The signs — carried, pasted and nailed about the Wisconsin state capitol building this past weekend — say it all: “United we bargain, divided we beg.”
For labor, this may be our finest hour, as working families have gathered peacefully, but strong, confident and determined, in hundreds of cities nationwide to protest the most coordinated union-busting efforts since the early 1900s.
Collective bargaining rights, union membership rights, the right to strike and check-off for union-member PAC contributions are all under attack in numerous states.
Some 70,000 workers and their families — union and non-union, and joined by hundreds of UTU members — protested in Wisconsin’s capital city, Madison, Saturday, Feb. 15.
Students of history know the struggles of the early 20th century, when workers were at the mercy of employers. Armed Pinkerton detectives and even armed federal troops were called out to put down efforts of workers for better pay, benefits and working conditions.
It was not until the Railway Labor Act of 1926 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 that workers could lawfully join a union free of employer interference, engage in collective bargaining and be safe from the bayonets and bullets that once met organizing attempts and workplace protests. It took until 1959 — with Wisconsin leading the way — that state workers gained a right of collective bargaining. Federal workers did not gain such rights until 1962.
Today’s right-wing, anti-union zealots — many who have gained political office, bankrolled by similar thinking millionaires and billionaires — would turn back the clock.
But united labor must stand, lest we be divided and conquered.
One right-wing blog already is predicting the end of labor unions in America, recklessly blaming collective bargaining for scores of society’s economic ills.
Of course it’s rubbish, but unless the millions of working families making up America’s labor movement counter the lies and distortions being spread, and stand-up to the assault on the middle class, we will, indeed, be divided and reduced to begging status.
We have seen American corporations close factories and move production to third-world nations in search of cheap labor, destroying the hopes and dreams of tens of thousands of American workers and their families.
Now the assault on the American worker has been expanded to destroying the labor unions that helped to create America’s middle class.
The right-wing lawmakers, resolute in destroying collective bargaining and labor unions, assert that the reason is to balance state budgets and save millions of dollars.
The truth is that reducing wages, making health care unaffordable to working families and undermining retiree pensions will only reduce domestic consumption, destroy worker morale and productivity, add to unemployment rolls, increase the number of food stamp recipients, create more homelessness and incite social unrest.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Egyptians, who have overthrown a dictatorship that eliminated that nation’s working class, have found the time and energy to lend support to American labor’s fight against the would-be dictators who want to determine — free of collective bargaining — the wages, benefits and working conditions for public employees.
If the assault on public-employee collective bargaining is successful, it will be but a matter of time before the same assault is launched on private-sector collective bargaining.
Our great-grandfathers fought with blood, sweat and tears to gain laws assuring our rights to join a labor union of our choice and engage in collective bargaining. To sit idly by as a minority of right-wing zealots seeks to eliminate those rights is to mock the sacrifices and gains of our forebears.
As UTU International President Mike Futhey says in supporting pro-collective-bargaining demonstrations, “We are not going away and we will not forget. This fight is making organized labor stronger than ever. This will be our finest hour.”
Author: paul
Railroad intermodal (the movement of trailers and containers aboard flatcars) is poised to enter a “golden age,” reports the Journal of Commerce.
The magazine estimates that 2011 could set an intermodal shipment record, eclipsing the record 14.2 million trailers and containers hauled by rail in 2006. In 2010, railroads hauled 13.4 million trailers and containers.
For the six weeks ending Feb. 12, the Association of American Railroads reports trailer and container loads are running more than 7 percent ahead of the same period in 2010.
Given a spike in fuel prices owing to Mideast turmoil, and the fuel efficiency advantage of rail over truck, that surge is expected to continue.
The father of UTU State Legislative Director Dan O’Connell died Feb. 25 in Mt. Laurel, N.J., at age 89.
Michael L. “Mickey” O’Connell Jr. was a decorated World War II Navy veteran and a brakeman and conductor with Conrail and two of its predecessors — Pennsylvania Railroad and Penn Central — retiring in 1982.
The elder O’Connell was a member of UTU Local 1390, Trenton, N.J., and predecessor Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. During his retirement years, he frequently attended UTU retiree meetings.
In addition to son Dan O’Connell, Mickey O’Connell is survived by his wife of 66 years, Rita, one daughter, a sister and grandson.
A funeral home visitation will be held Tuesday, March 1 (6-8 p.m.) and Wednesday, March 2 (9:30-10:30 a.m.) at Mt. Laurel Home for Funerals, 212 Ark Road, Mount Laurel, N.J. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m., Wednesday, March 2, at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, 1603 Marne Highway, Hainesport, N.J.
The family has requested that memorial gifts be made to Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Box 188, Hainesport, NJ, 08036, or Samaritan Hospice, 5 Eves Drive, Suite 300, Marlton, NJ, 08053-3101.
Your help is needed, as will be explained in the following article.
Imagine an election for Congress where the number of eligible voters NOT voting is added to the vote total of the candidate receiving the fewest actual votes, thereby making the election’s loser actually the winner.
As confusing and foolish as that sounds, it is precisely what some in Congress want to happen with airline and railroad union representation elections conducted by the National Mediation Board.
As one cannot assume that those NOT voting in a congressional election would have voted against the winner, Congress cannot assume that those NOT voting in a union-representation election would have voted against the union.
As the winner of congressional elections is determined by those actually voting, so should union representation elections be determined. Not to do so turns democratic principles on their head.
And this leads us to another election — an election on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives next week in which House lawmakers will consider legislation to tilt the scales against airline and railroad unions.
The bill, H.R. 658, has a provision specific to airline and railroad representation elections. It requires that the number of eligible voters who do NOT vote be considered to have voted AGAINST union representation. That’s union busting, pure and simple.
An amendment will be offered on the House floor to strip that provision from H.R. 658, assuring airline and railroad representation elections follow the same democratic process as elections for Congress, the White House, the local PTA, and virtually every other election in America.
UTU members and retirees can assist in gaining support for the amendment to H.R. 658 by contacting your representative and asking them to vote in favor of the amendment to H.R. 658.
To contact your House member, click on the following link, and then type in your address and zip code to receive the name and direct office phone number of your representative:
www.contactingthecongress.org/
Here is some background on why the amendment should be adopted:
- Foremost, the amendment has nothing to do with so-called “card check,” a process whereby unions would be deemed winners of a representation election solely based on signed application cards. Airline and railroad representation elections will continue to be conducted by secret ballot.
- The amendment assures a 2010 decision by the NMB — to modernize its representation-vote procedures — will remain intact so that airline and railroad representation elections are conducted by the same democratic procedures as every other American election.
Why did the NMB modernize its representation election procedures in 2010?
- To assure the democratic principle that elections be decided by those actually vote.
- Because the 75-year-old previous procedure — to demonstrate to employers that their workers overwhelmingly preferred an independent labor union to a company union controlled by management — is no longer valid given that company unions are now unlawful.
- Because the 75-year-old previous procedure — to guard against racial discrimination and better assure access to ballots by African-American workers — is no longer valid given the subsequent enactment of civil rights laws.
- Because substantially improved reading comprehension skills and ubiquitous methods of communication now assure workers understand the meaning of a representation election. The majority participation requirement no longer is necessary to spur “spreading of the word” and education of workers as to the issues.
- No longer is there a credible concern that a handful of Communist agitators might use intimidation to limit voting, control the outcome and then engage in militancy.
Changed times and circumstances require that airline and railroad representation elections follow the same democratic principles as congressional and all other elections. Passage of the amendment to H.R. 658 will assure this.
Again, to contact your House member and ask them to support the amendment to H.R. 658, click on the following link, and then type in your address and zip code to receive the name and direct office phone number of your U.S. House representative:
DECATUR, Ill. — Carl Draper, the legislative representative of Local 768 at Decatur, Ill., was a guest on radio station WZUS’ Labor’s Voice radio show Friday, Feb. 25.
The show is dedicated to working people and their issues and discusses everything from community outreach to charity to workers’ rights.
It is hosted by Mike Nixon, a union member, and is funded by union-friendly sponsors.
The show may be downloaded by visiting www.decaturradio.com and clicking on the Tara Nickerson at Noon link.
For more information about the program, visit “Labor’s Voice Radio Show” on Facebook.
Rallies in support of public-employee collective bargaining are being held in scores of cities across America to protest legislative efforts in Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin to revoke that right.
A new attack on public-employee collective bargaining was launched Feb. 23 in Idaho, reports UTU Idaho State Legislative Director George Millward. Idaho Senate bill 1024 would prohibit state employees from joining unions and outlaw strikes. The UTU will participate in an AFL-CIO meeting this weekend to formulate opposition, Millward said.
UTU members wishing to participate in a rally supporting collective-bargaining rights for public employee should contact their state legislative director, as no formal schedule exists. Most rallies, in dozens of states, are being coordinated by state branches of the AFL-CIO.
Meanwhile, newspaper editorials and opinion articles are exposing legislative efforts to strip away collective bargaining rights as union-busting tactics with no legitimate connection to state financial problems.
Here is a sampling:
Nationally syndicated columnist Eugene Robinson:
“It has long been common for unions to accept better health and pension benefits in lieu of higher salaries — in effect, taking the money later rather than sooner. Now that these IOUs are coming due, Wisconsin wants to renege. I thought Republicans were supposed to believe that a contract is a contract, sacred and inviolate. Guess not. This is pure, unadulterated union busting.”
Stanford University law professor William B. Gould IV, a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board:
“It is downright obscene to strip workers of unions while deficit-spending tax breaks to the rich are being handed out as they are in Wisconsin. As the United States has argued for South Africa, Poland and now Egypt, unions are a basic part of democratic society. Yet that is the principal under attack by Gov. Walker in Wisconsin now. The answer is not to destroy the democratic fabric and the political opposition, but rather to engage in dialogue.”
Linda Kaboolian, lecturer in public policy at Harvard:
“Gov. Walker isn’t interest in saving money. He’s interested in crippling the unions that didn’t support him last fall.”
New York Times editorial:
“Republican talk of balancing budgets is cover for the real purpose of gutting the political force of middle-class state workers, who are steady supporters of Democrats and pose a threat to a growing conservative agenda. Conservative leaders in most states with strong unions have in the past generally made accommodations with organized labor, often winning support on social issues in return. That changed this year after wealthy conservatives poured tens of millions of dollars into the election campaigns of hard-right candidates.”
Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page:
“Without the right to collective bargaining, a union is little more than a social club.”
Gallup poll survey:
“While the public has ambivalent feelings toward public sector unions, they say they oppose any move by their state to eliminate collective bargaining rights by about a 2-to-1 margin.”
Madison, Wisc.,Capital Times editorial:
“Gov. Walker has made too many budget decisions not with an eye toward fiscal responsibility but with an eye toward rewarding his political benefactors. Now the governor says that Wisconsin needs to end collective bargaining for public employees and teachers. This is simply absurd. This is not about the money. This is not a fiscal crisis. This is a political crisis. And Walker has the power to resolve it by refocusing on fiscal issues, as opposed to pursuing the political goal of breaking unions.”
Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein:
“Unions — through collective bargaining, strikes and other means — give workers power. They also make negotiations less lopsided … unions tend to see their constituents as not just their own members, but the ‘working class’ broadly defined. That’s why you’ll find labor’s fingerprints on everything from the two-day weekend to Medicare to the Civil Rights Act of 1965 — none of which require you to flash a union card before you can benefit from them.”
Denver Post columnist Mike Littwin:
“If you read the [Wisconsin] bill … the union busting is in pretty plain language. The union can only negotiate salary — but, it turns out, any raises above inflation must be approved by [voter] referendum. You try putting your next raise up for a vote and see how it works out. Under the bill, employers can’t collect dues. And it’s worse than that. Every year, under the bill, union members would have to vote to keep the union certified. You can figure this out. If the union can’t bargain, why would you keep voting to certify it — and also vote to keep paying your dues?
“This comes on the heels of last year’s Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, making it easier for corporations to contribute to political campaigns. If I understand the law, the ruling said, in effect, that corporations were people. And public-sector employees? The jury is still out.”
WASHINGTON — President Obama Feb. 23 named BNSF CEO Matt Rose, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka and United Food and Commercial Workers’ Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Hansen to the White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
The three join a long list of mostly business executives and bankers on the council.
Its task is to recommend ways to promote growth and bolster U.S. competitiveness in fulfilling Obama’s State of the Union pledge to “out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build” other nations.
A senior Ohio Democrat promises that if Republicans there are successful in passing legislation to revoke collective bargaining rights for public employees, a ballot initiative would be drafted to repeal the law in the next general election, reports the Columbus Dispatch newspaper.
In Wisconsin, Democrats Feb. 22 remained absent from the state, leaving Republicans without a lawful quorum to pass similar legislation revoking collective-bargaining rights for public employees. Republicans hold a majority in both chambers of the legislature.
The South Central Wisconsin Federation of Labor, representing 45,000 union members in the Wisconsin capital of Madison, said Feb. 22 it is considering a “general strike” if the bill becomes law.
Wisconsin state Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat, said, “In one fell swoop, Gov. Walker is trying to institute a sweeping radical and dangerous notion that will return Wisconsin to the days when land barons and railroad tycoons controlled the political elites in Madison.”
In Indiana, state House Democrats are boycotting a legislative session considering similar legislation (HB 1468), vowing to remain away and prevent a quorum until they have assurances from Republicans that the bill will not be brought forward when they return, according to the Indianapolis Star newspaper. Republicans hold a majority in both legislative chambers.
Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who supports the legislation, told the newspaper he would not send state police to “round up” the Democrats because they have every right to deny Republicans a quorum to do business.”
In Ohio, the Senate Labor Committee is considering legislation — SB 5 — to revoke collective bargaining rights for public employees amid growing protests against the bill. Some 15,000 demonstrated in Columbus, Ohio’s capital city, Feb. 22, as the Republican-controlled Labor Committee heard testimony on the bill.
Because Republicans hold a majority in both chambers of the Ohio legislature, and because of the size of the Republican majority, Ohio Democrats cannot prevent a quorum by boycotting the legislative session. No date has been set for a vote on SB 5.
Should the legislation pass in Ohio, Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern told the Columbus Dispatch, “We will repeal it at the ballot box, and that will happen. That is the great fear the Republican Party has right now, because of the overreach they’re playing out right now.”
Also speaking out was JoAnn Johntony, president of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, who told the Columbus Dispatch, “I believe Gov. Kasich decided he wants to squash unions and found a creative way to do it, but he has to realize that we’ve fought this battle before and he will not stop us because we will fight to the very end.”
An Ohio Senate Republican, Timothy J. Grendell, also sounded a warning over the legislation. The Columbus Dispatch reported Grendell said the bill could end up costing the state money and should scare conservatives worried about private contracting rights.
“You’re opening up a Pandora’s Box to the principle that government can interfere with private contract rights when it suits government’s purpose,” Grendell told the newspaper. “If you’re a conservative or a Tea Party person, you should be greatly concerned about that concept because today’s collective bargaining agreement could be tomorrow’s private business contract. I guarantee you litigation will be more expensive than collective bargaining.”
Back to Wisconsin, the Capitol Times newspaper said in an editorial that Gov. Scott Walker, the architect of legislation to outlaw collective bargaining by public employees, “is making political choices, and they are designed not to balance budgets, but to improve his political position and that of his [Republican] party.”
UTU protest pickets in Madison, Wisc. Pictured, from left, are retired Local 590 member Dan Stanley; Ben Deneen, GO 261 General Chairperson James Nelson; Local 590 Vice Chairperson Leath Sheppard; and Wisconsin State Legislative Director Tim Deneen and wife, Susan.
Employees of Western Rail Road in Braunfels, Texas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cemex USA, have voted to be represented by the UTU.
The railroad moves crushed rock, cement and other aggregates for interchange with Union Pacific at Dittlinger and Stonetown, Texas.
UTU International President Mike Futhey praised the work of UTU organizer Mike Lewis in “bringing first class representation to another hardworking group of railroad workers.”
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the legislative standoff continues in Wisconsin, Ohio takes center stage Tuesday, Feb. 22, in the battle to preserve collective-bargaining rights for state workers.
The Columbus Dispatch newspaper reports that as many as 20,000 pro collective-bargaining rights demonstrators will be on the front steps of the legislature at 1 p.m., three hours before the Senate Labor Committee hears witness testimony on SB 5, which would revoke collective-bargaining rights for state workers.
State Republican Sen. Kevin Bacon, the Labor Committee chairman, told the newspaper, there would not be a vote on the bill Tuesday afternoon, nor would amendments be offered.
UTU Ohio State Legislative Director Glenn Newsom said that tens of thousands of telephone calls, emails and protest rallies are having an impact on Republican supporters of SB 5. For more information on how to help in Ohio, click on the link at the bottom of this article.
Were SB 5 to move out of committee and eventually become law in Ohio, state workers would no longer be permitted to engage in collective bargaining, through their unions, for health care or working conditions. Even binding arbitration would be scrapped.
Click on the following link to learn how you might help preserve collective-bargaining rights for public employees in Ohio:
https://www.smart-union.org/news/help-preserve-collective-bargaining-in-ohio/