Unions

Urges Members to Communicate with Union Leaders

Nov. 3, 2009 -- Harrisburg – Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell today said he was “extremely disappointed” that contract negotiations for SEPTA broke down early this morning, resulting in a strike that crippled mass transit in the Philadelphia region.

The Governor became directly involved in SEPTA talks on Oct. 30 and participated in 14 hours of negotiations on Nov. 2. He said union leaders walked away from what he felt was a “sensational” contract offer, especially in light of challenging economic conditions.    » read more »

RIDLEY PARK, Pa., Oct. 18, 2009 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and United Aerospace Workers (UAW) Local 1069 announced today that the 1,789 UAW-represented employees at the Boeing Rotorcraft Systems facility near Philadelphia have voted to ratify a new five-year collective bargaining agreement. The agreement, which was tentatively reached between Boeing and union leaders on Oct. 14, provides represented employees with outstanding pay, retirement and benefits packages while allowing the Boeing Rotorcraft business to remain competitive.    » read more »

Obama Administration Special Pay Master Responds to Requests by Anna Burger, 10,000 Taxpayers to Take Action on Ken Lewis Pay

Sets Precedent for Protecting Americans from CEO Pay Abuse -- Washington, D.C.--The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) released a statement from Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger following news that Ken Lewis will not be receiving his 2009 compensation and bonus pay in light of his multimillion-dollar retirement package.    » read more »

Obama Administration Special Pay Master Responds to Requests by Anna Burger, 10,000 Taxpayers to Take Action on Ken Lewis Pay

Sets Precedent for Protecting Americans from CEO Pay Abuse -- Washington, D.C.--The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) released a statement from Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger following news that Ken Lewis will not be receiving his 2009 compensation and bonus pay in light of his multimillion-dollar retirement package.    » read more »

October 15, 2009 -- America's workers appreciate Chairman Frank's efforts yesterday to strengthen the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Markets Act of 2009. However, the final bill that goes to the House floor needs to go further to protect taxpayers and our economy from a repeat of what happened at AIG.

The final bill should:

· Require all standardized derivatives be traded on exchanges that are transparent and require capital to back up risk;

· Have no exceptions for overseas trades or foreign currency trades;

· Prevent regulatory arbitrage by having the SEC regulate derivatives tied to securities and the CFTC regulate derivatives tied to commodities; and    » read more »

CtW report: Chamber CEO Tom Donohue has hijacked the Chamber’s agenda

October 15, 2009 --
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Preaching free enterprise, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue leads the Chamber’s attack on the financial reforms essential to restore employment and the economy. He cloaks the Chamber’s staunch opposition in the most expensive rhetoric money can buy. But Donohue’s pro-business, pro-economy and pro-jobs rhetoric notwithstanding, the Chamber’s record under his leadership is none of those things. It is pro-CEO.    » read more »

Washington, DC (Oct. 15, 2009) – The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) began their investigation of the trade case filings by the United Steelworkers (USW) and three domestic companies against coated paper imports from China and Indonesia at a preliminary hearing yesterday.

“We have seen thousands of job losses by multiple plant shutdowns in coated paper manufacturing caused by imports since the period examined in the last petition to enforce fair trade rules against the flood of subsidized imports from Asia,” said Leo W. Gerard, USW international president.    » read more »

Statement of Joe Hinrichs, group vice president, Global Manufacturing and Labor Affairs, Ford Motor Company.

DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 13 – Ford and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative agreement on additional modifications to the 2007 UAW-Ford national labor agreement, which would help Ford improve its current and long-term competitiveness in the United States.

The tentative agreement, which covers approximately 41,000 UAW-represented employees in the United States, is subject to ratification by the active UAW-Ford membership. We will not discuss details of the agreement until after the ratification process is complete.

Source: Ford Motor Co.

October 07, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today formally issued a final rule rescinding the Social Security “no match” rule. The “no match” rule, which was never implemented, would have forced employers to fire workers based on discrepancies in their Social Security records. DHS first announced its plan to rescind the rule in July, and with today’s publication of a final rule in the Federal Register, the rescission will go into effect in 30 days.    » read more »

October 8, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- Today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) sent a letter to Obama administration pay czar Kenneth Feinberg requesting action to prevent outgoing Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis and executives at other banks receiving taxpayer funds from receiving multimillion-dollar retirement, severance, or compensation packages.    » read more »

October 02, 2009 -- The economy shed another 263,000 jobs in September and unemployment rose to 9.8 percent. These numbers are worse than previously forecast and represent the highest unemployment rate in 26 years. There are now six job seekers for each available job and over one-third of the 15 million unemployed workers have now been without a job for over 27 weeks.

The only factor that kept the unemployment rate from rising even more is that 571,000 workers dropped out of the labor force last month.    » read more »

Lewis Departure Follows Year-Long SEIU-Sponsored Taxpayer, Bank Worker, Shareholder Revolt and Campaign to Reveal Failed Policies

October 1, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC--Following the news of Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis' planned retirement, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) continued its efforts to bring change to the banking industry by releasing a detailed record of Lewis' failed leadership.

"Ken Lewis is the poster boy for a financial industry fueled by reckless lending practices, platinum bonuses, and a disregard for workers and our economy," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. "The Ken Lewis banking model continues drive up big bank profits while causing millions of Americans to lose their jobs, their homes, and their retirement savings."    » read more »

Washington, DC (Oct. 2, 2009) – Leo W. Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers (USW) joined an environmental leader, a U.S. Senator and manufacturing advocates yesterday to unveil a new report on what is needed in climate change legislation to protect American manufacturing jobs as the U.S. Senate gets underway with completing work on a new bill.

The report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) showed a state-by-state breakdown of 4.1 million jobs could be at risk unless Congress maintains international competitiveness by enacting measures to help energy-intensive and trade sensitive manufacturers dealing with new climate change standards and to prevent what is called carbon leakage.    » read more »

Savannah, Ga—Several international unions representing hundreds of thousands of chemical and food industry workers today again criticized the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) for not recommending strong standards to prevent deadly explosions in factories handling combustible dusts, despite the board’s prior endorsement of such a step.

The unions reacted to the CSB’s new report on the deadly sugar dust explosion on Feb. 7, 2008, at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Ga. The explosion killed fourteen people, injured scores of others and severely damaged the plant.    » read more »

September 16, 2009 -- Despite months of painful negotiations, the Senate Finance Committee proposal released today absolutely fails to meet the most basic health care needs of working families and it fails to meet the expectations we have set for our nation.

It fails to put pressure on private insurers to control health care costs. There is no history or logic behind the claim that health care co-ops would provide real competition for the giant private insurers that have a stranglehold on health coverage today.    » read more »