurie Rubiner, vice president of public policy and advocacy with Planned Parenthood:

[Rubiner]: “Nothing could be further from the truth. There is nothing in any of the health care bills that even references abortion, or, for that matter, any other specific medical procedure.”

Lede: In Minnesota and around the country rural town hall meetings on health care reform are being hit by loud aggressive protesters trying to stop reform. But do they reflect what most Americans really want? Doug Cunningham takes a look.
By Doug Cunningham

Virginia Wolking is a rural organizer with the Center For Rural Affairs. She told the Minnesota News Connection that many farmers, small business owners, senior citizens and others in rural areas do want health care reformed.

[Wolking]: “Almost everyone that I talk to has a story about health care and many times those stories are very sad. Most people that I know have had to battle their insurance company at some point. And I think for people who have had to do this a public plan is something that’s necessary and something that a large number of people can support.”

One of the highlights of Netroots Nation was last night’s stirring keynote address by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, who delivered a call to action to the netroots.

Trumka won a standing ovation for his speech, which pointed out the critical role of the netroots in fighting corporate domination and amplifying the voice for progressive change:

Trumka said: “God bless you for looking at power and saying, ‘We won’t back down.’ “

Acknowledging the need to educate a new generation of young workers about unions and why they matter, Trumka pledged to listen to the voices of younger people and to reach out to those who are entering a new kind of workplace in the 21st century. In this troubled economy, he said, the freedom to join a union and bargain was more important than ever. Giving workers bargaining power means giving them the buying power they need to keep our economy going.

You can’t borrow your way into the middle class. You have to bargain your way into the middle class.

The netroots have a vital role to play in countering the misinformation rampant in the mainstream media and particularly the lies and attacks that come from corporate-influenced outlets like Fox News and loud, deep-pocketed interests like the insurance industry. Their falsehoods need to be countered by reason and facts, Trumka said.

The netroots are critical to the future of our democracy, he said, because they can issue the strong call to action that’s needed on issues like financial reform, health care and the Employee Free Choice Act.

You don’t win by sitting back. You win by getting up and fighting back….This is our moment, and together we will.

We can’t just replicate the old economy, where very few saw all the benefits and the vast majority paid the price, Trumka said. We need to rebuild a new economy and achieve the dream of a country where everyone has a seat at the table.

Trumka’s address is a great sign of the growing cooperation between the union movement and the netroots, and the positive response from attendees shows the strength and power of that relationship.

Three months after the Obama administration opened the door for mediation in contract negotiations between the Air Traffic Controllers (NATCA) and the Federal Aviation Administration, the two sides reached a landmark tentative agreement late last week.  

In May, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the Obama administration was appointing mediators to settle the dispute.

In 2006, the Bush administration’s FAA rejected NATCA’s call for mediation to settle a contract and walked away from the bargaining table. The agency then imposed a set of work rules and wage cuts that have driven controllers out of the towers. Because of the deplorable work environment, more than 2,600 controllers have left the FAA, creating a shortage of experienced controllers and threatening aviation safety.

The FAA under Bush rejected all calls to resume negotiations and threatened to veto any legislation that required the agency to sit down and bargain with the union.

The agreement, which must be ratified by NATCA members within 45 days, provides employees with greater flexibility in their work schedules, child care support, a new grievance review process and a variety of other gains. The agreement also restores a more equitable pay standard to benefit new hires as well as veterans nearing retirement.

In a joint statement, NATCA and the FAA said:

The Obama administration recognized that not having a mutually agreed upon contract for the air traffic controllers had created an untenable situation and that ensuring the safety and efficiency of the nation’s aviation system made fair resolution a must.

NATCA President Patrick Forrey said the tentative agreement “marks a turning point in the relationship between the FAA and its air traffic controller and traffic management employees.”

We wholeheartedly thank President Obama and Secretary LaHood for addressing the tumultuous labor relations issues at the FAA by establishing a fair process that has allowed the parties to negotiate and arrive at a collective bargaining agreement that NATCA members now have an opportunity to ratify. We look forward to working with the FAA and the aviation industry and community in a collaborative process to develop and implement the much-needed next-generation aviation system.

In addition to the contract agreement, an independent arbitration team released a decision on a handful of issues not resolved by the mediation, which settled more than 100 of the issues in dispute.

 FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said:

This [agreement] marks a new day between the FAA and the air traffic controllers as we move forward with a spirit of cooperation. We are hopeful that once the review and ratification are complete, we can accelerate our efforts to adopt NextGen, the next-generation air transportation system.

In the statement, both sides said they were confident the mediated solution will provide a solid foundation that

enables everyone to put aside past differences and move forward to rebuild trust between the FAA and its employees. The process serves as a model, in fact, for future contract negotiations.

If you’re looking for the latest news on workers and their struggles, you should visit the new Working In These Times blog. The blog was launched recently by In These Times magazine to provide independent and incisive coverage of the union movement and the struggles of workers to obtain safe, healthy and just workplaces.

As the newspaper industry shrinks, the number of labor journalists has declined significantly, causing the voices of workers to be drowned out in the daily media. This is especially true for the most vulnerable workers, particularly those who are undocumented and easily exploited.

“Working In These Times” is one tool to help reverse that trend by making original news about workers’ struggles freely accessible to Internet readers.

For example, recent blogs on the site, www.inthesetimes.org/working, include a post by Michelle Chen on the real price of the government’s rush to sign bad trade deals. And there’s a post about the long-overdue recognition of Latino labor leader Burt Corona.

The site also invites contributions of stories and commentaries. If you want to contribute, contact Jeremy Gantz, editor of “Working In These Times,” at jeremy@inthesetimes.com.

And if you have friends or family who don’t understand unions or want to find out more, they can check out “Union 101“, an ongoing series by Lindsay Beyerstein that explores and details how unions work. Beyerstein says a lot of progressives support unions with only the vaguest understanding of how they actually work.

To help progressives learn more about unions and better argue for the union cause, each week the site will tackle a basic concept in plain language: What is a union? How are unions formed? What is collective bargaining and why is it important? What is card check? What’s a closed shop?

Later on, there will be discussions about the major players in American labor, organizing campaign philosophies and the relationship between labor and politics. If you have questions about unions, you can send them to Union101@inthesetimes.com.