Labor Union Blog

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer sends us this report:

The 1,300 workers at American Crystal Sugar have been locked-out  for seven weeks. Management locked out the  employees,  members of the Bakery, Confectionery Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) on  Aug. 1, after they rejected the company’s final offer by a more than nine-to-one margin.

Despite being out nearly two months and with cold weather on its way, the workers remain strong and committed to winning  a fair contract.

American Crystal reportedly has hired replacement workers at its seven plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. Contract negotiations to replace a seven-year contract began in May. The union has filed an unfair labor practice charge against American Crystal, claiming the company has not bargained in good faith.

You can help our brothers and sisters at American Crystal and their families win this fight by sending a check payable to: BCTGM Lockout Hardship Fund, BCTGM Local 167G, 100 North 3^rd Street, Suite 50, Grand Forks, N.D. 58203.

 As we say in the union movement: “One Day Longer!”

Shortly this afternoon, Senate Republicans will press forward with a political agenda that does the bidding of big corporations and leaves working people behind. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is pushing an extreme amendment to curb the ability of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to do its job.

Act now. Click here to find office phone numbers of swing senators and call them and urge them to vote “no” on the Graham amendment.

Graham’s amendment is part of the campaign by Republicans, tea party extremists and business groups to use a routine complaint the NLRB issued against the Boeing Co. in April as cover for their near hysterical and sweeping attacks on workers and the NLRB.

In April, the general counsel of the NLRB, an independent federal agency, issued a complaint against Boeing for moving a planned production line for its 787 Dreamliner from its unionized Puget Sound, Wash., plant to a facility in South Carolina. The complaint says the move was in retaliation against the Puget Sound workers for having previously exercised their federally guaranteed right to strike against Boeing and to prevent these workers from striking in the future.

AFL-CIO Legislation Director Bill Samuel says:

Senator Graham’s amendment is just more time wasted on playing partisan politics instead of creating good jobs. It’s time to put an end to the anti-worker agenda that’s bad for America and bad for the middle class and put the emphasis back on jobs to address the nation’s stalled economy.

The global union movement is calling on the labor ministers of the world’s top economies, known as the G-20, to create millions of new jobs around the world. In a statement prepared for the labor ministers meeting next week in Paris, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) and Global Unions say 110 million jobs are needed by 2015 just to return G-20 countries to pre-crisis levels. That’s 22 million new jobs every year. Read the global unions’ statement here.

“Stretching from China to Chile, we’re seeing the longest unemployment line the world has ever seen,” says ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

Workers, not bankers, will drive the world out of the economic crisis. Big Business is using the economic crisis as a smokescreen to push down wages. Collective bargaining rights are the most effective antidote to greed and will foster growth. Workers know first-hand why it’s important to have a decent wage, and a strong and vibrant business.

The financial crisis pushed more than 80 million more people into extreme poverty, and many are left without a safety net. G-20 labor and employment ministers have a moral and economic responsibility to strengthen social protection systems in all G-20 countries, the statement says.

The unions are:

• Insisting that their governments develop alternative sources of finance to provide funding for employment policies, including making domestic taxation more progressive, combating tax evasion and tax havens and introducing a financial transactions tax.
• Urging governments to set up investment in infrastructure and green jobs, skills development and other active labor market policies;
• Calling for a G-20 “Youth Pact” guaranteeing young people quality employment or education and training.

TUAC General Secretary John Evans says plans to encourage employment by G-20 labor ministers will fail unless there is a co-ordinated approach with finance ministers and G-20 leaders.

After prematurely moving away from supporting growth to deficit reduction, G-20 governments must now muster the same level of collective political will used to bail out the banks. They need to launch a co-ordinated recovery effort to secure jobs for teachers, nurses, construction workers and other crucial sectors of the economy.

A long time ago, in a historical America, lawmakers determined a progressive tax code to be the fairest and most logical for all.

The legislators asked more of those who had benefited most from the advantages America provides. They asked less of those who benefited least.

As time passed, the rich and wealthy corporations perverted the progressive tax code. Now what America’s got is a flip-flop under which the fabulously wealthy pay income taxes at rates lower than the middle class.

This week, President Obama proposed returning the tax code to a time closer to equity and sensibility. He asked that millionaires pay taxes at the same rate as the middle class. Not more, as they once did. But at an equal rate. It’s not revolutionary. It’s retro. And it would help create jobs.

It’s an idea whose time has come—again. And it should be implemented immediately.

Obama called it the Buffett Rule after billionaire Warren Buffett who has written repeatedly that he thinks it’s wrong that he pays taxes at a lower rate than his secretary. He spoke out most recently in an Aug. 14 New York Times op-ed titled, “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich.” Here’s what he said:

Our leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks.

His petition to American lawmakers for a return to fairness has been joined by fellow billionaire Mark Cuban and a group calling itself Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength. In an open letter to political leaders, these millionaires asked to be taxed more. It says:

We are writing to urge you to put our country ahead of politics.

For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you increase taxes on incomes over $1,000,000.

Cuban wrote on his blog that millionaires may choke when they see the size of their tax bills, but then they should rejoice at being lucky enough to have such a “problem.” He also said:

In these times of “The Great Recession” we shouldn’t be trying to shift the benefits of wealth behind some curtain. We should be celebrating and encouraging people to make as much money as they can. Profits equal tax money. While some people might find it distasteful to pay taxes. I don’t. I find it Patriotic.

The rich are ready to pay their fair share. As it is now, Buffett and the other richest 399 billionaires in America pay an average income tax rate of 16.6 percent, while a worker earning between $35,000 and $84,000 a year pays a marginal rate of 25 percent.

Obama described the simple math of tax rates. The nation is faced with a massive deficit and a crushing recession. America doesn’t receive sufficient tax revenues to buy everything it wants. So it must make choices. It could continue to give the rich and corporations special tax treatment and pay the country’s debts on the backs of the middle class. That would require slashing the programs that sustain workers—Medicare, Medicaid, food inspection, public education—as well as the government programs that kindle the economy and create middle-class jobs such as infrastructure construction.

Or America could ask the rich to pay a tax rate equal to that of the middle class. America could end outrageous special deals for massively profitable corporations—loopholes that not only enabled GE to pay no taxes at all last year but allowed it to demand the government give it $3.2 billion! Asking the rich to pay an equitable rate would raise enough money to moderate cuts to crucial government services.

The wealthy supporters of increasing taxes on the wealthy recognize another benefit of paying more—it increases their ability to earn more. Government services, from public schools and roads to civil courts and patent protections, benefit business. Cutting funding for those services threatens business profits.

In addition, if government spends money to renovate schools and improve infrastructure as Obama has proposed in his jobs plan, it creates jobs. Those workers spend money. And that stimulates demand for products.

Only when corporations experience demand will they begin hiring workers with some of the record $2 trillion in cash they are now just sitting on. Those new workers will spend their paychecks, further increasing demand. It’s a virtuous cycle. The rich pay more in taxes and get more in profits.

Tax breaks awarded so-called rich job creators won’t prompt them to hire. In fact, they had the opposite effect when Bush did it. Bush slashed taxes on the so-called rich job creators, and the nation lost 673,000 private-sector jobs during his administration. Those are private-sector jobs, the ones that, according to Republicans, supposedly would be added by rich “job creators” after they got tax breaks. 

Tax equity is not radical. It’s basic fairness. In fact, it’s not even progressive. Progressive would be returning to the days when the fabulously wealthy and profit-fat corporations paid higher tax rates than the middle class. Progressive would be charging the rich a “wealth tax” each year, not on their earnings but on the value of their holdings. This tax, suggested for the United States by Yale law professors Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, already is levied by France, Norway, Switzerland and five other countries.

Parity isn’t progressive. But it is equitable and sensible.

Republicans in Congress are fighting to give more tax breaks to the extremely wealthy, rather than create jobs. Here at a glance is ample reason why the rich don’t need any more breaks—they already pay a lower percentage of their income than do the rest of us.  Warren Buffett is right.

The four-year tentative agreement between the UAW and General Motors (GM) provides jobs for UAW members who have been laid off over the past several years, creates and retains more than 17,000 jobs and brings production back to the United States that had been moved to Mexico and other parts of the world.

The UAW local union leadership at GM voted to recommend the tentative agreement to local unions that are holding ratification votes throughout the country this week.  

“In these uncertain economic times, we were able to win a tentative agreement with GM that guarantees good American jobs at a good American company,” UAW President Bob King said.

Our members made great sacrifices to save GM when the auto industry and the American economy were on the brink of collapse. As a result of this tentative agreement, UAW members will share in the company’s success. 

Jobs, investment and product guarantees in the tentative agreement include the reopening of a plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., with production of two mid-size vehicles, and additional shifts or new production at five other plants:

• Warren, Mich., new transmission program;
• Romulus, Mich., new engine program;
• Wentzville, Mo., full shift added and new mid-size pickup program;
• Saginaw, Mich., castings for next generation engine program;
• Fort Wayne, Ind., next generation full-size pickup; compact vehicle at a yet-to-be determined plant.

GM has committed $4.6 billion in investment and new products to UAW plants, creating 11,800 jobs. In the proposed agreement, the union secured commitments to create or retain an additional 6,400 jobs, reflecting $2.5 billion of investment and, most significantly, returning production from Mexico to the United States.

The tentative agreement also makes significant progress toward the union’s goal of equal pay for equal work by increasing wages for entry-level workers over the term of the agreement. Entry-level workers would also receive $5,000 annually in tuition assistance and additional benefits and job protections. 

The agreement includes a $5,000 signing bonus, a redesigned profit-sharing plan that will guarantee employees a minimum of $3,500 annually, as well as awards for meeting quality targets.  

“The UAW entered into this set of negotiations as America struggles with record levels of unemployment and an economy that shows little sign of improvement,” said UAW Vice President Joe Ashton, who directs the union’s GM Department. 

GM, like most private and public employers across America, immediately sought givebacks in health care and pensions, but we were able to maintain those benefits and made important gains for our members to secure their jobs and create new jobs in communities across the country. 

Read details of the tentative agreement here.

Mitchell Hirsch at the National Employment Law Project (NELP) writes that online job sites continue to discriminate against unemployed job seekers.

Today, the National Employment Law Project joined Reps. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) and Hank Johnson (Ga.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to receive 250,000 petition signatures calling for an end to hiring policies that discriminate against the unemployed and to call for passage of the Fair Employment Opportunity Act. The bill, also included in President Obama’s American Jobs Act, would prohibit exclusion of the unemployed from job openings. The petition signatures were gathered by USAction, Change.org, ColorofChange.org and CREDO Action and represent Americans from across the country.

_________________________

A recent survey of online job sites has shown that CareerBuilder.com continues to post numerous new ads that discriminate against unemployed job-seekers.

The latest examples appear two months after the National Employment Law Project (NELP) released a report detailing similarly exclusionary job postings this spring. Since then, federal legislation has been introduced that would ban hiring practices, including job ads, that discriminate against unemployed workers by excluding them from consideration for employment opportunities. As these harmful practices have attracted growing attention, one leading job site—Indeed.com—recently announced it would no longer post such exclusionary ads.

President Obama has recently said he backs legislation to end such discriminatory practices that serve to lock out unemployed job-seekers from job opportunities and has included such a federal ban in the proposed American Jobs Act.

In the last month, however, CareerBuilder.com has continued to post new ads like this one for a Medical Pharma Sales Rep in La Crosse, Wis., which not only says applicants “MUST BE CURRENTLY EMPLOYED”—it also says:

Immediate Hire—

If you are not currently in medical sales and choose to apply, you will not be given the opportunity of an interview and your resume will be deleted.

Reminds me of “No soup for you!”  But I digress.

Another recent example is this Sept. 5 posting for Restaurant Managers Upscale AGM Needed!! in Louisville, Ky. To qualify—you guessed it—you “must be currently employed.”

Then there’s this CareerBuilder.com job posting from Sept. 16 for a Corrugated Packing sales rep in Lima, Ohio, which requires applicants to be “currently employed within the Distribution Packaging Jan/san industry.”

And then there’s this ad on CareerBuilder.com from The Porter Group, posted Sept. 15, looking for a Sales Executive for an interesting firm:

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Sales Executive

Growing pre-employment screening company is looking for a Business Developer for the New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Delaware areas to work from a home office. Sell criminal background checks, employment checks, drug testing and other services to medium and large-sized companies. This position will require 20% overnight travel for client visits and trade shows. Qualified candidates must be currently employed….

Nice, huh? Oh, well, that probably wasn’t something you’d enjoy anyway.

How about the food service industry or the restaurant business? Take a look at this posting from last month from Martin Recruiting Partners for Kitchen Managers in Atlanta, Ga. Among the required qualifications it says you must be “currently working with a quick casual or full service restaurant manager background.”

Sometimes, a limited acceptable duration of unemployment is specified, as in this Restaurant Management, Long Island, N.Y., posting from Gecko Hospitality last month, which specifies candidates “must be currently employed or not out of the restaurant business for more than 3 months.”

Enough already.  This has to stop.  And it’s not just these pernicious ads—it’s the full range exclusionary practices that discriminate against unemployed job-seekers.  If employers, recruiters, staffing firms and online job posting sites like CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com will not voluntarily do the right thing and end the lockout against unemployed workers in the job market—as Indeed.com has taken steps to do—then new federal legislation is clearly needed.

Call your U.S. representative and senators and tell them to support and pass the Fair Employment Opportunity Act to end discrimination against unemployed workers in hiring.  You can call 202-224-3121 for the Senate and 202-224-3121 for the House, or reach the Capitol switchboard toll free at 877-851-6437 or 877-210-5351.

Former President Bill Clinton yesterday singled out the efforts of the union movement in creating massive numbers of jobs through union pension fund investments. Speaking yesterday at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), Clinton praised the AFL-CIO and AFT for already providing $1 billion in pension fund investments to improve infrastructure and increase energy efficiency. (Watch the video of the event here. )

He also called on financial institutions  and corporations–which are sitting on $2 trillion in cash without creating jobs–to follow the lead of the union movement and “loosen up all this money and put America back to work. If you did that, you’d have a million jobs in no time.”

With AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and AFT President Randi Weingarten on the stage with him, Clinton said:

President Trumka and President Weingarten…are financing energy saving retrofits and clean energy projects to create good jobs for workers  from their pension funds which creates not just decent a return, but a certain return to their pension funds. The AFL-CIO is on its way to training 140,000 apprecentice and mid-career construction workers in high-demand green technology skills and in this quarter alone, the building trades program trained 40,000 construction workers in energy conservation jobs. The AFL-CIO has already funded $134 million in energy efficiencey and asbestos removal jobs here in New York since June and they’re talking to five other cities about allocating $5 million for other projects.

(Watch the video of the event here. ) Saying that “the ultimate beneficiary will be the working men and women, Clinton praised the u.This is a huge deal that goes right at the unemployment problem we have in the United States right at the climate change challenge and puts more disposable income into the hands of people who will almost certainly have to spend it. In short, he said, unions

have become America’s employment bankers.

Clinton launched the CGI in 2005 as a high-level partnership organization to alleviate poverty, create a cleaner environment, and increase access to health care and education.

Tomorrow’s episode of “Brotherhood Outdoors,” the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA’s) hunting and fishing television series, features Joe Proscia and other members of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 3 on their annual striped bass tournament. Proscia helped found Local 3’s Sportsmen’s Club more than 25 years ago. The show airs Thursday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. EDT on the Sportsman Channel.

“Brotherhood Outdoors,” which began airing on the Sportsman Channel in July, puts American workers in the spotlight, giving them the opportunity to join host Tom Ackerman for a quality outfitted North American trip of their choosing or to act as his guide, taking him to their favorite hunting or fishing location. To see a preview

For more on Thursday’s episode, click here. Click here for a video preview and here for more photos.

If you or a friend want the chance to hunt whitetail or other big game, apply today here for the opportunity to star in an episode of “Brotherhood Outdoors.”

AFT sends us this report.

AFT President Randi Weingarten urged President Obama to “help marshal the humanitarian aid needed to halt the advance of the apocalyptic ‘children’s famine’ spreading through Somalia and neighboring nations in the Horn of Africa.”

President Obama has called a meeting of heads of state and ministers in New York this week to address the crisis. 

Millions of people are struggling to survive a humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa, where the worst drought in 60 years has produced famine conditions. In southern Somalia alone, international aid organizations and agencies reported in August that 300 children under age 5 were dying every day from starvation or from disease and health complications aggravated by the lack of adequate food and water. These horrible conditions are being experienced in ever-expanding areas throughout the region, and those living there need our help.

AFT is also calling on its members to contact their U.S. Senators to oppose any cuts to foreign aid to Somalia and the surrounding region (see video).

Read more…