So, it's been delievered to Congress now and President Bush has decided to answer all the complaints about abuses of union activists and flagrant disregard for worker's rights with this amazing statement captured by the AP:

The president disagrees, saying Colombia has addressed the issues.

Disagrees? With who, well, Congress of course:

The agreement, which would tear down trade barriers between the two nations, is heavily opposed by Democrats in Congress. Democrats contend that Colombia has not done enough to halt violence, protect labor activists and demobilize paramilitary organizations.

I suppose the death last week of yet another Colombian union activist is just an example of how far Colombia has come in addressing their issues. Well, I guess if you're a moron, that is.

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I found this over at Dailykos:

by Brad007 [Subscribe]
Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 12:26:05 PM EDT
I just wanted to start this diary to talk about my thoughts on unions and the job I will be starting on Monday.

It will no doubt get buried within candidate diaries but it's worth talking about anyway.

Wow, my first union job. I've never had an unionized job in the 8 and a half years I've been working. I wish I had one a long time ago.

United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local 267. It has a nice ring to it. I can't go into further specifics in regards to where or what duties. However, it feels good to know that as a laborer, I have the power to negotiate for higher wages, etc.

I'm hoping a lot of good comes out of this job. Being in an union makes me feel more secure about my job.

Well, I just thought I'd share.

Welcome Brad007.

W E L C O M E!!!!!

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In Parma, Ohio, there's strike talk, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Our bargaining committees and shop chairmen have been actively seeking a new local agreement," said Tito Boneta, president of UAW Local 1005. "I don't really want to go through any of this . . . but you have to do what you have to do."

This is actually a local issue and the PD provides more detail than I've seen in ages in print on what's at stake between local and national contracts:

In November, the Parma local asked for strike permission from the UAW International in Detroit. At the time, the international was still working out details with GM on the implementation of the national contract reached last summer after a two-day strike.

National contracts handle big issues such as wages, job classifications and health-care coverage. Local contracts set work rules, staffing levels and shift issues.

The national contract spelled out a two-tier wage structure that will let GM pay new hires about half of what it pays current workers to perform "non-core" jobs. In November, Boneta said defining what was core and non-core was part of the problem in settling the local contract.

Those discussions ended this year with new guidelines for union locals, but Boneta said the guidelines haven't settled all of the issues.

Due to the local contracts that discuss the specifics of jobs and skills, we now have the potential of bigger issues to resolve. The new GM contract from the summer seems to have created greater issues for the locals in that they must now bargain on their own with GM in relation to what is considered "skilled" More from the Plain Dealer:

The bigger issue in November was skilled trades. At the time, Boneta said the company wanted to consolidate several job titles, eliminating positions for some of the plant's highest-paid workers.

Instead of having machine repair, millwright, tinsmith, pipe fitter and maintenance welder positions, GM asked for one position called maintenance, Boneta said in November.

Today, he declined to say what issues remained between the union and the company.

The loss of multiple skilled trades categories could mean demoting skilled tradesmen to the production line or cutting jobs.

I hope negotiations go well and that we aren't looking at another American Axle type strike. again, from the Plain Dealer:

Boneta said the UAW is sending John Mahon to Parma to help settle contract negotiations. Mahon is a regional UAW representative and a former union chairman of GM's Lordstown complex. If the union and the company can't reach an agreement within five days, the union will be able to issue a five-day strike warning.

If there is still no contract at the end of five more days, the union local will go on strike, Boneta said.

GM's Parma plant is a 1,400-job stamping and metal fabrication facility. A handful of those workers have already been idled in recent weeks because of a strike by GM supplier American Axle.

My fingers are crossed that American Axle and the UAW can hammer out an acceptable agreement this week and that GM and its Parma operations can find common ground to avert a strike. Strikes are a last resort. They are always a last resort. I'm hoping, it doesn't come to that.

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I'm hoping this is a positive piece of news from CNN Money

The scheduled meeting comes after American Axle made some moves to try to speed up the slow pace of talks. The strike has crippled pickup truck and SUV production at General Motors Corp. (GM) and has started to affect the auto maker's car production.

One labor analyst said the meeting between the two top officials is a significant development, as the strike has lasted longer and gotten more acrimonious than many thought it would.

"Essentially, they're meeting to get this back on track," said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California Berkeley. "That doesn't mean a settlement is imminent. But it means both sides are concerned enough to try to discuss it at the highest levels."

Here's to hoping there's an end to this strike soon.

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I open my mail this morning to find out that DCLabor finally pulled out of the working groups that had been set up to iron out labor and city issues. Mayor Fenty and his people have been, well (how do I put this?), less than forthcoming

LABOR UPDATES: Labor Pulls Out of DC Labor-Management Program: Labor told the DC City Council Friday it was pulling out of DC Labor-Management Partnership Programs. Stymied by the administration's unilateral decision-making, lack of information-sharing and continued refusal to meet with labor representatives for over a year, frustrated labor leaders testified Friday that they were pulling out of the previously successful partnerships. "You cannot have a partnership without a partner," Metro Council President and Labor-Management Programs Co-chair Jos Williams told DC City Council members at the hearing. Labor leaders - hoping to re-invigorate the program - had voiced their concerns about the program at a Council hearing in February but reported Friday that no progress had been made (Labor-Management Partnerships Stalled 2/14/08 UC). "The work of the DC Partnership has been acclaimed at all levels of government and labor," and has received national recognition said AFSCME Council 20's Al Bilik (right of Williams in photo). "It is a shame, a crime to see top officials renege on their commitment." AFGE Council 211 President Eric Bunn (pictured far right) also questioned the City's commitment to continue funding the program - which over its ten years has resulted in 54 department partnerships in 27 different agencies - pointing out that agencies were being given the opportunity to opt out of funding the program in the 2009 budget. "Clearly the city had demonstrated they don't want to partner," Bunn said.

In fact, the Fenty administration has been angry and dismissive toward DC Labor for a rather long time, City Paper covered the story last year.

In the audience was a group of local labor leaders, including several big shots from unions representing D.C. government employees. After Fenty finished his speech, Dwight R. Bowman, who heads up the local district of the American Federation of Government Employees, walked up to Fenty to shake his hand and exchange pleasantries.

“Unfortunately, the conversation never got to that,” Bowman says.

It’s probably wrong to call it a conversation. Says one eyewitness, “In the blink of an eye, Adrian went ballistic.…He got red; he got aggressive; he got right in Dwight’s face.” The witness called the outburst “scary.”

What set Hizzoner off? Well, the union guys apparently hit one of his soft spots: Bowman apparently implied a little too strongly that Fenty was snubbing Big Labor.

Bowman had wanted to express his union’s support for a proposal the mayor had floated to bring the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority back under city control. But before he got into that, Bowman thought he needed to acknowledge that mayoral relations had been rocky.

Wrong move: Fenty demanded an example of said rockiness. “You don’t think everything is all right?” he asked Bowman, before pressing him for examples.

Bowman mentioned a number of things to Fenty: During the campaign, Bowman says Fenty was invited to a candidate forum that the AFGE had sponsored. The union folks got no advance notice that the candidate was coming. When he did come, he was late. And then he left early, choosing to schmooze outside the debate rather than take questions from the podium. Bowman also mentioned that Fenty had no-showed on an invitation to address the AFGE’s annual legislative conference.

But the touchiest issue several witnesses say was when Bowman brought up the subject of a meeting and how difficult it had been to schedule one.

“Gimme an example of where I haven’t been able to meet with you,” Fenty reportedly demanded.

“I don’t understand why he stepped up close to me and why he was so agitated,” Bowman says. “I’m a pretty straightforward guy. When he asked me a question, I gave him an answer.”

Rumors of Fenty’s short temper with his own employees are well-circulated; it’s just another part of the mythology of a hard-driving, constituents-first boss who demands the utmost from his staffers. In public, however, the Fenty style has always been to exude cool competence.

Another cornerstone of the Fenty image: His willingness to show up at any gathering or meet any group that he can make time for. The idea that Fenty would stand up a group of any size doesn’t jibe with that.

Fenty declined to get into the details of the encounter, but he did not deny that the exchange had been heated. “[Bowman] and I agree we’re going to have a meeting,” he says. That meeting, however, has not been scheduled.

There’s no shortage of reasons for there to be tension between Fenty and the labor community. During the mayoral election campaign, most unions representing government employees—including AFGE—supported former D.C. Council Chairman Linda Cropp. After taking office, Fenty appointed to the school board Ted Trabue, head of the D.C. Economic Empowerment Coalition and the Empower D.C. political action committee—groups with ties to anti-union construction concerns. Since then, there have been occasional flare-ups—for instance, when Fenty’s general counsel, Peter Nickles, referred to the city’s Department of Disability Services as a “dumping ground” for castoffs from other government agencies in a May Legal Times article.

Plus, to date, Fenty hasn’t shown a lot of regard for the sanctity of public employment. Late last week, Fenty and schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee finalized their plan to “right-size” the long-demonized D.C. Public School central-office bureaucracy. The pink slips will be going to nonunion employees, but labor types don’t see the plan boding well for the upcoming contract negotiations with the Washington Teachers’ Union.

Fenty isn't the kind of mayor I expected. He isn't anything like the guy who stood in my living room to meet my neighbors and discuss issues important to Ward 8. I certainly wouldn't have supported any candidate that's shown himself to be so anti-worker as this mayor has. I suppose I can chalk this one up to experience and hope that when he's up for re-election, we can find a suitable replacement. Right now, I have no hope that he'll ever understand or do what's necessary to work with labor. And that, is a very sad place to be.

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I told a friend this week that Senator Clinton speaks like she's blue collar; as if she understands our issues. For me, it's always sounded forced, fake, like she was staging it. Especially when she'd talk about union issues and then have someone like Mark Penn around, hypocritical just doesn't begin to cover it.

Well, today in the Independent, they take Clinton to task for Penn and his recent LOBBYING on behalf of Colombia, you know, the country that stands by and watches as Union Activists are murdered.

Mrs Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, has been forced to apologise after he was discovered lobbying for a free-trade agreement her campaign opposes. The proposed Colombia trade agreement is bitterly opposed by trade unions and human rights groups, and there are growing calls on Mrs Clinton to axe him.

Mr Penn has kept his $3m (£1.5m) a year job as head of the British-owned lobbying firm Burson-Marsteller while guiding Mrs Clinton's campaign. The man who helped Bill Clinton get into the White House has produced some of Mrs Clinton's most effective ads, including the recent "3am in the morning" ad, which stressed her round-the-clock capacity for handling crises.

Mr Penn described his lobbying meeting with Colombia's ambassador as "an error of judgment".

Error in judgment, my ass.

Now, here's the thing; I really hate (okay, despise) Penn. His desire to continue to work for anti-union groups makes me sick. I just have no idea how he can sleep at night when he's lobbying on behalf of his firm for a Colombian Free Trade Agreement that is not only bad for the US, but particularly bad for Colombian trade union activists.

But, don't take my word for it, listen to the President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe

"I deplore the fact that Senator Obama, aspiring to be president of the United States, should be unaware of Colombia's efforts," said President Alvaro Uribe in a statement released by the presidency. "I think it is for political calculations that he is making a statement that does not correspond to Colombia's reality."

SNIP

"I will oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement if President Bush insists on sending it to Congress because the violence against unions in Colombia would make a mockery of the very labour protections we have insisted be included in these kinds of agreements," Obama said Wednesday at a meeting of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

Why are Uribe's comments so important? Look at who they're directed at...Obama, not Clinton. It's about Obama's opposition to a Colombian FTA. I believe she will vote against the agreement, but Uribe is making Obama's stand on issue. Sure seems to me that Clinton and Penn are sitting in that tree, talking Colombian FTA.

UPDATE:
ABC has been reporting that Penn has left.

It's being reported as breaking news on Dailykos.

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I've been planning an E-activism event with a couple of other Labor bloggers for May 3rd in DC (more info to come this week). In my planning for this event, I also have been trolling the web for a few additional resources for E-activism related to labor organizing and came across this website from the the Labor Studies Center at Wayne State. In addition to this, CUNY (City University of New York) offers an internship for students to work in local unions in NYC, very cool. College students can even spend the summer learning how to be an organizer. Very cool programs.

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But at least AP doesn't blame the workers this time.

The announcement adds to a string of bad news for airlines, which have been hurt by a slowing economy, high fuel prices and maintenance concerns.

ATA and Aloha Airlines both stopped flying this week after filing for bankruptcy protection. American, Southwest and Delta airlines have all had to cancel flights recently to address safety concerns about some of their aircraft.

The price of fuel and the deepening recession (um, the only one denying the recession is the administration now!!) is causing airlines to go belly up.

Skybus did note something that I want to look at:

Fuel prices and the worsening economy combined to be insurmountable for a new carrier, said chief executive Michael Hodge.

"We deeply regret this decision, and the impact this will have on our employees and their families, our customers, our vendors and other partners, and the communities in which we have been operating," Hodge said in a statement.

I don't know how good an employer Skybus might have been, but the first thing they did was to note the impact this will have on their employees and their families. The employees are what makes a company. And skybus knew this and noted that contribution in the end. It's nice to know some companies can note this contribution.

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So, I’m reading MSNBC when I find this article on the ATA bankruptcy filing

Airlines are struggling with rising fuel prices, labor strife, depressed ticket demand and heightened competition, said George Godlin, an analyst for Moody’s Investor Service.

“We’re in a perfect storm kind of environment right now,” he said.

Okay, so, I’ll bite, there’s going to be a mention of “labor strife” in this article, I'm sure of it and they're tie it to the current problems for Aloha and ATA.

Tough operating conditions have led to merger talks industrywide. Negotiations between Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. recently stalled over a dispute between pilot unions.

Did you catch it? No? Let’s try again…

merger talks… stalled over a dispute between pilot unions

This isn't even remotely related to either Aloha or ATA and worse, it has nothing at all to do with "labor Strife".

Somehow, Associated Press seems to think that a merger issue for Delta and Northwest airlines is comparable to a strike or similarly related "labor strife".

What's even more bizarre is that the issue for Delta and Northwest was a pre-merger issue where they asked their unions to see if they could iron out a few issues BEFORE they went ahead with final merger talks. They simply wanted the two groups to agree prior to advancing because they didn’t want their employees to go through what AmericaWest and USAir have had to do since their merger. And in case you didn’t know this, there are different seniority rules in place for those two groups. Northwest and Delta were looking to simplify things for themselves and their crews. Sounds like a good idea to me. Apparently, this is what amounts to as a "stumbling block" to the Associate Press. It's funny though, the union issues didn't stop Delta or Northwest from proceeding, there have been additional meetings since, may be something, may be nothing, but according to the AP this constitutes “Labor Strife.” I suppose if you’re a moron it does.

One of ATA’s partners, Southwest (and don’t get me started on their fines and outsourcing) said...

Southwest said Thursday that it immediately began rebooking passengers with dates and times as close to the original travel plans as possible. Southwest said it would give priority to customers who are scheduled to travel in the next 14 days.

“ATA Airlines has been an outstanding partner for Southwest, and we are disappointed to hear this unfortunate news,” Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines chief executive officer, said in a press release. “We are sad to end our codeshare relationship with ATA but understand it’s extremely difficult for an airline to flourish in today’s arduous financial environment that has been plagued by soaring fuel prices.”

Notice how even Southwest understands that yep, it’s the FUEL and ECONOMY and um, not workers?

From Airline911

At the Aloha Airlines check-in counter employees put on a brave face, trying to do their work without showing too much emotion. However, when you talked to them about the shutdown the emotions came out.

"My heart is really, really heavy this is my family. I've been here for 30 years. I had two babies -- married. This is my family. It's going to be really hard to work today, but we've got to take care of our passengers that are still flying," counter employee Chris Opiopio said. While workers did take care of the passengers they also took a few moments to shed a few tears and try to console each other.

>snip<

Employees were told their sick leave and vacation is gone. Their health coverage is also ending. The company said their pensions and 401Ks are secure.

"I been 35 years with aloha airlines and, you know, it's like 85 percent of my life is working here. It's very sad to see that it goes," said Joe Kauweloa who worked for Aloha for 35 years.

AP, airline workers are not causing “strife.” You are for taking a Right Wing Anti-Union Talking point and and repeating it without even backing up what the fuck you're talking about. I hate to even link to you and your ridiculous story.

What happened to ATA today is a Tragedy, not only for it’s CEO and shareholders, but also for everyone one of ATA's workers and their families.

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What's going on with worker safety?

From Local 10 News

The crane was mounted to the roof of a building at 19600 Turnberry Way when it collapsed at about 10:20 a.m. Thursday.

Local 10's Rob Schmidt reported that a large crane was handing off a piece of air-conditioning equipment to a smaller crane when it somehow collapsed, injuring the two workers

That's 2 more injured due to a crane accident. What's going on?

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I wanted an update on the scaffolding collapse on the Arkansas River. Luckily I saw that Yahoo posted something. I also thought, wow, still nothing on Yahoo front page about the American Axle strike, but I digress.

I pull up the story and to my horror, I get a description I didn't want to read much less hold as an imagine in my brain.

Recovery teams could not enter the water because it was raining and currents in the already-swollen river made it too dangerous, said John Rehrauer, a spokesman for the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office.

The river was swollen but these men were still working; made me want to cry. But the article then took a decidedly worse turn into something I hate even repeating much less typing,

The body that was found had been entangled in rope that was attached to the heavy platform.

Oh, GOD! Why do any of us need to know this? This was a human being. He has family and friends.

"They were cheerful guys, trying to make a living like everybody else," said Charles Jackson, a fellow worker. He said he had been on the platform earlier Wednesday and noticed no safety problems.

Now even with all of this information, more than I wanted, really, I worried most when I read what the Sherrif had to say about the investigation of the accident:

Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors would lead investigation into the accident, he said.

OSHA? The agency charged with occupational safety that's been missing since January of 2001? From McClatchy

Saying companies that ignore workplace hazards face little more than a "slap on the wrist," lawmakers on Tuesday called for stiffer penalties and stronger enforcement against chronic violators.

The story refers to recent testimony before Congress and includes numbers that make me sick:

In the poultry industry, fines for serious violations — including conditions that could cause deaths and disabling injuries — are usually cut by more than half, to an average of about $1,100.

"I've had young kids come up to me and say, "My dad's life was only worth $3,000?" said Jerry Scannell, who headed the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration under the first President Bush. "The penalty has got to be significant enough to be a deterrent to others too."

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the subcommittee chair, spoke of the "horrifying and rampant" abuses detailed by the Observer and said she would like to see far stiffer penalties against "corporate bad actors."

She and Kennedy have introduced legislation that calls for up to 40 percent higher fines — as much as $100,000 for willful and repeat violations — and criminal penalties for repeat and willful violations of safety laws.

"I am very concerned because the evidence shows that in the last seven years, OSHA has been dangerously ineffective," Murray said.

Emphasis mine

I think this quote from the McClatchy article really sums it up for me:

"But the biggest single obstacle to effective intervention is simple lack of political will," Frumin, the union official, testified.

I'm counting the days until we take back this country.

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Often, union members are not acknowledged for their contributions to companies, cities, hell, even the political process. But this past Friday, the Washington Post deep inside the newspaper’s print edition and again on the web (yeah, I can link to it!) did a story on the building of the new DC Nationals’ Stadium. This was a PUBLICLY funded project, so I won’t be mentioning the owner of the Nats from here on out, I’m not a fan of his. Instead, I’ll be focusing on what the Post’s Hamil R. Harris Focused on, the workers.

…for nearly two years, the sprawling site off South Capitol Street SE was the domain of men and women who wore hard hats instead of baseball helmets, leather boots instead of spikes.

People such as Theodore Richmond, who helped pour the concrete for Nationals Park. And Christopher Shrewsberry, who helped put in thousands of seats. And Veronica Salas, who made sure the workers were lined up and ready for their latest assignments.

More than 2,700 people helped build the ballpark -- immigrants, war veterans, people on their first jobs, longtime D.C. residents, tradesmen and women who traveled hundreds of miles for a chance to work on the project. Electricians, ironworkers, carpenters, plumbers, laborers, you name it, tended to the details. They celebrated last summer when the last beam was put in place by construction workers. History was being made, an electrician said at the time. Then everyone went back to work on the plumbing, wiring and other tasks that were yet to be done.

For all the unsung hero’s like Local 40 Ironworkers at the World Trade Center or locals 262 and 235 UAW out on strike in Michigan at American Axle, this is for you…

"During the first phase, I helped pour the concrete. In the second phase, I did the insulation. In the third phase, I am installing TVs, desks, anything to do with the offices. . . . There aren't a lot of things that you can be proud of in your life. I think that this will be one of the things. It will be something that I can show my kids years down the road. I helped build the stadium. . . . This will be one of my war stories. I've never been to war, but this will be one of the stories that I will be telling."
Theodore Richmond, 33
Southeast Washington, Laborer

and another

"We did the scoreboard. It is a beautiful thing to look at that big screen."
Herbert Brown, 57
Northeast Washington,
Electrician apprentice

PS, there are a number of apprenticeship programs out there. Ironworkers in NY have a site dedicated to their programs , DC government has one, Hard Hatted Women in Cleveland trains women for the trades. There’s even a program for transitioning veterans and guards members called Helmets to Hard Hats and the Boilermakers have a post up now.

How about a few more comments?

"I think this is a good project because Latinos and African Americans are working together. Our workers are proud of this project. Even apprentices come here to practice and learn more. It is a sense of pride. . . . Our members are happy to be part of this."
Veronica Salas, 32
Staff, Laborers' International
Union of North America
Northeast Washington, Laborer

"I am putting in the fiber-optic cable for the camera setup to capture the speed of the ball. I'm a Nats fan. This means a lot. There is a lot of history around here. I will bring my kids here when they get a little older."
George Kerr
Indian Head, Electrician

For all that unions members do around this country, thank you. Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!!

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By travelling Amtrak on National Train Day!

There's even a special price, Buy One Get One offered for May 10th travel (just purchase by April 4th).

Need the details, visit Amtrak.

Get your Choo-Choo on and Celebrate National Train Day on May 10

Amtrak is celebrating the first annual National Train Day with six weeks of festivities culminating on Saturday, May 10, 2008. What better way to celebrate riding the rails than than with a trip with a friend on Amtrak on National Train Day? With this limited time Buy One, Get One Free sale, you can buy a full fare adult ticket and get a free companion ticket valid for travel to any of over 500 Amtrak destinations. But hurry, this one day sale is valid for sale on April 4th only.

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Need more info about Scott, then watch the video



You can also go to his site here.

For more on Nebraska's AFL-CIO primary endorsement, check out Dailykos.

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So, you go to school, get an education and become an engineer, computer systems engineer, scientist, etc… Looks like you might be looking for a new, lower paying job soon.

There are a number of companies out there ready to use immigration laws to bring in new immigrant workers who will be paid less than their American counterparts. Some would say this is good for the economy since American workers are fat , lazy and over paid, personally, I don’t agree.

Due in most part to unionized teachers all over the country (my brother included, he's a high school Physics teacher), we turn out highly qualified and immensely capable scientists, engineers and mathematicians every day. But if companies like IBM, MicroSoft, HP and Oracle have their way, these highly educated and skilled workers will be competing for jobs with immigrants who have an H-1B visa or now, a L-1 non-immigrant visa, both of whom are willing to work for peanuts /. E-week.com has the story

Proponents of overseas recruitment, such as Bill Gates and other large technology companies continue to argue there are an insufficient number of American engineers and that a shortage of available H-1B visas makes the United States less competitive in the global economy. Opponents, however, argue that the system is rife with abuse and that foreigners put U.S. workers out of jobs.

>snip<

Introduced in the 1970s, L-1 visas are non-immigrant visas, which allow companies operating in both the United States and abroad to transfer certain classes of employees into the United States for up to seven years. The L-1 visa is more limited than H-1B visas in several ways: the L-1A is only for managers and executives, or for employees with specialized knowledge that cannot be found in the U.S.
"One regulation is that you'd have to have worked for the company outside the U.S. for at least a year—this will not help people right out of school," Robert Meltzer, an immigration attorney and CEO of VISANOW, an online immigration processing company, told eWEEK.

>snip<

"With H-1B visas, there is no requirement that you have to prove you aren't displacing a U.S. worker. You only need to assure regulators that you're paying them a fair wage. But the L-1 visa doesn't require this and I've heard of situations where an H-1B visa holder might be paid $42,000 for a job, but the L-1 visa [holder] only making $12,000," said Meltzer.

Not only are American workers competing on un-equal footing with immigrant scientists and engineers, they now are also competing with their own overseas co-workers for jobs in the states. A competition to fill jobs in America at a fraction of the current market rate for that job and with no governmental requirement for the companies to even provide a scrap of info on the income or justification for the exceeding low pay. More from e-week.com

Though they receive less media coverage, usage lists show that L-1 visas have not flown under the radar of large tech employers. According to the U.S. Senate, IBM was the third biggest user of L-1 visas in the 2006 fiscal year, receiving 1,237. Intel received 394 L-1 visas; HP received 316; Oracle received 176 and Microsoft received 169.

Seven of the top 10 largest users of the L-1 were IT outsourcing firms. Tata Consultancy was first with 4,887; Cognizant Technologies came in second with 3,520 and Satyam, Wipro Technologies, Hindustan Computers, Patni Computer Systems and Kanbay filling out the top 10 spots. Six of the seven also appeared among the top 10 biggest users of H-1B visas the same year.

Now, let’s not worry our pretty little heads about the H-1B visas, they usually only last a day. Last year, they were available on April 3rd and gone before the next morning. L-1s, of course, have no limit. Personally, I think that’s just great, because now, instead of shipping our jobs overseas to India, down to Mexico or into Indonesia, we can now just import those workers and pay them pennies on the dollar. Some might say this is just grand, I don’t. Do you?

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Tula Connell has a story up right now on the main page of DMIblog.

Here's a teaser:

American Axle was created in 1994 when General Motors spun off five U.S. plants making axles and drive-line components, employing some 6,500 UAW members. That’s the same year NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, became law. So even though American Axle is making plenty of profit, its greedy CEO wants more—and trade pacts like NAFTA and U.S. laws that provide no incentives for employers to create and expand good jobs in this country encourage corporations to move jobs out of the country. The result: Unbridled corporate greed at the expense of workers who make the products that in turn make the CEOs big bucks.

Highly recommend you take a minute and head over to DMIblog.

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UTU to hear charges against seven officers

The United Transportation Union announced that its Executive Board will conduct internal trials of seven of officers charged with "improper conduct" relative to the proposed merger of the UTU and the Steel Metal Workers International Association. That merger was blocked on Dec.27 by a federal court restraining order, which has been extended until early May. UTU said the concurrent trials of International Vice Presidents John W. Babler, Vic Baffoni, Roy G. Bolling, J.R. Cumby, John D. Fitzgerald, and C. A. Iannone are scheduled to begin April 28 in Cleveland. The trial of National Legislative Director James Brunkenhoefer
is set to begin May 5 in Cleveland.

In issuing the restraining order, U.S District Judge John Adam found that UTU members had not been given sufficient information for making an informed decision on the proposed meager, which would create the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART).

This is an internal trial. What exactly does an internal trial look like? Is it like a regular trial, a courts martial, or is it like one of those tribunals we've been holding in Gitmo?

This should be very interesting.

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Someone mentioned to me yesterday that labor news lately is all bad news. I actually think that the nature of “news” is often “bad” in general. I’m a blogger, I don’t have the time to do human interest pieces. I try to find what I think others want to read, often, I just act as a clearinghouse.

But the comment on “good” labor news got me to thinking. And that thinking, means that I’ll be posting pieces soon on things I love about labor, including the work that groups like Hard Hatted Women are doing. But I’m also now going to post a labor history item that I think can help remind us where the prize really is, it’s in our history and it’s also right in front of our eyes.

So, today’s labor history moment is:

United Mine Workers of America win 8 hour day (1898)

Rock on United Mine Workers!!

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