Subscribe to Dollars & Sense magazine. Recent articles related to the financial crisis. CEO-As-Hero on CBS (Labor Notes)Excellent piece from Labor Notes. The best bit is about how the CEO blathers on this "reality" TV show about his commitment to safety, while in reality at this union-free company, "workers are three times more likely to get killed on the job than firemen, and 60 percent more likely than police officers," and one worker "was cut in half two years ago by a malfunctioning hydraulic arm on a garbage truck." Get out the pitchforks.Reality TV Gives Corporate America a Big Wet Kiss by Mark Brenner | Thu, 02/11/2010 - 4:26pm Want to know what chutzpah means? Look no further than TV's newest reality show, "Undercover Boss." Apparently the titans of industry aren't satisfied that they burned our economy to the ground and got nothing but a slap on the wrist from Washington. They want us to like them, too. "Undercover Boss," which debuted on CBS after Sunday's Superbowl, is a corporate charm offensive. For one week the CEO of a major company goes "undercover," performing a variety of jobs at the bottom of the corporate ladder. CEO-AS-HERO Over the course of an hour we discover that the CEO is really a nice guy. We see just how ready top brass is to reward hard-working employees and to clean up problems on the front lines. It's a blast from the Reagan-era past: CEO-as-hero. The first episode features Larry O'Donnell, president of Waste Management, the nation's largest trash and recycling company. In fine superhero tradition, O'Donnell adopts an alter ego (that sounds strangely like a porn star)—Randy Lawrence—and spends a day each doing various jobs at Waste Management: sorting recycling; picking up trash at a landfill; cleaning port-a-potties in an amusement park; shadowing the manager of a landfill; and riding shotgun on a residential garbage truck route. Read the rest of the article. Labels: Labor Notes, Larry O'Donnell, Mark Brenner, Undercover Boss, unions, Waste Management Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Steelworkers Form Collaboration with MondragonA very interesting collaboration--hat-tip to Mary Hoyer.Steelworkers Form Collaboration with MONDRAGON, the World's Largest Worker-Owned Cooperative Pittsburgh (Oct. 27, 2009)—The United Steelworkers (USW) and MONDRAGON Internacional, S.A. today announced a framework agreement for collaboration in establishing MONDRAGON cooperatives in the manufacturing sector within the United States and Canada. The USW and MONDRAGON will work to establish manufacturing cooperatives that adapt collective bargaining principles to the MONDRAGON worker ownership model of "one worker, one vote." "We see today's agreement as a historic first step towards making union co-ops a viable business model that can create good jobs, empower workers, and support communities in the United States and Canada," said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. "Too often we have seen Wall Street hollow out companies by draining their cash and assets and hollowing out communities by shedding jobs and shuttering plants. We need a new business model that invests in workers and invests in communities." Josu Ugarte, President of MONDGRAGON Internacional added: "What we are announcing today represents a historic first—combining the world's largest industrial worker cooperative with one of the world's most progressive and forward-thinking manufacturing unions to work together so that our combined know-how and complimentary visions can transform manufacturing practices in North America." Highlighting the differences between Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and union co-ops, Gerard said, "We have lots of experience with ESOPs, but have found that it doesn't take long for the Wall Street types to push workers aside and take back control. We see Mondragon's cooperative model with ‘one worker, one vote' ownership as a means to re-empower workers and make business accountable to Main Street instead of Wall Street." Both the USW and MONDRAGON emphasized the shared values that will drive this collaboration. Mr. Ugarte commented, "We feel inspired to take this step based on our common set of values with the Steelworkers who have proved time and again that the future belongs to those who connect vision and values to people and put all three first. We are excited about working with Mondragon because of our shared values, that work should empower workers and sustain families and communities," Gerard added. In the coming months, the USW and MONDRAGON will seek opportunities to implement this union co-op hybrid approach by sharing the common values put forward by the USW and MONDGRAGON and by operating in similar manufacturing segments in which both the USW and MONDRAGON already participate. The full text of the Agreement is available here. About MONDRAGON: The MONDRAGON Corporation mission is to produce and sell goods and provide services and distribution using democratic methods in its organizational structure and distributing the assets generated for the benefit of its members and the community, as a measure of solidarity. MONDRAGON began its activities in 1956 in the Basque town of Mondragon by a rural village priest with a transformative vision who believed in the values of worker collaboration and working hard to reach for and realize the common good. Today, with approximately 100,000 cooperative members in over 260 cooperative enterprises present in more than forty countries; MONDRAGON Corporation is committed to the creation of greater social wealth through customer satisfaction, job creation, technological and business development, continuous improvement, the promotion of education, and respect for the environment. In 2008, MONDRAGON Corporation reached annual sales of more than sixteen billion euros with its own cooperative university, cooperative bank, and cooperative social security mutual and is ranked as the top Basque business group, the seventh largest in Spain, and the world's largest industrial workers cooperative. About the USW: The USW is North America's largest industrial union representing 1.2 million active and retired members in a diverse range of industries. WEBSITES: www.usw.org; www.mondragon-corporation.com. Labels: cooperatives, Mondragon Cooperative, unions, United Steel Workers Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Calderon Busts Mexican Electrical Workers UnionFrom Laura Carlsen on the Americas Program blog:Calderon Government Sends in Police to Take Over Electrical Company and Bust UnionRead Carlsen’s full post here. And check out Reuters’ very objective take on the same situation, headlined “Mexico takes aim at capital’s bloated power company” here. Labels: Americas Program, Calderon, Laura Carlsen, Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME), Mexico, Reuters, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Anti-Union Campaigns from the RightWe received this from former D&S editor Abby Scher. Abby is currently editor of The Public Eye, a publication of Political Research Associates. Scroll down for the press release about the Making Contact program Abby produced on right-wing anit-union campaigns.I've been tracking anti-union campaigns from the Right and did a short radio documentary for Making Contact being broadcast this week about the Right's misinformation campaign to stop labor law reform this year They are going all out. Unions are a potent reality check. People in unions don't tend to fall for a lot of the free market mythology about how the world works. And of course, the GOP hates unions because white men in unions voted for Obama by 18 points—while those outside of unions voted for McCain by 16 points (which I wrote about in the summer Public Eye, the quarterly I edit for Political Research Associates). My economists friends will be happy to hear I interviewed Rick Wolff. My historian/sociologist friends will be happy I included Kim Phillips-Fein. And my labor friends will be thrilled to hear Angel Warner of the Rite Aid campaign. Here is the press release with links to the radio show. I hope it is useful. Berlet and Scher Track Anti-Union Organizing on the Right Antilabor campaigns by corporate interests are nothing new, and are frequently masked by rhetoric about freedom of choice for employees and union leaders as thugs eager to take away your rights. Like most Big Lie campaigns, the truth emerges when we shine the light of history and research on the issue. We are hearing these Big Lies in the first major battle to reform labor law since the 1970s. Then the reform failed by one vote. Now the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Right to Work Committee and patriotic sounding front groups like the Alliance to Save Main Street Jobs are working to ensure that the Employee Free Choice Act suffers the same fate. In a special Labor Day collaboration with syndicated radio program Making Contact, PRA Editorial Director Abby Scher uncovers the truth behind the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s multimillion dollar misinformation campaign to defeat the bill in the name of saving small businesses. Listen to her documentary, Still Looking for the Union Label, here. Or listen on Monday to Heidi Boghosian’s Labor Day interview with Abby on the show Law and Disorder at 10am on WBAI. Click here. In a series of articles, PRA Senior Analyst Chip Berlet outlines the history of anti-union campaigns dating back to the 1930s, showing how the National Right to Work Committee and U.S. Chamber of Commerce have tried to “flip the script” so it appears that corporate repression of workers aren’t the problem, unions are! Visit our new page on anti-labor activities on the Right here. With union membership dipping to dangerous lows, and 40 percent of union organizing drives stopped by corporate intimidation even before workers have a chance to vote, labor law is in dire need of reform. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the nation’s biggest lobby, spending an average of $400,000 a day in a single legislative session (according to the Center for Responsive Politics). It is spending tens of millions more spreading its anti-union message on the airwaves to shape the fall battle. Can the light of truth and the heat of organizing stop them this time? Labels: anti-union campaigns, Making Contact, Political Research Associates, Public Eye, the Right, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Unions Receive Healthcare Forum ThreatsThe wacky sideshow surrounding the health care reform debate certainly upstaged the main event this weekend, with Sarah Palin and Newt Gingritch, among others, issuing silly tirades, but this Huffington Post dispatch documents a more sinister turn that's been taken:Sam Stein stein@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting Unions Receive Increasingly Scary Threats Of Violence For Town Hall Participation First Posted: 08- 8-09 04:32 PM | Updated: 08- 8-09 11:22 PM Union officials continued to receive a barrage of threats on Friday evening and into Saturday punctuated by warnings that if organizers were sent to counter-demonstrate at health care town halls they would be met with violence. An official with the AFL-CIO, a federation of labor organizations, passed on what he described as a "pretty direct threat" to those union hands who were showing up to balance out anti-Obama demonstrations being waged at local Democratic forums. "I will be going to a local town hall this weekend, all you union members BEWARE!" an emailer wrote at 9:40 Saturday morning. "We will be waiting for you. better make sure you have arrangements with your local ER. today is the day when the goon meets the gun. see you there." The email was first sent to the media-watching organization Newshounds before being passed to Eddie Vale, a spokesman for the AFL-CIO. The IP address used to post the email was traced back to Georgia. The AFL-CIO isn't the only labor organization to be on the receiving end of threats of violence. During a day in which a woman called up its national office threatening to use her Second Amendment rights should her First Amendment rights be repressed, officials at the Service Employees International Union continued to be deluged with emails and phone calls with ominous undertones. Read the rest of the article Labels: AFL-CIO, health care reform, labor, public option, SEIU, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Another chance to see Steve EarlyIf you can't make it to Cambridge tonight to see Steve Early talk about his new book, Embedded with Organized Labor: Journalistic Reflections on the Class War at Home (see earlier blog posting), he'll be speaking next week in Boston, with Elaine Bernard & Rand Wilson.Steve will address his critique of organized labor, and his vision of how American workers can get out from under the terrible economic and political constraints they endure. Rand Wilson and Elaine Bernard will draw on Steve's analysis to provide their own reflections. More information here. The event will take place on Tuesday, July 7, at 7:00 p.m. at Encuentro 5, a space for progressive movement building, located in Chinatown. Labels: Elaine Bernard, Embedded with Organized Labor, Encuentro 5, labor, labor organizing, Rand Wilson, Steve Early, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). TONIGHT: Steve Early on unions --- Boston-area eventMeet the author ofEmbedded with Organized Labor: Journalistic Reflections on the Class War at Home A new book by Steve Early, former CWA organizer, labor journalist, lawyer and frequent contributor to The Boston Globe Speaking at: Porter Square Books (at Porter Sq. Shopping Center across from Red Line T-stop) 25 White St., Cambridge, Mass. (617-491-2220) Monday, June 29 7:00 to 8:30 P.M. With after-party at Christopher’s Restaurant across the street... Find Out More About: —Workers and the economic crisis —The fight for health care reform —The fate of “Employee Free Choice” —Current struggles for union democracy and rank-and-file control —The future of national labor federations like Change to Win and AFL-CIO Sponsored by: Monthly Review Press, Labor Notes, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, CWA Locals 1400 and 1298, IBEW Locals 2222 and 2321, Boston Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA, IUE-CWA Local 201, Boston DSA, Boston Radical Education Project, Solidarity, Socialist Alternative, and Dollars & Sense Magazine Refreshments will be served. For more information, call: 617-930-7327 To order the book online, visit: www.monthlyreview.org Labels: labor, labor organizing, Steve Early, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Wells Fargo's Counter-Stimulus StrategyRoger Bybee's feature in our current issue shows how big corporations are taking the financial crisis and recession/depression as an opportunity to eliminate jobs in the United States. ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company, is trying to shut down two steel mills, one in Hennepin, Ill., and one in Lackawanna, N.Y., despite the fact that the mills are profitable and have willing buyers.Today's New York Times includes an article indicating that at least one corporation—Wells Fargo—is willing to follow this sort of strategy, even though it was the recipient of tens of billions of dollars of government bailout money. Wells Fargo, the main creditor for the clothing manufacturing company Hartmarx, which is in bankruptcy, is trying to prevent the company's board from selling the company to Emerisque, a London-based private investment firm specializing in "reviving heritage brands," according to its website. According to the Times article (see part of it below), Unite Here ("the union that represented Hartmarx's workers"—do the not represent them anymore, now that the company is in bankruptcy?—the article doesn't tell us) is threatening to kick up a fuss if Wells Fargo succeeds in blocking the sale. The article quotes Unite Here president Bruce Raynor as saying: "The surest route for the bank to recover its money is to make a deal with a well-respected private equity firm that owns and runs several successful brands," Mr. Raynor said. "Emerisque is not only offering substantial recovery for the bank, but to protect the jobs of workers." It seems a little odd for the union to be finding common cause with private equity, given the track-record of private equity firms of stripping companies of assets and downsizing workforces, as we reported in a feature article in our July/August 2008 issue. Should the Hartmarx workers trust Emerisque's promises? Pres. Obama's statements in support of the Republic Windows and Doors workers' sit-in in December was encouraging, if only because it indicated a strategy that workers can take in confronting banks and companies that are trying to screw them, and can bring public opinion to bear on the occasional politician. Given that workers at the Hart Schaffner Marx plant (owned by Hartmarx) outside of Chicago made the tuxedo that Obama wore on his inauguration day, can those workers count on him to stand by them, too? —cs Wells Fargo Said to Be Squeezing Clothier Hartmarx, Raising Liquidation Fears Read the rest of the article. Labels: Barack Obama, counterstimulus, Hartmarx, labor, Roger Bybee, unions, Unite Here, Wells Fargo Chris Sturr Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Card-Check Is Dead (Liza Featherstone)From Slate's The Big Money blog:Card-Check Is Dead Unions are surprisingly bad at politics. By Liza Featherstone | Posted Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 11:18am Last Thursday, President Obama pronounced "card check" dead, saying that the current Employee Free Choice Act didn't have the votes to pass but that a "compromise" could work. By compromise, the president meant a version of the bill without card check, the provision obliging employers to recognize unions after a majority of workers have signed cards, rather than after an election. On the same day, Sen. Arlen Specter, newly "D"-Pa., a key swing vote, said that he, too, would support a "compromise" on EFCA: card-check-free, of course. These twin announcements sealed what most observers had understood for a while: Card check isn't happening. The provision has always been imperfect, but its death is a sure sign that the labor movement needs a more effective approach to politics. Card check was devised as a solution to a simple yet intractable problem: Workers who want to join unions do not get a fair shake. Elections take too long, giving employers plenty of time to hire high-priced union-busting law firms, fire union sympathizers, intimidate and spy upon workers, and do whatever they can do, legally or illegally, to keep the union out. Many people now work for companies like Home Depot (HD), Rite Aid (RAD), or Wal-Mart (WMT) that have plenty of resources to wear unions down and every incentive to do so since their business models depend on underpaid, short-term labor. Specter opposes card check but does support speeding up elections, allowing workers to campaign at their work sites without retaliation, and imposing stiffer penalties for violations of organizing rights. Click Here! Not everyone committed to labor-law reform is mourning card check. Columbia economist Jagdish Bhagwati, one of EFCA's most prominent sympathizers, told TBM earlier this spring that he regretted the card-check provision of the bill: "I think that it was a mistake for us who are supporters of unions and unionization to go for card check. I agree that some employers intimidate workers who wish to unionize, but those who do not wish to unionize can also be intimidated by union organizers." Bhagwati strongly supports secret ballots and thinks it would have been better to try to reform enforcement mechanisms to ensure that illegal intimidation by employers would be punished. Bhagwati also points out that U.S. labor law makes it cripplingly difficult for unions to strike: "If unions cannot strike effectively they become paper tigers, more or less. I would have concentrated on this rather than get diverted into the card-check provision." He adds, "The card-check provision has unnecessarily cost us some credibility and also some votes, I fear." Sandy Pope, president of Teamsters Local 805, which is headquartered in Long Island City, Queens, thinks labor law reform is needed but says she's "not sad about card check going away." Pope explains: "I would prefer an expedited election to card check. It's important for workers to do something as a group. In order to go into bargaining in the strongest possible way, you have to campaign. You have to really want" the union. Pope argues that if unions "treat people like babies" by bypassing the election process, workers won't build effective organizations that can stand up to the employers' aggressive behavior at the bargaining table. A shorter election would bypass much of the employers' current strategy of intimidation and firings, Pope thinks, while preserving the possibility of debate in the workplace and allowing employees to organize, if they choose to do so, rather than passively assent to a visiting bureaucrat. Read the rest of the article. Labels: card check, Employee Free Choice Act, Liza Featherstone, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Don't Believe the Hype About Union IntimidationVia Politicalaffairs.net:In the battle over the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, right-wing opposition to the bill has centered on the claim that if a majority sign-up (sometimes referred to as "card check") process of certifying the union is used, union organizers will pressure and intimidate workers into joining the union. This claim is unfounded, a new study by the University of Illinois released earlier this month revealed. The study examined a six year period in the state of Illinois where more than 21,000 public workers joined unions through majority sign-up. Currently, federal law provides two methods of certifying a new union in a workplace: majority sign-up and a voting process (sometimes referred to as a secret ballot). As it is currently written, the law gives the employer the power to decide how workers will certify their own organization. If the employer is magnanimous enough to allow workers to use the majority sign-up methods, the process is simpler and requires fewer taxpayer resources to complete. All the workers have to do is sign a union membership card, which are then verified by the National Labor Relations Board and negotiations for a first contract begin. According to the University of Illinois study of this process in that state between 2003 and 2009, not s single proven case of union intimidation of an employee could be documented. The report proves that workers not only want to voluntarily join unions but that right-wing opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, which would give workers the right to decide how to certify their union (rather than the employer), based on claims of union intimidation is false, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a press statement this week. "Workers form unions to bargain for a better life, not because of outside intimidation. Workers need the majority sign up provision because it gives workers the choice of how to form a union, not corporations," Sweeney stated. Further, the report indicates that when employers are not hostile towards workers who favor a union in their workplace and the right to join a union is is left undisturbed, the process of certification of a union is less rancorous and less costly to taxpayers. The truth is that employer intimidation of workers who want a union is the reality, not union intimidation. Other surveys have revealed that when employers fight workers on the issue, employer harassment and intimidation of workers is rampant. According to various studies and surveys, as many as 30 percent of companies will fire pro-union employees. More than 90 percent of employers will use some kind of tactics to intimidate employees when a union organizing drive is discovered. Labels: Employee Free Choice Act, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). The G20 Summit and UnionsFrom a blog I think I hadn't seen before (hat-tip to LF), Labor Is Not a Commodity. I will add it to our blogroll.The G20 Summit and Unions Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum Next week, representatives of G-20 governments will be meeting in London to discuss strategies for addressing the global economic crisis. As working people around the world are facing the LondonSummit-resized consequences of this crisis, unions are responding with their own proposals for the G-20. This Monday, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) released a "London Declaration" that focuses on five key policy recommendations for the G-20:
You can read the full document online here. The introduction to the declaration states, Workers around the world, who are losing their jobs and their homes, are the innocent victims of this crisis: a crisis precipitated by greed and incompetence in the financial sector, but which is underpinned by the policies of privatisation, liberalisation and labour market deregulation of recent decades. The effects of these policies—stagnating wages, cuts in social protection, erosion of workers' rights, increased precarious work, and financialisation—have combined to increase inequality and vulnerability... While all of ITUC's policy recommendations are very important, the third recommendation definitely requires attention. As the full declaration explains, wage deflation and increasing inequality can be reversed in part "by extending the coverage of collective bargaining and strengthening wage setting institutions so as to establish a decent floor in labour markets." Here in the US, a report released this week by Government Accountability Office [we blogged on this NYT article here; it's the article that quotes Kim Bobo. —D&S] showed that the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division is failing in its role of protecting workers from wage theft, child labor and other abuses. With a new Secretary of Labor, it is vital that the government strictly enforce the labor laws we already have on the books. We also need to take additional steps to ensure that workers can use collective bargaining agreements to improve wages and working conditions. That means passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) as a first step. EFCA is an important part of ensuring that US workers are able to exercise the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. At the G20 summit in London, it is also essential that world leaders support alternative systems and Egg_a_Politician policies that can improve the lives of the workers facing poverty. Divine Chocolate, a pioneering Fair Trade chocolate company co-owned by cocoa farmers in Ghana, has shown that paying a fair price to farmers does more than create a sustainable future for a few farmers -- it is a model that can be replicated on a mass scale. Divine set up a new website where you can "Egg a Politician" -- meaning that you can toss a chocolate egg at one of the G20 leaders and then send them a message telling them to keep fair trade on the agenda. Unfortunately, I fear that the representatives at the G-20 will not be promoting policies focused on reducing inequality, protecting workers' rights and promoting fair trade. Labor rights advocates globally will have to keep the pressure on governments to support better policies and work together to raise standards for workers everywhere. As one example, workers all across the Americas are participating in an upcoming Continental Day of Action against the Crisis. How do you think unions and worker organizations around the world can work together to address the impact of the global economic crisis on workers? [This is the full post, though I didn't reproduce all the hyperlinks; to see them click here.] Labels: financial crisis, G20, labor, labor organizing, recession, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). AIG, Labor, and the Sanctity of ContractsToday's main columnist in the New York Times business section, Andrew Ross Sorkin, echoes the comments Larry Summers made on TV this weekend with regard to the AIG bonuses and the sanctity of contracts. Sorkin quotes Obama: "[The issue of AIG bonuses] isn't just a matter of dollars and cents. It's about our fundamental values." Sorkin goes on:On that last issue, lawyers, Wall Street types and compensation consultants agree with the president. But from their point of view, the "fundamental value" in question here is the sanctity of contracts. Sorkin frets about whether government "abrogating contracts left and right" would lead companies to break contracts willy nilly. But it's more about the government, and companies, breaking contracts left, but not right. As Ali Frick points out at Think Progress, companies already seize opportunities to break inconvenient contracts—with unions. And the government, egged on by the right-wing, encouraged them to do so: Yesterday on ABC's This Week, Larry Summers, head of President Obama's National Economic Council, called insurance giant AIG's plan to pay out $165 million in bonuses "outrageous" but insisted there was little the government could do about it. This despite the $170 billion in taxpayer funds that have been given to AIG. Summers cited the sanctity of contracts:SUMMERS: We are a country of law. There are contracts. The government cannot just abrogate contracts. Every legal step possible to limit those bonuses is being taken by Secretary Geithner and by the Federal Reserve system. Labels: AIG, auto industry, bailout, contracts, financial crisis, larry Summers, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Singing the Same Old Song: An EFCA GameThis is from vivaelbund at the Labor Nerd blog, via Talking Labor, a project of the DSA Labor Network. Hat-tip to Ben C.Let's play a game! Below are six quotes from various conservative politicians, business representatives and other organizations. Three of them are from the 1930s and were aimed at the Wagner Act. The other three are about the Employee Free Choice Act. Can you guess which are which? Answers at the bottom. 1. "Specifically, the provisions of the bill will operate to provoke and encourage labor disputes, rather than diminish them . . . Its real effect will be to serve as a vehicle for the advancement of the selfish interests of minority labor organizations." 2. "Unions want it because it would make it easier to recruit dues-paying members, not because it would somehow defend workers' right to choose freely to unionize." 3. "To support labor in this objective by enacting this bill would permanently close the door to recovery." 4. "The act is a poison pill for our ailing economy, which is why every major business organization from every industry sector has come out in strong opposition to it." 5. "My general criticism of the . . . bill is not so much that it supports unionization as that it will in operation result in enforced unionization." 6. "Labor unions are supposed to protect workers' rights, yet union bosses want Congress to pass a law that actually robs workers of their democratic right . . . through a forced unionization process." 1. Walter Harnischfeger, National Association of Manufacturers, March 21, 1935 2. Heritage Foundation, April 23, 2007 3. Guy Harrington, National Publishers Association, March 29, 1935 4. Brian Worth, Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, February 25, 2009 5. J.M. Larkin, Bethlehem Steel, April 5, 1935 6. Senator Orrin Hatch, June 26, 2007 vivaelbund is nomme de blog of a member of the Labor Nerd blog, an exciting new blog by young union staffers, academics, and activists, where it originally appeared. Labels: Employee Free Choice Act, financial crisis, labor, recession, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Two Items on the Employee Free Choice ActEconomist Dani Rodrik had this nice post on his blog last week:What do Philippe Aghion and Dean Baker have in common?You will notice that the link leads to a petition sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute of prominent economists in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, the legislation before Congress that promises to level the playing field somewhat for workers trying to organize unions. (Thanks to Dani for reminding us about Arrow and Solow winning on American Idol.) And there's this new video from SEIU: I love the bit about how EFCA will (horrors!) turn us into France or Germany. It reminds me of Mitt Romney's speech to the conservatives when he quit the presidential race and fretted that the liberals were going to turn the United States into "the France of the 21st century" (to which John Stewart responded: "Isn't France the France of the 21st century?"). Labels: Dani Rodrik, Employee Free Choice Act, France, John Stewart, Mitt Romney, SEIU, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). French Strike over Economic CrisisFrom Reuters, via TV New Zealand. Hat-tip to Bob F. No mention of Sarkozy getting bitten by his dog (did anyone else hear about that, or did I make it up?).Hundreds of thousands of French workers staged a nationwide strike to try to force President Nicolas Sarkozy and business leaders to do more to protect jobs and wages during the economic crisis. Public transport was snarled in many cities, scores of flights were cancelled, and schools, banks, hospitals, the post office, law courts and state broadcasters were also expected to be hit by the protest. The strike aims to highlight fears of growing unemployment, discontent over Sarkozy's reluctance to help consumers and resentment towards bankers blamed for the economic slump. "We need to sound a cry of anger," said Francois Chereque, head of the moderate CFDT union. In a rare show of unity, France's eight national unions have backed the strike call and drawn up a joint list of demands for the government and companies, which they accuse of trying to use the crisis as a pretext to lay off workers and cut costs. It is the first such protest linked to the economic crisis to hit a major industrialised nation and was backed by the majority of French voters, according to opinion polls. However, it was not expected to snowball or threaten government stability. Read the rest of the article. Labels: financial crisis, France, general strike, Nicholas Sarkozy, unemployment, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Union Membership Rises Again in 2008 (BLS)Just in from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hat-tip to Doug Henwood at lbo-talk. As Doug pointed out, two years in a row of increases (after years and years of decline) is pretty impressive, especially under a Republican administration.UNION MEMBERS IN 2008 In 2008, union members accounted for 12.4 percent of employed wage and salary workers, up from 12.1 percent a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of workers belonging to a union rose by 428,000 to 16.1 million. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent, and there were 17.7 million union workers. The data on union membership were collected as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly survey of about 60,000 households that obtains information on employment and unemployment among the nation's civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over. Some highlights from the 2008 data are:
Read the whole report. Labels: Bureau of Labor Statistics, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Judge Finds Starbucks Guilty of Union-BustingSome good news: an NLRB victory for Starbucks workers, organizing with the Industrial Workers of the World, aka the Wobblies. The baristas at the Starbucks on Winter St. seemed unaware when a couple of us stopped in for eggnog lattes, but I am considering heading back to post a copy of this article on their "community" bulletin board. This was also reported in today's New York Times, here.The IWW Scores Big Victory Over Global Coffee Chain New York, NY (Dec. 23, 2008)—Following a lengthy trial here last year, a National Labor Relations Board judge has found Starbucks guilty of extensive violations of federal labor law in its bid to counter the IWW Starbucks Workers Union. In an 88-page decision, Judge Mindy E. Landow found, among other things, that Starbucks maintained multiple policies which interfered with workers' right to communicate about the union and about working conditions; terminated three workers in retaliation for union activity; and repeatedly discriminated against union supporters. The decision comes despite a 2006 New York settlement in which Starbucks pledged to stop illegal anti-union activities and mirrors federal government action against the company for its conduct toward baristas in Minnesota and Michigan. "The judge's decision coupled with previous government findings expose Starbucks for what it is—a union-busting corporation that will go to staggering lengths to interfere with the right to freedom of association," said Daniel Gross, a barista and member of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union found to have been unlawfully terminated by the coffee giant. "In these trying economic times of mass layoffs and slashed work hours, it's more important than ever that Starbucks and every corporation is confronted with a social movement that insists on the right to an independent voice on the job." The Board decision is the latest blow against a company that has experienced a stunning fall from grace. From a precipitous decrease in customer demand to its increasingly tattered socially responsible image, the myriad of challenges facing Starbucks has resulted in the company losing over half its value from just a year ago. The decision also represents a significant victory for the IWW Starbucks Workers Union which continues to grow across the country with baristas taking creative and determined actions to improve the security of work hours and win respect on the job. Starbucks faces another Labor Board trial next month in Grand Rapids, Michigan over illegal union-busting. "For the first time, a judge has confirmed the existence of a nationally coordinated anti-union operation at Starbucks," said Stuart Lichten, the attorney for the IWW Starbucks Workers Union in the case. "This decision conclusively establishes Starbucks' animosity toward labor organizing." The union is confident that Judge Landow's copiously documented and well-reasoned 88-page decision will be upheld by the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. should Starbucks appeal. The victory is sure to be gratifying for the union's international supporters who conducted spirited global days of action in defense of Isis Saenz, Joe Agins, Jr., and Daniel Gross after their terminations which the Board has now found to be unlawful. The National Labor Relations Board attorneys on the case were Burt Pearlstone and Audrey Eveillard. The union's attorney Stuart Lichten is a partner at Schwartz, Lichten & Bright, a prominent New York City labor law firm. Starbucks was represented by union-avoidance lawyers Daniel Nash, Stacey Eisenstein, and Nicole Morgan at corporate firm Akin Gump. The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is an organization of almost 300 current and former Starbucks employees united for a living wage, secure work hours, and respect on the job. Founded in 2004, the union uses direct action, litigation, and advocacy to both make systemic improvements at Starbucks and take on the company over unfair treatment of individual baristas. The Industrial Workers of the World (iww.org) is a rank and file labor union dedicated to democracy in the workplace and global solidarity. Labels: IWW, National Labor Relations Board, Starbucks, Starbucks Union, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Andy Stern's 'Team America'This item is from seiuvoice.org, a reform group within SEIU. Hat-tip to Doug Henwood.December 17th, 2008 Andy Stern was featured this week on the NPR show Talk of the Nation. After refusing to answer several questions about SEIU's connection to the "pay-to-play" corruption scandal involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, he spent the rest of the show advocating his vision of a "21st-century," more "American" form of unionism that makes the labor movement a subordinate partner to Corporate America. When confronted by an SEIU member's question about the secret backroom deals he's made with employers like Sodexho, Compass, and Aramark, Stern's defense was that "those workers are trying to find a way to have a partnership with their employer." In fact, most of those workers are completely unaware of Stern's partnership with their employer-one condition of a secret agreement that prohibits union staff from admitting to workers that the agreement exists. In his final comments, Stern admitted that he does not believe in the power of workers' collective action-specifically the right to strike-and that instead union members should rely on the political process to get the job done. "I don't think anymore that the power of unions comes from its ability to strike," he said. "I think it comes from its ability to participate in the political process and to change America in issues that we've been talking about, like health care." Stern's comments echo the position put forth in his book "A Country That Works," which emphasizes the need for labor to "partner" with Corporate America and identify ways that the union can "add value" to employers. This model flies in the face of the history of organized labor and other social justice movements, where collective action has played a pivotal role in making positive change for working people in our country. Just in the last few weeks workers at Republic Windows and Doors beat Bank of America with a sit-down strike, and over the past year healthcare workers in California have won standard setting contracts with the right to organize nonunion workers through worker-led strikes and action. Click here to listen to the show. Click here (and scroll down) to read the transcript. Labels: Andy Stern, SEIU, seiuvoice.org, strikes, unions Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). The End of Pensions?By Shamus Cooke | December 15, 2008Unless things change fast, human history will show that the phenomenon of "retirement" was limited to one generation. After World War II, when European and Japanese economies stood in tatters, American capitalism could fulfill "the American dream," since there was little foreign competition to speak of. For the first time ever, workers were promised that—after working thirty or so years—they would be able to securely retire. That was largely the case...for one generation. The second generation is having a devastating reality check. 2008 was supposed to be a watershed year for retirement: it was the first year that the baby-boomers turned 62, and the retirement frenzy was to begin (since people could begin to draw on their social security benefits). Early in the year, however, a study was conducted that found one-fourth of these boomers were delaying retirement (only the baby-boomers who were actually able to plan for retirement were studied). The economy has since nosedived, and many more retirements are being delayed. The unfortunate reality is that many who planned on retiring will work until the grave, joining the millions of other baby-boomers who never had such dreams. The experts are calling this the "perfect storm" for retirement. Everything that could go wrong is in fact going wrong. This storm, however, was not created by supernatural forces, but the coordinated effort of big-business and their puppet politicians. The deliberate destruction of the pension and its replacement by the 401(k) was, of course, a giant step towards attacking retirement; but now that the economic crisis has emerged, we're beginning to see just how ruinous the effects are. At the end of September, just as the crisis was beginning to gain steam, it was discovered that in the previous year the value of stocks in 401(k) accounts had fallen by nearly $2 trillion! Much more has been lost since then. This is especially devastating since almost one-third of 401(k) participants in their 60s had 80 percent of their money in stocks (pension funds have been similarly destroyed). The 401(k) was the scheme of the century. Corporations offloaded their "burdensome" pensions and used the combined forces of the media and politicians to sell the ruse to the public, to the great benefit of Wall Street. Workers were told that the boom-slump cycle was over, and that stocks were a sure thing. There were additional factors to invest in stocks: interest rates were so low that investing in bonds and other less-risky instruments offered only tiny returns; and since employers stopped contributing to retirement funds, a bigger return was required. More importantly, corporations have been driving down real wages since the seventies, allowing less money to be saved for retirement, creating a mood of desperation. Every "safe bet" for investing has been proven unsafe; the recession has left nothing untouched. After the dotcom bubble burst—taking with it millions of people's 401(k) savings—the housing market became the place to invest. Now the safest possible investment, too, has turned sour. For millions of people, the home they lived in was their nest egg, which they had planned to sell and move into a smaller place. No more. Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), who chairs the House subcommittee on health, employment, labor and pensions, put it bluntly: "Some will have very little, some will have almost nothing, and some will have nothing when they retire". Of course, people who "have nothing" do not retire. This process is being accelerated by the newest trick of big business: declaring bankruptcy to destroy "pension obligations". These obligations apply with equal weight to workers already retired, many of whom are seeing their pensions slashed in half, forcing them out of retirement. Now even the threat of bankruptcy is constantly used in union contract negotiations to scare workers into concessions, since after achieving bankruptcy, labor agreements are torn up. The threat of closing the company's doors is a very effective form of intimidation. This phenomenon is at the center of the GM debate. The corporate politicians in congress cannot decide whether to appoint a "Car Tsar" to oversee the destruction of the autoworkers pensions, or use the proven method of bankruptcy. Not a day goes by that the corporate media doesn't join hands to assail the pension and health care benefits of the "spoiled" GM workers. The hypocrisy is sickening. This after the UAW had already agreed to the most shameful concessions in 2007. Although concessions are often made in the name of "job security," the result is that corporations become emboldened by such acts. Eventually, every benefit of workers that contradicts company profit will be targeted. The demand for concessions never stops, and soon the point arrives when the benefits of having a union become questioned, since dues money is not paid with concessions in mind. The autoworkers struggle is at the forefront of the pension battle nationwide, since their struggles in the 1930's originally paved the way for pensions. Equally important is the pension struggles emerging with public employees, the last stronghold of workers who receive them. Public employees will find their pensions under immense attack as the economic crisis intensifies, and government budgets are depleted. Fighting the corporate strategy of bankruptcy and business closures is an immediate need of working people. This tactic will increase in number as the crisis deepens and companies strive to "restore profitability" by drastically lowering wages. If a company attempts such a criminal act, the workers should demand a bailout for themselves; the government should take over the plant so that the workers can keep their jobs, such as was done for the banks. Management must be sacked and instead of a government bureaucrat, the workers themselves should run the business. To win this program, new levels of organizing and solidarity are needed, such as the example of the United Electrical Workers, who occupied their factory and organized in a brilliant fashion. They won a stunning victory by utilizing the methods of the original autoworkers struggles from the 1930's. If a fight is to be waged, it must be done seriously and with determination, uniting both retired and active workers. The UEW workers have shown the way forward for the labor movement, which can no longer rely on union concessions or the promises of Democratic politicians, but only their own collective strength. Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action. He can be reached at shamuscook-at-yahoo.com Labels: 401(k), bankruptcy, pensions, Republic Windows and Doors, retirement, Social Security, unions, United Electrical Workers Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Smithfield Workers Finally UnionizeWorkers at the largest meat processing plant in the United States, Smithfield Packing in Tar Heel, N.C., finally voted to unionize, after years and years of ugly struggle with the company. We covered the Smithfield campaign most recently in our 2006 annual labor issue (though the article isn't posted online). Here is what the New York Times had to say:After 15 Years, North Carolina Plant UnionizesRead the rest of the article. Labels: Smithfield, unions, United Food and Commerical Workers Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). |
