Swapping Stories: Unions
RED CROSS FORCES PHILA.-N.J. AFT WORKERS TO STRIKE
RED CROSS FORCES PHILA.-N.J. AFT WORKERS TO STRIKE
PHILADELPHIA (PAI)—Continuing its campaign to strip its blood bank workers of their rights and their health care, the American Red Cross – one of the nation’s largest charities – has forced some 250 nurses and blood donor collectors in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey to strike, over blood bank safety issues.
HOTEL WORKERS RALLY VS. SEXUAL EXPLOITATION ON THE JOB
HOTEL WORKERS RALLY VS. SEXUAL EXPLOITATION ON THE JOB
NEW YORK (PAI)—“There once was a union maid, who never was afraid,” begins the old song about activist union women. Well, members of Unite Here – real union maids – were not afraid when they spoke up the week of June 6-11 against sexual exploitation of maids and other hotel workers by hotel guests.
UNIONS SAVE LIVES
UNIONS SAVE LIVES
By Dick Meister
A miner's life is like a sailor's
'Board a ship to cross the waves
Every day his life's in danger
Still he ventures being brave
---Traditional labor song
A new study shows that unionization is a sure way to dramatically lessen the
many deaths and serious injuries that have been all too common in the
nation's coal mines.
That's the unequivocal conclusion of the independent study of coal mining
between 1993 and 2008 conducted by Stanford law professor Allson Morantz and
FIRE FIGHTERS TO STOP GIVING TO FEDERAL CANDIDATES
FIRE FIGHTERS TO STOP GIVING TO FEDERAL CANDIDATES
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)—The Fire Fighters, long known for their bipartisan impact on Capitol Hill, have become the second big union to decide their campaign finance committee will no longer give money to federal candidates, at least for now.
They may not be the last.
NLRB: THE RAT IS LEGAL
NLRB: THE RAT IS LEGAL
WASHINGTON (PAI)—The labor movement’s giant inflatable rat is legal, even at demonstrations in front of secondary employers, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled on May 26.
In a case involving Sheet Metal Workers Local 15 and Brandon Regional Medical Center – which hired below-wage non-union temps to build its addition years ago – the board voted 3-1 that use of the rat on a flatbed truck parked in public more than 100 feet from the hospital entrances, is kosher. So is leafleting of passing patients.
Labor and democracy: Why is ALEC attacking labor?
Why is ALEC attacking labor?
by Scott Marshall, Peoples World
Have you met ALEC yet? ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council. Basically it is one of the main ways big business drafts legislation for its "friends" in state legislatures to pass. ALEC's private sector board of directors reads like the "Who's Who" of big business. If you really want to get to know ALEC, read the American Association for Justice's report here.
TRUMKA REDEFINES FIGHT WITH RIGHT AS MORAL STRUGGLE
TRUMKA REDEFINES FIGHT WITH RIGHT AS MORAL
STRUGGLE, ADDS FED WILL RE-DO POLITICAL PROGRAM
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)—AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is redefining workers’ battle with the Radical Right as a moral struggle, saying it involves the nation’s future.
But since the moral struggle also has a political aspect, Trumka adds the Fed is planning an overhaul of its political program to make it a year-round operation.
COMPREHENSIVE REPORT: ‘PROFOUNDLY RECKLESS’ COMPANY CULTURE OF SAFETY VIOLATIONS LED TO UPPER BIG BRANCH
COMPREHENSIVE REPORT: ‘PROFOUNDLY RECKLESS’ COMPANY
CULTURE OF SAFETY VIOLATIONS LED TO UPPER BIG BRANCH
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
CHARLESTON, W. Va. (PAI)—The first comprehensive report on last April’s explosion at Massey Coal Company’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia shows a “profoundly reckless” company culture of ignoring safety led to the blast, which killed 29 miners in the worst such disaster in 40 years. Conditions were so bad that poisonous methane gas was flowing the wrong way – into the mine – at the time of the explosion.
LABOR, DEMS PUSH NEW LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE TO REVITALIZE U.S. MANUFACTURING
LABOR, DEMS PUSH NEW, BIGGER LEGISLATIVE
PACKAGE ON REVITALIZING U.S. MANUFACTURING
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)—Organized labor and congressional Democrats are pushing a new, bigger package of legislation to help revitalize U.S. manufacturing, after a previous effort – which was more to score political points – failed in the last Congress.
MACHINISTS GATHER ALLIES AS BOEING BATTLE TURNS POLITICAL
MACHINISTS GATHER ALLIES AS
BOEING BATTLE TURNS POLITICAL
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)—The Machinists are gathering allies as the battle over a top National Labor Relations Board official’s statement that Boeing broke labor law by moving aircraft production to anti-union South Carolina to retaliate against IAM heated up and turned political.
