"Archives"
The archives contains stories recently featured on the PA AFL-CIO front page.
International Human Rights Day
Since 1998, the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, people worldwide began observing December 10 as International Human Rights Day. This year, AFL-CIO unions will commemorate International Human Rights Day by mobilizing union members, community leaders and other responsible persons to press for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act that would stop widespread suppression of workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain collectively.
Employee Free Choice Act passes U.S. House
Friday, March 2, 2007
The Democrat led U.S. House of Representatives approved, 241-185, H.R. 800, Employee Free Choice Act, without weakening amendments restoring the freedom to organize and taking a very important step in expanding economic opportunity for millions of workers.
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George said it is a monumental victory in our efforts to restore America's middle class and values. Both President George and Secretary-Treasurer Rick Bloomingdale credited the dedication and activism of
thousands of union leaders and activists both here in Pennsylvania and across the nation, who devoted the resources and energy during the mid-term elections - Labor 2006 - in successfully electing new members of Congress and new leadership in the U.S. House and Senate whom are delivering on their promises of putting working
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| H.R. 800 will allow more freedom to organize |
family issues at the top of the Congressional agenda. He also thanked the Area Labor Federations, Central Labor Councils and Local and International Unions who continue to work push labor's legislative issues in Washington and Harrisburg.
The week before the vote over 100 worker roundtables and thank you events across the nation including events in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Johnstown, Wilkes-Barre and Harrisburg were held during the National Week of Action, underscoring the need for the legislation. We know that there is much work that still needs to be done to make these desperately needed freedoms a reality for 60 million workers who would join the union today if they had the chance.
The legislation faces a likely filibuster in the U.S. Senate and a Bush veto. But House passage is a symbolic victory to use in building even more momentum and grassroots activism in advancing the legislation and in electing a President and a veto proof Congress that supports workers.
Twelve of the nineteen members of Pennsylvania's House delegation, including all eleven Democratic members and one Republican member, sided with the working families in voting for the bill, which was approved by the House 241-185 today. Please thank these members for all of their support!
Jason Altmire (CD 4), Bob Brady( CD 1), Chris Carney(CD 10), Mike Doyle (CD 14), Chaka Fattah (CD 2), Tim Holden (CD 17), Paul Kanjorski (CD 11), Patrick Murphy(CD 8), Tim Murphy(CD 18), John Murtha (CD 12), Allyson Schwartz (CD 13), and Joe Sestak (CD 7).
Building On Successes at 2007 Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Legislative Conference
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| President Bill George |
The air in Washington and in Harrisburg is a little bit cleaner for working families thanks to the election victories workers achieved in Labor 2006, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President William George declared in his opening address to over 300 union representatives attending the Legislative Conference last week. But this is just the first step. It’s our time to keep the momentum going to ensure legislative victories and future political victories for workers in Washington and Harrisburg.
It’s a clear choice between an economy that caters to corporate interests and greed or changing direction and rebuilding our middle class, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Bloomingdale said. We must make sure that the promises made do become reality for working families, Bloomingdale said.
United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees International President Gerald McEntee both thanked the labor movement of Pennsylvania for changing the leadership and the direction of the Congress.
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| Sec./Treas. Rick Bloomingdale |
Both McEntee and Gerard asked union members to talk to their members of Congress about denying President Bush an extension of Fast Track Trade Authority which ends in June if the Congress doesn’t approve an extension. Congress should not give up their authority to review and amend trade agreements negotiated by the President but they will if they don’t hear from the people who elected them. The United States is experiencing record trade deficits with countries like China which engage in unfair trade practices including violations of human/worker rights and currency manipulation. Congress needs to exercise its authority to protect the jobs living standards and rights of workers both here and around the world.
Congressman Joe Sestak; State Representatives Bob Belfanti, Jr. and Eugene DiGirolamo; David Fillman, Executive Director, AFSCME Council 13 and Rosemarie Greco, Director of the Governor's Office of Health Care Reform also addressed the conference.
The conference mapped out federal and state legislative goals in the areas of: quality, affordable health care, pension and retirement security, fair trade policies, protecting jobs, funding for Pa.'s transportation systems, building trades licensure, anti-Tabor legislation, utility restabilization and mine safety overhaul. Conference delegates also reviewed and finalized plans for developing a permanent grassroots legislative strategy utilizing Area Labor Federation Field Staff, Central Labor Councils and Local Unions.
Harley Workers Overwhelmingly Approve Contract
Thursday, February 22, 2007
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IAM & AW Local 175 members at Harley-Davidson Inc.'s largest manufacturing plant overwhelmingly approved a new labor agreement on Thursday, February 22 ending a strike that halted motorcycle production for three weeks. Eighty-three percent of those who voted endorsed the contract, which calls for a 12 percent wage increase over three years, the union said in a statement. Starting wages for new employees will be lower, but they will be able to advance to the same maximum rate earned by current employees.
Under the new deal, workers won't pay health care premiums, but their deductibles and co-payments will be higher, the company said. Also, the company will reduce its matching of optional contributions made by new employees to the pension plan.
"This agreement is a significant improvement over the proposal rejected by workers earlier this month," said Tom Boger, Directing Business Representative of IAM & AW District 98. Thursday's vote came nearly a week after the company and the union announced a tentative agreement.
For more news or information log onto the IAM Tyson Lodge Local 175 web site here:
Unions Show Support for Locked Out Harley Workers
Monday, February 12, 2007
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| Image Courtesy The York Dispatch |
As the lock-out of 2,700 Harley-Davidson workers, members of Machinists Union Lodge 175 continues, support for the workers continues to pour in from around the nation, as well as from many area unions. When Hershey Foods Workers were on strike in April 2002, Harley Davidson workers, as well as many area unions joined their picket lines in support of their struggle.
This past week members of Hershey Workers Local 464 joined Harley-Davidson workers on their picket lines and also donated hand warmers, foot warmers and monetary gifts. The Hershey workers will be back again this weekend joining the works on the picket line. York County Children and Youth Services workers, members of SEIU Local 668 PSSU, provided hot dogs and coffee to the workers and more are on the way.
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| Image Courtesy The York Dispatch |
An unknown Teamsters local union provided pizza and scores of individual union members and friends have donated hot coffee and donuts. Area merchants and businesses including Lone Star Steakhouse have provided hot food including spare ribs to picket lines.
Hundreds of e-mails in support of the workers and their fight for good jobs, decent wages and protecting health care are pouring in every day to the union’s web-site from all around the country. The Harley-Davidson Local Union web-site has posted a request for portable heaters. They can be brought to the Command Trailer at Kelly’s or you could call the IAM District 98 Office at (717) 600-1198.
The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO encourages all unions and friends to show their full support for the workers in their struggle to gain a fair contract with Harley-Davidson.
For local news coverage, click on any of the following links:
The York Daily Record
The York Dispatch
WGAL NBC 8 - TV
WPMT FOX 43 -TV
For news, information and/or to send an e-mail message of support, log onto the IAM Tyson Lodge Local 175 web site here:
PA AFL-CIO Endorses Bob Casey Jr. for U.S. Senate
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President William George today announced the AFL-CIO's endorsement of Pennsylvania State Treasurer Robert P. Casey, Jr. for United States Senate. The early endorsement was made by the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Executive Council, meeting in Harrisburg.
"We are headed in the wrong direction," George declared. "President Bush and his allies in the Congress, led by Senator Rick Santorum, are rolling back decades of progress for working families. Their proposal to privatize social security jeopardizes the retirement and economic security of millions of working families. Recent passage of CAFTA will result in the loss of thousands of more good jobs and lower living standards for Pennsylvania's working families. Every day more workers lose their health care and sink into poverty, while President Bush and Senator Rick Santorum continue attacking good jobs, decent wages, and benefits of hardworking men and women," George said.
"It's time to set a new direction for the nation and it begins in Pennsylvania by electing Bob Casey to the U.S. Senate and sending Rick Santorum back to his home in Virginia," George emphasized. More
Rick Santorum's Anti-Worker Record
Read the sorry truth about Rick Santorum's shameful anti-worker record in the U.S. Senate. more
No Suprise to AFL-CIO that Wal-Mart Workers use Medicaid
Of Pennsylvania's 10 largest employers, Wal-Mart has the highest percentage of employees enrolled in the state medical assistance program for the poor and disabled.
About one in six of Wal-Mart's 48,000 employees are enrolled in the Medicaid insurance program, at a total cost to the state of more than $15 million a year, according to state data.
The retailers with the second- and third-largest numbers of employees in the state, Giant Food Stores L.L.C. and Weis Markets Inc., have a roughly similar ratio of workers on Medicaid. By contrast, UPS, the state's fourth-largest private employer, has one in 17.5 workers on Medicaid.
These figures, provided to The Inquirer by the Department of Public Welfare at the newspaper's request, reflect full- and part-time workers. The agency did not issue figures for employees' dependents on Medicaid, which would likely significantly increase the number of the program's recipients and its costs.
The data will add fuel to the debate, which may be part of today's budget hearing in Harrisburg, over whether too many employees at the nation's largest retailer are relying on public assistance.
State Rep. Jake Wheatley (D., Allegheny) said yesterday he would ask the state Department of Public Welfare today to investigate whether corporations are abusing the tax-funded Medicaid program.
"We need to protect taxpayers from subsidizing large corporations that can afford to provide health care to their employees," Wheatley said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. yesterday defended the company's benefits plan as one that has "helped thousands of Americans on public assistance gain access to private health care."
Kelly Hobbs said the company had recently announced a health-care program that is more affordable and reduces the wait for eligibility.
Hobbs also questioned the department's release to The Inquirer of what she termed partial data, saying any state report on Medicaid recipients should include all employers, both governmental and private.
Wal-Mart, with 1.3 million employees in the United States, reported revenue of $316 billion and profit of $11.2 billion in its latest fiscal year.
President Bill George stated, “Wal-Mart fights to keep wages and benefits low by busting workers’ attempts to form unions. The company agreed to pay $135,540 to settle federal charges for breaking child labor laws, has paid thousands of dollars to workers who were subject to racial discrimination and faces a class action suit for discrimination in paying women employees an average of $5,000 less than men for doing the same jobs.”
“Wal-Mart can afford to do better,” Wal-Mart is the largest private employer with $10.3 billion in profits in 2004. CEO Lee Scott received a $22.9 million pay package in 2004,” said Secretary-Treasurer, Rick Bloomingdale.
“Millions in public dollars subsidize the company to provide public services, including health care to thousands of uninsured Wal-Mart employees who cannot afford health care for their families,” Bloomingdale said.
“Wal-Mart’s success is based upon low-wages, low benefits, destruction of good jobs, millions in corporate welfare, lower living standards, and quality of life for working families. Wal-Mart is a bad corporate citizen we must make the Company more responsible by informing, motivating, and supporting the work of consumers, workers, community activists, and elected officials who, together, will demand reform in their hometowns,” said George.
New York Times Poll Shows Americans Rejecting Bush Agenda
61 percent say country is moving in the wrong direction.
Economy and jobs is top issue of concern.
In a poll by the New York Times published on June 17, President George W. Bush received one the lowest approval ratings for a president in June of his second term. 51 percent of those surveyed said they disapproved of the way the president is handling his job. Only 25 percent said they approved of the way Mr. Bush was handling Social Security and 45 percent said the more they heard about the Bush plan, the less they liked it. Only 19 percent said that Congress "shared their priorities," suggesting that the GOP agenda has now been rejected by an overwhelming majority of Americans. MORE
American Workers Lose Ground as CEOs Make Record Salaries
American workers saw an overall wage increase of just 2.5 percent in 2004 as average prices rose 2.7 percent. The Wall Street Journal reports that the pay of CEOs on the job for at least 2 years increased by 14.5% percent last year to an average of $2,470,600. The increase was the largest since the newspaper started tracking CEO pay in 1989.
PA AFL-CIO President Bill George Speaks to Minimum Wage Rally
Bill George, president of the PA AFL-CIO, expressed the labor federation's support for increasing the minimum wage at a rally in the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg on June 22nd. MORE
New Legislation Would Require Hospitals to Take Action on Hospital-Acquired Infections
State Rep. Tony DeLuca has introduced legislation designed to encourage hospitals to take more action to prevent the spread of hospital-acquired infections to patients. Approximately 103,000 Americans die each year from hospital-acquired infections.
PA AFL-CIO President William M. George spoke out in support of Rep. DeLuca’s legislation stating, “We need to stand together and take this necessary step in controlling health care costs. Rep. DeLuca’s bill will benefit everyone concerned, the insurance companies, the hospitals, the insured, and most importantly the patients.” MORE