5 Things You Need to Know from the AFL-CIO's New Executive Paywatch Report AFL-CIO

Today, the AFL-CIO released the 2017 edition of its Executive Paywatch report. The Executive Paywatch website, the most comprehensive, searchable online database tracking CEO pay, showed that in 2016, the average production and nonsupervisory worker earned some $37,600 per year. When adjusted for inflation, the average wage has remained stagnant for 50 years.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka explained the importance of these details:

This year’s report provides further proof that the greed of corporate CEOs is driving America’s income inequality crisis. Big corporations continually find ways to rig the economy in their favor and line their CEOs’ pockets at the expense of the workers who make their businesses run. Too often, corporations see workers as costs to be cut, rather than assets to be invested in. It’s shameful that CEOs can make tens of millions of dollars and still destroy the livelihoods of the hardworking people who make their companies profitable.

Here are five key things you should know from this year's Executive Paywatch report:

1. The average compensation for an S&P 500 CEO last year was $13.1 million. In contrast, production and nonsupervisory workers earned only $37,632, on average, in 2016. The average S&P 500 CEO makes 347 times what an average U.S. rank-and-file worker makes.

2. Last year, S&P 500 CEOs got a 5.9% raise while working people struggled to make ends meet.

3. Many U.S. corporations aren't paying taxes on their offshore profits, shifting the burden to working people. The worst of the tax avoiders, 18 Fortune 500 companies, paid $0 in federal taxes between 2008 and 2015.

4. Fortune 500 corporations are avoiding up to $767 billion in U.S. federal income taxes by holding $2.6 trillion of "permanently reinvested" profits offshore. This offshoring isn't an accident, it's a choice, and it has an impact on the lives of Americans. For example, last year, Mondelēz International chose to offshore some 600 jobs from its Chicago Nabisco bakery. In the same year, its CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, made $16.7 million.

5. Seven years ago, Congress passed a law that included a rule requiring all publicly traded companies to disclose their CEO-to-worker pay ratio. But Wall Street and big corporations have lobbied hard to stop the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from enforcing this rule. Take action now to change that.

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 05/09/2017 - 11:23

Where Are We Going Politically?

President Donald Trump’s first few disorienting months leave many people wondering what governing looks like anymore. It’s time to look away from the political spectacle and take a deep breath.

Consider two opposing value statements.

'We All Do Better' Value Statement

• The purpose of our economy is to raise our standard of living. Here, “standard” applies to our community and our country.
• We value opportunity and fairness, stronger communities, shared prosperity and investment in the future.
• All work has dignity.
• We are each other’s co-workers, neighbors, friends, relatives and customers. We all do better when we all do better. My well-being depends on your well-being.

Under "we all do better" values, government plays a legitimate role – building social cohesion and promoting public interest.

Markets are powerful and efficient, but markets fail. Climate change and inequality are the two defining challenges of our time, and arguably the two biggest market failures in human history. Appropriate public policies prevent or correct market failures. We should manage national policies and globalization to strengthen Democracy and well-being at home and abroad.

'Greed Is Good' Value Statement

• Investor/shareholder interests come first; public interests second. Money and influence capture gains from productivity and globalization for those at the top.
• Self-interest is more important than common interest. Power and leverage are used to gain advantage for "us" over "them."
• Greed is good.
• I can succeed at your expense. "Others" are a threat to my well-being. I can demonize or vanquish others to get a bigger piece of a smaller pie.

Under "greed is good" values, power and influence distort public policies in favor of those who already have plenty of both. These values weaken social cohesion and discredit institutions of civil society. We manage national policies and globalization to prioritize investor interests over public interests. Workers need to sacrifice our living standards "to compete in the global economy."

Lessons from History

"Greed is good" values dominated America in the gilded age and the laissez-faire period leading to the Great Depression and political instability.

The New Deal period, from the 1930s through the mid-1970s, reflected "we all do better" values. Congress passed Social Security and Medicare; funded public investments in rural electrification, the interstate highway system and basic research; set strong labor and environmental standards; and supported higher education. Wages rose proportionately with productivity.

The New Deal era ended in the mid-1970s, when we shifted back to "greed is good" values. In the 1990s, congressional hardliners delegitimized Democracy, shut down the government, took pride in disruption and dysfunction, and polarized our political system. Confidence in Congress dropped from 40% at the end of the New Deal era to 9% now. Donald Trump is the end-point of that transformation in values.

Harvard economist Dani Rodrik points out that other countries have done well, maintaining a strong sense of shared national interest–China, Japan and South Korea, for example. Europe has a stronger tradition of social dialogue and more social cohesion than we do. Canada is closer to the European model. That said, social cohesion is unraveling generally. People everywhere see themselves being left behind.

What Works?

Decades of narrow and divisive values have eroded trust, deindustrialized our economy and seriously wounded the middle class. This is not stable, politically or economically.

Of course, it’s working brilliantly for the 1%.

One message of the 2016 presidential campaign is that workers and communities mistrust establishment politicians. All the Republican establishment candidates were quickly swept aside. Few voters were inspired by Hillary Clinton’s economic message, which seemed to be "We’re OK. It’s not as bad as you think!"

Rodrik asks, is it too late to restore balance between those who have too much power and those with too little?

Leaders lead. Franklin Roosevelt articulated positive unifying values responding to anxieties of voters. He confronted corporate power and influence, restructured power relationships, and shared new gains with those who had been left out.

Our political situation is confusing and frustrating. Tactically, the path of least resistance is "resistance" or full battle mode. However, resistance without vision goes nowhere.

Here is a very simple positive first step. When we see others on the street, at work, in a shop or elevator, think of them as a co-worker, neighbor, friend or relative, a customer, or someone who could become your customer. That is, we can stretch our personal boundaries between "self and other." Make more people "us" and fewer people "them." Every day.

We can appreciate the value others bring. They are not a threat to our way of life. Their culture, food, music and stories enrich our lives. It’s true if we say it is true. We need to say it.

Political leaders need to say it. At a recent town hall meeting, a House member shared a profound insight with angry constituents. He has two tools-his vote and his voice. His votes were not the issue. His constituents were expecting more from his voice.

The neoliberal trickle-down approach is exhausted. Markets will not solve all our problems. Too often, what we are told is progress is really another distortion of power relationships to extract more gains from workers for the benefit of a few.

All work has dignity. "We all do better" values justify a managed approach to globalization. Focused industrial strategies can create good jobs by investing in productive capacity. New policies can strengthen the employment relationship, restoring workers’ bargaining power.

In globalization, we should prioritize labor rights, human rights and environmental protections, so workers and communities get a share of the gains they produce. Globalization could be an upward spiral instead of a race to the bottom.

The corrupting power of money in politics must be reversed. People can lead with local efforts to raise minimum wages, provide paid sick leave and rebuild social cohesion.

It’s time (again) to recognize our shared values and common interests. If people lead, eventually leaders will follow.

This guest post from Stan Sorscher, a member of SPEEA/IFPTE Local 2001, originally appeared at The Huffington Post.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 05/08/2017 - 15:38

Tags: President Donald Trump

Senior Power: On Trumpcare II, Kentucky Activist, Breast Cancer Survivor Echoes Joe Hill: 'Don't Mourn, Organize!' Karla Johnston

As expected, Leslie McColgin’s Tea Party-tilting Republican congressman voted for Trumpcare II.

James Comer of Tompkinsville, Kentucky, also was all in for Trumpcare I. Both incarnations would gut the Affordable Care Act.

McColgin is a 62-year-old, never-say-die Democratic activist from rural Graves County, which is tobacco and Trump country. She didn’t vote for Comer or Donald Trump.

Since the election, she’s been bird-dogging Comer, a Tompkinsville freshman, showing up to pose questions at his town halls in the westerly reaches of the 35-county 1st Congressional District. The territory sprawls from the Mississippi River close to 300 miles eastward to south-central Kentucky, Comer’s home turf.

A speech-language pathologist, McColgin went to town halls in Paducah and Bardwell, the former in March via TV hookup from Washington, where Comer was set to vote for Trumpcare I. President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the bill because it lacked sufficient votes to pass.

McColgin, a volunteer in the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns, spoke up for the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s legacy legislation.

Also in March, McColgin organized a Paducah meeting with Martie Wiles, Comer’s field representative. The resident of Graves County brought along three families who “spent over an hour in a private meeting to describe the importance of Medicaid for their children with disabilities, and they requested that Comer not support the changes to Medicaid funding that will cap federal reimbursements and reduce services.”

Afterward, McColgin contacted WPSD-TV, Paducah’s NBC affiliate, which featured her and one of the children, as well as an adult with disabilities who lives in her home under the Medicaid Adult Foster Care program.

McColgin said she wanted to “raise awareness that Medicaid is more than just a program for low-income health care; it is vital for individuals with disabilities to receive essential services.

“Comer had to respond to that news story when it aired, and since then has been emphasizing falsely that individuals with disabilities will not see any reduction in services due to this bill if it becomes law.”  

McColgin’s support for the ACA is personal as well as political. She’s a breast cancer survivor who says quality, affordable health care is a human right, not a privilege.

McColgin is sorry she can't make the next town hall, which is set for Wednesday in Benton. She’ll be in Frankfort, Kentucky’s capital. Even so, she’s busy rounding up a crowd.

“Focus on making the House Republicans feel pain for their vote every way you can,” McColgin challenged. “Keep calling them and writing and faxing letters and tweeting. Hopefully show up at the town halls if you can. This will signal the Senate they better not go down this road.

“Then get to work on the Senate side of this. But don't let up on the House!”

She's also emailing suggested questions that don’t pull punches:

You said children with disabilities would not lose services.  This bill not only will reduce Medicaid services by 25%, it takes away the ability of public schools to bill Medicaid for medically necessary services. Sure, schools will still have to provide services, but with fewer dollars. That means things like physical therapy will be cut to levels as to be inadequate (and, of course, Neal Gorsuch is fine with that). You lied.

You said Republicans needed to take their time and craft better solutions for people in the 50 to 65 age range. This bill is the same as the one you said did not do a good enough job. You lied.

You said there should not be rushed deadlines for a health care bill, yet this bill was rushed to the floor as soon as they had some fig leaf to pretend to cover pre-existing conditions without even having the [Congressional Budget Office] score it, so you have no idea of its effects or even cost.  You lied.

McColgin is undaunted by the fact that Comer represents arguably the most conservative territory in Kentucky. She’s one of a small but vocal group of liberals from westernmost Kentucky and southernmost Illinois, the latter Trump-leaning, too.

While the Land of Lincoln went for Clinton, the president collected 62.5% of Kentucky ballots and only lost two of Kentucky’s 120 counties—Jefferson (Louisville) and Fayette (Lexington). Graves gave Trump 76.4% of its vote.

Trump and Comer, who defeated an underfunded and largely unknown Democrat who nonetheless got McColgin’s vote, rolled in every 1st District county on the way to their blowout wins in the state.

McColgin, who is on the Graves County Democratic Executive Committee, has adopted labor hero and martyr Joe Hill’s immortal admonition, “Don’t mourn, organize!”

She started Four Rivers Indivisible, a western Kentucky-southern Illinois branch of the national organization. The local group is named for the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, all of which converge within 40 miles or so from where she lives.

In an email to the group, she entreated that protesting Trumpcare II to lawmakers “calls for more than a postcard. Letters, letters to the editor, phone calls and fax, tweet @KYComer (or your rep) and then start on our senators.” She added, “I'm going to start working on learning how to make those Twitter memes.”  

The weather—cold and rainy—matched McColgin’s mood Thursday when Trumpcare II—officially the American Health Care Act—passed the GOP-majority House 217-213 on a straight-party line vote. Twenty Republicans voted no, as did 193 Democrats. No Democrat supported the measure, which Democrats say is worse than Trumpcare I.

“There is video footage running on MSNBC tonight that includes Rep. Comer with a group that went to the Rose Garden today to celebrate the passage of the AHCA through the House,” she disgustedly emailed her group Thursday night.

“Never before have members of Congress celebrated the passage of a bill through just one chamber. John Heilemann on MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell show warned that it put him in mind of [President George W.] Bush's ‘Mission Accomplished’ premature celebration.”

Even Republicans concede that Trumpcare II faces an uncertain future in the Senate, with its narrower GOP majority. Democrats hope, and Republicans fear, that the bill—whose muscular foes include the American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, American Hospital Association and the American Association of Retired Persons—could result in big GOP losses in the 2018 midterm elections.

“So I hope Heilemann is right and they pay for this pyrrhic victory and Democrats run ads in 2018 showing [the Republicans’]...smiling and laughing faces as they celebrate ripping health care away from millions to give tax cuts to the wealthy,” added McColgin. “All I know is that looking at that video footage makes me sick to my stomach.”

Presumably Comer wants to make his Benton stop part of a district victory lap. But a number of local Democrats and union members are expected to attend and toss anything but softball questions to the congressman on his Trumpcare II vote and other issues. Comer is fiercely anti-labor.

Anyway, like a lot of politicians, Comer likes to tell the home folks he’s an independent sort who doesn’t automatically toe to the party line.

But he’s one of Trump’s most loyal lawmakers. He rode on Air Force One with the president to a Louisville rally at which he touted Trumpcare I. Comer’s website brags about the trip and has a photo of the congressman and Trump on the presidential jet.

Comer has voted the Trump way on bills 100% of the time, according to the FiveThirtyEight website “Tracking Congress in the Age of Trump: An updating tally of how often every member of the House and the Senate votes with or against the president.”

This guest post from Berry Craig originally appeared at Kentucky State AFL-CIO.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 05/08/2017 - 12:05

Tags: Affordable Care Act

The Economy Adds 211,000 Jobs in April, and Unemployment Little Changed at 4.4%

The U.S. economy added 211,000 jobs in April and unemployment was little changed at 4.4%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This continues the recovery of the labor market at a tempered rate, which means the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee should continue to let the economy grow at this rate and not raise interest rates.

In response to the February jobs numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted:

Payroll employment up net 211,000 in April but unemployment little changed at 4.4% #JobsReport @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 5, 2017

Number of workers part-time but want full time work down 281,000 in April, and over 698,000 over the year @AFLCIO #JobsReport

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 5, 2017

Wages showing no sign of accelerating, up again 2.5% (not controlling for inflation) over the year @AFLCIO #JobsReport

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 5, 2017

Broadest measure of unemployment-U6-including involuntary part-time & marginally attached workers down to 8.6% from 9.7% last April @aflcio

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 5, 2017

The employment-to-population ratio for Black men continues to recover, now up to 63.3% from 61.7% last April @rolandsmartin @AFLCIO @CBTU72

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 5, 2017

Despite increasing minimum wages, food services and drinking places add 26,200 jobs in April up over 260,000 for the year @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 5, 2017

Last month's biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality (55,000), professional and business services (39,000), health care and social assistance (37,000), financial activities (19,000), and mining (9,000). Employment in other major industries, including construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and government, showed little change over the month.

Among the major worker groups, unemployment rates in April decreased for adult men (4.0%). The jobless rates were little changed for Asians (3.2%), whites (3.8%), adult women (4.1%), Hispanics (5.2%), blacks (7.9%) and teenagers (14.7%).

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed in April and accounted for 22.6% of the unemployed.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 05/05/2017 - 11:15

Trumka: We Will Vote to Elect Your Replacement Next Year AFL-CIO

The U.S. House of Representatives just voted to strip 24 million people of their health care, dramatically raise out-of-pocket health care costs for working people and gut protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions.

We have to act now to protect our health care and make sure that Congress is accountable to the American people. Contact your members of Congress today (call 1-866-829-3298 for the House or 1-888-865-8089 for the Senate). If they voted for repeal, let them know how that vote affects your life. If they voted against repeal, thank them for standing beside you and the millions of other Americans who will be harmed by this legislation. If they are in the Senate, call and tell them to vote against the bill when it arrives in their chamber. Congress also is going into recess this week, meaning that many members will be holding town hall meetings in their districts between now and May 15. Go to these town halls and make sure your voice is heard. (A list of events can be found here. Tips for participating in your town hall are here.)

Many of the Republicans who voted for this legislation didn't even read it. It'll take a while to unpack all the ways this bill hurts Americans (start unpacking here). It's going to be particularly harmful for women, people of color and working people. For instance, the bill repeals every tax included in the Affordable Care Act except the so-called Cadillac tax. This means that union members will continue to be taxed on their health care benefits while the wealthiest Americans and big insurance companies would get a massive tax cut.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that working families will remember this vote in November 2018:

 

"If you vote to destroy our health care this year, we’ll vote to elect your replacement next year." - @RichardTrumka https://t.co/uniZJ7UayY

— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) May 4, 2017

#AHCA isn't a health care plan at all. It’s a massive transfer of wealth from workers to Wall Street.

— Richard L. Trumka (@RichardTrumka) May 4, 2017 Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 05/04/2017 - 16:01

Tags: Affordable Care Act

Indiana Republican Leader Admits Prevailing Wage Repeal Hasn't Saved Money

The Republican-led Wisconsin state Senate is discussing a bill to repeal prevailing wage laws for public works projects. As with most such attacks on working people in the United States, the arguments advanced in service of stripping rights from workers fall flat under even the slightest scrutiny.

Even Republicans admit that when pressed. Indiana passed a similar law in 2015 and video has surfaced from a forum April 24 in Milwaukee, where Indiana's House Assistant Majority Leader Ed Soliday (R) admits that the prevailing wage repeal in his state didn't save a penny.

Soliday said:

We got rid of prevailing wage and so far it hasn’t saved a penny. Probably the people most upset with us repealing [prevailing] wage were the locals. Because the locals, quite frankly, like to pay local contractors and they like local contractors to go to the dentist in their own town.

The exaggerations in those hearings that we were going save 22%. Well, total labor costs right now in road construction is about 22%, and I haven’t noticed anyone who’s going to work for free. [They claim] there’s some magic state out there that’s going to send all these workers into work for $10 an hour and it’s just not going to happen. There’s not 22% savings out there when the total cost of labor is 22%. It’s rhetoric. So far, I haven’t seen a dime of savings out of it.

Analysis of the Wisconsin legislation shows that $1.2 billion will be lost annually if the bill passes because of reduced economic activity. Study of the Indiana repeal shows that the state lost jobs because of it, and neighboring Kentucky saw a very similar number of new construction jobs appear in the aftermath.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 05/04/2017 - 13:10

Working People Rally on May Day for Workplace Rights and Solidarity Metro DC Labor Council

On May 1, International Workers' Day, rallies, protests and demonstrations were held across the globe in celebration of working people and their continued fight for rights in the the workplace. Here are some of the key tweets from May Day events.

On #MayDay2017, we reaffirm that Immigrant Rights = Workers’ Rights #1uAdelante pic.twitter.com/2PeLlawchy

— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) May 1, 2017

 

Today & EVERYDAY we must celebrate the #workingclass - Share if you agree #MayDay pic.twitter.com/JNmv6QEZYM

— LIUNA (@LIUNA) May 1, 2017

 

Today, let's commit to work together to lift up working families around the world. #USWWorks #MayDay2017 pic.twitter.com/VHqQ0CKS6e

— United Steelworkers (@steelworkers) May 1, 2017

 

Feliz Primero de Mayo! Las familias trabajadoras unidas a través de fronteras por mejores derechos! #MayDay2017 #primerodemayo

— AFL-CIO Latino (@AFLCIOLatino) May 1, 2017

 

This #MayDay, we #RiseUp to declare Planned Parenthood stands with immigrants, workers and those who are fighting for a more just world! pic.twitter.com/acPveK5Akv

— PP Black Community (@PPBlackComm) May 1, 2017

 

Worldwide there are people dealing with workplace abuses, racism, sexism, homophobia & being underpaid and overworked. #dosomething #mayday

— Carmen Berkley (@CarmenSpinDiego) May 1, 2017

 

Whether for immigrants, women, people of color, LGBTQ people or anyone else, we're proud to march alongside millions #MayDay2017 #unitehere pic.twitter.com/7CSSQLPj6O

— UNITEHERE! Local100 (@unitehere100) May 1, 2017

 

.@AAPIsResist all the attacks on our communities. Today on #MayDay2017 we #RiseUP with all working people. #1uWeRise pic.twitter.com/P1yX6lxhHr

— APALA (@APALAnational) May 1, 2017

 

Today is #mayday. I'm in Chicago, where it all started 2 march, rally & affirm solidarity with all workers. With papers and without @AFLCIO

— Tefere Gebre (@Tefere_Gebre) May 1, 2017

Crowd starting to build at UNITY March for Immigrants in Las Vegas #1uadelante #MayDay2017 @Culinary226 @NVAFLCIO pic.twitter.com/qxXDXI7qny

— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) May 1, 2017

Members of @Culinary226 lead the Vegas UNITY March for Immigrants & bust a move! Excited to stand up for immigrant rights #1uadelante pic.twitter.com/BR7SKXABw1

— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) May 2, 2017

1000s of workers, immigrants & community members took over the Las Vegas Strip to march for immigrant rights on #MayDay2017 #1uadelante pic.twitter.com/cTSyhvDlak

— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) May 2, 2017

Today is #mayday a day to remember and respect workers’ rights as human rights. #1u

— Richard L. Trumka (@RichardTrumka) May 1, 2017

 

May Day protest @WellsFargo @dallasaflcio Pres George Rangel of the @TexasAFT leads the fight. @AFLCIO @TexasAFLCIO pic.twitter.com/cpCC4idaun

— Dallas AFL-CIO (@dallasaflcio) May 1, 2017

 

Si se puede #dconstrike #mayday2017 pic.twitter.com/enHjFzm7Bp

— DC Jobs With Justice (@DCJWJ) May 1, 2017

 

HAPPENING NOW! #MayDayAction #MayDay #MayDay2017 #1mayo #1May #1demayo #CasaInAction pic.twitter.com/zQdROX4Ep6

— MetroDCLaborCouncil (@DCLabor) May 1, 2017

 

In the streets with @RepJayapal and @lizshuler saying immigrants are vital to our society #MayDay2017 pic.twitter.com/sXaGKT4nF0

— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) May 1, 2017 Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 05/03/2017 - 12:19

On May Day, Working People Across Borders Are United to Build Power AFL-CIO

Throughout North America and globally, May 1 is a day to remember and respect workers’ rights as human rights. As working people take to the streets in communities around the world, a quieter but equally important movement of workers on both sides of the United States–Mexico border has been growing.

Whatever language we speak and wherever we call home, working people are building power, supporting labor rights and fighting corruption—and we’re doing it together.

Our agenda is simple. We oppose efforts to divide and disempower working people, and we oppose border walls and xenophobia anywhere and everywhere. We want trade laws that benefit working people, not corporations. And we want economic rules that raise wages, broaden opportunity and hold corporations accountable.

Nearly 20 years ago, many independent and democratic Mexican unions began an alliance with the AFL-CIO.

We’ve developed a good working relationship. We’ve engaged in important dialogue and identified shared priorities. Now we are ready to take our solidarity to the next level, turning words into deeds and plans into action.  

You see, we believe no fundamental difference exists between us. We share common values rooted in social justice and a common vision of the challenges before us.

The corporate elite in the United States and Mexico have been running roughshod over working people for too long. Corporate-written trade and immigration policies have hurt workers on both sides of the border.  We each have experienced the devastation caused by economic rules written by and for the superrich.

Those of us in the United States can see how unfair economic policies have destroyed Mexico’s small farms and pushed many Mexicans to make the perilous trek north or settle in dangerous cities. Many in Mexico are worried about their own families, some of whom might be immigrants in the United States today. Workers in the United States share their concern, especially as anti-immigrant sentiment has become disturbingly mainstream.

The truth is more and more politicians are exploiting the insecurity and pain caused by corporate economic rules for political gain by stoking hatred and scapegoating Mexicans and other Latin American immigrants.

We will not be divided like this. Workers north and south of the border find the idea of a border wall to be offensive and stand against the criminalization of immigrant workers. We need real immigration reform that keeps families together, raises labor standards and gives a voice to all workers.

Instead of erecting walls, American and Mexican leaders should focus on rewriting the economic rules so working people can get ahead and have a voice in the workplace. One of our top priorities is to transform trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement into a tool for raising wages and strengthening communities in both countries.

We’re outraged by the kidnapping and murder of the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College, as well as too many other atrocities to list.

America’s unions are democratic in nature and independent of both business and government, but that’s mostly not true in Mexico. A key step in ending violence and impunity in Mexico and raising wages and standards on both sides of the border is to protect union rights and the freedom of association in Mexico.

We’re united. We’re resolute. We are ready to win dignity and justice for all workers.

 

Jackie Tortora Mon, 05/01/2017 - 10:32

Tags: Mexico

150 Workers Die Each Day From Hazardous Work Conditions: The Working People Weekly List

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.

150 Workers Die Each Day From Hazardous Work Conditions: AFL-CIO study: "About 150 workers each day died as a result of hazardous working conditions in 2015, according to a new labor analysis. The AFL-CIO study released Wednesday found 4,836 workers died after suffering workplace injuries in 2015, the most recent year data is available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics."

AFL-CIO Strongly Supports Writers Guild in Negotiations With Strike Looming: "AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the statement Thursday while negotiators were meeting behind closed doors for a third straight day. He cited WGA estimates that the major entertainment conglomerates made $51 billion in profits last year."

Restaurants Need to Stop Treating Low-wage Workers Like Avocados: "When low-wage workers won higher minimum wages, restaurant owners reacted in three ways. Those who already paid their workers at or above the minimum wage shrugged. Others accepted the fairer wages and adjusted their business models accordingly. But a third group decided to protest the cost by adding 'labor surcharges' to customers' bills. These surcharges sit at the bottom of the bill with the itemized taxes and tip line. The Wall Street Journal reported that this extra charge is often between 3% and 4% of the bill."

America's Manliest Industries Are All Competing for Women: "Baby boomers are retiring in droves, vacating construction sites and body shops and 18-wheelers. Now America's male-dominated industries, faced with a looming worker shortage, are trying to tap talent that has traditionally found such working conditions hostile: women."

Mourn for the Dead, Fight Like Hell for the Living: "Today, on Workers Memorial Day, people all over the world remember workers who were killed, injured or made sick by their jobs. It's also a day we commit to fighting for safer working conditions. Most importantly, it is the day we remind ourselves that safe jobs are every worker’s right."

Get Ready for a Month of Labor Cultural Events at DC LaborFest: "From its semi-humble beginnings 17 years ago as a weekend film festival focusing on labor-related movies, the DC LaborFest has grown, diversified and blossomed into a monthlong cultural event. The 2017 lineup, which kicks off Monday, includes 22 films, 17 labor tours, walks, bike rides, cultural tours and—new this year—a union beer and whiskey tasting, sponsored by Labor 411."

IUPAT Community Day of Action: "On April 22, more than 2,000 members of the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) across the United States and Canada put their hearts and skills to work for their neighbors to honor the union’s second annual IUPAT Community Day of Action."

Call Now to Oppose the Harmful New Republican Health Care Plan: "Public opposition to Republican plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act has been overwhelming. Americans have flocked to town halls across the country to speak out against these plans. Poll after poll shows that Americans don't want their health care taken away by Republicans who know that their own legislation is so bad that they are trying to exempt themselves from it. They claim they have a new plan, but the new one is even worse than the old plan."

Top Findings from the 2017 Death on the Job Report: "In 2015, 150 workers died each day from hazardous working conditions. This year is the 26th year the AFL-CIO has published a report on the state of safety and health in the workplace, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, which compiled 2015 injury and fatality data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and FY 2016 enforcement data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration."

Trump’s Tax Plan Is a Massive Giveaway to the Wealthy Few: "President Donald Trump is working on a new tax plan. Reports suggest that Trump wants to cut the corporate tax rate to 15%. That proposal could have serious long-term consequences for the United States—estimates show this will reduce revenue by $2.4 trillion in the first decade—and it amounts to little more than a massive giveaway to big corporations. Trump proposed the same tax cut for big corporations during the presidential campaign, as part of a larger tax plan that also included tax giveaways for the wealthy at a total cost of $7.2 trillion. We'll have to wait to see what the details of the plan are, but it's important that any tax plan help working people."

Another Organizing Victory in the South: Georgia’s Nestlé Workers Vote to Join RWDSU: "Contrary to many claims by pundits, amateur or professional, working people are showing, more and more, that they do want to organize their workplaces in the South. The latest victory comes from McDonough, Georgia, where employees at Nestlé’s logistics and shipping center voted to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)."

Yes, the Republican Health Plan Is Still that Bad: "Big health care cuts and huge tax cuts for the wealthy few are back on the front burner for Congress. President Donald Trump is now saying he expects to have a deal with congressional Republicans for a health plan this week or shortly thereafter."

Kenneth Quinnell Sun, 04/30/2017 - 14:30

Workers Memorial Day Reminds Us Why We Need Unions and Worker Safety Laws AFL-CIO

The voice of history, the subject I taught in a community college for two dozen years, could hardly be louder or clearer when it comes to unions and to worker safety and health laws.

We need them both.

In an ideal world, everybody would live by the Golden Rule, some form of which can be found in just about every religion. But we live in a real world where greed is the gospel of many employers.

If many bosses had their way, we wouldn’t have unions or worker safety and health laws. For a long time, we didn’t have either in the United States. Not until the 1930s did a Democratic-majority New Deal Congress pass legislation giving workers the right to bargain collectively and requiring their employers to recognize unions.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, signed the legislation into law.          

Not until 1970 did Congress create the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The landmark bill passed with bipartisan support. Even Republican President Richard Nixon, who was less than labor-friendly, hailed the bill.

Hogs will fly and kids will stop shooting hoops in my native Kentucky before the current Republican president and his GOP-majority Congress would approve anything close to the Occupational Safety and Health Act that created OSHA.

OSHA was needed because many, if not most, state and local worker safety and health laws were inadequate or were not rigorously enforced.

Before strong unions and meaningful protection for worker safety and health, most workers toiled long hours at low pay in jobs that threatened—and often claimed—life and limb.

This month marked the 100th anniversary of United States’ entry into World War I, the bloodiest conflict in history to that point. 

The war—called the Great War before World War II—started in 1914, when some 35,000 U.S. workers were killed in industrial accidents, according to historian Howard Zinn. That death toll equals two-thirds of all U.S. battle deaths in the war, which ended in November 1918.

A century ago, railroads, mines and factories were slaughterhouses. Many children were among the dead. Child labor was widespread in American industry. Adults were so poorly paid that boys and girls as young as 10 had to go to work to help their parents make ends meet.  

Industrialists praised child labor as a godsend. They claimed work taught children responsibility and kept them off the streets and out of trouble. Also, mine and factory owners saw a practical side to child labor. They could pay children less than grown-ups.

Many industrialists bragged about how often they went to church. Some said God gave them their money. Christian "Captains of Industry" hated Charles Darwin’s scientific theory of evolution. But they loved Social Darwinism, a philosophy which claimed that business works like nature.

It was "survival of the fittest" in both, Social Darwinists said. There was nothing anybody could do—or should do—about it, they added. Hence, Social Darwinists argued that unions and worker safety and health laws should be opposed because they interfered with the "natural operation" of the "free market." One Social Darwinist said such laws were a waste because they only protected "those of the lowest development."

With Social Darwinism, millionaires didn’t have to worry about workers losing a leg, an arm, an eye or their lives on the job. Social Darwinists said workers were inferior beings; otherwise they would be millionaires. Besides, worker safety and health laws would cost the millionaire industrialists a few bucks.

Social Darwinist millionaires had friends in high places. The plutocrats bankrolled politicians to bust unions and to keep worker safety and health laws off the books or to ensure such laws were toothless.

Sound familiar? How many union-despising politicians enjoy the largess of rich reactionaries today?

Here are a few, all of them well-heeled enough to afford store-bought: President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton, Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers and Kentucky House Speaker Jeff Hoover.

Anyway, while employers and their puppet politicians are still fighting organized labor and government safety and health regulations, a lot of the media is still cheerleading for American business and industry.

Not so long ago, right-wing newspapers editorialists smeared unions as "un-American" and "communist." They slammed union leaders as "labor bosses" and rank-and-filers as "union thugs."

Since the demise of the "Evil Empire," uber-conservative editorial writers and TV and radio bloviators mostly stop as "socialist." But they still trot out "union bosses" and "union thugs."

History teaches that employers, helped by their bought-and-paid for politicians and a sympathetic media, ensured that a strong union movement and something like OSHA would be a longtime coming. But come they both did.

Since 1989, unions have been observing April 28 as Workers Memorial Day because OSHA was born on April 28. OSHA did much to improve worker safety and health for all workers, not just union members.

But if the Tea Party-tilting reactionaries who run the GOP these days had their way, unions and OSHA would disappear. When Republicans extol "free enterprise," they mean free of unions and free of laws that safeguard workers on the job.

When we pause this Workers Memorial Day to remember those who lost their lives on the job, let’s remember the words of one of the greatest union heroes from history—Mary Harris "Mother" Jones: "Mourn the dead; fight like hell for the living!"

This is a guest post from Berry Craig, who is a lifelong Kentuckian, webmaster-editor for the Kentucky State AFL-CIO and a member of the state AFL-CIO Executive Board. It originally appeared at the Kentucky State AFL-CIO.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 04/28/2017 - 10:55

Tags: OSHA

Mourn for the Dead, Fight Like Hell for the Living AFL-CIO

Today, on Workers Memorial Day, people all over the world remember workers who were killed, injured or made sick by their jobs. It's also a day we commit to fighting for safer working conditions. Most importantly, it is the day we remind ourselves that safe jobs are every worker’s right.

In the United States, 150 workers die each day from job injuries and diseases and millions more suffer serious injuries because of their work. But no person should have to sacrifice his or her life and livelihood for a paycheck. This is why communities hold vigils, rallies, marches and other events to mourn the loss of loved ones and rally for stronger safety and health job protections.

Find a Workers Memorial Day event near you.

In 2015, 4,836 workers died from traumatic injuries such as those related to falls, machines and fires. At least another 50,000–60,000 workers died from occupational diseases that are caused by chemicals, dusts, fumes and other toxic agents. Commonsense safeguards would have prevented these deaths, but winning these protections for workers is incredibly challenging. Big Business continues to attack any gain for working people.

Read about the state of workplace safety and health in the 2017 Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect report.

Working people and their unions have won stronger safety and health protections. Most recently, unions celebrated the release of the final OSHA silica standard, the final OSHA beryllium standard, new safeguards to protect construction workers in confined spaces and from cranes and derricks, stronger protections for workers who report injuries to OSHA, several new mine safety rules, and many more. Since January, the Trump administration already has begun rolling back these protections, and has threatened to remove many more and prevent new safeguards from ever being issued. Recently, Republican leaders in Congress have threatened to remove important protections for first responders.

Unions fought for laws that protect hardworking people in the United States over the corporations that profit from the labor. Under these laws:

• Workers have the right to refuse unsafe work, without fear of retaliation.
• Workers have the right to report unsafe working conditions, without fear of retaliation.
• Workers have the right to report work-related injuries and illnesses, without fear of retaliation.
• Employers are required to make sure workplaces are free from hazards. 

We will continue to fight for stronger safety and health protections, but this year we also are defending new attacks on workers’ rights. And we will keep pushing forward. There is much more work to be done to prevent people from becoming sick or injured or being killed on the job.

On Workers Memorial Day, we remember all working people who have lost their lives, have been maimed or are fighting chronic disease because of the work they do. We join together to mourn for the dead and fight for the living. "Working people should not have to risk their lives to make a living and support their families," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Safe jobs are every worker’s right.

Find more information on Workers Memorial Day and the digital toolkit with infographics from the report.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 04/28/2017 - 10:29

Get Ready for a Month of Labor Cultural Events at DC LaborFest DC LaborFest

From its semi-humble beginnings 17 years ago as a weekend film festival focusing on labor-related movies, the DC LaborFest has grown, diversified and blossomed into a monthlong cultural event. The 2017 lineup, which kicks off Monday, includes 22 films, 17 labor tours, walks, bike rides, cultural tours and—new this year—a union beer and whiskey tasting, sponsored by Labor 411.

"It’s an interesting demographic," said Chris Garlock, the festival’s director and founder. "There are some folks who are really into music, some who are really into films and some folks who are really into soccer. I’m getting requests from people who want to do a union wine tasting, so I guess we’ll be talking about that for 2018. It’s kind of cool to find new and different audiences for different things."

With a few days to go before a month of events, kicked off with a May Day screening of the James Franco-directed film "In Dubious Battle," Labor 411 chatted with Garlock on all things DC LaborFest.

Q: Where did the idea for this film festival come from? How did it originate?

Chris Garlock: I’m from Rochester, New York, where my dad and I created the Rochester Labor Film Series. My dad brought [union leader] Tony Mazzocchi up to Rochester for a screening of "Silkwood," and Tony came back all excited. My dad told him, "Well, Chris works for the Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Council. You should talk to him." Tony was a force of nature, so with his vision, organized by me and Katherine Isaac and the full support of Metropolitan Washington Council President Jos Williams, we were able to pull the first film fest together in just a few months.

Q: Can you talk about the growth of the festival over the 17 years of its existence?

CG: Oh my goodness, a couple of things. We have partnered up with American Film Institute from the beginning and it’s just grown and grown over the years. The main festival is at AFI, which has a beautiful three-screen theater in Silver Spring, and we’ve expanded, so we do a whole free film noon time series at the AFL-CIO on Fridays. At various times we’ve done screenings at different international unions. We co-hosted a Whistleblower Film Festival for a couple of years. There’s a DC Immigration Film Festival that we helped to start. It was a separate film festival for a few years, and we’re kind of absorbing it back in this year.

Q: One doesn’t typically find the breadth of offerings of DC LaborFest in a standard film festival. How did that variety develop for the DC LaborFest?

CG: About four years ago, we made the jump and we’ve never looked back. We went from having just a film festival to adding music events, theater, a labor soccer game, labor history walking tours, labor history biking tours, basically any sort of labor-ific cultural event that people could come up with and sounded like somebody might be interested in. We have had some great partners—including Labor 411, of course, and I have to mention American Income Life, which has been our prime sponsor from the beginning.

Q: What are some of the film highlights of this year’s lineup?

CG: The big one, of course, is the May 16 screening of "Matewan," and director John Sayles is going to be here. It’s the 30th anniversary of the film so we’re very excited about that, and he’s a personal hero of mine. We’re opening on May 1 with "In Dubious Battle," directed by James Franco, from a book by John Steinbeck, and that’s a book about California migrant workers that is very much in tune with all of the immigration demonstrations going on that day.

We have two films about [the anarchists] Sacco and Vanzetti and this is the 70th anniversary of their execution, so that’s very appropriate. This year, for the first time, we will be having labor tours of four different museums in town. It’s going to be a really great opportunity to see some really amazing art work or artifacts about work and workers. And then, of course, there’s our union beer and whiskey tasting with Labor 411. Those tickets are going like hot cakes.

Q: Now that the DC LaborFest is 17 years running, does the festival’s reputation open certain doors that might not have opened in early years?

CG: There are only a few dozen labor film festivals in the world, and we’re one of the largest and oldest. By virtue of our being in Washington, D.C., and our connection with the AFL-CIO and all the other unions, it definitely opens a lot of doors and I think people take it more seriously.

Q: How about your audience? Is it a mixture of union workers and film fans?

CG: Absolutely. I do mobilization and communication for the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, and my whole argument for why we should do the film festival and then expand it to the LaborFest was because it mobilizes and communicates. We do lots of rallies and picket lines on a weekly, if not daily, basis in town, but those tend to be more for people who are in the movement or sometimes for people who are just in a particular local. At a screening at AFI, you’ll look out at the audience and more than half the audience will be people who are there because they want to see the film. Film is a very accessible medium, so it brings in the general public. It brings in union members who might not be so involved, and it’s a real opportunity for folks to get together and socialize in a way that’s not just on the picket line or at a rally or at a union meeting.

Q: Can you recount some great events from past festivals?

CG: The first year, we showed "Live Nude Girls Unite" which is a great film about dancers at the Lusty Lady organizing. Again, that was a chance to reach a different kind of audience. We have given out our Labor Arts Award both to Jane Fonda—who came here for "9 to 5"—and Barbara Kopple, who has done a number of great labor films. Ramin Bahrani, who has become a really big filmmaker…we’ve shown almost all of his films here, and I remember when he was a young, aspiring filmmaker. For him to screen at DC LaborFest was a big deal at the time.

There are a lot of great films out there about work and workers, and we don’t just show the usual documentaries that people expect us to show. We have shown romantic comedies that have a labor angle, science fiction films, children’s films. We really want to be able to have a whole variety of stuff.

Q: Any last words?

CG: The labor film poster collection is in the AFL-CIO lobby now. It’s gorgeous and it’s free, and people can drop by and enjoy it anytime they want. The big poster out front is "Matewan."

For more information, visit dclabor.org/dc-laborfest.html.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 04/27/2017 - 15:42

Tags: DC LaborFest, Labor 411

IUPAT Members Take a Day to Give Back IUPAT

On April 22, more than 2,000 members of the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) across the United States and Canada put their hearts and skills to work for their neighbors to honor the union’s second annual IUPAT Community Day of Action.

With materials donated by the IUPAT, union employers and industry partners, volunteers teamed with community groups to clean up, paint, and replace the windows of churches, schools and community centers across North America. IUPAT volunteers also worked with a number of organizations to collect food and to cook for and feed those in need.

The goal of the Community Day of Action is to show the world that the members of the IUPAT and the rest of the labor movement are more than advocates for fair wages, rights and benefits on the job. They are good neighbors who have a long tradition of building up their communities. The IUPAT Community Day of Action is yet one more example of how organized labor is a positive force for working families—both union and nonunion.

IUPAT General President Kenneth Rigmaiden said:

It is our hope that the work we have done today, coast to coast in the United States and Canada, will inspire others to do their part for our communities. I'm proud of our members who have dedicated their time, their skills and their hearts to such worthy causes, and I truly believe that we made a difference. It shows just how much a united group of volunteers can accomplish in one day. My thanks to our community partners for helping us make our second annual Community Day of Action a success.

It was a great day (that's not over yet) where one union made a difference across North America in just one day!

The Painters and Allied Trades represents men and women in the United States and Canada who work in the finishing trades—commercial and industrial painting, drywall finishing, glazing and glass work, sign and display, and floor covering installation, among other crafts. Learn more about the IUPAT at IUPAT.org and follow us on Twitter @GoIUPAT.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 04/27/2017 - 13:55

Call Now to Oppose the Harmful New Republican Health Care Plan AFL-CIO

Public opposition to Republican plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act has been overwhelming. Americans have flocked to town halls across the country to speak out against these plans. Poll after poll shows that Americans don't want their health care taken away by Republicans who know that their own legislation is so bad that they are trying to exempt themselves from it. They claim they have a new plan, but the new one is even worse than the old plan.

The latest version of the Republican health care repeal plan will:

• Gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions by eliminating the Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of affordable coverage, allowing insurance companies to charge some people as much as they want.
• Strip health care from about 24 million people and raise premiums for millions by 20%.
• Eliminate the guarantee that insurance companies cover maternity care, cancer treatments and substance abuse care.
• Give away nearly $600 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, including nearly $200,000 each in a single year for the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans.
• Increase out-of-pocket premiums for older Americans by as much as $12,900 and allow health insurance companies to charge older Americans five times what they charge younger people—effectively establishing an "age tax."
• Slash Medicaid by $839 billion and end the program as we know it, leading to the rationing of care for children, seniors and people with disabilities.
• End Medicaid expansion, meaning 11 million working families, children, people with disabilities, hardworking families and seniors would have lost their insurance.
• Subsidize tax cuts for the wealthy by maintaining a scheduled 40% tax on the health benefits of millions of working families.
• Eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood, putting care for 2.5 million patients nationwide at risk.
• Disproportionately hurt Americans living in rural areas and in some cases it would have caused a consumer’s plan to exceed their annual income.

Call your representative today at 866-829-3298 and tell them to vote NO on this desperate attempt by the GOP to make health care worse for Americans while enriching the few.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 04/27/2017 - 13:20

Top Findings from the 2017 Death on the Job Report AFL-CIO

In 2015, 150 workers died each day from hazardous working conditions. This year is the 26th year the AFL-CIO has published a report on the state of safety and health in the workplace, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, which compiled 2015 injury and fatality data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and FY 2016 enforcement data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Here are some of the findings from the report:

What industries are most dangerous?

Deaths on the job are increasing for people who work in construction, transportation, agriculture, forestry and fishing. People working in logging, fishing, roofing, truck-driving and landscaping occupations were particularly at high risk of dying on the job.

Who is at the highest risk of dying on the job?

In 2015, the number and rate of Latino worker deaths increased significantly, while other workers’ risks decreased. Almost the entire increase in Latino deaths was among immigrant workers, and workers in construction, transportation and agriculture. California accounted for half of the increase in Latino worker deaths. Latino workers have a fatality rate that is now 18% higher than the overall working population.

Older people are dying on the job at a higher rate than the overall workforce population. People ages 65 and older are nearly three times more likely to die from work-related causes.

What about serious injuries or getting sick from work?

Many working people have work-related injuries and illnesses that are severe and debilitating, and impact their livelihoods. It’s estimated that 6-9 million people become seriously injured at work, or become sick from toxic chemicals. We need to make sure workers can report injuries at work without fear of retaliation, and need a better system for counting occupational illnesses.

The number of workplace violence injuries is a growing problem, particularly in health care. In 2015, more than 26,000 workplace violence injuries were reported and the rate of injuries in state government health care facilities is staggering. These injuries can and should be prevented through commonsense prevention programs in a workplace violence standard.            

What are we doing to prevent workplace deaths?

OSHA—the agency in charge of protecting all working people in the United States—has consistently been underfunded, understaffed and penalties remain too low to be a deterrent for employers. The average federal OSHA penalty for a serious violation is only $2,402. Twenty-six years ago, federal OSHA had the capacity to inspect each workplace once every 84 years; now that capacity is once every 159 years.

Unions are fighting to keep the job protections that we have won, for stronger safeguards on the job, and for improved OSHA resources to keep workers safe.

Have workplaces gotten safer and what does the future hold?

Since the OSHA law was passed in 1970, workplaces have gotten safer and job fatalities and injuries have declined: More than 553,000 workers’ lives have been saved. Under the Obama administration, OSHA and MSHA strengthened enforcement, issued new safeguards on silica, coal dust and other hazards, and expanded workers' rights. But now, under the Trump administration, this progress is threatened. President Trump already has repealed two worker safety rules and delayed others. He has proposed to slash the budget for the Department of Labor and job safety research and to eliminate worker safety and health training programs and the Chemical Safety Board. Workers’ safety and health is in danger. 

What can be done to prevent workplace deaths?

We must defend the worker safety and health protections we have won, and we must move forward. We will continue working for safe jobs for our union brothers and sisters, as well as fighting for protections and representation for all working people.

The nation must renew its commitment to protect workers from injury, disease and death.

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 04/25/2017 - 15:55

Tags: Death on the Job Report

Trump’s Tax Plan Is a Massive Giveaway to the Wealthy Few 401(k) 2012

President Donald Trump is working on a new tax plan. Reports suggest that Trump wants to cut the corporate tax rate to 15%. That proposal could have serious long-term consequences for the United States—estimates show this will reduce revenue by $2.4 trillion in the first decade—and it amounts to little more than a massive giveaway to big corporations. Trump proposed the same tax cut for big corporations during the presidential campaign, as part of a larger tax plan that also included tax giveaways for the wealthy at a total cost of $7.2 trillion. We'll have to wait to see what the details of the plan are, but it's important that any tax plan help working people.

This is what a plan that actually works for working people would look like:

Big corporations and the wealthy must pay their fair share of taxes: Our rigged and broken tax system lets big corporations and the wealthy avoid paying their fair share of taxes, sticking the rest of us with the tab. Any tax reform proposal must not cut taxes for big corporations or the wealthy. On the contrary, tax reform should restore taxes on the wealthiest estates and tax the income of investors as much as the income of working people. It's imperative that tax reform make our tax system more progressive than it is now. Big corporations and the wealthy must pay more in taxes than they pay now, so we can build an economy that works for all of us.

Tax reform must raise significantly more revenue: Tax reform must raise enough additional revenue over the long term to create good jobs and make the public investment we need in education, infrastructure and meeting the needs of children, families, seniors and communities. Any tax reform that reduces revenues in the short term or the long term is unacceptable. Additionally, cost estimates must be honest and not rely on gimmicks that hide the true long-term cost of tax cuts.

Tax reform must eliminate the tax incentive for corporations to shift jobs and profits offshore: Taxing offshore profits less than domestic profits creates an incentive for corporations to shift jobs and profits offshore, while giving global corporations a competitive advantage over domestic corporations. Tax reform must eliminate the tax incentive for corporations to shift jobs and profits offshore, a move that would raise nearly $1 trillion over 10 years. Reform must not include a “territorial” system that further reduces taxes on offshore profits and would increase the tax incentive for global corporations to shift jobs and profits offshore. Tax reform also must encourage investment in domestic manufacturing, production and employment to ensure a robust manufacturing sector.

Global corporations must pay what they owe on past profits held offshore: Global corporations owe an estimated $700 billion in taxes on the $2.6 trillion in past profits they are holding offshore. Tax reform should use these one-time-only tax revenues to increase smart public investment in infrastructure rather than cut corporate tax rates permanently. The higher the tax rate on these accumulated offshore earnings, the more funding will be available for public investment in infrastructure.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 04/24/2017 - 16:10

Tags: Donald Trump

Another Organizing Victory in the South: Georgia’s Nestlé Workers Vote to Join RWDSU

Contrary to many claims by pundits, amateur or professional, working people are showing, more and more, that they do want to organize their workplaces in the South. The latest victory comes from McDonough, Georgia, where employees at Nestlé’s logistics and shipping center voted to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).

The Nestlé employees are fighting for a voice on the job, fair treatment, job security and fair wages. More than 100 working people will be represented by RWDSU. The workers handle shipping and logistics for Nestlé’s food product packaging.

Stuart Appelbaum, RWDSU’s president, said:

These workers have been through a lot in the past few months both personally and at work, and it is time that their voices are heard and that they are treated both respectfully and fairly by Nestlé. Nestlé’s workers deserve a strong union voice at the bargaining table, and we are proud to be representing the 102 workers in McDonough, Georgia, as we work to secure a fair contract.

Edgar Fields, president of RWDSU’s Southeast Council, lauded the Nestlé employees:

The people of Georgia are fighters, and the workers at Nestlé here in McDonough are a force to be reckoned with—and I could not be prouder to represent them. Neither union-busting efforts nor flood and gale-force winds could deter these workers from defending their right to organize, and now it’s our turn to fight for them. We are ready.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 04/24/2017 - 15:28

Tags: RWDSU, Nestlé

Yes, the Republican Health Plan Is Still that Bad

Big health care cuts and huge tax cuts for the wealthy few are back on the front burner for Congress. President Donald Trump is now saying he expects to have a deal with congressional Republicans for a health plan this week or shortly thereafter.

Just a month ago, Trump said he was moving on to do tax cuts instead of health care after House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) failed to get enough votes in the House of Representatives for their bill repealing the Affordable Care Act.

The deal Trump and congressional Republicans are trying to cut now is really just the old plan from March with a few changes trying to paper over differences among House Republicans.

The old plan was clearly bad for working people and retirees. Congress’ budget experts said it would take health benefits away from 24 million people, including by cutting the number of people with Medicaid by 14 million and those with benefits at work by 7 million, and spike out-of-pocket premiums and other costs for millions more people. At the same time, the Republican plan would also be a massive wealth transfer to the wealthy few. It would give the average millionaire household a $50,000 per year tax cut and prescription drug and insurance companies hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks.

So, what is in the plan now? Pretty much all of the bad stuff from the old plan—that is, it is still a massive tax cut paid for by cutting health care for working families and retirees—plus more.

Based on news reports, the Republican plan still:

• Jacks up individual premiums for older people, as well as those with lower incomes and living in areas with high medical costs.
• Takes away help for people who struggle to pay high insurance deductibles, co-pays and co-insurance.
• Guts Medicaid by phasing out the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility to more working-age adults and ending the federal funding guarantee in favor of a fixed-dollar contribution.
• Cuts Medicare funding to give a huge tax break to the wealthy few and prescription drug companies.
• Taxes the health benefits of millions of working people with high-cost health coverage.

What changes in their revised plan? To meet the demands of some House Republicans who want even bigger health care cuts, the new Republican plan also lets states decide whether to get rid of certain protections.

According to a leaked document, states will be given the option to get rid of the so-called “essential health benefits” rules, which require insurance to cover a minimum set of benefits, such as prescription drugs, emergency care and maternity coverage. The earlier plan would have eliminated this minimum benefit requirement outright. Now, a state will have to ask the federal government for a waiver. In exchange for a waiver, a state will simply have to say—but not prove—that the purpose of these changes is to reduce premiums, increase coverage or advance some other benefit to the state.

Under the new plan, a state also can get rid of the ACA protection against an insurance company charging higher premiums for someone with a pre-existing condition. Where this happens, someone with a pre-existing condition could end up paying a whole lot more just to get basic health insurance. According to a recent estimate by the Center for American Progress, insurance companies likely would charge a 40-year-old with diabetes an extra $5,510 per year and someone with certain cancers as much as $140,510 more.

In exchange for letting insurance companies do this, a state would need to have a so-called high-risk pool. These are arrangements set up by governments to offer coverage to people who cannot get or afford insurance anywhere else because they have costly conditions. These pools existed before the ACA and were notorious for not working very well. Premiums were still high, and the programs were so poorly funded that only a small fraction of the people who needed them could get in.

The new Republican plan also would create a so-called “invisible” reinsurance program. Very little has been revealed about this, but the basic idea is each state would run a program that pays for some of insurance companies’ costs for people with expensive conditions. The federal funding for this would be so low, however, that the big cuts in the rest of the Republican plan swamp any impact from it. The Center for American Progress estimates the average enrollee would have to pay $3,000 more by 2020 under this plan.

What’s the bottom line for the revised Republican plan? The more things change, the worse they get.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 04/24/2017 - 13:39

Tags: ACA

The Working People Weekly List

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.

Retired Miners Lament Trump’s Silence on Imperiled Health Plan: "Donald J. Trump made coal miners a central metaphor of his presidential campaign, promising to 'put our miners back to work' and look after their interests in a way that the Obama administration did not. Now, three months into his presidency, comes a test of that promise. Unless Congress intervenes by late April, government-funded health benefits will abruptly lapse for more than 20,000 retired miners, concentrated in Trump states that include Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Many of the miners have serious health problems arising from their years in the mines."

Six Questions for Labor's Top Workplace Safety Expert: "Already we’ve seen the Trump administration repeal two important workplace safety rules. They’ve proposed the elimination of funding for worker safety and health training programs."

AFL-CIO: Tax Reform Should Increase Taxes for Wealthy: "The AFL-CIO on Monday pressed its tax reform priorities, pushing back against concepts likely to be included in a Republican bill. 'Big corporations and the wealthy must pay more in taxes than they pay now, so we can build an economy that works for all of us,' the group said."

The Human Cost Of Trump’s Rollback On Regulations: "After numerous efforts under other presidents failed, the Obama administration finally tightened the regulations covering silica last year, further restricting the amount of dust that employers can legally expose workers to. The tougher standards were 45 years in the making, the subject of in-depth scientific research and intense lobbying by business groups and safety experts. When the rules were finalized in March 2016, occupational health experts hailed them as a life-saving milestone. But now the enforcement of the rules has been delayed ― and the rules themselves could be in jeopardy."

Unionized Scientists March in Protest of Attacks on Science and Jobs: "Of all the attacks on our civil society, the attacks on evidence-based science pose perhaps the greatest existential threat. Decisions being made about climate science and environmental protection at this critical time will shape the future of our planet."

We Need Tax Reform That Works for Working People: "Tomorrow, Americans will fulfill our civic duty of paying taxes to a system that is far from perfect or fair. As Congress reportedly is working on a plan to reform it, the AFL-CIO has a simple framework for what a serious proposal should include and what should not be included. These are the standards we will judge it by..."

Joe Arpaio's Infamous Arizona Tent City Closing: "By the time former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio lost his re-election bid in 2016, he was widely thought of as one of the worst sheriffs in the country, if not the worst. He was known for harsh anti-immigrant policies, accusations of racial profiling, misuse of funds and any number of other complaints—and the perfect symbol of everything wrong with his way of approaching law enforcement was Tent City."

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 04/24/2017 - 10:53

Bluegrass State Union Members Accept Teacher’s Invitation to Teach Labor History at Her High School Berry Craig

A bumper sticker was John Coomes’ “teacher’s certificate” at Henderson County High School in Henderson, Ky., his hometown.

“It said, ‘China is a right-to-work state since 1949,’” explained the Henderson-based Tri-County Labor Council president, who just finished a second daylong labor history presentation at HCHS, one of the largest schools in western Kentucky.

Coomes’ cup runneth over.

“We were there last year and have been invited back next year,” said the 66-year-old retiree from Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 136, based in Evansville, Ind., across the Ohio River from Henderson.

“Everybody—the teachers, the students—has been very supportive. This is a great way to teach these millennials about unions, which have gotten beaten up pretty badly in Kentucky lately.”

The just-concluded session of the Republican-majority state Legislature passed a trio of union-busting bills—“right to work,” prevailing wage repeal and a paycheck deception measure.

Tea party-tilting, union-despising GOP Gov. Matt Bevin gleefully signed the legislation.

“We wanted the students to know how these bills hurt everybody and not just union members,” Coomes said.

“We” included a trio of helpers: Marty Owens, Larry Parsons and Butch Puttman, all from Laborers Local 1392 in Owensboro, Ky., about 30 miles upriver from Henderson.

“We were in the auditorium all day,” said Coomes, who also sits on the Kentucky State AFL-CIO Executive Board.

The session was a reprise from the 2016 program, which stemmed from the bright red sticker showing an outline of China and the familiar hammer-and-sickle Communist symbol.

Coomes, who worked out of Local 136 for 47 years, happened to be handing out the stickers last year. When HCHS history and government teacher Ginger Stovall spied them, she had to have one.

“She’s my niece,” Coomes explained.

Uncle John wasn’t sure whether to give her one. “Knowing that her family is Republican, I asked her what she was going to do with it. I said, ‘If you put it on your car, your family is going to be upset.’

“She said, ‘Oh, no. I’m going to put it on my bulletin board in class.’ She also said she spends a week teaching about unions.”

Then she popped the question to her kin: “Could you bring someone in to help me teach the history of unions?”

Uncle John was happy to oblige. He summoned Louisville, Ky., labor lawyer Dave Suetholz. “Dave was very gracious to do this for us last year. He taught five classes and probably saw over 500 kids.”

Coomes got the stickers from Tim Donoghue, president of the Erlanger, Ky.-based Northern Kentucky Central Labor Council. “We are using the bumper stickers to educate our new members as well as the public,” he explained.

“I get to teach labor history at Lloyd High School in Erlanger, and l have contacted several other schools. I like to stress to our council delegates and union leaders that we must get involved in school board elections and demand our story be told.”

This year, Coomes’ program grew into seven classes with about 700 students participating. It was held in conjunction with career day.

He said representatives of unions, mostly building trades, constituted about “a third of everybody who was there. I felt really good about that.”

He said Parsons did most of the history teaching. “After he finished, I’d talk about my career and plug the building trades at career day,” Coomes said.

Meanwhile, he and Madisonville, Ky., resident Kevin Walton of United Steelworkers Local 9443 in Robards, Ky., are working on a labor history CD. Walton, the central labor council vice president and COPE director and a state AFL-CIO board member, helped with the 2016 program. But this year he was away at the USW’s convention in Las Vegas.

“We really want the CD to have a wow factor with slides and photos,” Coomes said. “We want it professionally done. It’s a great way to show high school students how bad unions have been mistreated and what unions do for all working people, not just union members.”

This is a guest post from Berry Craig, a retired member of AFT Local 1360. It originally appeared at Kentucky State AFL-CIO.

Kenneth Quinnell Sun, 04/23/2017 - 10:48