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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Labor Headlines 8-18-01 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
19 Aug 2001
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Headlines as broadcast during the Illinois Labor Hour, 8-18-01 on WEFT 90.1 FM. |
Firestone Plant Closure Final
When Bridgestone-Firestone announced the closing of its Decatur factory, the union contract preserved a tiny hope that the factory might remain open. The contract requires that the company negotiate over plant closings before any final decisions are made. After offers of financial incentives from the city of Decatur and the state of Illinois, all of which were rejected out-of-hand by the corporation, last week, company representatives said that their decision was final. The plant will be partially empty by the end of the year, and all fifteen hundred employees will be out of work. A spokesperson for Bridgestone-Firestone says that the problem for the company is that the company can\'t sell all of the tires it\'s manufacturing.
Workplace Fatalities
The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued an important report on Tuesday, with good news about worker safety. The total number of workers killed on the job fell by about two percent in 2000, while the total number of workers increased. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said that the report shows progress, but that more needs to be done. Features of the report include the following:
* Sixteen workers were killed on the job each day last year, on average, for a total of six thousand fatalities in 2000.
* Fatalities among black and white workers dropped, but dramatically more Hispanics were killed on the job.
* The increase in Hispanic deaths was led by a 24 percent jump in deaths on construction jobs.
* The number of job-related homicides increased slightly to 680, which is still 37 percent lower than its 1994 peak of 1,080.
* Construction workers had the highest number of fatalities of any industry, but the rate of construction injuries declined by three percent, nationwide.
* In terms of occupational groups, machine operators, fabricators, and laborers recorded the largest number of fatal injuries, but this group\'s injury rate dropped by four percent.
* Mining, agriculture, construction, and transportation remain the most dangerous industries.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney acknowledged the improvements in safety, but he voiced concern about the dramatic increases in workplace fatalities for Hispanics. He said, quote, \"Hispanic workers make up a large, growing, and important part of the workforce. Far too often they work in dangerous jobs, with little or no protection from hazards or abuse by employers,\" unquote. Sweeney called on the labor secretary to take action to address the trend.
UAW Petitions for Election at Nissan
On August 14, the United Auto Workers filed a petition for a union election at the giant Nissan car factory in Smyrna, Tennessee, twelve years after an unsuccessful election at the factory. If the UAW wins, 4,100 production and maintenance workers will gain representation with the UAW, and the UAW will gain its first union local at a foreign-owned car assembly plant. The union announced the vote with fanfare, as several workers carried large boxes of petition cards requesting an election into the offices of the National Labor Relations Board. The boxes were emblazoned with criticisms of the company, including sub-standard benefits and safety concerns, particularly repetitive stress injuries. Mike Williams, an organizing committee member who participated in the 1989 vote said, quote, \"this time a union at Nissan has a lot more support than it did back then. Nissan workers are worried about pensions, about how they are treated when they are injured on the job, about unfair treatment compared to Nissan workers in Japan and elsewhere and a lot of other things we weren\'t concerned about years ago.\" unquote. Company managers responded with typical anti-union rhetoric about not wanting a third party to interfere in the family-like relationship between employer and employee. A union win at Nissan could represent a sea-change for worker rights at foreign-owned manufacturing plants in the South, where several Japanese and European car makers have set up shop in the past decade.
Illinois Teachers\' Union Appeals for Foreign Aid
The Reuters News Service story begins, quote, \"CHICAGO - Will Iraq\'s Saddam Hussein send money to bail out a financially strapped Illinois school district? Or how about U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair?\" unquote. What\'s Reuters talking about? Faced with the possible dissolution of their school district due to lack of funds, leaders of the teachers\' union at the nearly bankrupt Round Lake Illinois school district sent letters to more than 200 heads of state and embassies around the world, seeking foreign aid to save their schools. Kim Kearby, president of the Education Association of Round Lake, says the appeal was necessary because the school board and state legislature have failed to solve the financial crisis. Kearby said, quote, \"When the people who are supposed to help turn their backs on the children, we need to look elsewhere for help.\" unquote. A press release from the union says that the school board rejected a proposal to increase taxes for local schools, and the General Assembly refused to approve a $5 million emergency loan before the union turned to foreign governments for help. The six thousand student district has a ten million dollar deficit in its forty million dollar budget. Since the letters seeking foreign aid were only sent out last week, no responses have been received.
Fast Track Update
CongressDaily reported on August 14 that a huge grassroots effort is being assembled to defeat President Bush\'s first big global trade initiative. The journal reports that \"an unusually large and diverse alliance of liberal interest groups\" is working to oppose fast-track negotiating authority, which the president hoped to secure before August. Since he failed to gather the votes, he will make a major push when Congress re-convenes in September. The U.S. constitution charges congress with negotiating trade deals, but with fast-track, congress gives its negotiating power to the President and dramatically limits even the discussion that congress can hold about the president\'s proposals. Fast track was used to implement NAFTA and the GATT, a trade deal tying the US to the World Trade Organization. The coalition fighting Bush\'s fast track bill includes labor groups including American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, major environmental organizations, as well as religious, consumer, family farmer, women\'s, Hispanic, and international aid groups. A spokesman for the Sierra Club says that the level of energy is considerably higher than it was in 1997, when a similar coalition successfully defeated a fast track proposal. Despite all that action, the corporate lobby isn\'t giving up. During this month\'s recess, business executives are heavily lobbying legislators. The anti-worker U.S. Chamber of Commerce says that fast track is a, quote, \"top, top priority.\" The Chamber and the National Association of Manufacturers will be using radio ads and threats of political repercussions to try to win a fast track vote in September. More information about the issue is available at the AFL-CIO website, www.aflcio.org.
German Leader Defends Good Vacations
When George Bush announced that he was going to take a vacation for the entire month of August, most Americans could only envy his freedom. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says it takes Americans twenty years to gain even 20 days of vacation in a year. In Europe, the story is different, and according to the Associated Press, it\'s going to stay that way, despite pressure from global financial institutions. German President Gerhard Schroeder, who is presiding over an economy in recession, rejected global business leaders\' argument that he should try to revive the economy by reducing vacations and giving businesses more flexibility to hire and fire. Schroeder said on German TV that doing so would, quote, \"cause insecurity for employees and mean working families are less able to plan ahead.\" He continued, \"We won\'t do that, particularly since it would have no economic effects.\'\' German workers take the most vacation of any Europeans, with the average worker taking 31.5 days off. That\'s nearly a day more vacation than in 1990. Part of that freedom from work is guaranteed by German law, which mandates twenty four days of vacation per year. Britain and Ireland receive among the least vacation, averaging only 21 days per year, but even this far outshines the two weeks that most U.S. college graduates accept.
Ben & Jerry\'s Founder to make sweatshop-free clothing
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/partners/docs/058135.htm
Unions to step up fair trade efforts
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3723JTGQC&live=true&tagid=IXLT95DZ1BC
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