Last week, I reported that members of the Maersk Alabama crew had received UNION training in anti-terrorism counter measures. But you have to hear what John Cronan, third engineer and son of a merchant sailor, said to the Today Show (good thing it wasn't Lauer interviewing him):

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

It bares repeating:

We didn’t have to retake the ship because we never surrendered it. We’re American seaman. We’re union members. We stuck together and did our jobs.

Welcome home my union brothers. Welcome Home!!

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The other week I joined a union that I deeply believe in, Workers United. There’s been a lot of talk about the break-up of UNITE HERE but as a former member of HERE Local 75 I have a lot to add. I’ve been employed at Fort Erie Racetrack and Slots since July, 17 1999 and I joined the union then. But it wasn’t until HERE’s 2004 merger with UNITE that I got any servicing at all from the union. I talked about this some in this YouTube movie:




It took a while to get rid of the bad taste Local 75 left in my mouth but now that we’ve left UNITE HERE and formed Workers United I really think we can finally get the good contract standards we’ve been lagging on for so long in the hospitality industry.

I want to be forward thinking but there’s been so much misinformation being spread by the former HERE leadership (not members like me) that I want to go on record about one of the big problems that UNITE HERE had that pushed the folks in my local in our new direction.

At the 2004 convention where UNITE and HERE merged, fmr. HERE president John Wilhelm (now UNITE HERE Hospitality Division President) proclaimed that "the test of the success or failure of this merger should be whether UNITE HERE organizes substantially more workers in the years to come than our two unions have been organizing separately before the merger". Since that factually has not happened, Wilhelm is now arguing in memos that the merger is successful but that its success should be evaluated on “whether we are achieving good contracts.” He is claiming that the union has won the best contract standards for hotel workers across North America.

But the merger failed to even do that. In Canada, thousands of UNITE HERE members work under lower contract standards than their peers at hotels organized by other unions. UNITE HERE’s weaker contracts have considerable gaps in pay, benefits, and worker protections. Union contracts are searchable online at the Labour Relations website which makes this simple to find for anyone who bothers to check.

In Vancouver, where the leadership of UNITE HERE Local 40 has been under supervision by the International Union since 2005 for financial mismanagement, the union represents some 10,000 workers in the hotel and hospitality industries in British Columbia. However, Local 40’s master agreement with the Greater Vancouver Hotel Employers Association, representing four premier Vancouver properties, is not as good as the Canadian Auto Workers’ contract at a similar comparable hotel, the Fairmont Vancouver.

• Guest room attendants earn $1.68 to $2.33 more per hour under the CAW contract than under the Local 40 agreement, or $3,494 to $4,846 more per year. (footnote 1)Banquet servers at the Fairmont earn $16.27 per hour, compared to $11.52 at the Four Seasons (low) and $12.44 at the Westin (high) under the Local 40 agreement. That’s $7,966 to $9,880 more per year under the CAW contract.
• 
  The probationary period is more than twice as long for Local 40 members (90 days) as for CAW members (40 days), and it takes twice as long for new hires to earn the full rate of pay (12 months at Local 40 versus 6 months at CAW).
• 
  CAW members won extensive health and safety language, including the right for the union to accompany outside inspectors, the establishment of a Health & Safety Committee that meets monthly, annual company-paid first aid training, and language protecting members’ refusal to work in unsafe conditions (footnote 2). But Local 40’s master agreement doesn’t say anything about health and safety.

In Victoria, there is also a big difference between standards under the CAW and Local 40 agreements with major hotels.

• At the Fairmont Empress, the employer pays 100% of the healthcare premiums for CAW members, while at the Coast Harbourside Local 40 members must make contributions to cover their fringe benefits.
• 
  Wages for housekeepers under the CAW agreement are $2.29 per hour higher than under Local 40’s agreement, amounting to $4,763 more per year.
• 
  Cooks’ helpers earn $2.59 more per hour under the CAW agreement at the Empress, or $5,387 more per year than under the Local 40 contract at the Harbourside Hotel.

And in Toronto, where UNITE HERE Local 75 has been dealing with frequent decertification attempts led by THEIR OWN MEMBERS in several hotels, six other unions have organized workers at 13 hotels in the GTA/Hamilton area. And standards achieved in those contracts are higher than those of Local 75 in many cases. For example:

• 
  Under the UFCW contract at the Four Seasons, , members receive three weeks of vacation at three years’ seniority, while it takes five years for members to earn as much under the UNITE HERE Local 75 contract at the Fairmont Royal York.
• 
  Maintenance staff are paid $1.44 to $2.78 more per hour under the UFCW contract at the Four Seasons than workers in the same classification at the Royal York under the contract with Local 75.
• 
  Servers at the Great Blue Heron Casino, represented by the CAW, earn $12.49 per hour compared to $9.97 per hour at the Royal York, or $5,241 more per year.
  

In a memo last month Wilhelm said, “the Union cannot expect to grow by making itself less relevant and beneficial to its members. Such a course would ultimately destroy the Union.” That's totally true. Which is why it's so sad that here in Canada, where many UNITE HERE hotel contracts fail to set top standards, the union is weakened. Multiple other unions have won strong, decisive victories in UNITE HERE’s jurisdictions while UNITE HERE’s own members have run decertification elections! It is true that without improvements in wages, benefits and working conditions, workers will not have the power necessary to effectively organize, but in his own house and under his own watch, some of Wilhelm’s key locals have failed to meet his most basic test. Honestly, we deserve better. That’s why we formed Workers United. If you care about standards in Canada you'll support us.
________________________________________
Footnote 1
All wage levels are from date of ratification and do not include contractually guaranteed raises. Members of the Vancouver Hotel Employers’ Association have the same master agreement but pay different wage rates, so all rates listed are the low and high end of the range. Yearly calculations are based on 2,080 paid hours of work.


Footnote 2
The CAW contract with the Fairmont Vancouver runs from 8/1/08 to 7/31/11. The UNITE HERE Local 40 contract with the Greater Vancouver Hotel Employers’ Association, representing The Four Seasons, Hyatt Regency, the Renaissance Harbourside, and the Westin Bayshore covers the period 7/1/07 to 6/30/10.

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No, it's true. It's been studied and it's not surprising. But have you ever thought about how the Employee Free Choice Act could make an even greater difference in the lives of women? I have. Having the ability as a worker to choose to sign a card and be recognized or sign a card and hold an election, well, let's just say it's profound. And I'm not the only one thinking about it, either!!

There is no doubt about it. Union membership makes a critical difference in the lives of women. With the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, more women – and as a result, their families – would have greater opportunities and access to a living wage, health care, retirement and job security.

This union difference for women was the topic of conversation on Capitol Hill today, where the National Council of Women’s Organizations hosted a congressional briefing for members of Congress, their staff, the press and the public. The goal of the briefing was for attendees to learn more about the Employee Free Choice Act and the difference its passage would make for women workers. The panelists highlighted the key difference that union membership makes for women and stressed the urgent need for reformed labor laws that will make it easier for workers to form their union. The distinguished panelists included:

Rachna Choudhry, Policy and Advocacy Manager, National Partnership for Women & Families
Ariane Hegewisch, Study Director, Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Carol Rosenblatt, Executive Director, Coalition of Labor Union Women
Amy Swanson, Grassroots Lobbyist, Service Employees International Union
Tiffany Heath, National Coalition Organizer, Voice at Work, AFL-CIO

The panelists noted that women make up 45 percent of the union work force in the United States, and if the pace of growth continues, women will be the majority of the unionized work force in the United States by the year 2020. Union membership narrows the wage gap and increases the probability that women will have access to health insurance coverage.

“Union issues are women’s issues,” Choudhry said.

On a more global scale, Heath pointed to the myth that unions destroy competitiveness, noting that in many European countries, employers pay skilled union workers high wages to produce high quality products that compete in the marketplace. Heath noted that compared to other developed nations, the United States has some of the most restrictive labor laws and the least equitable distribution of productivity gains throughout the population.

Noting that women still earn, on average, 78 cents to the dollar of men’s earnings, Rosenblatt spoke on the critical need for the Employee Free Choice Act in order for women and men to gain rights at work to form a union and bargain collectively for gains.

The need for the Employee Free Choice Act was also a major topic of conversation, gaining much attention at the sixth annual Teamsters Organizers Conference this weekend, where women workers and organizers talked about the urgent need for the Employee Free Choice Act.

“The Employee Free Choice Act would lessen the fear, because the intimidation factor is there. Workers are afraid of losing their jobs in this economy,” said Vangie Moreno, a Teamsters International Union organizer, who meets with hundreds of workers on a regular basis. “The workers I’ve worked to organize have mainly been women, single and divorced, who have children and are the sole breadwinners of the household. The Employee Free Choice Act would give them the choice to form a union to provide a better life for themselves and their families.”

Clearly, many others get it, including the Teamsters. Nice to see my old union pulling for women.

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I headed over to John Cole's Balloon Juice for some talk about Republican Union-Bashing and I found this nugget in the comments:

Exactly. But when it comes to union busting, there’s no lie too big. Romney said what he meant in that editorial, though:

The new management must work with labor leaders to see that the enmity between labor and management comes to an end.

The only way, from an executive’s perspective, to make that enmity stop is to bust the union and give all the power to management. As a union member, I respond with "Fuck you very much."

This comment was based on the posting about Republican union-bashing and their disdain for working Americans represented by a union. From Cole:

this is union busting on a grand scale. There have been dozens of signs over the past week what they really want, starting with the Mitt Romney editiorial in the NY Times:

The new management must work with labor leaders to see that the enmity between labor and management comes to an end. This division is a holdover from the early years of the last century, when unions brought workers job security and better wages and benefits. But as Walter Reuther, the former head of the United Automobile Workers, said to my father, “Getting more and more pay for less and less work is a dead-end street.”

You don’t have to look far for industries with unions that went down that road. Companies in the 21st century cannot perpetuate the destructive labor relations of the 20th. This will mean a new direction for the U.A.W., profit sharing or stock grants to all employees and a change in Big Three management culture.

When Mitt Romney says a “new direction” for unions, the new direction means planned obsolescence. It is important to remember what Mitt Romney does to make his money, and when he gives advice to what should happen to the auto industry, you need to understand that his vision for America is more of the same- in his worldview, everyone is working for $8 dollars an hour at Wal-Mart, getting their health care from medicare/medicaid, and barely making it.

On Monday last week, Todd Harris picked up the ball and ran with it:

Harris: Republicans are going to be looking-as we talk about concessions on the management side, we’re going to be looking, when you talk about bailing out Detroit, looking at reopening some of those ridiculous union contracts that have been huge, massive giveaways.
***
No, I don’t-I don’t think that this is class warfare. I mean, you talk about a company like AIG or a company like Citigroup, and there was bipartisan consensus that they were simply too big to allow to fail.

Now, you haven’t heard-at least I’m not aware of any Republicans saying, no, you have got to protect the AIG management, or you have got to protect the Citigroup management. If they need to be hung out to dry, then let them hang them out to dry. But, when you talk about some of these union contracts that are really crippling the Big Three, it’s not just that they made bad cars or that they made cars that used a lot of gas. They certainly did, although their cars are a lot better now. But, if you’re going to address fundamental reform in Detroit, you have got to have the union issue on the table.

And just so you are completely clear on what the real agenda is for the Republicans, the WSJ brings it home this morning:

Consider labor costs. Take-home wages at the U.S. car makers average $28.42 an hour, according to the Center for Automotive Research. That’s on par with $26 at Toyota, $24 at Honda and $21 at Hyundai. But include benefits, and the picture changes. Hourly labor costs are $44.20 on average for the non-Detroit producers, in line with most manufacturing jobs, but are $73.21 for Detroit.

This $29 cost gap reflects the way Big Three management and unions have conspired to make themselves uncompetitive—increasingly so as their market share has collapsed (see the nearby chart). Over the decades the United Auto Workers won pension and health-care benefits far more generous than in almost any other American industry. As a result, for every UAW member working at a U.S. car maker today, three retirees collect benefits; at GM, the ratio is 4.6 to one.

Highly recommend heading over and participating in the conversation if you get a chance. Don't want anyone missing comments like this:

Let’s see…professional athletes have strong labor unions, but the leagues are doing well. Service workers like janitors have unions but I don’t see the hospitality industry dying. And there were no unions in finance industries that were run into the ground. But it’s the unions’ fault. Always is.

It's nice to see folks willing to say what needs to be said, that Unions aren't at fault in the current mess. This mess if far more complex and it starts with the letter R, Recession. Funnily enough, that's also the letter that starts the party name that brought us this Recession. Amazing how that works.

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Blaming the union and its membership (um, I mean WORKERS here) is absolutely ridiculous.

Emptywheel has an excellent post up right now on this that deserves a closer look:

What the AP Left Out about the UAWBy: emptywheel Saturday November 15, 2008 1:42 pm

21diggs digg it

The AP has an article reporting that Ron Gettelfinger, head of the UAW, says the union will not make any more concessions to keep the Big Three in business. I guess the editor cut a big chunk--because the article obviously falls short of explaining why the UAW is taking this stand. Here's what the AP left in:

''The focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract,'' Gettelfinger told reporters on a conference call, noting the labor costs now make up 8 percent to 10 percent of the cost of a vehicle.

''We have made dramatic, dramatic changes and the UAW was applauded for that,'' he said.

Instead, Gettelfinger blamed the problems the auto industry is suffering from on things beyond its control -- the housing slump, the credit crunch that has made financing a vehicle tough and the 1.2 million jobs that have been lost in the past year.
''We're here not because of what the auto industry has done,'' he said. ''We're here because of what has happened to the economy.''

And here's what the AP didn't report (I'm sure it was just an oversight, really).

In its contract last year, the UAW made painful concessions, adopting a two-tier wage structure, such that new employees make just $12 to $15 an hour. The move is projected to bring the American manufacturers in line with their Japanese rivals' non-union labor costs in the near future.

In addition, the union has taken responsibility for providing retiree healthcare, thereby eliminating one of the last remaining competitive disadvantages for the American manufacturers' unionized workforce as compared to their Japanese rivals.

With these agreements, the UAW has managed to save jobs, while still providing the superior labor force that leads most segments (big PDF, see page 10-11) in terms of the most efficient plants measured in hours per vehicle.

The UAW's workers have made deep concessions to ensure American-owned auto industry remains competitive with its foreign competitors. Now that the American-owned manufacturers have eliminated some of the structural disadvantages that gave foreign competitors a market advantage, it would be a terrible waste for its country not to do what's necessary to sustain American manufacturing though this tough financial period.

There. Now it tells a more complete story.

I actually discussed the Media's anti-union bias yesterday after watching Andrea Mitchell and Tom Brokaw shilling for the right wing on Meet the Press. Here's what I had to say yesterday:

I don't normally watch the Sunday talk shows, they just end up being so damn insulting to my intelligence. But for some odd reason I started watching it this morning and no, I wasn't disappointed, it completely insulted my intelligence and that of everyone else who happened to have the misfortune of listening.

Andrea Mitchell decided on a whim to bring up the Employee Free Choice Act, but of course, she used the Right Wing Talking Points, only to be re-enforced in those wingnut talk points.

Mitchell: ...The labor unions will be asked to make some kind of concessions, and what the uaw leaders said in an unusual press conference only yesterday was we’ve made enough concessions. So, as you point out there is the clash, the ability to organize, card check is the short term for it.

Brokaw: Without a secret ballot

Mitchell: without a secret ballot, is a BIG concession to labor. and that is gonna be one of the the early fights in this congress. And Barack Obama is going to have to make a choice on all these things as to whether he can find ways around it. And can answer the economists question as to why Toyota is successful, which is producing American jobs it’s just that their not union jobs.

Okay, I can answer that for you Andrea and let me put it into a way that your little mind can understand:

Toyota competes with GM and Ford for labor, assembly line work and precision assembly workers. Because they compete in the same market as GM and Ford and Chrysler, they have to pay the same wages. However, their benefits are not as good as those of GM, Ford and Chrysler. In fact, Toyota doesn’t provide a pension, health care to retirees and a number of other incentives that the unions which you hate have secured for their membership over YEARS and YEARS of work. But if you want to toss that out the window and ask why doesn't GM just declare Bankruptcy and gut all of their retirees pensions, health care and agreements with their employees, then Andrea, you also need to ask yourself what happens to all of those people? What happens to the pensioner who has no income or health care?

Toyota and Honda do not play on equal footing with GM and Chrysler and Andrea and Brokaw should know that. See, I think they do, they just don't really care. It's not like the economy is hurting them or that NBC is just going to turn off their spigot.

And Tom, let me also explain something else to you, something that you obviously don’t understand.

The Employee Free Choice Act makes it possible for EMPLOYEES to CHOOSE an election or CHOOSE to sign their card and leave it to that. Right now, it’s up to the BOSS and NOT the EMPLOYEE. And there is no SECRECY in today’s standards because the Boss gets to know who the employees are that have signed their cards and want a union.

But what you and Andrea also ignored as a concept is that organizing a union isn’t nearly as important as having a way to get employers to the table to negotiate. The Employee Free Choice Act provides for stiff penalties for employers who ignore the bargaining rights of their employees. I think this is what really is the heart in this fight. It's not that employees can organize, it's that the employers who screw with the results face actual penalties. There are penalties now, but it takes forever and the results of the penalties take YEARS to be realized if ever.

Despite what the rightwing says or lies about in terms of workers and unions, it is still the policy of the United States of America to ENCOURAGE UNIONIZATION:

National Labor Relations Act

The denial by some employers of the right of employees to organize and the refusal by some employers to accept the procedure of collective bargaining lead to strikes and other forms of industrial strife or unrest, which have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce by (a) impairing the efficiency, safety, or operation of the instrumentalities of commerce; (b) occurring in the current of commerce; (c) materially affecting, restraining, or controlling the flow of raw materials or manufactured or processed goods from or into the channels of commerce, or the prices of such materials or goods in commerce; or (d) causing diminution of employment and wages in such volume as substantially to impair or disrupt the market for goods flowing from or into the channels of commerce.

The inequality of bargaining power between employees who do not possess full freedom of association or actual liberty of contract and employers who are organized in the corporate or other forms of ownership association substantially burdens and affects the flow of commerce, and tends to aggravate recurrent business depressions, by depressing wage rates and the purchasing power of wage earners in industry and by preventing the stabilization of competitive wage rates and working conditions within and between industries.

Experience has proved that protection by law of the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively safeguards commerce from injury, impairment, or interruption, and promotes the flow of commerce by removing certain recognized sources of industrial strife and unrest, by encouraging practices fundamental to the friendly adjustment of industrial disputes arising out of differences as to wages, hours, or other working conditions, and by restoring equality of bargaining power between employers and employees.

Experience has further demonstrated that certain practices by some labor organizations, their officers, and members have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce by preventing the free flow of goods in such commerce through strikes and other forms of industrial unrest or through concerted activities which impair the interest of the public in the free flow of such commerce. The elimination of such practices is a necessary condition to the assurance of the rights herein guaranteed.

It is declared to be the policy of the United States to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions to the free flow of commerce and to mitigate and eliminate these obstructions when they have occurred by encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection.

So, Andrea and Tom, please understand that not only are you two shills for the anti-union anti-worker establishment fronted by the likes of Hannity, Limbaugh and McCain, but you two also don't seem to know your asses from a hole in the ground.

Employee Free Choice is Good For The Economy BECAUSE it is good for workers, unless of course you don't think workers are part of the economy or deserve to be represented by a union, a union of their own choosing.

Why does the Media hate workers so much? And worse, why are union production crews and writers continuing to spill out this garabage when in the end, they know it's garbage? If you're producing CBS, NBC, ABC or any other cable or network news and YOU are a union member, can you just think a minute before you write for a teleprompter anything that's anti-union and anti-worker garbage? Your brothers and sisters of the UAW would appreciate it.

Hell, I'd appreciate it.

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Yeah, what he said.

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Labor history is significantly longer than Michael Barone understands. What has happened today is more closely related to the time of the Robber Barons popularized by the Carnegies, Rockefellers and their ilk. Decidedly anti-union, anti-worker and all capitalism all the time. Panics and economic shut downs of the late 1800's primarily caused by issues related to those same robber barons did not help the crisis that lead up to the Great Depression. And it was the Pro-Capitalist wing of the Republican Party, the hands off approach of Taft, Harding, Coolidges and Hoover that took that slow walk into financial crisis from the Post WWI period and gave us the Depression.

Barone is so hateful of Obama and the possibility of changes in our economy that he tries to link them to things in our history as if to do so would make his point. It does not, it is really only laughable at best, take this paragraph for instance:

Barack Obama and other Democrats have used the financial crisis to spin a narrative. The problem, they say, is deregulation and greed. This is not strictly speaking accurate. Obama and the Democrats opposed tighter regulation of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and John McCain supported it. Unregulated firms like hedge funds have done well, while heavily regulated banks have had troubles.

OFHEO (Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight) is charged with GSE oversight (Fannie and freddie and Ginnie) and for the past 7 years have been pretty well sidelined by the administration from doing any kind of oversight of the GSEs.

During meetings on credit scoring, OFHEO told a group of government housing and loan policy makers that they were not able to instruct Fannie or Freddie on issues of credit underwriting or lending. At the time, several members of Congress from the Republican Party put forward talking points about eliminating OFHEO. The regulatory authority this columnist and others refer to would have been something different than OFHEO and would not have had the power OFHEO has but has also been constrained from using due to this administration.

Now, for the anti-union crap from this craptacular piece:

Their card-check bill will promote unionization and do to much of the private sector what union contracts have done to the Detroit Three automakers. Higher taxes and overregulation could reduce economic vitality and creativity. Comparable worth laws could have bureaucrats setting private sector salaries. America could move some distance to becoming another France.

First off, poor management, bad reads of the market, and GM's bailout of their lending arm (GMAC industrial bank and mortgage company) has done more to grind the "big three" into the ground than any labor agreements or disagreements.

The labor of workers is not a commodity no matter how much an economist tries to claim it is. Workers cannot and do not negotiate individual agreements with employers. Employers offer employees agreements. You can take it or not. As a worker, the only way to be treated as a market force is to band with other workers and collectively bargain with your employer. From many, one. One voice negotiates with the employer for what workers want.

okya, next piece of crap:

But some had adverse economic effects and proved unpopular: high taxes on high earners, industrial unionization.

Unionization began in the early 1800's. Trades were formed and then reformed and unions evolved over time. They didn't just appear one day during the depression. Employers caused severe problems for workers that lead to unionization from Haymarket to Triangle Shirt Factory Fire to Matewan to "baby stikers" and it took a long time until we had laws in place to restrict the manner in which employers treat employees. Again, another historical point that Barone leaves out. Unions have not caused "adverse economic effects," they have evolved as the regulations of them have as well. Personally, I'd like to see a Republican like Teddy Roosevelt back in the White House, one that supported unions and wanted to end monopolies. Unfortunately, those Republicans do not exist.


And he completed this pathetic anti-union rant with this equally pathetic statement:

But voters tend to consider only the history they know. They might do well to look back a little further.

I suppose I shouldn't be shocked that he's so eager to dismiss history that not only does Mr. Barone not understand, but clearly that he also hasn't read.

It's so simple to blame unions and Democrats for issues related to the current crisis, but it isn't Democrats who've been at the helm for the past 8 years. Republicans have controlled legislation since 1994 (except intermittent Dem control of the Senate) and have had complete control of this country from 2001 until 2006. In that time, September 11th occurred, we invaded 2 countries, Fannie and Freddie cooked their books to down play their excessive profits (2005) and then collapsed just 3 years later, etc... Seriously, did this guy even live in theis country over the past 20 years? It sure doesn't seem like he did.

The only common denominator between the Financial Crisis of today and the Great Depression is that both were brought to us by the Republican Party.

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It's been years since I was in a union, Teamsters local 407 and that was REALLY briefly. But I was raised union and clearly, I believe in Solidarity. So, a friend today suggested that I join a union, the Freelancer's Union...and I did! You can view my profile, too!!

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I was on vacation, sorry I missed this. From the Washington Teacher Blog:

The WTU and AFT encourages you to Reject Proposed Changes to Sections 1601.7(d) and 1601.9 of Professional Education Requirements Campaign ends September 8th ! (Sponsored by WTU/AFT)

Link:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/certification/w8uuxke4p75xjm6?

The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) has recently proposed new regulations that would require DC Public School (DCPS) teachers to demonstrate effectiveness as a condition for teacher licensure renewal. Unfortunately there is not a lot of time to provide your feedback on the proposed regulations. It is the WTU's position that this proposed regulation would not benefit DCPS teachers, as a teacher's true effectiveness should not be linked to a teacher’s right to renew his or her license. What's at stake: Teachers evaluations are the responsibility of DCPS. In every state in the country licensing is the responsibility of the state and evaluation of teachers job performance is the responsibility of the local education agency. Allowing OSSE to issue regulations unilaterally that measure teacher performance may adversely impact your evaluation process and job security.


The WTU President, Mr. Parker and other WTU staff have provided testimony in strong opposition to these proposed new requirements. It will be important for WTU members to weigh in on these new proposed regulations. Please view the WTU "Get Active" message on changes to DCPS teacher licensure- Sections 1601.7(d) and 1601.9.

The public comment period ends this Monday, September 8th after which time the State Superintendent of Education will decide whether or not to move forward with these proposed regulations, so if you agree- PLEASE ACT NOW by clicking on the link above or responding to the email which has been forwarded to your email account by the WTU.

What makes this important is that this is one more way to alter performance and what performance means. If you do your job day in day out and get no assistance from the families who are even more responsible for the children in your classroom, if those same parents abuse their children or neglect them or are in the awful place of having to work two jobs and the kids are without the supervision they need, well, holding teachers responsible for the progress of these children is not responsible. It's like we're still washing our hands of the real problem here, one of a community. Hillary Clinton was absolutely right, it takes a village and Obama's right too, I am my brothers keeper. What both of these people are saying is that we are in this together, but by changing these regulations, we're basically hanging all teachers out to dry and making it that much harder to turn things around. If you continually attack your teachers, how effective are they going to be in the classroom if they have to constantly worry and think about this kind of shit?

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The past few weeks have been filled with busy, busy days. I have been to my 20th class reunion and I continue to do events around DC for the Obama4UnityBeatsMcCain slate that I am running on for the DC Democratic State Committee. Hell, I’ve even had a friend visit and I had the sheer pleasure of hanging out with UnionReview’s own Richard Negri one night last weekend. In all of this, I’ve been thinking about women, unions and what exactly all of our stories really are and where they are.

This is probably due to the current negotiations with the WTU that I’ve been reporting on for longer than I’d like (seriously, sure looks like Fenty and Rhee are anti-worker in all this). It may have something to do with the recent election of Randi Weingarten, Antonia Cortese and Loretta Johnson at the American Federation of Teachers.

So, as the 88th Anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment fast approaches, I’ve become even more interested in this discussion, so much so, that I decided that perhaps another Labor History lesson should be posted to remind all of us that the labor movement has always been entwined with other movements, including that of Women’s Suffrage. This brings us to Samuel Gompers and Maud Younger.

Way back in the early years of the 20th century, Samuel Gompers worked to develop a strategy for the adoption of a prevailing wage to be used for workers across the country. A prevailing wage is one where the wage of work accomplished is based on the prevailing wage in that area. So, a contractor in Alabama cannot compete on a contract in Michigan and import workers from Alabama and pay an Alabama wage in Michigan. Need more on the prevailing wage and history of it, I’d suggest this source.

In working for a prevailing wage, he was forced to also discourage those pushing for a minimum wage, enter Maud Younger.

Maud Younger had been born to wealth but didn’t allow her status to be her only defining attribute. As a unionist, Maud was able to bridge different movements by combining her grassroots activism with her socialite status. She used this leverage to work on issues related to an 8 hour work day, 6 day work week, minimum wage and child labor, getting most of these initiatives into law in California within her lifetime. However, the one issue that seems to have been a sticking point between her movement to win for women child labor laws and a living wage was the concept of a prevailing wage which Samuel Gompers wrote, imploring her to desist from minimum wage activities:

I trust that you will proceed with the utmost caution in any effort to establish a minimum wage by statutory law. Speaking fundamentally a minimum wage should be established and maintained by the organizations of labor. If a minimum wage law for working men is established by law, by the same token it is more than probable that it may finally transpire that another law will be enacted, compelling working men to work for such a minimum as a maximum.

Gompers went on to state in his letter to Maud that:

I think it advisable to call to your attention, and trust that you will profit by it, this observation: many person appear to be impressed with the notion that legal enactments will solve the labor problem, and much theorizing is indulged in relative to the extent to which legislation can favorably affect working people, but they fail to counterbalance their reasoning by recognizing a possibility that if laws can be placed upon the statute books establishing minimum wages, and kindred measures, by the same process of reasoning, there may be other laws placed upon the stature books that will be extremely detrimental to working people.

As Gompers worked toward prevailing wage rates on the state level, Maud was hard at work pushing for women and men to obtain a minimum wage to ensure that they were able to feed their families earn a living and find a way out of poverty which would allow their children to go to school instead of working. But for Maud, workers’ rights and women’s suffrage were intertwined. This interconnection propelled Maud to organize from the roots up:

Younger returned to California, where she organized San Francisco’s first waitress union (1908) and was instrumental in the passage of the state’s eight-hour-day work law.

Since Younger viewed working and voting rights as closely related issues, she helped found the Wage Earners’ Equal Suffrage League for Working Women, spoke on the vote in union halls around the state, and encouraged men to support the women’s cause. A master of showmanship, she created publicity for state suffrage with a Wage Earner’s Equal Suffrage League float in the 1911 Labor Day parade in San Francisco. In that year she helped lobby for passage of a woman suffrage amendment to the California constitution.

Maud worked tirelessly for women’s rights, from working with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU now UNITE-HERE) against subcontracting in New York to lobbying Congress for women’s suffrage, missing no opportunity to highlight the cause, including an article in McCall's Magazine where she described some of the difficulties she faced as an activist and a woman:

Though great strides were being made, gains never came easy, as the suffrage movement met with considerable obstacles throughout the country. For instance, in Dallas, Texas, just as the United States was ready to enter World War I, National Women's Party organizers were prevented from hiring halls and hotel rooms for Younger and her colleagues. The mayor of the city refused to allow Younger to hold a street meeting. City officials even refused when Younger offered to submit her speech for review and possible censorship. The party met with similar obstacles in Tennessee. Reportedly, members of the War Association and Home Defense League went to every hotel and meeting place in the state and requested that Younger be refused rooms and halls. They also went to city mayors and asked that they refuse to grant permits for street meetings. In 1919, Younger wrote about her experiences in an article for McCall's magazine entitled "Revelations of a Woman Lobbyist."

Maud Younger passed away June 25, 1936, at her ranch in Los Gatos, California. Despite her age and health, Maud remained focused on women’s rights, serving as the National Women’s Party Congressional chair until her passing. As an ardent supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, she championed the cause of women and women in the workplace through her tireless advocacy.

As I look toward celebrating the 88th anniversary of Women’s Right To Vote, I, and women all over this country owe a debt of gratitude to the millionaire Waitress, Maud Younger.

Perhaps someday, we can even have an exhibit on Maud in the National Women’s History Museum

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Loose Lips in the Washington City Paper sure is suggesting just that in the race of Carol Schwartz and Patrick Mara:

Patrick Mara is doing a great job of challenging At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz in September’s Republican primary. The first-timer, for starters, has nearly matched Schwartz’s $100,000-plus campaign war chest.

And Mara won’t have to spend a dime of it on negative campaigning—the PACs have it covered.

For one, there’s the Citizens for Empowerment political action committee, the anti-union outfit funded largely by Miller & Long construction and electrical contractor MC Dean. Not only did the PAC donate to Mara’s campaign, but mail has started showing up in Republican mailboxes bearing the “Paid for by Citizens for Empowerment PAC” label.

One such mailer obtained by LL shows a gentleman holding an empty pocket out of his pants alongside a smaller picture of Schwartz, under the headline tax-and-spender: raising our taxes, wasting taxpayer dollars and supporting labor unions.

Then there’s the Nation’s Capital Committee for Good Government, which has yet to spend a significant dime on the race, aside from funding a Web site that declares the group’s “initial goal is to help elect Patrick Mara At-Large Councilmember.”

Rather than the $1,000 limit placed on campaign donations, PACs can accept contributions of up to $5,000 per donor. The Nation’s Capital Committee has taken two such maximum donations, both with connections to the downtown parking industry.

One came from Leonard “Bud” Doggett, the owner of Doggett Enterprises Inc., and formidable political fundraiser who died last week at age 87. The other is from Bear Saint Properties, a Georgetown-based real-estate investment firm headed up by Russell C. Lindner, who is also the top executive for Colonial Parking. Lindner is also active in the Federal City Council and Greater Washington Board of Trade.

Mara says he’s aware of the mailer and the Web site, but declined to comment on the propriety thereof. “I can’t control what others are doing,” he says. “I’m trying to focus on the campaign.”

If Mara wins, does this mean I have to campaign for Michael Brown who's running as an indy? To keep Mara out, I'd have to say, all unionists should.

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I'm at my high school reunion this weekend. Last night, we were hanging out at Laurello with old classmates who are now living all over the country. We talk about the usual, how'd you meet your spouse, where you working, how many kids, it's about time you came out the closet, you've been divorced how long, who you voting for in November? You know, catch up stuff.

Among the questions last night was a new one I didn't know about before...What's your website. I'm always happy to share...Uniongal. Even bought my URL this year (reminds me I need to work on the migration to the uniongal URL). So as we talked a little about my unionst activities, something interesting happened, one of my nursing friends told me that the University Hospital System blocks CNA. Recently at work, I discovered that Huffington Post has been blocked, so hearing about the blocking of CNA, has me thinking about preserving access to information.

On a company computer, I do believe that it is important to limit some access to some sites. For instance, porn. Employees, unless it's their job, should not be accessing porn from work. Likewise, employees should have access to say the Detroit Free Paper or maybe the Washington Post, or say, Huffington Post. What's offensive or unproductive about Huffington Post?

So, I get the reasons, but I'm not sure what the reason is for University Hospitals blocking of CNA. You see, CNA's site does more than just try to organize nurses, they also provide vital information on continuing education, information for new RNs, they even produced Registered Nurse Magazine. There's a wealth of information on that site other than just organizing information. But I suppose if you want to keep your nurses without access to continuing education information and nursing publications then this makes sense. After all, these darn nurses are really just trying to form a union, and that is clearly NOT what University Hospitals wants and that is really all that fucking matters to the University Hospitals.

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From the WashingtonPost:

Fenty fired six workers in that case. A hearing officer recommended three for reinstatement.

It was the kind of swift action Fenty has become known for, although he is sometimes reversed. Fenty said he has instituted the approach of quickly terminating those he finds accountable, because that is what constituents demand. In the past, employees got "a slap on the wrist," he said. "People are tired of that."

I don't know. I think I'm more tired of promises that aren't followed through with, like funding that is never provided or staffing that is never increased, or potholes never filled...

The brisk style, coupled with the increase in reported cases, has created an atmosphere of fear and has lowered morale at CFSA, Courtney said. "With our new mayor, it's a fix-it. Get it done or lose your job," she said. Although the drive is there, union leaders said, the resources are not, and more social workers are needed.

The death of a child is a tragedy, but having worked in child support enforcement, Iremember working with social workers and seeing how stressed and overworked they all were. It's one of those jobs where you have to love what you're doing, even when what you're doing is taking children from the only homes they've ever known and placing them in overcrowded foster homes (there are good ones out there, but there are a number of not so good ones, too).

You have to advocate, advocate and advocate and kiss your weekends, evenings and personal life goodbye.

The national standard for a social worker's caseload is 12, but after the Jacks case, District social workers were dealing with 20 on average, and some had more than 30.

Sam Smith on his blog DC City Desk (Free DC) really broke it down well:

Said Fenty, "If someone is saying the District of Columbia human services agency is somewhat overburdened . . . I'm the first to say that," he said. However, Fenty added, "There can be no excuses."

But, if that is true, shouldn't the guy who suddenly increased the social worker's job load be fired as well? It wasn't the social worker's fault that the agency was "somewhat overburdened." At the very least, Fenty should stop treating these incidents as political campaign events.

Fenty has proved a grand disappointment to me and an awful lot of working men and women of this city. I'm sure Cropp would have been worse, but this isn't the guy I thought I was getting. It really sucks to fire an employee for not doing their job, despite not giving the worker the tools to do their job or even a workload that is actually doable. Wonder how many other children are at risk right now because of the choices you've made Mr. Mayor. What other police officer or social worker are you going to hold accountable for your lack of resources?

If there really are no excuses Mr. Mayor, perhaps a little more house cleaning closer to your office is in line, perhaps, even in your office. I suppose this is just another attempt by you to make sure that accountability is about how the buck stops with all front line workers. I think this is just an example of what I'll be calling an Adrianism.

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Just got an e-mail from a friend at the AFL-CIO and I wanted to share:

Hi, All:

We launched the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council today, made up of members from multiple unions who are taking part in roundtables with union vets around the nation today. They will continue to get out the message throughout the election season that there's a big difference between McCain's war record and the anti-working family policies he'd pursue as president.

Jim Wasser, an IBEW member and union vet, is featured in a TV ad we're running in select communities.

More than 2.1 million union members are military veterans--and we all need to reach out to them and get out the word on the Real McCain.

We have a post at Firedoglake.


and lots of info, including the TV ad and fliers on where Obama and McCain stand on vets issues, here:

http://www.unionveterans.org

Hope you can spread the word to your union members who are military veterans.

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Over 150 of workers from five hotels across Northern Virginia rallied with supporters outside the Hilton Crystal City Wednesday afternoon to launch a worker-approved boycott against unionbusting hotel management company Columbia Sussex. Protesters roared “Don’t check in, check out” until their voices went hoarse and pounded make-shift bucket drums with signs saying “Boycott Hilton Crystal City” while rush-hour traffic crawled past.

I use the UNITE-HERE site when planning a trip or having friends come in from out of town. I use it to first find Union hotels and if I can’t find a union hotel on the list, I can at least find a list to avoid, like the Jury hotels in DC. More from Union City…

Columbia Sussex purchased the Hilton Crystal City – Northern Virginia’s first union hotel – last year and immediately demanded increases in workloads, elimination of pensions and other benefits, and cuts in health insurance coverage. Workers – members of UNITE HERE Mid-Atlantic Regional Joint Board – have been without a contract since last October but have refused to give into management’s demands and voted in April to approve the boycott. “We have to keep fighting for everything we have already won, and this boycott is the best way to do it,” says Regino Romero, who has worked 14 years as a cook at the hotel. “We need to pressure them to win a good contract, with good raises and health insurance,” says housekeeper Ernestina Lopez. Wednesday’s rally precedes a rally for Sheraton Baltimore City Center workers next Thursday at 4:30P. Workers at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center hotel – also owned by Columbia Sussex – called for a similar boycott – still active – of their hotel last October after working without a contract for over a year.

Next up, Sheraton Baltimore City Center

Where
101 West Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD

When
Jul 10 starts at 4:30 pm

The UNITE HERE Mid-Atlantic Regional Joint Board hosts a rally to support Sheraton City Center hotel workers fighting for a fair contract. Workers at the hotel have been in contract negotiations since 2006. Hotel workers voted in October to boycott the hotel in response to company demands to increase workloads, decrease benefits, and have the unlimited right to contract union work out.
For more info, contact the Mid-Atlantic Regional Joint Board, 410-659-2191.

One last note, Columbia Sussex owns and operates loads of hotels, including the Tropicana in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Not that I’m suggesting that you boycott these facilities, but you may want to mention the actions in NOVA and Baltimore to staff if you happen to be in these hotels, even if you’re just passing through.

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Not long ago, I wrote about an AP piece that claimed that the pilot unions at Northwest and Delta were causing “problems” with Delta and Northwest proceeding with their proposed merger.

What was interesting about that story is that it didn’t mention the step that Delta and Northwest took to involve their unions in the merger. You see, they wanted to create as smooth a transition as possible for their workers. Mostly, this transition also means a savings to the companies, but let’s face it, few companies look to their unions to find agreement much less to save them money.

Well, a friend sent me a piece on the proposed merger from the Atlantic Journal Constitution:

In a message to pilots, Delta union Chairman Lee Moak said the union wants to ink a single labor contract with Northwest's pilots before the airlines close on their merger agreement, possibly by the end of this year. He said the union will also try to agree on how to merge their seniority lists through arbitration, if necessary.

Northwest pilots to take effect at the close of the corporate transaction," Moak said in the message to the Atlanta carrier's pilots. "We are also committed to the premise that seniority integration should be accomplished after negotiation of the single joint contract ... and, if necessary, expedited arbitration to be completed" by the closing of the deal.

For those who don’t get it, this is a big deal. Arbitration means that the union gives up their sovereignty, so to speak. They agree before anything is even penned to go along with what this third party decides.

The other thing I want to mention is this is a great idea, to have an agreement like this in place before the merger effective date means that they won’t run into the same issues that AmericaWest and USAir ran into and continue to experience since AmericaWest purchased USAir.

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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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Joe’s got a good post up right now on the latest California Nurse’s actions against Sutter Health.

This is an additional action that seems to keep happening because the conglomerate that owns Sutter doesn’t seem to care about patient care. For more on past actions, check out the October 07 action and also the California Nurse’s Association press release.


Now, just in case you think it's unusual or perhaps even okay to close "unprofitable" hospitals, keep in mind, these hospitals are usually in areas that are predominantly poor. From Fire On The Mountain

I was in Plainfield last weekend when it seemed like the entire city turned out to demonstrate against the for-profit Solaris Healthcare corporation's plans to shut down the more than 130 year-old Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center.

-snip-

...local community-based hospitals are being bought-up and shut-down by large for-profit medical centers or the same huge insurance corporations that view healthcare as a business instead of a right. Since around the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, New Jersey witnessed local community-based hospitals close at a frightening rate. Organizing to stop this trend is literally a life-or-death issue to working people in this state, and around the country.

I wonder how many other community based hospitals have closed that have slipped under the radar because the nurses haven't unionized or the community felt helpless to stop it. In DC, we watched as DC General closed it's doors and a Women's hospital as well, and that's just been in the last 7 years. One other hospital has been threatening closure but has not yet closed its doors. I wonder how much longer it will stay open when it has to compete for "paying customers" along with three teaching hospitals in the area. All in all, this situation looks pretty darn bleak.

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So, I'm looking at my referral pages and I notice that I'm getting hits for calling Colbert and Stewart scabs. Not Maher, Leno or O'Brien, go figure.

Today, I see something new, syndicated cartoonists taking the scabs to task for, well, being scabs!!!

Here's what Ted Rall's had to say:

These two strike-breakers think they can justify their actions away with the sort of lame arguments they usually get paid to mock when politicians make them. Let's take them one at a time:

1. Their staffers were in danger of losing their jobs if they didn't come back on the air. That's true. It could happen. It's called collateral damage, and it sucks. It's also called solidarity. For all of us to get ahead, we all have to pull together and suck up the hard times. The whole point of a strike is to cause enough inconvenience to force management to negotiate in good faith. If Comedy Central ordered Stewart and Colbert back on the air, they ought to have quit. That's called integrity. [Ms. Hardin Smith, did you catch that?]

2. They're talking a lot on the air about unionism and the strike. While that's very meta, it doesn't wash. The best way to make sure the corporate bosses feel the pinch would have been to stay off the air.

All the emphasis added was mine. Yeah, as if that's a shock to all three of you.

Matt Bors did something similar in taking Colbert to task using a very Colbert type frame, The Word, seriously, go check it out. But this sums up exactly how I feel about this issue:

There are numerous shades of gray that can be applied to how difficult there decision was, but when it comes down to it, I see it like this: they are WGA members, there was no deal for them to go back on air and they clearly have written material. Therefore, they should not be back on the air. They should be out on the sidewalk.

And that is what we in labor advocacy call SOLIDARITY. Dudes, you knocked this one out the ballpark. Thank you!!

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So, I’m getting ready to visit the family. I’m planning to leave on January 31st and return on February 6th. Nice short trip which means, I won’t kill anyone!! Well, that is until I read the Progressiverailroading

You see, there’s a strike looming for Amtrak. And Amtrak is my preferred type of transportation to Ohio. It’s a pretty trip. And on the train, it’s also a comfy trip. I get to sleep easily and we get off in Cleveland somewhere between 2:30 and 4 depending on the speed of the train and the weather.

But with a strike looming, I’m worried about even buying the tickets. Here’s more on the strike from progressiverailroading:

The recommended settlement calls for a 35.2 percent wage increase retroactive from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2009, according to a joint statement released by the Passenger Rail Labor Bargaining Coalition and Amtrak Shopcraft Coalition. The PEB recommends employees receive retroactive pay to compensate for the eight years they’ve worked without a wage increase. To lessen the back-pay burden on Amtrak, PEB members suggest that retroactive wages be paid out in two installments of 40 percent and 60 percent one year apart.

The board also recommended the parties don’t adopt Amtrak’s proposed work rule changes. No other rail agreements contained the type of language Amtrak was seeking, the PEB determined. The proposed changes were not the subjects of intensive bargaining by the parties, Amtrak had not shown a compelling operational need for any of the changes it sought and the adoption of the railroad’s proposals likely would foreclose voluntary agreement and cause “significant instability” within the workforce, according to the union coalitions.

The unions are ready to resume negotiations with the national intercity passenger railroad, the coalitions said. If the parties do not reach an agreement by 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 30, the unions plan to strike. However, there is a possibility that Congress could intervene, the coalitions said.

Again, from progressiverailroading,

Last week, Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) 242 released its recommendations to settle a long-standing dispute between Amtrak and eight labor unions, while two union coalitions set a deadline to prompt a resolution by month’s end.

Formed Dec. 1, the PEB members recommended the parties adopt a wage and health-care package agreed to in April 2007 by the unions and freight-rail industry.

Come on Amtrak, do write by your workers and let me ride the train. Ugh, what am I gonna do?

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