LaborRadio031910.mp3

Transcript: 

LaborRadio031910.txt

Workers Independent News Labor Radio
Internet Radio Program 03/19/10
Producers: Doug Cunningham & Jesse Russell

Labor Radio Rundown:

1) WIN Newscast

2) President Obama signs the Senate jobs bill, but says more is needed. Teamsters President Jim Hoffa praises Obama for and COngress or acting to create jobs.

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This afternoon, the AFL-CIO Executive Council said waiting 60 years for health care reform is long enough. Council members agreed to actively support President Obama’s health care bill and called on Congress to pass the legislation, which the U.S. House is set to vote on this Sunday.

Nearly every president since Harry Truman has sought health care reform. But powerful opposition from the insurance industry and others has scuttled each attempt. In a video message to working families, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says:

We can’t miss this opportunity. We’ve been fighting for health care for 60 years. When I look at the years we have put into fighting for health care and what it means to working families to start down the path of comprehensive reform, I know the time to step forward is now.

Trumka urged union members to call their representatives and tell them to pass the bill (call toll free 1-877-3-AFLCIO). He acknowledges many people have been “conflicted” about the bill. In a press conference call, he told reporters:

It is not a perfect bill. But we are realistic enough to know it’s time for the deliberations to stop and for progress to begin. And we are idealistic enough to believe this is an opportunity to change history we can’t afford to miss.

Trumka says action by working families during the health care debate “has made the health care bill stronger,” much to the dismay of the insurance industry that has:

plastered their money and lobbyists across Capitol Hill to try to stop this bill because it’s a game-changer for them. It ends what is literally a reign of insurance company terror.

Among other provisions, the bill:

• Immediately stops greed-driven insurance company abuse such as denying care based on pre-existing conditions.
• Toughens penalties on employers that try to run from their responsibilities.
• Puts the burden of paying for health care where it belongs–on the wealthy.
• Gets life-saving health coverage to 30 million more people and improves coverage for millions more.
• Reduces prescription drug costs for seniors and saves money for small businesses.

Trumka told reporters:

Rising health care costs are crushing families and businesses. Middle-class families are losing health care coverage faster than any other group today.

This bill is a solid first step in changing that.

Be sure to call your representative at 1-877-3-AFLCIO and tell him or her to pass the health care reform bill.

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[Trumka]: “This health care bill is good for working families now and even more in the future. Now, it’s not a perfect bill. But we’re realistic enough to know it’s time for the deliberations to stop and for progress to begin. “

AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka. Trumka says most of the tax on health care benefits has been stripped from the bill

[Trumka 2]: “Eighty percent of it’s been eliminated for all Americans, and that’s because of the efforts of the workin’ men and women of the AFL-CIO.”

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The 2010 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference is set for May 4-6, in Washington, D.C., and you can click here to register. The conference brings together union members, environmentalists, business leaders, elected and administration officials to map out the path to green economy that creates good jobs, reduces global warming and preserves America’s economic and environmental security.

United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo W. Gerard says the conference “comes at a pivotal time.”

America is working to build a green economy. Now, it’s time to ensure that we create good jobs that support our families and our communities—revitalizing the American economy and protecting the environment for future generations.

Among this year’s speakers are Gerard; AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka; Sierra Club Executive Director Carol Pope; Rick Fedrizzi, president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council; George H. Miller, president of the American Institute of Architects; and high-ranking Obama administration officials.

The conference will include more than 100 workshops on topics ranging from green manufacturing to environmental and occupational health and safety to business, investment and new markets. Click here for a schedule of the workshops and here for the entire agenda.

In addition, the conference features the 2010 Green Innovation Expo, where more than 100 exhibitors from labor, industry, environment and academia will be on hand to demonstrate how they are charting the path toward growing the green economy and developing clean energy jobs.

The conference is being coordinated by the Blue Green Alliance, the partnership of the labor and environmental organizations, which include the USW, Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFT, Utility Workers (UWUA), Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Click here to register.

UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles praised members of the Local 2244 bargaining committee for their hard work and solidarity.

We are all deeply saddened to see these operations come to an end. While this is not the outcome we had hoped for, the terms of this agreement will certainly help cushion the impact for our members.

UAW Region 5 Director Jim Wells says the NUMMI workers’ solidarity and support from the union movement helped the workers through a difficult time.

We are grateful to the members for the solidarity they’ve shown throughout this process. We also want to thank our brothers and sisters in the labor movement, community leaders and consumers across the country for the support they’ve given the NUMMI workers.

Established as a joint venture between General Motors (GM) and Toyota Motors in 1984, the NUMMI facility most recently built the Pontiac Vibe, Toyota Corolla and Tacoma pickup. As part of a structured bankruptcy, GM eliminated its Pontiac brand in 2009. Shortly after, Toyota announced its intention to close the NUMMI facility on April 1, 2010.

David Groves at the Washington State Labor Council reports on the area union movement’s second Make Wall Street Pay rally in Seattle this week.

More than 600 building and construction trades workers from the Seattle metropolitan area rallied downtown on St. Patrick’s Day to demand the “green-lighting” of major job-creating public-works investments being delayed by political wrangling.

“We want jobs NOW!” chanted the workers the same day that new Washington State unemployment numbers showed construction payrolls fell by another 3,200 jobs in February and have dropped 32 percent in the past 20 months. The Seattle-area construction industry is suffering from unprecedented unemployment rates of 35 percent—even higher in some trades.

New Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, an environmental advocate who has frustrated both business and labor interests with his proposals to change, review or otherwise delay major infrastructure projects, addressed the crowd. As he discussed his support for good family-wage jobs, union members repeatedly interrupted him by shouting:

But we need jobs NOW!

King County Executive Dow Constantine got it right. He talked about the need to immediately start major projects, including replacement of the Highway 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington, replacement of the crumbling Alaskan Way viaduct along Seattle’s waterfront and expansion of the Washington State Convention Center downtown.

Our economy cannot afford years of job-stopping delays. We need jobs now! It is time to get past the delays and hand-wringing. Let’s get this job done!

Washington State Labor Council President Rick Bender reminded all who is to blame for our economic problems.

We have a jobs crisis in America, it was caused by the big Wall Street banks and they should have to pay to create jobs!

After accepting hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars to bail them out, Bender said,

They handed out $145 billion in bonuses last year, and now they are lobbying against legislation to set some rules to keep this from ever happening again.

Wednesday’s rally was sponsored by the Seattle-King County Building and Construction Trades Council and the Martin Luther King County Labor Council.