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Thomas Simmons' recent comments on protecting workers (among other causes) and a subsequent discussion with Jack about unions as special interest groups has motivated me into creating a diary that I've wanted to write for some time. This NYT article today about union concessions to profitable companies made this a necessity.
It seems appropriate to break down this discussion into digestable chunks - I'd like to think that I can change some minds about the importance of unions if I don't bore people to death. We need to understand the historical context of unions and the strategies employed to gain footholds in the U.S. economy while under seige from business interests. The timeline of public policy and important events are also critical to understanding the current realities facing organized labor and should be discussed. And, stating the obvious, a union renewal could do much to reverse decades-long declines in wages and empowering the working class.
I'm starting with a summary of labor organizing history up to World War II. If there's interest, I'd love to continue the discussion through present day and what the current trends are. I enthusiastically encourage the historians in the audience to chime in with anecdotes and other perspectives.
Sometimes stories happen because of planning; other times serendipity intervenes, which is how we got to the conversation we'll be having today.
In an exchange of comments on the Blue Hampshire site, I proposed an idea that could be of real value to unions, workers...and surprisingly, employers.
If things worked out correctly, not only would lots of people feel a real desire to have unions represent them, but employers would potentially be coming to unions looking to forge relationships, and, just to make it better, this plan bypasses virtually all of the tools and techniques employers use to shut out union organizers.
Since I just thought this up myself, I'm really not sure exactly how practical the whole thing is, and the last part of the discussion today will be provided by you, as I ask you to sound off on whether this plan could work, and if so, how it could be made better.
It's a new week...so let's all put our heads together and rebuild the labor movement, shall we?
Knowing some probably small part of the history of the labor movement (at least more than just the Teamsters!), I really, really want more unions and union members in this country. We need as many advocates for "the rest of us" (h/t Carol Shea Porter) as we can get.
"My view of the labor movement today," he said in an interview, "is that we got too focused on our contracts and our own membership and forgot that the only way, ultimately, that we protect our members and workers in general is by fighting for justice for everybody."
Via the Huffington Post, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers President Edwin D. Hill asks why Central Maine Power, a subsidiary of Energy East, which itself is owned by the Spain-based Iberdrola, is pushing to cut the health benefits of its own workers in instead of putting its energy and resources into fighting for real health care reform on Capitol Hill.
Hello, friends: I just arrived last night to put in some walking time, talking time and writing time for John Edwards. As a member of the United Auto Workers, I'm proud to be an Edwards supporter--we've got dozens of UAW people from around the region here who have taken their own time to comb the state for votes for John.
I've just been told my a lovely woman in the campaign headquarters that I look like John Stibile, a well-known man here in Nashua--who also owns the local baseball team. Anyone known John? I think I can attest to the fact that I don't have the funds he probably has but, as a passionate baseball fan, I like the comparison. Lest this thread and diary get sidetracked, I'd better not get into which team I support--I don't think that would play very well in these parts :):)
But, I digress? Why are so many union member supporting John and his message that we must change this country?
Mrs. Clinton largely sat on the sidelines when it came to Wal-Mart and unions, according to board members. Since its founding in 1962, Wal-Mart has aggressively fought unionization efforts at its stores and warehouses, employing hard-nosed tactics — like firing union supporters and allegedly spying on employees — that have become the subject of legal complaints against the company.
A special team at Wal-Mart handled those activities, but Mr. Walton was vocal in his opposition to unions. Indeed, he appointed the lawyer who oversaw the company’s union monitoring, Mr. Tate, to the board, where he served with Mrs. Clinton.
During their meetings and private conversations, Mrs. Clinton never voiced objections to Wal-Mart’s stance on unions, according to Mr. Tate and John A. Cooper, another board member.
“She was not an outspoken person on labor, because I think she was smart enough to know that if she favored labor, she was the only one,” Mr. Tate said. “It would only lesson her own position on the board if she took that position.”
Mr. Tate, a prominent management lawyer who helped stop union drives at many major companies, said he worked closely with Mr. Walton to convince workers that a union would be bad for the company, personally telling employees when he visited stores that “the only people who need unions are those who do not work hard.”
Today, around 2:30 p.m., I heard an AFSCME radio spot on WBZ 1030 out of Boston attacking Obama's health care plan and using the 15 million people uninsured figure. However, there was no mention of John Edwards in the spot like there was in the mailer.
But the question begs to be asked: Why is AFSCME spending its radio money in Boston? While WBZ has a ton of New Hampshire listeners, is that money well-spent considering how expensive their ads are? Wouldn't that money be better spent on New Hampshire radio stations, including those news talk stations? ... Well, OK, there are only a handful of those. And, of course, if you are trying to reach voters who are going to cast votes for Obama, they probably aren't listening to many of the AM stations in New Hampshire since most of them are rightwing talk stations.
Cross posted from dKos with the permission of the author, campskunk.
Senator Barack Obama's advisors had a major brainfart and apparently forgot what party they're supposedly members of with their latest stunt. Not only are they highlighting his failure to gain the support of the labor unions (the backbone and workhorses of our party), but now he's using that failure in his latest funding appeal to his supporters.
The "if you don't support Obama you're the enemy" meme started when Paul Krugman for daring to criticize his half-assed health care reform plan has expanded and metastasized. Opposition research, twisted and misquoted words... it's starting to look CREEPy in the Obama campaign (joke for you old-timers and Watergate aficionados).
And now this? Obama's campaign is attacking labor unions, teachers and EMILY'S LIST. They back the "wrong candidate" and are working to help get their chosen Democrat elected, and he goes on the attack with a backhanded slur against the core of the Democratic Party.
What is wrong with Obama? There's a serious disconnect between his view of the party and our longstanding "big tent" approach to a coalition.
Both Hillary & Edwards have managed to attract the support of labor unions representing millions of working Americans. When you add up the number of endorsements Hillary's gotten over the last year, those unions represent some six million workers. That's saying something regarding her record and her plans to further the cause of American workers.
I am AFSCME. We are the face and heart of the Democratic Party. During the Florida recount, AFSCME was a major supporter- and a major component- of the demonstrators. Here's what we look like:
But now, in the sour grapes that comes from being rejected by the major unions, Obama is saying that those unions are the bad guys - that they represent everything that's wrong with our country.
Of course, I'm sure he wasn't saying all this when he was courting their endorsement over the last 8 months or so. But Obama's known for changing his mind, it seems.
Mark Halprin posted the following memo from the Obama camp earlier today - take a look:
"Right now groups supporting Hillary Clinton and John Edwards are flooding Iowa and the other early states with millions of dollars in paid ads, phone calls, and mailings. Some of it is negative and even deceptive, and a lot of it is paid for by huge, unregulated contributions from special interests. Taking on these groups isn't just a matter of setting the record straight about me or my positions. It's about proving that a new kind of campaign - funded by ordinary people who want something better for all of us - can defeat the same tired, old political textbook that so many Americans just don't trust anymore."
...and Halperin includes the following data...
So who is Obama talking about? Here is the most up-to-date independent expenditure information in Iowa.
Working for Working Americans/Carpenter s: $516,216.51
Alliance for a New America (SEIU): $760,801.00
Total: $1,277,017.51
(emphasis mine)
He goes on to beg for donations, calling Emily's List, teachers unions, carpenters, SEIU and AFSCME "Special Interests", like they're something evil and dirty or working to undo what we've accomplished in the area of worker's rights, social justice, and other areas over the years.
Obama wants to be the party's standard-bearer in next year's general election, and he not only failed to garner the support of these stalwart Democratic allies, but he's attacking them in an effort to generate campaign contributions.
This, on top of Obama's attacks on and distortions regarding Paul Krugman's opinion of the healthcare reform plans out there, makes me begin to wonder how closely aligned Obama really is with the Democratic Party and progressive values. It's one thing to try to win a primary, but it shouldn't be at the cost of abandoning what the Democratic Party stands for.
I am AFSCME. I am not a "special interest". I stand with the party. Where does Obama stand?
The Associated Press is reporting that Hillary Clinton won the endorsement of the New Hampshire Chapter of the NEA.
Both Senator Clinton and Senator Edwards actively sought the endorsement of the 16,000 member strong union.
Senator Clinton spoke to the government relations committee of the group in March giving a policy speech to the group's conference in March. In it, she criticized the Bush administration for outsourcing teaching to private tutoring companies, arguing that many firms have close ties to Republicans. She was warmly received at the time.
I. Energy: Global Warming Presidential Forum w/VIDEO of Forum
II. Labor and Trade: Edwards Walks the WGA Picket Line
III. Election News: Iowa & New Hampshire
Recently,on October 14th, I had the opportunity to meet and interview John Edwards and get to see him speak to a small audience in North Carolina. Some of the notable points of the evening were the following.
First, the Lieberman Kyl bill had just been voted on by the Senate, and Edwards was already going on the offensive on Clinton's vote in support of that bill.
At that point, there had been no threats or sanctions by Bush or Cheney, yet Edwards was already ahead of the curve on the danger of supporting this bill. Now Iowa voters are catching on, and are even booing Clinton at Iowa rallies for this vote.
(The discussion developing on this deal is worth a read, no matter what your views on Edwards. - promoted by Mike Caulfield)
K Street and Corporate lobbyists are turning up the heat on Congressional leaders to pass the Peru Free Trade Agreement, yet another trade policy that benefits only the bottom line of big corporations, at the expense of American workers.
Some Corporate Republicans and Corporate Democrats are sucumbing to the pressure of supporting the Peru Free Trade Agreement before the ink is even dry on the checks.
At the end of a long and winding road through the state the Edwards family wrapped up their bus tour with a Town Hall event on the banks of the river at lovely Prescott Park in downtown Portsmouth, NH which was well attended by more than a thousand people.
Edwards takes questions at every event and this half of the vlog (vee-vlog) contains the full Q and A for the event; there were some amazing moments that night, but none more than when Nebraska showed up to thank Mrs. Edwards and took the opportunity to tell Edwards:
I just want you to do something about health care and fix it, please, without compromising health care because that's why I'm alive today.
If you'd like to see the full remarks, check out part one of this vlog, he gave some great remarks too so those clips might be worth a viewing.
Last Sunday evening at the end of a long, hot, winding road through the state the Edwards family wrapped up their bus tour of NH. They were greeted by well over a thousand people at a Town Hall event on the banks of the river at lovely Prescott Park in downtown Portsmouth NH.
His remarks were sharp, clear and passionately delivered to an enthusiastic crowd.
He threw down the gauntlet on universal health care in the field and challenged the entire Democratic party on financing campaigns through lobbyist money. He presented the voters in attendance not only with his vision for change in this country, but he gave us a very clear picture of the kind of America that he wants us to create together. The grassroots are not only central to the campaign in this vision, but they need to be central going forward from January 20, 2009.
According to a recent study by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, New England has the highest increase in income disparity in the nation. In the last decade, household average real income declined for the lowest income families. ?Income disparity increased in New England more than in any region in the nation.? Meanwhile, mid-range incomes grew less than national counterparts. In short, working families are struggling to keep up while the rich are getting richer.
So, the PR attack on unions for being Anti-American and against freedom is surprising and disingenuous. In a state where working families are quickly becoming working poor, the people opposing this bill should know that unions created the middle class in this country. (In all likelihood they do know this fact, but their greed prevents them from giving proper credit when it is due).
Sixty million of America?s workers say they would form a union tomorrow if given the chance. After all, a union card is the single best ticket to the middle class in this nation. Workers with a union earn 30 percent more than those who don?t, and are much more likely to have employer-provided health care and retirement benefits.
The share of private-sector workers who have unions has fallen to an historic low. The decline in the percentage of people in unions corresponds directly to the erosion of the value of work. Young working people can expect to make less today than their parents did at the same age. High-school educated workers aged 25-29 just entering the labor force in 2000 earned about $5,000 less real income that year than similarly aged and educated workers in 1970 and face slower earnings growth than their predecessors.
Similarly, it was around the 1970s that the steady erosion of legal protection for workers who want to form unions really escalated. Combine a weakened law with intimidating and illegal tactics and the pattern becomes clear. A recent review of 113 cases, which the corporate-backed HR Policy Association claims involved fraud or coercion in the signing of union authorization forms, found that there were actually only 42 cases since the Act?s inception in 1935 in which there was such coercion or fraud. That?s less than one case per year. Compare that to the 31,358 cases in 2005 (one year alone) in which employers had to pay back pay to workers in connection with cases involving illegal firings or other discrimination against workers for exercising their federally protected labor law rights. That?s a ratio of over 30,000 to 1.
Simply put: Workers don?t form unions because in reality they are not allowed to. The law is helpless to intervene.
The Employee Free Choice Act, a bill currently being debated in the Senate, would enact new penalties when employers roll rough shod over workers? rights. It puts teeth back into labor law by providing real penalties for illegal acts by employers. It also gives workers the choice of how they will vote for their union -through a majority sign up process or through a National Labor Relations Board-sponsored election. Today, it?s the employer, not the worker, who gets to make that choice.
Working people want unions. Our communities ? and our country -need them. We need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to restore workers? freedom to form unions to bargain for a better life. The 2006 elections showed how fed up working families were with the anti-worker, anti-middle class, pro-big business, pro-big oil agenda of the last six years. Working families expect their representatives to listen to what we need. The Employee Free Choice Act will help turn the tide for working families. Senators Sununu and Gregg should show their support for it instead of siding with their political donors.
This much is certain, both union and non-union workers have come to the realization that the best path for regaining a place in the American dream and to breathe new life into the once vibrant middle-class is through the voting booth. The next elections will be very interesting, indeed.
What is left of the hungry dog working middle-class is reason enough for Sununu to give a serious try at breaking away from the tight lease and choking collar the fat cats have around his neck.
Presidential Candidate Congressman Dennis Kucinich returns to New Hampshire May 19th to address the Stop the Sale Rally organized by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 2320, and the Communication Workers of America, Local 1400. If the sale of Verizon landlines to Fairpoint Communications of North Carolina goes through, there is the risk of loss of three thousand union jobs, lower quality of communication services, a worsening of the digital divide, and less competition among providers which could effect rates paid by consumers. Union members from throughout New England and state and local AFL-CIO's will be supporting the rally scheduled for 10:30 in Prescott Park in Portsmouth. Kucinich, a union member himself, has a 100% AFL-CIO ranking. He has been an outspoken critic of the consolidation of money upward through recent tax changes, and the CAFTA and WTO agreements, which as President he would cancel. Later the same day Kucinich will be in Portland, Maine. He will speak at a campaign rally at 4:30 at the Woodford Club, 179 Woodford Street (207-772-4893) and will be the keynote speaker at the Maine People's Alliance Rising Tide Dinner at 8PM (207-797-0967). Kucinich has been creating a buzz through his recent introduction of House Resolution 333 containing articles of Impeachment against Vice President Cheney. The bill has already picked up two co-sponsors in the Democratic controlled House, and caught the attention of progressive voters across the country. For more information on the Kucinich campaign visit www.kucinich.us or email frisella@worldpath.net. For more information on the rally visit www.ibew2320.org, e-mail ibew2320oconnor@verizon.net, or call Dave at 603-669-8657.
Tonight's features are:
At the end of a long and winding road through the state the Edwards family wrapped up their bus tour with a Town Hall event on the banks of the river at lovely Prescott Park in downtown Portsmouth, NH which was well attended by more than a thousand people.
Last Sunday evening at the end of a long, hot, winding road through the state the Edwards family wrapped up their bus tour of NH. They were greeted by well over a thousand people at a Town Hall event on the banks of the river at lovely Prescott Park in downtown Portsmouth NH.
