Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) who this week launched a television ad slamming working families as “outside interests” is continuing her descent into “yet another hypocritical, flip-flopping D.C., politician,” says Arkansas AFL-CIO President Alan Hughes.

Lincoln in recent months has piled up a Senate record opposing working families–including voting to send jobs overseas via bad trade deals, reversing her initial support for the Employee Free Choice Act and opposing health care reform legislation with a public health insurance option. Arkansas unions now have endorsed Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D.) in the upcoming U.S. Senate primary. Says Hughes:

Lincoln has ignored the interests of working people in Arkansas too many times. It’s easy for her to try to paint opponents as outsiders, but working-class voters in Arkansas can see as well as anybody that she has turned her back on us.

Although she’s attacking working families and their unions today, Lincoln sang quite a different tune in 2004 when she was grateful for the backing of the Arkansas AFL-CIO, along with more than $260,000 in working families’ PAC donations. Said Lincoln at the time:

I’m honored to receive the endorsement today from the Arkansas AFL-CIO for my work in the Senate to improve the lives of Arkansas working families.

Her strong support for Wal-Mart, headquartered in Fayetteville, and her silence about the company’s virulent anti-unionism and labor law violations, has earned her the nickname “the senator from Wal-Mart.”

Lincoln was also just one of two Democrats who voted to block President Obama’s nomination of respected attorney Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. Says Hughes:

Only someone who has become a career politician in Washington, D.C., could spend 10 years asking for our support, take hundreds of thousands of dollars from blue-collar workers, then turn around and attack us as outsiders because we wouldn’t help her this time around. Those are not the values people in Arkansas believe in.

The Senate today passed a jobs bill that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka calls “good start” in helping the nation’s workers climb out of the 11-million-deep jobs hole dug by the Wall Street greed that propelled the economy’s nosedive.

But he says the bill–which is on its way to the White House for President Obama’s signature–must be the first step of a broad and intensive effort to rebuild the economy.

Much more needs to be done. We need to restore the jobs that were lost to the financial debacle, and Wall Street should pay to create them. We must invest in rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and in the green jobs of the future. We have to maintain funding for vital services by state and local governments and prevent destructive cuts in education, police and fire protection and more.

We must take the additional steps needed to extend unemployment insurance and health care lifelines to the unemployed. We must increase funding for neglected communities to match people who want to work with jobs that need to be done. And we should move right now to use leftover TARP money to get credit flowing to Main Street.

The $17.6 billion bill includes a one-year extension of the federal highway program, an extension of the Build America Bonds program that helps states finance certain infrastructure projects and tax incentives for employers to hire workers.

The Senate first passed the legislation in February, but minor changes by the House forced a second vote on the legislation.

Other pending jobs legislation includes a December-passed House bill that is a more extensive jobs bill with an emphasis on jobs-creating infrastructure projects. The next step for the bill is uncertain–Senate leaders have promised to move further jobs-related legislation, but no time table has been set.  Also this month, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) introduced the Local Jobs for America Act which would create or save up to 1 million public- and private-sector jobs. Jobs saved would include those such as firefighters, police and teachers and others whose jobs are in jeopardy because of local government budget cuts.

      

JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was found guilty yesterday of conspiracy to wreck the economy, destroy jobs and the immoral use of taxpayer bank bailout money for millions in Wall Street bonuses.

The courtroom was on a Madison Wis., street in front a JP Morgan Chase bank branch and the jury included dozens of union and community activists. The street theater was part of the AFL-CIO union movement’s two weeks of action across the country to Make Wall Street pay to create jobs and fix they economy they ravaged.

Jim Cavanaugh, president of the South Central Federation of Labor which organized the curbside drama says:

We bailed out Wall Street now its time for Wall Street to bail out Main Street.

More than 200 “Good Jobs Now, Make Wall Street Pay” actions are planned through March 25. The rallies and marches will demand that the Big Six Wall Street banks–Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo–take the following actions:

• Pay their fair share to restore the jobs their actions destroyed.
• Stop their multi-million dollar lobbying blitz to kill financial reform.
• Start lending to communities, small businesses and others starved for credit.

Also yesterday, union members distributed leaflets in front of JP Morgan Chase branch in Baton Rouge, La., and rallied at a Bank of America office in Charleston, S.C. Today union activists in Butte, Mont., will march in the town’s St. Patrick’s Day parade carrying “Make Wall Street Pay” signs and banners. This afternoon, the West Virginia AFL-CIO, along with community allies, staged a rally in front a Wells Fargo/Wachovia Bank in Charleston.

Find out about events in your area here. If you take part in an event, be sure to send us your photo or video here.

You also can tell Wall Street executives to pony up and create good jobs by sending a letter urging them to do the right thing. Just click here.

Ross Hyman, a research analyst for the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Research, sends us info on this latest support for the Employee Free Choice Act.

“Wool workers and dyers have the right to say: ‘We will all be partners in any business that comes to the city.’ Bakers have the right to arrange their shifts.”

Quoting the above passage from the Tosefta, a rabbinic text written some 1,800 years ago, the rabbis of the Reconstructionist Rabbinic Association passed a resolution March 16 at their annual convention that reaffirms Judaism’s long tradition of support for workers’ rights, union organizing and collective bargaining. Reconstructionism is a denomination of Judaism and is among many faith groups to formally support the Employee Free Choice Act.

The resolution calls on its member rabbis to support legislation, beginning with the Employee Free Choice Act, which strengthens the freedom of workers to bargain collectively, support workers who are struggling with management for their rights.

The Reconstuctionist rabbis join several other Jewish organizations that recently have passed resolutions or endorsements in support of the Employee Free Choice Act and workers’ rights. These include the Jewish Labor Committee, The Progressive Jewish Alliance, The Jewish Council for Urban Affairs, The Jewish Social Policy Action Network, Jews United for Justice, Rabbis for Workers’ Choice, The Shalom Center, Tikkun/The Network of Spiritual Progressives, and Uri L’Tzedek.

In addition, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism in 2008 set the following as the official halakhic (Jewish law) position of the Conservative movement:

Jewish employers should allow their employees to make their own independent decisions about whether to unionize, and may not interfere in any way with organizing drives by firing or otherwise punishing involved workers, by refusing workers the option for voluntary recognition of their union, or by otherwise threatening workers who wish to unionize.

Rabbis can sign a petition in support of Employee Free Choice and workers rights here.

The text of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association resolution is available at Rabbi Brant Rosen’s blog.

     

The nearly 60,000 rescue and recovery workers and community members whose health is at serious risk from their exposure to the contaminated and toxic rubble at the 2001 Ground Zero World Trade Center attacks are a step closer to receiving long-term medical care.

Yesterday the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health subcommittee approved by an overwhelming and bipartisan 25-8 vote the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (H.R. 847). The bill would establish a medical monitoring and treatment program for the Sept. 11 first responders and the community members at the site of the attacks.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y) one of the bill’s chief sponsors, along with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y), says that while progress has been “painfully slow,”

today we are one important step closer to providing the brave responders and survivors of 9/11’s toxic aftermath the health care and compensation they need and deserve.

The Ground Zero rubble piles were a toxic mix of chemicals, jet fuel, asbestos, lead, glass fragments and other debris. The rescue workers who worked night and day to pull survivors and bodies from the rubble. those who spent months removing the debris as well as community residents, all were exposed and are now suffering the health consequences. Says Maloney:

We have a moral responsibility to care for those who lost their health because of the attacks on America–it’s simply the least this great nation can do.

Denis Hughes, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, praised the committee’s action.

After eight-and-a-half years, our heroes can finally see the light an end of the tunnel. Today we are one step closer to realizing our goal. We will not step until the debt we owe our heroes has been paid back in full.

A vote by the full House will come later this year.

Earlier this week, a proposed settlement was reached for the more than 10,000 lawsuits by the rescue and recovery workers suffering serious illnesses caused by their Ground Zero exposure.

When a worker is killed on the job because of an employer’s serious and willful violation of the nation’s job safety laws, the median penalty the employer faces isn’t time in jail–it’s a mere $3,675.

It’s time to put some real teeth and a bigger enforcement hammer into the Occupational Safety and Health Act, (OSH Act), witnesses told a House hearing today. In prepared testimony, AFL-CIO Safety and Health Director Peg Seminario asked the House Workforce Protections subcommittee

What kind of message does it send to employers, workers and family members, that the death of a worker caused by a serious or even repeated violation of the law warrants only a penalty of a few thousands dollars?  It tells them that there is little value placed on the lives of workers in this country and that there are no serious consequences for violating the law.

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) has sponsored a bill, Protecting America’s Workers Act (H.R. 2067), that would increase OSH Act civil and criminal penalties for the first time since 1990. Says Wollsey:

Congress needs to put teeth into these penalties so that employers are held accountable for their bad behavior and no longer view penalties as a part of the cost of doing business.

Along with increasing the amount of civil penalties, including setting minimum fines, the bill establishes a penalty of up to 10 years in prison for an employer–including top executives–for criminal behavior that results in the death of a worker.

Not only haven’t the penalties that most safety and health experts termed too weak to begin with not been increased in two decades, inflation has eaten 40 percent of their real dollar value. In addition, says Seminario:

The maximum civil penalties [$7,000 for a "serious" violation] provided for under the OSH Act are rarely assessed. Indeed, just the opposite is the case. In FY 2009, the average penalty for a serious violation of the law was $965 for federal OSHA and $781 for the state OSHA plans combined. Again this is the average penalty for violations that pose a substantial probability of death or serious physical harm

Some 5,000 workers a year are killed on the job, 50,000 die from occupational disease each year, and millions of others become seriously ill or injured. Tougher penalties and stronger enforcement will “save lives,” says David Michaels, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.

Jobs cannot be good jobs unless they are safe jobs. Stronger OSHA enforcement will save lives. Because OSHA can visit only a limited number of workplaces each year we need a stronger OSH Act to leverage our resources to encourage compliance by employers.

Click here for complete testimony of all witnesses and a video archive the entire hearing. Visit the committee’s YouTube page for shorter segments.

Bipartisan legislation to address "egregious and ongoing" currency manipulation by China and other nations is a major step in the fight for good jobs and fair trade, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said. The Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2010 was introduced today by Democrat Sens. Charles Schumer (N.Y.) Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) and Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Olympia Snowe (Maine), with 10 other co-sponsors. In a statement, Trumka said: At a time when America's working families need good jobs now, the illegal undervaluation of currency, by China and other governments, has spelled the loss of millions of American manufacturing jobs. The U.S. Treasury Department for years has refused to cite China's government for currency manipulation, which would set off a process by which the administration can impose trade penalties. The legislation would bring the Treasury definitions more in line with International Monetary Fund guidelines, making it easier to determine currency manipulation. The bill also provides meaningful sanctions, including countervailing duties or tariffs, if currency negotiations fail.

     

Congress has the power to put thousands of Americans in some of the hardest-hit industries back to work and help protect the environment at the same time, according to a new report. New vehicle technology and the right policy choices, including incentives for higher fuel efficiency vehicles, could create up to 150,000 jobs for U.S. workers. But it will take strong, visionary action by our elected leaders to ensure those jobs are created here, the report says.

In “Driving Growth: How Clean Cars and Climate Policy Can Create Jobs,” the UAW, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Center for American Progress demonstrate how a new fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles would allow drivers to enhance energy security, reduce carbon emissions and put autoworkers and many others back to work.

The economic and environmental benefits underscore the need for Congress to pass strong clean energy and climate legislation that would promote good-paying domestic jobs and encourage investments in efficient, oil-saving technologies, the report says.

In a recent opinion column in the Detroit News, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said foreign governments are investing heavily in their automotive sectors. For example, Europe and Japan have significant leads in hybrids, diesels, direct diesel injection and turbochargers. It’s time for the U.S. government to aggressively invest in new, advanced technologies, he said.

But along with providing incentives to manufacturers, the government has a responsibility to taxpayers to ensure the products that result from our investments are made in this country.

During a telephone press conference this morning, Gettelfinger said his union’s top priority in any climate change legislation is continued funding of the U.S. Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program (ATVMIP), which helps automakers and other companies develop energy efficient vehicles and parts.

[By continuing the ATVMIP] the federal government can make it much more likely that these jobs will be located in the United States. The ATVMIP is good for the environment and good for American workers.

Building energy efficient vehicles in the United States will have a “ripple effect” throughout the economy, NRDC Executive Director Peter Lehner said during the call. It would drive demand for a variety of manufactured components from engines to control valves, creating jobs in the supply chain as well as on the assembly line and bringing the workers’ communities back to life.

By building cleaner cars, we can tackle some of our most dire problems at the same time. We want to reduce carbon pollution and many unemployed people want to return to work. Building better cars can help with both.

Also on the call, Bracken Hendricks, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said, “We know more fuel-efficient cars will mean more jobs for autoworkers but we don’t know which country will get those jobs.”

Strong federal leadership is required to build a clean energy economy and secure those jobs for American workers.

Read the full report here.

In this cross-post from Border Jumpers, Bernard Pollack, who is taking a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to travel through Africa, and Danielle Nierenberg send us another report from their journey through Zimbabwe.

It’s hard to believe that more than 90 percent of the workforce in Zimbabwe are part of the informal sector. These workers do everything from selling bananas and playing music to selling stone carvings and other crafts. Unfortunately because they are not considered part of the formal economy, they are often the most exploited—or ignored—by the government. As a result, in 2002, they formed the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA), an associate of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), to help gain a voice for their members in government.

These workers, who traditionally competed against each other and with the formal sector—are now coordinated and working together to tackle pressing issues such as social security, disability benefits, improved infrastructure, working conditions and many others.

The Informal Economy is being helped by ZCTU together with their elected leadership to lobby legislators to change the laws so that they become user friendly.

We were given the opportunity to visit two community projects coordinated by the informal workers association with President Beauty Mugijima and program coordinator Elijah Mutemeri.

The first project was a village where they are working with the local community to build a school in an area where hundreds of people were forced to relocate during “Operation Restore Order.” As part of a de-urbanization program under Mugabe, the controversial leader of the country, nearly 2 million workers were forcibly removed from their homes in cities, stripped of their belongings and forced to live in rural areas, without any agriculture skills or training. We met with this community who, despite having very few resources and little volunteer support, are trying to build a school to teach area children. They recently succeeded in getting accredited by the local government and the community is pushing public officials for additional resources to build the school. The visit was especially inspiring because the teachers working there endure long commutes because they believed in helping the community. Many families in the makeshift town are also raising orphans or abandoned children, as well their own.

The second project we visited is an orphanage for children that the union is helping support. As we arrived children were singing, clapping and rushing to offer us hugs and high fives. Most of these hundreds of kids lost their parents to HIV/AIDS, and the orphanage provides them not only with a place to go to learn and go to school, but also gives them a family.

The teachers and caretakers who work there are mostly volunteers and you can see that they share a deep commitment and passion for the future of these kids.

Stay tuned for a small-dollar donation drive to help this orphanage in the coming weeks.

   

Nearly 100 union and community activists rallied outside a JP Morgan Chase bank branch in downtown Seattle yesterday demanding the state legislature make “Big Banks pay their fair share” by closing a $67 million tax loophole for out-of-state banks.

The rally came on the first day of a special legislative session to close a $2.8 billion budget shortfall that threatens cuts in schools, health care, public safety and other vital services. The House revenue package closes the bank loophole, but bank lobbyists are pressuring the state Senate to maintain the giveaway.

Al Link, Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) secretary-treasurer, says the banks fighting to keep the $67 million loophole open are showing the same greed as

the Wall Street banks that turned their backs on us after they took $700 billion of our money in taxpayer bailouts….Now, here in Washington State, these big banks want even more of our money.

The Seattle rally is a part of the AFL-CIO union movement’s two weeks of action across the country that will include rallies and demonstrations at branches of the Big Six Wall Street banks—Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo. The Big Six’s reckless greed played the major role in wrecking the U.S. economy and killing American job. (Find out about events in your area here.)

Workers are telling the banks it’s time to “Make Wall Street pay for creating good jobs” to make up for their reckless greed that has put the nation in an 11 million jobs deficit. Says Link:

Our country is in the midst of a jobs crisis—a crisis created by big Wall Street banks like JP Morgan Chase, and these are the institutions that should pay to create the 11 million jobs America needs to fix their mess….And right here in Washington state, our state lawmakers need to send Wall Street banks a clear message by closing this outdated $67 million tax loophole that Chase and other big out-of-state banks take advantage of.

You also can tell Wall Street executives to pay to create good jobs by sending a letter urging them to do the right thing. Just click here.

Find out about events in your area here. If you take part in an event, be sure to send us your photo or video here.

Jeffrey Vogt, AFL-CIO legislative specialist on the global economy, reports on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement.

Trade representatives of the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam are meeting in Melbourne, Australia, to begin negotiations for a proposed regional trade agreement—the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

The trade union federations in four of the eight countries—the AFL-CIO, Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) of Singapore—issued a joint labor declaration explaining our expectations for the trade talks. The unions said:

[We] are not opposed in principle to trade agreements. As always, however, the agreement will not have our support unless it is well balanced, foments the creation of good jobs, protects the rights and interests of working people, leads to long-term, balanced economic development and promotes a healthy environment.

We urge negotiators to adopt a jobs lens, which asks how decisions at the negotiating table contribute to a coordinated strategy for the promotion of high-quality jobs and sustainable economic development among [Trans-Pacific Partnership] member countries. It is time for a new trade framework that will make a positive difference in the lives of working people. We cannot afford another trade agreement that privileges substantial new opportunities for investors over good jobs for workers. Further, to work well, trade agreements must also be fairly and consistently enforced.

The trade union confederations in Peru and Chile will join the joint labor declaration in advance of the second trade round in June. Chile is now dealing with the aftermath of a massive earthquake that struck shortly before the trade round began. Read the full text of the declaration here.

In announcing the new agreement last December, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk said negotiators hope to agree on a “high-standard, 21st century agreement with a membership and coverage that provides economically significant market access opportunities for America’s workers, farmers, ranchers, service providers and small businesses.” 

The United States already has a trade agreement with four of the other seven Trans-Pacific Partnership countries—Australia, Chile, Singapore and Peru. The new regional agreement could replace those agreements in whole or in large part, creating a new regional set of rules governing commerce among those countries. 

The AFL-CIO also filed detailed comments about the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in January in response to a public request for comments issued by USTR. Read the comments here.

One worker says she lost four jobs during the past seven years. Another saw his unemployment insurance (UI) benefits evaporate due to Sen. Jim Bunning’s (R-Ky.) callous filibuster of an UI extension last month.

Those are just two of the personal stories jobless workers and others have shared at the AFL-CIO’s Good Jobs Now site. Our interactive site is part of the AFL-CIO’s fight for good jobs that today kicked off two weeks of action across the country with rallies and demonstrations at branches of the Big Six Wall Street banks—Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo. (Find out about events in your area here.)

The Big Six’s reckless greed played the major role in wrecking the U.S. economy and killing American jobs.  The workers sharing their stories have seen firsthand the damage left behind.

Mary from Illinois writes that the nation’s jobs crisis has battered her life and ruined her future.

I have suffered through four terminations of various kinds in a seven year timeframe. It is so hard to get a job these days and so easy for employers to let us go. In addition to the obvious destruction of a person’s finances, I have struggled with a lot of anxiety after the last two terminations. My future is ruined as well as the present because I have not been in a pension plan or 401(k) for the last 7 years and have not earned enough to save in my own IRA.

In December, Eddy, an Ohio UAW member, saw his job of 17 years shipped overseas.

There are those at the top making the decisions that know nothing of what it takes to make the product, or the people that make the product. We are just a number, but not the number that they are interested in. Corporate America knows only one number, the number that drives their greed! When corporations know that they can move a company’s operations to a third world country and make more for less, they have dollars signs in there eyes and it does not matter who they go through to get there or what they leave in the wake of their decisions.

Terry in Florida says he and his wife face a grim future after both were laid off from the same firm.

I worked for a large corporation in senior health care. They laid me off a week before Christmas….My wife was laid off by the same company six months before. The company is making more money than they ever have but wants more. I know, I see the financials. What’s up with that? At this rate we will be homeless by summer, no house and no car unless God helps us out. Please pray for us.

Like far too many construction workers, Mike, a member of the Operating Engineers (IUOE) in Ohio, has been forced to depend on unemployment benefits as construction projects have faltered in during the nation’s economic upheaval. But he never thought a Kentucky senator would tell him “Tough sh*t.”

I’m 51 years old and unemployed. I’ve worked 15 weeks in the last two years. They just cut off my unemployment benefits because some high and mighty senator decided he doesn’t like what’s being done with the extension on unemployment benefits to Americas unemployed. HE STILL HAS A JOB, HEALTH CARE AND A PRETTY GOOD RETIREMENT. What about the rest of America? How do we pay our bills? What do we eat? How do we pay for our medications that we need? Guess it’s not his problem, is it?

Click here to read more stories or submit your own.

The UAW today announced it has reached a tentative agreement on the planned closing of Toyota’s New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, Calif. The agreement covers some 4,500 members of UAW Local 2244.

The tentative agreement will be presented to members of the local in the coming days. Details are being withheld pending a ratification vote by the membership. Voting dates have not yet been scheduled. 

Established as a joint venture between General Motors Corp. (GM) and Toyota Motor Corp. 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.

The plant’s closure also would put out of work another 1,500 Teamsters who transport the cars from the NUMMI plant to the dealerships. Additionally, as many as 50,000 workers at hundreds of businesses in California depend on NUMMI to stay afloat, from the suppliers that manufacture car parts to the restaurants where NUMMI workers go for lunch and even the shoe stores where the plant workers buy their specialized work boots.

The momentum is building for the United States to take strong action to counteract manipulation of its currency by China’s government.

More than 130 members of Congress signed on to a letter from Reps. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) delivered today that urges Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to take strong action up to and including countervailing duties (CVD) or tariffs because of currency manipulation.  

Michaud and Ryan’s letter is the latest in growing calls by Congress and by top economists for the United States to act on the manipulation of currency by China’s government. If Geithner does act, the administration could impose remedies, such as tariffs, to create a fairer trade balance with China.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who co-chairs the Fair Currency Coalition, thanked Michaud and Ryan for their letter:

The working families of this country need jobs now. If we want a recovery that will invest in manufacturing, boost exports, balance trade, and create jobs we must stop China and other countries from illegally manipulating their currency. China’s prolonged undervaluation…is an illegal export subsidy. That is why the U.S. government must allow CVD cases to proceed. American workers expect their government to stand up for them. 

The AFL-CIO, U.S. manufacturers and many economic experts maintain that China deliberately undervalues its currency to keep the value artificially low so it can boost exports and discourage imports—running up the U.S. trade deficit and costing U.S. jobs.

An AFL-CIO report shows China’s fixed currency rate artificially lowers the price of its goods by 40 percent, effectively subsidizing China’s exports, putting U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage and creating a record trade deficit.   

Several experts, including Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and United Steelworkers USW President Leo Gerard, on Friday told a forum on “Currency Manipulation: How Should the U.S Respond?” trade remedies are what we need. The forum was co-sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) with the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM).

China’s currency manipulation has cost between 1.5 million and 3 million good American manufacturing jobs. C. Fred Bergsten, director of the conservative Peterson Institute for International Economics, told the forum:

If there is going to be a serious jobs program, the exchange rate of the dollar must be at the center of the debate.    

The Fair Currency Coalition also called this week for Congress and the Obama administration to take a strong stand against currency misalignment because it threatens our national security. The coalition, which includes business and labor groups, said in a statement:

The results of Beijing’s policy…have created a serious and growing threat to national security. The capital and technology transferred to China and the production capacity built and sustained in China by Beijing’s export surplus have been used to expand the size and capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army. Over the past decade, annual military expenditures have risen by more than 400 percent.

To ensure union members are well trained to compete for the new opportunities in solar, wind and other renewable energy projects, the Electrical Workers has woven green training into its apprenticeship program. Last week, the first 14 certified “green technicians” graduated from the Electrical Training Institute electrical apprenticeship program in Indianapolis. The institute is a joint partnership between IBEW Local 481 and the National Electrical Contractors Association of Central Indiana.

 The “green” technicians displayed an array of solar panels and a wind turbine they recently installed at the institute as examples of how they will put their new skills to work in advancing the development of a clean energy economy.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler said:

It’s important that American workers stay at the cutting edge of green technology so they can access the high-quality jobs that are being created in the global clean energy economy. The race is on to build a 21st century clean energy infrastructure and the AFL-CIO continues to push for it to be nurtured here in the U.S. and built by American workers.

Local 481 and the Apollo Alliance co-sponsored the graduation ceremony.

Each graduate of the green technician program will be an industry certified technician, ready to work on anything from windmills to retrofits of existing buildings that need to become more energy efficient, said Jim Patterson, director of the institute.

Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) told the graduates clean energy is the key to renewed prosperity.

The type of training and work being celebrated here today is exactly what we had in mind when we passed clean energy legislation in the House. If the Senate will join that effort, we can put clean energy on the fast track and rebuild America’s middle class on a foundation of new, well-paying green jobs.

The green technician training program is an apprenticeship program that includes classroom instruction and on-the-job training. Apprentices are paid during the course of their training.

To learn more about what unions are doing to prepare for a green future, click here, here, here, here, here and here.

A proposed settlement has been reached of the more than 10,000 lawsuits by the rescue and recovery workers suffering serious illnesses from the toxic mix of chemicals, jet fuel, asbestos and other debris they were exposed to at Ground Zero of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack in 2001.

But congressional and union leaders say much more must be done to provide justice and health care for the nearly 60,000 workers and community members whose health is at risk from their exposure to the contaminated rubble.

Denis Hughes, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, says the proposal, which would establish a compensation fund of up to $657 million, will provide those involved in the lawsuit “some long overdue compensation for their injuries.” But he adds:

There are many more individuals who are sick than those who filed lawsuits….Overall, more than 55,000 responders and 4,500 community members are receiving medical monitoring and/or treatment in this program due to their 9/11 exposures and illnesses….These individuals need ongoing medical care, and those who are sick need to be fairly compensated for their losses.

In an op-ed in the New York Daily News, Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), authors of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (H.R. 847)— which would establish a medical monitoring and treatment program for the Sept. 11 first responders and the community at the site of the attacks—say the  settlement alone will not be enough to fully meet the financial or medical needs of the men and women who rushed into harm’s way on Sept. 11, or were innocent victims of the attacks.

Congress must finally pass our bill…which would provide long-term health care and compensation for all those who are sick because of the terrorist attacks on our city and nation.

The bill has already been approved by one House committee and is expected to be approved tomorrow by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health subcommittee. Says Hughes:

Nearly nine years after the Sept. 11 attacks and the collapse of the World Trade Center, it is time for  Congress to act and pass the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act so the heroes of 9/11 and all of those who have been made sick finally get the medical care and compensation they need.

Alliance for Retired Americans President Barbara Easterling points out here that the Republican appointees to the debt commission have long voting records opposing retirement security.

Current and future retirees, alarmed by the extremist Republican members of Congress named to the newly created bipartisan commission to lower the federal budget deficit, have a name for this group: “Sock Our Seniors Six.”

These lawmakers repeatedly have voted to weaken Social Security and sell off Medicare to the big drug and insurance companies. They reflect the failed ideology that fueled George W. Bush’s and John McCain’s efforts to let Wall Street gamble away privatized Social Security on the roulette wheel of the stock market.  One look at a recent 401(k) statement shows what dangerous folly that would have been.

The new panel members—Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.), Mike Crapo (Idaho) and Judd Gregg (N.H.) and Reps. Dave Camp (Mich.), Jeb Hensarling (Texas) and Paul Ryan (Wis.)—have a combined 6.5 percent average lifetime rating voting record, according to the analyses by the Alliance for Retired Americans. Criteria include key congressional votes on Social Security, Medicare and other issues affecting retirement security.

The recent appointees call into sharp question the objectivity of this panel, particularly when combined with former Sen. Alan Simpson, who recently was named the panel’s co-chairman. Simpson has referred to older Americans as “greedy geezers,” and as a senator, he wanted to lower Social Security benefits by changing the statistical formula used to calculate Cost-of-Living Adjustments.

The commission must examine the full range of tax-and-spend policies that led to these large deficits. Since 1983, American workers have paid enough Social Security payroll taxes to accumulate a $2.5 trillion surplus in the Social Security Trust Fund. We hope the commission will accurately point out the reckless fiscal decisions that got us to this poin, and also reaffirm that Social Security and Medicare are two of our nation’s greatest success stories and have helped generations of seniors stay healthy and out of poverty. 

Last week’s developments are an inauspicious start to this new commission. It is a reminder that Americans need to keep a close eye on this panel and stay educated and active on these important issues.

Some 3,000 United Steelworkers members at Vale Inco vote to stay on the picket line after eight months on strike, 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 1,200 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.

WORK STOPPAGES & LEGAL ACTION
USW, Vale Inco: Striking United Steelworkers (USW) in Canada overwhelmingly rejected an offer from Brazilian mining company Vale Inco on Friday. The 3,000 members of USW Local 6500 have now been on strike eight months and say the contract offer was “insulting.” 

ILWU, Rio Tinto: Some good news for locked-out workers in Boron, Calif., with mining giant Rio Tinto agreeing to withdraw some demands the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) said were illegal. The union, which represents 600 miners who have been locked out since Jan. 31, still has charges pending against Rio Tinto at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), including an allegation that the lockout is illegal. Keep up with developments on the miners’ website.  

UFCW, Shaw’s Supermarkets: Striking grocery workers in Methuen, Mass., set up pickets outside Shaw’s and Star supermarkets last week. The 309 members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 791 have been on strike since March 7.

ILWU, Pacific Beach Hotel: A circuit court judge has ordered a Hawaiian hotel to rehire five workers and resume bargaining, after a three-year-long dispute. ILWU Local 142 filed charges with the NLRB after 30 workers were fired by the Pacific Beach Hotel in 2007, when new management took over.

SETTLEMENTS
CWA, City of Columbus: The Columbus City Council approved a new contract covering more than 1,100 city workers. The members of Columbus Municipal Association of Government Employees (CWA-CMAGE) will receive a 6 percent wage increase over the term but also will see small increases to their pension and health care contributions in order to help the city with its budget shortfall.

USW, United States Enrichment Corporation: Workers at a uranium enrichment plant in Piketon, Ohio, ratified a five-year contract with United States Enrichment Corporation on Wednesday. The contract covers 495 members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 689.

AFSCME, City of Phoenix: Workers for the city of Phoenix on March 6 ratified a two-year agreement. The 2,000 members of AFSCME Local 2384 agreed to a 3.2 percent cut in wages and benefits to get the two-year contract, rather than have to return to the table again next year.

NEGOTIATIONS
TWU, American Airlines: The Transport Workers (TWU) has filed a request with the National Mediation Board (NMB) to release them from mediation with American Airlines. If the release is granted, a 30-day cooling off period follows before the workers can engage in a strike. TWU represents 28,000 workers in 11 bargaining units at American and says after years of negotiations with little progress, it’s time to take the next step.

GMP, Owens Corning: Owens Corning and the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers (GMP) Local 244 agreed to a contract extension to allow a vote this week on a tentative three-year agreement. The 560 members at the Newark, Ohio, plant rejected a previous proposal last week.

Disclaimer: This information is being provided for your information only.  As it is compiled from published news reports, not from individual unions, we cannot vouch for either its completeness or accuracy; readers who desire further information should directly contact the union involved.

Starting today, the union movement and our allies are taking our fight for good jobs now to the biggest Wall Street banks whose reckless greed has gone a long way to wreck the U.S. economy and kill American jobs.

From March 15-26, working people will hold rallies and demonstrations at branches of the Big Six Wall Street banks—Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo—across the country. They will tell the banks: “I Am Not Your ATM” and “Make Wall Street Pay for Creating New Jobs.”

You also can tell Wall Street executives to pay to create good jobs by sending a letter urging them to do the right thing. Just click here.

Find out about events in your area here. If you take part in an event, be sure to send us your photo or video here.

The AFL-CIO Good Jobs Now site has all the tools you’ll need to let Wall Street know we mean business. There’s a Wall Street fact sheet, along with an explanation of our stand on making Wall Street pay to create good jobs, arguments for extending unemployment insurance benefits, creating good, green jobs with benefits and other issues.

The AFL-CIO supports four proposals for banks to pay a fair share to restore the economy: fees on Wall Street banks to pay back the cost of the bank bailout; a special levy on Wall Street bonuses, as proposed in the United Kingdom; a tax on the income of hedge fund and private equity managers, the wealthiest people in the country, at ordinary income rates, by closing the carried interest loophole and a financial speculation.

This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO POV section.

Privacy is dead. Get over it. So says Scott McNealy, former president Sun Microsystems.

He’s right. Workplace privacy is dead and buried. Employers can and do read e-mail, eavesdrop on telephone calls, monitor Internet access, and watch workers with hidden cameras (even in bathrooms and locker rooms). Virtually all of this is legal. Technically, employers aren’t supposed to listen to personal telephone calls, but it happens all the time and you have no way of knowing. Some judges have found bathroom cameras to be an invasion of privacy, but other judges allow it.

As bad as this is, it’s getting worse. Bosses are now spying on workers’ home lives. Millions of workers carry company-issued cell phones. Every one of these phones is equipped with GPS. The technology required to track cell phones is readily available and not very expensive. The cost of tracking an employee 24/7 is only $5 a month. Employers often keep GPS tracking a secret, or tell the workers they can turn off the GPS when they go home and continue to track them. The National Workrights Institute (NWI), has already begun receiving complaints about GPS.

Even more serious are the problems created by company-issued laptops. Employers usually tell workers it’s o.k. to use them for personal purposes as well as business. It’s presented as a perk—now you don’t need to buy your own computer.

What employers don’t tell you is that the company’s computer technicians look at your private documents when the computer comes in for upgrading or repair. Not only are your personal e-mail, photographs, and financial records revealed, but the techs tell your boss about anything they don’t like. If you say something negative about the company, tell risqué jokes, or make controversial comments about politics or religion, it can cost you your job.

If you think your boss wouldn’t fire you for something like this, think again. Heidi Arace was fired by PNC bank for telling an off-color joke by e-mail. Nate Fulmer lost his job because he criticized organized religion on his personal website.

The ultimate nightmare comes from webcams. If your company-issued laptop has a webcam, bosses can turn it on whenever they want. If they do it at night, they’ll probably see the inside of your house, maybe your bedroom. A suburban Philadelphia school district was recently caught turning on the webcams in laptops issued to students. Some were in the student’s bedroom.

Unionized workers have some protection against these abuses. While the law on GPS is still emerging, many labor lawyers believe GPS tracking is a mandatory subject of bargaining. Union members are also protected against arbitrary termination. It would be highly unlikely an arbitrator would uphold the termination of a worker who turned off the GPS when they went off duty. Nor would an arbitrator allow an employer to fire a union worker because they said something on their personal blog the boss didn’t like.

But for the rest of us, these practices are legal. Congress has been asleep at the switch when it comes to protecting privacy for the past 20 years. The last federal privacy law was enacted in 1986 and doesn’t even mention electronic communications other than telephone calls. Since then, advancing technology and employer abuse have eliminated any semblance of privacy at work. It’s time for Congress to wake up and take action before our private lives become an open book to employers as well.

Lewis Maltby is president and founder of the National Workrights Institute (NWI), a human rights organization committed to workplace issues, and author of the new book, Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace.