Union Review

A Few Weeks in Union Review

Richard — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:51:39 -0500

The Weekly Round-Up is updated just about every Sunday. It is where we post all of the stories that appeared on the site in the last week or so for anyone to revisit, comment, etc. This one is for the last 20 days.

Tell Whirlpool: Keep It Made In America—Save Our Jobs

Richard — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:48:09 -0500

This piece was written by James Parks from the AFL-CIO. The orginal is here.

The Whirlpool Corp. makes a big deal of its concern for the environment and the poor. But now, the company is about to throw 1,100 workers at its Evansville, Ind., refrigerator plant onto the streets and move their jobs to Mexico, where labor and environmental laws are weaker.

You can show solidarity with the Whirlpool workers, most of whom are members of IUE-CWA, by signing an online petition urging Whirlpool to reverse its decision and Keep It Made in America: Save Our Jobs. Click here to sign the petition.

IUPAT Member Saves Lives At Austin Plane Crash

Richard — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:23:48 -0500

An IUPAT member working at the Austin, Texas building -where the plane crashed this week- sprung into action shortly after and ended up saving the lives of five people. The following is a statement of the president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

Why Labor Reform Always Fails

Richard — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:57:31 -0500

Jake Blumgart is a staff writer for Campus Progress, he asked to post this piece to UR. The original posting is here.

At the beginning of 2009, unions had a reason to feel a little hopeful. The electoral victory spearheaded by Barack Obama the year before seemed to ensure a wave of progressive legislation. The new president even promised to advance the two policies closes to labor’s heart: health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize their own workplaces. It turns out expectations were needlessly high, and real labor reforms are going to fail the way they always have.

Black History Month Challenge: A Youth-Led Jobs Revolution

Richard — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:45:56 -0500

This blog entry was sent in to UR from Leo Gerard, President of the United Steel Workers. It was co-written by Fred Redmond, USW Vice President for Human Affairs. - R/UR

On Feb. 1, 1960, when four African-American college students sat down at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., they ignited a youth-led movement to challenge racial segregation and injustice in the South.

The freshmen refused to stand and eat at the F.W. Woolworth counter as the policy of that time required. They were denied service but remained in their seats. The manager left the students alone hoping they would eventually leave.

He assumed wrong.

Movie Make-Believe and Real Rubble Piles (by Berry Craig)

Richard — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:33:41 -0500

The snow-softened rubble of the Continental General Tire plant at Mayfield, Ky., reminds me of a scene in "New in Town." We rented the movie from a video store the other night.

Lucy Hill, played by Renee Zellweger, is a high-powered corporate executive from sunny Miami. She’s been sent in snowy wintertime to a small Minnesota community similar to Mayfield, my hometown, first to downsize, then close, a food processing plant which her company owns.

Plant secretary Blanche Gunderson, played by Siobhan Fallon, accidentally finds a list of workers Hill plans to lay off. She gently confronts Hill.

Transit Workers Union Local 525 Launches Endeavour Amid Worries of Industry Future

Richard — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:26:55 -0500

The Florida sky was lit in a surreal glow early this morning as NASA's space shuttle Endeavor blasted into the sky at 4:14 a.m. TWU Local 525 members were an integral part of sending Endeavour to space and ensuring safe pre and post-launch conditions here on Earth. They represent the ground crew at Kennedy and Cape Canaveral space centers.

Retail Workers Are Sick of Wage Theft and Take to The Streets

Richard — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:17:40 -0500

The RWDSU's Retail Action Project sponsored a march last evening through the retail district in New York City's trendy SoHo neighborhood, calling for an end to the wage and hour violations that plague the area. The March of Hearts rally featured the testimony of workers who are fighting to recover millions of dollars in back wages from two retail chains in SoHo—Shoe Mania and Mystique.

“For decades the retail sector has been a free-fire zone of worker abuse. With this march we’re putting every merchant on notice that New Yorkers have zero tolerance for employer lawlessness and that retail workers deserve a living wage,” said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum.

New Report Reveals Unions Substantially Raise Wages and Benefits for Workers

Richard — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:27:31 -0500

A new report released today by the Center for Economic and Policy Research examines unionization rates, the size and composition of the unionized workforce, and the wages and benefits for union workers in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

California Borax Miners Locked Out

Richard — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 07:10:00 -0500

This is being cross-posted from the AFL-CIO Now blog.

Some 540 workers were locked out of the giant Rio Tinto Borax mine in Boron, Calif., Jan. 31 after the workers, members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30, unanimously rejected the company’s latest contract offer. The company shut off further contract talks and brought in replacement workers.