Please allow me to take a little vacation from the site. I'll probably be scarce for the rest of the week.

Had to say something, so I was reading through the NY Times article about how the AFL-CIO has launched a Veterans Vs. McCain website and when readin the comments I just had to chime in, from the NY Times, "Union Veterans’ Group Starts Ad Campaign Against McCain"
(7/11/08):
Wow, reading through I can see the paid for posts, yes that’s right, today’s Big Law firm fat cats pay people to post on major news sites spreading bull misinforming people about The Employee Free Choice Act, the one true good piece of legislation that will allow people, that’s right American working people, to decide if they want to be in a union by signing a card. If more than 50% sign they get a union. The current method allows these union avoidance law firms to swoop in and divide and conquer the work force in the interim before the vaunted “secret ballot” election, using any means necessary, whether legal or not, by the time the election is over they deal with the legalities. This is a multi-billion dollar industry. Union avoidance and busting, a bunch of lawyers who spread the misinformation, and terrorize workers in their business see the passage of The Employee Free Choice Act as a tremendous loss to their cash cow, when was the last time you saw a “non-profit” so adamantly oppose legislation under the guise of taking away our democracy, where obviously money is no object, creating and running TV ad’s at will, that takes BIG money, even bigger than the AFL launching this campaign. Don’t let the billion dollar lawyers tell you how to think. They have owned the NLRB for the past 8 years under the guidance of a Bush appointee, Robert Battista, who has thoroughly contracted the power of all workers and given even more power to multi-national corporations who are ruling our world. He has done such a good job that when his appointment as the chairman came up this year, he decided to refuse in order to join one of the biggest union busting law firms in the world, that’s a fact that Main Stream Media doesn’t speak about.

And yes, Mr.McCain, who would make us all pay for our own health insurance with taxed money, and feed us into the hands of the big insurance companies is not the choice for any American worker, union or otherwise.

He also opposed the new GI Bill. I have been writing about the new GI Bill for quite some time and was completely surprised that this maverick veteran, ex-pow, would allow our returning vets to not get the care they needed, to not get funding to higher education, to not get the mental health care they needed. While both Republicans and Democrats supported the GIBILL 2008, McCain threatened cloture, and Bush threatened Veto, until a few weeks ago. This bill will allow our returning veterans a chance to become workers, company owners, supervisors, and modern day heroes, not the Vietnam era bill that flooded our country with homeless returnees. McCain did not want this! Bush did not want this! The military industrial complex did not want this! We the American people wanted this!

As a labor writer, do I staunchly back Obama? absolutely not, I despise the current 2 party system, I despise the fact that MSM censored the candidates I would have easily voted for in favor of the ones they could control through campaign finance. But Obama has a better chance of helping working people here in our country, and is a little less of a world eating profiteer that the reagan/bush/clinton/bush travesty that has lead us to where we are today. Especially if we, as working American’s hold Obama accountable if lected, remember, if you have 1 term in office, you will want another.

We can change the world a bit if Obama is elected, we can not if McCain is.

All of you here are among the Americans who can read independent news on the internet, do it, don’t just read the NY Times(no offense Mr.Greenhouse, I read your stuff, and it has been heading in a much better direction lately), don’t just read USA Today, spread yourself out onto Mother Jones, The Man Common blog, Peoples Weekly World, UTNE Reader, Consumers Union, Corp Watch, the list goes on, see the social interests links on my site. We have many issues, if this country continues on its path of separatism, the powers that be will take it all away from our little satellite groups at a whim.

As far as unions destroying America’s workplace, keep thinking that way.

Did the unions allow our industry to go to Haiti, where the people eat dirt sandwiches and the ones who are lucky enough to work in the former US Made Levi’s factory make about $2 a week, yeah blame the unions for that, or the other place where they make Levi’s, Bangladesh, where even the school teachers and policemen have to wait on thousand people lines to get government subsidized rice because they are paid so poorly, or in Vietnam, home of sneakers that were made her, where workers work 12 hours a day and recently went on strike to make a whopping $62 a month, instead of their current $58.

Yeah, the unions killed American jobs, yep

Open your eyes.

Gotta run, going to attend a function of the Wounded Warriors Project, where my friend, a retired union Steamfitter, who, along with a retired Firefighter, sell shirts and help our severely wounded returning vets do things they wouldn’t think they were capable to do.

Today they are scuba diving, yeah, that’s right, guys and girls with no legs going scuba diving, and union workers help, not because we want to, because in our hearts, just like running down to the trade center site after 9/11, we have to.

Joe
Joe’s Union Review
http://joesunionreview.com

— Posted by JoeUnionReview

Wow, after a week, the MySpace thing is paying off, I got a bulletin with a great message, from a Teamster in Local 170, Sherri, here's what she had to say
Will you...........
We all have a responsibility as citizens, as parents, family members and as friends. It is our chosen position to take ownership of what belongs to us and defend what needs to be defended. Without hesitation we will come to the aid of our children and care for our parents. We will get up at 4 am to reach those early bird specials the day after Thanksgiving. We will go to extreme measures to save a dime and waste not a minute to reach out for that impulsive purchase.

We will ignore those in need, mistreated by the corporations they work so hard for. We will make excuses that Wal-mart is cheaper and we have to be able to support our families before we worry about the economy of our country. We will not take any opportunities given us to learn who the law breakers of labor are, because as humans we are selfish and absorbed in our own lives. We can justify it, because it is a sinking economy that is responsible. And while we long for easier times, we will choose not to assist in making it happen.

We must all realize that the economy suffers because of an irresponsible government. From unemployment to the rising costs of health care, we have become prisoners in this land of the free. Until we admit our responsibilities and live up to them, we will continue to suffer along with the future of our children and grandchildren.

Register to vote and ask your family members to register to vote.

If we can come together, we can make a difference. Every vote does count, especially yours.

Will you help us? Take one for the team, ask a neighbor to GET OUT AND VOTE!!! Save some time in line and vote early!

Sherri H****
Teamsters Local 170

I challenge every Union Member to express yourselves and ask your my space friends to register and vote early! How can we possibly ask others what we will not do ourselves! Union Members all over the world are the examples of Unity and we must share our knowledge and encourage others to stand up and fight for a better tomorrow.

In Solidarity, brothers and sisters everywhere!!!

“The strike is officially over. Workers will be back to work on Monday.” -Carolyn Daly, a spokeswoman for IBT Local 282

Steven Greenhouse at The NY Times (7/11/08) reports:
The union local representing striking concrete truck drivers in New York City announced on Thursday night that it had reached a tentative contract with the city’s concrete producers.

Carolyn Daly, a spokeswoman for the union, which has been on strike since July 2, said: “The strike is officially over. Workers will be back to work on Monday.”

The strike, which affected 450 concrete-mixing trucks, has halted or greatly slowed construction at scores of projects across the city, including the Freedom Tower at ground zero; the Second Avenue subway; the new Yankee Stadium; Citi Field, the ballpark that will replace Shea Stadium; and many high-rise apartment buildings.

Ms. Daly said the union, Local 282 of the Teamsters, and the Association of New York City Concrete Producers reached the agreement after three days of intense negotiations.

On Thursday afternoon, the Quadrozzi Concrete Corporation, which provides concrete for the Freedom Tower, among other major projects, announced that it had reached an agreement with Local 282.

John Quadrozzi Jr., president of Quadrozzi Concrete, said his company, which has 50 trucks, decided it would be better to negotiate independently of the concrete producers’ association.

“We reached an understanding and I think everyone’s happy about it,” he said. “Most important, we’ll get concrete to our sites, starting tomorrow.”

Neither management nor the union would discuss details of the association’s settlement or the separate Quadrozzi agreement. Read it in it's entirety at the Times

With all the quagmire of politics, left, right, democrat, republican, all the crap that usually goes split between the sides, something finally got taken care of, the new GI Bill that will give access to all of our returning veterans to get a higher education and pave a better path for their futures has passed. Here's the video I received in my e-mail.


Thank you all for helping to support this cause.

Firstly, Labor Day 2008 in New York, trying to promote the Employee Free Choice Act

Myself, Richard from Union Review and Kirsten from Uniongal, the Women, Unions and Our Stories blog, are looking for sponsors to get some Employee Free Choice Act shirts, with our sites listed as supporters, to be given away at this years Labor Day Parade in New York, if all goes well we will have a major labor union donation to help us get our message out there, we are hoping that all our readers, and some people who are not as active out there in the streets will get educated on the Bill and spread the word of the facts on this legislation. It is possibly the most important bill in my lifetime.

Many law firms stand to lose a tremendous cash cow if The Employee Free Choice Act is enacted

Usually, unless the company agrees to a card check vote, when a MAJORITY of workers signs cards to be in a union there is a wait time, usually over a month later, when the employees get a chance to vote via "secret ballot" to be in a union. That's where the Lawyers and Union Avoidance law firms come into play, they make multi-billions in figuring ways to turn workers against the idea of being in a union, turning workers against one another and using any means , such as unlawful firing. . These law firms thrive on fear. They make companies whose workers are engaged in organizing drives terrified of a collective voice , which unfortunately in today's day and age is really not looking at the facts at all.

Many companies could stand to gain a great deal if they mimicked the business practices of COSTCO, who has a hands off policy and allows their workers to join a union by a simple MAJORITY card signing, some stores sign up and some do not, but their employees all benefit from not being denied that basic right. Consider how disgruntled almost every Home Depot employee is, it's a down right shame, they don't care about their shit job one bit, give them a fairs day wage, nice pension to worry about keeping, and decent medical and they would likely make the Home Depot experiance a much better one for customers and would most likely raise their share value far beyond just the next quarter. Corporations however usually do not think like that, you can learn more at "The Corporation- 23 chapters in YouTube playlist form", but let's get back to the facts in this matter.

What employers and law firms do to keep workers from joining unions and who's on their side, why America needs the Employee Free Choice Act

FACT: Many companies have closed door meetings with employees without their own pro-union workers in attendance, brain washing them to fear being in a union and in fact fear to even mention the word. In one recent article I wrote about a construction contractor here in New York, whose MAJORITY of employees signed cards to be in a union, were sent to another jobsite for a closed door meeting, were told they would get a $5 an hour raise if they voted against joining a union and in fact a former supervisor, who stood to gain nothing testifying, in an affidavit to Federal labor officials, stated when he asked his boss about the union:"He said he had about six guns on the job, and he had people there who would do whatever needed to be done. He said that he could dig a hole and put me in it and make the records showing I worked for the company disappear.", the workers fearing reprisal and thinking they were going to get a raise wound up voting overwhelmingly against the union. From: "High-Cost Condos, Low-Cost Labor—and Threats of Violence to Union Organizers"- Village Voice (6/24/08)
Last November, the NLRB ordered Auringer to post a notice promising not to make such threats. A new vote was canceled after Auringer fired 10 pro-union employees on the election's eve.This is a good reason that America needs the Employee Free Choice Act. They sign the cards, they get into a union. No guns, no threats, no bullshit propaganda.

More reasons that the current NLRB "secret ballot' hurts working Americans

FACT: 30% of pro union employees are fired during an organizing drive, even though it is against the law, they just don't care as the NLRB has been battered by lobbyist and mega-corporations to the point of intellectuality. This is in no small part due to President Bush's appointment as NLRB Chairman, Robert Battista who just recently declined the reappointment to join a union avoidence and union busting law firm, from American Rights at Work, which I first published here on 5/5 in a story, titled "Former Bush NLRB Chairman Robert Battista, joins union avoidance law firm" which highlights the deterioration of the rights of workers during his tenure at the NLRB:
For years I've been writing that Robert Battista, former chair of the National Labor Relations Board, has been doing the bidding of anti-union employers by dismantling protections for workers under the law. Apparently, he's now going to be doing the bidding of anti-union employers and making a lot more money at notorious unionbusting firm Littler Mendelson (see a sample of their unionbusting strategies: Littler Mendelson’s Dos & Don’ts).

Battista asked Bush to withdraw his nomination as Labor Board chair, which was going nowhere, and joined the firm that John Logan of the London School of Economics called one of the "nation’s first law firms to conduct aggressive union avoidance campaigns."

Now Battista can make money telling employers how to exploit the law he helped to weaken in order to prevent their workers from organizing.Battista is not alone, spin-doctor lawyer and lobbyist Rick Berman, the self proclaimed "Dr.Evil", corporate lobbyist for Big tobacco and the liquor industry among others, and creator of such fun filled sites as The Center for Union Facts is working hard on getting the American public against the Employee Free Choice Act, by advertising on local networks against the bill, using that d1ckhead who played Johnny Sachs in the Sopranos (probably a rank-and-file SAG member like Ronald Reagan, except a hell of a lot less talented), to scare people into thinking that if the Bill is passed that their Democracy will be erased by ending 'secret ballot'. It's more like it will end Mr.Berman's and other lawyers cash cow. Lawyers, corrupt politicians and corporations are the modern day gangsters, I'm starting that when they went after the Mafia they really wanted to eliminate their competition.

The commercial shows a gangster over the card signers shoulder, yeah maybe it should show a corporate lawyer counting money if this doesn't get passed
**Click the image to add your name to the petition that will wind up on the desk of the next US President

Strike News and Job Loss
UA LU 699, IBT 282 NY Concrete drivers, American Axle updates

Lots of news going on, I've been trying to contact the Business Manager for UA Local 699 Sprinklerfitters to see if I can get any more info on the strike in Seattle Washington, last night I sent him an e-mail, still waiting for a response, I'm sure the guy is busy.

I have read that the New York concrete truck Teamsters Local 282 have gone back to the negotiating table as of yesterday, the NY Times reports that there is some progress.

Also received news of American Axle, who I recently wrote is gearing up to destroy the environment, is now looking to get rid of 400 white collar workers in the United States, now that they are escaping the land of labor rights to distant shores. What a disgrace, maybe they can rename the company to "3rd. World Nation Axle"

Health Care For All, supported by doctors and now the Mayors Council

Big news, the single payer health care bill is being endorsed by the US Conference of Mayors(The U.S. Conference of Mayors is a nonpartisan organization of mayors representing cities with a population of 30,000 or more. It currently has about 1,100 members.), this is a bill that would get health insurance for all Americans and is strongly endorsed by a whopping 59% of American doctors, here's the text of the resolution in support of the United States National Health Insurance Act, H.R. 676:

Submitted By:
The Honorable Lois J. Frankel, Mayor of West Palm Beach, Fla.
The Honorable Wayne J. Hall Sr., Mayor of Mayor of Hempstead, N.Y.
The Honorable Carolyn K. Peterson, Mayor of Ithaca, N.Y.
The Honorable John E. Marks, III, Mayor of Tallahassee, Fla.
The Honorable Sheila Dixon, Mayor of Baltimore, Md.
The Honorable Becky Tooley, Mayor of Coconut Creek, Fla.
The Honorable Ryan Coonerty, Mayor of Santa Cruz, Calif.

WHEREAS, every person deserves access to affordable quality health care; and

WHEREAS, the number of Americans without health insurance now exceeds 47 million; and

WHEREAS, millions with insurance have coverage so inadequate that a major illness would lead to financial ruin, and medical illness and bills contribute to one-half of all bankruptcies; and

WHEREAS, proposals for “consumer directed health care” such as Health Savings Accounts or Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs) would only worsen this situation by penalizing the sick, discouraging prevention and saddling many working families with huge medical bills; and

WHEREAS, managed care and other market-based reforms have failed to contain health care costs, which now threaten the international competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers; and

WHEREAS, administrative waste stemming from our reliance on private insurers consumes one-third of private health spending while the single payer Medicare system has administrative costs of less than 5 percent; and

WHEREAS, U.S. hospitals spend 24.3 percent of their budgets on billing and administration while hospitals under Canada’s single payer system spend only 12.9 percent; and

WHEREAS, Harvard researchers estimate that more than $300 billion could be recovered by replacing private insurance companies with a single public payer, enough to cover the uninsured and to improve coverage for all those who now have only partial coverage; and

WHEREAS, entrusting care to profit-oriented firms diverts billions of dollars to outrageous incomes for CEOs and threatens the quality of care; and

WHEREAS, The United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676) would assure universal coverage of all medically necessary services, contain costs by slashing bureaucracy, protect the doctor patient relationship, assure patients a completely free choice of doctors, and allow physicians a free choice of practice settings; and

WHEREAS, most polls show that the majority of Americans support universal health care; and

WHEREAS, as of the date of this resolution, the majority of American physicians (59 percent) believe that Single Payer is the best method of securing universal health care; and

WHEREAS, The United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676) will guarantee every mayor that all residents and employees of his/her city will be fully covered for health care and save millions of taxpayer dollars now spent on premiums to provide less than full health insurance coverage for government employees; and

NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED, that the United States Conference of Mayors expresses its support for The United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676), and calls upon federal legislators to work towards its immediate enactment and further urges the adoption of a process to insure that health care providers justify any increase in health care costs.

Got the MySpace up, and a shoutbox. Next we will change the layout here.

Finally did it, got a dedicated Joe's Union Review MySpace account that mirrors the blog here into the MySpace social network, it's how I met Richard at union review, theres a whole lot more to that story, but in a nutshell, I'm looking to meet more Richard's, Joe's and Kirsten's.

I also added a "shoutbox' to this site, you can easily add messages onto the site by entering text into the box and submitting it, try it out, it's right under the title "Say something even if it's wrong"

Seriously thinking of updating the site, I have been working with a layout that has more features, like having just the story introduction on the front page, with a read more lnk, ala Union review and the Building Bridges Radio blog i have been working on, let me know what you think.

Working behind the scenes a bit lately, a great win for the future of New York's labor solidarity was achieved yesterday, I'm waiting for a press release to write on it, stay tuned, and finally I leave you with...

In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold,
Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong.From YouTube
Solidarity Forever sung by Pete Seeger & The Weavers, with old photographs of the labor movement in US History.This is a tribute to all the workers who sacrificed to make a better world for their children and grand children.


The history of this song can be found at Wikipedia,
"Solidarity Forever", written by Ralph Chaplin in 1915, is perhaps the most famous union anthem after The Internationale. It is sung to the tune of "John Brown's Body" and is inspired by the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". Although it was written as a song for the Industrial Workers of the World, other union movements, such as the AFL-CIO, have adopted the song as their own. The song is still performed by musicians such as Utah Phillips, and was redone by Emcee Lynx. It is still commonly sung at union meetings and rallies in Australia and Canada, and has also been sung at conferences of the Australian Labor Party and the Canadian New Democratic Party. The use of the originally patriotic tune for a progressive and left-wing cause also inspired the anthem of the consumer cooperative movement, "The Battle Hymn of Cooperation."heres a new verse I didn't know existed
They say our day is over; they say our time is through,
They say you need no union if your collar isn't blue,
Well that is just another lie the boss is telling you,
For the Union makes us strong!
(Chorus)

They divide us by our color; they divide us by our tongue,
They divide us men and women,; they divide us old and young,
But they'll tremble at our voices, when they hear these verses sung,
For the Union makes us strong!
(Chorus)Anne Feeney: War On The Workers, my favorite labor song

Copy and pasted from my new Joe's Union Review MySpace account
Speaking of Anne Feeney, heres a clip from the 2002 G8 protest in Calgary with Chris Chandler

Caught this on CNN, what an amazing story, reminded me of Flip Wilson, the retired NYC fireman who works with Gene Jackson, a retired Steamfitter in NY to help our severely wounded returning veterans. It amazes me how people will do so much to help others, really go out and help, not just with money, but get their hands dirty to change the world for the better.

Russel Jackson is a guy who made me actually watch TV, with the severe need for health care in the United States, like my recent story "60 minutes follows charatible remote health care facility now needed here in the United States", whereby a medical service on wheels that was initially intended to be used in third world countries, now goes across the United States to help our own people. Well heres another hero, this guy actually started something

I wish I could get the videos embedded here, but what the heck, you'll have to click a link or two from this story.

From CNN "Helping kids get well one car ride at a time" (7/3/08):

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (CNN) -- If Russell Jackson has his way, any child who needs medical care but lacks the transportation to get there will have a safe and reliable alternative.

"We found that there were 80,000-plus children in Alabama living in a home with no car," Jackson says.

"And in the rural areas, there are no cabs, there are no buses, there are no trains. ... Millions of children in our country every day have no access to medical care when they need to reach it."

Jackson is so determined that in 1997 he gave up his career as an Alabama firefighter, moved in with friends and dug into his retirement account to start Kid One Transport, a nonprofit organization that provides rides for needy children in his home state.

In 11 years, Kid One's fleet of vans has ferried more than 16,000 kids to and from scheduled medical-related appointments all over Alabama.

Watch Jackson describe the need for medical transportation in rural Alabama »

Jackson never anticipated he would leave the fire department to head up a nonprofit organization. After all, firefighting was the culmination of a lifelong dream.

"What little boy doesn't want to be a firefighter?" Jackson says, laughing.

Continue over at CNN to read the rest, to all the heroes out there on this Independence Day, thank you.

Finally a good judgment, right to the point: If you use untrained immigrant workers, you go to jail.

You would think that it would be a score one for the 'good guys', and you would be right, the only bad part is that this story didn't take place in the United states and it took 4 deaths and 3 injuries to bring this to light.

From the far away land of Qatar in the Persian Gulf region, "Jail sentence for supervisor" (7/6/08) - Gulf Times
A Doha court has sentenced a construction site supervisor to two years imprisonment for “negligence that led to an accident” which killed four workers and injured three others last year.

The Syrian and the company that employed him were also fined QR20,000 each. The company was made the second accused in the case.

The court ordered the Syrian, the company and the insurance firm to jointly pay QR150,000 as bloodmoney to the families of three of the victims. The family of the fourth victim had not put up any claim for bloodmoney during the trial and the court said that they can file a claim for it at a later stage in a civil court.

A witness told the court how a crane tilted and fell at a worksite near the West Bay on March 19, 2007, burying four workers and injuring three, two of them critically.
He said the workers were involved in a “complicated operation” at around 6pm when the accident occurred. An engineer representing the company,said the crane was imported from China and was being operated for the first time.

The court found the supervisor guilty of assigning the work to a batch of untrained workers, who were not qualified to do the job.

The judge, Mamon Hamour, said that the company committed a fatal mistake when it assigned such complicated work to an inexperienced supervisor, the first accused in the case.

The victims were identified as three Filipinos aged 20, 40 and 48 and an Indian (25).Now theres one we can learn on, lets get that blood money and jail time here.

Elaine Chao’s Labor Department doesn’t see a problem, though. Elaine’s OSHA claims poultry plants are “safer than ever,” pointing to supposedly lower rates of reported injuries. The devil’s in the details, though.- American Rights at Work on Elaine Chao's stance on the poultry industry

2 SUV's and 6 security personal, just a few blocks from her home, wow Elaine must have gotten really gussied up for John McCain and her husband Senator Mitch McConnell.


Kentucky protesters get booted away from across the street of Senator McConnell's, John McCain fund raiser.

According to Shame on Elaine (6/29/08):

Matt Gunterman sums up the problem with this scene:

So, by my rough calculation, it probably cost on the order $450 to get Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao’s nails done.

Workers in Kentucky struggle to fill up their gas tanks because gas is $4/gallon and inflation is rising.

Workers in Kentucky worry that they won’t have a job tomorrow because the second Bush recession promised to be even worse than the first.

Workers in Kentucky wonder if they’ll meet next month’s mortgage, while Wall Street fat cats get bailed out by Washington.

But does any of this worry Elaine Chao, wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) and George W. Bush’s Secretary of Labor?

Go read the rest of Matt’s post.The Bush Legacy Bus - with some great music
"you took our jobs and sent em overseas, now we owe billions to the red Chinese"- Takin My Country Back by The Honky Tonkers For Truth


Elaine Chao

Heres a little about Elaine Chao, from a previous story on Feb.19th. 2008: Carhartt, Red Wing Shoes and more union news you may have missed, ideas, blurbs and dumbed down Americans

Now American Rights at Work has launched a web-based campaign exposing Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao’s dismal record through www.ShameOnElaine.org which according to Talking Union:
Unlike her cohorts in the Bush Administration, Elaine Chao has escaped much-needed public scrutiny of her time on the job. From littering the Labor Department with corporate insiders to dismantling worker safety protections and collaborating with her husband, Sen. Mitch McConnell, on a blatant anti-union political agenda, Elaine has disgraced her role as Secretary of Labor.

Like most union activists we knew Elaine was a stinker – but until ARAW pulled all the information together at one spot, we had no idea just how bad her record is. We’re sure you’ll share our outrage over what we found out she was up to instead of serving in the interest of workers:

• Hired a former colleague from the Heritage Foundation who actually wrote a report titled “How to close down the Department of Labor.”
• Cut over 100 inspectors at the MSHA and, as a result, hundreds of mines weren’t inspected and tragedies such as Sago and Crandall Canyon might have been prevented.
• Had Chao-themed coins, lanyards, and fleece blankets printed at taxpayers’ expense.
• Failed to issue a rule requiring employers pay for their workers’ safety gear—contributing to 400,000 workers injured and 50 dead.
• Had an auditorium named in her honor – thanks to her husband’s $14.2 million earmark to enhance the Mitch McConnell Center at his alma mater, the University of Louisville. Of course, Elaine never attended the university.

Thats just the tip of the iceberg, my buddy Richie at UnionReview.com has been following her views on the American worker for a while and I pointed out in a comment:

Lets not forget

We are angry and smelly workers, according to the US Secretary of Labor
… In her infinite wisdom, Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao lectures workers on how we can stop losing our jobs to foreign workers: …
…and…
Secretary of Labor on Employee Free Choice Act
… will veto if it gets to his desk. The president and Elaine Chao say that private ballot elections should be preserved because “it is …

At the Shame on Elaine site theres also, among other atrocious misdeeds, an article about the North Carolina poultry industry, which as you may have read about first right here on JoesUnionReview, the newspaper in the local area, the Charlotte Observer has been doing what has become a rarity in todays Main Stream Media, an expose. Shame On Elaine notes: Elaine Chao’s Labor Department doesn’t see a problem, though. Elaine’s OSHA claims poultry plants are “safer than ever,” pointing to supposedly lower rates of reported injuries. The devil’s in the details, though.

The poultry story has created quite a stir, the AFL-CIO Web Blog is currently engaged in a debate in it's comments section pertaining to a story about the newest employer exploitation here on American soil. Slaves, Sharecroppers, Now Immigrants.

OSHA under the umbrella of Elaine Chao's DOL

BILL MOYERS: Businesses, on the other hand, say the requirements are cumbersome, and have long pressured the agency for weaker standards of regulation.

The pressure's paid off. THE NEW YORK TIMES' Stephen Labaton reported last year that since George W. Bush became president, the agency has left worker safety largely in the hands of industry, and has issued the fewest significant standards in its history.

Video on the production of The Charlotte Observers investigative report "The Cruelest Cuts" and the under reporting of workplace injuries, which has been covered here at Joe's with:U.S. Lawmakers worried about safety after Charlotte Observers expose on the poultry industry

From the narrator in the video:

In North Carolina, the number of OSHA poultry plant inspections fell from 25 in 1997 to nine in 2006. South Carolina poultry plant inspections dropped from 36 in 1999 to 1 in 2006.

Nationwide, OSHA workplace safety inspections at U.S. poultry plants have dropped to their lowest point in 15 years. In fact the government rewards companies that report low injury rates by inspecting them less often. And Washington's regulators rarely check whether companies are reporting accurately.

Please also note that the video features testimony by Bob Whitmore, a long time OSHA employee , who has been placed on Administrative leave to testify in the hearing, Mr.Whitmore was also the 200th. person to sign the petition against OSHA's lack of a standard in combustible dust

"As an OSHA employee, I was ashamed and deeply offended by my Agencies response at Rep Miller's Hearings. Like Rep. Miller said "I again see no sense of urgency from OSHA". The OSHA Watchdog has acted like a Lapdog again." - Bob Whitmore , Maryland

Read More about combustible dust
Read More about MeatPacking industry

OSHA News at Unbossed

• Under-Reporting Workplace Injuries and Illnesses (6/23/08)
• Constructing Unsafe Workplaces (6/26/08)
• More on Construction Industry Injuries (6/26/08)

Government, Industry Play the Numbers Game on Worker Safety in Meatpacking Plants-Labor Notes

Shirah from Unbossed at DailyKOS
More James Pence Video's at Hillbilly Report

Hillbilly chimed in on the comments with this gem, thanks brother

A member of the local floor coverings union pickets Wednesday, along with members of the Sprinkler Fitters Union Local 699.-DEAN J. KOEPFLER/THE NEWS TRIBUNE
From Gangbox "SEATTLE SPRINKLER FITTERS LOCAL 699 GOES ON STRIKE - contractors will ask other trades to work behind their picketline next week" (7/3/08)
“We’ve gotten as many phone calls from other trades supporting us, telling us they’re right behind us and they’re going to stick with us as long as it takes, so that’s what’s going to make this go sooner,” Collins said. “The contractors want us to go backward as far as our contracts go, and we’re not accepting that. With inflation going on the way it’s gone in the past few years, we’re way behind the eight ball.”

The sprinkler fitters earn about $24 to $30 an hour, and apprentices start out at less than half of those wages. That wage doesn’t include holiday, vacation or sick pay. Apprenticeships last five years, and apprentices receive health benefits in their third year, Collins said.

Mike Dahl, union business manager, said a big issue was the wages of apprentices.

“We’re looking to have not a great standard of living but just that they can afford to live,” he said. “We don’t like the economic impact on the economy here of what we’re doing. We hope this settles very soon.”SocialistWorker.org adds in "Strike shuts down Seattle building sites"(7/4/08):

The strikers know what they are up against. Sam Bond, a member of Local 699 for nine years, said in an interview, "We have got to keep up with what's going in the world. As prices go up, we have to stay up on it, so we can afford the lifestyle we want to live. This strike is really important for us, and for future generations of sprinkler fitters."

Ironworkers, electricians, laborers, operating engineers, as well as delivery drivers like UPS workers are just some of the union workers who have refused to cross the picket lines.

At the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash., the strike has shut down completely nine huge tower cranes, with upwards of 800 workers getting an unexpected extra long holiday weekend.

The union is reporting that not a single member has crossed the picket line so far. A unanimous strike authorization vote and the "last, best, and final" offer from the employers' organization, the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA), was voted down 219 to 14.

It's been nearly two years since a major construction workers strike hit the Seattle area. In August 2006, concrete workers who were members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302 paralyzed most of the industry for a month. Those workers won a contract that included pay raises of $3.95 an hour over three years and, crucially, allowed them to honor strike picket lines held by other union trades.

The importance of that strike victory is now magnified. The basic labor idea of "an injury to one is an injury to all" has been highlighted by the solidarity of all the building trade workers refusing to cross the sprinkler fitters' picket line.

As one Local 699 striker put it, "The support we're getting is unbelievable. To be able to have all the trades honor the picket line also helps them out more when their contract times come up."

Heads high brothers, hope you get the $14 over 3 and the better apprentice package, to those that do not know the $14 is cumulative of all health, welfare, pension, etc., meaning it doesn't go into the pocket, the majority usually gets invested in other necessities.

Different ideals, different places, the song remains the same, local behemoth business using 1099 misclassification abuse to lower the standards of local living wages, while in New York they threaten their nonunion workforce with guns, threats and empty promises if they chose to be in a union, screwing workers is big business. Screwing the public by allowing us to subsidize their legal employer responsibility is a tragedy.

From "Rough Carpentry: Local Carpenters Union wages an ongoing battle with Proffitt & Sons" TN (7/2/08) - UBC LU 40
The community is Hardin Valley; Murphy and fellow union member Shane Monroe are stationed on Hardin Valley Road a short distance from the Pellissippi Parkway interchange in front of The Village, an in-progress mixed-use residential/commercial development that will be anchored by a major grocery chain. Murphy and Monroe are seated in fold-out chairs on either end of a 5 foot by 15 foot banner that says, in big red block letters, “Shame on Jake Pinkston.” Pinkston is head of Pinkston Construction, the Village contractor.

Murphy says the union is protesting Pinkston’s use of drywall contractors Proffitt & Sons, for not meeting “area labor standards.” The union’s hope is that passers-by will call Pinkston Construction and protest their employment of the subcontractor.

According to Carpenters Union Director of Organizing Robert Helton, the union isn’t seeking an agreement with Proffitt & Sons, but merely to see the contractor improve pay and benefits packages for workers.

“They’re lowering standards for all carpenters in the Knoxville area,” he says. “We’d like to see them change their practices.”

Helton charges that Proffitt & Sons doesn’t pay what the union considers a fair wage, doesn’t pay benefits to many of its workers, and is engaged in using an inordinate number of 1099 independent contractors, rather than using full-time employees who are entitled to worker’s compensation and unemployment benefits.

“By law, you can’t use that many independent contractors on your site,” he says. “Somebody has to be an employee.”

Helton says the union’s efforts have been ongoing since January; in addition to the Pinkston site, he says they have picketed five other sites in the area, including one for the University of Tennessee (the sign for which says “Shame on John Petersen”) and for Blount Memorial Hospital in Blount County.Charlie from UBCNewsroom posted a story about whats happening in New England "N.E. Carpenters Union Hits AvalonBay’s CEO, Fliers Target Developer’s Hiring Practices" (6/30/08):

The New England carpenters union is taking aim at a national real estate investment trust and its $7 million-a-year chief executive, Hingham resident Bryce Blair, in an effort to expose what the union calls “the underground economy.”

While some people debate the impact of undocumented workers on construction sites, unions and government officials are going after the companies that they say pay their workers in cash and, in doing so, commit insurance and tax fraud.

Since May, members of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters have been in Hingham handing out fliers with a photo of AvalonBay Communities’ CEO Blair.

“When you see Bryce Blair around town,” the flier states, “thank him for overbuilding the town, hurting the town by using contractors that practice tax and insurance fraud, and just being an unscrupulous guy.”

Carpenters Local 424 Business Manager Rick Braccia said the group has distributed 1,200 fliers in downtown Hingham and at the job site, Avalon at Hingham Shipyard.

“AvalonBay hides behind the fact that they tell their contractors they will not allow illegality, but the reality is, there is no oversight on the job by AvalonBay,” he said.

For example, in December 2006, OSHA reported that Shawnlee Construction, an AvalonBay subcontractor at its Newton and Danvers job sites, exposed employees to fall hazards.

In March 2007, Oscar I. Pintado, a 27-year-old carpenter from Ecuador, was killed when he fell at an AvalonBay project in Woburn. Union officials say he was being paid in cash and was working without workers compensation coverage.

In April, Eric Frumin of Change to Win, a partnership of seven unions, told a congressional committee on workplace safety that AvalonBay sites are unsafe.

The Virginia-based real estate investment trust, formed in 1993, manages 52,167 apartments. In Massachusetts, the company has 5,000 apartments. Most are in multifamily, wood-frame buildings.

In Hingham, AvalonBay is building apartments at the former shipyard.

After union carpenters built a clubhouse and one building on the site, carpenters union organizer Mario Mejia said he met workers from Mexico who were brought to Massachusetts from Virginia. Mejia said the workers are living in Devens and are being transported by their bosses in a van to work every day. They are paid $150 in cash each day, he said.

AvalonBay did not respond to a request for comment on Mejia’s statements.

Meanwhile, on the streets of Hingham, Braccia said public response has been “surprisingly in our favor.

“We do get people who think this is strictly a union issue, and think we aren’t getting the job, so we are angry,” he said.

“We tell them, ‘It doesn’t have to be union, but it does have to be legal.’ ”

More info at the sites below

Ronald Regan once said "I believe that in both spirit and substance , our tax system has come to be unAmerican"

All the way back in November of 2007, I wrote an article at Union Review that, aw hell here's the entire thing.

Mad As Hell #2 : Australian people dump corporate Gov. In favor of Labor and what's important here - 11/25/07
Note: I'm As Mad As Hell #1 - "The Part That Big Media Left Out !!!" is at the bottom of every page here at Joe's Union review

In a carbon-copy of the USA's wholesale sell off of the American worker in favor of corporate rulership , the people of Australia , who have faced their own War Against The Workers, have said "enough is enough".

The Liberals*, also known as the coalition, used Fear as the biggest tactic against Labor, fear of unions , fear of terrorism, immigrants, etc. . Even the distribution of fake handouts which stated that ""Labor*" supports terrorism" didn't discourage the masses to flock to the polls to oust the now-former conservative regime. Heres what the conservatives did against unions in 2005

FROM: MR Zine

"...2005 legislation that dramatically undermined workers' rights to organize and forced them onto individual contracts. The new law banned 'pattern bargaining' (industry-wide campaigns) and deciding on industrial action at mass meetings. It restricted union officials' access to members at work and abolished the prohibition of unfair dismissals."

Sounds like todays NLRB to me.

Only time will tell if Australia will be better off , here in the states where we decide the lesser of two evils, where whoever is elected it seems "we the people", the working class people , get screwed. To what degree is something we could debate forever (Who signed NAFTA? Under what presidency did deregulation of industry start? Who fired the Air-Traffic controllers? Who's NLRB are we under today?) . We head into our elections hoping a democratic presidency will change that, I only hope that it will be true.

We need a party for the working people not just the lesser of two evils, a party that views the Constitution as law , a party that will not give away the final "gasp" of American industry, one that will support "fair" trade not "free" trade, one that will view the American people as people, not just consumers and pawns in todays global economy. We need to become "We the people", not just "We the consumer"

Unfortunately, we have been bushwhacked (no pun intended) to believe, by the elections in Florida, that all of our voting standards are flawed , but that just isn't the case, or at least not a good enough reason to go to electronic voting (using a computerized polls to vote in an election) . If you are on a computer now, you know how easy it is to be hacked, get a virus or any other security risk at hand .

What makes the powers that be think that 'we the people" want any form of electronic voting? Why would we want any form of voting whereby there cannot be a hard copy recount , where rigging could be as simple as a math problem on a calculator? Just take a looksie at YouTube and the Voting Machine Hacks (seems YouTube is down at the moment, maybe they got Hacked) , most interesting of which is this testimony. Who decides who gets the contract to use the software on these machines? An interesting note is that We The People - a Foundation who's mission is to protect and defend individual Rights as guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States - has filed suit against electronic voting claiming in part "computerized voting machines, are unconstitutional because they are ripe for fraud and error and effectively hide the physical vote counting process from the public, effectively denying citizens their legally protected Right to cast an effective vote.".

The fight is now, to make sure we do have a choice in the future, communicate information to others, end the war on the working people in the USA. Make sure those who wish to be in office are informed that we are mad, informed and that we are united. The world should be a place where life should be easier for the masses through innovations and inventions. Where things should be made better , not just throw away junk . Where we shouldn't be sicker and should live longer. What has happened? We are sicker, we pay the same for shoddy products, we buy poison food and toys from places we jettisoned our industrial jobs to, we work harder for less, we have less options for work , we have rampant illegal immigration (slave labor), we have a nation divided through fear, language and religion , we are closer to catastrophic loss of everything we own in a dire emergency then during the depression, we are a nation addicted to drugs for heart burn, erections and sleep disorders who ask our doctors what they think of medicines with commercials we pay for, we can be withheld by authorities and everything we 'own' can be taken for no reason at all, we are a nation of sheep blindly being led to slavery through creditors , mortgages and loans , a nation where our labor is taxed seemingly without representation (Ronald Regan once said "I believe that in both spirit and substance , our tax system has come to be unamerican") .

If one were to look at the current state of affairs , to look beyond the lies , half-truths and misinformation, one would think that we live in the world Ray Bradbury saw in Fahrenheit 451 , the futuristic world where Guy Montag the lead characters wife sits in her living room interacting with her 3 walls of television without a care in the world, while Montag who is a futuristic fireman in a world where everything is non-flammable, books are restricted, individuals are anti-social and hedonistic, and critical thought is suppressed. Montag's job is to burn books. Are we really that far off ?

Anyone who has showed up here at UnionReview a few times already knows that Net Neutrality can and will be used for information suppression . Just the basic fact that the ilk such as Rick Berman, the creator of the anti-union "center for union facts" , has been signed on in support of the corporate agenda is tell tale that there is a huge lobbying effort to suppress our freedom of internet information. The same companies that run TV, Radio and Cable want to control everything even on the internet. Check out and get active on www.SaveTheInternet.com, do it if only for the sake that you can still view this site, for the fact that we can still have a free voice over our concerns of the working class, that yes free speech is alive and well.

Well like all stories I write, this one, unfortunately, has come to an end.

*Please note that the 2 main parties in AUS. are "Liberal" which is the conservative party and sympathies with corporations and "Labor" which is somewhat to the left, has quite a few candidates who are Union and is more for the working class.

Original story:
Australia UNIONS warn "Australia is becoming more and more like the United States"

Australia's conservative party Fear campaign

Save The Internet

We The people Lawsuit Against Electronic Voting

Electronic voting machine whistle blower

Drug ad parodies

• Drivers’ Strike Stalls New York City Construction - 7/2/08 - NY Times

The two sides engaged in intense bargaining until 12:30 a.m. Tuesday at Local 282’s headquarters in Lake Success, N.Y., but then the union informed the concrete companies that it was walking out. The contract expired at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

“Teamsters Local 282 regrets that it was unable to reach an agreement,” Bruce Levine, the lead lawyer for the union, said in a statement. “Local 282 is particularly disappointed because in the past month, it has succeeded in reaching innovative, far-reaching and fair agreements with hundreds of employers” that handle demolition as well as lumber, steel and other non-concrete building materials.

Construction is continuing at nonunion projects, which are generally smaller than the unionized sites affected by the strike. Work continued at some unionized sites where all the concrete had been poured, allowing laborers to do interior work or work on heating and air-conditioning.

Mr. Greco, who is also the secretary-treasurer of the Greco Brothers Concrete Corporation, said that under the expired contract, drivers earned $33.11 an hour, rising to $59.01 when health insurance, pension contributions and other benefits are included.

He said the union earlier this week demanded raises of $5 an hour in the overall compensation package each year for three years, although the union did not specify how much would go to wages and how much to benefits..

Mr. Greco said that during Monday’s bargaining, Gary La Barbera, Local 282’s president, reduced that demand to $3.50 an hour.

“They didn’t give us a chance to answer the $3.50 package before they walked out,” Mr. Greco said.

That $3.50 would represent a 6 percent increase in the drivers’ $59-an-hour compensation package.

“That is absolutely not a correct number or a correct version of events,” said a member of the union’s bargaining team, who insisted on anonymity because union officials said they would not negotiate in the news media. “And I’m surprised that a member of management’s bargaining team would be saying these things in public.”

Local 282 had long been notorious because the Gambino crime family controlled it for decades. But government officials placed it into trusteeship, and Mr. La Barbera was brought in to help root out corruption. Government officials say the cleanup has been quite successful.
More at the link above, article by Steven Greenhouse, Picture by Rob Bennett

• Peterbilt workers still locked out - 06/30/08 - Workers Independent News
  

A lockout of United Auto Worker members continues at a Peterbilt plant in Madison, Tennessee. The workers have been locked out since last Monday. Their contract expiring on Friday, June 20. The two sides have been unable to reach an agreement. The local representing the workers has expressed that it would like to sit down and continue negotiations, but no new discussions have been set. The company is asking workers to pay 25 percent of health insurance premiums, a move that could triple premiums for some workers. The company has offered to pay each worker a $1,200 bonus when the new contract is ratified, in exchange for a wage freeze until 2010. The contract would also institute a two-tier wage structure where new hires would start at much lower rate than predecessors.

• Ignorant America: Just How Stupid Are We? - 7/2/08 - AlterNet
  

Today, conservatives argue that the Social Security Trust Fund is a fiction. They are correct. The money was spent. They helped spend it.

To this debate about Social Security -- which, once one understands what has been happening, is actually quite absorbing -- the public has largely been an indifferent spectator. A surprising 2001 Pew study found that just 19% of Americans understand that the United States ever ran a surplus at all, however defined, in the 1990s or 2000's. And only 50% of Americans, according to an Annenberg study in 2004, understand that President Bush favors privatizing Social Security. Polls indicate that people are scared that the system is going bust, no doubt thanks in part to Bush's gloom-and-doom prognostications. But they haven't the faintest idea what going bust means. And in fact, the system can be kept going without fundamental change simply by raising the cap on taxed income and pushing back the retirement age a few years.
Rick Shenkman, Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter, New York Times bestselling author, and associate professor of history at George Mason University, is the founder and editor of History News Network, a website that features articles by historians on current events. This essay is adapted from chapter two of his new book, Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth about the American Voter (Basic Books, 2008). His observations about the 2008 election can be followed on his blog, "How Stupid?" His recent appearance on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" can be viewed by clicking here.

• USW Convention Delegates Support Vegas Taxi Drivers -7/1/08- USW website

Thousands of USW members chanting “No Justice, No Peace” lined Las Vegas Boulevard outside the union’s convention hall this morning to support union taxi cab drivers who have been working without a labor contract.

USW members waving yellow placards lined the boulevard to show their support for the 5,000 member Las Vegas Alliance for Taxi and Limousine Drivers and to raise the heat in stalled contract negotiations.
The alliance is a partnership of the USW and the Industrial Technical Professional Employees Union (ITPE) local, an affiliate of the Office and Professional Employees International Union.

• Sign the Petition to Build America - 6/30/08- CTWConnect
  

It's no secret that America's infrastructure is crumbling. But, you may wonder, is anyone doing anything about it? And is there any way you can help?

Someone is, and you can. The Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) has launched a new campaign called "Build America So America Works" that's calling for the Federal government to finally do something about our crumbling infrastructure. And to promote awareness of the campaign, they've just launched this new TV spot

• Worker Abuse Not Just North Carolina's Problem -7/1/08- Women, Unions, and Our Stories

According to a press release sent out by the Justice at Smithfield campaign:

Washington, DC Councilmembers Phil Mendelson, Muriel Bowser, Jack Evans, Harry Thomas, Marion Barry, Kwame Brown, Jim Graham and Tommy Wells will introduce a Sense of the Council resolution on Smithfield Foods today that asks area supermarkets, corner stores and other establishments to stop stocking Smithfield pork and other meat products.

Washington, DC is one of the largest markets for products from the Smithfield Tar Heel, North Carolina plant--which has been implicated in abuse of its workers. The DC council members and supports first pledged to help on June 20th, after a kickoff rally on the 19th for the boycott and ad campaign. As the Washington Post reported then:

"Our work here is to make Smithfield uncomfortable," council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) said in an interview.

Here's one of the television ads the campaign has created:


You can find out more about the abuses at Smithfield, Tar Heel, and sign up to help at http://www.smithfieldjustice.com/.Also take a look at "Pic- Links for the hell of it" - for more recent labor headlines

UPDATE->: There is a tentative agreement, I gotta go to work

UPDATE FROM->:Midnight strike looms for Con Edison workers, keep up to date with the newsfeed

From NY1:
Con Edison, Union Continue Early A.M. Negotiations
July 02, 2008
As of midnight Wednesday, Con Edison and a union representing 9,000 of the utility's workers were still at the bargaining table, but expected a resolution by morning.

Disregarding a second strike deadline of midnight, the utility and Local 1-2 were continuing negotiations that continued since Tuesday morning.

A union spokesman said that the utility agreed to let workers keep their pensions, but that health benefits and salaries still needed to be finalized.

The spokesman also said that Governor David Paterson was instrumental in resolving tensions, and that without the governor's intervention, the workers would have already been on strike.

Updated again->:Con Edison, Union Continue Early A.M. Negotiations

"As someone who has dealt with incompetence and lies of the top management at Con Ed, I can only imagine what these hard working people who do the real work on the streets are going through," "A strike could lead to a potentially dangerous situation. It took nine days to restore power even with these trained professionals working around the clock. We might still be in the dark if they weren't there."- Queens Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr.

Following up on Sunday's story:"Con-Ed to workers: Take your 0.5%, give us a 2-tier and shut up"

From NY1 (7/1/08):
Midnight Strike Deadline Looms For Con Ed
July 01, 2008

Consolidated Edison and the union representing 9,000 of its workers headed back to the bargaining table today with a midnight strike deadline looming ahead.

The utility and Local 1-2 have been in a "cooling off" period for the last 72-hours, after round-the-clock negotiations this weekend yielded little progress.

Workers say they are prepared to walk off the job at midnight if a new agreement cannot be reached. A spokesperson says wages, health care costs, and pensions remain the sticking points.

Con Ed said supervisors are ready to step in to keep the system running without any disruptions in service. The utility says half of its management rose through the ranks and is familiar with the system.

Yet, Queens Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. said he is worried that a strike could have a large impact.

"As someone who has dealt with incompetence and lies of the top management at Con Ed, I can only imagine what these hard working people who do the real work on the streets are going through," Vallone said in a statement. "A strike could lead to a potentially dangerous situation. It took nine days to restore power even with these trained professionals working around the clock. We might still be in the dark if they weren't there."

A strike would involve electric, gas and steam workers in every borough but Staten Island.

Just for shits and giggles, lets take a looksie

How bout Con Ed's CEO? In 2007 the CEO of Consolidated Edison,Kevin Burke, 57, made a total of $5.5 Million, 24% more than he made in 2006, that would only stand to increase if he brings wages down on this contract, take a look at American Axle CEO’s reward for slashing wages—$8.5 million bonus

Keep up to date with the NewsFeed below

Click a picture get a story, I'm being lazy

UPDATED (7/1/08)->: Midnight strike looms for Con Edison workers, keep up to date with the newsfeed

On June 13th. 9000 members of The Utility Workers local 1-2 (UWUA1-2), when faced with the idea of no raise in their upcoming contract(note: the last expired this morning), voted overwhelmingly to strike if their memberships needs were not addressed by the "Privately owned" Consolidated Edison.

In talks with a high ranking official of Local 1-2, the latest offer by Con Ed included a two-tier system where new workers would see a serious lack of benefits, almost no raise and as expected in todays day and age, raises in co-payments of health care. While the Governor has negotiated a 72 hour "cooling off period" whereby negotiations will continue Tuesday at 9AM, and the workers will remain on the job at least until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday night, there is the great possibility of a strike as of Wednesday.

According to Stephen Greenhouse and Ken Belson's article in Fridays NY Times, "Union Says It and Con Edison Are Far Apart on Contract", (6/27/08):
The union is opposed to company proposals to phase out a defined-benefit pension plan and to deduct workers’ compensation awards from employee pensions.

“If they continue to press the issue, we will walk,” promised Joe Flaherty, a spokesman for the union, which represents Con Edison workers everywhere but on Staten Island. “It seems to us that they want to force us out.”

Mr. Flaherty said his union was asking for wage increases because of rising prices for fuel, food and other basics. He noted that many cable splicers, meter readers, engineers and others must drive to work because they often travel among several locations.

Mr. Flaherty said that unlike previous negotiations, when only a handful of details remained unresolved so close to the contract’s expiration, this time the two sides had yet to agree on a host of significant issues.

“I’ve never seen it at this stage, when there’s absolutely nothing resolved,” he said. “I would say their position is stonewalling.”

A spokesman for Con Edison, Michael S. Clendenin, declined to respond to the union’s claims, saying: “We don’t negotiate in the press.”That sounds a lot like the 2-tier system that I warned you about, and has made the auto-industry in the United States a working poor job.

If I worked for Con Ed, i would gladly go on strike, but I await the Main Stream Media's response that will ignore the facts and make it a "Unions fuck the people of New York" front page story like the NY Post editorial which attacked the striking Broadway Stagehands back in November 2007. (see "NY Post spin-doctoring and the IATSE Stagehands" (11/20/07) and "Remember if there is a strike, BLAME AMTRAK, not the union workers!" (1/17/08) )

Be prepared reader, Crain's and some other publications are already trying to make it a construction worker Vs. utility worker fight, meanwhile my source has assured me that they have gotten countless calls of support from other union officials, including many in the Building and Construction trades. They see the writing on the wall, and know that the greater fight is for a better future for New York's workers against this private utility monster.

Privatization Vs. American Workers, what GHI and HIP workers should expect
"One can only hope that the Utility Workers Union is serious about its strike threat. Pulling the workforce off the job for a protracted amount of time may help New Yorkers see that vital city functions such as the operation of utilities cannot be run privately." -Counterhegemonic at Independent Media Center

Talk about avoidance of a real news story, I have been following the misdeeds of HIP for quite some time, since I learned how the company fleeced our tax money to build downtown after 9/11 and promised to keep good paying jobs in the city and then moved those jobs out of the area, in fact 1 1/2 hours away by train to Long Island, in the article "HIP replaces 186 Downtown, NY jobs, breaking a massive promise", and how the privatization of both HIP and GHI will devastate New Yorker's who rely on their medical coverage in the article by "Building Bridges"

Heres a great article I found at NYC Independent Media Center entitled "Con Edison Workers and the Real Face of Privatization" (6/28/08):
Administrative workers at the currently non-profit health insurance companies GHI & HIP face the very real prospect of having their employer become a for-profit company. The exact meaning of this may seem murky. Nearly every study of privatization, particularly privatization in the healthcare industry, has demonstrated that spending on administration increases. Bad news for subscribers who need healthcare but seemingly great news for workers in search of fat paychecks, right?

Well, the more than 9,000 workers currently employed by Con Edison would beg to differ. Contract talks between their now privately held employer and the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2 have reached an impasse. The utility's stingy management has offered a 0.5% per -year wage increase and the union has threatened to walk off the job. As usual, the employer has appealed for mediation and "productive discussion" despite the fact that their wage offer is nearly 3% below the annual rate of inflation.

Con Ed supplies and maintains most of New York City's electric, gas and steam service. Since the company was de-regulated in 1998 there have been a series of high profile disasters. In 2005, stray voltage killed a woman who was walking her dog after she stepped on an electrified plate. 2007's disaster was even larger as an 83 year-old steam pipe burst in Midtown resulting in the death of one person and 40 injuries. Finally, the company is largely blamed for a massive blackout in Queens in 2006 for which they offered "inconvenienced" customers a $100 rebate check and a "brief apology."

Con Ed is the largest for-profit utility company in the country. Most urban utilities are either run by state-owned companies or tightly regulated non-profits. Con Ed has also spun out an energy subsidiary called Con Ed Energy which nationally markets electricity produced in NYC plants. This practice is held to be a root cause of a persistent wave of blackouts nation-wide.

So, in NYC a massive for-profit company is charged with servicing an infrastructure which is essentially crumbling under the weight of its own age. There has been no substantial effort post-1970s fiscal crisis to upgrade the urban infrastructure. This is perfectly fine with Con Ed executives as it ensures a steady line of funding for patchwork projects.

Now, however, even this is not enough. Now the company intends to squeeze every last penny out of both NYC citizens and its own workers paychecks. One can only hope that the Utility Workers Union is serious about its strike threat. Pulling the workforce off the job for a protracted amount of time may help New Yorkers see that vital city functions such as the operation of utilities cannot be run privately. The only motivation is profit - whether it come from soaring customer bills, work contracts from our city budget or from the wallets of workers.

Mark this as a little lesson for GHI & HIP workers and other folks facing possible privatization. The promised returns to you are just thinly veiled mirages. Lurking behind the seduction is a grim future where management is preparing to grind every last penny out of your pocket. The less protection you have the easier this will be. By Counterhegemonic http://counterhegemonic.blogspot.com/This is the third and last in my tirade against the Main Stream, you can view some of my favorites below:

• Now Big Media can hurt workers better - Freepress (12/19/07)
• I'm As Mad As Hell #1 - "The Part That Big Media Left Out !!! - Union Review (10/27/07)
• Video: Bill Moyers addresses conference for media reform: labor, health care, middle-class, tying it all together - (6/7/08)
• Iraq Veterans Against War, one Long Island mans account, and the bigger issue of propaganda and censorship in the war - (5/7/08)
• Stop union buster Rupert Murdoch from owning more NY media! - (4/24/08)
• Carpenters video release: Globalization, who's next? A must see for all US construction workers (4/7/08)
• KS: State passes bill that will encourage more illegal immigration and punishes unions who try to help the workers (4/2/08)
  
• Slavery: Alive and well in USA Pt.2, Indian pipefitters abused in H2B Visa scam, main stream media picks up story full year after facts are released (3/13/08)
• Anti-Union blogging, adding more misinformation for the masses (1/26/08)
• Center For Union Facts ? Anti-Union Lobby At It's Worst - Union Review (9/17/07)
• Offshoring and H1B Visa abuse, the 1-2 punch to knockout US tech workers (2/26/08)
• The state of the media in the USA today - via Broadcast Union News reposting an article from IBEW Local 1212 website (2/25/08)

The Employee Free Choice Act

Oh, just so I don't forget, those powers that control the media also don't want you to sign the petition that will be delivered to the next president of the United States with 1,000,000 American signatures on it, since I got your attention, give a minute of you time and sign the petition for the Employee free Choice Act. It's getting blatantly obvious that the corporations and the law firms that profit on our misery are terrified of the labor movement and will do everything in their power to curb this legislation. I recently wrote about how with guns and threats towards their employees, and the corporate controlled NLRB, who's last chairman, Robert Battista has joined up with America's largest union-avoidance law firm, how the current system does not work.

Click the image on the left to sign your name to the petition, do it for the 58 million American's who desperately want to be union, but are terrified of the bosses reprisals in the wait between signing the cards and the election.

He also made clear his opinion that in the long run school systems are better served by union, yes he used the "U" word, contractors , as their employees are better trained in both skills and safety.

By Bill The Lather


Commissioner, NYS D.O.L.,M. Patricia Smith

This past Friday, industry leaders from business, labor and government convened to discuss and learn more about prevailing wage and employee misclassification law. Local 46 was aptly represented by Business Agent Ronnie Richardson.

The opening remarks were given by Nassau County Executive, Tom Suozzi, who openly called for business and labor to come together in common interest and forge a Project Labor Agreement that will serve to raise wages, increase the tax base and provide a safer, healthier environment in our schools. He cited the current agreement that exists between the NYC School Construction authority and the NYC Building Trades as a model for just such a plan.

Representatives from Nassau county District Attorney's office, the NYS Attorney General's office, and New York State's Commissioner of Labor, herself, have all put their political will behind these pro-worker pieces of legislation that benefit in turn all residents of the state. In addition to not paying prevailing wages, many unscrupulous contractors will cheat the system by misclassifying workers as "independent contractors." This misclassification results in workers receiving no worker's compensation, unemployment or health care benefits. It also results in the state incurring financial losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Those losses are, of course, passed on to us in the form of property and sales taxes.

Christopher Alund, Director of Public Works for the New York State Department of Labor explained to local school board members that their responsibility to make sure such laws are adhered to are greater than ever before. He also made clear his opinion that in the long run school systems are better served by union, yes he used the "U" word, contractors , as their employees are better trained in both skills and safety. He summed up his presentation by saying: " There is no factual evidence that prevailing wage in any way increases the cost of construction." To me, that sounds like a ringing endorsement for union labor.

Got this from Eric Lee over at Labourstart, doing my part, please pass it along.

This message will be very brief and to the point.

The Turkish government has jailed a woman trade unionist, Meryem Özsögüt, and has kept her in detention for nearly six months. Meryem is a leader of the public sector union SES, and we've been asked by Public Services International (PSI) to launch a big online campaign demanding her release.

For more details and to add your signature, please click here now.

This campaign will not take off, and we will not secure Meryem's release, unless we can mobilize thousands of our members around the world. Please do what you can to help this campaign go viral -- forward it to your email lists, post information on your union websites, pass out flyers at events, use new tools like Twitter, Facebook and blogs to spread the word.
Meryem needs our help. I know that I can count on all of you.

Eric Lee