Selected Articles, June 2010

Labor and Community Allies Rally at Wells Fargo Against Corporate Greed

A coalition of labor, faith and community groups led a march of over 1,000 people through San Francisco’s financial district April 27 to rally outside the shareholders meeting of Wells Fargo. The action was part of a series of protests organized by the AFL-CIO and community allies to “bring Main Street to Wall Street” and demand accountability from the big banks responsible for their actions that led to the economic ruin of millions of American families. Workers across the country spoke out against Wall Street’s corporate greed. The aim of the San Francisco march and rally was to highlight the role of Wells Fargo and hold the big bank accountable for its role in the loss of 5 million homes and 8 million jobs during the economic meltdown. Read More...

Two-tier Pensions Do More Harm Than Good

Over 40 local elected officials attended a presentation on public employee pensions organized by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council May 8. The seminar featured presentations by Terry Brennand, Senior Policy Analyst for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Bob Brownstein, Research and Policy Director of Working Partnerships USA. Read More...

Union Members Work to Elect Labor-friendly Candidates in June 8 Primary Election

Rich Gordon for State Assembly;
Carole Groom and Don Horsley for County Supervisor

The San Mateo County Central Labor Council and Building Trades Council have mobilized union members to get out the vote for labor-backed candidates in the June 8 primary election. Phone banking and precinct walks began in May and continue in the final week before election day. Read More...

Selected Articles, May 2010

UAL Flight Attendants Say No More Concessions

United Airlines Flight Attendants picketed at San Francisco International Airport April 6, an international “Day of Action” that marked one year since Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) began negotiations at the airline. Over the past year, United has refused to address the deep cuts flight attendants agreed to accept in 2003 to help their airline stay afloat as it entered bankruptcy. After the airline filed for bankruptcy protection several years ago, the union accepted cuts of more than $3 billion in pay and health care coverage. The airline also used the bankruptcy to terminate workers’ pensions. Read More...

AFL-CIO 2010 Executive PayWatch Catalogs CEO Pay, Exposes Wall Street’s Efforts Against Meaningful Financial Reform

After triggering a financial meltdown that caused historic job losses and required a taxpayer bailout, big banks said they had learned their lesson. Instead, they paid out $145 billion in total 2009 compensation, spent millions of dollars lobbying against meaningful financial reform and have cut back on lending to consumers and small businesses, according to a new online database and case studies released by the AFL-CIO. First launched in 1997, this year’s AFL-CIO 2010 Executive PayWatch exposes the egregious compensation and lobbying efforts against reform from the ‘big 6’ Wall Street banks: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Read More...

Rebuilding Together Peninsula

Rebuilding Together Peninsula and the Building Trades Council partnered with Laborers Union Local 389, Carpenters Union Local 217, and community volunteers in installing a memorial walkway at the Hillsdale High School football stadium. Members of Laborers 389, Carpenters 217, as well as parents, students and other community members working together over three weekends, installed brick pavers and memorial bricks, set new planters and benches into place, and completed landscaping at the site to connect the stadium to a new parking lot which will be constructed later this year. Pictured are Laborers, Carpenters, parents and students hard at work on this great project. Thanks to all for a job well done.

Union Construction Jobs Help Economy

A new study shows union construction jobs not only provide workers with a good middle-class income, but the benefits extend to the communities and states where they live.

The report, “The Socio-Economic Impacts of Construction Unionization in Massachusetts,” by Maria Figueroa and Jeff Grabelsky of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, found the earnings of union construction workers in Massachusetts added $4.6 billion overall to the Bay State economy in 2007.

Mary Vogel, executive director of The Construction Institute, which released the study, said that, “This study confirms what we already knew to be true-unionization in the construction industry not only creates middle class career opportunities in the building trades for Massachusetts residents, but results in significant economic benefits for the Commonwealth and the local communities in which our members live and work.”

While many employers are pushing down wages and benefits, the authors found that union construction wages are helping hold up standards. For example, Massachusetts union construction workers earn an average of $13 more per hour than nonunion workers. When benefits are included, they average $28.35 more per hour than their nonunion counterparts. Those wages generate countless benefits for the Massachusetts economy, resulting in more than $2 billion in additional income for building trades’ members and a total income gain of $1.74 billion for all Massachusetts families.

With state economies across the country in a tailspin, union construction wages helped boost Massachusetts’ economy. At the same time, nonunion construction workers added to the state’s social and economic costs. Nonunion construction workers have mostly inadequate or virtually non-existent health care coverage, which shifts the cost of their care to taxpayers.

Anti-union groups, like Associated Builders and Contractors, routinely denounce union labor for its higher wages, but the study finds that nonunion labor isn’t necessarily cost-effective. It states that, “There are economic and social costs associated with the lower quality of the training provided to nonunion workers, and the consequent higher number of occupational injuries they endure…. Labor cost savings, however, can translate into costs being shifted onto taxpayers and society as a whole, when employers fail to pay appropriate levels of payroll taxes and workers’ compensation premiums.”

The study also found:
• Employers often deliberately misclassify nonunion construction employees to pay them lower wages, which results in millions lost in state income and payroll taxes.
• Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) records for the Massachusetts construction industry reveal that 88 percent of the violations between 2004 and 2009 were committed by nonunion contractors.
To read the full report, check http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/04/15/study-union-construction-jobs-help-economy/

Selected Articles, April 2010

Thousands Rally For Education, Against State Budget Cuts

A mass rally to support public education and oppose state budget cuts drew over 12,000 students, educators, unionists, and families to the San Francisco Civic Center March 4th. The rally was organized by United Educators of San Francisco (UESF), the California Faculty Association, American Federation of Teachers Local 2121, and the San Francisco Labor Council. It was part of a Day of Action that was proposed last fall by students and educators during the UC campus mobilizations, and supported by the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), Cal. State University, community college, and K-12 educators, as well as other UC employee unions. Read More...

Union Members Win Support for Labor Legislation

The California Labor Federation and State Building and Construction Trades Council held their annual Joint Legislative Conference in Sacramento March 8 and 9. This gave union members an opportunity to learn about Labor’s legislative priorities for 2010 and meet with local legislators to advocate for bills that benefit California workers. Read More...

LABOR NEWS BRIEFS:

Building Green Skills:
Construction Unions and the Green Economy
A new video from the State Building and Construction Trades Council shows how union workers are leading California into the new green construction economy, and that with their superior training, are best positioned to continue to build a greener state. Federal and state laws designed to stem global warming are mandating that buildings be retrofitted to be more energy and water efficient, and that new sources of energy must be utilized.

Audiences who should see the nine-minute video include: union contractors, who should know that the green economy is here to stay, local and municipal governments and project owners, who should make their projects union, and environmentalists and community based organizations who need to know the role unions are playing.

The video takes viewers across California to see the different kinds of green work being done by every union construction craft, including Insulators who keep the pipes at a constant temperature, saving energy; Plumbers and pipefitters installing gray water systems, motion-activated sinks and waterless urinals; Cement Masons installing pervious concrete, and are doing concrete polishing; Boilermakers and Laborers manufacturing wind towers; Roofers installing living roofs, reflective roofs and solar shingles; Plasterers using new products made of recycled materials; Iron Workers installing wind turbines and structures for solar power; Electricians installing advanced lighting and motor controls, as well as solar systems; Sheet Metal Workers installing smart HVAC systems; and Glaziers installing new types of windows, including solar windows.

The video also looks at how workers get trained in union apprenticeship programs to do the work of the green economy.

To see the video on-line, see www.sbctc.org. For a DVD, email your name and mailing address to: tgeren@sbctc.org. For more information about the video, call Debra Chaplan at 510-832-6450.

Obama Uses Recess Appointments for NLRB

President Obama used recess appointments March 30 to fill 15 important positions that Republican senators have blocked for several months. Two of those appointments are Craig Becker and Mark Pearce to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Becker and Pearce, two highly qualified and respected labor lawyers, were nominated in July and received Senate Judiciary approval, but Senate Republicans blocked final approval.

Labor activists had made thousands of calls to the White House asking the president to overcome the Republican obstruction in the Senate with recess appointments, which don’t require a full Senate vote. Obama’s action was criticized by Republicans, but the practice was also used several times by former president Bush.

The five-member NLRB serves as a quasi-judicial body in deciding cases under the National Labor Relations Act. Board Members are appointed to five-year terms, with the term of one member expiring each year. The Board traditionally consists of three members selected by the party controlling the White House, and two from the other party. Becker and Pearce, along with Chairwoman Liebman, would constitute the three Democratic-selected seats.

Craig Becker served as Associate General Counsel to both the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations. Becker was part of Obama’s transition team, acting as a member of the Agency Review Team overseeing the Department of Labor.

Mark Pearce has also practiced union-side labor law for a large portion of his career. He served on the New York state Industrial Board of Appeals and the Board of Directors of the Lawyers Coordinating Committee of the AFL-CIO. He is a member of Cornell Adjunct Faculty -Upstate, New York State United Teachers Local # 37-950, an affiliate of American Federation of Teachers (AFL-CIO).

Business groups that have spent millions of dollars to lobby against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) helped stall Becker’s nomination. At issue for the Senators who opposed Becker’s nomination and the business groups lobbying against him is the fear that the NLRB could implement some aspects of the Employee Free Choice Act through board rulings—bypassing Congress, where EFCA is currently stalled. If passed, EFCA would reform union organizing by giving employees, not management, the right of to request a secret-ballot election or unionize through majority sign-up, or card check. The bill would also speed up union contract negotiations and increase penalties for labor law violations.

New Online Degree, Training Programs for Working Families
Organized labor has been a leader in helping workers gain college degrees and the latest in career training through affordable online degree programs.
The AFL-CIO and the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., are expanding educational opportunities for working families through a new “College for Working Families” will offer a range of degree programs and will allow union members and their families to build on their previous training, education and job experience. Read more about the National Labor College at www.nlc.edu/

Know Your Rights! Family Leave Laws in California
A new guide for unions will help Shop Stewards, Union Representatives and Organizers to get the facts about California’s family leave laws, understand the difference between federal and state laws and how they interact with each other, and advocate for members’ rights
To order a print copy or for information on family leave law training for your union, contact Jenya Cassidy: (510) 642-5498 or jenya@working-families.org.
Download a FREE copy at www.working-families.org/learnmore/ca_paidleave.html.

FMLA Videos Online
Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld—one of the nation’s leading law firms representing workers, unions, and employee benefit plans—has posted videos on its website describing the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The website notes that only 30 percent of those eligible for FMLA actually use it. View the videos at www.unioncounsel.net.

Employee Free Choice Act

Union members are urged to continue to call Sen. Feinstein (202) 224-3841 to urge her to work hard to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. Callers can add that:
• The Employee Free Choice Act is a critical piece of our economic recovery.
• CEOs and top executives are still getting huge bonuses, while the recession has hit middle-class families the hardest.
• By making it easier for workers to form unions, the Employee Free Choice Act will level the playing field and help ensure that the economy works for everyone again.
See www.aflcio.org/ for more information.

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