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"The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people." Cesar Chavez |
:: Sunday, October 31, 2004 ::
Profanity in 'Doonesbury' rankles papers By BILL DRAPER, AP
At least 20 newspapers are objecting to Saturday's "Doonesbury" comic strip because it features a profanity, uttered in the strip by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Editors told Universal Press Syndicate, the comic strip's distributor, that if their reporters aren't allowed to use profanity in stories, they don't think "Doonesbury" should, either.
In Garry Trudeau's comic, the voice of Cheney directs a caricature of President George Bush to tell a reporter to "go f--- himself."
Doonesbury Oct 30------------------------------------------- posted 7:54 AM :: reference link ::
0 comments ::
Starting Monday, Nov. 8, 2004
AFL-CIO's DARK PAST
A Six-Part Series By Harry Kelber
Editor, The Labor Educator-------------------------------------------
Tropicana Collapse Remembered CBS 3: KYW, PA
On Saturday, victims and their families will mark the anniversary in a 6 p.m. vigil on the Boardwalk, at a construction workers' memorial erected to salute the Tropicana victims and others who died helping build the neon high-rises and other buildings of Atlantic City's casino era.
Tropicana will observe the anniversary by a daylong work stoppage on the garage, spokeswoman Maureen Siman said. Fabi, meanwhile, has taken out a newspaper advertisement in The Press of Atlantic City expressing its sympathy to the workers and their families. It will be published Saturday, Daley said.-------------------------------------------
Firms appeal fines in fatal 2003 collapse By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC, Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ
All four companies fined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the Oct. 30, 2003 fatal collapse of the top five floors of the Tropicana garage have contested the levies and filed appeals.
Almost six months to the day after the accident, the agency concluded inadequate shoring support and incorrect installation of reinforcing steel were the primary causes of the collapse that killed four construction workers and injured 20 others. Inspections were also lax, the agency found.
Testimony collected in lawsuit By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC, Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ
The lawsuit does not mention a monetary figure. It claims the casino hotel, its parent, the general contractor and other companies failed to adequately reinforce floors to walls with steel, failed to maintain enough shoring or bracing until the concrete hardened, and relied on inadequate inspections.-------------------------------------------
:: Saturday, October 30, 2004 ::Manous' connections seek leniency BY MEGGEN LINDSAY, Munster Times, IN
Manous admitted he took park in a conspiracy to take $200,000 in bribes to win the carpenters' union financing of the $10 million Coffee Creek land development near Chesterton in 1999. Manous, the carpenters' lawyer, also admitted manufacturing phony business documents and lying to U.S. Department of Labor investigators to cover up the scheme.-------------------------------------------
Springsteen, Sweeney, Kick Off Weekend GOTV Push aflcio.org
Springsteen told the crowd that basic human values are at stake in the Nov. 2 election: “the human principles of economic justice, healing the sick, health care, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, a living wage so folks don’t have to go out and break their backs and still not be able to make ends meet.”
“This is a mission for everything we believe in,” said Sweeney. The event was broadcast via satellite to get-out-the-vote rallies in six other major Ohio cities.-------------------------------------------
Albino Blacksheep / Flash / Fuzzy Math G W Bush flash animation 'toon-------------------------------------------
Labor memo suggests Bush to win election By LEIGH STROPE, AP
Labor Department staff, analyzing statistics from private economists, report in an internal memo that President Bush is likely to do "much better" in Tuesday's election than the polls are predicting.
---------------
It also checked Web sites of oddsmakers in America and abroad.-------------------------------------------
International Carpenters Union Soft on Bush BC Carpenters Union
When the Wall Street Journal calls International Carpenters Union General President Doug McCarron "Bush's Labor Buddy," you know that union members need to watch for falling objects.
The American central Building Trades Council, which the carpenters are a member of, say Bush is, “the most anti-union Administration in American history” and yet McCarron is as close to President Bush as you can get without officially endorsing him for re-election.
White House records confirm Bush’s visit to the Carpenters Union’s Las Vegas training centre last August, as well as McCarron’s ride on Air Force One and frequent meetings with the President.
While nearly all other unions have endorsed John Kerry for President, McCarron has isolated the Carpenters Union by not publicly endorsing anyone.
print out a Douglas McCarron Halloween mask-------------------------------------------
Is Your Company One of America's Safest? Occupational Hazards
The process to select each year's list of America's Safest Companies begins several months before the list is announced. Prior to looking at individual companies, we save every press release announcing company milestones such as achieving a million or millions of hours worked without lost-time accidents or recognition for safety within an industry. Then, we solicit nominations via the Occupational Hazards' Web site and E-news for approximately two months before a cut-off date of June 1. We ask contributing editors and other occupational safety and health professionals for their suggestions.-------------------------------------------
Mural depicts Silver Falls Timber Co. mill By JEFF BREKAS, Silverton Appeal Tribune, OR
For his latest work he utilized a panoramic 1920s photograph provided to him by the Silverton Country Historical Society. The photograph captured the pond monkeys with long poles used to push logs, the wigwam burner used to dispose of mill ends and buildings of the mill. Besides the mill itself the location consisted of an office building, a power house, a stacker house, dry kilns, a sorting table and a planning mill.
McDonald added a depiction of Steam Engine 103, one of the longtime workhorses of the company on which Arland Siffle was an early engineer.-------------------------------------------
Longshoremen face background checks CBC British Columbia, Canada
The union representing longshoremen in Vancouver says the checks violate the workers' right to privacy.
"It's our intention to try and stop it because we don't think it's warranted. It's an unnecessary intrusion into our members' lives," says Tom Dufresne, the president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
But the federal government says the measures are needed to secure the waterfront – and that similar background checks have been in place at Canadian airports for years.-------------------------------------------
:: Friday, October 29, 2004 ::Union thefts bring prison By Dan Wilson, Appleton Post Crescent, WI
A woman who embezzled more than $400,000 from her trade union employer was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison plus four years extended supervision.-------------------------------------------
What you need to know about the raid attempt BC Carpenters Union
* AUTONOMY * DEMOCRACY * SOLIDARITY
Brothers and sisters, our long and difficult struggle for independence has reached a critical stage. And, once again, we must close ranks to fend off yet another effort by Washington to remove Canadian control. After failing to convince the Labour Board and the courts, the International union has embarked on what appears to be a last desperate attempt to impose American will. The International has launched a raid against us.
Under the guise of a so-called “New” union, the Americans are trying to get our members to sign cards to join the BC Carpenters, Floorlayers and Allied Workers Bargaining Council. The puppet council is promising to do great things, but there is not real basis to their claims.
What you need to know about the raid attempt:
* If you sign their card and the raid succeeds at your jobsite, BC law requires that your membership in the BC Carpenters Union Local 1995 is terminated.
* The American controlled bargaining council does not have any contracts with civil construction employers nor can it offer work to anyone who joins.
* Although the puppet council says it will offer choices, those choices will not be yours. They will be dictated by Washington.
* The BC Carpenters Union has bargained many contracts and allowed members to elect their officers and ratify their own collective agreements. We still provide the best benefits and pension in the BC construction industry. All of this has been achieved in spite of repeated interference from the International.
* A successful raid will end our dream of an autonomous Canadian union.
We all need to remember why we decided to break loose from the International in the first place. An independent Canadian union will allow us to continue to elect our own officers, bargain our own contracts and set other policies that will benefit our members without interference. In short, we will be rid of a dictatorship that lacks basic trade union principles.
A decision from the BC Labour Board on certifications for our new joint Carpenters – CEP bargaining council is only months away. Now, more than ever, we must stay the course.
Brothers and sisters, independence is within our grasp.
In solidarity,
CARPENTERS LOCAL 1995
Randy Smith, President-------------------------------------------
Steelworkers to rally Friday BY ANDREA HOLECEK, Munster Times, IN
USWA Local 1014 members and members of eight other area U.S. Steel locals are rallying Friday to publicize labor problems in their plants.
The local presidents also plan to discuss their concerns in hopes of presenting a unified position to the company, said Mike Mitchell, president of United Steelworker of America Local 1014.
'We have some legitimate concerns and they're not getting resolved,' Mitchell said Wednesday. 'We're not happy.'
The problems at Gary Works center on safety and training, he said.-------------------------------------------
Picketers protest against Wexford’s labor practices By Nathan Bomey, Saline Reporter, MI
A labor dispute between a developer and the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters has led to several weeks of picketing at local sites, including Saline.
Workers favoring unionized labor have been picketing outside Wexford Homes’ main office in Saline during morning hous the last few weeks. They also have picketed other local Wexford sites, including developments in Scio Township and Manchester.
James Kreklau Jr., a representative for the MRCC, said his organization is picketing Wexford because of its use of non-union carpenters on projects like the Wexford Commons town homes on Old Creek Drive.-------------------------------------------
Steelworkers Push Hard in Homestretch to Deliver Key States to Kerry-Edwards; Bush's Failed Economic Policies Motivates Grassroots Campaign News From USWA:
More than 500 members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) continue to work full-time on the ground in battleground states in an unprecedented effort to elect the Kerry-Edwards ticket, replacing an administration widely perceived amongst its membership as strongly anti-worker. In addition, 2,500 volunteers will be mobilized this weekend in battleground states to encourage voter turnout on Election Day.-------------------------------------------
:: Thursday, October 28, 2004 ::Worker disciplined for wearing union badge Press Release: Service And Food Workers Union, New Zealand
A Service & Food Workers' Union (SFWU) member, working on the gaming floor at Sky City Auckland, faced disciplinary action this week after refusing to remove a badge celebrating Labour Day. The worker received a written warning in yesterday’s disciplinary meeting, a decision that his union, the Service & Food Workers’ Union (SFWU) says they will challenge.
Over 400 other SFWU members at Sky City wore badges on the same day, however the company management has singled out one worker for disciplinary action.
“We believe that union members have the right to wear union badges, particularly on Labour Day. We consider Sky City's actions discriminate against this worker and we will be challenging Sky’s decision.” said SFWU National Secretary Darien Fenton.-------------------------------------------
Scaffold Collapse Injures Five People In New Jersey By Anthony Johnson, 7Online.com, NY
Twisted metal comes crashing down and several workers get trapped when a scaffold collapses at a construction site in New Jersey.-------------------------------------------
More questions about Chicago building inspectors ABC7Chicago.com
Court depositions of five building inspectors involved in the Wrightwood porch collapse case reveal that four of them had little or no experience in the building or construction trades when they were hired in the 1980's.
They say their training was 'on-the-job' -- usually two weeks in the field --watching what other inspectors do. All of them acquired a journeyman's card with the Carpenters union even though the depositions show for had no carpentry experience.
'They're obtaining the journeyman's license not by going through the apprenticeship program with the unions but by simply buying it,' said David Kupets, porch collapse victim's lawyer.-------------------------------------------
50,000-pound machine falls, crushes driver By Gala M. Pierce, Chicago Daily Herald
According to www.craneaccidents.com, 269 crane-related accidents occurred in 2003 with 138 reported deaths.
OSHA reports on its Web site that 5,559 deaths occurred from work injuries in 2003. Contact with objects and equipment consisted of 16 percent of those accidents.
-------------------------------------------
ILWU President comments on unfortunate incidents at Surrey community halls this morning CNW Telbec, posted Monday Oct. 25
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union of Canada (ILWU Canada) expresses regret over incidents occurring this morning around a hiring process in Surrey. According to reports, Bridgeview Hall was damaged when potential applicants for 500 waterfront jobs realized they were in the wrong building. Meanwhile, at the correct location, a chaotic situation developed through improper parking of vehicles and other incidents in the neighbourhood around Sunbury Hall.-------------------------------------------
:: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 ::Worker Dies After Trench Collapses North Of River Kansas City Channel.com, MO
Fire Chief Says No Shoring Visible In Hole
KANSAS CITY -- A worker in an unsupported trench was killed Monday morning when he was buried alive at a housing development north of the river.-------------------------------------------
Baseball and Workers Compensation Posted by Jon Coppelman, Workers Comp Insider
It will be interesting to review the industrial accident data for mid-October 2004. I suspect that frequency trends will be up, at least a bit. In the meantime, savvy managers should keep a close eye on the workforce. Good luck…And Go Sox!
-------------------------------------------
Contractor Fined Following Worker's Death 1010 Wins, NY
A Brooklyn construction company has been fined 130-thousand dollars after a worker fell from an unguarded scaffold and died. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the fine against the Jerrick Contracting Company. The company is contesting the fine.-------------------------------------------
Safety reps bullied: survey The Age, Australia
One third of occupational health and safety representatives (OHS) say they have been bullied by management after raising health and safety issues, according to a survey.
The latest Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) survey of more than 800 OHS representatives found that many had been pressured not to raise health and safety issues and were intimidated or bullied by their boss or management when they did.
VTHC secretary Leigh Hubbard said OHS representatives were on the 'frontline' of workplace safety.
'We have an obligation to ensure that they can carry on their important work free of intimidation and harassment,' Mr Hubbard said.
'Given that there have been 26 workplace fatalities this year alone and numerous injuries to boot, we must remain vigilant in ensuring all aspects of the OHS system are working and not one worker is worse off as a result of going to work.'-------------------------------------------
A Rarity for Wal-Mart: Talking to a Union By IAN AUSTEN, New York Times
On Tuesday, a group of employees and managers from Wal-Mart's Canadian subsidiary will hold an unusual meeting, at least by the standards of the company. The gathering in Jonquière, Quebec, will be the start of talks that the retail workers' union hopes will produce the first collective agreement in North America covering Wal-Mart workers.
The opening of negotiations will be the latest step in a two-year effort by the union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, to organize Wal-Mart's 241 stores in Canada. The Canadian arm of the international union has found more success with Wal-Mart than its United States counterpart, thanks in part to differences in labor laws. Six applications for union certification at Wal-Mart stores are pending or under appeal in three Canadian provinces.-------------------------------------------
Workers rally as Boeing board meets in Wichita By ROXANA HEGEMAN, AP
A loud rally by workers in front of the administration building while the top brass was in town was obviously not on the company's "to do" list. Boeing tried to shut down the rally, saying it was disruptive to people inside the building. Sheriff's deputies and company security asked participating employees to move off company property.
So union leaders relocated the rally from the Boeing flagpole — the usual site of more acrimonious labor rallies in the past — to the public sidewalks in front of the administration building.
Sheriff's deputies eventually blocked off a lane of traffic after cars whizzed just inches away from the demonstrators.-------------------------------------------
:: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 ::Straw to support death at work law Michael White and Kevin Maguire, The Guardian UK
Jack Straw yesterday moved to reassure Labour MPs and trade unions that he actively supports government plans to strengthen the law on corporate manslaughter, but is determined that change must be effective.
The foreign secretary acted after yesterday's Guardian reported him as trying to block the proposed draft bill because of 'serious problems' which might make it better to maintain the status quo, despite concern that culpable corporate negligence has rarely been punished severely.
Yesterday Mr Straw telephoned Tony Dubbins, the TUC's point man on the issue, to assure him that he was 'committed'. The discussion was cordial, officials said.-------------------------------------------
Safety on the I-280 Truss Job WTVG, OH
A story in the Blade Sunday may have outlined why it happened. Due to understaffing problems at OSHA, the federal agency reportedly relies quite heavily on businesses to adhere to federal regulations, without always doing the follow-up work necessary. That leaves workers to trust that original flaws in the project were corrected.
Where from here? I repeat my message of August 2. Do not allow anyone or any company that contributed to these accidents back on this job. Human safety is more important than the almighty buck. OSHA, get to the truth of these failures. No further start-ups until everyone involved knows why the incidents occurred and who is reponsible. Otherwise, it's just not right.-------------------------------------------
At USW offices, unions make all-out effort to defeat Bush By Jim McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Most nights but Friday, when there's a break for high-school football, a second-floor room at the United Steelworkers headquarters Downtown transforms into a buzzing, bustling war room dedicated to the defeat of President Bush.
Teachers, government employees, nurses, janitors and retail workers sit in rows of folding chairs next to steel workers, machinists, electricians, carpenters and painters, putting out calls on 75 telephones and trying to persuade fellow union members to vote for Democrat John F. Kerry on Nov. 2.
"Our people want to get involved in this election,'' said Jack Shea, president of the Allegheny County Labor Council. "We could not be doing any more than we are doing. We could not be getting any more support from our affiliate unions."-------------------------------------------
Answer elusive amid probe of fatal collapse By Jill Taylor, Palm Beach Post
On July 22, a private inspector told contractors it was OK to pour cement into forms creating second-story walls and a third-floor deck for building nine at Tranquility townhouse development in Hobe Sound.
Hours later, the building was rubble, with two dead men trapped beneath the wreckage and a third seriously hurt.
Was the inspector wrong? Would a government-paid inspector have detected the problem that allowed the building to collapse?
Federal, county and independently hired investigators are trying to find out.-------------------------------------------
Know your building laws By NOREEN SEEBACHER, The Journal News.com, NY
By law, homebuilders in New York State are supposed to construct homes that are safe, sound and free of material defects. However, the 1989 statute excludes coverage for some condominium and co-op apartments, may not apply to homes that builders are hired to erect on land the homebuyer already owns, and gives builders the option of modifying or excluding provisions of the law.
The law has its flaws, Schulman, and Manhattan real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, concur. The irony is that the legislation was supposed to bring greater peace of mind to buyers.-------------------------------------------
:: Monday, October 25, 2004 ::Hardie Rewards Asbestos Rats By Workers' Online
'This company just does not get it - they are rewarding unethical behaviour with riches beyond the dreams of the people whose lives have been and will be destroyed by asbestos.'
'If the company had any regard for the victims of this elaborate scam, they would put these millions into the compensation fund rather than into the pockets of those responsible for this sorry affair.'
He was backed by Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) NSW secretary Paul Bastian who said the payment was an affront to people who had contracted deadly asbestos diseases by working for James Hardie.-------------------------------------------
2nd truss crane fails, raising new doubts on bridge finish date By DAVID PATCH, Toledo Blade, OH
A telescoping leg fell off the I-280 Maumee River Crossing project’s surviving truss crane yesterday, throwing the $220 million bridge’s completion date into renewed uncertainty.
The incident occurred just hours after work on the bridge’s East Toledo approach spans resumed after being halted for more than eight months by the Feb. 16 collapse of the truss crane’s twin, which killed four workers and injured four others.
No one was hurt in yesterday’s accident.
However, state officials immediately demanded that the project contractor, Fru-Con Inc., of Ballwin, Mo., use different equipment to complete construction.-------------------------------------------
Sinclair Airs Anti-Kerry Material By ALEX DOMINGUEZ, AP, Guardian UK
In Charleston, W.Va., about 100 people gathered in the parking lot of Sinclair-affiliate WCHS-TV, carrying banners bearing the names of soldiers killed in Iraq, Kerry campaign material and an inflatable 13-foot rat with a "Sinclair Broadcast'' sign tied around its neck.
---
On the Net:
Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.: http://sbgweb2.sbgnet.com
StopSinclair.org: http://stopsinclair.org-------------------------------------------
Unmasking an asbestos dumping ploy By BRAD CLIFTON, Daily Telegraph, Australia
DEADLY asbestos is discarded in bushland or buried near footpaths where it could easily come into contact with the public because unscrupulous contractors won't dispose of it properly.
A Daily Telegraph investigation has revealed some contractors employed by Telstra to remove old asbestos 'pits' endanger lives by not following proper removal procedures.
The remains of one of the pits -- used to house cables and joints underground -- was left on a nature strip just 200m from a Picton primary school.
Other sites, southwest of Sydney, have also revealed broken pieces of asbestos that have been buried beneath mud and dirt, instead of being put into bags and disposed of in official asbestos bins.-------------------------------------------
Sign thefts violate free speech By Mike Tobias, Port Arthur News, TX
While speaking with a neighborhood supporter of Republican Congressional candidate Ted Poe, campaign volunteers Cindy Freeman and Claud Block witnessed two male members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 479 remove several of the Houston area judge's campaign signs, throw them in the back of a pickup truck and drive off.-------------------------------------------
:: Sunday, October 24, 2004 ::The Bush Administration's Attack On Workers And The Eight Hour Day ... by Stewart Acuff, ZNet
If Bush can get away with taking away overtime pay from six million workers, then what is next on his chopping block? Social Security? The minimum wage? Child labor laws? We're angry, and we're not going to take it.
Rolling back collective bargaining rights for America's workers is his next target. When the Bush Administration created the Transportation Security Administration, thereby making airport screeners federal employees, he destroyed their right to organize and bargain collectively as private sector employees.-------------------------------------------
California Utility Admits Lying about Safety Data to Win Bonuses Occupational Hazards
Southern California Edison Co. admits that some managers hid injuries and inadvertently omitted data to improve safety statistics, thereby winning $35 million in performance bonuses for the company from the state.
The utility admitted the wrongdoing to the California Public Utilities Commission, and promised to return the $35 million to the agency.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Southern California Edison found that in some instances, managers and supervisors failed to report minor first aid cases requiring bandages or ice packs. In as many as 50 cases, supervisors tried to influence medical treatment and lied about the seriousness of injuries. Some managers also asked employees to use vacation time following an injury, rather than use sick leave or disability leave.-------------------------------------------
Report cites trade policy for lost jobs By Michael Yeomans, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The AFL-CIO Industrial Council Job Export Database Project detailed job losses at companies involving 50 or more employees reported under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining and Notification (WARN) Act.
The report concluded that of 40,733 layoffs reported by Pennsylvania manufacturers under the WARN Act from January 2001 through May 2004, 70 percent were the result of foreign production shifts or competition from imports, primarily from China.
'Unfair trade policies are costing thousands and tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs,' said Scott Paul, an AFL-CIO trade policy analyst, at a news conference at the United Steelworkers of America headquarters, Downtown.-------------------------------------------
Steelworkers call for healthier mines Canada NewsWire
Nancy Hutchison, the Steelworkers' Ontario/Atlantic Health and Safety Coordinator, said mine employers are using a substance known as 'pastefill' underground to fill the stopes after they are mined out. She said it may well be that pastefill is mostly silica and exposure to it is hazardous.
'The additional problem is that there have been recent incidents of entire pastefill walls collapsing with miners working nearby,' she said.
Other concerns raised by the union include lack of training and employers illegally extending work hours underground.-------------------------------------------
B.C. Ferry workers shocked at contract; promise to defeat B.C. Liberals By Scott Sutherland, CP
Jackie Miller, president of the B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers Union, also said the government and the ferry company are delusional if they believe the ferry company's assertion that the contract will bring labour peace in the ferry system until 2010, the year the Olympics come to the province.-------------------------------------------
:: Saturday, October 23, 2004 ::Halfway home By ROB CARSON, Tacoma News Tribune, WA
Only a couple of legs poke up now, but new bridge is 50% complete
In terms of labor, more than 1.3 million work hours have been expended on the job so far. Local union carpenters, laborers and ironworkers have logged thousands of hours of overtime because large concrete pours on the job had to be done without interruption to meet strength requirements.
“With the stall in transportation funding, that project has really done a lot to sustain the building trades in the Pierce County area,” said Dave Johnson, assistant executive secretary for the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council.
“These large projects are really critical to boost the job market,” he said. “Plus there’s the duration. It’s a long job, which means stability and continuity.”-------------------------------------------
Wired moose By TIM MOWRY, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
In one of those only-in-Alaska stories that will shock even the sourest of sourdoughs, a trophy-sized bull moose was accidentally strung up in a power line under construction to the Teck Pogo gold mine southeast of Fairbanks. The moose apparently got its antlers tangled in electrical wire before workers farther down the line pulled the line tight about two weeks ago.
The moose was suspended 50 feet in the air when workers, recognizing something was wrong, backtracked and found it.-------------------------------------------
The final steel beam has been placed atop 7 World Trade Center By Nina Pineda, 7Online.com, NY-------------------------------------------
Walnut standoff tough to crack, but end in sight By DON THOMPSON, AP, HoustonChronicle.com
Workers' vote to join union could help end struggle that's 13 years old
STOCKTON, CALIF. - When Margaret Munoz walked off her job at the world's largest walnut processing plant, she had one grandchild. Now she has seven.-------------------------------------------
Union: Women workers key to skilled worker shortages National Business Review, New Zealand
Women could be the key to the skilled worker shortages identified in a recent Auckland Chamber business survey, according to Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont.
Ms Beaumont said the answer is not the 'current trend' toward easing rules to allow temporary migrant labour into the country, but changing the work environment to enable easier entry and training for women.
She said women are underrepresented in the current workforce because of obstacles to participation, not disinclination to work.-------------------------------------------
:: Friday, October 22, 2004 ::Labor dispute settled at Indian Point By ROGER WITHERSPOON, The Journal News.com, NY
Two craft workers were fired and four rehired at the Indian Point 2 nuclear plant yesterday in a compromise resolution to a labor dispute that triggered a sickout Tuesday by 40 electricians and carpenters.
The electricians are part of a group of more than 500 contract workers brought to the plant in Buchanan to help with the month-long shutdown and exchange of nuclear fuel scheduled to begin tonight. The dispute stemmed from criticism of plant safety practices levelled by the workers during a training class Oct. 14.-------------------------------------------
Straw tries to block law on death at work By Patrick Wintour, The Guardian, UK
The idea of making company directors personally responsible for deaths due to management failings has gripped legal debate since the Zeebrugge and Hillsborough tragedies in the 1980s. It was subsequently reignited by successive rail tragedies, including the Hatfield disaster in 2000. The attempted prosecutions of rail chiefs over the Hatfield rail crash, in which four people died, collapsed last month.
Charges against Railtrack's former chief executive, Gerald Corbett, and two other managers were dropped before the main trial after a high court judge ruled there was insufficient evidence that the accident occurred because profit had been put before safety.
Advocates of a new law argue it is also necessary to curb deaths among construction workers. More than 1,000 workers have died on construction jobs since 1992.-------------------------------------------
CEP EMERGENCY RESOLUTION BC Carpenters Union / fax
PRESENTED BY CMAW
WHEREAS British Columbia Carpenters union members have voted 84% to leave their American union to form a Canadian union; and
WHEREAS the British Columbia Carpenters Union have now affiliated with CEP through the Construction Maintenance and Allied Workers Council; and
WHEREAS on September 28, 2004 the International Union attempted to hold trustee hearings against the British Columbia Provincial Council of Carpenters; and
WHEREAS this attempt to remove the leadership and take-over the British Columbia Carpenters Union was prevented by an order of the British Columbia Supreme Court;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT CEP will take all necessary steps to support our affiliate members in CMAW in their struggle for a democratic, progressive Canadian union.
-----------------
Passed by unanimous decision by 1000 delegates at the CEP Convention, Quebec, 20 October 2004
-------------------------------------------
AFL-CIO seeks to dispel notions about job losses By Michael Burke, Journal Times Online, WI
RACINE COUNTY - The remarks are familiar: Losing manufacturing jobs is inevitable; it's the result of greater productivity; and America hangs onto the higher-knowledge jobs while losing the blue-collar types.
All myths, says the AFL-CIO in a report released Tuesday titled 'Wisconsin Job Exports: An Analysis of the Role Trade Plays in Manufacturing Job Loss.'
'It's just not true,' said Robert Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO's Industrial Union Council. 'It's just flat-out not true.'-------------------------------------------
Worker safety 'being put at risk' BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland
Worker and public safety is being put at risk, claims the STUC
Employees are being put at risk by a lack of workplace visits from safety inspectors, a report has claimed.
The Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) - whose report coincides with National Inspection Day - is urging employers to check for hazards.
It found 39% of workplaces with union safety reps had never been inspected by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or an environmental health officer.
Only 42% of companies had involved reps - despite a legal requirement to do so.
The STUC also found that 11% of workplaces surveyed had not been inspected for more than three years.
Nearly 40% of safety reps were aware an inspector had visited their place of work but had not been spoken to during the visit.-------------------------------------------
:: Thursday, October 21, 2004 ::Controversy builds over initiative By Bob Mook, The Coloradoan
The current law, which Amendment 34 proponents hope to repeal, makes home builders a 'protected class.'
'Contractors are the only group of people you can't sue for shoddy work,' Vigoda said. 'We've created a new class of citizens with special rights.'
Opponents of Amendment 34 say it has far-reaching effects beyond the construction industry. Not only will the proposal make housing less affordable, they contend it will run many companies that insure contractors out of the state.
Vigoda said the insurance industry is in a state of crisis regardless of what happens to Amendment 34. He notes that after lawmakers reformed the laws for contractors, insurance costs still increased in the state.
Opponents also argue that the proposal will make ordinary citizens, including homeowners who make improvements to property, vulnerable for litigation.-------------------------------------------
Bush's Other War by Tom Robbins, The Village Voice
Even those at the workplace margins haven't been able to catch a break. In a little-noticed vote last month, the board ruled against a group of disabled janitors in Florida who were seeking the right to join a union. The board said they were not entitled to do so because they were part of a rehabilitation program. The two dissenting Democrats pointed out that the janitors reported to the same supervisors as the rest of the staff and carried much the same workload. The decision was also out of sync, they said, with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which seeks to move the disabled into mainstream society. Barring the janitors from joining a union continued the "needless segregation of those workers," the minority members stated.
Any day now, the board is expected to rule on a matter that could drastically alter the way that workers win union recognition. The board now appears poised to hobble a decades-old practice called "voluntary recognition agreements," in which employers agree to recognize a union if a majority of employees, usually certified by a neutral observer, have indicated a desire to have union representation.-------------------------------------------
A silent killer took S.I. family of 3 while they slept BY NANCY DILLON, AUSTIN FENNER and DAVE GOLDINER, New York Daily News
Shoddy work blamed for filling home with deadly carbon monoxide
Firefighters said workers installing a concrete deck blocked exhaust vents for the boiler with plastic sheeting, sending poison gas spewing through the home on Ocean Ave. in South Beach.
Investigators were hunting last night for the contractor who did the shoddy work, said Chief Fire Marshal Louis Garcia.
The deadly gas spiked to a frightening 70 times acceptable levels in the second-floor room where the victims were found.
"At those numbers, a few breaths and you could be unconscious," said Chief Thomas Haring, the FDNY's borough commander for Staten Island. "Carbon monoxide is silent, but it is deadly."
A new city law requiring carbon monoxide detectors in every home goes into effect on Nov. 1.-------------------------------------------
New network aims to make occupational health and safety "dangerous" again. by Penney Kome, Straight Goods
'Canada has one of the sorriest workplace death rates in the entire developed world,' said Rory O'Neill, editor of Hazards Magazine (UK). 'It's three times the rate per capita of the UK and European countries, and it's a disgrace.'
Top of O'Neill's list of concerns is mesothelioma, a rare cancer in the lining of the lungs or in the abdomen, linked to working with asbestos. 'Recent reports from Quebec indicate that Canadian asbestos is killing Canadian workers in droves,' said O'Neill, 'as well as exporting a health risk worldwide.'
Historically, safe working conditions have been a rallying cry that drew Canadians into unions, more than once. 'Neither governments nor employers have any interest in promoting occupational safety,' said Eric Tucker of Osgoode Hall Law School, reviewing labour organizing at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. He noted that, when it came to winning OHS legislation, 'not economics but the social justice argument worked better.'
And OHS activists have won major battles, from the 40-hour work week (in the early 1900s) to joint health and safety committees. In the 1970s and '80s, workers fought for, and won, the 'three R's' - the Right to Know the hazards in their workplace, the Right to Participate in joint health and safety committees, and the Right to Refuse Work. Lately, it seems, all of those gains are being rolled back.-------------------------------------------
:: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 ::Battling a labor drought By Dan Martin, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
There is no shortage of young local men and women interested in the $60,000 to $80,000 that a journeyman carpenter or electrician can make a year. The promise of steady long-term work also has lured a sizable number of skilled workers to Hawaii from the mainland.
The problem is a shortage of local workers with the most basic of qualifications, said Denis Mactagone, training director with the Hawaii Carpenters Union, who says many aspiring carpenters lack the eighth-grade-level reading and math skills needed to navigate through the union's three-year apprentice training program and its requisite exams.
Mactagone said the union has lowered its test requirements four times in the past dozen years to avoid cutting off the supply of freshly minted local carpenters.-------------------------------------------
The Struggle to Unionize: A Worker's Story Center for American Progress
Unions help workers achieve higher wages and benefits, reduce gender pay gaps, and lower rates of poverty and insecurity. However, employees do not always have the free choice to organize. Employers routinely use brutal tactics to deny workers this fundamental right. Lori Gay and her fellow employees at the Salt Lake Regional Medical Center in Utah have been campaigning to form a union for nearly two years. In an exclusive interview with the Center for American Progress, Lori Gay describes her struggle to unionize.-------------------------------------------
Hard facts: Couple faces health cost Richmond Times Dispatch, VA
The insurer 'tried to say we didn't have continuous coverage. I was born to a steelworker who had a good union, and U.S. Steel covered me my entire life until I graduated from college. I've never been a day without insurance. And Sam hasn't been without insurance since 1964. It was like they were trying to find reasons not to insure us.-------------------------------------------
Big Dig Workers Charged With Worker's Comp Fraud TheBostonChannel.com
Three Big Dig workers were in federal court Monday, accused of accepting workers compensation pay worth hundreds of thousands of dollars while holding down their jobs on the Central Artery project.-------------------------------------------
Trade skills now paying top dollars By Fleur Anderson, The Mercury, Australia
ELECTRICIANS, welders, boilermakers, plumbers and other skilled tradespeople are snapping up $100,000- plus jobs as Australia's skills shortage impacts on wages.
Tradespeople in some areas across Australia earn more than some doctors, dentists, architects and teachers.-------------------------------------------
:: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 ::Quebecor death is investigated By Risa Brim, Kentucky.com
Quebecor has been criticized by employees at the Versailles plant and officials with the Graphic Communications International Union, which hopes to organize the plant and other U.S. Quebecor World facilities.
In July, employees testified to a board of community leaders that several workers had been severely injured on equipment that did not meet OSHA standards and that workers often were assigned to use equipment without proper safety training.-------------------------------------------
Iron Range fired up Author: Susan Webb, People's Weekly World
The Iron Range is marked by red ridges, formed from earth dumped out of the open mines that dot the area. Iron ore brought people and jobs to this region, but the steel companies ravaged the landscape and fought the unions tooth-and-nail. Now, companies are throwing workers and retirees on the scrap heap. In the last four years, 11,000 steelworker jobs have disappeared in District 11, which stretches from Minnesota to Washington State.
Jerry Fallos worked at LTV’s nearby Hoyt Lakes mine for 35 years. He was president of USWA Local 4108, with 1,400 employees and 3,000 retirees.
“Out of the clear blue,” LTV closed the mine three years ago, giving only two months’ notice. Workers lost their health care, and retirees had their pensions slashed. Some found jobs in other mines, but many of those closed down too. Now many are working at $8/hour jobs.
“Basically they work to pay for health insurance,” Fallos told the World. “It’s sad to see a 50-year-old competing with high school kids to carry out groceries at the supermarket.”-------------------------------------------
Pipeline construction leaders embrace e-learning technology Canada NewsWire
Dermot Cain, the Canadian Director of the International Union of Operating Engineers says 'this is leading-edge training that keeps pace with the needs of today's active learner, allowing them to learn anytime, anywhere, within an interactive environment. It will help reduce workers' exposure to health and safety risks, and provide a basic level of awareness for all facets of pipeline construction.'-------------------------------------------
Unions to vote on four-day work week at Northrop operations AP, Ocala Star-Banner
Craftsmen will vote next week on whether to participate in the company's proposed four-day, 10-hour work week pilot program.
Northrop Grumman operates shipyards in Pascagoula and Gulfport and in New Orleans and Tallulah, La.
'This thing's going to be tight,' said Chico McGill, business manager for IBEW Local 733.
He said a survey showed 46 percent of the Pascagoula IBEW workers against the change, 50 percent in favor and 4 percent against.-------------------------------------------
Measure 34 — Traditional timber economy vs. fish and tourism By JEFF BARNARD, AP, OregonLive.com
'The great irony is we are spending as a society $600 million a year in the Columbia Basin trying to restore basic salmon runs. Here there is a cluster of wild salmon runs that belong to us in our backyard.'
Tillamook County Commissioner Tim Josi said he wakes up in the middle of the night worrying that if Measure 34 passes, it will wipe out 2,650 timber jobs just when northwestern Oregon was looking forward to an economic boost from the forests after limping along on tourism.
'Anybody who knows anything about economics understands that timber jobs are manufacturing jobs that pay family wages,' said Josi. 'Tourism jobs are low-paying jobs.'-------------------------------------------
:: Monday, October 18, 2004 ::Strength in numbers - Hundreds of shipyard workers rally to keep facility operating By Elizabeth Kenny, Portsmouth Herald, NH
The shipyard’s nearly 4,600 employees have consistently argued that the yard is not excess to military needs. The nation needs this shipyard because workers continually break their own records for completing submarine maintenance under budget and ahead of schedule, many have said.
"When other shipyards need help, they come to us and we deliver," said Metal Trades Union President Paul O’Connor, who organized the rally. "How can we be the best at what we do and be at risk for closure?"-------------------------------------------
Hundreds rally in D.C. against Bush AP, Newsday.com
Hundreds of workers gathered at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday to demand health care, better wages, guaranteed Social Security benefits and an end to the war in Iraq.
Many of the longshoremen, transit workers, carpenters and mail carriers carried signs saying 'Bush lied, thousands died,' 'More money for jobs, not war' and others.-------------------------------------------
Benefit to help Berkeley dad hurt in motorcycle accident By JOE ZEDALIS, Asbury Park Press, NJ
His injuries were massive, his prognosis bleak.
His insurance, from a carpenters union, is nonexistent because under the terms of the policy, a motorcycle is considered a recreational vehicle.-------------------------------------------
Union Makes Its Bed by Kelly Candaele & Peter Dreier, The Nation
On September 29 in San Francisco, 4,000 hotel employees--all members of the newly merged union UNITE HERE--walked out on strike or were locked out of their workplaces after their contracts expired. Other lockouts or strikes are expected shortly in Los Angeles and Washington, DC. Critical of the labor movement's fragmentation and weakness in the face of increasing corporate concentration, HERE's John Wilhelm and UNITE's Bruce Raynor, the two leaders who orchestrated the merger of their unions in July, are seeking to provide a model of what a stronger, more militant union can accomplish. This strike is the first major test of their strategy.-------------------------------------------
Captain America: Superhero of the Military-Industrial Complex by Nick Turse, via Common Dreams
Foodless Fighters? Water-free Warriors?
Typical adults require about 1500-2000 calories per day, but Special Forces' troops may require as many as 6,000-8,000 calories per day while in the field. Taking time to eat, however, cuts into time that could be spent identifying targets or killing people, so DARPA's 'Peak Soldier Performance Program' is investigating ways of 'optimizing metabolic performance' to achieve 'metabolic dominance' and so to allow future soldiers to operate at 'continuous peak physical performance and cognitive function for 3 to 5 days, 24 hours per day, without the need for calories.'
At the same time, the DARPA crew has instituted a 'Water Harvesting Program' which seeks to 'eliminate at least 50 percent of the minimum daily water supply requirement (7qts/day) of the Special Forces, Marine Expeditionary Units, and Army Medium-Weight Brigades' through initiatives such as deriving 'water from air.'
And when it comes to their meals, perhaps someday soldiers will be able forgo water altogether for long periods of time thanks to the efforts of the Combat Feeding Directorate of the US Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachusetts. Yes, the lab that created the 'indestructible sandwich' (which boasts a three year shelf life) has now come up with a dried-food ration that troops can hydrate by urinating on it. And you thought military food was piss-poor to begin with!-------------------------------------------
:: Sunday, October 17, 2004 ::hat tip: ufcw.net
San Francisco Hotel Strike By Richard Mellor, Labors Militant Voice.
The union is having a rally Tuesday at 4.15 to let folks burn off steam.
Oh, I forgot, strike bulletin #3 is upbeat, Danny Glover walked the picket line for a while along with 50 carpenters Union Members (full-time officials)
It is hard to go to these lines in a way because you see the dedication and the class solidarity on the line, people are so glad when you come to support their efforts. But, for so many of them, the issue of strategy and tactics is something they leave to the leaders which has disastrous results. As time goes on, like the grocery strike and strikes before it, the members come to see what is happening and, in many cases, end up hating the union for it.-------------------------------------------
UFCW display records Iraq death toll Workday Minnesota
'In Washington, the war in Iraq may be a matter of policy and politics,' the union said in a statement. 'In working America, the war in Iraq is a matter of life and death, human sacrifice and suffering.
'The UFCW will never forget. We want to make sure that those in power never forget either.'
Those fighting in Iraq 'are the sons and daughters of working America,' the union noted, and said it 'will never forget the sacrifice of our service men and women, their courage and commitment, and the grief of their families.'
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Teachers' T-Shirts Bring Bush Speech Ouster by kgw.com Portland, Or and AP Staff, via commondreams
The women said they were angered by reports of peaceful protesters being thrown out of previous Bush-Cheney events. They said they chose the phrase, 'Protect Our Civil Liberties,' because it was unconfrontational.
'We chose this phrase specifically because we didn't think it would be offensive or degrading or obscene,' said Tania Tong, 34, a special education teacher.
The women got past the first and second checkpoints and were allowed into the Jackson County fairgrounds, but were asked to leave and then escorted out of the event by campaign officials who allegedly told them their T-shirts were 'obscene.'-------------------------------------------
UNITE HERE on Strike Against "WalMartization" of US Hotel Jobs IUF News and Urgent Actions Database
The conflict is about basic rights and against what UNITE HERE calls 'the WalMartization' of hotel workers. By insisting on a common expiration date for collective agreements in major tourism centers, the union is trying to achieve sufficient bargaining strength with the transnational chains to compensate for the absence of national collective bargaining in the US.-------------------------------------------
Linc subcontractors change tactics Centre Daily Times, PA
In a meeting yesterday, the subcontractors decided to hire a public-relations firm to publicize their cause. They also allied with local labor leaders who have some experience getting attention - including the union organizers who in March set up a giant inflatable rat in front of the MTV Real World house in Old City to protest MTV's intent to hire nonunion workers.-------------------------------------------
:: Saturday, October 16, 2004 ::Timber industry, mill workers cry foul over voters drive By SCOTT SONNER, AP, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The ad campaign, with testimonials and vivid photographs depicting damage to the outdoors, urges nature lovers to turn their environmental enthusiasm into political participation to help protect the nation's forests, streams and wildlife.
"The environment is the one issue that trumps all others," said Rick Ridgeway, Patagonia's executive vice president for marketing. "There is no economy or nation left to keep secure if the planet itself and the resource base it supports is left to die."
But a timber industry group is taking exception to a stark photograph it says the giant outdoor company is using to misrepresent the big picture - an image of a "nasty clearcut" shot in 1983 in Canada.-------------------------------------------
Wal-Mart Says It May Close Unionized Store in Quebec Bloomberg
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. raised the stakes in a fight over its only unionized store in North America, saying it may shut the Quebec outlet unless workers propose a contract the company finds acceptable.-------------------------------------------
New 9-11 Memorial Proposed For Olympia By Keith Eldridge, KOMO, WA
'Very dramatic piece of steel,' Jackson said. 'Being an ironworker and seeing how that building went down, it brings it home for you, really.'
Jackson didn't know anyone in those tragedies. He's just one man trying to make sure we never forget.
So is Morgan Lindbergh, the grandson of pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh. 'Just to be there in the midst of the destruction, it was truly profound.'-------------------------------------------
U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao Signs Drug-Free Workplace Alliance Agreement With Four International Labor Unions DOL News Release
Secretary Chao signed the agreement at the Labor Department with Frank Hanley of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Doug McCarron of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Joseph J. Hunt of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers, and Newton B. Jones of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers.
“Today the U.S. Department of Labor and four of the nation's largest labor unions signed a ground-breaking agreement to protect workers' health and safety,” said U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao. “Through this agreement, we are pledging to work together to reduce the serious hazards posed by substance abuse at work. By working cooperatively on this problem, we can improve the safety of America's workplaces and mines.”
U.S. Department of Labor photo-------------------------------------------
U.S. Appeals NAFTA Panel Lumber Decision By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press
The Bush administration said Wednesday it will appeal a NAFTA dispute panel's finding that imports of Canadian softwood lumber pose no threat to American companies.-------------------------------------------
:: Friday, October 15, 2004 ::OSHA investigating workers death WTNH, CT
Police say it appears 21-year-old Robert Halvorsen lost his footing in the rain on the roof of the theater's Quality Building. He fell three stories into the vat of 500-degree tar.-------------------------------------------
95 union workers cited for trespassing at Harrah's protest By ADAM GOLDMAN, AP
Joan Orr, 49, a cocktail waitress at Caesars Atlantic City who came for the protest, said Harrah's has to understand that union members stick together.
'When you mess with Atlantic City, you mess with Las Vegas,' she said.
Orr was one of 85 people arrested last week in Atlantic City during a sit-in.
About 10,000 casino employees, represented by Local 54 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, have been on strike against seven of Atlantic City's 12 casinos since Oct. 1.
They are demanding continued free health care, salary wages and an end to subcontracting nonunion members. The real sticking point, however, is the length of the contract.-------------------------------------------
Technique worries ironworkers By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC, Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ
Union officials question use of filigree method at Tropicana
Last month, Willie Lemalu tied reinforced steel cables together on the seventh floor of the Tropicana's parking garage - in the same area of the structure that collapsed almost a year ago, killing four workers and injuring 20.
The thought of that tragedy is still fresh in his mind. 'I'm a little leery about this,' the ironworker from Cherry Hill said.
What he's leery about is the technique being used to build the 10-story garage. Called the filigree method, it involves building concrete panels in a factory, shipping them to the site and erecting the panels on shoring. Another layer of reinforced concrete is then placed on top of the precast panels.-------------------------------------------
Anti-Bush Unions Hit Road to Get Out Vote By Nancy Cleeland, LATimes
"I've been with the [International Brotherhood of] Teamsters for 20 years and this is by far the most incredible operation I've ever seen," said Chuck Harple, political director for the union that once raised eyebrows by cultivating a relationship with President Bush. Now caravans of Teamsters' semis are rolling through the Midwest, stopping every few hours at union factories for boisterous rallies in support of Bush's opponent.-------------------------------------------
U.S. mounts challenge of NAFTA ruling that undercuts lumber duties By STEVE MERTL, Canadian Press
An extraordinary challenge is the last appeal available on a NAFTA panel ruling, which carries the weight of law in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
A loss there would force the U.S. government to lift the softwood duties imposed more than two years ago and return more than $2.6 billion in duties collected so far.
A decision is not expected until March at the earliest and perhaps as late as May, said John Allan, president of the B.C. Lumber Trade Council.
The move was quickly praised by the lumber coalition, the main U.S. lobby group behind the duties and previous trade complaints against Canadian softwood exporters.
'We applaud and wholeheartedly support this initiative to correct unauthorized, egregiously defective action by the NAFTA panel,' coalition chairman Rusty Wood said in a news release.
'We are confident that the judges on the ECC will not accept this aberrant outcome.'
The U.S. administration and American lumber industry were upset when, after months of wrangling, the NAFTA panel ordered the commission to find Canadian lumber posed no threat to the U.S. producers.-------------------------------------------
State fines scaffolding company By Holly Edwards, The Tennessean
Other less-serious violations listed by the state include erecting the scaffold on rotting, wooden footings; inadequate stepping space on end frames used as a ladder to climb the scaffolding; dismantling the scaffolding without the presence of a ''competent person''; and missing cross braces on the scaffolding.
Immediately after the accident, Safway released a statement blaming contractors of other companies for removing the scaffold cross bracing and ties before the accident without their authorization.
The owner of the primary contractor working at the site, Construction Enterprises Inc., said after the accident that inexperienced workers for the scaffolding company were disassembling the scaffolding improperly.-------------------------------------------
:: Thursday, October 14, 2004 ::White House bigwigs hail local forest-health moves By Barney Lerten, Bend.com, OR
Also along for the hour-long tour of areas where thinning has and has not (yet) occurred were some more familiar faces, from Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., to Regional Forester Linda Goodman, Bend Mayor Oran Teater and Rick Dice, owner of PatRick Environmental, a Redmond firm whose work has shifted over the years from forest management to contract firefighting, as the courts and environmentalists barred logging and, in their view, brought on the fires, due to lack of proper forest management. But the most outspoken of the bunch was Michael Draper, vice president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America’s Western Division.-------------------------------------------
Labor’s Role in 2004 Elections Is Limited LaborTalk By Harry Kelber
Is labor’s role in this election simply to supply money and volunteers and keep silent on some of the issues that most concern working people? In the many months that the issues of this election have been debated, where were our AFL-CIO leaders? Why have the officers of the big international unions remained tongue-tied? Why couldn’t they appear at press conferences and talk shows and town halls to voice labor’s concerns and suggest solutions?
Why couldn’t AFL-CIO President John Sweeney get Kerry to say that one of his first acts as president would be to rescind the new Labor Department rules that deny overtime pay to millions of workers?-------------------------------------------
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Announces 2004 Labor Hall of Fame Inductees U.S. Newswire
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today inducted the founder of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and a founder of Labor Day, the late Peter J. McGuire, and the four founders of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company -- the late William S. Harley, Arthur Davidson, Walter Davidson and William A. Davidson - into the Labor Hall of Fame during the 16th Annual Labor Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.
"These men were visionaries and risk-takers whose enormous achievements reverberate a century after their pioneering work," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. "William Harley's and the Davidsons' ingenuity and initiative created a cultural icon, a job engine in America and motorcycles revered by millions worldwide. Peter McGuire's leadership in the labor movement began in his teens and his contributions are widely recognized every Labor Day."-------------------------------------------
FEC fines carpenters union over election activities AP
A Kentucky carpenters union will pay a $297,000 fine after reaching an agreement with the Federal Election Commission over allegations of coerced campaign contributions.
Three former officers of the Indiana-Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters, formerly known as the Kentucky State District Council of Carpenters, forced union employees to make political contributions to federal candidates.
The FEC investigation also found that union employees were required to work candidates' campaign offices under threat of job loss.-------------------------------------------
303-year-old house being assembled in Rollinsford By ADAM D. KRAUSS, Foster's Daily Democrat
Bedard said the 48-foot-long by 34-foot-wide house is unique because of the overly heavy timber used and the way it is framed. "It’s an extremely well-built building," he said, noting that after the 1750s, homes began to use lighter framing.-------------------------------------------
:: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 ::Five Workers Hurt In Bridge Accident In Cocoa AP, WFtv.com, FL
Police said that one of the workers was in a cage of reinforced steel on a tower rising from the barge. The other four workers were on top of the cage, which fell about 50 feet as the tower collapsed Saturday, police said.-------------------------------------------
Employers miss warning signs of violence By STEPHANIE ARMOUR, USA TODAY
In an average week in U.S. workplaces, one employee is killed and at least 25 are seriously injured in violent assaults by current or former co-workers.
Many of those attacks might have been prevented.
In nearly eight of 10 cases, killers left behind clear warning signs -- sometimes showing guns to co-workers, threatening their bosses or talking about attacking. But in the majority of cases, employers ignored, downplayed or misjudged the threat, according to a USA Today analysis of 224 instances of fatal workplace violence.-------------------------------------------
Ozone-Saving Solvent Causes Nerve Damage Occupational Hazards
Isn't it ironic and tragic? An industrial solvent adopted to help save the ozone layer could be poisoning workers.
Workers exposed to 1-bromopropane (1-BP), an industrial solvent that was introduced to replace chemicals that depleted the ozone layer, are suffering from extensive and debilitating nerve damage, according to a new study.-------------------------------------------
2 Workers Critically Hurt By Jolt From Power Line By VALERIE KALFRIN, Tampa Tribune
The men, subcontractors with Artistic Gutters and Siding of Tampa, were using a metal ladder placed between two other metal ladders as a scaffold. Each green stucco building has about 12 three- story town homes that are valued at about $300,000 each, officials said.
Shortly after noon, the end of one gutter the two workers were installing touched a 7,620-volt power line parallel to the building, shocking both, Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said.
The power line was about eight feet from the building, TECO officials said.
Paxton fell three stories to the ground; Trzepkowski fell forward through an open window into one of the town homes, Durkin said.-------------------------------------------
Killer Coke Newsletter October 7, 2004
'Resolved, That the National American Postal Workers Union requests that the United States Postal Service remove all Coca-Cola products from all postal facilities, until this issue is resolved, and be it further
'Resolved, That the National American Postal Workers Union requests that all unions, State and Local American Postal Workers Union, stop purchasing all Coca-Cola products until this issue is resolved.'-------------------------------------------
:: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 ::Town squabbles over beer-toting sasquatch statue By Jeremy Hainsworth, Canadian Press
While the people of Nelson, B.C. were busy arguing with U.S. veterans about proposals for a statue honouring American draft dodgers last month, 50 kilometres down Kootenay Lake, the town of Creston was having a similar battle.
There, the statue at issue is a three-metre bronze of a sasquatch carrying a case of beer. A case of made-in-B.C. Kokanee beer, to be precise.
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Media Blackout of Labor Opposition to Iraq War Continues by David Swanson, BuzzFlash
"First, there's almost no coverage of labor and politics generally, disturbing in an election year. In some ways, this story is part of that overall story, so it gets silenced as part of this broader lack of coverage. Second, there's no coverage of a working class perspective on the war. The story of workers and unions in Iraq (and therefore the relationship with unions in the US and US labor opposition to the war) has been largely uncovered in the media, mainstream or progressive. Only the labor press, and some progressive media outlets, have touched this story."-------------------------------------------
Mural in Paducah celebrates workers By BERRY CRAIG, AP wire
More than a century of local labor history is painted on the Paducah floodwall.
'Union labor built a lot of Paducah, including this floodwall,' said Jeff Wiggins, a veteran labor activist. 'It's appropriate that our history is now here for everybody to see.'
Organized labor is the subject of a new mural on the concrete high water barrier that is decorated with several scenes of Paducah history. The artwork highlights the old Ohio River city's traditional Labor Day Parade, one of the oldest such processions in the country.
'Our first parade was in 1893,' said Wiggins, a Steelworker and president of the Western Kentucky Area Council, AFL-CIO, an association of regional unions. 'America's first Labor Day Parade was just 11 years before.'-------------------------------------------
Dead parks worker gets reprimands BY ALISON GENDAR, New York Daily News
Parks department officials and members of District C-37, Wong's union as a parks maintenance worker, told his daughter it was not city policy to alert police when employees 'went missing.'
'They said it happened all the time. That people would be gone for weeks - even a year - and then come back to work,' Wong-Yap said. 'There needs to be a better system in place when people disappear.'
Park officials said they called the emergency number Wong listed on his contact sheet - no one answered - and even sent someone to his apartment looking for him. The disciplinary letters, officials said, were standard procedure.-------------------------------------------
:: Monday, October 11, 2004 ::Don't ignore the working poor, author urges By Terri Finch Hamilton, The Grand Rapids Press
One place to start is raising the minimum wage to $8.70 and indexing it to inflation, she says.
'The federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour hasn't even kept up with inflation,' Shulman says. 'If it had, it would be a little more than $7 an hour. If you make minimum wage, that's $10,000 a year, and nobody can live on that.'
Workers need the right to organize without fear of intimidation, harassment or being fired, Shulman says. Recent Labor Department statistics show that, on average, unionized service jobs pay nearly twice as much as nonunion service jobs, she says.-------------------------------------------
Digital world muddles labor laws By K. Oanh Ha, Mercury News
Union organizers used to hand out leaflets in the cafeteria or on the factory floor. Today, they try to pass them out in cyberspace. It's a change that could reshape decades-old labor laws.
The issue is highlighted in a case before the National Labor Relations Board involving Agilent Technologies. In a complaint now being investigated by the NLRB, an Agilent worker alleges the company violated federal labor laws when it prevented him from using its electronic newsletter to unionize co-workers.
At the heart of the debate is whether a pro-union notice on a company's electronic newsletter is any different than a leaflet posted on a bulletin board in a cafeteria.
The NLRB has previously ruled that the act of sending a message via e-mail is as protected as tacking a memo to a physical bulletin board. But the Agilent case raises other gray areas such as: What is company property in a networked, global workplace? What constitutes work and non-work time in an always-on digital world?-------------------------------------------
Grade zero for cleanup workers' care By Miriam Hill, Philadelphia Inquirer
The attacks sent up a toxic mix of asbestos, ground glass, concrete and dangerous chemicals such as benzene. The toxic cloud was bound to make some people sick. But Levin said the bigger priority for the government was reopening the financial markets and showing the world that America would not be cowed. People's health was secondary, he said.
On Sept. 18, 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement saying the air in Lower Manhattan was safe to breathe even though the EPA had not finished tests for mercury, cadmium, lead, dioxin and other chemicals. The EPA Inspector General, an internal watchdog, released a report last summer seconding Levin's criticisms, and suggesting White House pressure affected the judgment that the air was clean.-------------------------------------------
Investigations into death at dam prompt policy changes By Crysta Parkinson, The Star of Grand Coulee, WA
A second report was written by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local #77 Accident Investigator Mark Wilson.
'This accident could have been prevented had the Bureau enforced their clearance procedures, or had the contractor known the parameters of his clearance area, had he waited until clearance was actually signed off by both parties,' Wilson wrote. 'Had he simply verified that his work area was opened, tested, and grounded, this...fatal accident could have been avoided.'-------------------------------------------
November Election Will Determine the Fate of the NLRB Labor Research Association
The struggle that unions endure to ensure bargaining rights for relatively small numbers of workers underscores the need for a revitalized NLRB, active support for card-check recognition and passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. This need will not be met if a Bush-controlled NLRB remains in place.-------------------------------------------
:: Sunday, October 10, 2004 ::Bush's Mystery Bulge By Dave Lindorff, Salon.com
The rumor is flying around the globe. Was the president wired during the first debate?-------------------------------------------
Dozens Of Striking Casino Workers Arrested 1010 Wins, NY
In a raucous but nonviolent demonstration, they marched off the Boardwalk and into an intersection two blocks away, where those who had volunteered in advance to be arrested sat in a circle in the street, surrounded by cheering members of Local 54 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union.
Ten minutes later, police began arresting them one by one, beginning with Local 54 President Robert McDevitt, Vice President Al Cohen, UNITE HERE executive John Wilhelm and 65-year-old Chhitu Patel, a bald, bespectacled Gandhi lookalike who wore flowing white robes and sandals and carried a 5-foot-tall wooden staff.-------------------------------------------
Plan for new hangar at Republic slammed BY JENNIFER SMITH, Newsday, NY
Standing in front of a giant inflatable rat at a union picket site outside Republic Airport, Babylon Supervisor Steve Bellone again criticized the state-owned airport at a news conference Thursday, accusing airport officials of violating state environmental laws by building a new 30,000-foot hangar -- and using nonunion labor to boot.-------------------------------------------
Crane collapse crushes man to death in Southie Boston Herald
An ironworker was crushed to death by a construction crane that collapsed at a South Boston work site yesterday, leaving the helpless man trapped for several frantic moments while laborers rushed to his side, witnesses said.
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from the Boston Globe: Authorities identified the ironworker as Adam Boudreau, a member of Ironworkers Local 7.-------------------------------------------
Safety Equipment Use in Construction on the Rise Occupational Hazards
'Hard hats, safety vests and safety shoes and boots continue to be the most commonly used types of PPE, with more than two-thirds of construction workers wearing them when needed,' said Jim McKeen, president of Strategic Marketing Associates, which conducted the survey. 'Face shields, protective coveralls and respirators are regularly worn when needed by the smallest percentages, about 45 percent each. However, those three PPE types all showed significant increases from the earlier studies.-------------------------------------------
Element K Provides Online Workplace Safety Training to More Than 10,000 Owens Corning Employees press release
The agreement plays a role in Owens Corning's 'One Safe Company' corporate initiative -- a commitment to an injury and accident-free career for all employees -- by providing employees with standardized, up-to-date, and accessible workplace safety training. It also provides Owens Corning with a centralized, trackable, and cost-effective manner to distribute training that maps against OSHA regulations through its current learning management system.-------------------------------------------
:: Saturday, October 09, 2004 ::Trust fund bill would exclude many asbestos victims By Andrew Schneider, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
'None of this makes sense. Why should workers with asbestosis but less than five years' exposure be left without any recourse?' questioned Joel Shufro, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a nonprofit training and advocacy group with a membership of some 250 union organizations. 'Under the Hatch bill, someone who gets asbestosis from nonoccupational exposure will lose all right to compensation, even though the ATS criteria states, as we know perfectly well, that children and spouses of workers exposed to asbestos can, and do, get asbestosis from the fibers that get tracked into homes and cars.'-------------------------------------------
BuildSite Gives Contractors Easy, Online Access to Jobsite MSDS BUSINESS WIRE
Here's how it works: BuildSite's comprehensive, online database provides product and technical information from more than 200 manufacturers. Contractors can search for materials by MSDS code and aggregate the data sheets electronically into a "book." This book can then be printed in hard copy for safety managers to carry with them, and it can be e-mailed or electronically faxed to field staff. Additionally, e-copies are archived online for future use on other projects.-------------------------------------------
Economy excavating company trench death leads to fine Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Workers were digging a trench for a sewer line.
OSHA cited the company for violations concerning the trench's lack of shoring, the use of a gas-powered jackhammer without proper precautions and the absence of hard hats and eye and face protection.
Under federal law, trenches more than 5 feet deep must be properly shored.-------------------------------------------
OSHA Cites Florida Contractor for Exposing Workers to Excavation Hazards Occupational Hazards
The company was also cited for allegedly failing to provide proper protective equipment, such as rubber gloves and boots, to employees working in an excavation where raw sewage and rainwater had accumulated. Employees were also allegedly exposed to 'struck-by' hazards from soil-filled buckets being lifted over their heads and from excavating machinery operating too close to the edge of the excavation. The agency has proposed penalties totaling $11,000 for these violations.-------------------------------------------
Homeowners say shoddy = soggy By JENNIFER LIBERTO, St. Petersburg Times
County contractor licensing investigator Ron Aliff said he also received a few similar water damage complaints about houses built by Maronda Homes. But the commonality was that nearly all the water-damaged homes were constructed of cement blocks and stucco.
The problem is that neither cement block nor the 'cementitious finish' that passes for stucco is fully waterproof by itself, stucco contractors say. A protective sealant or paint coated over the stucco keeps water out. Even when applied adequately and liberally, the sealant wears off after a few years.-------------------------------------------
Tent city: life among workers in Florida's long recovery Christian Science Monitor
Indeed, through 60 days of hurricanes, the hundreds of workers for Pike Electric have seen it all: They've spent nights in their trucks, taken over a whole campground in southern Alabama after hurricane Ivan blew through, and slept practically on top of each other in whatever hotel rooms they could find.
Pulling 17-hour days, seven days a week, they don't pay much attention to making their quarters feel like home. They've come from as far away as the high plains of west Texas to cut, pull, splice and dig - making as much as $2,000 a week.-------------------------------------------
:: Friday, October 08, 2004 ::Utah miners mark one year of union-organizing battle The Militant
The bosses fired the 75 Co-Op miners on Sept. 22, 2003, for defending a co-worker who had been dismissed and other UMWA supporters who had been harassed after demanding safety on the job and livable wages. These miners were paid between $5.25 and $7 an hour, while wages for underground coal miners in the United States average around $17 an hour.
The day after the firings, the UMWA filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the NLRB, which ruled in late spring that the miners had been dismissed illegally and that a union election must be held at Co-Op. Soon after the firings, the miners turned the lockout into a strike and began picketing the mine.
During the nine-and-a-half month walkout, the miners won increasing solidarity from the labor movement in the United States and other countries. After the NLRB ruling, the Co-Op bosses made an unconditional offer to return, and a number of strikers were back on the job on July 12.-------------------------------------------
Surrendering the Shop Floor Means Surrendering the Future by Charley Richardson, Labor Notes
Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, is famous for having said that if he had his way, he would put his factories on barges and drag them around the world, in search of the lowest wages and least regulation.
Jack Welch’s dream of infinitely mobile factories is one in which the workforce has been made irrelevant—where workers have little or no control over the production process, have become replaceable cogs in a management-controlled machine, and have lost key sources of leverage.
In many ways Jack Welch’s vision is becoming a reality, as advances in technology and work organization allow management to take increasing control over work processes and ultimately put work on “electronic barges” (through a combination of computerization and telecommunications)—moving it around the world at will. The failure of unions to take on the restructuring of the workplace is a disaster for workers’ future.-------------------------------------------
Keep Noranda Canadian Editorial, The Sudbury Star
Federal government must prevent Chinese government’s purchase of mining giant
Recent allegations about Minmetals’ use of prison labour adds a new dimension to its proposed takeover of Noranda. Allegations have arisen that Minmetals and its subsidiaries frequently use Laogai, or “gulag”, labour to produce goods for export.-------------------------------------------
"Take a breather - How to avoid toxins in the workplace." New York Teacher
New York State United Teachers saw a need for educators to have a ready source of answers to these questions. After researching the issues, staffers developed health and safety checklists, weaving in recommendations from experts in the visual arts and sciences.
The checklists are on NYSUT's Web site at www.nysut.org.
'Use the checklist to see if you've got the right equipment, are using the least toxic materials and have effective safety procedures in place,' explained Wendy Hord, NYSUT health and safety specialist.-------------------------------------------
Business and Labor Voice Dissatisfaction With OSHA Ergonomics Today
In a nutshell, said non-profit group OMB Watch, during the past three and half years, OSHA has forged 231 long-term alliances, 214 active partnerships, and 1,153 voluntary protection program sites. But as for actually regulating, said the group, OSHA has done little other than withdraw some rules that were in development and wipe its slate clean.
That, said OMB Watch along with labor groups including the AFL-CIO, means that OSHA isn’t actively participating in a key part of the agency’s mission – enforcement. But OSHA’s Administrator John Henshaw countered that the current administration’s more voluntary approach has resulted in a drop in workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses.-------------------------------------------
:: Thursday, October 07, 2004 ::Tree-ring fingerprint enables old houses to be dated ic SurreyOnline.co.uk, UK
The technique being used to date the buildings is known as dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, a science that often enables the date of a timber-framed building to be identified with great accuracy.
Dendrochronology works by drilling six to eight cores, the size of a pencil, from selected beams.
The tree-rings on these cores are then examined under a micro-scope. Some tree-rings are wide, some narrow depending on the growing conditions in that particular year. This pattern forms a 'finger print' for that period, enabling a felling date to be calculated.
Experts who study the finger prints believe that carpenters almost always built with what they term 'green' oak, making it likely that a building's construction date is within a year or so of the felling date.-------------------------------------------
Statement of Edwin D. Hill, International President, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers U.S. Newswire
In the October 5 debate between the vice presidential candidates, incumbent Vice President Richard Cheney noted that he had once carried a ticket in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. This happened during his stint on a utility line crew in Wyoming.
We suspect that the vice president likes to raise his old connection with us because he knows that the workers who have stood together as part of the IBEW and other unions have done more to raise the standard of living in this nation than any other movement in our nation's history. The card that the vice president carried was his ticket to decent wages and benefits for the fruits of his labor. Undoubtedly, the money he earned as a union worker helped him achieve his goals in life, as it has done for so many other IBEW members since 1891. It's too bad that the vice president now wants to pull up the ladder and deny that same opportunity to others.
We wish we had done a better job instilling these union values and principles in the young Dick Cheney when we had the chance. Perhaps then he would not so relentlessly pursue policies that have caused catastrophic job losses and inflicted tremendous pain on countless working families.-------------------------------------------
U.S. consumers of Canadian lumber urge feds to stay course in softwood dispute By STEPHEN THORNE, CBC
Members of American Consumers for Affordable Homes, which include heavyweights such as Home Depot big-box stores and a host of umbrella groups, were in Ottawa this week trying persuade Canadian legislators to stand firm. The trip came on the heels of a NAFTA-ordered reversal of an International Trade Commission ruling that Canadian industry practices were unfair and threatened injury to U.S. competitors.-------------------------------------------
Florida GOP workers claim intimidation by labor protesters The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Dozens of union activists showed up at the Bush-Cheney campaign offices in Miami, Orlando and Tampa to deliver postcards from people opposed to the Bush administration regulations that they claim would threaten the overtime payments of chefs, nurses, police officers, journalists, athletic trainers, lower-level computer employees.
Similar protests organized by labor unions occurred in other cities around the nation.-------------------------------------------
Sky-high drug prices create unlikely outlaws By CHRISTOPHER CAREY, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The retired steelworker suffers from asbestosis and other ailments that rob him of breath and sap his strength.
He lost his health insurance when his former employer, LTV Corp. of Cleveland, went bankrupt and the company that bought its assets refused to pick up coverage for retirees.
The only way Miller, 66, can afford the drugs he needs is to cross the border into Canada, where government price controls and a favorable monetary exchange rate mean that some medicines cost half as much as they do in his Ohio hometown.-------------------------------------------
:: Wednesday, October 06, 2004 ::Pay bid for building apprentices By KIM MACDONALD, The West Australian
But CFMEU national secretary John Sutton said the wage boost was desperately needed - about half of all apprentices dropped out in the first six months because of low pay.
"The pay is appalling," he said. "These kids can make better money working at McDonald's or stacking shelves at supermarkets."
WA branch secretary Kevin Reynolds said that under the proposal, apprentices would still be much cheaper than many tradesmen.
"These (building) companies are relying on group training schemes to rip kids off," he said.-------------------------------------------
Trade unions say lack of work handicaps efforts to diversify By PHIL FAIRBANKS, Buffalo News
With about 25 unemployed African-American men looking on, local union officials and their critics Monday debated the unions' record in integrating their rank-and-file membership, one of the goals of the $1 billion school construction project.
'We've just found out the numbers aren't there, in reality or on paper,' said Ross, president of the Black Chamber of Commerce of Western New York. 'We need to redo this whole thing.'
Ross was referring to local statistics, released last month, that show one out of every 10 unionized construction workers is a minority and one out of 50 is a woman.
The numbers offer a glimpse at the racial and gender makeup of the building trade unions as they try to diversify their membership.
'There's ongoing recruitment among the locals all the time,' said Burke, president of Carpenters Local 289 in Cheektowaga.-------------------------------------------
Making it home safe by Jennifer Lee, Calgary Sun
“We want to educate our customers and make them aware of the hazards of a job site,” says Gladney, adding home construction sites are a pitfall of potential accidents, with open holes and heavy-duty machinery part of the construction scene. “We present our homebuyers with a site visit agreement form and educate them on the hazards of the job site.”
For example, visiting a homesite late in the day can lead to dire consequences — without power or light, it’s easy to miss open holes.
“It’s safer to visit the home after the lock-up stage, where you can get the house key from our sales centre, which will provide you with hard hats, safety vests and steel-toe caps,” says Gladney.-------------------------------------------
