Massey Denies It Prevented Miners From Attending Funerals

By GottaLaff

Earlier, I posted about Massey Energy refusing to allow time off for miners who wanted to attend their loved ones’ funerals.

They're denying it.

Massey spokesman Troy Andes:

“We know of no instances when miners were denied a request to attend a funeral.”

They know of no instances. Maybe someone simply forgot to tell them. Or they did this:

The Washington Independent also reminds us that even if this wasn't a Massey policy, it might have been enforced by subsidiaries who actually run the mines and have their own rules.

Massey Coal: No Time off for Miners to Attend Friends’ Funerals

By GottaLaff

A sign outside a West Virginia vigil for coal miners who lost their lives in the Upper Big Branch explosion on April 5 (EPA/ZUMApress.com)

If Massey's CEO, Don Blankenship, had been confronted by strong unions, things might have been different. Lives might have been saved, and this despicable turn of events might have been avoided.

Via the Washington Independent:

Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal giant that runs the Upper Big Branch Mine, has denied time off for miners to attend their friends’ funerals; has rejected makeshift memorials outside the mine site; and, in at least one case, required a worker to go on shift even though the fate of a relative — one of the victims of the April 5 disaster — remained unknown at the time, according to some family members and other sources familiar with those episodes. In short, the company might be taking heat for putting profits and efficiency above its workers, but it doesn’t appear to have changed its tune in the wake of the worst mining tragedy in 40 years.

Remember the scene in Miracle on 34th Street, when Kris Kringle is talking to Alfred, the Macy janitor and Alfred laments...



That's all that matters to Massey: profit. Profit over lives. The very people who make him money are expendable. But dollars aren't.

“They told my husband, ‘You’ve got a job to do and you’re gonna do it,’” said the wife of one Massey miner, referring to the funerals he’s missed this month for friends who died in the blast. “What else are we gonna do?”

What else, indeed.

The culture of fear is everywhere. It's in politics, it's at gun rallies, at Tea Bagger protests, white supremacist gatherings, and now it's directed at those who lost loved ones:

“I guarantee it: Massey’s already told these guys, ‘Hey, don’t say nothin’. You’re not talking to no reporters. You’re not saying nothin’ about our safety record — or you won’t have a job,’” said Chuck Nelson, a former Massey miner who’s since become an environmental activist with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. “That’s the way they operate.”

That's the way they operate. There isn't a heart anywhere in Blankenship's body. He and Cheney should start a club.

Massey wouldn't even let a mourner hang a wreath at the entrance to the mine. Nice people skills, Don. Bully much?

“When we were all union, if there was something that came up, it wasn’t no problem at all to shut that mine down until everything was fixed.” said Nelson, who worked for nearly 20 years in union mines before Massey took over. “Non-union [workers], they ain’t got that right.”

Massey ain't got nothin' right.

H/t: hapkidogal

Actor Danny Glover arrested in protest

By GottaLaff

(Jacquelyn Martin - AP)

Danny Glover stepped past the dreaded yellow tape. That got him cuffed.

Okay, he did it thrice. And yes, I just wanted to say "thrice".

He and 11 other tape-steppers were arrested during a labor union protest at a Maryland food service company:

The Service Employees International Union was protesting what it calls Sodexo's unfair and illegal treatment of workers. Sodexo says the union was spreading misinformation.

The consequences: Pay $1000 or do 90 days.

That rebel.

Hey, remember unions?

Who needs Republicans when you've got Ben Nelson?

By GottaLaff

This is what I meant earlier when I said 60 (or 59) Democrats in the Senate is not what the media insists it is (a block of 60-- or 59-- votes):

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced Monday that he will oppose the nomination of Craig Becker to serve on the National Labor Relations Board, likely dooming the nominee’s Senate confirmation.

Thank you Ben. You proved my point.

The controversy surrounding the nomination is due principally to Becker’s background, which many believe displays an anti-free-market and pro-union bent. Becker is a labor lawyer who has served as associate general counsel to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO. For the past 27 years, Becker has taught and practiced labor law and written articles expressing extremely pro-union, anti-business views.

Just FYI:

Senator Ben Nelson 2005 - 2010


Top 20 Contributors to Campaign Cmte

Rank	Contributor	Total	Indivs	PACs
1	NelNet Inc	$52,100	$34,100	$18,000
2	Berkshire Hathaway	$46,800	$45,800	$1,000
3	Level 3 Communications	$39,600	$34,600	$5,000
4	Omaha Steaks	$36,100	$36,100	$0
5	AT&T Inc	$32,750	$10,750	$22,000
6	Amgen Inc	$28,250	$14,250	$14,000
7	Nebraska Beef	$25,150	$25,150	$0
8	Microsoft Corp	$24,800	$15,800	$9,000
9	Union Pacific Corp	$24,750	$18,750	$6,000
10	Prudential Financial	$24,500	$20,000	$4,500
11	Citigroup Inc	$23,700	$12,200	$11,500
12	21st Century Systems	$23,500	$15,900	$7,600
13	PMA Group	$22,100	$19,100	$3,000
14	Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp	$20,900	$9,900	$11,000
15	Aetna Inc	$20,250	$11,250	$9,000
16	Altria Group	$20,000	$3,000	$17,000
16	Comcast Corp	$20,000	$10,500	$9,500
18	Cauthen, Forbes & Williams	$19,650	$19,650	$0
19	Healthsouth Corp	$19,150	$9,150	$10,000
20	American Interventional Pain Physicians	$19,000	$0	$19,000
20	Schering-Plough Corp	$19,000	$0	$19,000

Ahnold The Anti-Unionator

By GottaLaff

I'll be so glad when I don't have this jerk as my governor any more. Meanwhile, he's doing his best to run the unions into the ground:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has put organized labor squarely in his cross-hairs in 2010, opening a fight that will largely determine the shape of his final year in office.

Schwarzenegger's proposals would cut the size of the union workforce, reduce pay, shrink future pensions and roll back job protections won through collective bargaining.

Of course, that means that, by weakening organized labor, he would also be reducing their ability to buy elections, unlike Big Biz, Big Pharma, Big Oil, China Inc., Osama Bin Laden Inc., Inc. Inc....

Among the plans in the governor's budget: privatize prisons, which would strip members from the influential guards union; curtail seniority protections for teachers, a key union-won protection; and reduce the number of sick, disabled and elderly Californians cared for through the state's In-Home Supportive Services program -- almost all union jobs -- while cutting what their caregivers are paid.

Schwarzenegger also wants to permanently lower state workforce salaries by 5% without returning to the bargaining table with public-sector unions. And he would require state workers to chip 5% more into their retirement plans.

The Anti-Unionator: A man of the people.

Supreme Court goes for ‘One dollar, one vote’

By GottaLaff

This is a scary truth:

Another way of looking at it: A very rough estimate puts total union income at about $10 billion per year. Most of that goes to pay staff and officer salaries, rent, utilities, arbitrators' fees and other necessary expenses. That might leave $1 billion left over for "discretionary" spending -- organizing, member education, political action. (*See note below.)

Corporate profits are in the neighborhood of $1,300 billion per year. This corporate discretionary money pool is 1,300 times as large as labor's. This is the pool each side can dip into for political campaigns. When you hear about the political influence of "big corporations" and "big labor", the real story is that of the corporate shark and the union sardine.

Please go read the whole thing. He qualifies his estimates.

There is much more to the piece, but he makes a great point that, forgetting all other arguments for the moment, there is such an imbalance here. If corporations and unions are now people, then Mr. Corporation is Mr. Moneybags, and Mr. Union is Mr. Peanut.

Well, not exactly people.

Do not pass go, do not collect, well, much of anything.

VIDEO-- Maersk crew member on how they gained control over the pirates: ‘We’re union members.’

By GottaLaff



The Rushpublic party would love nothing more than to completely bust the unions. Why? Because they are strong Democratic supporters. Relevant segment at 1:14:

As Marcy Wheeler and Nick Baumann have pointed out, the crew members belonged to the Seafarers International Union, the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, and the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots. Baumann noted that the seamen received “anti-piracy training” from the unions.

AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department President Michael Sacco, speaking on behalf of the maritime unions involved, said, "We are extremely proud of the efforts shown by the crew of the Maersk Alabama. These well-trained American merchant mariners exemplify the very best in our industry."

You won't see the anti-union party challenge these crew members to their faces. No, it's a little too challenging to disparage well-trained, patriotic heroes, isn't it?

Just go after the organizations who prepared them so well.

Unions Protest Joe The Plumber

You know, those guys aren't the ones I would want to tick off.

Majority Receptive to Law Making Union Organizing Easier

Time to ramp up those ads.

PRINCETON, NJ -- A new Gallup Poll finds just over half of Americans, 53%, favoring a new law that would make it easier for labor unions to organize workers; 39% oppose it. This is a key issue at stake with the Employee Free Choice Act now being considered in Congress.

The poll reveals sharply differing reactions to the issue within the general public according to political orientation. Most Democrats (70%) say they would favor a law that facilitates union organizing, while a majority of Republicans (60%) say they would oppose it. Independents lean in favor of such a law, 52% vs. 41%.

Eric Cantor (R- Epic Fail)

See above (NSFW) Via Ben, with all relevant updates-

Eric Cantor's gonzo response to an attack from the pro-stimulus Americans United for Change and AFSCME -- his spokesman circulated a profanity-filled video attacking the union -- drew a sharp response from the unamused, Obama-backing group.

"Eric Cantor from Virginia would spread profanity all over the Internet?" asked AUC president Brad Woodhouse in an email. "This is a childish and disgusting response to one of the most serious crises facing America in our lifetimes. This spoof of AFSCME has been floating around on YouTube for years - but its use in this context shows how completely and utterly out of touch with the current economic crisis and the lives of Americans Eric Cantor and the GOP leadership really is. Cantor should apologize."

ALSO: A spokesman for AFSCME president Gerald McEntee emails over his statement: “Eric Cantor may think the greatest economic crisis in seventy years is a joke, but we don’t. He should talk to the people in Virginia who are losing their jobs, health care and homes.”

ALSO: Statement of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney piles on: "During these tough economic times the last thing hard working Americans need is to be ridiculed by a member of the Republican leadership. Rep. Cantor should apologize for insulting America's workers with this profane video."

UPDATE- Mmmm, those words sure are tasty now, aren't they Eric?

VIDEO: Unions step up to fight for Secretary of Labor nominee Solis

By GottaLaff

Go unions!

Increasingly frustrated by Senate Republicans stalling the confirmation of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Labor Secretary, unions are preparing to amp up a national campaign for the nominee.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) blasted a web video to 60,000 online activists Friday asking them to support Solis’s confirmation. In the video, SEIU President Andy Stern asks viewers to sign a petition to back the California Democrat for the Labor position. [...]

The web video is the beginning of a national push by unions for Solis as her confirmation process stumbled since her hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last month. [...]

“We are going to ramp this up as much as we need to ramp this up to see Rep. Solis confirmed,” said Ramona Oliver, SEIU’s communications director.

The union, the nation’s largest with 2.8 million members, already has an impressive nationwide apparatus to turn to in support of Solis.

Announced last month, SEIU started the “Change that Works” campaign, which is pushing in 2009 for health care reform, the economic stimulus bill and the EFCA. The union has committed 30 percent of its staff and financial resources to the campaign, costly roughly $50 million.

“We have a nationwide field operation. That could quite easily be tapped into for this,” Oliver said. “We could pull anything from that toolbox.”

This is who the Republicans want to destroy. They not only represent hard-working citizens, they also represent more Democratic victories. That's a big part of what this is all about.

A particularly ugly Bush stain: BushCo to bar autoworkers from striking against GM

By GottaLaff

When Thom Hartmann rants, I listen. Right now, he's ranting... loudly. He's quoting from this Raw Story piece, and when you're done reading, feel free to rant with Thom and me in Comments. The gist: GM says give us the loan money, but make it illegal to strike. A strike would give the government permission to rescind their loan and allow GM to declare bankruptcy:

A little-noticed provision buried in the Bush Administration's $13.4 billion loan package to General Motors will prohibit the United Auto Workers from launching a strike as long as the company receives funds from the federal government.

Not only that, but a strike would give the federal government the power to call in their loan -- putting the loan in default and forcing GM into bankruptcy. The government now has the power to force a bankruptcy if “any labor union or collective bargaining unit shall engage in a strike or other work stoppage.”

Why would he do this? Here's one reason: Break the unions, break the Democratic party.

The terms of GM's loan package were reported last night in the Detroit Free Press. They did not become public until GM filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

So the big fat corporate rich guys get their bonuses, but the workers get... screwed.
The US auto workers union is also saddled by another requirement of the loan: the UAW must now accept a plan to lower wages and benefits for GM to match those of other foreign-owned US automakers' plants.

Feel that rant coming on yet?

The auto industry affects all 50 states: Interactive map

By GottaLaff

Click here to see the spiffy interactive map.

• Map below breaks down each state's contribution by jobs, parts and sales
  
• The states are ranked by total number of jobs per state

Click on each state. I live in California, and found out that:

• We have the second largest number of auto-related jobs in the country: 189,749.
• Auto assembly jobs: 7,430
• Auto parts jobs: 42,741
• Auto sales jobs: 139,578
• Average wages: $17,590

Those pesky unions. They've destroyed an entire industry.

Oh wait. I'm confusing them with the Republican party.

VIDEO: Idled workers occupy factory in Chicago; "Si se puede"

By GottaLaff

Videos via. Cross-posted from Gapers Block.

Standing up:

Workers laid off from their jobs at a factory have occupied the building and are demanding assurances they'll get severance and vacation pay that they say they are owed.

About 200 employees of Republic Windows and Doors began their sit-in Friday, the last scheduled day of the plant's operation.

Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical Workers, said the Chicago-based vinyl window manufacturer failed to give 60 days' notice required by law before shutting down.

Workers also were angered when company officials didn't show up for a meeting Friday that had been arranged by U.S. Rep Luis Gutierrez, a Chicago Democrat, she said.

I'd be mad too:

No severance. No vacation pay-out, as per their union contract. Nothing. Why? Because the business is plunging towards dissolution, unable to get a line of credit, and Bank of America was instructing them not to honor their obligations--no line of credit to honor obligations. [...]

Members of Local 1110 need your support. Make checks payable to the UE Local 1110 Solidarity Fund, and mail to: 37 S. Ashland, Chicago, IL 60607. Messages of support can be sent to organizer Leah Fried. For more information, call UE at 312-829-8300.

At the Jobs with Justice Web site, you can send a message of protest to Bank of America.

http://nyc.indymedia.org/...

Donations of food and money are requested, as are solidarity actions targeting the Bank of America. The factory is in the Goose Island neighborhood, at 1333 N Hickory (right near Division and Halsted).

Obama Having Custom Tux Made... For About $1k

He's going to have to buy alot of them to catch up with Bible Spice.

President-elect Barack Obama is sticking with his Chicago-based suit maker, Hartmarx, to make a tuxedo, a topcoat and a suit for his inauguration Jan. 20.

The custom black tuxedo, made by union workers at the Hart Schaffner Marx plant in Des Plaines, is sold at Nordstrom department stores for $895.

(snip)

The 121-year-old Hartmarx, maker of menswear labels Hickey Freeman and Hart Schaffner Marx, is the largest U.S.-based menswear maker and one of the few, if not the only, men's topcoat manufacturers in North America.

"We are thrilled at the opportunity to create a wardrobe for someone as dynamic as President-elect Obama and to participate, in however small way, in our nation's civic activities," said Brett Schenck, president of Hart Schaffner Marx. "Equally positive is that we are being embraced as an American, union-made manufacturer that prides itself on quality, value and fit."

Bonior Building Behind-The-Scenes Momentum For Openly Gay Activist as Labor Secretary

By GottaLaff

(bio)

Change and more change:

Former Rep. David Bonior, who has deep roots in the labor movement, has mounted an aggressive behind-the-scenes campaign, with letters and personal lobbying, to press the Obama transition team and top labor leaders to get behind his pick for labor secretary: Union activist Mary Beth Maxwell, who would make history as the first openly gay cabinet member.

Some labor leaders are reported to be worried that an older, more experienced hand with more stature would make a better pick for the post than Maxwell, who heads the pro-labor group American Rights at Work. But Bonior argued in his letter that Maxwell would be more in sync with Obama's change message.

"I believe that it is time to pass the torch to a new generation of leadership that puts a fresh new face on the labor movement and our vision for working families," Bonior wrote, adding that an old-guard figure would amount to "looking in the rear-view mirror and represent past Washington battles."

Separately, The Politico reports that a key coalition of gay and lesbian groups has thrown its support to Maxwell.

One more benefit: An openly gay cabinet member might very well drive a whole lot of bigoty types crazy. Well, crazier.

Plumbers for Obama

By Laffy the Plumber

Looks like ol' Joe the Bummer has some competition:

One hiccup for McCain is that the plumbers' union has endorsed Obama. The union said Obama was its choice because "he has always fought for working people throughout his career".

Sucks to be you, huh Joe?

Unions Protest Outside McCain's Va. Condo: "For every Wall St. crisis, there's a Main St. crisis"

By GottaLaff

clipped from voices.washingtonpost.com

A protestor demonstrates outside one of the homes owned by Republican presidential nominee John McCain in Arlington, Va., September 16, 2008. (Reuters/Jim)

I wonder how they figured out which of his 9 homes to target:

A quick-fingered concierge clicked the glass doors locked before protesters could file into the lobby of John McCain's Arlington condo complex today.

The 50 labor organizers and workers who had gathered to call attention to McCain's economic policies and multiple residences then proceeded to march in a tight circle around the maple tree out front.

What did they chant, again?

"One, four, seven, ten, how many houses do you have again?"

That's what I thought. I just wanted to hear them say it again.

The carefully choreographed demonstration -- one protester held a sign reading, "Can I crash on one of your couches?" -- was meant to tap economic anxiety in a week of frightening financial news.

It soon moved without incident to a patch of grass across the street, where a "tent city" in the form of a couple of backpacker shelters and three camouflaged hunting tents stood as the latest props in a campaign that the Barack Obama supporters hope turns their way on economic issues.

"For every Wall Street crisis, there's a main street crisis," said Jeffrey Lerner, a political organizer working with the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, the Carpenters' union and others.

Of course, this was one of J Sid's-- er, Cindy's-- slummier residences: It's only worth about $850,000.

Unlike some other McCain family properties, such as a multimillion dollar condominium in Phoenix, the three-bedroom Arlington condo is not too far out of line with many of the McCains' neighbors. The median price for a single family home in Arlington last year was $667,000, and the McCain condo was assessed this year at $848,000. The Virginia property is held under the name of McCain's wife, Cindy.

Here is how the rest of us live, Gramm-pa:

"In my street alone, in four blocks, there are 32 houses, as of yesterday morning, empty," Irwin said. Foragers are peeling off aluminum siding and stealing windows from the vacant homes, she said, and she backed way off on the heat last winter because she didn't have the money. "I'd wait until it got so cold I couldn't stand it, and I'd turn it back on," she said.

Irwin, 57, said she bought her 800 square-foot home in 1995 for about $60,000, but still owes $58,000 on it today, after a refinancing a few years back. She said she's making some payments using unemployment benefits before they run out, and is searching for work.

She joined up with a Michigan group trying to pass a two-year moratorium on foreclosures, which led to the phone call which brought her to the Washington area today for the first time since she was a kid.

I wonder if Irwin's 800-square-foot home came with a tanning bed.

Machinists Endorse Obama; McCain’s Independence has all but Disappeared

Where the hell are the strong voices from our party. I'm not hearing squat and I'm starting to get ticked off. That last freaking paragraph needs to be EVERYWHERE.

Thirteen months ago, the Machinists Union endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton following questionnaires sent to each candidate and extensive polling among our membership. Senator Clinton was a clear favorite and the IAM backed her throughout the long and exceedingly close primary season.

(snip)

The difference between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama is nearly invisible when compared to the differences between Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain.

While Sen. McCain may deserve our respect for his service to our country, he does not deserve our support or our votes. Whatever independence McCain may have exhibited early in the campaign has all but disappeared as his positions shifted further and further to the far right.

Labor Day: Obama courts unions, promises to amend NAFTA

By GottaLaff

Attention to unions, to NAFTA, is something we've been waiting for. It's good to see Obama's on top of this:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is using Labor Day to court union members and reiterate his promises to amend a controversial trade pact and sign a labor-backed bill into law.

An internal Obama campaign memo obtained by The Hill notes that Obama supports amending the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) “so that we can enforce labor and environmental standards.”

The memo adds, “He’ll work together with the leaders of Canada and Mexico — and he’s confident that he can succeed because amending NAFTA is in the interest of workers in all three countries.”

Obama spent part of Monday in Michigan, a union-heavy swing state. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will visit there later this week.

What an elitist! Trying to help union members like that, going out of his way to improve working conditions and raise environmental standards! Who does he think he is?

In its memo, the Obama campaign states that the Illinois senator “has been a lifelong advocate for unions and has earned the endorsement of nearly every union in the country.”

It also notes that Obama is a cosponsor of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, which is also called the “card check” bill. The measure would allow workers to join a union when a majority of them sign authorization cards. Industry groups are strongly opposed to the bill, which is a top priority for unions. Republicans and business groups say the bill would compromise a worker’s right to cast a private ballot on whether to join a union.

The Obama memo says “as president, [Obama] will sign it into law, because workers who want to unionize should be able to.”

The memo notes that Obama’s top priority this week is responding to Hurricane Gustav, and reiterates Obama’s decision to “ask his volunteer network and small donor base to mobilize on behalf of the Gulf Coast, whether that means sending donations or traveling down to help with recovery once the storm passes.”

Go here to see his e-mail about helping Gulf Coast residents.