A 30-story mobile crane, one of the country's largest, collapsed yesterday in Houston, killing four workers and injuring seven others, according to an AP report.

The deadly collapse is the latest in a recent series of fatal crane accidents that have claimed more than a dozen lives in New York City, Las Vegas and Miami.

Friday's collapse took place at the LyondellBasell refinery in southeast Houston. Workers ran to a lunch tent designated as an evacuation site when a siren went off. Tragically, the falling crane landed on top of the tent, according to the AP.

Arlene Holt Baker

In this pivotal election year, the union and civil rights movements together can turn the country around from the disastrous course we have been on in recent years. But it will require members of both movements to “get angry and get our voters to the polls, fight through the barriers, wait in the lines and stand up” for our neighbors who are suffering in this economy, says AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker.

Speaking at the annual Labor Luncheon at the NAACP’s national convention in Cincinnati this week, Holt Baker said:

It seems to me that for the past 30 years, our country has been headed in the wrong direction, with our dual movements for civil rights and union rights struggling against a huge tide of oppressive history.

Some 85 percent of the American public says they are unhappy with the U.S. economy, according to a new Time/Rockefeller Foundation poll, which called the figure "an unprecedented downer for an optimistic nation."

Concerns about the economy have raced ahead of any other issue this election season, as hard-hit middle class families struggle to pay the bills—and keep a roof over their heads.

At the Netroots Nation conference in Austin this morning, a panel explored economic policies that could make a positive influence in the lives of middle class families—and discussed how we hold lawmakers accountable for making those policies.

The Alliance for Retired Americans, the national organization that advocates for the rights of more than 3.5 million retirees and their families, asks a good question:

Will John McCain return the Social Security check he calls a "disgrace"?

Seems that even though he called Social Security a "disgrace," the senator from Arizona doesn't mind collecting his own monthly Social Security check, nearly $2,000 a month.

Says Edward Coyle, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans:

Retirees are puzzled by today’s media accounts that Senator John McCain received Social Security benefits of $23,157 in Social Security in 2007, an average of $1,929.75 each month.

America’s seniors deserve straight talk. Sen. McCain, now that you have said that Social Security is a disgrace, will you now mark "RETURN TO SENDER" on your check?

Ben Davis, the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center representative in Mexico, relates a poignant narrative of what's wrong with trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement.

On Jan. 6, 2007, David Salgado, a 9-year-old worker from Guerrero, was run over and killed by a tractor while harvesting tomatoes on a farm in Sinaloa. In a May 9 story, Arizona Republic correspondent Chris Hawley reported the owner of the farm is a major supplier of open field and greenhouse products, including tomatoes, eggplant and sweet bell peppers, for the North American market.

The Netroots Nation conference has come to Austin, Texas, this year, and it’s brought together people from across the progressive movement. State, local and national bloggers are taking part in what has become an annual meeting to get together with other activists face to face and swap ideas. As labor communicators, it’s especially important for us to make sure the online community—an active and committed body of people—are paying attention to the core economic issues that matter to working families.

At Thursday’s Netroots Nation Labor Caucus, more than 40 communicators and other activists from across the union movement—unions of the AFL-CIO, Change to Win and the National Education Association participated—and outside the union movement got together to talk about working family issues and how to engage the netroots around them.

The nation's labor movement is "more relevant today than ever," but unions need to help the general public "connect the dots" between a strong and growing union movement and improving their lives, says Phil Dine, veteran St. Louis Post-Dispatch labor reporter.

Dine, author of State of the Unions: How Labor Can Strengthen the Middle Class, Improve Our Economy, and Regain Political Influence, spoke to a lunch-time crowd at the AFL-CIO here in Washington, D.C., today.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka introduced Dine, who has spent more than 20 years covering unions and workers, and is one of the few remaining labor reporters in the mainstream media. Trumka gave Dine high praise, describing him as "not some Beltway pundit but a grassroots labor reporter."

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has voted to protect and strengthen Social Security and against privatizing the nation's most successful retirement security program.

On the other hand, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says Social Security is an "absolute disgrace" (see video) and that President Bush's failed privatization scheme is the way to go. Yesterday, a coalition of activist groups told the Republican presidential candidate that's not going to happen.

During a telephone press conference hosted by Americans United For Change, union, retiree and activist leaders outlined plans to keep voters informed of McCain's support of privatization and the wide gap between his and Obama's proposals for Social Security.

 

Linda Chavez-Thompson and her granddaughter Lydia Maria Garcia.

Resolutely courageous, fearless and bold. While those words describe all of the women being honored by the National Organization for Women (NOW) at the group’s annual Intrepid Awards Gala, they especially fit AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Emerita Linda Chavez-Thompson.

Along with four other pioneering women, Chavez-Thompson will be recognized for her accomplishments at a gala Thursday in Washington, D.C. Chavez-Thompson, the first person to hold the office of executive vice president and the first person of color to hold one of the top elected offices at the AFL-CIO, retired last September to return home to San Antonio and be with her family. She was elected in 1995 after serving in a series of leadership roles in AFSCME and on the AFL-CIO Executive Council.

Union volunteers around the country are getting involved and making a difference in this election in a number of ways. One of the most important is through worksite leafleting.

Member-to-member contact is at the heart of the AFL-CIO Labor 2008 political program, and this outreach is key to our unprecedented national mobilization to elect Sen. Barack Obama and a working family-friendly Congress this fall.

Check out the video of union volunteers taking part in this important work in Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The nation's talking heads still are debating whether the country is in a recession. Such noise is a distraction from the real issue: The short- and long-term decline in living standards experienced by the vast majority of us is real. (The long list of short-term trends includes word today that annual retail prices shot up 5 percent in June, the biggest 12-month change since May 1991, a time when high gas prices from the Gulf War skewed the annual figure.)

Two studies out this week show the far-reaching consequences of two trends that preceded the current economic mess—the ongoing decline in wages and the widening income gap between the extremely wealthy and everyone else.

The first study finds that rising economic inequality can be correlated to life expectancy. While life expectancy has increased across the United States between 1980 and 2000, the degree to which people live longer has become increasingly connected to their socio-economic status, according to the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Kim Bobo, Interfaith Worker Justice

Two new reports by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) show the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, especially under the Bush administration, is conducting fewer and less thorough investigations in allegations of employer wage theft.

Over the past decade, the number of investigations into employers' refusal to pay minimum wage, overtime or even any wages at all, has dropped from 47,000 in 1997 to just 30,000 last year. And when investigations are launched, sometimes investigators drop their probes simply because an employer hangs up on them or asserts, without proof, they can't afford to pay the workers what they are owed.

As he has throughout his nearly eight years in the White House, President Bush cast his lot with insurance companies and big corporations when he vetoed a bill today that would strengthen Medicare for the nation's seniors.

But just hours later, the House (on a vote of 383–41) and the Senate (on a 70-26 vote) overrode Bush's veto. Passage of the bill means the pending cuts in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients have been stopped.

If those cuts had gone into effect, as many as 60 percent of physicians would have been forced to stop treating new Medicare patients and been forced to drop others from their rolls, according to the American Medical Association.

They are power-hungry, heartless, vicious, cheap, evil—and those aren't the worst words workers have used to describe their bad bosses in Working America's third annual My Bad Boss Contest. The more than 150 men and women who have sent in their horror stories in the past few days aren't alone.

A survey conducted for Working America estimates that some 15 million workers have bad bosses. In the Lake Research Partners survey, 10 percent of the respondents say they have bad bosses, the equivalent of 15 million workers in the nation's workforce. In addition, 36 percent say they feel pressure to stay with a bad boss because of today's worsening economy.

If you work, or worked, for a jerk, dictator or weasel, enter the Bad Boss Contest, and you might win some rest and relaxation. The contest runs through Aug. 19.

The AFT endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president during its national convention, where more than 3,000 delegates voted overwhelmingly to support Obama. AFT delegates also made history during this year's convention when they elected three women to hold the union's top offices, including Randi Weingarten as president.

Outgoing AFT President Edward McElroy says Obama is the right choice for educators and all working families.

Sen. Obama believes, as we do, that our leaders have a responsibility to build the economy, not on the backs of poor and middle-class Americans, but for the benefit and well-being of all. His plans—to replace NCLB with education law that truly helps schools, instead of hurts them; to ensure all Americans have access to affordable, high-quality healthcare; and to bring home American troops as soon as possible—will help usher in a new era of progress and opportunity.

Kay Barnes Rep. Tom Udall

Yes, Virginia (and Ohio and Colorado…), it's true: The battle for the White House isn’t the only election this fall. Every U.S. House seat and 33 Senate seats are up for election, and ensuring a pro-working family Congress will require a strong national effort.

Many candidates around the country understand the importance of passing legislation that levels the playing field for workers seeking to form unions. Kay Barnes (D-Mo.) and Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) are both candidates endorsed by the AFL-CIO who believe strongly in the freedom to form unions and pledge to support pro-worker legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act. These candidates (see videos) understand that the Employee Free Choice Act will help restore economic fairness by allowing workers to form unions and bargain.

They know the AFL-CIO will carry out an unprecedented mobilization to support pro-working family candidates. Union member-to-member contact is crucial to winning elections and creating a strong pro-worker majority. The Employee Free Choice Act, health care reform and economic relief for millions of working families are only possible when working men and women get involved.

 

Some 1,043 workers from New York to New Mexico, including child care workers and bus drivers, recently gained a voice on the job by joining AFSCME.

In New York, 400 direct care workers at the Guild for Exceptional Children in Brooklyn voted in March for the Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME Local 1000. The workers, who care for people with mental disabilities, originally joined through majority sign-up (sometimes known as card-check). But after management challenged the results, workers were required to hold an election, which the union won by a large margin.

If you're one of the high-wired among us who was in line last week waiting for the latest version of the iPhone 3G (or maybe you've even named your dog Blue Tooth or your cat Wii), Union Plus can save you a few bucks with the Union Plus discount on the monthly service plan for the new phone.

The 10 percent savings for union members could add up to as much as $263 over the life of a two-year iPhone 3G service plan from AT&T, the nation’s only completely unionized wireless provider. The 10 percent union discount also is available to new and current AT&T customers on all other individual or family plans.

Says Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen:

For union families, AT&T is the clear choice for wireless service. AT&T is the only wireless company that is completely unionized, and that believes that fair treatment of employees is good for business and good for customers. We urge every union member to make AT&T their wireless provider.

To get the union member discount, visit www.UnionPlus.org/ATT, or if you are going to a local AT&T store, download the coupon or use discount FAN number 00113662. Since this discount is available only to union members and retired union members, you’ll need to provide proof of union membership.

 

Randi Weingarten Antonia Cortese Lorretta Johnson

Following a historic vote, three women will hold the top offices in a major AFL-CIO union. Delegates to AFT’s convention in Chicago today elected Randi Weingarten as president, Antonia Cortese as secretary-treasurer and Lorretta Johnson as executive vice president.

“The three of us are committed to improving schools, hospitals and public institutions for children, families and communities,” Weingarten said in a statement.

"We will build on this union’s great tradition of confronting injustice, embracing the excluded, questioning conventional wisdom, challenging the status quo—and working 24/7 to improve the institutions where our members work."

They replace President Edward McElroy and Secretary-Treasurer Nat LaCour, who both retired. Cortese, the new secretary-treasurer, served as AFT executive vice president for the past four years.

A former social studies teacher and lawyer, Weingarten served for the past decade as president of the United Federation of Teachers UFT/AFT. Johnson is president of AFT-Maryland and also serves as president of the Baltimore Teachers Union’s paraprofessional chapter.

Their elections mark the first time three women hold top positions in AFT, whose membership is more than 70 percent female. Weingarten becomes the only woman to head a major union. Johnson, who began her career as a teachers aide in Baltimore, is the first paraprofessional to be elected an officer of AFT. Delegates also elected 39 AFT vice presidents.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the election is an “important step.”

All three have repeatedly shown their passion, commitment and success in improving the lives of working families. The election of three women to the top offices of this great union is a new milestone and an important step for the labor movement.

The formula too many hospitals use today to establish nurse-to-patient ratios should be called the "whatever-we-can-get-away with" formula, says Suzanne Gordon, nursing professor and co-author of the new book, Safety in Numbers: Nurse to Patient Ratios and the Future of Health Care.

Gordon, along with representatives from four AFL-CIO nursing unions, met in a roundtable discussion with dozens of health care experts from the staffs of Senate and House members to explain the dangerous and sometimes tragic impact of understaffing on patient care that is also a major factor in driving nurses from the profession and the growing nurses shortage.

The roundtable, sponsored by the RNs Working Together, the coalition of 10 AFL-CIO unions representing more than 200,000 registered nurses, is one step in the campaign to build support on Capitol Hill for the first national nurse-to-patient ratio legislation (H.R. 2123) introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).