Published By AMERICAN INCOME LIFE & NATIONAL INCOME LIFE LETTER LABOR ADVISORY BOARD JUNE 2012 Vol. 44 No. 4 NEWS FROM THE AFL-CIO, CTW, INTERnaTIOnal & NATIOnal UNIONS Unions vowed that the strug- gle “is far from over” after the disappoint- ing loss June 5 in the effort to recall Wis- consin Gov. Scott Walker. “We wanted a different outcome, but Wisconsin forced the governor to answer for his efforts to divide the state and punish hard-working people. Their resolve has inspired a na- tion to follow their lead and stand up for the values of hard work, unity, and decency that we believe in,” said AFL-CIO Pres. Richard Trumka. The Wisconsin AFL- CIO said the recall campaign “created a new, energetic, broad-based movement for AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Flickr.com photo used under Creative Commons from wisaflcio. working people that is defying the odds.” The campaign was “about much more than Richard Trumka blamed Republicans in The AFL-CIO Building and just this one election,” said the state fed. Congress who have blocked President Construction Trades Department (BCTD), “We laid the groundwork for a powerful Obama’s efforts to enact job-growth policies joined by the AFL-CIO and Laborers In- movement to push back against extremist “whether it’s the American Jobs Act or rou- ternational Union, released the findings policies everywhere.” The election, the third tine highway infrastructure investments.” of a first-ever state-by-state comparative recall against a sitting governor in history, “The employment report’s hint of a renewed analysis of the Associated Builders and was the most expensive one yet. Overall slowdown also tells a deeper story. Not only Contractors trade association, better known expenditures are expected to exceed $60 did the financial crash of 2008 trigger the as ABC, and its affiliate organizations. The million. Scott Walker’s campaign outraised deepest recession since the Great Depres- report is entitled “Driving the Low Road Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett 7 to 1, $30 sion of the 1930s, it also showed that the in the Construction Industry: An Analy- million to $4 million, while two thirds of economic model we have been following for sis of Associated Builders and Contractors Walker’s money came from out of state. thirty years has profound flaws,” he said. He (ABC).” “The findings expose ABC’s data called for a “continued expansionary policy” manipulation and an aggressive disinforma- Labor expressed “dismay” to generate shared prosperity. “That means tion campaign designed to confuse elected over the May employment report, describ- policies which reconnect wages to produc- officials, the public and the press into sup- ing the addition of 65,000 jobs and a small tivity growth, strengthen manufacturing, porting policies that produce fewer jobs, uptick in the jobless rates as “alarming and correct the trade deficit, particularly lower wages, and minimal workforce train- and unacceptable.” AFL-CIO President with China.” ing, which have had a detrimental effect 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 on workers, their communities and the Service Representative and OPEIU Vice Federal regulators need to US construction industry as a whole,” the President Joe Marutiak said the strike is the pay more attention to workplace health BCTD said in a statement. In other news, result “of mismanagement at the American and safety in the shale gas industry, na- the BCTD mourned the death of Mark H. Red Cross that has put our nation’s blood tional union leaders warned recently. The Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building supply at risk and abused the employees and warning focused on crystalline silica, or and Construction Trades Department since the donors.” sand, which is used as part of the frack- 2007, who died suddenly and unexpect- ing process. The heads of the AFL-CIO, edly on April 8 in Washington. He was 63. Three leaders of Congress United Steelworkers and United Mine Secretary-Treasurer Sean McGarvey was urged American Airlines to comply with Workers of America issued the warn- unanimously elected to succeed Ayers. an order from U.S. labor officials that has ing in letters to the Occupational Safety prevented its passenger service agents from and Health Administration, the Na- The Office and Professional voting on union representation. A represen- tional Institute for Occupational Safety Employees International Union (OPEIU) tation election has been held up for more and Health, and the Mine Safety and called for all labor organizations with an than a month because of the airline’s refusal Health Administration. They cited a open contract covering blood services to to supply the union with the names and ad- NIOSH study which also called atten- join in the strike against the American dresses of employees who will receive bal- tion to worker exposure to diesel particu- Red Cross (ARC). The union pointed out lots, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi lates, airborne aldehydes and hydrogen that more than 50 bargaining units exists and Reps. George Miller and Nick Rahall sulfides. The leaders said that, according in ARC across the nation and each nego- said in a letter to AMR Corp. CEO Tom to NIOSH, the workplace fatality rate tiates separately. For the first time, four of Horton. The letter was released by the As- among oil and gas workers is 27.5 deaths these units joined together in a strike that sociation of Professional Flight Attendants, per 100,000 workers. began March 30. The units are OPEIU Lo- a unit of the Communication Workers of cal 459 and Teamsters Local 580 in Lan- America. The congressional leaders also sing, Michigan and Teamsters and UFCW criticized the bankrupt airline for filing a INTERnaTIOnal workers in Toledo, Ohio. “ARC is too big related lawsuit on the issue. “It is troubling LABOR NEWS to feel the pain of even four simultaneous that a company in bankruptcy, which should strikes,” said OPEIU International Presi- be endeavoring to cut waste, may be using A new report from the Inter- dent Michael Goodwin in a statement. He its limited resources incurring fees in new national Labor Organization found the also called on labor to suspend all American litigation solely to suspend the election pro- transformation to a greener economy Red Cross blood drives and all union mem- cess and deny workers the right to choose could generate 15 to 60 million addi- bers to not donate money or blood to the for themselves whether or not to have union tional jobs globally over the next two ARC until the strike is resolved. Local 459 representation,” they wrote. decades and lift tens of millions of work- ers out of poverty. The study “Working towards sustainable development: Op- portunities for decent work and social inclusion in a green economy,” was led by the ILO’s Green Jobs Initiative. The report said, however, these gains depend on whether the right set of government policies is put into place. “The current development model has proven to be in- efficient and unsustainable, not only for the environment, but for economies and societies as well”, said ILO Director- General Juan Somavia. “We urgently need to move to a sustainable develop- ment path with a coherent set of policies with people and the planet at the center.” The report found that while changes will be felt throughout the economy, eight key sectors are expected to play a central role and be most affected: agriculture, forestry, fishing, energy, resource-inten- sive manufacturing, recycling, building House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Flickr.com photo used under Creative Commons from nasa hq photo. and transport. LABOR LETTER Pg 3 Industrial Zone since May 17. Recently, Republican U.S. National La- the Korean owner of the factory cut all bor Relations Board member Terence food supplies and electricity inside the Flynn resigned May 25 in the face of al- workers barracks that they have been oc- legations that he illegally released con- cupying at the plant in an attempt to starve fidential board information, including them out. The Hi Mo wig factory workers decisions before rulings were issued. Ac- began their strike on May 9, but reached cording to the inspector general’s inves- an agreement the following day with the tigation, Flynn, while chief counsel to a management that wages be increased to Republican member and before he was 30,000 kyat. But the Korean factory own- appointed by Obama, improperly gave a er refused to honor the agreement, and draft of an unpublished decision and dis- the workers resumed strike action by oc- sents in three cases to Peter Schaumber, cupying the plants. The workers said they his NLRB boss until August 2010. Some will continue their strike until the factory of the information was released while manager agrees to the previous deal. “It is Schaumber was a labor adviser to Repub- not just one factory, but a whole series of lican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. factory disputes,” said Nay Myo Zin, a for- Romney has since dropped Schaumber’s mer political prisoner who now heads the name from his campaign website. Flynn Myanmar Social Development Network. was appointed to the board by President “The factory owners simply refuse to nego- Obama in January along with two Demo- tiate because they believe the workers are cratic members when the Senate was not SACOM protesting the working conditions of powerless to resist them.