Happy Labor Day

Thank you, working men and women of America, for the role you have played, and continue to play, in making our nation great.

I appreciate the labor you have expended and the sacrifices you have made for your families and for us all. 

Support America’s workers, the unemployed,  under-employed, and disenchanted. Support labor’s right to form unions and collective bargaining. Support the creation of family supporting income jobs. Resist austerity programs. Restore progressive taxation.

Education and Employment: It’s Only Right!

Quality education for our children and full-time, family supporting employment, with benefits, is only right.

Save public education and protect the rights of public and private sector workers.

Thoughts From The Tenth Floor

For the past two summers I have spent my time between school years working with a construction company that is building a ten-story office building in our community. I work on the clean-up crew, sweeping floors, moving material, and occasionally, doing some light construction work.

The building is a pretty impressive structure. It is covered with granite from top to bottom. Even the loading dock is ringed with black and pink granite. There are several tremendous chandeliers hanging in the building and there will be expensive, ornate “stone” throughout the interior.

The tenth floor of the building will house the offices of the corporation that is building the building, as well as all of the corporation’s subsidiary companies. The lower floors will be leased out space.

The other day I learned two things about the building that stunned me and gave me pause to think about priorities. The first thing is that the electronically controlled blinds and curtains in all of the offices on the tenth floor will cost $275,000. The second thing is that the tenth floor mahogany floors, walls, doors, and trim, and the labor to install all of the “wood”, will cost a total of $4 million.

The man who owns the corporation is a self-made billionaire, having made his fortune primarily through banking and property development. He has every right to do with his money as he pleases, spending it on whatever he wants, and building the building as extravagantly as he chooses.

But, I couldn’t help wondering: “Isn’t this a bit self-indulgent?” Sure, it’s nice to be comfortable and to have nice, even very nice, offices, but in a world that has such devastating needs … really!

What could $4 million, the total cost of the “wood”, be spent on that would benefit people with great needs – education, health-care, housing, just to name a few – rather than on satisfying the wants and comfort of a reputable corporate executive?

Yes, it’s his money, but I’m just saying.

Hard Hat Encounters Re-Visited

Last summer I worked with a construction crew on the site of a new ten-story building in our area. I was one of two men on the clean-up crew, following the sheet-rockers around, picking up and disposing of debris. I also swept floors, stacked materials, cleaned out five gallon paint buckets, and cleaned the bathrooms, just to mention a few of the other things I did on site.

It was a lot of hard, hot work, but it was a great experience. Not only did it generate income for my family between school semesters, I had the opportunity to meet and get to know a lot of really good men. In fact, I posted several articles on this blog if you’d be interested in reading them. You can find them here and here.

In the morning I am going  to start my summer work with the same construction crew on the same construction site. I am not sure if I will be on the clean-up crew again. All I know is that the push is on to complete the project this summer and there may be some painting involved.

I’m also not sure about the number of hours I am going to work each week. Last summer I worked as many as 53 per week.

The work week may start off at forty hours but the foreman told me that as the project gets closer to completion we can expect to see longer days. Saturdays and Sundays may eventually be added to the schedule.

I am looking forward to seeing which of the men that I worked with last summer are still on the job. They were a great bunch of men who had different histories, stories, and experiences. Most of the men were young men with young families.

Working on the construction crew gave me a deep appreciation for men who work hard with their hands all day at hard labor, labor that often goes unrecognized and is mostly unappreciated by the general public.

And, I came to identify myself with those men, and countless numbers of other men and women like them in our nation, and around the world, who are the producers of almost everything that we eat, use,  live in, wear, watch, drive on, and possess.

I have come to see myself as being one of them … the working class

The New Poor

The New Poor

“Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.

Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.

Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.”

And, so begins The New Yorks Times article, “Millions Of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs.” (February 22, 2010)

Who are the new poor? Read the article here and then take a look around in your neighborhood and city.

You may know some of the “new poor.” Hey, you may be one of the “new poor.”

FDR In A Union?

I have recently found a labor-related website that includes, among many things, quotes about labor and unions from famous Americans, both past and present.

I thought that I would occasionally post some quotes from these folks. Perhaps you’ll be surprised, as I was, at the different people who supported labor and what they said in support of working men and women and unions.

The first quote that I’ll share with you in from Franklin D. Roosevelt.

If I were a worker in a factory, the first thing I would do would be to join a union.”

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The website where the labor quotes is found is the American Labor Studies Center.

Obama Speaks About the EFCA

In this Service Employees Union International video, Barack Obama declares his support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Scott – “That One” – Gets a Raise and Benefits…In His Dream

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), when signed into law after Barack Obama becomes president, will:

• allow employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation on a job
• establish stronger penalties for businesses that violate employees’ rights when workers seek to form a union and during first contract negotiations
• provide mediation and arbitration for first time contract disputes.

The EFCA is important to American workers, because, in the words of Senator Edward Kennedy, it will “level the playing field between management and labor” when it comes to forming a union. This is a tremendous point, especially when we consider that 60 million workers say they would join a union if they had the opportunity.

There are several websites that provide helpful information about the Employee Free Choice Act for those who want to know more about it.

One is the AFL-CIO’s website. On their EFCA page you will find a definition of the EFCA as well as be able to read the EFCA text. There are youtube.com videos of lawmakers and workers expressing their views about the Act, along with a tremendous amount of other information that will help you to better understand and advocate for the passage of the Act.

Another website is that of American Rights At Work. America Rights At Work says that the EFCA will help American workers get better health care, job security and benefits.

The Service Employees International Union amd Employee Free Choice websites both have information about the Act and some very interesting videos that inform, entertain and promote the passage of the EFCA.

So, whether you’re in favor of the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act or not, or you just want to be know about it, check out the websites above.

In the meantime, enjoy this EFCA promotional video.

Obama and the Employee Free Choice Act

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama declared his support for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and workers’ rights to form unions on the job.

To document Obama’s support of unions and the EFCA, the AFL-CIO has posted an article, “Barack Obama Will Restore Workers’ Freedom To Form Unions And Bargain”, on their website page, “Obama On The Issues.” The article is posted under the “Workers’ Rights” heading.

The article notes the following:

Obama Voted for Employee Free Choice Act. Obama co-sponsored and voted for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would restore workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions without employer harassment. (H.R. 800, Vote 227, 6/26/07)

Obama Promises to Sign the Employee Free Choice Act into Law. Obama says, “We will pass the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.” (Chicago Tribune, 3/4/07)

Obama: Employee Free Choice Act Gives Workers Majority Sign-Up. Obama said, “The Employee Free Choice Act will allow workers to form a union through majority sign-up and card-checks, and strengthen penalties for those employers who are in violation. The choice to organize should be left up to workers and workers alone. It should be their free choice.” (Obama Senate Press Release, 6/20/07)

Obama Says Choice to Form Unions Belongs to Workers. “The choice to organize should be left up to workers and workers alone. It should be their free choice.” At an AFSCME forum, Obama said, “In this country, we believe that if the majority of workers in a company want a union, they should get a union. We can do this.” (Take Back America Conference, 6/19/07; Obama Senate Press Release, 6/20/07)

Obama Says Workers Are Victimized by Current Law. Obama said workers are being victimized by current organizing laws. “The employers are abiding by the letter of the law…but it turns out we (still) have an overwhelming number of voters who would want to join a union….It would seem to me that we should change the law.” (Investor’s Business Daily, 3/30/07)

Obama Rallied With Resurrection Health Care Employees Promoting Passage of Employee Free Choice Act. Obama attended a rally of 2,000 hospital employees, union members and supporters promoting passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. “Keep marching for justice,” Obama told the Resurrection workers. “Where there is injustice anywhere, it suppresses justice everywhere. And organized labor has a history of bringing about justice.” The rally brought attention to the Resurrection workers’ campaign to form a union with AFSCME. (AFSCME 31, 3/5/07)

Obama Voted for Collective Bargaining Rights for Airport Screeners. Obama supported an amendment granting 43,000 airport screeners limited collective bargaining rights without the ability to strike or negotiate for higher pay. (S.Amdt. 316 to S.Amdt. 275 to S. 4, Vote 64, 3/7/07)

Obama Publicly Supports Workers Trying to Form Unions and Gain Contracts. In addition to his support for Resurrection staff , Obama has publicly supported workers in organizing and bargaining campaigns many times, from walking a picket line with Congress Hotel employees last year in Chicago to refusing to cross the picket line of striking television writers and urging the head of WMUR-TV in New Hampshire to negotiate a fair contract. (AFL-CIO Now blog, 11/26/07, 12/4/07, 12/28/07)”

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President-elect Obama has expressed his support of labor by word, action and vote. He has declared labor’s right to form unions on the job and his support of the EFCA.

As Barack Obama prepares to enter the White House and officially begin his work as the president of the United States, it is, and will be, our job to follow-up on his commitment to labor, hold him to his word, and see to it that the Employee Free Choice Act becomes a reality.

Labor Matters

In the early 1980’s I was employed by what was then General Telephone & Electric, Co. In 2000 Bell Atlantic bought GTE and renamed itself Verizon.

For a short period of time before I resigned from GTE to go to graduate school, I was a member of the Communication Workers of America (CWA).

When I joined the union I really did not have a conviction about the value and work of CWA, or any other union for that matter. I joined simply to get ready for the union’s contract re-negotiations with the company.

Today, however, I have a greater understanding of and appreciation for the work of unions – their history in the United States, their role in the development of the country and the many benefits that labor unions have fought for and gained for American workers.

Texas, the state in which I live, is a right-to-work state. There are unions and union activity here, though, but there is no union representaion in the school district where I am employed. Many of the teachers in the district are members of various state teacher associations but these are more like societies for education professionals than unions. I personally have made several contacts with one particular teacher’s union about associate membership with it but have never received any return correspondence. If there was union representation in this district, I would be among the first to join.

I share all of this not only because I am very interested in labor, labor unions and working class issues, but because labor issues, including the Employee Free Choice Act, were campaign issues in this year’s presidential election.

Over the next week or two I intend to post several articles that pertain to labor, labor unions and the working class. The articles will address the benefits of unions for union members and workers in general, low union representation and labor density in the US, how to revive the labor movement, and the Employee Free Choice Act.