Okay, I'm assuming here that these were IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers).

My hometown was hit pretty bad by Ike. Not the rains like down in Texas, but wind. The wind knocked out over 300,000 folks in Northeastern Ohio. For my hometown of about 15k, that really was just about everyone. Driving through town, lights were out, the YMCA, street lamps, stop lights and even The Swedish Pastry Shop (which makes the best nisua in town).

So, powerline guys from Maryland, Ohio (Akron area) and Vermont have been kicking ass and taking names as they've been getting everyone back up and running.

So, the house now has power again, and when my mom went into work this morning, she was able to take the order of 13 Vermonters who were enjoying breakfast at Perkins. So, if any of you Vermonters working on the powerlines also happened to be reading this blog and ate at Perkins, let me just say, Thanks. Not only did you do an amazing job with the power lines, but you made my mom's days so much brighter by tipping like you mean it!!

Oh, hell, you guys totally rock!!

BTW, our own powerline guys ahd been dispatched to Texas and Louisiana to help out down there, so Maryland, Vermont and the newly returned Akron guys, let me just say it again, you totally ROCK!!

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There's an interesting discussion going on over at DU lately relative to the prevailing wage. Highly recommend a read of this.

And while I'm on this topic, it appears that the Governor of Ohio and his Lt are looking at modifying the instructions for use of the prevailing rate. If you get a minute, give the Ohio Governor's office a heads up on how the prevailing rate has affect you, especially if you're Sniffa from DU. They can use that info in their re-work to clarify instructions. Need more info, here's what Sniffa had to say on DU

I'm currently a land surveyor (will be for quite some time until I hopefully become a PLS) and I know/heard that there actually is a surveyor's union (someone told me last week that it was part of Local 7).

In my past 8+ years in the industry I've never met/heard of a single union surveyor. It seems that they are a rare breed, and maybe so because any joe will gladly work for less wages (not to mention the pirate surveyors).

Will joining (if I can) hurt me? I'm very ignorant in this matter, so I'm asking for advice.

I've been working since April on a prevailing wage job, but being paid only 39% of what I should be getting, so I'm even more eager to join, but worried if I do, I'll be out of a job in an industry that has been struggling really bad for about a year at least.

To reach Governor Strickland, try these avenues:

Mail

Governor's Office
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6108

Phone/Fax

General Info: (614) 466-3555
Fax: (614) 466-9354

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My dad told me this weekend that some of his parts suppliers and buyers are shutting down their operations in Mexico and moving back to the States and into Canada.

Okay, I’ll bite, “why Dad?”

“Because of bribes. The suppliers and buyers have told me that they’re tired of trying to get things done when you have to bribe everyone to get it done. And if you don’t bribe all the right people, the workers don’t show up to produce anything at all.”

My dad works in the steel industry and supplies the kind of equipment used in major manufacturing and construction. One of his supplier is planning a move to Canada soon and another into South Carolina if they get the land they want. So, when I read about the GM closure, I wasn’t too surprised to see a Mexican plant listed in a CNN report

The plants to be closed include two U.S. facilities - Moraine, Ohio and Janesville, Wis. - along with plants in Oshawa, Ontario and Toluca, Mexico.

The Moraine Ohio plant makes SUVs:

The Moraine plant employs about 2,500 workers and produces the GMC Envoy, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Saab 9-7X and Isuzu Ascender.

The plant has been cut from 4100 employees in 2006 to only 2500 now and those employees are now left to find new jobs or move out of the Dayton area.

The plants at Moraine and Janesville are the most vulnerable, according to some industry analysts.

Greg Gardner, an analyst with the Oliver Wyman Group, said both plants are a distance from parts suppliers. Plants in Texas and Mexico can easily satisfy demand for big SUVs, while GM may stop building mid-size SUVs in a few years, Gardner said.

IUE-CWA local 798 represents workers in the Moraine plant and had this to say to GM:

The workers at Moraine assembly have a long history of progressive contracts that have led to this plant being named the most productive in the country. Through unprecedented work rule flexibility and an unmatched commitment to quality, the workers at Truck and Bus have consistently delivered a profitable product.

We understand that outside forces, particularly high fuel and health care costs, are negatively impacting the auto industry. But to break the covenant with these workers is unconscionable. GM should recognize the loyalty and skill of the Moraine workers with a new product placement. GM could reward the community's long-time support by working to rebuild the plant's future, not abandoning an already hard-struck area. I hope that GM is not out of fresh ideas and new products. They owe Moraine workers and the community.

snip

IUE-CWA will work as hard as possible and reach out to all potential allies to try to save this plant. If GM still wants to make an excellent product at a profit in the United States, we can do it in Moraine. On a parallel path, however, we will fight equally as hard to ensure that our members and retirees get all they deserve and all they have earned after years of working for GM."

After having been laid off since March and only having returned to work a few weeks ago, this latest announcement from GM really does just say screw you to their workers. I wonder if Oshawa, Janesville and Toluca are just as pissed by this news and feeling just as screwed. If I were a betting girl, I’d bet the answer is yes.

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Associated Press photo credit

Last night, surrounded by family, beloved Ohio Senator and Union Activist, Howard Metzenbaum passed away.

Announcement of his passing from the LA Times:

Metzenbaum was a firebrand who often didn't need a microphone to hold a full auditorium spellbound while dropping rhetorical bombs on big oil companies, the insurance industry, savings and loans, and the National Rifle Assn., to name just a few favorite targets.

Unabashedly liberal, the former labor lawyer and union lobbyist considered himself a champion of workers and was a driving force behind the law requiring 60-day notice of plant closures.

Metz was different. He started a business with a partner selling space near the Cleveland Airport which became APCOA parking (Airport Parking Company). With enough money to support himself, his family and his desired pursuits, he turned his attention to the things he loved most, Ohioans and Politics, and yes, in that order.

It's safe to say that I grew up union. Family, upbringing, ethnicity, all of it intertwined with tradeunionism, but even with that background, it was a tough row to hoe, even in Ohio, especially with our love and affinity for all things carrying the Taft name. But with Metz as Senator, you just knew that all things were possible. If you ever heard him speak, you'd know what I'm talking about. I don't ever recall him using a mic, but I'm sure he must have. When he spoke, you could not only hear a pin drop, you could feel the electricity.

Again, from the LA Times:

Former Sen. David Pryor (D-Ark.) once compared Metzenbaum to an airport security guard: "You know he's going to X-ray your baggage, so you have to be clean." His filibusters and stall tactics were so successful that the mere threat of Metzenbaum opposition was often enough to win concessions. Once, when a two-week filibuster was cut off and Metzenbaum was still determined to block action on lifting natural gas price controls, he and a partner sent the Senate into round-the-clock sessions by demanding roll call votes on 500 amendments.

Another year, he held up 80 judicial appointments until his colleagues agreed to schedule consideration of a bill he considered vital.

Metzenbaum claimed to have single-handedly saved billions of tax dollars by blocking special tax breaks and pork-barrel programs.

In 1982, the Washington Post tallied the price tag of legislation he blocked that year and came up with a minimum of $10 billion. In time, Metzenbaum evolved from minority-party commando to majority-party subcommittee chairman and became known as much for the legislation he moved as for the bills he blocked.

I remember my dad referring to him lovingly as Mr. Fillibuster and this was before I knew what that meant. Being in a union in Ohio during the Reagan years, well, let's just say we needed that advocate, especially with too many of the national's offices endorsing Reagan (yep, I mean you my old union, I mean you!). Again, from the LA Times.

He headed panels with jurisdiction over labor and antitrust, and took on such issues as pension protection, workplace safety, the right to strike, age discrimination, food labeling, baby formula pricing, retail price-fixing, insurance antitrust and cable television monopolies.

Metz was an amazing man, even the Plain Dealer (the conservative Cleveland Daily) noted so today:

Metzenbaum was one of the Senate's wealthiest members, yet he prospered in politics for more than half a century as a champion of working men and women.

Metzenbaum's outlook was forged by the Depression, and his politics by Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. He remained an unreconstructed liberal Democrat to the end.

If you get a chance and want to find out more about how Ohioans still feel about the venerable Metz and what he did for Labor in Ohio, I highly recommend the Plain Dealer's comments section, here, try a sampling of them:

Posted by straighttype on 03/13/08 at 8:42AM
Sen. Metzenbaum was a dynamic legislator of a bygone era - a true fiscal conservative and social liberal. The billions of dollars he save this country by fighting pork ...

ReggieDunlap - Please cite one piece of legislation Senator Metzenbaum threw "extreme support" for that has led to "unreasonable demands on the part of organized labor. Giving workers" a few days warning that a factory is going to shut down is not an unreasonable demand.

Also, enjoy your lunch break today and realize that this is a "benefit" for which organized labor two generations ago worked hard to gain.

_________


Posted by apser on 03/13/08 at 10:09AM
- thank you Howard for your life and all you did for working people in this country - you were one of the good ones - if only we had another 99 senators just like you, this would be a more just, kinder nation.. and as was mentioned, when you haters are enjoying your unemployment insurance, two week vacations and overtime pay, maybe you'll think of HM, he's one of the reasons you enjoy these rights, and people in Bangledesh don't..

RIP howie..

Goodbye Howard, you're already missed.

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