Published By AMERICAN INCOME LIFE & NATIONAL INCOME LIFE LETTER LABOR ADVISORY BOARD JULY 2013 Vol. 45 No. 4 NEWS FROM THE also appeared with President Obama at a Safety and Health Act came into force in AFL-CIO, CTW, White House press conference to urge Sen- 1970 but the Republican majority in the INTERnaTIOnal & ate passage of the comprehensive immigra- U.S. House of Representatives has stalled tion bill. “Americans get it – our broken im- progress. “Business groups and Republicans NATIOnal UNIONS migration system hurts all working people, have launched a major assault on regula- immigrant or locally born alike,” said AFL- tions and have targeted key OSHA and America’s unions led a lobby CIO President Richard Trumka. “Justice Mine Safety and Health Administration blitz last month during U.S. Senate debate and politics are in alignment, and the labor rules. In the face of these attacks, progress of the historic immigration bill that would movement is committed to putting its full on developing and issuing many important provide a roadmap for citizenship for more weight behind the cause of citizenship.” safety and health rules has stalled, particu- than 11 million undocumented workers. The larly at OSHA,” the report said. Among AFL-CIO and its affiliated union targeted Job fatalities have largely re- concerns cited in the report are the inad- 27 Senators for television and online ads to mained unchanged over the past three years, equate number of workplace inspections, support the proposed measure. In addition, with a rate of 3.5 deaths per 100,000, re- the low level of penalties imposed by the more than 50 union leaders and allies from ported the AFL-CIO in its report, “Death Occupational Safety and Health Admin- 27 states personally visited their elected on the job: the toll of neglect.” The federa- istration (OSHA) and the weakness of Senators and representatives in Washington, tion said there were regular improvements criminal penalties under the 1970 Act. Ac- D.C. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in the death rate since the Occupational cording to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4,693 workers were killed on the job in 2011, an average of 13 workers every day and an estimated 50,000 died from oc- cupational diseases. The United Mine Workers of America appealed a recent bankruptcy court ruling that allows Patriot Coal Corp. to reject its collective bargaining agree- ments. The union has been battling the company in bankruptcy court for the past year. The May ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Court clears the way for the coal company to cut wages and benefits for its current workers and retired miners. In the wake of the judge’s ruling, UMWA President Cecil E. Roberts called the decision wrong and unfair. “Patriot can survive as a viable and profitable company well into the future without inflicting the level of pain on ac- Immigration Reform Rally. Flickr.com photo used under Creative Commons from Michael Fleshman. tive and retired miners and their families it JAMES WILLIAMS, General President Emeritus - International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Chairman - AIL Labour 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 seeks,” he said in a statement last month. in Istanbul’s Gezi Park which revealed 70 percent of the workers were women, the “Patriot is using a temporary liquidity prob- widespread dissatisfaction with the govern- doors were locked to prevent them from go- lem to achieve permanent changes that will ment’s repressive policies. ing to the toilet too often. Panicked workers significantly reduce the living standards were forced to escape down a narrow hall to a of thousands of active and retired miners Anti-austerity groups from side door exit. Authorities said the explosion and their families.” The St. Louis company, across Europe gathered in Athens June 6-7 was caused by leakage in tanks of ammonia, which mines for coal in West Virginia and for a two-day summit where they called for which is used in the poultry industry as a Kentucky, sought Chapter 11 protection radical changes in policies from western coolant. China’s poultry industry is notori- last July. The company employs about 4,000 governments. Organizers said the event is ous for unsafe working conditions, with air people, approximately 41 percent of whom an act of solidarity with Greek social move- and noise pollution, exposure to high tem- are union members. ments in their struggle against austerity. peratures, unpleasant smells, poultry blood, During the summit, Greek health workers feces, and disease. Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry, led a protest in front of parliament over gov- founded in 2009, has 1,200 employees and INTERnaTIOnal ernment spending cuts which they say have an annual output amounting to 67,000 tons LABOR NEWS caused the collapse of the nation’s health of chicken products. care system. They were joined by health care More than 1,000 workers from workers from France, Belgium and Portugal. McDonald’s workers in more Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufactur- Workers said wage and staff cuts have in- than 30 countries took part in the Inter- ing factory protested June 6 to demand the creased their work load and made their job national Day of Action in solidarity on release of eight union members arrested on impossible. The summit forum called for fis- June 6 against the poor working conditions the previous Monday. The representatives of cal pacts imposed on indebted countries to of numerous migrant workers at some of the Free Trade Union (FTU) were charged be cancelled, for a moratorium on debt re- the franchised giant’s restaurants in Penn- with intentional violence and intentional payments, higher taxes on the rich and more sylvania. The action was supported by the property damage. Strikers at the plant re- scrutiny of offshore accounts. The meeting International Union of Food, Agricultur- cently engaged in factory protests during took place after the release of an internal al, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco which 23 people, including nine police of- International Monetary Fund report which and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), ficers, were injured in clashes that occurred. faulted the drastic austerity measures im- an international labor organization, and The plant is a Nike supplier. Workers said posed on Greece, and said debt should have its affiliates which held demonstrations they would continue to protest until the been restructured in 2010. across the globe in support of the workers. FTU representatives and workers were re- Young workers from Latin America and leased. Ny Dyna, wife of a detained FTU Explosions and fire tore Asia work at Pennsylvania McDonald’s on representative, said she had not been allowed through parts of a poultry processing plant J-1 “cultural exchange” visas. They stopped to see her husband. “They did not allow even in northeast China, killing 119 people and work on March 6 to protest extreme ex- the food I brought to get to him. It was also injuring 54. More than 300 workers were in- ploitation. They had paid up to $4,000 each denied,” she said. side the plant operated by the Jilin Baoyuan- for the visas, were charged extortionate rent feng Poultry Company. According to news for substandard housing, and compelled to Turkey’s Public Workers reports, fire doors were locked to prevent work long hours for sub-minimal wages. Unions Confederation (KESK) launched a workers from walking around and disrupt- They were constantly threatened with de- 2-day strike on June 4 in support of pro- ing production. Some employees said that as portation by franchisee Andy Cheung. testers demonstrating for weeks against the Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party. The confederation represents 11 unions with 240,000 members. “The state terror implemented against mass protests across the country … has shown once again the enmity to democracy of the AKP govern- ment, said KESK in a statement. Protests rocked the country in early June with ral- lies, demonstrations and marches. Erdogan dismissed the protestors as “extremists.” Police clashed with protesters with thou- sands injured or detained, and a total of 3 people dead, including a police officer. The protests were sparked over redevelopment Protesting McDonald's in PA. Flickr.com photo used under Creative Commons from Kara Newhouse. LABOR LETTER Pg 3 Job actions by air traffic con- while average hourly wages fell 3.8 per- trollers spread through 11 European coun- cent. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tries in June over plans to consolidate Eu- said the wage loss was the largest decline in rope’s patchwork air traffic control system hourly earnings since the agency first start- and turn over more duties to private con- ing tracking that data back in 1947. But tractors. Air traffic controllers in France the gain in productivity reflected increases initiated a series of strikes on June 11 with of 2.1 percent in output and 1.6 percent in unrest quickly sweeping across the conti- hours worked in the first three months, the nents. Thousands of flights were disrupted department said. Hourly wages have in- or canceled. Union leaders said they fear creased just 2 percent, compared to a year threats to passenger safety and to their earlier, the agency reported. And while re- jobs. They said the European Union was ports talked about a so-called U.S. “manu- caving into industry pressure to cut costs.