LETTER Labor Advisory Board SEPTEMBER 2012 Vol
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Published By AMERICAN INCOME LIFE & NATIONAL INCOME LIFE LETTER LABOR ADVISORY BOARD SEPTEMBER 2012 Vol. 44 No. 5 NEWS FROM THE rights, the right for health care, and the right Union families celebrating La- AFL-CIO, CTW, for workers to organize. “This is a declara- bor Day 2012 face the most daunting chal- InternatiOnal & tion of if you stand with working people or lenges in generations, according to labor you don’t,” AFL-CIO President Richard academicians and experts from around the NatiOnal UNIONS Trumka told the news media. He added that nation. Private sector union membership is it will show union leaders that those who below 7 percent and public employee unions Organized labor held a mas- don’t sign the pledge “will give us an oppor- report declining members. Anti-union sive Workers Stand for America rally in tunity to say he/she did, he/she didn’t.” For groups, funded by wealthy right-wing con- Philadelphia August 11 to roll out a “Second candidates that sign it, the union’s resources tributors, have unleashed a relentless attack Bill of Rights” that will set the agenda for will be devoted to help them get elected. against unions and collective bargaining in labor’s 2012 voter mobilization and commu- “You will see an effort on the ground that is an attempt to turn public opinion against nity outreach. The “bill” is the basis of a new bigger and broader than the past,” Trumka the labor movement. Republican Party of- campaign expected to last through Elec- said. Union leaders said that few elections ficials and candidates regularly use strident tion Day to determine which politicians are in the past rival the upcoming presidential language to describe unions as “America’s on labor’s side. Candidates will be asked to election in its potential historic consequenc- no. 1” enemy. Although they have done sign-off on the plan, which calls for voting es to union workers. nothing to create jobs, congressional Re- publicans have introduced a series of bills to undermine federal labor rights. Rarely, if ever, has the National Labor Relations Board, and the rights it enforces, been subjected to such relentless attacks. Anti- union legislation has been passed or intro- duced by Republican-controlled bodies at the state level targeting public employees, teachers and construction workers. National labor groups present- ed a united front in filing a brief July 11 asking the U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court ruling that the so-called De- fense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. The AFL-CIO and Change to Win, the nation’s two largest labor federations, and National Education Association joined in the filing which said DOMA “by intention and design, ensures that workers with same- sex spouses earn less money, are taxed more on their wages and benefits, and have avail- Second Bill of RIghts. Flickr.com photo used under Creative Commons from Workers 4 America. able to them fewer valuable benefits and less JAMES WILLIAMS, General President - International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Chairman - AIL/NILICO Labor Advisory Board VICTOR KAMBER, Vice President - American Income Life Insurance Company, Executive Director - AIL/NILICO Labor Advisory Board ROGER SMITH, Chief Executive Officer - American Income Life Insurance Company, President - AIL/NILICO Labor Advisory Board DENISE BOWYER, Vice President - American Income Life Insurance Company, Secretary - AIL/NILICO Labor Advisory Board Pg 2 LABOR LETTER economic security than their counterparts August 1. Since then, union workers have re- the company during organizing efforts at with different-sex spouses.” More than 130 jected the company’s contract proposal three non-union hotels. “Hyatt has singled itself House Democrats filed a similar brief with times, citing problems with its job security out as the worst hotel employer in Ameri- the Court of Appeals. The court is expected to and seniority provisions. Company officials ca. Hyatt workers have taken bold steps to hear the case in September. Labor’s legal ar- assert that they have made their final con- end mistreatment, speaking publicly about gument noted that the law is unconstitutional tract offer and have hired replacement work- abuses, going on strike, and now, launching because it puts workers into separate groups ers. The workers are members of the Bakery, a global boycott of Hyatt,” the union said. and allows discrimination against workers on Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain the basis of the category into which it places Millers International Union. The AFL-CIO launched a new them. The brief said that DOMA prevents or website highlighting factual information significantly restricts access to spousal health UNITE HERE on July 23 target- about Mitt Romney’s record and issues of benefits by workers married to same sex part- ed Hyatt Hotels for a global boycott in re- concern to working families. The website ners and denies to same-sex couples benefits sponse to the hotel company’s extensive is called Meet Mr. 1% . “The website offers provided to other married couples when a abuse of their workers. The NFL Players details about how Massachusetts suffered worker suffers a workplace injury, or other- Association, the AFL-CIO, the National during Romney’s single term as Governor wise becomes ill or infirm. Organization for Women (NOW), the Na- there as well as information on what is cur- tional Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, and other rently known about his still mysterious re- AFL-CIO announced a national community organizations joined Hyatt cord at Bain Capital. It also illustrates the campaign in support of 1,300 union mem- housekeepers in Washington D.C. on July significant costs to working people — and bers locked out for over a year at American 23 to express their support for the global vast benefits to the 1% — of the Romney Crystal Sugar Co. AFL-CIO President boycott. The union also held demonstra- economic agenda,” said the labor federation. Richard Trumka pledged the national la- tions at the end of July in 20 cities across The federation said the information will bor movement would provide financial aid the U.S. as part of an online call to “Vote help working people “decipher the enigma to locked out workers and pressure on the Hyatt Worst” at the website http://www. that is Mitt Romney” and assess whether company to settle the labor dispute. Ameri- votehyattworst.org/ . The union initiated the he would make a “plausible” president for can Crystal, the country’s largest sugar beet campaign as part of its efforts to stop sub- workers. “Meet Mr. 1% offers facts about processor, locked out union workers at plants contracting and abuse of workers in union how Romney does, or doesn’t, match up to in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa last hotels and to seek a neutrality pledge from people’s aspirations,” said the labor group. InternatiOnal LABOR NEWS Israel’s Histadrut and the fire- fighters union signed a historic collective bargaining agreement with the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Internal Se- curity that for the first time grants them the right to strike. Other big gains include a one-time bonus payment of 10,000 shek- els, a 15 percent pay rise, and an agreed compensation for working shifts, Satur- days or holidays. New firefighters will re- ceive an additional 13 percent. According to news reports, the agreement is part of a far-reaching reform of the Israeli firefight- ing services following the disastrous Car- mel forest blaze in December 2010 which claimed 44 lives. Israel’s State Comptroller issued a report in June which found a large number of operational failures. In par- ticular, the report blamed the finance and interior ministers, while also naming the internal security minister and the Prime UNITE HERE Protest of Hyatt Hotels. Flickr.com photo used under Creative Commons from Mentatmark. Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. LABOR LETTER Pg 3 the United States. Only four Republican lawmakers that the U.S. central bank would Senators voted to end debate. The measure take additional action if officials concluded was sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow no progress was being made towards higher (D-Mich.) and heavily supported by orga- levels of employment. nized labor. Current law permits compa- nies to deduct the cost of moving people Republican Senators recently and equipment overseas from their taxes. S. voted to block new rules that would have 3364 would have ended this deduction and opened more better-paying seasonal jobs created a 20 percent tax credit for all costs for U. S. citizens while also protecting im- associated with moving overseas jobs back migrant workers. Seasonal work affected to the U.S. Republicans also blocked the included jobs in landscaping, forestry, sea- Disclose Act, which would have required food processing and the hospitality indus- the disclosure of campaign contributions of try. New regulations proposed by the U.S. more than $10,000. Department of Labor would have required American employers who hire non-Ameri- The number of Americans fil- can workers under the H2B visa program to ing new claims for jobless benefits at the pay the transportation costs of workers who end of July fell to near a four-year low. Ini- fill the job and pay them 75 percent of their Protest of Colombia Free Trade. Flickr.com photo tial claims for state unemployment benefits wages even if they don’t work for reasons used under Creative Commons from Public Citizen. dropped 35,000 to a seasonally adjusted such as bad weather. Employers hire a to- 353,000, the Labor Department said. That tal of 66,000 foreign workers for temporary Colombia has not fully com- was a much sharper drop than economists jobs in non-farm industries after they cer- plied with the Labor Action Plan agreed expected.