If I went to work in a factory the first thing I would do is join a union.  - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Employers Use Lockouts to Win Concessions;
Aim to Destroy or Cripple America’s Unions

      AFL-CIO Leaders Fail to Respond to New Corporate Attacks on Workers

It used to be that when unions were in a stalemate during their contract negotiations with employers, they could use their “weapon of last resort,” a strike, to fight for an improved agreement.

But in recent years, especially during the economic crisis, the number of strikes has plummeted. In the decade, 1970-1980, there were 269 work stoppages, involving 1,000 or more workers. In contrast, in 2010, there were only 11 strikes (that may even include lockouts), a drop of 90 percent. In 2009, only 5 big strikes took place.

There are ample reasons for the sharp decline in work stoppages. Workers are reluctant to strike because it would mean a loss in pay, especially if the strike might last weeks or months. They are also fearful that if they walked off the job, their employer would hire workers to replace them.

Union leaders are reluctant about calling strikes, because it is too risky. If they lose a strike, they may be ousted from their position in the next union election.

The labor-management landscape changed dramatically when employers re-discovered how lockouts can be used to compel unions to make concessions in wages, benefits and working conditions.

The lockout scenario is simple enough. Employers shut out their workers from the workplace and won’t allow them to return to their jobs unless the union agrees to a series of give-backs. Employers can continue their lockouts indefinitely, with replacements they hire to keep their operations on track, until the union is forced to surrenders to their demands.

The Historic Problem of Economic Inequality
That Americans Have Been Unable to Solve

Economic inequality is a fact of life in America, the richest country in the world. Why is it that this enormous wealth is shared so unequally?

There are corporation executives, bankers and wealthy individuals whose annual income amounts to millions of dollars, much more than they need for a comfortable, even luxurious, lifestyle.

Then there are millions of low-wage workers, who struggle to meet the bare necessities of life. And what about the army of unemployed, who have to scrounge for public handouts just to survive?

Why the difference? How does it arise?

One justification for the wealthy is based on a form of Social Darwinism. The rich and famous deserve their economic and social status, because they have better DNA for survival.

Or to put it another way: Isn’t the United States the land of opportunity, and why shouldn’t the rich be allowed to amass as much wealth as they can? The money they invest helps to build up the country. Their taxes pay for a lot of things that our nation needs, like an overpowering military force and homeland security.

Will Trillion Dollars Be Spent to Reduce U.S. Debt
Or Create Jobs and Save Key Domestic Services?

Negotiations will resume during this election year between President Obama and the Republican leadership on how to spend a trillion dollars authorized by Congress. The two major political parties have not changed their views since last year, when their heated conflict threatened to close down the government.

Republicans blame the President for increasing the federal deficit, while Democrats point out that Obama inherited a $10.6 trillion public debt from his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R.-Wis.) chairman of the House Budget Committee, said: “This debt is hurting not only our economy today, but will result in our children and grandchildren experiencing a diminished future.”

President Obama says he has a debt plan that would reduce government spending while bringing in more government revenue by raising taxes on the wealthiest citizens. He has also criticized Republicans for opposing tax hikes on corporation.

The AFL-CIO Still Has No Plans to Involve
Its Union Members in the 2012 Elections

Despite growing public interest in the 2012 national elections, there is no indication from the AFL-CIO leadership, including the Executive Council, that union members will have a voice in the election campaign as it develops.

Months ago, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka promised we would have an “independent labor voice” that would not be dependent on the Democratic Party. Where is that “voice”? It’s nowhere in sight.

The same is true of the pledge to establish year-long political centers so union members would be kept well-informed about the issues that affect working families.

As in past national election cycles, decisions on how much to spend and where to spend it will be in the hands of a small group of top leaders who control the AFL-CIO’s political machinery. They will decide the issues the AFL-CIO’s delegates will support or oppose at the convention--without any opportunity for rank-and-filers to criticize their proposals or suggest changes.

Iran Threatens to Shut Oil Exports
In Response to New U.N. Sanctions

Iran has issued a blunt warning that it would close the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of all of the crude oil traded world-wide passes-- if the United States and its allies go ahead with new sanctions on Iran’s petroleum exports.

The threat by the country’s military leaders came as Iran had just finished ambitious naval exercises near the Strait. It was the most aggressive statement made by Iran to the ongoing series of U.N. sanctions, that have damaged its economy.

“We recommend to the American warship that passed through the Strait of Hormuz and went to the Gulf of Oman, not to return to the Persian Gulf,” said Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi, the commander in chief of the Iranian army, as reported by the country’s official news agency, IRNA. The Islamic Republic of Iran will not repeat this warning,” the statement concluded.

If Iran were to carry out its threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz by means of mining, air strikes or sabotage, the impact on oil prices would be immediate. Analysts say the price of oil would start to soar and could rise 50 percent or more within days.

Energy analysts say that even a partial blockage of the Strait of Hormuz could raise the world price of oil within days by $50 a barrel or more. That would push the price of a gallon of regular gasoline to well over $4 a gallon.

Manufacturers Are Hiring Workers in America,
But Offer a Sharp Drop in Wages and Benefits

If you have been unemployed for months and are still looking for a job, the good news is that manufacturers are beginning to hire again, here in the United States. They are even ready to bring their factories and technology back to America after dealing with China and other low-wage countries.

The bad news is that you’ll have to accept an enormous pay cut, if you are thinking of applying for those new jobs. How much of a pay cut? It will come to $10 0r $15 an hour less than what you earned before the U.S. was engulfed in an economic recession.

Thousands of workers are opting to take those cut-rate jobs, and that includes union members. Labor is weaker than ever, with many unions forced to make deep concessions in wages, pensions and health care in order to avoid massive layoffs.

The AFL-CIO is no match for the global multinational corporations It has had to accept their conditions in the hope of re-establishing thriving manufacturing industries with good-paying jobs, as in former times.

Many workers thought they would recoup their former wage standard by intermittent pay boosts. But major companies, like General Electric, Ford and other large-scale employers, have locked in their new hiring policies, so that new workers can’t rise much above the level on which they were originally hired.

U.S. Investors Are Buying Troubled European Firms; Will Shift in Strategy Affect the American Economy?

As Europe struggles with its debt crisis, highlighted by several countries in dire financial straits, America’s big-time Wall Street investors are seizing the opportunity to buy the assets of their banks and businesses

The sales are being promoted because European banks are scrambling to raise capital and shrink their balance sheets, often under the orders of international regulating agencies.

European financial institutions are expected to unload up to $3 trillion in assets in the next 18 months, according to Huw van Steenis, an analyst with Morgan Stanley.

All kinds of financial global deals are taking place, often through private negotiations. involving , for example, a luxury hotel in Miami Beach to the tallest office building in Ireland.

Democrats and Republicans Play Politics With Jobless in Limbo over Benefits
Our Leaders Have No Actual Response to Attacks on Unions

While millions of jobless workers waited anxiously to find out whether Congress would extend their payroll tax cuts , and continue their unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, hopefully through 2012, they received contrasting news that left them angry and confused.

Last Saturday, the U.S. Senate approved a “compromise” ruling that would allow the payroll tax break and UI payments to continue for another two months -and that the issue would be reviewed by the new Congress in March. The measure was approved by a bi-partisan vote of 89 to 10, with 39 Republicans Senators supporting it.

But a few hours later, House Speaker John Boehner, in an interview on “Meet the Press”, made it clear that his Republican caucus was against the two-month pay cut extension. He said it would be “just kicking the can down the road.”

At its formal meeting on Dec, 19, the House, voted down the Senate’s two-month extension bill. The surprising setback raised the specter of a year-end tax increase that would cost the average middle-class family, 160 million Americans $1,000 a year.

E-Mails and Marches Won’t Persuade Congress
To Create Jobs. What Do Our Leaders Propose?

We keep sending a continuous flood of e-mails asking our lawmakers to extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits through 2012, but Congress has not responded.

We keep on promoting and attending rallies to put pressure on Congress to create the public works jobs that millions of workers urgently need for survival. The AFL-CIO spent more than a month on its high-profile campaign, “America Wants to Work”, without getting a word of encouragement from Washington legislators.

The AFL-CIO has received the same cool response to its “Day of Action,” and other series of rallies. We’ve sent members of Congress thousands of heart-rending letters describing the suffering of working families where they have not seen a paycheck for a year.

What Do Our Leaders Propose as a Winning Strategy?

A ‘Robin Hood’ Tax on International Trade Can Produce
Huge Annual Funds to Help Solve Global Economic Crisis

The proposal to tax corporations a small amount for each international transaction has gained widespread approval, especially in Europe, where at least four of the 17 countries in the Eurozone are facing their most serious economic crisis.

A similar version of the financial transaction tax (FTT) has been introduced in Congress by Senator Tom Harkin (Dem-Iowa) and Representative Peter DeFazio (Dem-Or.). They say that a $3 tax on $10,000 worth of transactions could raise as much as $350 billion in 10 years, an amount that could be a boon to U.S. states and cities that are struggling to meet huge budget deficits.

The FTT has become a rallying point for labor unions, non-governmental organizations, Move On and independent groups, who see it as a relatively painless way to increase revenue without the paralyzing debates between Republicans and Democrats.

The National Nurses Union (NNU) has been among the leaders in actively promoting the transaction tax. It recently held demonstrations at the offices of 60 members of Congress in support of the measure. “The thing about the financial transaction tax is it’s stunning how quickly people get it and how fast they embrace it,” says Rose Ann DeMoro, NNU executive director.

The leaders of the two strongest economies in Europe, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, and Nicholas Sarkozy, president of France, are openly enthusiastic about the trade tax. Predictions are that the tax could raise $57 billion euros (U.S. $77 billion) a year in European countries alone.

The First Lady Has invited Me to Have Dinner
With Barack and Her, She’s ‘Excited’ to Meet Me!

On December 2, I received an invitation from Michelle Obama inviting me to have dinner with her and Barack. Although no date for the dinner was mentioned, I figured I was on my way to becoming a nationally respected personality.

I thought the invitation should have been embossed with a card containing the President’s Seal, but it came as an e-mail. Well, I thought, she was too busy, probably working on her garden or planning a healthy diet for school children.

But I admit I was annoyed, when the invitation was addressed just to “Harry,” like I was an old friend, with no sign that she knew my surname. But I quickly forgot the slight when her opening sentence said: “I’m excited for the chance to meet you and whoever you decide to bring to dinner.”

I got the impression that this was to be a cozy dinner. White tie or black tie? I would have a chance to ask Barack what was the real story about Libya and what about al-Qaeda when our troops left Iraq and Afghanistan? What would we be talking about? Should I bring the Obamas a gift? What do you give people who have everything?

Michelle’s invitation was conditional, I quickly realized. It had been sent with the same message to maybe a million people on the White House various fund-raising lists. I could spare the $3 she asked for the “entry fee. “ But what were my chances of winning a national lottery of Obama supporters?

Where is the ‘Independent Political Voice’

At a Labor Day press conference, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka announced the formation of an “independent labor voice” that will promote its own economic and political agenda. Trumka was responding to union members who want to break with the AFL-CIO’s dependency on the Democratic Party.

Yet three months later, there is no evidence that even initial steps have been taken to create “labor’s independent voice.” Nor has Trumka initiated the “year-round activity’ of the AFL-CIO, still another of his unkept promises.

As a sign of labor independence, Trumka publicly stated that the AFL-CIO will support only candidates that will speak out in favor of measures that affect working families. It is not clear how such a policy will be carried out. In some instances, the Federation will run its own candidates.

With the 2012 election campaigns heating up. the AFL-CIO still has some policy decisions to make and how they will be carried out. Will state and city AFL-CIO affiliates and local unions have the freedom to choose their own candidates or will they be required to comply with the choices of the AFL_CIO Political Committee?

Inequality Is Now a Key World Issue
That Can No Longer Be Suppressed

For decades, American workers have resented, but forced to accept, the fact that corporation executives received huge salaries and bonuses, while they, who produced the owner’s goods and services, (and his profits) had to struggle to earn a living wage.

Unions saw the gap between the rich and the poor widening, but had no plan to reform the system so that it would be fair and beneficial to all Americans.

Labor leaders were content if they could win wage increases and benefits for their members. There was hardly any talk about making the nation’s economic structure more equitable.

Two months ago, workers found an outlet for their frustrations with the opening of “Occupy Wall Street”, and its encampment in Zuccotti Park, in lower Manhattan, near the city’s financial district.

The Occupy movement struck a responsive chord among people from all walks of life who felt they had been victimized by the big banks, greedy corporations and corrupt politicians.

Most American Workers Are Baffled By Financial News in U.S. and Abroad

By Harry Kelber

Watching the daily reports of the economic crisis in Europe and the turmoil of financial markets in Asia, most American workers have hardly any idea of how global changes are affecting their lives.

They see photos of President Obama talking with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. What are they discussing? A bailout of Greece and/or Italy? How did Obama respond? Should it be strictly private?

Why is the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, huddling with French President Sarkozy in Europe? Are they talking about French wine or a deal on the European crisis or the U.S. national debt?

And we hear that the “euro”, Europe’s 17-nation currency, is in trouble. If the euro collapsed, what would it cost the U.S. banks and investment companies? They undoubtedly would find a way to pass their losses on to us.

Because we live in an age of globalization, do we have to help in a bailout of Greece and Italy, when we can’t find jobs for 14 million unemployed Americans?

Will Labor’s Stunning Victory in Ohio
Prepare It for the Big Battles Ahead?

By Harry Kelber

Labor scored an impressive victory in a referendum election in Ohio, when the state’s voters emphatically rejected Gov. John Kasich’s anti-worker law, SB5, that would have deprived 350,000 of the state’s public employees of their collective bargaining rights. The law also banned labor’s right to strike and raised employee contributions to health care and pension funds.

It required a remarkable effort by the state’s unions and their allies to deliver a crushing defeat to Gov. Kasich and his SB5 law. The latest referendum tally showed that SB5 had been rejected by 904,391 votes against 558,570 votes a 61-39 margin.

The Ohio victory resonated in dozens of states across the country, from Maine to California where unions are fighting a series of anti-labor attacks aimed at destroying the union movement.

A statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said: “This is our moment, and we won with solidarity. We won because the working people of Ohio, public and private sectors, union and non-union stood together.”

‘Robin Hood’ Tax on Business Deals Could Provide
Millions of Jobs for the Unemployed over 10 Years

By Harry Kelber

A Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) bill has been introduced in Congress that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to create millions of jobs over a 10-year period.

Sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (Dem.-IA) and Rep . Peter DeFazio (Dem.-(OR), the financial transaction tax would be at the rate of 0.03%, possibly less, a hardly noticeable percentage that could help create jobs and public services.

The AFL-CIO will be pushing the transaction bill in Cannes, France, where world leaders from 20 countries (G-20) will be meeting to deal with the global economic crisis. Demonstrations are also planned for Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco.

More than 1,500 registered nurses from across the U.S., joined by the AFL-CIO, “Occupy Wall Street” and other labor and community participants, are expected to rally in front of the White House and march on the U.S. Treasury Department on Nov. 3. Nurses from four continents, including a delegation from NMU, planned to demonstrate at the opening of the G-20 Summit in support of the financial tax.

SuperCongress to Cut $1.5 Trillion to Reduce U.S. Debt
By Slashing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security

Fast-Track Decision by November 23; No Filibusters or Amendments Allowed

By Harry Kelber

The SuperCongress, the 12 lawmakers, equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, is meeting behind closed doors to work on a plan to reduce the federal debt. by at least $1.5 trillion. The funds will come from eliminating or shrinking Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid and other agencies that benefit the middle class and include the working poor, the sick and the elderly.

Ordinary Americans haven’t the vaguest idea what a trillion dollars looks like or what it means in spending cuts on domestic programs, but they can expect the bad news to their entitlement rights, probably by November 23 to dampen their Thanksgiving holiday.

The six Republicans on the committee have signed a pledge to guarantee that none of them will vote in favor of any tax increase, closure of tax loopholes or rescinding of temporarily lowered tax rates in the Bush tax cuts.

The Democrats on the committee have proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits to demonstrate that they too want to reduce the national debt. The Obama administration is ready to use Social Security and Medicare as “bargaining chips,” if it can get agreement on tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy.

Why Have ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Sites Grown
In 1,000 U.S. Cities and 1,800 World-Wide?

By Harry Kelber

The following report is from my daughter Laura Kelber, who worked as an electrician for 18 years (Local 3, IBEW)

Walking through the Occupy Wall Street site in lower Manhattan last Friday evening, I entered at the southwest corner, through a tent-and-tarp encampment – an edgy, makeshift community of activists, homeless people, junkies and drug-dealers.

Eastwards, there were information tables, a medical station, a media center, a large central station offering free meals, a dishwashing station, recycling, clothing distribution, and tables devoted to single topics: the environment, peace, feminism, anti-racism, recycling, socialism, libertarianism, veganism, single-payer healthcare, alternate currencies, homelessness, conspiracy theories and animal rights.

There were sign-up sheets for Muslim prayer, gardening and safety patrols. Signs announced workshops on recycling, economics and politics. The meetings of about 60 working groups and caucuses are held on-site or at nearby satellite sites open to the public. Drummers, dancers and art installations created a festive atmosphere.

Trumka Describes How New Corporate Models
Avoid Dealing with Unions on Worker Rights

National Taxi Workers Alliance Gets AFL-CIO Charter

By Harry Kelber

At a “Future of Work Forum,” AFL-CIO Richard Trumka described new ways that employers exempt themselves from dealing with unions and the rights of their employees. The corporate anti-union model that is increasing in use is to shift the responsibilities of dealing with unions to contractors, leaving the company free from any obligations to their workers.

It becomes more complex and confusing for union organizers when companies hire numbers of sub-contractors to produce their products or services.

Trumka notes that many companies are now using temp agencies, as a standard work force, freeing them from accountability to their workers. Other companies are getting rid of their obligations to employees by having them misclassified as independent contractors, as in the case of the taxi industry.

To avoid paying health care, pensions, paid overtime and other benefits, companies are also relying on part-timers. And of course, in many industries, tens of thousands of good American jobs are outsourced every year without much protest.

Jobs Bill Rejected

By Harry Kelber

In a major setback to the hopes of millions of unemployed Americans, the U.S. Senate effectively killed President Obama’s’ $447 billion jobs bill, designed to provide between 1.5 and 2 million jobs. While there was a slim majority (50-49) in favor of the bill, it was not enough to gain the 60 votes needed to prevent a Republican filibuster.

The vote on Tuesday night (Oct. 11) came while the AFL-CIO was conducting a “Week of Action” to its national “America Wants to Work” campaign There was no extended comment about the stinging defeat of the jobs bill on the AFL-CIO Web site, nor did labor leaders have a plan B to help the unemployed in what had been called an “emergency” for months.

House Republicans said they do not intend to take up the president’s bill as a whole, but they welcomed the signal from the White House that the administration would be open to a piecemeal effort.

Votes on pieces of the bill could begin this month. Party leaders said they needed to consult their caucus before the timing or choose the provisions that could be considered separately.

Trumka Reviews Labor’s Plan for Ending Economic Crisis;
Anti-Wall Street Protests Are Spreading in Major Cities

By Harry Kelber

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka presented a comprehensive analysis of the nation’s economic crisis in a “major speech’’ at the Brookings Institute on Sept.30. In his speech, he offered a six-point program that he said would “restore the middle class, which is the heart and soul of the American Dream.”

There was actually nothing new in Trumka’s one hour and 26 minute speech that he had not said many times before since the start of the recession. His sophisticated audience knew about the horrible statistics on unemployment, the immoral behavior of global multinationals, the cases of mistreatment of workers, the outsourcing of American jobs and other problems he discussed. They were expecting to hear something unusual and perhaps dramatic, but they didn’t get it.

Trumka’s six-point program for solving the economic crisis is almost identical to the one he’s been advocating at various forums. It calls for rebuilding our transportation, manufacturing and energy sectors as 21st Century enterprises. Absent is any mention of the three wars that the U.S. is currently engaged in or their cost in lives and treasure.

“Our challenge today is preserving jobs and creating new ones -not throwing people out of work and cutting off essential services and benefits”, Trumka said. He discussed why labor was opposed to the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, South Korea and Panama, which Congress will soon be voting on. He had some harsh comments about China.

New Labor Coalition Plans to Invest Billions
In Infrastructure and Clean Energy Jobs

By Harry Kelber

A broad coalition, initiated by the American Federation of Teachers and joined by the AFL-CIO and several million-member unions, announced progress in their commitment to invest in infrastructure, clean energy and retrofitting job training. The group, that also includes pension funds and other potential investors, met Sept. 20-22 at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City.

The meeting was a follow-up to a June gathering where the AFL-CIO committed itself to working with member unions, pension funds and their investment professionals, and governments at every level to invest $10 billion to creating infrastructure jobs, as well as at least $20 million in specific energy retrofits over the next year.

There will be a retrofit (modernizing job) at AFL-CIO headquarters, with an ambitious plan to train tens of thousands of workers with the necessary skills to work on 21st century infrastructure jobs.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said: ”At the AFL-CIO, we know America wants to work. And we can’t wait for Washington. We look forward to working together to see that workers’ capital is invested profitably in rebuilding our country and putting America back to work.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), added: “Public employee unions, investment groups and others want to be part of a renewed America. What we’re talking about today is America’s retirees and future retirees, helping their country recover economically and invest in projects that might never have gotten off the ground because of budget crises.”

Labor Can Now Reach Out to Non-Union Households,
But What Are the Advantages They Can Offer Them?

By Harry Kelber

For the first time, the AFL-CIO will now be able to reach out to the 89 percent of American workers who do not belong to unions, with a clear message about the advantages of joining a labor organization.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Citizens United case (2010) that corporations could fund independent political broadcasts in candidate elections without limiting the amount of financial contributions or revealing the names of the donors. Union leaders, who originally opposed the ruling, changed their minds when they learned they would have the same rights as corporations.

Previously, unions were banned from using the dues money of their members for political campaigns. The tens of thousands of labor volunteers for “house calls” campaigning could visit only the homes of union members and unionized workplaces in election contests.

To take advantage of its expanded outreach opportunities, the AFL-CIO has decided to use Super PAC (Political Action Committee) to help it build an independent political organization, free from its domination by the Democratic Party. Super PAC will enable the Federation to establish contact with millions of unorganized workers throughout the United States. It will also promote fund-raising on a larger scale, while keeping the names of donors secret.

The Trillion–Dollar Budget Cuts Will Mean
A Major Setback to the Campaign for Jobs

By Harry Kelber

It’s been nearly four years since we were being told that the economic recession was officially over; yet today, there are 14 million people who are still listed as unemployed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). (And we’re not counting the additional 12 million who are part-timers and temporary workers, and those who finally gave up looking for work in a bleak job market.)

Labor Leaders were virtually unanimous in praising President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill, with some economists estimating that it would create as many as 2 to 3 million jobs by the end of 2013. But with Republicans strongly opposed, the Jobs Act has little chance of being approved by Congress, especially since there is no agreement as to who would pay for the $447 billion bill.

President Obama has been converted to the Republican view that cutting the federal deficit must be the top priority for the political parties. Without prior consultation with congressional leaders or organized labor, Obama struck a deal with House Speaker John Boehner for about one trillion dollars in spending cuts, with the prospect that the SuperCongress will recommend another $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions by Nov. 23.

What this means is that hundreds, (maybe thousands) of projects, programs, even entire agencies, will be eliminated or sharply curtailed. We don’t know which organizations are scheduled for the chopping block, but we’re fairly certain that Medicare. Medicaid and Social Security are on the list of intended victims. And it’s questionable whether social agencies that serve the poor sick and elderly will remain unscathed. Obama has taken away the traditional cost-of-living benefits for retirees.

Can America’s 104 Nuclear Power Plants Withstand a Fukuyama-Type Meltdown?

By Harry Kelber

It would seem natural for the American people to worry whether any of our 104 nuclear plants can withstand a major meltdown. After all, look what happened to Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactors. And didn’t we have a combined earthquake and hurricane that might have resulted in a nuclear catastrophe if they had been more intense?

Yet, it is strange how little attention the safety of our nuclear reactors is getting. President Obama in his frequent speeches has not discussed the state of our nuclear energy plants. Neither have any Republican candidates for the presidency. Democrats and Republicans alike have nothing to say about nuclear reactor safety.

The AFL-CIO won’t tell its members that a safety problem exists. Its construction unions favor building more reactors, because it means lots of jobs. They are prepared to gamble that the United States will never suffer the calamity of a major Fukushima-type meltdown.

But there is a disquieting report from an Associated Press investigation that says the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) believes that a quarter of the commercial reactors in the United States may need modifications to help them withstand earthquakes.

The A.P. report states that the earthquake dangers faced at the North Anna are seen as 38 percent more likely to cause damage to the cores of the two nuclear reactors at the plant than thought 20 years ago.

Trumka and Council Have Two-Year Record
Of Failures After a Phony Election Victory

By Harry Kelber

It is two years since AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and the 57-member Executive Council won their positions in an uncontested election at the 2009 Pittsburgh convention, whose results were faked in advance to prevent competition from rival candidates.

It is time to ask what have they accomplished in those two years. Have they improved labor’s membership rolls and its economic strength? Are union members better off as a result of their efforts? Let’s look at the record.

Their first big defeat was their failure to convince President Obama to carry out his pledge to fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). They had spent millions of dollars and sent a torrent of e-mails in support of EFCA to lawmakers, in the strong belief that its “card check” provision would make recruiting of unorganized workers a lot easier. Their campaign ended in an embarrassing defeat., as they decided not to challenge Obama’s betrayal of his pledge.

The AFL-CIO leadership also gave up the fight for universal health care, after its members had conducted a tremendous grass-roots campaign for its passage. Our leaders allowed Obama to take the single-payer provision off the negotiating table, without any serious objection from the AFL-CIO. Trumka never challenged Obama on his abandoned promise to raise the minimum wage, nor did the AFL-CIO ever officially promote the idea of a “living wage.”

The AFL-CIO campaign, ”Make Wall Street Pay!”, under the leadership of President Trumka, was a complete fiasco. The bankers were never confronted face-to-face, or asked to pay into a fund for the victims they had caused because of their reckless profit-hungry practices. Trumka abandoned the campaign after a few days.

Is the AFL-CIO’s SuperPac an Effective Model
For a New ‘Independent Labor Voice’ in 2012?

By Harry Kelber

At a Labor Day press conference, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka announced the formation of an ‘independent labor voice” that will promote its own six-point campaign for jobs. Trumka was responding to union members who want to break labor’s close ties to the Democratic Party.

A typical complaint: Why should we give money and volunteers to Democratic candidates, when they pay so little attention to pro-worker legislation? We should use that money to strengthen our own unions and elect candidates who will be our consistent friends.

The Federation plans to establish year-round political activity that will involve members in state and local election contests. The unions, under the new policy, will support only candidates that will speak out in favor of measures affecting American families. In some situations, the AFL-CIO will run its own candidates.

The AFL-CIO’s jobs campaign, “America Wants to Work,” began this past week and will peak in early October with a “Week of Actions” to catch the attention of Washington lawmakers.

Obama’s Labor Day Proclamation Praises Workers,But Masks the Harsh Realities They Must Endure

By Harry Kelber

Since 1894, after Labor Day became a federal holiday, there have been annual celebrations by unions of the economic and social contributions of working people to our economy and society. There usually are many parades, picnics, speeches and special events to honor past generations of leaders and their achievements.

President Barack Obama, following the tradition established by former President Grover Cleveland, issued a Labor Day Proclamation that began:
“Every day hard-working men and women across America prove that even in difficult times, our country is still home to the most creative, dynamic and talented workers in the world, these men and women hold the power of the Nation in their hands.” (Have workers become that powerful?)

The Proclamation also promotes Obama’s stated view that “in America, anyone who works hard and responsibly can provide a better future for their children.” (Are the 14 millions of unemployed mostly ”loafers?”)

Is the U.S. Safe from Nuclear Disaster,
After an Earthquake and a Hurricane?

By Harry Kelber

Japan had the reputation of having the most sophisticated nuclear technology in the world. Yet, the combination of an earthquake and a tsunami knocked out its nuclear reactors and caused enormous damage in terms of lives and property.

Fukushima is now considered by some Japanese experts as the worst nuclear disaster in human history, far surpassing Chernobyl, which happened in the Ukraine 25 years ago. The amount of cesium-137 released at Fukushima this year is said to be equivalent to 168 Hiroshima atomic bombs.

After concealing the extent of the radiation damage in order to calm the Japanese people, the authorities are finally admitting that the amount of radioactive Cesium-137 that has been released is far higher than initially reported.

Should the American people feel safe from Japanese nuclear radiation? Not so. We have plenty to worry about. According to a French map of Cesium-137 on radiation from Fukushima, there was more contamination in the United States than in Western Japan.

The French simulation map (CEREA), covering the Pacific area, reveals that the U.S. West Coast, particularly California, may be more contaminated with radioactive Cesium than the western half of Japan or Hokkaido.

AFL-CIO Chief Issues Warning to Democrats:
Labor Will Be Independent in 2012 Elections

By Harry Kelber

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, in an impassioned speech before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on May 20, charted a new course for working people and their unions by declaring “we must do more than just protect our own right to a voice in this life of our nation. We must raise our voice to win a better future for all working families, here in America and around the globe.”

In a sharp attack on Republican budget deficit proposals, Trumka noted that they would cut $4.3 trillion in spending but give $4.2 trillion in tax cuts, mostly to the rich and corporations. “Think about the message these budgets send: ’Sacrifice is for the weak. The powerful and well-connected get tax cuts.’”

Denouncing the anti-union attacks by both Republican and Democratic governors, Trumka said they should be understood as “part of a single challenge. It is not just a political challenge. it’s a moral challenge.”

If the AFL-CIO Wants to ‘Make Wall Street Pay!’,
Why Not Start by Unionizing the Major Banks?

By Harry Kelber

In December 2000, the Chase Manhattan Bank, with 5,410 branches in 23 states, merged with J.P. Morgan Co. The merger created quite a sensation on Wall Street, but received little notice from the AFL-CIO.

The merged bank operated non-union, but the labor leaders, who are still running the AFL-CIO, made no attempt to organize its 191,987 employees. Banking is a major industry with tremendous influence on the nation’s economy and it was powerful enough to get a bailout of billions of dollars from the United States government.

The industry employs over 1.2 million people, in jobs that range from personal banker and credit analyst to customer service and tellers. Yet no more than 1 percent of the industry is unionized

A union can have a broad appeal to bank employees, whose wages and working conditions can stand improvement. A teller’s hourly wage averages from $9 to $12 an hour; a personal banker, from $31,000 to $45,000 a year, and a credit analyst, from $49.000 to $60,00. Employees can discuss their grievances on a personal, not collective, basis with bank managers, who have the power to hire and fire them.

$1.5 Trillion Cuts in Government Spending
Will Leave Scant Funds for Job Creation

By Harry Kelber

During the six months of mostly secret negotiations to raise the federal debt limit, President Barack Obama made two important concessions to the Republicans in order to get their bi-partisan support:

1. The agreement would cut government spending by at least $1.5 trillion over ten years and
2. There would be no decision on raising taxes.

What the President got in return was that Republicans would agree to raise the federal debt limit, and that the Treasury's authority to borrow would be extended beyond the 2012 elections.

The spending cuts would come from hundreds of federal programs that are supported by the government. It would leave Obama with the lowest level of discretionary spending in more than a half century.

According to inside sources, Social Security, Medicaid and food stamps would be exempted from automatic cuts, but payments to doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and other providers could be trimmed, as could subsidies to insurance companies that offered an alternative to government-run Medicare.

Does Anyone Believe Jobs Will Be Created
By an'America Wants to Work' March?

By Harry Kelber

The AFL-CIO Executive Council has initiated a nationwide “America Wants to Work” campaign that will start on Labor Day and reach the entire labor movement and its allies by early October , when there will be a “Week of Actions,” focused on the demand for good jobs.

The slogan of the campaign, “America Wants to Work,” is hardly an inspiring one. In fact, it’s as low-key as you can get. It sounds more like begging and pleading for jobs, than demanding them.

The slogan lacks an angry, urgent and meaningful message, like “ Make Wall Street Pay!,” a campaign that, unfortunately, was soon aborted when AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka was content to deliver rhetorical blasts at the bankers, but not to confront them.

Can you remember the massive AFL-CIO’s “April 4 Day of Actions, ”a nationwide mobilization “to defend the rights of workers and their unions?” On that day, unions around the country, with solidarity and unity as their themes, conducted marches, teach-ins, sit-ins, video displays, candlelight vigils, theater skits and other “events.”

Within a week, the exhilaration of the April 4th campaign was forgotten. The unemployed rate was still above 9 percent. Millions of unemployed were still unable to find jobs and getting no help from their government or the nation’s employers.

45,000 Verizon Workers Are Forced to Strike
As Company Wants Scores of Concessions

By Harry Kelber

Verizon’s 45,000 unionized employees went on strike Sunday, August 7, after several weeks of futile negotiations, with the company demanding dozens of costly concessions as the price of agreeing to a contract.

The strike is the largest since 2007, when 74,000 General Motors workers walked out for two days. Union leaders warned that the Verizon work stoppage could last much longer because the two sides remain far apart.

The strikers are members of two unions, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) that have carried on a joint struggle against Verizon for over a year. The company has been very profitable overall, earning $6.9 billion in the first six months of this year.

Union leaders and workers said the walkout would inevitably cause significant delays in phone repairs and in installations in its fast growing FIOS television and Internet services in customers’ homes. But Verizon officials said they had tens of thousands of managers ready to step in to do the work normally done by the striking workers.

Verizon wants the unionized workers to start contributing to their health-care premiums, including $1,300 to $3,000 a year toward family coverage. The company has also called for freezing pension contributions for current employees, eliminating traditional pensions for future workers, limiting sick days to five per year, and blotting out all job security provisions

After His Okay of $1.5 trillion in Spending Cuts, Where Will Obama Get Funds for Job Creation?

By Harry Kelber

After approving legislation that would cut government spending by more than $1 trillion, without getting a provision to raise revenue through tax increases on the wealthy, where will Obama find the money that is required to create jobs for millions of workers?

Furthermore, will the Republican-controlled House permit any costly job-creating projects to get congressional approval? Despite these obstacles and several others, President Obama announced that he would be focusing on job-creation.

On the morning of Aug. 2, the day that the government’s debt ceiling was raised, Obama met with the AFL-CIO General Board and the Executive Council behind closed doors to discuss the 2012 elections. It was clear, during the one-hour meeting, that Obama wanted labor’s financial and volunteer support, but what could he offer in return? His answer was that he would focus on job creation as a top priority issue for the balance of his four-year term.

Ever since February 2009 , when Congress passed the $787 billion stimulus package, Obama has paid little attention to the problem of unemployment, even though the jobless rate has hovered around 9 percent and some 14 million people were officially listed as unemployed.

So the Debt Ceiling Has Been Raised; Let Us Get Back to Our REAL Crisis

By Harry Kelber

There was no wild jubilation either in the White House or Congress at the passage of a law to raise the federal debt ceiling that allowed the U.S. government to pay its bills and avoid default before an August 2 deadline.

It took six months and secret negotiations, as well as continuing debate by Congressional lawmakers, to accomplish a procedure that used to be done routinely dozens of times under past presidents.

On Wall Street, financial investors were not impressed by the rise in the budget debt ceiling. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 266 points by the close of trading, and all of the major Wall Street indexes lost more than 2 percent.

European and Asian stock markets also took a beating on Tuesday, August 2, the day that Congress approved the rise in the budget deficit ceiling. Lower stock market numbers were reported everywhere: in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Japan, Hong Kong and other countries.

What was of major concern to economists and many business executives was the effect that the rise in the debt ceiling would have on the nation’s economic growth. Specifically, the new law calls for spending cuts of $900 billion, with at least another 1.5 trillion, possibly before the end of 2011.

The New Debt Plan: Forget About New Jobs For Workers, $2.4 Trillion in Spending Cuts

Bi-partisan Deal Puts Financial Burden on Working People 

By Harry Kelber

After going through a charade for six months on how to raise the ceiling on the national debt, President Obama and John Boehner got the main things they both wanted: spending cuts of $2.4 trillion with more cuts to come later on through a bipartisan. congressional commission.

Here was a $4-trillion dollar deal without a single public hearing. The two men negotiated mostly in secret, with the public not being told where those trillion-dollar spending cuts would be made.

All the blabber about jobs, jobs, jobs. There won’t be any jobs for the millions of unemployed. There’s no money for public works jobs. Because the new focus in Washington, is on spending cuts, more people will be laid off from programs that will be eliminated or reduced.

The budget deal doesn’t ask for a penny from the Wall Street banks and financial investors, who have at least $2 trillion in cash and should pay to avoid the enormous spending cuts. Since the government bailed them out in their hour of need, why can’t Wall Street bail out the government, especially since they were mainly responsible for the economic crisis?

The deal raising the federal debt limit doesn’t have any provisions for increasing the government’s revenue. So who is going to pay for lifting the debt ceiling? And who is going to pay for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya? Not the banks and wealthy corporations? No, it will be the usual victims, working people, whose wages have been stagnating and who are struggling to meet the rising cost of food, housing, fuel and other necessities.

4,000 FAA Employees Are Furloughed, As Congress Fails to Pass Aviation Bill

By Harry Kelber

Because Congress failed to pass a Federal Aviation Administration bill, nearly 4,000 FAA employees have been furloughed and as many as 90,000 construction workers across America are out of work. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said: “Important airport modernization programs have been shut down in every state in the country.”

Without authorization from Congress, the FAA cannot collect taxes on airline tickets that pay for much of its operations. The federal government is losing about $30 million a day from loss of the ticket tax.

Both the House and Senate have passed FAA funding bills, but have failed to resolve their differences in their joint conference, just the same as they are stalemated over the raising of the federal deficit ceiling.

The FAA said that air traffic controllers will stay on the job (to reassure worried air travelers), but that construction and other airport modernization work will halt indefinitely until the funding issue is resolved.

The FAA’s furloughed employees are members of four unions: the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NAFCA), the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists.(PASS).

Whatever Happens, Workers Will Suffer A $1Trillion (Plus) in New Spending Cuts

By Harry Kelber

Whether or not Democrats and Republicans reach a bipartisan agreement on raising the nation’s debt ceiling before the August 2 deadline, American workers and retirees can expect spending cuts of at least $1 trillion, that would reduce their living standards and retirement income, as well as affect working conditions on the job. And it would increase unemployment, rather than reducing it.

For dozens of years, Congress has routinely raised the federal debt ceiling, without much debate, compared with the furious, ongoing battle between Democrats and Republicans about the size of the increase, and who will pay for it. Both parties are trying to use the government debt problem for political advantage to win control of Congress in the 2012 elections.

As for who will pay for the trillions needed to boost the nation’s borrowing powers, guess who? It will be the middle class, the retirees and the working poor—the people who are most vulnerable. They must wonder what a trillion dollars in spending cuts will do to them.

Unions Sacrifice Wages and Benefits To Avoid Massive Layoffs of Members

By Harry Kelber

In states and cities around the country, unions are being pressured to make concessions in wages and benefits in order to prevent wholesale layoffs of their members. The concessions include a wage freeze, furloughs, an increase in health care and pension contributions, wage cuts, changes in work rules and revision of collective bargaining agreements.

Faced with the imminent layoff of 1,000 of their members on order of the Cuomo administration, the Public Employees Federation (PEF) signed a five-year agreement on July 16, with a wage freeze for the first three years, In addition, each PEF  member will be furloughed for nine days without pay, at an estimated savings to the state of $400 million.

Union members can also look forward to an increase in health insurance premiums under a newly-designed healthcare plan. In return for the concessions, Gov. Cuomo will cancel the layoff orders. PEF is one of the largest unions in New York State, with 56,000 members. It represents professional, scientific and technical employees.

In Connecticut, facing 6,500 layoffs and punishing program cuts, the leadership of the state’s unions on July 18 agreed to a 5-year contract that included a two-year wage freeze and additional contributions to health care and pension funds. The deal will produce $1.6 million in labor savings for the state over two years.

The U.S. Adds a New War in Libya Before Ending Iraq and Afghanistan

By Harry Kelber

Without seeking the approval of Congress, the U.S. State Department has formally recognized the Lybian rebels, now known as the Transitional National Council (TNC), as a ”legitimate governing authority” in Libya.

Announcing the decision, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the U.S. was satisfied that the TNC “continues to gain legitimacy as the representative of the Libyan people,” and conducts “high-level diplomacy with governments worldwide”.

The United States will make available to the TNC at least $34 billion of frozen assets of the Qaddafi government that are now held in banks, as soon as the rebels become properly organized into credible groups of politicians, capable of managing the affairs of the entire country.

A Clinton statement said: “The U.S. will help the TNC sustain its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Libya and we will look to it to remain steadfast to its commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms”.

Despite a NATO bombing campaign of more than 6,000 sorties against Qaddafi’s troops and military installations, the rebels keep complaining they haven’t enough weapons, trained troops and supplies. Much of the mountainous area is short of food, fuel and water, and phone service has been mostly cut off, they said.

Why Isn’t the AFL-CIO Involved In Talks About Spending Cuts?

By Harry Kelber

While President Obama and John Boehner, the Republican’s chief negotiator, are engaged in secret talks about the size and content of a budget deficit deal, there is no evidence that AFL-CIO leaders are showing any public interest in the massive spending cuts that will be part of an agreement to raise the federal debt limit so that the government will have the funds to meet its financial obligations.

The AFL-CIO has neither approved nor criticized Obama’s proposal for a $4 trillion deal that would cut future spending on Medicare by as much as hundreds of billions of dollars over a 12-year period. The Republicans want to transform Medicare into a voucher system that would mean a reduction in benefits for retirees.

Boehner, who is Speaker of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, says he is ready to go for a $2 trillion deal, but he insists that whatever funds are given to raise the federal debt limit, should be matched by an equal amount in spending cuts.

Obama wants an increase in taxes, especially for the wealthy, and the elimination of tax breaks for the oil companies, agribusiness and hedge funds, as well as the expiration of the Bush tax cuts to millionaires. He wants to invest the money in education, infrastructure and other urgent domestic needs. The Republicans are unalterably opposed to tax increases.

In Secret Talks with GOP, Obama Agrees To Cuts in Medicare and Social Security

By Harry Kelber

How many Americans know what “$4 trillion” will buy over a 10-year period? Not many. Yet that’s what President Obama is proposing to Republicans in his secret negotiations with John Boehner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in a dispute over how to raise the federal deficit ceiling so the government has the authority to borrow what it needs to pay its bills.

Boehner, on the advice of his Republican caucus , has decided to limit the talks to $2 trillion or possibly $3 trillion. He insists that if the federal deficit is raised by $2 trillion, there ought to be an equivalent in spending cuts. He has been consistently opposed to tax increases.

To entice Republican support, the President has increased the amount of spending cuts to include Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and popular social programs that help the poor, sick and elderly. But, in return for these concessions, Obama wants a trillion dollars for investment in education, infrastructure and other needed domestic programs.

The White House willingness to keep the three long-standing, major entitlements on the negotiating table has angered millions of working people and retirees, who depend on these programs for survival.

Obama and Boehner Seek a $4 Trillion Deal That Could Wipe Out Millions of Jobs

By Harry Kelber

President Barack Obama and John A Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House, have been meeting in private to decide on how to agree on the terms of a $4 trillion deal that will affect the lives of tens of millions of Americans for years to come.

The two men will decide on the mix of more spending cuts and new taxes they can agree on to raise the ceiling of the federal government’s authority to borrow.

The negotiators have had no recommendations on how to create the millions of jobs that are urgently needed. In fact, the problems of the unemployed have not even been mentioned.

Obama has acknowledged “we have not done enough” and “we must do better.” Boehner says unemployment is caused by government spending beyond its means.

In fact, if the two political leaders agree on more spending cuts, they will be increasing the number of unemployed workers who will be the ultimate victims of their spending cuts.

For 5 Years, AFL-CIO Hasn’t Mentioned Iraq and Afghanistan on Its Web Site

By Harry Kelber

For the past five years, from 2006 to the present, AFL-CIO’s official web site failed to publish a single story or provide information, about the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a month-by-month survey of its archives revealed.

In the 2010 election, the AFL-CIO refrained from any mention of the two wars in its campaign literature, press releases and public statements, despite the fact that it was an important issue for millions of voters, including union households.

In the annual Memorial Day, ceremonies, while the troops were honored, there wasn’t a word about the two wars in which they were risking their lives or dying.

No mention of U.S. involvement in Libya. Union members don’t know that the Pentagon has already spent $664 million since the end of May and that the costs to the taxpayers are still rising.

Why Can’t Our Unions Organize Any Wal-Mart or Target Stores?

        ( Let’s Hear from Our AFL-CIO Leaders)

By Harry Kelber

Wal-Mart has 2,913 stores in the United States (as of April 2011), but not even a single one of them has been unionized. Yet, in the 15 countries where Wal-Mart has a total of 4,203 stores, virtually all of them operate under a union contract.

The same is true of Target, the second largest retailer, with 1,755 stores, which have been immune from unionization. Target defeated Local 1500 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) by 137 to 85 in a Labor Board election in  the only store to challenge the company.

Will AFL-CIO leaders explain these incredible organizing failures and, more importantly, what they intend to do about them?

We see no evidence on the AFL-CIO web site and elsewhere that our leaders have an organizing plan and that there will be a serious attempt to regain the hundreds of thousands of members we have lost in recent years. Let’s remember the mantra: “Organize or Die!”

Of course, there are various reasons for an organizing slowdown in hard times, but the National Nurses United (NNU) has shown that dramatic gains can be made by involving its members in recruiting campaigns.

Can We Create Ten Million New Jobs Or Tolerate an Army of Unemployed?

By Harry Kelber

Let’s take an inventory of what we’ve done and where we stand in our top priority campaign for jobs for our unemployed.

We’ve tackled the jobs issue with a record number of conferences, workshops, strategy sessions, rallies marches, picket lines, sit-ins and vigils, We’ve distributed tons of leaflets and pamphlets, used radio and TV programs, created videos and messages on Internet web sites, all designed to educate union members and involve them in the fight for jobs.

And let’s not forget the endless speeches and statements by labor leaders about “Making Wall Street Pay”, for the jobs they destroyed; the many convention resolutions and the blizzard of e-mails we sent to our representatives in Congress and the White House urging them to initiate a massive works program that could provide millions of useful jobs, like what the New Deal did in the 1930’s.

We called together some of the nation’s brightest and most experienced economists to devise a job-creating plan that could employ millions, while improving the quality of life for all Americans.

Can We Create Ten Million New Jobs Or Tolerate an Army of Unemployed?

By Harry Kelber

Let’s take an inventory of what we’ve done and where we stand in our top priority campaign for jobs for our unemployed.

We’ve tackled the jobs issue with a record number of conferences, workshops, strategy sessions, rallies marches, picket lines, sit-ins and vigils, We’ve distributed tons of leaflets and pamphlets, used radio and TV programs, created videos and messages on Internet web sites, all designed to educate union members and involve them in the fight for jobs.

And let’s not forget the endless speeches and statements by labor leaders about “Making Wall Street Pay”, for the jobs they destroyed; the many convention resolutions and the blizzard of e-mails we sent to our representatives in Congress and the White House urging them to initiate a massive works program that could provide millions of useful jobs, like what the New Deal did in the 1930’s.

We called together some of the nation’s brightest and most experienced economists to devise a job-creating plan that could employ millions, while improving the quality of life for all Americans.

The AFL-CIO Will Never Regain Power By Its Blackout of Justified Criticism

By Harry Kelber

Apparently, no one in the top leadership of the AFL-CIO or the Executive Council thinks it is worthy of comment, or even mention, that 131 officers and staff receive more than $100,000 in salary and perks, and it has remained a deep secret about who decides how and why these lavish pay scales are permitted.

And the labor press, those editorial guardians of union democracy and free speech, have joined in the deafening silence by establishing their own blackout toward this newsworthy story. And what about the officers in the AFL-CIO’ s lower echelons of authority? Not a peep from them. Or the union members who call themselves “activist” and progressive”? Why don’t they have something to say?

How do the millions of unemployed members feel about the salaries and benefits that AFL-CIO leaders and staff have decided to pay themselves?

AFL-CIO Says U.S. Wars Aren’t An Issue for American Labor

By Harry Kelber

AFL-CIO leaders have decided that the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not an issue that the labor movement should be concerned with.

To implement that unofficial decision, they have banned any news and information about the two wars from appearing on the AFL-CIO web site, including all printed matter and public statements under their direct control.

That injunction also applies to the United States’ involvement in Libya, about which the AFL-CIO is maintaining its continuing silence.

In compliance with the AFL-CIO ban, most, if not all, labor publications, have avoided providing any war news, leaving union members to rely on the business-controlled media and television channels for daily reports.

The AFL-CIO apparently will extend the ban on war news to its 2012 election campaign, as it did two years ago, antagonizing a large section of union voters who have family members, friends and neighbors risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By blotting out the war as a labor issue, the AFL-CIO is giving the Obama administration a blank check to take whatever actions it wishes in our name, without our approval.

Why should we surrender our: right to be heard, after investing hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives in ten years of war?

131 on the AFL-CIO Payroll Earn $100,000 or More, Plus Benefits

By Harry Kelber

On the premise that AFL-CIO dues-payers have a right to know, we are publishing the salaries of officers and staff on the labor federation payroll, based on figures from the U.S. Department  of Labor.

Those figures reveal that 131 AFL-CIO officials and staff were paid $100,000 or more, not counting the generous benefits each received. In fact, 17 of these had a total compensation package of more than  $150,000 per year.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has a salary of $264,827, plus $18,513 in additional compensation, for a total of $283,340.

Trumka attracted criticism when it was disclosed that, as AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, his annual salary was increased by $74,000 from $165,000, amounting to a 44 percent wage boost, plus a 60 percent pension when he retires.

Arlene Holt-Baker, the AFL-CIO’s Executive Vice President, has a 30-year record as a grass-roots organizer for AFSCME in Los Angeles and as a political activist. She was selected for the job by key members of the Executive Council, who made sure that there were no candidates to challenge her in an open election.

According to the AFL-CIO Constitution, Arlene Holt’s principal job as executive vice president is to “act on behalf of the President, when requested to do so.” She receives $238,975 in salary and $15,163 in extra compensation.

Nurses’ Union, at Washington Rally, Proposes a ‘Main Street Contract

By Harry Kelber

The National Nurses United (NNU), which represents 170,000 RNs, will convene a conference on Monday, June 6 in Washington, D.C., and rally the next day outside the White House, Chamber of Commerce and Congress, calling for a re-charting of national priorities with a “Main Street Contract for the American People.”

The NNU, which is probably the fastest growing union in the country, will bring more than 800 RNs from 31 states to Washington this week to propose a new agenda to heal the nation. They will be joined by labor and community allies, with up to 1,000 expected at the rallies.

The NNU is organizing the movement for Registered Nurse power to transform the market-driven health care industry in the United States into a health care system that is driven by patient needs.

The nurses have put forward an agenda to stop economic decline and protect American families. The “Main Street Contract for the American People” calls for jobs at living wages, guaranteed health care for all, equal access to quality education, good housing, protection from hunger a secure retirement for everyone, a clean and safe environment, and a fair and just tax system, in which Wall Street and those with the most wealth pay their fair share.

AFL-CIO Abandons Its Campaign for Jobs; Wall Street Won’t Pay for Economic Crisis

By Harry Kelber

The rousing chant, “Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!,” will no longer be heard at AFL-CIO’s rallies, marches and mass picketing activities, because  the Labor Federation has quietly given up its long-time campaign for the creation of massive public works projects to provide employment for millions of jobless Americans.

In the last three months, there has been hardly any mention of the plight of the unemployed, either on the AFL-CIO web site or in public statements by labor leaders. Nor are there any plans to make jobs a top priority issue in the 2012 elections, and to judge all candidates on their views about creating jobs.

Congress and the Obama administration are on a deficit-cutting binge and neither has any interest in spending countless billions that would be required to finance the various job-creation projects proposed by organized labor and its allies.

Even if the economy improves and employers cautiously expand their workforce, the new hires will account for a fraction of the jobs that are needed to re-employ the 13.9 million  people who are officially listed as unemployed, and the additional five or six million part-timers, who are looking for full-time employment to eke out a livelihood.

Obama Enlists Employers to Discharge Undocumented Workers or Be Penalized

By Harry Kelber

Obama administration officials are increasing their crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Last year, the Immigration and Enforcement Department (ICE) started 2,740 workplace investigations, in addition to its audits, more than double the number in 2008, with fines totaling about $43 million and jail sentences, according to government figures.

The Supreme Court, on May 26, upheld an Arizona law that severely penalizes businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. In a ruling that is likely to embolden Congress, and other states, the court, in a 5-3 decision, declared that Arizona's law fits comfortably within the state's powers.

Department of Homeland Security officials said that immigration officials were no longer authorized to carry out workplace raids (as they were under the Bush administration) unless they cooperated with federal prosecutors to prepare criminal cases against the employers. Last year, 119 employers were convicted.

While conducting fewer headline-making factory raids, immigration authorities have greatly expanded the number of businesses facing scrutiny and subject to severe sanctions. President Obama was reacting to criticism from Republicans, who had accused him of relaxing immigration enforcement in the workplace.

Labor Should Have a Seat at the Table When Spending Cuts Are Being Debated

By Harry Kelber

Negotiations between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, representing the Republican position, must be concluded in an agreement by Aug. 2 or the United States will default on its debt obligations and risk the shutting down of the government.

Republicans want deficit savings to match the $2 trillion that will be needed to raise the borrowing limit of the U.S. Treasury through 2012. If they don’t get their way, they may refuse to raise the debt ceiling, causing catastrophic fallout for the U.S. and the world economy.

Democrats, led by President Obama, say they too want to control spending, although they have criticized the spending cuts proposed by the Republicans as too drastic.

Speaking for the Obama administration, Vice President Joe Biden said the talks would seek longer-range savings of up to $4 trillion over ten years by devising procedural mechanisms  or ”triggers” to force automatic deficit reductions.

Democrats and Republicans still have not agreed on the size and content of the spending cuts. The Democrats want to increase federal revenues by raising taxes on the rich and corporations; but the Republicans are adamantly opposed to the idea.

Labor Should Have a Seat at the Table When Spending Cuts Are Being Debated

By Harry Kelber

Negotiations between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, representing the Republican position, must be concluded in an agreement by Aug. 2 or the United States will default on its debt obligations and risk the shutting down of the government.

Republicans want deficit savings to match the $2 trillion that will be needed to raise the borrowing limit of the U.S. Treasury through 2012. If they don’t get their way, they may refuse to raise the debt ceiling, causing catastrophic fallout for the U.S. and the world economy.

Democrats, led by President Obama, say they too want to control spending, although they have criticized the spending cuts proposed by the Republicans as too drastic.

Speaking for the Obama administration, Vice President Joe Biden said the talks would seek longer-range savings of up to $4 trillion over ten years by devising procedural mechanisms  or ”triggers” to force automatic deficit reductions.

Democrats and Republicans still have not agreed on the size and content of the spending cuts. The Democrats want to increase federal revenues by raising taxes on the rich and corporations; but the Republicans are adamantly opposed to the idea.

AFL-CIO Chief Issues Warning to Democrats: Labor Will Be Independent in 2012 Elections

By Harry Kelber

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka , in an impassioned speech before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on May 20, charted a new course for working people and their unions by declaring “we must do more than just protect our own right to a voice in this life of our nation. We must raise our voice to win a better future for all working families, here in America and around the globe.”

In a sharp attack on Republican budget deficit proposals, Trumka noted that they would cut $4.3 trillion in spending but give $4.2 trillion in tax cuts, mostly to the rich and corporations. “Think about the message these budgets send: ’Sacrifice is for the weak. The powerful and well-connected get tax cuts.’”

Denouncing the anti-union attacks by both Republican and Democratic governors, Trumka said they should be understood as “part of a single challenge. It is not just a political challenge. it’s a moral challenge.”

To spotlight what may become AFL-CIO’s new policy and activity, Trumka said:

The Big Debate Is Not About Creating Jobs, But How to Slice or Slash Public Spending

By Harry Kelber

Although the unemployment rate edged up to 9 percent in April 2011 and 13.9 million Americans are  still officially listed as unemployed, the issue of job-creation has virtually ceased to occupy the attention of Congress, the Obama administration and  the national media.

As for the labor movement, unions have dropped their campaign for jobs, focusing  their efforts on fighting the anti-labor laws  that  Republican governors and their controlled state legislatures have enacted.

President Richard Trumka continues to make speeches that call on Congress and the White House  to create millions of jobs,  but the truth is that his demands are not taken seriously in Washington. Indeed, there is not a glimmer of interest on the Beltway to spend the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to  create  a massive jobs program.

The Republicans in Congress are obsessed about slashing federal spending to the bone, particularly taking away hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare and Medicaid. They have induced the Obama administration and the Democratic Party to make heavy spending cuts as one of their top priorities.

It is worth noting that coverage of unemployment by the mainstream media has dropped by 70 percent since the past summer, while  news stories on deficit spending have doubled, according to a National Journal report.

Why Did They Decide to Kill Bin Laden When They Could Capture Him Alive?

By Harry Kelber

I find it hard to connect a Bin Laden, sitting on the floor, wrapped in a blanket, watching television images of himself, with Bin Laden, the master-mind, who planned the 9/11 plane attacks in New York City and Washington.

It strains credulity to believe that the Bin Laden, who, for five years lived in a large compound with three wives and numerous children, who was involved in domestic matters, had health problems and was older than fifty years, is the same Bin Laden, who was the unchallenged leader of Al-Qaeda, a worldwide movement with militant disciples in Asia, Africa and Europe.

So many questions have arisen about his death, which was clearly a planned assassination. The original story released by the White House was that he was shot during a firefight between his guards and the invading troops.  Then the White House said Bin Laden had firearms and was resisting arrest, It turns out that he was unarmed and  had been captured before  he was summarily executed.

What did Bin Laden say when he saw his armed attackers? How did he look? Did he make any move to escape?  So far, these and numerous other questions remain unanswered. The lips of the Navy Seals who took part in the attack are still sealed.

There are still some basic  questions that the Obama administration has failed to provide convincing answers, Did the President have the legal  authority to order the killing of an unarmed suspect, who was not resisting arrest? Why did the President insist that Bin Laden be killed, not captured alive?

New Single-Payer Health-Care Bill Offers Coverage for  All Americans

By Harry Kelber

Let’s be frank with each other. Are there any union officers or members  who believe that the AFL-CIO can ever become a bigger, stronger and democratic organization? If there are any,  let them speak up.  Are there any who will publicly say that the AFL-CIO’s  top leaders have done a good job for America’s working families? I haven’t heard of any. Have you?

A bill to provide health-care coverage for all Americans  through a federal single-payer system has been introduced in Congress by Senator Bernie Sanders (Ind.-Vt) and Rep. Jim  McDermott. (Dem-Wash).

Of the industrialized nations, only the United States, does not have a national system of health-care for their citizens.

Under the new bill, known as the Health Security Act,  the federal government sets the basic framework for the system, including national standards on benefits, quality and access to care. States are given flexibility to implement health-care reform within the federal framework, including designing and monitoring the system.

The Act, however, clearly lays out each player’s responsibilities under the health-care plan. States must identify one or more alliances to serve as purchasing agents for health-care insurance. The board of each regional alliance consists of employers and consumers, but providers are specifically prohibited from sitting on a regional alliance.

The benefits package consists of the following items and services: hospital services, services of health professionals, emergency ambulatory medical and surgical services,  clinical preventive services,  mental health and substance abuse services,  and services for pregnant women, hospice care, home health care, extended care services, outpatient laboratory, radiology and diagnostic services, outpatient prescription drugs and biologicals, outpatient rehabilitation services, durable medical equipment and prosthetic and orthotic devices, vision care, dental care, health education classes, and investigational treatments.

Reasons Why  the AFL-CIO Is Broken;
Let Us Start a Debate on How to Fix It

[1]

Let’s be frank with each other. Are there any union officers or members  who believe that the AFL-CIO can ever become a bigger, stronger and democratic organization? If there are any,  let them speak up.  Are there any who will publicly say that the AFL-CIO’s  top leaders have done a good job for America’s working families? I haven’t heard of any. Have you?

In the first four articles of this series, I offered many reasons to prove that the AFL-CIO was “broken.” Until now, I have not been challenged by any of the Federation’s officers, even though my criticism of them was, I believe, sharp and well-deserved. 

Their policy of silence and secrecy, which I have documented, cannot possibly serve the interests of union members. It merely confirms  their desire to keep the Federation as their private corporate property, with the power to spend our dues money as they see fit.

Why not have a national poll of the membership on the performance of AFL-CIO leaders? Let’s find out how popular they are with our women members, Hispanics, Black-Americans and other constituencies in the Federation.

The AFL-CIO  has used the Philip D. Hart polling services before. A well-constructed poll would give us a chance to express our true feelings without fear of reprisal.

U.S. Is Planning International Trade Agreements That Would Cost Americans Thousands of Jobs

By Harry Kelber

A total of 682,000 U.S. jobs were lost or displaced since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect in 1994, a new study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows.  The main reason for the job loss is a $97.2 billion  trade deficit with Mexico.

In 1993, the same year before NAFTA was implemented, the United States had a $1.6 billion trade surplus with Mexico that supported nearly 39,000 U.S. jobs. All 50 states, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico,  have seen jobs lost or displaced to Mexico in the past 17 years, says Robert Scott EPI’s senior international economist and author of “Heading South: U.S.-Mexico Trade and Job Displacements after NAFTA.”.

While supporters of the proposed deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama claim that they will create American jobs, Scott’s research shows that each trade agreement would cost jobs in the first eight years. The current deal with South Korea could cost 150,000 jobs, and  Colombia would  swallow up 60,000 U.S. jobs, Scott predicts.
The study found the five states that experienced the largest percentage of local jobs displaced by trade with Mexico since NAFTA began are Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. Most of the lost or displaced jobs by trade with Mexico—415,000 jobs—have been in manufacturing.

Reasons Why  the AFL-CIO Is Broken;
Let Us Start a Debate on How to Fix It

[1]

If the AFL-CIO eventually fades into oblivion because its top leaders won’t take the basic steps to reform it,  the good news is  that a  new, labor movement, led by union members in dozens of states, is in the initial stages  of being born.
Of course, the AFL-CIO can be reinvigorated, but its current leaders will have to agree to the following basic principles of unionism:

• Free and honest elections, in which candidates are assured of an equal chance to compete for high office.
• Compliance with the rule of transparency, by which union members are kept informed of the policies and activities of the Federation and are given an opportunity to comment, even criticize, them.
• Use a major portion of union dues money to organize the millions of non-union workers who say they want a union.

Structural changes are needed to increase the AFL-CIO’s ability to grow. They include:

• Revise the functions and  responsibilities of the three national executive officers.
• Reduce the AFL-CIO Executive Council from 43 to 18 vice presidents , giving each of them  special administrative functions.
• Provide  financial support and additional resources to affiliated State AFL-CIOs and Central Labor Councils, that are furnishing the front-line troops to fight the Republican  legislative attacks on unions.

AFL-CIO’s top leaders have steadfastly remained silent  about reforms. They  insist on the status quo, because it  ensures them a monopoly of power within the Federation.

Labor Board Cites Boeing Move as Illegal; Corporations Attack Board as Pro-Union

By Harry Kelber         

A heated controversy has erupted over the alleged NLRB’s pro-union bias  against Boeing when it filed a complaint against the giant aircraft manufacturer to force  it to move its production facilities from a non-union factory in South Carolina to its unionized plant in Washington State. The complaint was filed by Lafe Solomon, NLRB’s acting general counsel,  who has been associated with the board for 39 years.
Solomon scoffed at Republican charges that his decision  was designed to help boost President Obama’s labor vote in the 2012 election. He said : “My goal is to enforce the National Labor Relations Act.”  Solomon states that the Boeing move to South Carolina was a punitive act against its employees, whose right to strike is protected by the labor law.

Boeing openly admits that it made the move to South Carolina, because it wanted to avoid strikes by the International  Association of Machinists  and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the union of its employees. The last strike over a three-year contract lasted  57 days.

Boeing insists it has the right to locate its plants  wherever it wants to. It says it has hired 1,000 workers in South Carolina  to produce the new 787 jet Dreamliner  at the non-union plant. It intends to fight the Labor Board ruling, and expects to get widespread support from other companies.

Obama’s Plan to Allow Panel to Curb Medicare

Meets Bi-Partisan Opposition

By Harry Kelber         

President Obama’s new deficit reduction plan, that would give an  independent         board  full authority to cut spending  on Medicare,  has met with strong opposition from both Republicans and  Democrats in Congress. Obama wants to expand the power of the 15-member Independent Payment Advisory Board. that would  have the powermake sweeping  changes in Medicare spending  to reduce its costs,  including the  reduction of iis benefits.

The plan has been met with opposition from almost all  Republicans
and many Democrats, who fear that the board  would assume powers
over spending cuts that are the responsibilities of Congress. Moreover,
lawmakers are unwilling to entrust an independent agency  with
authority to make changes in Medicare, one of the nation’s most
important social programs, that serves millions of retired people.

,Supporters of the President’s plan say that an independent board
would be  able to make tough decisions to cut Medicare or reduce
benefits, unlike politicians who, for political reasons, dare not.

Representative Paul Ryan, (Rep.-Wis), who is chairman of the
House Budget Committee, said: Congress should not”  delegate
Medicare decision-making to 15 people appointed by the
President.” He added that under the President’s proposal, the
board could “impose  more price controls and more limitation
on providers, which will end up  cutting services to seniors.”

Reasons Why  the AFL-CIO Is Broken;
Let Us Start a Debate on How to Fix It

            The Second of a Series of Five Articles

By Harry Kelber, Editor, The Labor Educator

Let’s start with a shocker. Ever since the founding of the  American
Federation of Labor in 1886 to the present day, no officer or member
of a  State AFL-CIO or Central Labor Council has ever been elected
to the policy-making  AFL-CIO Executive Council.  The  Constitution
 effectively denies. union members a voice in the choice of their leaders
and a role in decision-making.  How can you build a labor movement 
when most of its members are disenfranchised?

The AFL-CIO functions like a constitutional  monarchy, not a democracy:
 Its highest  official can retain the presidency for decades without being
 challenged in an election. Here is the record.

Samuel Gompers, the first AFL president (1886-1924) held the
 job for 38 years until his death.  He was succeeded  by William Green
 (1924-1952), who  served for 28 years and died in office. George Meany
(1952-1979) was president for 27 years until a terminal illness forced him
 to retire, and Lane Kirkland, his heir apparent (1979-1995), served  for
 16 years until he was forced  out of office.  John Sweeney (1995-2009)
was president  for 14 years , to be succeeded by Richard Trumka (2009--).
Those presidents  really enjoyed job security, didn’t they?

 And can you imagine what the AFL-CIO would be like with Trumka as
 president for the next 20  or 30 years?

Reasons Why the AFL-CIO Is Broken; Let Us Start a Debate on How to Fix It

By Harry Kelber

A basic principle  of unionism (and democracy)  is the right of members to choose their  officers in a free and fair election. In the AFL-CIO, members do not have that right. They are given a prepared list of candidates to vote for, in a sham election where there are no opposing candidates.

Nor do members have  the right to run for high office on a par with a list of  favored candidates.  If they dared to be a candidate,  they would  be guaranteed a  humiliating  defeat, because the election  results had been fixed beforehand.

Union members lost a voice in AFL-CIO policies and activities when a group of presidents from big international  unions seized control  of the AFL-CIO, because they had a majority of votes and delegates  at the  Federation’s conventions.  This group now runs the AFL-CIO with full authority to make whatever decisions  they want to, without fear of opposition.
The new oligarchy relies  on the AFL-CIO Constitution, which gives international  unions  as many convention votes  as they have members, while it accords each State AFL-CIO and Central Labor Council one delegate and only one vote for each. Here is an example of how this worked out at the 2009 convention in Pittsburgh:

Many Companies Pay No Federal Taxes; The Lost Revenue Means Cuts in Services

By Harry Kelber

Millions of middle-class Americans have less than two weeks to file their 2010 tax return, and many of them are finding it difficult to make the payments, because it was a tough year, especially for those who lost their homes or their jobs or both.

But April 15 will be just another day for the nation’s major corporations that won’t pay a penny in federal taxes, even though they  may have had a highly profitable year.

Take General Electric: Corp.  It earned $14,200,000,000 ($14.2 billion) in profits in 2010 , but for  the second year in a row, it paid no federal taxes.   GE actually got  a $3,2 billion in tax benefits by having its lawyers exploit loopholes in the tax code.

Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion. For your information, 28 percent of large corporations —better than  a quarter—dodge federal taxes entirely.

Consider that  the Federal Tax Code consists of  44,000 pages, containing 5.5 million words, it is a veritable gold mine for a smart corporate lawyer to find a phrase or a sentence which he can exploit to rob the U.S. Treasury with the government’s assistance. The failure of corporations to pay their fair  share of taxes  causes shortfalls in federal and state revenues,  resulting in cuts in public services for working people.

Will AFL-CIO’s Massive April 4 ‘Day of Actions’ Stop the Republican Effort to Strangle Unions?

By Harry Kelber

With its members unified and energized  for the first time in years, the AFL-CIO and its affiliates will conduct a nation-wide “Day of Actions” on April 4, 2011,  aimed at defending the rights of workers and their unions, that are now under fierce attack from Republicans and right-wing zealots.

Under the banner, “We Are One, “AFL-CIO leaders are expecting as many as 400 events around  the country on April 4 to dramatize  their determination to preserve collective bargaining and other basic labor rights. 
With solidarity and unity as their themes, local,  state and national unions will conduct marches, teach-ins, sit-ins, video  displays,  candlelight vigils. street theater skits and other activities  on April 4 to support  their fellow unionists in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and many other states where Republican governors are approving legislation to strip unions of their rights.

April 4 has symbolic significance for the labor movement, because it was on that day, In 1968, that Dr. Martin Luther King  was assassinated as he was standing  on  a balcony of a Memphis hotel, talking with sanitation workers  about their demand
For a living wage

While the AFL-CIO was making last-minute preparations for its historic April 4 demonstrations,  the Ohio legislature approved a bill that would deprive 350,000 workers of the right to engage in collective bargaining with their employers and also restrict their ability to participate in electoral politics. The bill passed the Ohio House by 53 to 44, but by only one vote (17-to-16) in the Senate

Pep Rallies Are Good to Lift Our Spirits, But We Still Haven’t a Winning Strategy

By Harry Kelber

For years, leaders  of the AFL-CIO  have been unable to  inspire their members to become involved in reversing the Federation’s continuing decline in numbers and bargaining strength.  In fact, the effort  to revive the AFL-CIO was, at best, half-hearted, because. national labor leaders  enjoyed their unchallenged, privileged  position and saw no need to risk it by mobilizing their rank and file and creating potential rivals,  Having little opportunity to participate in elections or policy decisions,  a majority  of the  members became passive and disinterested in union affairs  except at contract time...

So it is ironic  how unionists  became energized and in a fighting mood by the actions of a first-time Republican governor of Wisconsin, who proposed legislation to deprive public employee unions of  such traditional rights as collective bargaining.  The massive protest movement  against the Walker attacks swelled  not only through  Wisconsin, but reached into Indiana, Ohio and other states, joined by students, fair-minded  citizens and unionists in the private sector, as well as firefighters and police, who were not directly  affected by the Walker measures.

The Wisconsin upsurge is clearly one of the finest examples of a bottoms-up, independent  labor revolt  in  our nation’s history, and it erupted so quickly that it caught AFL-CIO’s top leaders by surprise. Who would have thought that a hundred thousand people would turn up at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin to vent  their anger at the blatant Walker aim to cripple unions?  (For more details of the Wisconsin  story, read Jane Slaughter in  the April issue of Labor Notes).

The labor rallies are continuing to draw large crowds.  On Saturday, March 28, about 20,000 working people marched through downtown Los Angeles, vowing to fight any attempt to impose a Wisconsin-like attack in California.  With its new slogan, “We Are One,” the AFL-CIO and its affiliates are working on a gigantic CWA-sponsored rally on  April 4 (build as a “Day of Action”),  in which each of the state and local bodies will hold events that will emphasize labor’s new fighting mood. As one labor activist put it, “It is our job now, as local labor movements, to take that energy and passion and turn it into action!”

Moore Tells Us How We’ve Been Screwed,But AFL-CIO  Won’t Print  a  Word About  It

By Harry Kelber

You can search the AFL-CIO web site and news outlets, as well as statements by its leaders, but you won’t find a single comment, or even a word, about the speech that Michael Moore, the popular documentary filmmaker, said at the enthusiastic fight-back rally in Wisconsin  to save labor’s collective bargaining rights.

What Moore was saying was vitally important information that should have been broadcast to the attention of all Americans, especially unions and their members who are in a fight for survival. Moore emphasized five points in his speech:

(1)  “Today 400 Americans have the same wealth as half of all Americans combined. Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion-dollar taxpayer “bailout” of 2008, now have  as much loot, stock and property as the assets of 155 million Americans combined.  If you can’t bring yourself to call that a financial coup d’etat, then you are not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.”

(2) “The nation is not broke, my friends. Wisconsin is not broke. Saying that the country is broke is repeating a Big Lie… The truth is there’s lots of money to go around. LOTS. It’s just that those in charge  have diverted that wealth into  a deep well that sits in their well-guarded estates. So  they have bought and paid for hundreds of politicians across the country to do their  bidding. for them.”

(3) “They control the message. By owning most of the media, they have expertly convinced many Americans of few means to buy their version of the American Dream and to vote  for  their politicians. Their version of  the Dream is that you too might be rich some day—this is America where anything can happen if you apply yourself. They have conveniently provided you with  believable examples.”

(4) ”Your message has inspired people in all 50  states and that message is: WE HAVE HAD IT!  We  reject anyone who tells us  America is broke and broken. It’s just the opposite!  We are rich with talent and ideas and hard work and yes, love.  Love and compassion  toward those, who have, through no fault of their own,  ended up as the least among us.  But they still crave what we all crave. Our country back! Our democracy back!  Our good name back! NOT the Corporate States of America. The United States of America!

(5) “So how do we make this happen? Well, we do it with a little bit of Egypt here, a little bit of Madison there. And let us pause for a moment and remember that it was a poor man with a fruit stand in Tunisia who gave his life so that the world might focus its attention on a government by billionaires for billionaires as an affront to freedom and morality and humanity.”

While Labor Leaders Remained Silent on Libya, The Nation Hotly Debated U.S. Military Mission

By Harry Kelber

While the United States took exclusive responsibility to use its air power to establish a “no-fly zone’ that prevented Colonel Qaddafi’s troops from attacking rebel forces from the air and ground, many questions have been raised by bipartisan lawmakers and the public about the reasons for the mission, how it was initiated and, most important, would it involve the U.S. in a war in Libya.

As with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, leaders of the AFL-CIO and Change-to- Win refused to have any comments on their web sites or in their public statements on Libya, claiming that the wars were issues left to individuals and not the concern of the labor movement. Unions were busy with their own war: to fight off anti-worker legislative attacks in a dozen states where Republicans held a dominant position.

President Obama, returning from a trip to Latin America, said the purpose of the “no-fly zone” initiative was to save the lives of Libyan civilians who were being slaughtered by Qaddafi’s troops. Obama said America’s pre-eminent position in the Libyan campaign would end in “days, not weeks,” but that did not mean that the U.S. would have a minor role, when a “coalition” of allies takes over.

There was considerable anger in Congress from both Democrats and Republicans because of the failure of the White House to give them advance notice and obtain congressional approval for the air warfare in Libya. While public opinion favored Col. Qaddafi’s removal from Libya, it was concerned about the political and financial costs. of the campaign. It was noted that Libya is the biggest oil producer in Africa.

While President Obama could claim to be acting in accordance with the resolution of the U.N. Security Council, five important nations had abstained from voting for it: China, Russia, India, Brazil and Turkey.

Obama praised the “coalition of the international community,” including NATO and Arab states, but many seasoned diplomats said the U.S. would still bear the brunt of the Libyan campaign in providing hardware, leadership, resources and funding, that could come to billions of dollars if the war in Libya reached a stalemate. They pointed to the fact that in the initial allied air attack, the United States had fired 124 Tomahawk missiles, while the British had fired just two.

Moore Tells Us How We’ve Been Screwed,But AFL-CIO  Won’t Print  a  Word About  It

By Harry Kelber

You can search the AFL-CIO web site and news outlets, as well as statements by its leaders, but you won’t find a single comment, or even a word, about the speech that Michael Moore, the popular documentary filmmaker, said at the enthusiastic fight-back rally in Wisconsin  to save labor’s collective bargaining rights.

What Moore was saying was vitally important information that should have been broadcast to the attention of all Americans, especially unions and their members who are in a fight for survival. Moore emphasized five points in his speech:

(1)  “Today 400 Americans have the same wealth as half of all Americans combined. Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion-dollar taxpayer “bailout” of 2008, now have  as much loot, stock and property as the assets of 155 million Americans combined.  If you can’t bring yourself to call that a financial coup d’etat, then you are not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.”

(2) “The nation is not broke, my friends. Wisconsin is not broke. Saying that the country is broke is repeating a Big Lie… The truth is there’s lots of money to go around. LOTS. It’s just that those in charge  have diverted that wealth into  a deep well that sits in their well-guarded estates. So  they have bought and paid for hundreds of politicians across the country to do their  bidding. for them.”

(3) “They control the message. By owning most of the media, they have expertly convinced many Americans of few means to buy their version of the American Dream and to vote  for  their politicians. Their version of  the Dream is that you too might be rich some day—this is America where anything can happen if you apply yourself. They have conveniently provided you with  believable examples.”

(4) ”Your message has inspired people in all 50  states and that message is: WE HAVE HAD IT!  We  reject anyone who tells us  America is broke and broken. It’s just the opposite!  We are rich with talent and ideas and hard work and yes, love.  Love and compassion  toward those, who have, through no fault of their own,  ended up as the least among us.  But they still crave what we all crave. Our country back! Our democracy back!  Our good name back! NOT the Corporate States of America. The United States of America!

(5) “So how do we make this happen? Well, we do it with a little bit of Egypt here, a little bit of Madison there. And let us pause for a moment and remember that it was a poor man with a fruit stand in Tunisia who gave his life so that the world might focus its attention on a government by billionaires for billionaires as an affront to freedom and morality and humanity.”

U.S. Radicals Offer Lots of Advice,
But Few Are Ready to Take Risks

By Harry Kelber

For more than 30 years, well-meaning, savvy trade unionists have
offered proposals to revive an ailing and declining AFL-CIO—to
no avail. All the plans that were presented at well-attended
conferences, all the articles that were written and widely
distributed, all the resolutions that were debated and  approved,
failed to change the Federation as the citadel of labor conservatism
and guardian of the status quo.

So on March 4-5 a gathering of 96 self-selected union leaders and
activists from 23 states met in Cleveland “to explore together what
we can do  to mount a more militant and robust fight-back campaign
to defend the interests of working people.”

This was hardly different from what many of the participants had
been saying or hearing for years and were now taking advantage of
the opportunity to repeat themselves in the customary left-wing
jargon.

Cultural and Sports Programs Can BreedUnion Members’ Loyalty and Solidarity

By Harry Kelber

Imagine a symphony orchestra composed of union members
offering a concert of classical composers to a public that has
considered ordinary working people as  uncultured and poorly
educated. Couldn’t we develop such an orchestra from the many
tens of thousands  of unionists who can play a musical instrument?

We could have a labor chorus, jazz bands, string quartets,  piano
recitals and other musical events that would give  union members
a chance to display their talents and participate in competitions
between locals.

We could do the same thing with painting and the visual arts, with
prizes for outstanding performances  There are tens of thousands of
amateur painters in unions, and most would be delighted at the
opportunity  to show their work.

What the AFL-CIO needs is a Department of Culture and Sports
to organize the events.  The interaction between participants
will be helpful in solving one of the Federation’s long-standing
problems: that members are not interested in union activities
because they are often so boring. The intramural contests in
musical and athletic performances will build both loyalty and
solidarity.

Defensive Solidarity in Wisconsin Is Splendid; Unions Need a Battle Plan to Win Bargaining

By Harry Kelber

There is reason for jubilation at the  enormous response of union members and fair-minded citizens to the attempt by newly-elected Republican governor  Scott Walker of Wisconsin  to strip public employ unions of collective bargaining rights.  In addition to the more than 100,000 who demonstrated at the state’s capital in  Madison,  there were protest rallies in cities and states across the country.

But these protests are defensive in character and have not deterred Walker and the other Republican governors from continuing their efforts to strangle the unions by  denying them bargaining rights and other protections they have held for decades. The added problem facing unions is that the Republicans have increased their control of state legislatures from 14 to 25  as a result of the 2010 midterm elections.  Many  of these legislatures are already considering anti-union measures.

Wisconsin’s public employee unions may have  made a tactical error when they agreed to Walker’s budget cuts entirely and voluntarily without exercising their bargaining rights to propose budget changes. It added to Walker’s contention that bargaining rights for unions were not necessary for the state government to function effectively.

Surge for Human Rights Is Worldwide; AFL-CIO Members Are Slow to Protest

By Harry Kelber

It is truly remarkable how the struggle for human rights and decent jobs that pay a living wage has caught fire in countries around the world since the Egyptian rebellion only three weeks ago.

But the reform movement has not touched the AFL-CIO, whose top leaders fervently believe in the status quo. And why not? They can guarantee their own re-election. They control our dues money. They can spend it as they please. It’s quite a sweet deal. And the beauty part of it is that union members are not protesting. Well, maybe they are, in whispers.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council, that adopts policies that affect our economic and political well-being, consists of 43 members, mostly middle-aged to elderly white males, who get re-elected, even though we may have never seen them, know nothing about their record or views or what they say and do behind closed doors in our name.
These sham elections are outrageously undemocratic, depriving us of honest, fair voting and the right to run for high office, In the past 125 years, no officer or member of a State Federation or Central Labor Council has dared to run for a position on the Executive Council and face certain humiliating defeat.

No one believes that a frozen leadership is good for the AFL-CIO's future. So why isn’t there talk about developing young leaders with fresh ideas? Because that could be a threat to the existing leaders. And besides, no one among the labor activists dares to broach the subject without coming under a cloud of suspicion.

Republicans Conduct Statewide Wars To Shackle Unions and Worker Rights

By Harry Kelber

For the first time in a century, exulting Republicans, fresh from their
victories in the 2010 midterm elections, see their chance of fragmenting
organized labor and shredding its power and influence for decades to
come.  In their efforts to cripple the public employee unions, they are
even getting unexpected help from several Democratic governors,
including Andrew Cuomo of New York and Jerry Brown of California.

Unable to  get a series of anti-labor measures through Congress,
because of opposition of the still-Democratic control of the
Senate and a potential veto by President Obama, G.O.P.
strategists are focusing their attention  on state capitols where
many of their newly-elected governors and state legislative
majorities are primed to carry out the Republican Party attacks
on public employee unions.

A showdown battle is being fought in Wisconsin, where the
new Republican governor, Scott Walker, is determined to deny
unions the right to collective bargaining and is prepared to call
in the National Guard to enforce his diktat.

How Obama and the G.O.P. Squabble Ways to Spend Our Hard -Earned Money

By Harry Kelber

In the high-stakes poker game with the Republicans, President Obama has opened the betting on the federal budget and deficit reduction with a  $3.7 trillion   bundle of chips.

Using the tax money we’ve paid the government,  Obama has decided to cut or eliminate 200 federal programs, many devoted to social services and education  that serve the nation’s middle class and the working poor. At the same time, he has chosen  to boost military spending, as well as funding for the construction of nuclear power plants.

The President repeated his  proposal to freeze discretionary domestic  spending  for five years. And of course, the salaries and perks we pay him and his staff will remain intact.

Obama boasts that his spending freeze would be “the most aggressive effort to restrain  discretionary spending to  take effect in 30 years” There is nothing in his  216-page budget deficit plan  that has some comforting news for the millions of unemployed.

Millions of Jobless Still Haunt Us; Talk About Jobs Doesn’t Help Them

By Harry Kelber

Let’s be honest with ourselves. For the past two years since the
heavy layoffs began, we’ve been telling ourselves that the most
important issue for the country is to find jobs for the millions of
people who have been forced into the ranks of the unemployed.

Do we really believe it? Can we think of any action by labor
that would compel the government or industry (or both) to
rehire at least several million out-of-work Americans? If not,
why all the talk about jobs?

Last week, a very impressive gathering of experts held a three day
conference entitled “2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs,”  on Feb. 8-10
at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington.  There were
lists of  plenary and keynote speakers  who probably made some
brilliant comments on what to do about unemployment. But not
a single job was created.

Talking about “jobs, jobs and jobs” has become a cottage industry
with union leaders and labor activists sounding off on the need to
make jobs for the unemployed a top priority. How many conferences,
workshops, forums and marches have been held by unions without
producing favorable results on the jobs issue?

Will AFL-CIO’s Partnership with U.S. Chamber And Obama’s Woo of Chief CEOs Yield Jobs?

By Harry Kelber

So the AFL-CIO  has  developed a partnership with the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, one of its worst enemies, that
has opposed labor legislation for longer than most of us
can remember.

What we gain from this strange partnership is the lobbying
power of the three-million member Chamber in the fight
for a job-creating, costly infrastructure, while it continues
to lobby for cuts in government spending. Are we blind to
the contradiction?

The agreement won’t stop the Chamber from supporting 
attacks on unions. It won’t change the Chamber’s policy
of encouraging the outsourcing of hundreds of thousands
of good-paying American jobs. It wants to get rid of
many of the federal regulations that protect consumers,
so that their companies can become more competitive.
That’s some “partner!”

And on Feb. 7, we find President Obama addressing a meeting
of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, pledging the assembled
tycoons  he would build a friendlier, more cooperative ,
pro-business relationship,  forgetting that the Chamber had
aggressively opposed his health care and  banking agenda and
spent more than $50 million  during the 2010 midterm election
to help the Republicans gain control of the House.

Mubarak Supporters Attack Protesters; U.S. Insists Egypt’s Despot Leave Now

By Harry Kelber

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak decided to reject the demands
of millions of his country’s citizens and the urging of U.S. President
Barack Obama that he step down now. Under his orders, legions of
his supporters staged violent, concerted attacks against his opponents
who were demonstrating peacefully in Tahrir Square.

Mubarak’s loyalists used clubs, chains,  knives and firebombs to attack
the protesters, while the army stood by, taking no position for either side.
By 9 p.m. on Wednesday, government officials said that about 600
people had been wounded and three killed in the day’s battle; more
than 150 people had died in the week of violence, according to
human rights groups.

As the crisis moves toward a final showdown, a great deal will depend
on the attitude of the army. Protesters have been heartened by the
refusal of soldiers not to shoot at them. But Mubarak has close ties
with Egyptian generals, whom he may persuade to use force  to clear
Tahrir Square of  demonstrators.  The Egyptian generals have  for years
had  close working relations with the American military.

Trumka and Chief Anti-Union Activist In Joint Statement on Infrastructure

By Harry Kelber

Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
who has consistently opposed pro-worker legislation, issued a
joint statement on Jan. 26 with AFL-CIO President Richard
Trumka in  praise of President Obama’s  proposal in his State
of the Union address that called for federal  investment in the
nation’s infrastructure. Here is the text of the joint statement,
released in full by the AFL-CIO:

“U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas R. Donahue
and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following joint
statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address:

“America’s working families and business community stand united
in applauding President Obama’s call to create jobs and grow our
economy through investment in our nation's infrastructure.

“Whether it is building roads, bridges, high-speed broadband,
energy systems and schools, these projects not only create
jobs and demands for businesses, they are an investment in
building the modern infrastructure our country needs to compete
in a global economy.

AFL-CIO’s Faulty Strategy Doomed Vote on Employee Free Choice Act

By Harry Kelber

In its expensive, high priority campaign to get Congress to approve the Employee Free Choice Act,  the AFL-CIO made important strategic blunders that virtually assured that  EFCA would end up as  still-born legislation.
Its initial mistake  was  to inform members of Congress that unless it received government assistance by passing EFCA, it could not organize millions of workers who wanted to join unions, but were afraid that their boss would take revenge and probably fire them.

To make their case, union leaders displayed workers who had been fired for trying to join a union.  They publicized the many ways that employers could intimidate their workers, from the minute they were hired and throughout their day at the workplace.
The net effect of the campaign was to display unions as weak  and no match for powerful corporate  employers without government assistance. Tons of leaflets were distributed  and countless rallies were held to convey this twin image of corporate power and labor feebleness.  (One wonders what the AFL-CIO’s self-abasement had on unorganized workers.)

The net effect of the campaign was to brand the AFL-CIO as a “special interest,” seeking special favors from Congress. (Unions could have won wide public support by making the moral case that to deny workers the right to join a union was discriminatory and undemocratic.)

The manner in which the EFCA campaign was conducted  had its serious flaws. The unions relied almost entirely on a blizzard of e-mails and a steady stream of phone calls to persuade Congress to enact EFCA. There was relatively little personal contact between union members and legislators or any overt action that might have had a positive effect.
The campaign was run by AFL-CIO union members, with hardly any evidence that unorganized workers were involved. Where were the 50 million workers who said they would like to join a union? Why weren’t they lobbying  Congress?

NLRB Says Law Allows ‘Card Check’ Option; The Board Will Sue Four States for Violations

By Harry Kelber

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced on Jan. 14 that it planned to sue Arizona, South Carolina,  South Dakota and Utah in an effort to invalidate recently-approved state constitutional amendments that prohibit private sector workers from choosing a union through a process  known as "card check."
The state amendments were promoted by various conservative groups to prevent congressional Democrats  and President Obama from enacting legislation that would allow unions to use card check,  under which an employer must recognize a union as soon as a majority of  workers signs pro-union  authorization cards. That process makes it possible for workers to unionize without an  election.

Under current law, employers can insist that secret ballots be used  when unions are trying to organize private sector employees.  But unions  had hoped that  card check  in the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would make it easier to unionize workers, because card check lets them gather majority support,  often without giving employers the opportunity to campaign against the union.

The labor board said: "The four amendments differ in language, but all conflict with federal law by closing off a well-established path to union representation recognized by the Supreme Court and protected by the National Labor Relations Act."

While Congress Debates the Cost of the Law, 50 Million People Have No Health Insurance

By Harry Kelber

The original health care bill approved by Congress stipulated that some 32 million Americans who had no health insurance would be provided with coverage under the new law. It was a major reason why the bill received such wide public support.
At that point, there were 45  million people who lacked health insurance, so many wondered by what criteria the government would select those who would receive health-care coverage and those who would not.

Since the original law delayed the decision of awarding health coverage until 2014, the problem was put on the back burner, while the Obama administration focused on the immediate benefits of the legislation.

But by 2014,  hundreds of  thousands of families  will have dropped their health coverage, because, with the high cost of premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, they can no longer afford it.  And we may wonder how many people will die in the interim because they were without  the necessary treatment for their serious illnesses.

Meanwhile, the Republicans, who now control the House, are intent on repealing the health law or, if they fail, to slash its  many costly programs, particularly Medicare and Medicaid.  It is not at all clear what kind of health legislation the Republicans would offer in place of the present health law. It would be skimpy at best, in order to cut down “wasteful spending.”

Republicans Use States’ Budget Crisis With Plans to Cripple Labor Activities

By Harry Kelber

     Denouncing public employee unions as their primary scapegoats for their states’ huge budget  deficits, Republican governors and their legislatures, as well as major Democratic governors, plan to hog-tie unions in the performance of  their three basic functions: (political and legislative activity, union organizing and the conduct of strikes).
      Here are three of the attacks  that the governors and state
legislatures will be considering:

1-A law that would make it virtually impossible for unions

to engage in political campaigns, including legislation and elections,  It would bar unions in the private sector  from forcing workers they represent to pay dues or fees  for political campaigns without their written signature - each year.
How could unions conduct legislative and  election campaigns, while having to get  written permission from each member, and returning part if the dues money to the member if he or she disagrees with the union action? Think of the hundreds of thousands of dollars it would cost just  to check the entire membership - after each action!

2-An extension of the ”right-to-work” laws, now in effect in 22 southern and western states, that forbid unions and employers from forcing  workers to join unions or pay dues or fees to unions that represent them.

Obviously, unions would be unwilling to initiate organizing campaigns in which recruited members would not pay  union dues for any benefits they received. Republican governors believe that a “union-free environment would increase investment in their states.

3-Legislation to eliminate mass labor protests or strikes are also part of the Republican series of anti-union proposals. Actually, unions use the strike weapon sparingly, only when workers feel  that their deeply-felt grievances are not being fairly considered.

Unions are the principal defenders of working people. Without the right to strike, workers would have difficulty in attaining fair  wages and decent working conditions, especially under unscrupulous employers.

To Solve Budget Crises, a 10% Pay Cut For Obama, Congress and Other Officials

By Harry Kelber

While maintaining their own salaries and benefits intact, President Obama, members of Congress and state legislatures, governors, and heads of major agencies have decreed that tens of thousands of working people should be fired or furloughed, suffer wage cuts and loss of benefits, and a freeze of their wages to solve the federal and state budget deficits.

President Obama joined the attack by ordering some 2 million federal employees to take a two-year wage freeze, which, with rising food, transportation and housing costs, amounts to a pay cut. And  he did this without prior public discussion and  the  disruption of union  collective bargaining contracts.

Now it’s time for Obama and all public officials  to show their concern about budget deficits by taking a 10 percent cut in salaries for one year and a wage freeze for a second one. We propose that Obama show the way by announcing he is cutting his salary and, for starters, proposing that the 100 Senators and 435 members of the House do the same. It should include all public officials earning more than $100,000 a year.
Now for the banks, who were largely responsible for creating the crisis. They should be required to pay a 10 percent tax on their earnings since  they were bailed out by the government. And everyone on Wall Street, earning a million dollars or  more per year, including bonuses, should be asked to give up 10 percent of their salary. They would still have more than enough to live on.

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Articles from 2009

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By Harry Kelber

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