Labor Union Blog

Stacey Clark tells a South Carolina town hall meeting what life is like when you’re unemployed.

 Steve Stallone is president of International Labor Communications Association and secretary/editor of the California Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521. Evelina Alarcon is chair of the Cesar Chavez National Holiday campaign. They are reporting from the 10-year commemoration of the free the Charleston Five campaign.

Even in this tough economy with its high unemployment, “Now is not the time to retreat,” AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker told a town hall meeting in Charleston, S.C., yesterday. She urged unionists and activists “not to back down” on workers’ major goals: a good jobs program, the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform.

The town hall meeting was part of a larger 10-year anniversary commemoration of the victory to free the Charleston Five, members of the Longshoremen (ILA), who were arrested and charged with conspiracy to riot after state police attacked their picket line. A global movement to free them eventually led to the charges being dropped.

Holt Baker said:

We have to be as bold as the Charleston Five to turn the economy around. We have to go to the streets. We have to be ready to go to jail.

Noting that 38 percent of jobless workers have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, Holt Baker said the recently passed Senate jobs bill is “not big or bold enough.” She called for a federal program that would put Americans back to work rebuilding schools, roads, bridges and alternative energy resources that create good, green union jobs.

As more workers lose their jobs, Holt Baker said, local governments are shredding the social safety net, slashing services and programs and laying off the public workers who provide them. And she added that a sustainable economy requires reform that makes health care accessible to all Americans-like Stacey Clark

A single mother, Clark, who has a college degree, told town hall participants that she had a good career in human resources recruiting until she was laid off two years ago. But for the past two years, she has been unemployed or underemployed. She said she has applied for between 10 and 20 jobs a day, has worked as a captain’s mate and as a kayak instructor and worked waiting tables. She just landed a part time job at  Plumbers Local 421 in South Carolina, a job with benefits.

I cried when I was told I had qualified for health insurance.

Clark said she lost her home and she and her 16-year old son had to move in with another family. Statistics alone can’t explain the personal affects of unemployment. She added:

 My whole world had fallen apart. No one talks about what it does to a family and to one’s emotional stability. I had feeling that I had failed.

Ken Riley, president of ILA Local 1422, said he has heard stories across the country of unemployment, poor working conditions, low pay and lack of health care.

“South Carolina is becoming a third world region. Boeing is the latest example,” he said, referring to the company’s move to shift production from union-strong Seattle to Charleston after getting massive local tax breaks and assurances of no union representation at the new plant.

 The workers there won’t make as much as those in Seattle. And the local politicians are giving away the store-these tax breaks are hurting our schools and our communities.

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) has a message for the 1.2 million jobless workers who will lose their unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and COBRA health coverage in March when the two programs expire Feb. 28.

“Tough sh*t”

Bunning has single-handily blocked a vote on a 30-day extension by being the only senator to oppose a unanimous consent motion to vote on the bill which was passed earlier by the House.

For hours last night, Bunning refused to budge and according to Politico, when Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) urged Bunning to relent, his response was, “Tough sh*t.”

As of this morning, he continues to block the bill and reports from the Hill indicate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will now try to move a year-long extension next week. But even if that bill pass quickly and retroactively covers jobless workers who will lose their benefits between Feb. 28 and when the long-term is signed law, hundreds of thousands of unemployed will go weeks without help.

In Bunning’s home state, the unemployment rate is 10.7 percent and in some areas, such as Magoffin County, as high as 21.7 percent. But that’s just “tough sh*t,” says Bunning.

Nationwide, long-term unemployment continuing to rise-currently at an all-time high of 40 percent of all unemployed, people who desperately need the UI lifeline. But that’s just “tough sh*t” says Bunning.

What really upsets Bunning? Missing a University of Kentucky basketball game. Here’s how Politico describes the scene.

On the floor, Bunning leaned back in his chair, legs crossed, as he listened to a slew of Democratic senators talk about the bill he is blocking.

Around midnight, Bunning took the microphone again and said:

I have missed the Kentucky-South Carolina game that started at 9 o’clock, and it’s the only redeeming chance we had to beat South Carolina, since they’re the only team that has beat Kentucky this year.

Two words, Senator……

California has launched an investigation into possible illegal premium increases and denial of claims by the state’s seven largest health insurance companies.

Yesterday, state Attorney General Jerry Brown issued subpoenas for detailed financial records and other information  records to Aetna Health, Anthem Blue Cross, CIGNA, Health Net, Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente and PacifiCare.

Earlier this month Anthem Blue Cross announced it was raising premiums in California by as much as 39 percent for its 800,000 customers, despite a $4.7 billion 2009 profit  by its parent firm WellPoint. The insurer is now facing a congressional hearing and Obama administration scrutiny over its rate hikes.

In September, California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) released a report that which states that since 2002 the state’s largest health insurers rejected more than one in five medical claims. Data from the last half of 2009 shows the rejection rate has jumped to more than one in four (26 percent), with PacificCare leading the way, rejecting 41.7 percent of claims, according to the CNA/NNOC report.

CNA/NNOC Co-President Geri Jenkins says the repeated rate hikes and increase claims denials reveal “an arrogant industry”

indifferent to the pain and suffering caused by routine care denials or economic catastrophe prompted by outrageous price gouging. The denials and pricing practices are both motivated by the prime directive  that seems to surpass everything else for these companies-squeezing their patients and providers alike for profits and revenues regardless of who gets hurt along the way.

The attorney general’s investigation will include an examination of how much the plans are spending on health care versus non-health care costs such as marketing, administration and profits. The plans have been asked to provide detailed information on how they spend policy-holders’ premiums and how they review claims and decide whether and how much to pay the doctor or hospital for the service.

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Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola addresses Jobs Now rally in Columbus.

More than 100 working people marched from to the state capitol in Columbus, Ohio, yesterday to call on lawmakers to focus on creating jobs and making Wall Street pay for the economic crisis it created. They sent the message that it is time to help working people and put Main Street back to work.

Ohio’s jobless rate is 10.9 percent. The state has lost millions of jobs due to the decline in manufacturing.

Marchers chanted “Good jobs now, make Wall Street pay,” and carried signs saying, “Dear Wall Street: you destroyed millions of jobs. Fix your mess.” Some dressed as Wall Street executives to highlight the role of greedy executives in creating the economic crisis.

At the rally, sponsored by the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate Working America, speakers said Congress and the White House must take serious and immediate action to invest in jobs

Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola said corporations and Wall Street executives have destroyed working people’s jobs. He said it is up to working people to hold our elected officials accountable to create a new economy that works for working families.

Working America’s Regional Director Dan Heck said:

Ohio working people have been slaughtered by a bad economy, bad decisions  made by the last administration and Wall Street greed. Working people are saying ‘no more’ and marched today to call attention to how bad things are for Main Street.

Negotiations have come to an end for Safeway workers in Colorado. The workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 ratified the company’s “last, best, and final” offer. The negotiations were heated during the nearly year long process with threats of strikes and lockouts hanging in the air. King Soopers had agreed to lockout its employees if the Safeway employees called a strike. This new contract will expire in 2013.

It wasn’t a mirage when a caravan extending for miles came to offer support to the workers at a Borax mine in California. Jesse Russell reports:

read more

By Doug Cunningham

Millions of workers in America are being mis-classified by their employers as independent contractors. The Department of Labor estimates as many as 30 percent of companies are mis-classifying workers. Chris Sloan is Government Affairs Director for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

[Chris Sloan]: “An employer who is looking to evade paying the proper taxes in terms of social security, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation and other payroll taxes will mis-classify or re-classify their employees as independent contractors.”

read more

IUE-CWA Local 808 today filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Whirlpool, alleging the company interfered with workers’ rights by threatening employees if they participate in a rally tomorrow to protest a plant closing.

Whirlpool announced it is closing the Evansville, Ind., refrigerator plant, laying off 1,100 workers and sending jobs to Mexico.

The charge stems from a memo by Paul Coburn, vice president for Whirlpool’s Evansville Division, warning workers not to participate in a march and rally tomorrow to save their jobs. Coburn’s memo, contained in an internal company newsletter, said employers in the future might not be willing to hire workers who participate. 

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who will speak at the rally tomorrow, said:

Whirlpool has taken the war against American workers to a new level by threatening to blacklist people who speak up. They don’t just want your job, they want your first amendment rights, too.

Show solidarity with the Whirlpool workers, 900 of whom are members of Local 808, by signing an online petition urging Whirlpool to reverse its decision and Keep It Made in America: Save Our Jobs. Click here to add your name to the more than 50,000 who already have signed.

All generations understand the message to save American jobs.

Whirlpool executive Paul Coburn’s memo warning Whirlpool workers not to participate in a rally tomorrow to save their jobs has only made the workers more determined than ever to fight the company’s decision to lay off 1,100 workers and send jobs to Mexico when U.S. unemployment is at its highest level in decades.

The reaction to his “open letter,” contained in an internal newsletter, has been quick and strong. It also has put a national spotlight on the practice of many employers to cut costs and raise profits by moving jobs offshore without regard for the communities and workers they leave behind.

Show solidarity with the Whirlpool workers, 900 of whom are members of IUE-CWA Local 808, by signing an online petition urging Whirlpool to reverse its decision and Keep It Made in America: Save Our Jobs. Click here to add your name to the nearly 40,000 who already have signed the petition.

More than 630 people commented on the story about Coburn’s letter on the Huffington Post, many condemning Coburn for trying to stifle dissent and for moving good jobs out of the country. Many cited the $20 million in federal economic recovery money Whirlpool received and the boost in sales from the government’s push for energy-efficient appliances.

Coburn’s action has not intimidated workers but has strengthened their resolve, Whirlpool employee Barbara Reich told Evansville’s Fox 7 News:

I believe this little paper unified the workers. You’re helping us every day you put out this foolishness.

IUE-CWA representative Gary Gardner told WFIE-TV:

We are full on, full court press to reverse this decision. It’s un-American to tell people they can’t assemble or that they shouldn’t assemble or to threaten them should they assemble. If they really cared about whether or not employees were working, then they shouldn’t close this plant. They should keep the people working here.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will join Whirlpool workers at the Evansville plant Feb. 26 to deliver the petitions. The workers then will march from the plant to the IUE-CWA Local 808 union hall for a rally, where Trumka, workers and union and community leaders will speak.

The plant closing will severely hurt the community. On the AFL-CIO’s Good Jobs Now website, Tom Vinnedge, the owner of a restaurant in nearby Winslow, Ind., writes:

More unemployed neighbors mean less customers who can afford to enjoy a meal out, plain and simple. At the same time, the one aspect of my business that is sure to increase as a result of the closure is our Thanksgiving free meal program for needy families. It’s just madness that Whirlpool is abandoning our community like this, and nobody has the courage to stand up to them and other greedy corporations and say it’s got to stop.

In a letter to the Evansville Courier & Press, the Rev. Phil Hoy, a lifelong resident of Evansville, minister and former state legislator, summed the situation up this way:

I am appalled by Whirlpool’s disregard for the community that has done so much for it throughout the years, and by the apathy and disdain that many politicians show toward our nation’s working families.

This community deserves better. On Friday, we will be rallying to hold Whirlpool accountable.