This week in the War on Workers
On Monday, Sen. Al Franken, Rep. Sander Levin, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert and Center for American Progress economist Heather Boushey joined unemployed workers to discuss the jobs crisis:
What could they possibly have to discuss in a country where JP f'ing Morgan says wage reductions have driven corporate profit increases, the 400 richest Americans are paying just over half the taxes they were 12 years ago, two-parent families are working 26 percent more hours than in 1975 and only earning 23 percent more, and fading jobless benefits are about to deal another blow to struggling families and the American economy?Thugs, mythical and otherwise:
- A massive amount of information, including "model" legislation, went up at ALECexposed.org this week. David Waldman explains:
The American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization paid for by corporate sponsors, and hosting regular national gatherings of conservative state legislators from around the country. The purpose: drafting and then handing out ready-made, cheat sheet legislation that can be carried back to home legislatures and introduced as distributed, and all curiously geared to benefit ... the corporate sponsors who pay for the gatherings.
ALEC bills are popping up around the country and include a lot of anti-worker legislation. ManfromMiddletown has more.
- The Associated Builders & Contractors, a construction business lobby, has been using misleading signature gathering to push an anti-union ballot measure:
The local paper took the lobby to task for spreading misinformation in its attempt to gather sufficient signatures to put an anti-Project Labor Agreement measure on the local ballot under the guise of “Fair and Open Competition.” Project Labor Agreements are pre-hire contracts between contractors and workers which ensure that a percentage of employees hired are local, that safety and wage standards are pursued, and that projects are completed on-time. San Diego City Beat took issue with signature gatherers asking respondents about potholes, something most people have a great distaste for, despite the fact that pothole repair does not fall under the jurisdiction of Project Labor Agreements which are reserved for large-scale construction:
- Barb put it in the Midday open thread on Wednesday, but it's worth reinforcing that the myth of the union thug took another hit when:
It took a St. Louis County jury less than 50 minutes to return a not guilty verdict in the assault trial featuring Kenneth Gladney and two union members who were charged with attacking him outside a two hall event during the tumultuous summer of 2009.
The altercation itself was regrettable and was over almost before it began: the type of heated scuffle that happens countless times everyday in this crowded country, and everyday people move on with their lives.
But because this particular clash was captured on tape, and because Tea Party members went bonkers hyping it, and because right-wing media carnival barkers like Dana Loesch and Andrew Breitbart operate with no moral compass, the Gladney story blew up overnight and became a (demented) cause celebre among hardcore conservatives who hatched a weird fantasy about run-away union violence in America, not withstanding what was captured on the Gladney tape.
In the workplace
- A new report finds that one in five low-wage workers in El Paso receives less than minimum wage, and many more don't get overtime pay.
- It's good to see manufacturing in the U.S. and to see an emphasis on fuel-efficient cars. You just have to wish the tradeoff wasn't crappy wages:
One of the oldest axioms in the auto industry is that no company can build a subcompact car in the United States and make money because they are priced too low. The Ford Fiesta is built in Mexico. The Honda Fit is made in several places, including China and Brazil. But with Americans — and Detroit — rediscovering small cars because of high gasoline prices, General Motors is intent on shattering that notion with its new Chevrolet Sonic. The car, with a base price of around $14,000, will give G.M. a new entry in the lowest tier of the market when it goes on sale this fall. The Sonic is also expected to be a breakthrough in establishing a new level of cooperation between Detroit and the United Automobile Workers.
The radically revamped factory here operates with fewer and cheaper workers, many of whom are paid $14 an hour rather than the full U.A.W. wage of $28 an hour.
- Locked out Blue Cross Blue Shield workers in Buffalo are back to work after ratifying their contract. Notice that once again stalemated contract negotiations led not to a strike or other worker action but to an employer locking workers out.
- Anti-union campaigns can last as long as four years, as workers at one Ohio nursing home found out.
- Detroiters just can't get a break:
Detroit residents are getting 30% fewer construction-related jobs than promised during a campaign two years ago for a $500-million construction bond, according to a Detroit Public Schools report.
So far, contractors have hired residents for 46% of the skilled trades jobs, though companies agreed to 65% during the campaign.
The DPS Auditor says this will improve in a second phase. Let's hope.
Posted: 2011-07-16 22:00:02Author:
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