Labor Union Blog

What do conglomerates that pay no corporate income taxes do with all that extra dough? A new report from Public Campaign offers an answer: they pay millions to lobbyists to ensure they pay no taxes in the future. The corporations still come out ahead, their execs pocket obscene levels of “compensation” and the lobbyists get a windfall—a win-win for everybody, except, of course, the American worker and taxpayer.

The report, “For Hire: Lobbyists or the 99%? How Corporations Pay More for Lobbyists Than in Taxes,” details the lobbying expenditures, executive pay, U.S. profits and tax profiles of 30 top corporations between 2008 and 2010, finding that the companies—whose combined profits amount to $164 billion—received combined tax rebates of nearly $11 billion, some of which they spent this way, according to the report:

• Altogether, these companies spent nearly half a billion dollars ($476 million) over three years to lobby Congress—that’s about $400,000 each day, including weekends.

• In the three-year period beginning in 2009 through most of 2011, these large firms spent more than $22 million altogether on federal campaigns.

• These corporations also have spent lavishly on compensation for their top executives ($706 million altogether in 2010).

Among the top offenders on the lobbying front are—surprise!—the very same companies we’ve highlighted in our recent reporting on corporate tax-dodgers, including Verizon (whose workers toil without a contract), Dupont (a major polluter), Boeing (which tried to force a geographic poison pill down the throats of unionized workers) and Pepco Holdings (a major utility provider).

But General Electric stands far above even this crowd, receiving a tax rebate of $4.7 billion, and spending $84 million on lobbyists.

Among the tax-dodging Fortune 500 companies examined by Public Campaign, Verizon and Boeing led the field in layoffs during the same three-year period, 2008-2010, despite posting record profits $32.5 billion and $9.7 billion, respectively. (And that doesn’t even account for the fact that during the third quarter of this year, Verizon reported nearly doubling its previous quarterly profit.) Earlier this week, Verizon fired 40 workers who took part in last summer’s strike against the company.

Of course, the lobbying conducted on behalf of these corporations isn’t limited to tax policy: These lobbyists are hard at work in Congress trying to undermine labor law and financial and environmental regulations, as well. Not that the lobbied need to be reminded of that combined $22 million spent on election campaigns.

The Public Campaign report builds on the work of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), taking the data from a joint report issued by the two groups, and marrying it to research on corporate lobbying conducted by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).

The full Public Campaign report, “For Hire: Lobbyists or the 99%? How Corporations Pay More for Lobbyists Than in Taxes,” can be downloaded here in a PDF file.

After months of contention that drew the attention of presidential candidates and members of Congress, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today announced that the Machinists (IAM) District 751 dropped its charge against the Boeing Co. after negotiating agreeable terms with the company.

Lafe Solomon, the NLRB’s acting general counsel, announced the closing of the case after Machinists in Washington State voted to accept a four-year contract extension and commitments from Boeing to expand manufacturing operations in the state.

Earlier this year, the NLRB agreed to hear the union’s complaint that claimed Boeing’s decision to produce its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft in South Carolina, an anti-union state, was made in retaliation for the union’s 2008 strike against Boeing. A Republican NLRB threatened to quit the board—which would have prevented the case from going forward—and Republican presidential candidates made the labor board a campaign-trail target.

District 751 also won raises described as “substantial” for its members, as well as job security measures deemed “unusual” by the New York Times.

From the statement issued today by the NLRB’s Solomon:

This is the outcome we have always preferred, and one that is typical for our agency. About 90% of meritorious NLRB cases are resolved as a result of agreements between the parties or settlements with the agency before the conclusion of litigation.

One of the stated goals of the National Labor Relations Act is to foster collective bargaining and productive labor-management relations. From the beginning of this case, and at every step in the process, we have encouraged the parties to find a mutually-acceptable resolution that protects the rights of workers under federal labor law.  The parties’ collective bargaining agreement, ratified this week, does just that…I am pleased that the collective bargaining process has succeeded and that the parties have begun a promising new chapter in their relationship.

IAM members ratified the new contract 74 percent.

Wall Street and Big Banks around the world are fighting efforts to impose a Robin Hood tax on their financial speculations. CEOs are portraying the tax—which would be around 0.5 percent on financial transactions—as if they would be robbed blind. This new video, starring no less than actor Ben Kingsley, puts the issue in perspective—and rips the mask off the boogeyman Big Banks have created.

(Congress last month introduced the Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax that would assess a financial speculation tax of .03 percent. The European Commission is proposing .10 percent on trading in stocks and bonds.)

Jobless workers and members of the faith and labor communities visited lawmakers in Congress yesterday to urge them to extend unemployment insurance (UI) for the long-term unemployed. Hundreds gathered for a rally on Capitol Hill before fanning out to talk with individual lawmakers.

Check out these video clips of visits to lawmakers from New Hampshire, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina.

Thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan fired the nation’s air traffic controllers after they walked out on strike, signaling an escalation in the war on workers and the middle class that is still being waged three decades later.

On Wednesday, Dec. 14, at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., Georgetown University associate history professor Joseph McCartin will discuss his new book on the PATCO strike, Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike That Changed America.

McCartin will be joined by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Kenneth Moffett, who headed up the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service during the strike, as well as several former PATCO members.

The event is free and gets under way at 2:30 p.m. EST. Copies of Collision Course will be available for sale and a book signing will follow the event.

Click here to RSVP.

Why can’t the long-term unemployed—6 million of whom will lose their unemployment insurance benefits if Congress does not act before the end of year—find jobs?  “Because the jobs aren’t there—not because they are not looking or are unwilling to accept pay cuts or relocate,” Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP), told a Senate hearing on long-term joblessness this afternoon.

Testifying before the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Owens urged lawmakers to act now.

Congress needs to help create good-paying jobs and reauthorize the unemployment insurance programs slated to expire at the end of the year. Otherwise, millions of workers and their families will continue to fall behind.

Job creation is not keeping up with the demand for work and during the past six months, job growth has just kept pace with population growth, But Owens said:

That is not enough to create the nearly 11 million jobs we need to get back to pre-recession levels. There are still more than four unemployed workers for every job opening.

Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said today’s jobless face new discriminatory barriers to finding work in a broken economy. Figures show older workers are out of work longer as employers pass them over in favor of younger applicants. Some employers won’t consider out-of-work applicants for job openings. Some even run credit checks, leaving long-term jobless workers who have likely fallen far behind in their bills and seen their credit scores tank on the streets.

Donna Stebbins, 58, from Phoenix, Ariz., lost her job in April of 2008 and has yet to find work. In the last year and half alone, she’s applied for more than 200 jobs.

The interviews I have been on—a couple dozen—have been “group” interviews. That’s right, “group” interviews. Gone is the day when you could sit one-on-one with a potential employer and tout your strengths, your work experience and what an asset you would be for their company. Today, it’s me, a 58-year-old woman, surrounded by 20 and 30-year-olds applying for the same job.  Interviewers directed their attention to younger applicants. Seldom was I asked a question. I have yet to get a phone call from anyone.

Click here for video of the entire hearing and written testimony all the witnesses.

Voting rights are human rights. To bring that point home, a coalition of labor, civil rights and community organizations will celebrate Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, with a Stand for Freedom march and rally, beginning at the Manhattan headquarters of Koch Industries, and ending at the United Nations’ Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.

Where and when:

Saturday, Dec. 10

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.: Assemble 61st Street and Madison Avenue, Koch Industries New York City office.

11:30 a.m.: March from 61st Street and Madison Avenue to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 47th Street and 2nd Avenue

12:30 p.m.: Rally at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, across from the United Nations building

Earlier this year, as anti-labor laws swept state legislatures dominated by Republicans backed by the billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch (who together own most of Koch Industries), some of these same legislatures passed laws designed to suppress voter turnout, especially targeting African Americans and immigrants.

Like the laws passed in Wisconsin and Michigan — and the one recently repealed by an Ohio ballot initiative – voter suppression measures are based on legislation modeled by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing think tank also funded by the Koch brothers.

According to the Stand For Freedom coalition which is sponsoring Saturday’s march:

This year, two-thirds of state legislatures have introduced laws that undermine the right to vote. Early voting and Sunday voting are under attack, photo ID requirements will introduce the first financial and document barrier to voting since the poll tax, and racially-motivated bans on ex-felons will wipe tens of thousands off the rolls.

This effort is unprecedented, it is coordinated, and it is targeted. African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, students, working women, seniors and immigrants of all colors will be disproportionately affected.

(See more here.)

This week, the NAACP, one of the march’s primary sponsors, along with SEIU Local 1199, issued a searing report with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, “Defending Democracy: Confronting Modern Barriers to Voting Rights in America.” From the report:

This assault — which is comprehensive in its reach and was launched in time to affect the 2012 elections — threatens to undermine the record levels of political participation witnessed during the historic 2008 Presidential Election, by blocking access to people of color, the poor, the elderly and the young.

The action, endorsed by the AFL-CIO, also is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); 350.org, the NYC Immigration Coalition, the United Federation of Teachers and all of the major labor unions in New York City, as well as the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE); AFSCME; Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 1081; CWA District 1; DC1707 Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA); Professional Staff Congress at the City University of New York; and RWDSU/UFCW Local 371.

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

Members from the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 2, friends and family came together in South St. Louis in recent days to give the “Women in Transition” organization a much needed makeover.

Union painters, tapers, glaziers, friends and family of District Council 2 put the two apartment buildings in their sights to be re-painted.  After being graciously supplied with donations by PaintSmith Companies, CR Painting and More and Sherwin-Williams of Crestwood, they decorated the eight apartments in just one day!

These apartments provide a safe environment and structure for women to transition into society after their release from incarceration.  Women in Transition offer many services to these women as well; to name a few they offer counseling, mentoring and job placement.  Without this support and guidance, many would fail.

Said IUPAT event organizer Chris Simonds:

The proud members who gave up their Saturday to make this a success, left that day tired but with a feeling of accomplishment knowing that we could help these new members of society with a place to live they could be proud of. After all; Unions were founded on the basic idea of making a better life for the working class.  This effort also shows our community that Unions still care.

Holding white carnations high above their heads to symbolize the nation’s millions of jobless workers—including the 6 million facing the loss of their unemployment insurance (UI)  benefits Dec. 31—more than 2,000 union, faith and community activists committed their faith and action to demand Congress act now to extend the emergency lifeline for the jobless.

At the prayer vigil—with the Capitol dome rising in the background—the Rev. Dr. Paul Sherry, director of the Washington, D.C., office of Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ), offered the opening invocation and prayer.

We are one people, united in our goal here to bring justice and mercy to all people…and, today in your presence, Lord, we do believe we will prevail and ask that you give us the commitment to stand with them every day.

The crowd included a large contingent from the Take Back the Capitol action on the National Mall who marched up Constitution Avenue to the vigil, with banners and signs that read “This is Economic Emergency,” “We Need Jobs Now,” and “We Are the 99%.”

Shonda Sneed is an engineering worker from Yellow Springs, Ohio, who has been unemployed on and off for the past two years. She is taking care of her mother who has dementia. She told the crowd:

“I don’t want a handout. All I want is a job. No one wants to be on unemployment but it should be there for people when they have no other choice. Right now, it’s hard for the average person like me to find a job….My unemployment insurance is my lifeline and the only way for me to make ends meet and put food on the table.”

Jose Barraza, a New Mexico construction worker, takes care of four of his grandchildren. Working now, but unemployed for most of the past two years, Barraza said his UI coverage helped him and his family remain in their home.

“With the Great Recession and the housing crisis, I was suddenly laid off from my job in construction, where I had been working for my whole life. I ran out of savings, even my retirement money, and I had no other option than to ask for unemployment insurance. It was not a lot of money, and we just had enough to feed my grandchildren. We barely made it. But thanks to that money, we were able to make it and we were not left out in the street.”

“We cannot separate faith from justice,” IWJ’s Ibrahim Ramey said.

The power of injustice may be great, but the power of God is greater.

Bill Redler, an unemployed plumber from Omaha, Neb., the Rev. Michael Livingston of the National Council of Churches and the Rev. Jennifer Butler of Faith in Public Life led a litany on commitment.

“Will you commit to speaking up and acting for change,” they asked. “We Commit,” the crowd boomed back.

Will you commit to speaking up and demanding that unemployment insurance benefits be renewed?

We Commit!

Will you commit to speaking up and acting for jobs not cuts?

We Commit!

Will you commit to speaking up for and acting to create an economy that works for all?

We Commit!

As the vigil ended, most of the crowd marched across Constitution Avenue and past the broad Capitol Hill Plaza to the steps of the Capitol. Several people held a large banner across and steps that read, “We Are the 99% Taking Back the Capitol.” Marchers tossed the carnations on the steps to leave a reminder to Congress that time is running out for the 6 million jobless workers who will lose their UI lifeline if Congress does not act.

Today, obstructionists in the Senate blocked an up-or-down vote on the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Fifty-three senators voted for Cordray, while 45—all Republicans—voted against ending debate on his nomination. Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) voted for Cordray, and Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) voted present.

The new agency, which was created by the Wall Street Transparency and
Accountability Act, is limited in its powers and cannot fully protect
consumers—until a director is confirmed. Which is exactly why 44 Republican senators have no intention of letting any director be confirmed. In May, they signed a letter to President Obama threatening to block any nomination to head the agency.

The 44 GOP senators who would not allow an up-or-down vote on Richard Cordray’s nomination have received millions from Wall Street this year. And they are shameless in admitting their goal is to force “structural changes” that prevent the bureau from doing its job: protecting consumers from Wall Street abuses. This shows just how much Wall Street greed dominates in Washington these days—particularly within the GOP.

Said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

Undermining the new era of Wall Street accountability is exactly what Senate Republicans intended by today’s filibuster of the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The vote had nothing to do with his outstanding qualifications, but with the very idea of anyone enforcing the law of the land to protect America’s families.

Working families have not forgotten that deceptive and abusive business practices were fundamental causes of the financial crisis. Consumers deserve a strong and fearless advocate that will be a powerful and independent voice for them.