Labor Union Blog

Aung Oo, foreground, and Tim Hand, far right, are on strike in support of their co-workers at W&K Steel.

Aung Oo fled his native Burma with his family to escape the brutality, ethnic violence and repression of that country’s military dictatorship.

After being allowed to legally migrate to the United States under the refugee resettlement program, he faces another kind of oppression―working for an employer that pays him half what he should make and that forces him and his co-workers, both native and foreign, to work in unsafe conditions.

So on Sept. 8, Aung Oo and a U.S.-born employee, Tim Hand, went on strike against W&K Steel on behalf of all the other 35 workers in the plant, located in Rankin, Pa., just outside Pittsburgh. They are still on strike.

In a letter to W&K, they demanded that management correct such egregious safety violations as water running down into electrical panels, frayed extension cords with exposed wires in standing water, lack of ventilation, exposure to extreme cold weather and lack of safety training. They also demanded an end to discrimination and equal pay for equal work.

(You can help gain a fair deal for the W&K workers by writing to the company’s owner, Ed Wilhelm, and demanding that he immediately stop exploiting the workers and meet with the Three Rivers Coalition for Justice to resolve these issues. Write to: Ed Wilhelm, W&K Steel, 98 Antisbury Place, Rankin, PA 15104.)

Several W&K workers described their experiences to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and spoke to a group of international labor leaders at the AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh. The workers also will testify Nov. 13 at a National Workers’ Rights Hearing sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA). The hearing will be at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Talking with Trumka, one refugee told how he and his family of five live in a small two-bedroom apartment. He works an average of 50 hours a week and grosses approximately $25,000 annually, with overtime. Other workers say they are expected to run large presses and shears that cut steel beams, but have no guards to protect against severing fingers and hands.

The American-born workers at W&K don’t fare much better. They say they must endure unsafe working conditions, with workloads increasing and time to safely perform the tasks decreasing. They also say the company’s health plan is unaffordable and the pay is low.

Hand said he is on strike because the way workers, native and foreign, are treated is dangerous.

Exploitation, verbal abuse and disrespect toward the refugees is a major issue. The refugees are paid half of what I make, even though they perform the same work as me. This is wage discrimination in my eyes, and it is not right. Just because they do not speak English very well does not give anybody the right to exploit them or pay them less.

The Burmese refugees came to the United States to escape oppression, only to find themselves working in unjust conditions here, says Chad Rink, an organizer with the Ironworkers and a member of the Three Rivers Coalition for Justice, which is assisting the workers.

“The refugees feared challenging the unsafe working environment, shoddy housing and substandard wages because they are afraid they will lose their jobs and be forced back to Burma,” Rink says.

Aung Oo says he is on strike because America is supposed to be a land of opportunity and equality.

I stood up and went on strike not only for myself but for all the refugee workers in the shop because our community is suffering. I know that we are exploited.

The global union movement is accusing Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, of systematically trying to bust independent unions and is demanding that he respect the rights of workers to form unions.

The latest example of Calderón’s anti-worker bias is the takeover last month by federal agents and police of the country’s second largest electrical power distributor, Luz y Fuerza (Central Light and Power). Calderón used an executive decree to dissolve the utility, but, in doing so, he also fired the entire 44,000-person workforce and disbanded their union, the 95-year-old Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union (SME), a frequent critic of the government’s policies.

SME has strongly criticized the government’s plan to privatize the electrical industry. The government has dissolved Luz y Fuerza, which provides electricity to Mexico City and several states in central Mexico, and turned its facilities over to  the Federal Electrical Commission, the provider for the rest of the country. Union leaders see this as a preparatory step toward the sale of the utilities to a private company.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a statement condemned the unilateral action by the Mexican authorities:

The AFL-CIO supports the demands of the SME and of the Luz y Fuerza workers to reverse this egregious act of union-busting and violation of internationally recognized standards of freedom of association and collective bargaining.

SME has called for revocation of the government decree unilaterally liquidating the company, an end to the occupation of the power plants by the federal police and for good-faith negotiations between the Mexican government and the union on the relevant financial and administrative issues.

United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard called the takeover of the utility and disbanding the union “an outrageous act of union busting.”

It…provides further evidence of the government’s anti-worker, anti-union agenda and its scorched earth policy against democratic and independent unions.

In a letter to Calderón, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) President Robert McEllrath said:

Your action is a violation of labor rights, of human rights, and a disgrace to your government. Mr. President, please respect the rights of these workers, their union, and international labor and human rights standards.

The union movement has come under constant attack since Calderón took office in 2006. Calderón employed tactics similar to the ones in the SME intervention against the Mexican Miners and Metalworkers Union. The government has refused to recognize the union’s democratically elected officers.

Both Trumka and Gerard say they stand in solidarity with the Mexican Miners and Metalworkers Union, which is demanding recognition and restoration of their democratically elected leadership and an immediate end to governmental repression of their union.

In a joint letter to Calderón, International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) General Secretary Manfred Warda and International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) General Secretary Jyrki Raina called the action against the SME “retaliatory because the leadership of the union opposed your anti-worker, anti-societal economic policies.” See the letter here.

Peter Waldorff, general secretary of Public Services International (PSI), also wrote a letter to  Calderón urging him to revoke the executive order.

Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen said:

The working people of Mexico need an independent trade union movement to be able to bargain fairly and make economic gains for themselves and their families. The Mexican government must end its attacks on democratic trade unions and Mexican workers.

On Oct. 15, more than 100,000 people marched through Mexico City to protest the seizure. After the march, the federal government agreed to talks with the union, but the talks broke off after four days. The government refused to negotiate on reversing the presidential decree and the union declared the dialogue a “farce.”  

Laura Carlsen writes in Foreign Policy in Focus that the busting of SME is a clear example of the failure of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). 

Unionized workers are not the only ones who suffer. NAFTA has displaced some two million Mexican small farmers in the countryside due to competition with U.S. agricultural imports.

Also, over the weekend, 15 people, including union leader Margarito Montes Parra, his family, relatives and staff, were killed in a brazen ambush in northern Mexico. Montes was the leader of the Worker, Peasant and Popular General Union, which demands land rights and presses for government support of peasants.

Norma Patino, an official with COCYP, an umbrella group of peasant and popular organizations, told the Los Angeles Times:

This was an attack not just against a union leader but against the work we do. This hurts the work of all of us.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) has been fighting for health care reform for more than 50 years, and he’s seen the situation become even more dire over the past decade. In a great new op-ed, he explains the hard truths of our broken system and why we can’t wait any longer for health care reform:

This is not a time to give into fear….Reform is neither easy nor cheap, but the cost of inaction is far greater—in terms of lives lost, quality of life, and dollars. Make no mistake, if we don’t reduce costs we face certain economic disaster.

I will tell my fellow members, when you explain a vote like this one to the generations that live with the consequences of these decisions there is no poll, not even an election result, that can justify your decision. You will be asked about this vote until the day you die. Years from now, none of these things we put so much stock in now will matter. All anyone will want to know is: did you do the right thing when history called on you? It is time for health care reform. We can’t afford to wait. We can’t afford to think small. We can’t afford to fail.

Read the whole op-ed. Dingell lays out, in great detail, how the House bill will provide affordable, high-quality health coverage for everyone, end insurance company abuses and put our economy and our country’s families on a more sustainable, healthy path.

Here’s more news from the battle for health care:

• In a series of district-by-district fact sheets, the House Energy and Commerce Committee explains what the health care reform bill would mean for families.
• Open Congress posts two useful summaries of the House bill—a short, detailed overview and a longer section-by-section summary.
• As Matt Yglesias notes, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) has released his principles for health care reform, and they’re more notable for what they don’t do. The Boehner proposal is not intended to cover more people, prevent insurers from denying care or coverage or protect workers who lose their coverage when they lose their job. As our friends at Health Care for America Now point out, the proposal amounts to a win for insurers and a loss for everybody else.
• Igor Volsky has more details on Boehner’s plan here.
• Speaking of Boehner’s health care proposal, last night the Wall Street Journal reported on it—with the headline “GOP Health Bill Gives the Insurers More Leeway.” The story was removed quickly.
• In yet another set of polls, voters in key states—Nebraska and North Carolina—want their senators to support health care reform that includes a public health insurance option.
• Consumers Union is getting behind health care reform with a new ad in Maine.

After weeks of obstruction by Republican Senate leaders, millions of jobless workers who have or who will soon run out of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits may finally have a chance to grab an economic lifeline in the form of extended UI benefits.

The U.S. Senate yesterday approved a procedural motion that clears the way to a vote on legislation (H.R. 3548) that would provide an additional 14 weeks of benefits to unemployed workers in all states and up to 20 weeks in states with especially high jobless rates.

The Senate could vote as early as tomorrow, but a Thursday vote is more likely. Call your senators today and urge them to take swift action and pass H.R. 3548. You can call the Capitol switchboard (202-224-3121) and ask to be connected to your senators or click here to find your senators’ office numbers.

Since the U.S. House passed its version of the bill Sept. 23, some 7,000 unemployed workers a day have run out of benefits. The long-term jobless rate is at its highest level since 1981 and more than a million jobless workers will run out of benefits by year’s end without action.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said when he attempted to bring the UI bill to the floor shortly after it passed the House,

Republicans decided they would rather fight a partisan fight than help unemployed men and women in their own states. They decided to make a political statement by demanding completely irrelevant amendments, amendments that have absolutely nothing to do with unemployment specifically or even the economy generally. And they decided that that political statement was more important than helping their constituents afford to pay their bills. That’s wrong, and it’s an outrage.

I am deeply disappointed in the way Republicans have shown a complete lack of regard for the people behind those staggering numbers.

While workers anxiously wait for an average unemployment check of $292 a week, the same Republican lawmakers who have slowed the bill, are in no hurry to rein in bailed banks that are using billions of taxpayers’ dollars to give to their CEOs and other executives bonuses or to fight financial industry reforms. They have strongly criticized Obama administration efforts to stop the tax-dollar-funded excessive bonuses and other banking reforms.