37696_P01_34x2.qxp 8/11/2006 1:22 AM Page 1 37696_P01_34.qxp 8/8/2006 11:17 AM Page 2 THE UNITED WAY INSIDEUSW@WORK Greetings: Tire Industry Contracts As International President of the United Steelworkers, I am asking The USW and Michelin-owned BFGoodrich reach agree- your local union and membership to support the 2006 campaign for the 06 ment on a three-year contract that the union expects will United Way. Members of the American labor movement have always serve as a pattern in bargaining with Goodyear, worked to help our brothers, sisters and neighbors in times of need. The United Way is one of our longstanding partners in sharing this Bridgestone-Firestone and other tire makers. value, helping working families every day with access to vital resources and services. Through this partnership we make a difference. We are not only helping those who are lacking basic necessities today, but working on long-term solutions that address the root causes of our nation's social service needs. Auto Trade Deficit Exploding I urge you to support the 2006 United Way Campaign. In doing so, The U.S. trade deficit with China in automobiles and auto we can continue to build stronger communities and change lives. 10 parts is exploding with potentially devastating effects on Thank you for making your community a better place to live and American jobs and living standards. More than 175,000 work. USW members make auto parts. In solidarity, Leo W. Gerard International Executive Board Labor Day Rapid Response Leo W. Gerard Hundreds of USW members and activists go to International President symbolizes our 12 Washington to learn about pressing issues facing workers James D. English “determination to in this country and how to confront their legislators with Int’l. Secretary-Treasurer help from members back home. Thomas M. Conway achieve an economic Int’l. Vice President (Administration) freedom for the Fred Redmond average man which Int’l. Vice President (Human Affairs) will give his political Ken Neumann freedom reality. New Day for Kaiser Nat’l. Dir. for Canada After a tumultuous lockout and bankruptcy reorganization, 18 Kaiser Aluminum has new management, a new relationship Richard LaCosse Int’l. Vice President ” with the USW and new stock, much of it held in trust to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gary Beevers benefit workers and retirees. Int’l. Vice President Fireside Chat Sept. 1936 James H. Dunn Associate Secretary-Treasurer Ron Hoover Exec. Vice President (R/PIC) ONTHECOVER Lewis Peacock Cover Photo by Steve Linsenmayer. Finished Tires Features: Vice President (Organizing) are stacked for shipping at the BFGoodrich plant Speaking Out 03 James K. Phillips, Jr. in Fort Wayne, Ind. Vice President at Large CAPITOL LETTERS 16 News Bytes 28 Directors Worker Economics 30 David R. McCall, District 1 Jon Geenen, District 2 Stephen Hunt, District 3 William J. Pienta, District 4 Communications Staff: Volume 01/No.4 Labor Day 2006 Michel Arsenault, District 5 Marco Trbovich, Assistant to the President/Communications Official publication of the United Steelworkers Wayne Fraser, District 6 Gary Hubbard, Director of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C. Direct Inquiries and articles for USW@Work to: Jim Robinson, District 7 Jim McKay, Editor Ernest R. “Billy” Thompson, District 8 United Steelworkers Aaron Hudson and Kenny Carlisle, Designers Communications Department Connie Entrekin, District 9 Lynne Baker, Kelly Barr, Jim Coleman, Deb Davidek, Gerald Dickey, Five Gateway Center John DeFazio, District 10 Joanne Powers, Wayne Ranick, Frank Romano Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Robert Bratulich, District 11 Contributors: phone 412-562-2400 fax 412-562-2445 Terry L. Bonds, District 12 Holly Hart, Erin Schubert, Desiree Bartoe on-line: www.usw.org J.M. “Mickey” Breaux, District 13 Co-Directors USW@Work (ISSN 0883-3141) is published five times a year by the United Steelworkers AFL-CIO•CLC Five Gateway Center, Pittsburgh, PA Gerald P. Johnston, District 1 15222. Subscriptions to non-members: $12 for one year; $20 for two years. Periodicals postage paid at Pittsburgh, PA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: USW@Work, USW Membership Department, 3340 Perimeter Hill Drive, Nashville, TN 37211 Lloyd Walters, District 9 Kenneth O. Test Copyright 2006 by United Steelworkers, AFL-CIO•CLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the United Steelworkers. 2 Labor Day Issue 2006 • USW@Work 37696_P01_34X.qxp 8/10/2006 4:15 PM Page 3 SpeakingSpeaking OutOut USW active and retired members and their families are invited to “speak out” on these pages. Letters should be short and to the point. We reserve the right to edit for length. Mail to USW@Work, Five Gateway Center, Pittsburgh PA 15222 or e-mail to [email protected]. Hung out to dry echo of the silence is deafening. It's my My husband hired-in at Continental personal view of Continental's decision Tire's plant in Mayfield, Ky. in 1977. He to move work once performed by At one time I read our wages were is one of the victims of the company's Americans to a foreign nation like the highest and health standards close to retrenchment. Brazil. the highest, and we ranked at or near the Only a handful of workers are left, Can anybody tell me if any runaway top in many other categories. I do know producing rubber. That allows manage- company has ever lowered prices on everyone was much more relaxed then ment to get by with calling it a layoff their products and passed that savings and optimistic about their future and the not a closure; therefore, he receives no on to the American consumer when they future of our country. shutdown benefits. cut their wage costs by going overseas? I am an associate member who joined My husband went back to school. But If $15 per hour versus $1 per hour at the age of 70. All my life I had been a after three semesters, the government computes to a savings of $14 per hour in white-collar worker who envied and decided his program was not a "job in wage costs, it would logically follow respected unions for the good they creat- need" so they refuse to pay for any more that the price of total production would ed for their workers and their country. of it through federal TRA funding. fall. So who benefits and who suffers? The associate member program is It's a joke if people out there think wonderful, and I hope it continues to Mark West, Local 850 grow. these guys received anything for all of Charlotte, N.C. the years they put in at Continental Peter Daniels General Tire. My husband has been ReUNION applauded Polson, Mont. hung out to dry and there is not a thing As a retired proud member of the we can do about it. United Steelworkers, I would like to What to buy? I believe what goes around comes take this opportunity to thank President I read with interest the article in around. Surely, those of higher rank who Leo W. Gerard and our international Volume 1/3 of USW@Work entitled are robbing employees of what they union for promoting the birth of the "Free Trade or Free to Enslave?" spent their whole lives working for will ReUNION project. Most of us are guilty of buying cloth- find themselves in the same boat one I now proudly serve as a ReUNION ing at Kohl's, Target, L.L. Bean, K-Mart, day. The sooner the better! coordinator in Maryland and I hear and JC Penney's, etc. Please tell me what brand of clothing supports American Rhonda Darnell see from many retirees who now realize workers, or at least does not contribute Mayfield, Ky. that they are not "forgotten Americans." Again, a great deal of thanks for the to the degradation of people in Third Tire machines go silent chance to promote this venture to the World Countries. There was a time when a person retirees of our great union. Where should I be shopping and could go to work right out of high what brand of clothing should I look Don Kellner for? school for a manufacturer and earn a Dundalk, Md. wage decent enough to support a family. This was the rule, rather than the excep- Editor's note: ReUNION, a joint pro- Shirley Adamczak tion. ject of the United Steelworkers and lead- Duluth, Minn. Now, it is nearly impossible to find a ing domestic steel companies, mobilizes Editor's note: It is, unfortunately, dif- manufacturing job with a fair wage and around the issues of health care, retiree ficult to find union-made clothes that adequate health care benefits. This income security and trade. If interested, support U.S. workers. But it is not downward trend is rooting out the mid- call toll free at (866) 365-2203 or write impossible. Check the web site of dle class in America. to ReUNION at 60 Boulevard of the UNITE HERE!, a union representing With more than 28 years of service at Allies, BSIC, 7th Floor, Pittsburgh, Pa. needle trades’ workers, for a directory of the Continental Tire plant in Charlotte, 15222. clothing brands under union contract. "good-bye-ey-ey-ey" is the echo that I Unions improve lives The directory is divided into categories personally hear. including athletic uniforms, belts, denim It has always been my belief that Tire machines and other machinery jeans, hats and caps, etc. when American union membership was that once made a raucous noise in a The site is www.unitehere.org. Click at its peak our standard of living was the vibrant facility are now silenced.