by Mike Hall, Dec 3, 2008

If Congress does not soon approve emergency loan legislation to keep Detroit's Big Three automakers operating as they ride out the nation's financial crisis, job losses will ripple not just through the auto industry but through the entire economy, warned UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.

At a news conference today following an emergency meeting with UAW local and regional leaders, Gettelfinger said the union is willing to "take the extra step" to aid the industry. Union leaders, he said, have agreed to delay automakers' payments to a union-administered health care fund and to modify the union's job banks program that provides laid-off workers with a portion of their wages and benefits.

But he reiterated that UAW members already have agreed to wage and benefit concessions that have lowered labor costs at the Big Three.

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by Seth Michaels, Dec 3, 2008

In yesterday’s runoff election for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat, working family-friendly candidate Jim Martin made a strong effort but wasn’t able to unseat incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss won with 57 percent of the vote, while Martin took 43 percent.

Martin’s presence in the runoff and the votes he won last night are thanks, in part, to the efforts of hundreds of union volunteers who have been working hard contacting active and retired members around the state. Union volunteers knocked on 100,000 doors, sent 300,000 pieces of union mail and leafleted more than 150 worksites. Union phone bankers made more than 300,000 phone calls, and Martin himself took part in a union phone bank as the election approached.

Throughout the race, union volunteers identified and mobilized union voters. Though they weren’t successful this time, they’ll be ready to turn out votes in future Georgia races.

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by James Parks, Dec 3, 2008

Félie and thousands of children like him work every day and are not in schools.

On a typical day, more than 400 workers younger than 18 are hurt on the job in the United States and one is killed every 10 days. At the same time, the number of federal child labor investigations has declined by half since the Bush administration took office eight years ago.

In a two-part series last week, the Charlotte Observer revealed that employers are ignoring federal child labor laws and getting away with it. As part of its investigation, the Observer interviewed more than 20 current and former House of Raeford Farms workers who said the North Carolina-based poultry company often hired underage workers. Click here and here to read the series.

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley (D) told the Observer:

It's hard to believe that's going on in this century and in this state….You're really talking about a form of child abuse here.

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by Mike Hall, Dec 2, 2008

Despite the best efforts of corporate-backed anti-union groups, the Bush White House and anti-worker politicians demonizing unions on the campaign trail, most Americans continue to approve of unions, as they have for the past seven decades.

The latest update from Gallup on union support shows 59 percent of those surveyed back unions, while 29 percent disapprove of them. According to Gallup:

Americans have generally held a favorable view of unions for decades—with no less than 55 percent of Americans saying they approve of labor unions in Gallup polls conducted from 1936 to 2008.

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by James Parks, Dec 2, 2008

In a final-days attack on workers’ rights, President Bush yesterday issued an executive order that denies collective bargaining rights to about 8,600 federal employees who work in national security, law enforcement and intelligence.

Nearly 1,000 of the workers currently are represented by a union, and some have been for more than 30 years. The biggest group affected by the order is the 5,000 employees of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which is now part of the Justice Department.

Peter Winch, national organizer for AFGE, the largest federal employee union, says the union is determined to fight the executive order.

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by Mike Hall, Dec 2, 2008

Early in his tenure, President Bush announced plans to eliminate the jobs of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and hand them over to private corporations.

Bush's goal to turn over the work of the government to corporate contractors "has made history," according a recent two-part-series by NPR's Daniel Zwerdling, who reports:

"Since President Bush took office, the government has doubled the amount of contracts with industry. The administration paid corporations more than $400 billion last year to work for everybody from the Forest Service to the CIA.

"The administration has given the majority of that contract money to companies that didn't have to compete to get it—or faced only limited competition."

Since 2001, according to Zwerdling, the Bush administration has spent more than $2.2 trillion on contracts with private industry for

...corporations to perform the kinds of services that federal employees normally do.

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by Seth Michaels, Dec 2, 2008

Georgia voters head to the polls today in the runoff election for the U.S. Senate. It’s a close race between incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Bush ally and opponent of working families, and AFL-CIO endorsed Jim Martin, who’s putting up a strong pro-worker challenge.

If Martin wins today, he’ll be the 59th pro-worker elected to the Senate this year to help break the grip of obstruction that has blocked important legislation on health care, the economy and the freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life. Chambliss is the embodiment of that obstruction, voting against working family-friendly legislation—from veterans benefits to children’s health care and the Employee Free Choice Act.

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by Mike Hall, Dec 1, 2008

How's this for change in Washington? Instead of listening exclusively to the heath insurance industry and other corporate interests, as the Bush administration did for eight painful years, the soon-to-be Obama administration wants to hear from you on how the nation's health care system can be reformed to provide health care for all.

President-elect Barack Obama's transition team last week launched the online health care reform discussion. In a video introduction, Dora Hughes, a transition team health care adviser, says:

A critical part of our health reform efforts is making sure that every American voice is heard.

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by Seth Michaels, Dec 1, 2008

In tomorrow’s runoff election between Jim Martin and Sen. Saxby Chambliss for Georgia’s seat in the U.S. Senate, there’s a clear difference on the issues that matter to veterans and their families.

Chambliss has voted to undermine veterans health care, and he continually has voted with President Bush on key economic issues that affect the lives of veterans, from retirement security to trade. Martin, a Vietnam veteran, has pledged to fight on behalf of working families and America’s veterans.

In a message to union veterans, Mark Ayers, chairman of the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council and president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department, pointed out the differences between Martin and Chambliss on veterans issues. The message was co-signed by Ann Converso, president of the United American Nurses, and J. David Cox, secretary-treasurer of AFGE. Converso and Cox serve as vice chairs of the Union Veterans Council.

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by Mike Hall, Dec 1, 2008

The nation's voters may have cast their ballots overwhelmingly for change Nov. 4, but the Bush administration's drive to weaken worker safety laws and reward its corporate friends is far from dead.

In November, we reported on the Bush administration's last-minute assault on the public with a slew of end-of-term, no congressional-approval-needed regulations that could roll back or weaken rules on job safety, family leave, airline safety and pollution.

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