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Chibebe: Zimbabwe’s Union Movement Remains Strong |
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Zimbabwe’s union movement remains strong, despite the government’s reign of terror and oppression, Wellington Chibebe, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), told a crowd of about 100 last evening in a forum at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C.
"We are relatively strong, given the current situation both economically and politically. We are in the trenches and going strong," Chibebe said.
Zimbabwe is “a nation in crisis,” says AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy, who chairs the AFL-CIO Executive Council’s international affairs committee. Lucy, who introduced Chibebe at the open forum, says the crisis in Zimbabwe:
affects every aspect of life, and it is all caused by the incredible desire of a government to hang on to power no matter what.
In Economic ‘Perfect Storm,’ Health Costs Force Families to Go Without |
Faced with a "perfect storm" of economic troubles, more working families than ever are sacrificing needed health care, a report by the nonprofit research group the Commonwealth Fund reveals.
The report, which draws on four years of survey data, also says it has "never been more urgent" to fix the nation's broken health care system.
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The report, Losing Ground: How the Loss of Adequate Health Insurance is Burdening Working Families, finds that two-thirds of the working-age population went without health insurance in 2007, were underinsured, had trouble paying their medical bills or went without needed care because of the costs.
Unions Take the Lead at Democratic National Convention |
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Next week, the presidential race will kick into high gear as the 2008 Democratic National Convention begins in Denver. The union movement will take the lead in defining the race and making sure Barack Obama can win this fall.
Of the more than 4,200 delegates at the convention, a quarter will be active and retired union members. From rank-and-file workers to national leaders, the full spectrum of the union movement will be represented.
The week kicks off Sunday, when hundreds of union delegates and local labor activists will gather for a caucus and rally. Members attending the convention from any union are invited, as are local union activists and their families in Colorado. Some 2,000 people are expected to attend the labor caucus and rally.
Interbake Workers’ Struggle Shows Need for Employee Free Choice |
Members of Congress need look no further than the Interbake Bakery plant in Front Royal, Va., to understand why the Employee Free Choice Act is at the top of the workers’ agenda for the 2008 election.
For two years, workers at the plant have been fighting a vicious corporate anti-union campaign to prevent them from forming a union with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM). But because the workers want to better their lives and working conditions, Interbake has pulled out all the stops.
The union says the company has resorted to surveillance, interrogation, illegal firings and threats of discharge, loss of benefits, misuse of disciplinary warnings, removal of union literature and assigning managers to intimidate union supporters. Interbake is a subsidiary of George Weston Ltd., the nation’s third-largest cracker and cookie maker.
N.C. Workers Set Record Straight on Employee Free Choice |
Working people have made passage of the Employee Free Choice Act a priority issue in the 2008 election. Today, 150 workers from throughout North Carolina pledged their support for the bill, which would level the playing field and allow workers to decide whether to choose a union without employer interference.
The workers held a public roundtable to set the record straight about the legislation after the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce held an event in Hickory featuring prominent anti-worker politicians to spread misinformation about the bill.
The event, which included national Chamber officials, Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) and other elected officials, was supposed to be held outside as a rally. But in a move to keep union members out, the event was moved inside and participants were required to show ID and a business card. Dole, who is running for re-election, opposes the Employee Free Choice Act. Her Democratic challenger, Kay Hagan, supports the bill.
Fighting Back Against Fox News Falsehoods |
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Sen. Barack Obama is running for president to fight for working families and to make sure economic prosperity is shared by everyone, not limited to a tiny elite. Apparently, that pro-worker agenda threatens the corporate interests that have been the beneficiaries of Bushonomics over the past eight years. These special interests are lashing out with lies and smears, through such Big Business-friendly media outlets like Fox News.
But, this election season, Brave New Films is challenging the lies and distortions about the Democratic presidential candidate. Check out this great video, in which Fox News commentators and other reactionary loudmouths get called out on falsehoods that wrongly impugn Obama’s policies, patriotism and concern for working families and our troops.
Worst Boss of the Year: Owner of Life-Threatening Ambulance Equipment |
An ambulance company owner who forced a dispatcher to ride in a decrepit ambulance is not only a bad boss, today's he's been named the biggest loser of the workplace by online voters in Working America’s third annual My Bad Boss Contest. "Thunderstruck" from Illinois, who submitted this story, experienced a frightening incident of an infant choking, made worse by his co-worker's lack of training.
Thunderstruck not only went on to a more rewarding job—a victory in itself—but, as the contest’s Grand Prize winner, gets a well-deserved vacation with a week’s free stay at a condo in one of more than 50 countries, plus $1,000 to put toward airfare and other expenses.
IATSE Supports Obama |
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The Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) union has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president.
Matthew Loeb, president of IATSE, says Obama has shown “clear and unwavering support” for unions and workers and would fight for pro-worker policies on health care, Social Security, housing and other key issues.
Since the 2008 presidential election represents a critical juncture for the success of labor organizations, security for members of the IATSE and all working Americans, the [IATSE] is officially endorsing Barack Obama for President.
Loeb says IATSE will work to mobilize the union’s 110,000 members in support of Obama.
The AFL-CIO has endorsed Obama and launched a website, Meet Barack Obama, to educate and mobilize union members. This fall, the AFL-CIO is carrying out an unprecedented grassroots mobilization to elect a working family-friendly Congress and president.
Trumka: Workers Will Come Together in 2008 Vote |
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Employers historically have tried to set workers against each other by playing the race card. But when union members stand together as one, no one can defeat them, says AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka.
Speaking to the Virginia AFL-CIO this past weekend, Trumka said (see video):
We’ve seen how companies set worker against worker—how they throw whites a few extra crumbs off the table and how it’s black and Latino workers who get the dirtiest, most-dangerous jobs. But we’ve seen something else, too. We’ve seen that when we cross that color line and stand together, no one—and I mean no one—can keep us down. That’s why, imperfect as we are, the labor movement today is the most integrated institution in American life.
Ohio Jobless Rate at 15-Year High; McCain Plan May Kill 8,000 More |
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Ohio got some bad economic news. The state lost more than 11,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate has worsened to 7.2 percent—the highest in Ohio since December 1992.
Ohio may take an additional major job hit if DHL Express is allowed to close its air freight facility in Wilmington, where more than 8,000 people are employed. Those jobs would be another casualty of the economic agenda that puts multinational corporations ahead of communities and families.
They also would be a casualty of John McCain's cozy relationship with lobbyists for Big Business. McCain was instrumental in making DHL’s move possible, and his campaign manager, Rick Davis, made hundreds of thousands of dollars for his firm as DHL’s top lobbyist. The AFL-CIO is telling Ohio union members about McCain’s role in the DHL deal through direct mail and worksite fliers.
Two Boston Sheet Metal Workers Risk Lives to Save Rail Passenger |
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The third rail in Boston’s subway system carries 600 deadly volts of electricity. But that danger didn’t stop A.J. Pugliese Jr. and Robert Johnson, members of Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) Local 17, from springing into action to save a man who had fallen from the platform to the tracks, landing inches from the 600-volt rail (see video).
The man, in his 50s, had been unsteady on his feet and then tumbled from the platform to the tracks five feet below. The union members and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) employees were in the North Station working on map displays when they heard the shouts for help from commuters.
16,000 Steelworkers Accept Tentative Pact at U.S. Steel and More Bargaining News |
More than 16,000 members of the United Steelworkers accept a tentative pact at U.S. Steel, and more news from the "Bargaining Digest Weekly." The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
USW, U.S. Steel: More than 16,000 members of the United Steelworkers (USW) at U.S. Steel accepted a tentative four-year agreement. The new agreement requires the company to make capital investment in the plants. It covers workers in Granite City, Ill.; Gary, East Chicago, Portage, Ind.; Ecorse, Mich.; Braddock, Clairton, West Mifflin and Fairless Hills, Pa.; Fairfield, Ala.; Lorain, Ohio; Keewatin and Mt. Iron, Minn.; and Lone Star, Texas. USW International President Leo Gerard remarked that the new contract "rewards our members for their hard work, improves the living standards of our retirees and the capital investments that will be made in our mills protects our communities far into the future. This contract is the new standard in the industry."
‘It Should Be an Honor to Be Laid Off’ |
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Quick, let's all raise our hands: How many of us could live on less than $10 an hour?
That's a take-home pay of roughly $300 a week. Most one-bedroom apartments cost at least $1,000 a month. Ooops. There goes nearly the entire salary in one rent check.
So how do the nearly 33 million U.S. workers who make less than $10 an hour survive?
As Steven Greenhouse points out in The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, a wage of $10 an hour is lower than the poverty level for a family of four—$20,614 a year in 2006. And it gets worse. Reading The Big Squeeze doesn't give the reader the impression Greenhouse is talking about a western industrialized nation in the 21st century—let alone the United States.
Here’s the ‘Word on the Street’ from Working America |
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For a snapshot of what's on the minds of working families this election year, take a look at Working America's "Word on the Street" blog.
That's where the 450 canvassers in 11 states write about the people they meet and their experiences going door to door each night, talking with people about what matters most to them and how they can grow their voice through Working America.
Launched in 2003, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO already includes more than 2 million members. The organization gives workers who don't have a union a voice on issues from health care to jobs to education and local ballot initiatives and more.
Farm Labor Leader Spends Week in the Tobacco Fields |
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Members of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) in North Carolina harvest 26 different crops ranging from cucumbers to tobacco to Christmas trees. By far, harvesting tobacco is considered the worst, the riskiest and the dirtiest of the jobs.
FLOC founder and president Baldemar Velásquez felt compelled to experience what the tobacco workers go through each day. So for a week in July, he worked as an unknown field laborer in an all-male group at a North Carolina farm to see firsthand the conditions of tobacco workers. Tobacco workers are paid between $7 and $9 an hour. Velásquez is donating the money he made to FLOC’s fund for widows of union members.
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