January 29 News Update

Each Monday-Friday, by 9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten articles a month.
Ruling on Labor Board a Bid to Return to Era of Open Season on Workers
Join a Rally to Protect Our Future on Jan. 30
The Rise of the Permanent Temp Economy
GM investing $600 million to improve Fairfax paint in KCK
'Charities' Funnel Millions to Climate-Change Denial
The High Stakes of Native Resistance
Chinese miners sent home in B.C. workers dispute
B.C. First Nations send warnings over gas pipelines
Over 800 attend Idle No More rally at Manitoba legislature
'I got it wrong on climate change – it's far, far worse'

January 28 Week In Review

Week In Review

January 28 2013

by Bill Onasch

Dense Top–Sieve Below

I don’t blame the hard working professionals belonging to AFGE but nearly all news these days from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is bad. This past week an annual report on union membership revealed union density–the unionized share of the workforce, now standing at 11.3 percent–is the lowest in ninety-seven years. Since there were few public sector unions in 1916, it’s safe to conclude that the present 6.6 percent density in the private sector is the lowest since anybody has kept track.

In many respects density is a more telling indicator of union health than the total number of union members. Membership rolls can fluctuate due to market cycles largely beyond control of traditional collective bargaining.

Other factors have long been in play that affect both measures.

* Since Bill Clinton drove through NAFTA in 1993, later followed up by the China trade deal, unionized employers in North America have offshored the work of millions.

* Conversely, capital from outside the USA opened “transplants” here–rapidly winning market share in auto, rubber, and other industries while remaining mostly nonunion.

* And, of course, technology has greatly reduced the number of jobs in manufacturing even as the USA remains an industrial powerhouse, and the same goes in rail and longshore despite an explosion of global trade.

Unions can, and once did adjust to a changing composition of the workforce. One of America’s biggest unions retains the archaic name of Teamsters. Except for UPS deliveries on Mackinac Island–where motorized vehicles are banned–no members of this union any longer hold reins of horse-drawn wagons. The Teamsters made the adjustment to motorized trucks. Later, prodded by organizing successes of the Minnesota leadership that emerged after the 1934 Minneapolis strikes, the IBT expanded beyond their traditional base of elite driver-salesmen to embrace the entire trucking and warehouse industry, inside and out. In recent years they also attracted two major rail unions to merge in to their ranks and even have contracts here and there in manufacturing, printing and public sector jobs.

January 28 News Update

Each Monday-Friday, by 9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten articles a month.

House returns as Idle No More protesters gather
Canadians want change on aboriginal policy, poll suggests

Still on Strike, a Bus Union Sees a Threat to Its Culture *
Talks in Bus Strike Are Set; City Isn’t Taking Part *

Bangladesh Factory Fire That Killed 7 Made European Brands *
Barge with 80,000 gallons oil hits bridge, leaks
Greek workers plan further strikes
More Than 300 Labor Board Decisions Could Be Nullified *
General Motors’ turnaround bolsters Fairfax plant
Beef labeling rule is caught in bureaucratic limbo
Twin Cities janitors, security officers prepare for possible strike
Workers over 55 nearly half of Alberta labour force
Alberta union warns against job cuts to solve money woes
Vale won't be charged in mine worker's death
Athens 10-day metro strike ends
Thousands join hospital closure demo
Child labour found at Apple suppliers
EU carbon price crashes to record low
U.S. Envoy Apologizes for Ship’s Grounding on Philippine Coral Reef *
Wife of Female Army Officer Can Join Spouses Club*
Court Overturns EPA’s Biofuels Mandate *
Energy-Guzzling Cities Changing Weather 1,000 Miles Away
St. Francis Xavier University faculty on strike
Bulgaria nuclear vote 'invalid'
Teaching shake-up strike threat
The path to government inefficiency is paved with threats of spending cuts
An Oil Boom Takes a Toll on Health Care *

January 25 News Update

Each Monday-Friday, by 9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten articles a month.

Athens hit by transport strike after police raid
Penalty could keep smokers out of health overhaul
With lockouts on the rise, state lawmakers weigh social, economic impacts
MLK-Themed Action Perturbs Cablevision Managers
Senators Urge Pipeline Approval Amid Groundswell Against Tar Sands
Sign White House Petition Urging Action on Silica Dust Rule
Is a united and effective climate movement possible?
B.C. teachers' union opposes premier's 10-year plan
Belfast's last working linen factory closes
Airlines 'made billions in windfall profits' from EU carbon tax
Don't buy South African wines: striking workers' plea to foreign consumers
Chinese Graduates Say No Thanks to Factory Jobs *
Judge Orders HCA to Pay $162 Million to Foundation *

January 24 News Update

Each Monday-Friday, by 9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten articles a month.

Union membership declined in 2012
Trumka Reacts to 2012 BLS Numbers on Union Membership
Share of the Work Force in a Union Falls to a 97-Year Low *

Chief Theresa Spence to end hunger strike today
How Much Will Tar Sands Oil Add to Global Warming?
In Walmart and Fast Food, Unions Scaling Up a Strike-First Strategy
Warehouse Strategies Squeeze Walmart’s Pressure Points
Google Report Shows 'Disturbing Growth in Government Surveillance'
Climate Crisis Pushes Sierra Club to End Civil Disobedience Ban
Melting Glaciers Could Spell Continental Water Crisis in South America
OSHA, BNSF reach accord over whistleblowers
Spain young jobless rate hits 55%
First Overwhelmed by the Hurricane, Now Struggling to Fight Off the Cold *

January 23 News Update

Each Monday-Friday, by 9AM Central, we’ll post links to news stories and analytical articles of interest to working people. Sometimes they will be accompanied by editorial commentary. Stories from the New York Times will be followed with a *. The Times pay wall policy allows free access to only about ten articles a month.

New York Teacher Evaluation Talks Break Down
Fracking destroys our health, climate
Record Support as Roe v. Wade Turns 40
Bus drivers are unjustly targeted by Mayor Bloomberg
Governor of Nebraska Backs Route for Pipeline *
Many Medicaid Patients Could Face Higher Fees *
Postal Service Losing Out on Federal Contracts *

January 22 Week In Review

Week In Review
January 22, 2013

by Bill Onasch

The Circumstances of All the Pomp

The “public” component of the second inauguration of President Obama dominates the news in this country. Reflecting the watchword of austerity, yesterday’s spectacle was not quite as lavish as the first. There were only two Inaugural Balls instead of ten four years ago. Fewer bus loads from the hinterland were subsidized and only about a quarter of the number of spectators–about a half-million-- braved the elements on the Mall.

But like four years ago, the ceremony closest to a coronation as Americans ever get upstaged a national holiday honoring Dr Martin Luther King Jr. This calendar bonus for the handlers of the nation’s first Black President was helpful in their drive to transform King’s legacy as a great fighter for civil and worker rights in to an icon as dull and lifeless as his unflattering statue, also on the Mall.

I devoted the entire January 19, 2009 Week In Review to examining the struggles that King, along with trade unionists such as A Philip Randolph, and nationalists such as Malcolm X, led that, among other civil rights accomplishments, won voting rights for millions of African-Americans. The President acknowledges that he could never have been elected to the highest position in the land without those battles.