• Vote NOW: Does 'Buy American' Belong in the Economic Recovery Plan?
• More than 4,000 Rally Outside U.S. Capitol for Employee Free Choice
• Obama Creates Task Force to Rebuild Middle-Class Working Families
• Keep Good Green Jobs in the United States
• AT&T Mobility Members Mobilize As Contract Talks Continue
• Global Union Leaders Push Employee Free Choice as Boost to World Economy
• President Obama welcomed CWA President Cohen and other labor leaders to the White House.

Vote NOW: Does 'Buy American' Belong in the

Economic Recovery Plan?

The House version of the economic recovery plan contains a "Buy American" provision that would require government-financed stimulus projects to use U.S. steel and iron. The Senate version is now being debated.

Sounds sensible, doesn't it? Not to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). He thinks "Buy American" is "a bad idea."

What do you think? Click here to take this online poll and we'll report the results next week.

A lot of misinformation about "Buy American" has been going around, spread by groups like the Business Roundtable and others who are very interested in overseas production and trade but not so interested in restoring quality U.S. jobs.

When U.S. banks got a handout – with absolutely no strings attached, as was orchestrated by the Bush administration – very few complaints were raised.

But when some lawmakers want to step up to support U.S. jobs and help turn around a devastated manufacturing sector that has lost 4 million jobs since 2000 – that's one-fourth of all manufacturing jobs -- certain business interests and their political supporters say "no way."

What do you think?

More than 4,000 Rally Outside U.S. Capitol for Employee Free Choice

Thousands of workers from across the country – some of them fired from their jobs after standing up for their right to form a union --  rallied on Capitol Hill Wednesday and began the process of delivering 1.5 million cards to Congress from supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Facing a row of TV cameras, five workers, three lawmakers and other speakers drew a clear link between economic recovery in the United States and restoring the rights of workers to bargain contracts and form unions.

"Time and again, you've seen your hard work, your creativity, your ingenuity, your productivity taken from you and given to shareholders, to the elites, to CEOs," said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), one of the bill's original sponsors and chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. "Decisions about the workplace belong to the worker. That's the promise of America. It's foolish to think we will rebuild this country without the participation of the American worker."

The bill is expected to be introduced soon in the U.S. House, where it has overwhelming majority support. The Employee Free Choice Act has majority support in the Senate, and for the first time, the strong endorsement of the President of the United States.

More than 110,000 CWAers signed and collected cards as part of the "Million Member Mobilization," along with photos of thousands of CWA supporters, plus thousands more from other unions. The photos will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol, reminding lawmakers of the real workers who support the measure, as compared to the empty front groups organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who are fighting against worker rights.  

TNG-CWA member Sara Steffens tells a crowd of 4,000 at the U.S. Capitol that Congress must pass the Employee Free Choice Act. Below, boxes of cards signed by Employee Free Choice Act supporters to be delivered to members of Congress.

CWA President Larry Cohen introduced Sara Steffens, one of four workers who spoke about being fired because they wanted union representation. Cohen stressed that Steffens and her colleagues at nine Media News newspapers had played by the rules of a "so-called secret ballot election and won," and then were fired.

Steffens, an award-winning reporter, worked to organize her co-workers at the Contra Costa Times (California) and eight other newspapers in the state.

In the face of a bitter anti-union campaign, fueled by management threats and intimidation, workers voted for TNG-CWA representation in June 2008. Three weeks later, Steffens and other union activists were among 29 workers laid off.

Steffen's firing is under appeal to the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, she is helping her unit bargain a first contract.

"We need the Employee Free Choice Act so we can feel empowered to step up and help solve problems in our workplace, and not be scared that if we stick our necks out that we're going to be the next ones laid off," Steffens said.

The other fired workers on stage included a California substance abuse counselor, a New Jersey school bus driver and a forklift operator at an Ohio bakery that makes goods for Nabisco.

"The laws are set up for the corporation to win," said Bill Lawhorn, the bakery employee. "I was fired seven years ago and because the company stalled their way through court, I still don't have my back pay or a union. Even when corporations lose, they win."

A key provision of the Employee Free Choice Act is financially penalizing employers who break the law. Currently there are no penalties; companies are subject only to settlements for back pay – which some workers, like Lawhorn, never see.

Also speaking to the crowd of more than 4,000 were members of Congress and the president of the Sierra Club, who said her organization will "work tirelessly" to pass the bill. "We know that companies that treat their workers right are much more likely to treat our environment right," Allison Chin said.

Obama Creates Task Force to Rebuild Middle-Class Working Families

 

The labor movement was officially welcomed back to the White House to witness the establishment of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, intended to help raise the living standards of the middle class, and President Obama's issuing of executive orders rolling back anti-labor policies of the Bush administration.

 

President Obama welcomed CWA President Cohen and other labor leaders to the White House.

With CWA President Larry Cohen and other labor leaders attending the signing ceremony, President Obama said the task force would produce an action plan to help working Americans achieve a secure future.  "We need to level the playing field for workers and the unions that represent their interests because we know that you cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement," he said.

Vice President Biden will head the task force, which will work to:

• Protect the incomes of middle-class working families
• Protect retirement security
• Restore labor standards
• Expand education and lifelong training opportunities
• Improve work and family balance

The task force will post materials at www.astrongmiddleclass.gov and workers are invited to share their ideas and experiences on the website.

President Obama also used the occasion to emphasize the vital role that workers and their unions have in the nation. "I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem, to me it's part of the solution," he said.

President Obama issued three executive orders restoring the rights of workers who are employed by federal contractors. One executive order revokes the Bush administration order that required federal contractors to post notices informing employees that they were not required to join a union. However, employees during the Bush years were never informed that they had the right to join a union. Another executive order signed by President Obama prohibits contractors from using taxpayer money to try to influence employees' choice about union representation. The third requires successor contractors to offer jobs to qualified employees who worked for the previous company.

Keep Good Green Jobs in the United States

At the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference, CWA President Cohen said millions of new, "green" jobs can be created, but our economy and American workers will only benefit if quality jobs are maintained here in the United States.

Millions of new, "green" jobs can be created, but our economy and American workers will only benefit if quality jobs are maintained here in the United States, CWA President Larry Cohen said at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs national conference of the Blue Green Alliance.

"When it comes to workers, we can't be just another commodity thrown in a landfill. We want good jobs, we want green jobs, we want union jobs and we're going to take a stand," he said.

Speaking to a diverse group of participants – from labor, business, environmental groups and government, Cohen urged Congress to support President Obama's plan for investment in science, research and technology to reverse the massive job losses caused by the current economic downturn and tackle the serious threat of irreversible climate change.

"We're facing the most serious economic and environmental challenges in a generation," said Cohen. "We need real leadership that answers President Obama's call for investment in needed science, research and technology so we can grow a cleaner green economy and put millions back to work."

A federal investment in green jobs could create two million jobs, and enable the nation's weakened and neglected manufacturing base to be rebuilt and utilize the very skills that scores of middle-class Americans already have – from engineers to carpenters, electricians to steelworkers and farmers to truck drivers.

CWA supports the Obama administration's economic stimulus plan now working its way through Congress and the measure's proposed investments in a green economy.

Such an investment could mean thousands of green, union jobs, Cohen said. IUE-CWA members now working at Cobasys, an American manufacturer of hybrid car batteries in Springboro, Ohio, show how companies can take the high road by keeping jobs and American innovation in the United States. The company is employing nearly 200 IUE-CWA workers building batteries for America's next generation of hybrid vehicles. 

All too often, however, jobs associated with new innovations are shipped overseas, as in the case of General Electric, which chose to take the low-road by moving production of its long-lasting, energy-saving florescent bulb, the CFL, to China. IUE-CWA workers who helped developed the new technology lost their jobs at their Youngstown, Ohio, plant, when GE decided not to upgrade its U.S. plants to produce the bulbs.

These examples spotlight the need for Employee Free Choice, Cohen said. "If we extinguish workers' rights, the chances for a green economy are nonexistent. We're people who believe in a sustainable economy. We can't just depend on markets, and if we do, we're likely to come up with answers that are at best incomplete," he said.

AT&T Mobility Members Mobilize As Contract Talks Continue

CWA's bargaining team continued to work through tough issues with AT&T Mobility management this week, and union members stepped up mobilization as the Feb. 7 contract expiration neared.

Mobility members now are taking a strike authorization vote; results will be announced late Friday. Meanwhile, members throughout Districts 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, and 13 are mobilizing, distributing picket signs, wearing red on Thursdays and showing their support for the CWA bargaining team. At the Communications and Technologies-Telecommunications conference, more than 200 CWAers unanimously pledged their support "to do whatever is necessary" to help Mobility members achieve the contract they deserve.   

Issues for Mobility members – listed as most important in membership surveys -- are wages, benefit plans, work schedules, time off and job security top the list.

For bargaining updates and information click here.

Global Union Leaders Push Employee Free Choice as Boost to World Economy

Global union leaders are calling for a new "global social deal" that gives unions a seat at the table and puts in place a real social safety net for workers in this time of worldwide economic and employment challenge.

A critical step is passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, said Philip Jennings, general secretary of Union Network International. "I am urging business and government leaders to support the Free Choice Act for American workers and to lobby their U.S. colleagues to support it as well. "This is not only the right thing to do from a human rights and fairness perspective, but also from a business perspective."       

Jennings spoke about the global employment challenge at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He noted that the International Labor Organization recently reported that 50 million jobs worldwide could be lost this year.

Financial recovery plans have focused on bailouts to banks with little consideration for the millions of workers losing their jobs, their homes and their and their economic security, he said.