Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO POV section.

Privacy is dead. Get over it. So says Scott McNealy, former president Sun Microsystems.

He’s right. Workplace privacy is dead and buried. Employers can and do read e-mail, eavesdrop on telephone calls, monitor Internet access, and watch workers with hidden cameras (even in bathrooms and locker rooms). Virtually all of this is legal. Technically, employers aren’t supposed to listen to personal telephone calls, but it happens all the time and you have no way of knowing. Some judges have found bathroom cameras to be an invasion of privacy, but other judges allow it.

As bad as this is, it’s getting worse. Bosses are now spying on workers’ home lives. Millions of workers carry company-issued cell phones. Every one of these phones is equipped with GPS. The technology required to track cell phones is readily available and not very expensive. The cost of tracking an employee 24/7 is only $5 a month. Employers often keep GPS tracking a secret, or tell the workers they can turn off the GPS when they go home and continue to track them. The National Workrights Institute (NWI), has already begun receiving complaints about GPS.

Even more serious are the problems created by company-issued laptops. Employers usually tell workers it’s o.k. to use them for personal purposes as well as business. It’s presented as a perk—now you don’t need to buy your own computer.

What employers don’t tell you is that the company’s computer technicians look at your private documents when the computer comes in for upgrading or repair. Not only are your personal e-mail, photographs, and financial records revealed, but the techs tell your boss about anything they don’t like. If you say something negative about the company, tell risqué jokes, or make controversial comments about politics or religion, it can cost you your job.

If you think your boss wouldn’t fire you for something like this, think again. Heidi Arace was fired by PNC bank for telling an off-color joke by e-mail. Nate Fulmer lost his job because he criticized organized religion on his personal website.

The ultimate nightmare comes from webcams. If your company-issued laptop has a webcam, bosses can turn it on whenever they want. If they do it at night, they’ll probably see the inside of your house, maybe your bedroom. A suburban Philadelphia school district was recently caught turning on the webcams in laptops issued to students. Some were in the student’s bedroom.

Unionized workers have some protection against these abuses. While the law on GPS is still emerging, many labor lawyers believe GPS tracking is a mandatory subject of bargaining. Union members are also protected against arbitrary termination. It would be highly unlikely an arbitrator would uphold the termination of a worker who turned off the GPS when they went off duty. Nor would an arbitrator allow an employer to fire a union worker because they said something on their personal blog the boss didn’t like.

But for the rest of us, these practices are legal. Congress has been asleep at the switch when it comes to protecting privacy for the past 20 years. The last federal privacy law was enacted in 1986 and doesn’t even mention electronic communications other than telephone calls. Since then, advancing technology and employer abuse have eliminated any semblance of privacy at work. It’s time for Congress to wake up and take action before our private lives become an open book to employers as well.

Lewis Maltby is president and founder of the National Workrights Institute (NWI), a human rights organization committed to workplace issues, and author of the new book, Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace.

The manipulation of its currency by China’s government is the major problem facing American manufacturing. It’s past time the U.S. government muster the will to take strong action, even imposing emergency tariffs, to level the playing field, several experts, including economist Paul Krugman and United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, said yesterday. 

Speaking at the forum on “Currency Manipulation: How Should the U.S. Respond?” sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) with the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), Robert Scott, EPI’s senior economist, said China’s currency manipulation has cost between 1.5 million  and 3 million good American manufacturing jobs.

Fred Bergsten, director of the conservative Peterson Institute for International Economics, added:

If there is going to be a serious jobs program, the exchange rate of the dollar must be at the center of the debate.    

The methods that previous administrations have used to deal with the problem, which include “sweet reason,” have not worked, Scott said, and it’s time we “use a baseball bat” and impose strong tariffs on imports from countries such as China that undervalue their currencies. 

The AFL-CIO, U.S. manufacturers and many economic experts maintain that China deliberately undervalues its currency to keep the value artificially low so it can boost exports and discourage imports—running up the U.S. trade deficit and costing good American jobs. An AFL-CIO report shows China’s fixed currency rate artificially lowers the price of its goods by 40 percent, effectively subsidizing China’s exports, putting U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage and creating a record trade deficit.   

Scott and Gerard said the United States needs a multistep approach to rebuilding our manufacturing. First, the U.S. Treasury Department must declare China as a country that manipulates currency, which would set off a process by which the administration can impose trade penalties. Next, Congress and the Obama administration must do what previous administrations have not done since the Nixon and Reagan years and impose tariffs on goods made in China.

William Jones, chairman of Cummins-Allison Corp. in Chicago, said that unless the playing field is leveled in currency markets, more and more businesses will close.

Detroit is our future if we don’t wake up and smell the coffee.

He says our lawmakers are living in a dream world and don’t seem to realize that China and other nations are not playing by the rules of free trade.

Krugman, a Nobel laureate, says it’s imperative to act now because the world economy is in worse shape than it ever has been and the capital surplus that China has built up through its currency manipulation “comes at the expense of everyone else.” He points out that other countries like India and Mexico are suffering even worse job losses than the United States because of China’s currency policy.  

But fixing the China currency problem is not the final solution, Gerard said. The nation also needs a national manufacturing policy. The American people were sold “a bill of goods” by Wall Street that we could prosper by deregulating financial markets and focusing on free trade—both have failed miserably, he said.

The manipulation of its currency by China’s government is the major problem facing American manufacturing. It’s past time the U.S. government muster the will to take strong action, even imposing emergency tariffs, to level the playing field, several experts, including economist Paul Krugman and United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, said yesterday. 

Speaking at the forum on “Currency Manipulation: How Should the U.S. Respond?” sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) with the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), Robert Scott, EPI’s senior economist, said China’s currency manipulation has cost between 1.5 million  and 3 million good American manufacturing jobs.

Fred Bergsten, director of the conservative Peterson Institute for International Economics, added:

If there is going to be a serious jobs program, the exchange rate of the dollar must be at the center of the debate.    

The methods that previous administrations have used to deal with the problem, which include “sweet reason,” have not worked, Scott said, and it’s time we “use a baseball bat” and impose strong tariffs on imports from countries such as China that undervalue their currencies. 

The AFL-CIO, U.S. manufacturers and many economic experts maintain that China deliberately undervalues its currency to keep the value artificially low so it can boost exports and discourage imports—running up the U.S. trade deficit and costing good American jobs. An AFL-CIO report shows China’s fixed currency rate artificially lowers the price of its goods by 40 percent, effectively subsidizing China’s exports, putting U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage and creating a record trade deficit.   

Scott and Gerard said the United States needs a multistep approach to rebuilding our manufacturing. First, the U.S. Treasury Department must declare China as a country that manipulates currency, which would set off a process by which the administration can impose trade penalties. Next, Congress and the Obama administration must do what previous administrations have not done since the Nixon and Reagan years and impose tariffs on goods made in China.

William Jones, chairman of Cummins-Allison Corp. in Chicago, said that unless the playing field is leveled in currency markets, more and more businesses will close.

Detroit is our future if we don’t wake up and smell the coffee.

He says our lawmakers are living in a dream world and don’t seem to realize that China and other nations are not playing by the rules of free trade.

Krugman, a Nobel laureate, says it’s imperative to act now because the world economy is in worse shape than it ever has been and the capital surplus that China has built up through its currency manipulation “comes at the expense of everyone else.” He points out that other countries like India and Mexico are suffering even worse job losses than the United States because of China’s currency policy.  

But fixing the China currency problem is not the final solution, Gerard said. The nation also needs a national manufacturing policy. The American people were sold “a bill of goods” by Wall Street that we could prosper by deregulating financial markets and focusing on free trade—both have failed miserably, he said.

     

Even though the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has not been confirmed, AFGE is moving ahead quickly with its plans, seeking an election so transportation security officers (TSOs) can join a union.

On Feb. 22, AFGE filed a petition with the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) for an election to allow the 41,000 TSOs to vote on union representation. In 2003, the Bush administration stripped the workers of collective bargaining rights. The FLRA is moving the petition through its election process quicker than usual, AFGE President John Gage said on the “Inside Government” radio show.       

Under law, the TSA administrator will decide if workers can have bargaining rights. The workers would then choose a union to represent them. President Obama this week nominated Maj. Gen. Robert Harding as TSA administrator. The previous nominee, Erroll Southers, withdrew after his nomination was held hostage by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) because DeMint opposes allowing TSA workers the freedom to form a union.

Gage told “Inside Government” today:  

We’re not asking anybody for rights. We have these rights as citizens. We’re basically asking the Congress, the Senate [and] the administration to get out of our way in exercising these rights.  

Download the radio show here.

Click image to view the enlarged version.

The pay gap between female and male workers in this country got a hearing in a Senate committee yesterday. But you wouldn’t even know the hearing happened: The issue apparently doesn’t rank up there with the antics of drunk superstars or foolish golfers to get attention by the corporate media.

Right now, U.S. working women receive 77 cents for every dollar paid to a male worker. The ratio has remained nearly unchanged for years. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has been pushing for more than a decade to pass a paycheck fairness bill, and yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 12/S. 182).

The act would amend the 1963 Equal Pay Act, in a way DeLauro describes as a modest reform “that closes longstanding loopholes” and “stiffens penalties” for employers who discriminate based on gender. (Much of the info on the hearing is based on Daily Labor Report, subscription required.)

So why isn’t the 1963 act good enough?

The premise that current laws are effective is wrong, said Deborah Brake, a University of Pittsburgh law professor. Testifying before the Senate committee, she said most of women’s wage gains in pay relative to men occurred in the 1980s and there has been very little movement since.

Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economist Heather Boushey noted the pay gap starts the minute college grads throw their caps in the air, with newly graduated women earning an average 5 percent less than men who graduated from similar universities and engage in similar work. What then follows is a “career pay gap” of up to $434,000 in lifetime lost earnings for women who are the most educated and have higher-paying jobs.

The persistent gender wage gap is one more step on the ladder toward the nation’s growing income inequality. Unequal income leads to unequal wealth, with the persistent wage gap affecting families’ ability to pay the bills, finance their children’s education, buy a home or save for retirement, Boushey said.

The wealth gap differs from the income gap—it’s a person’s total assets, like pension funds and houses. A report out this week shows how bleak the wealth gap is for women, especially women of color.

Nearly half of all single black and Hispanic women have zero or negative wealth, meaning their debts exceed all their assets. The median wealth for single black women is only $100; for single Hispanic women, $120. This compares to just over $41,000 for single white women. About one- third of single Hispanic women and one-fourth of single black women have no checking or savings account.

The picture gets bleaker when these data are compared with men. Mariko Lin Chang, author of  “Lifting as We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth and America’s Future,” says:

Women of color own only a penny for every dollar of wealth owned by their corresponding men of color, of their same race. And in comparison to white women, women of color own only a fraction of a penny for every dollar of wealth owned by white women.

In short, women of color

face a double wealth disadvantage of being both a person of color and a woman.

In this cross-post from Border Jumpers, Bernard Pollack, who is taking a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to travel through Africa, and Danielle Nierenberg send us another report from their journey through Zimbabwe.

Imagine being one of only five opposition voices in a country of 13 million people, where all radio, print and television is strictly controlled by the government. That’s Ben Madzimure’s uphill battle every day as editor of The Worker, the voice of the labor movement, in Zimbabwe—especially because his newspaper is only printed once a month, with only 5,000 copies distributed throughout the country.

“Zimbabwe used to have such a vibrant and independent media but most of the press was shut down,” said Madzimure. Today, many of the print reporters across the country bite their tongues and print the government’s viewpoint. Madzimure, on the other hand, actively seeks out stories the government doesn’t want mentioned, such as worker discontent and political corruption, and provides an unfiltered analysis of current events.

While President Mugabe lost the presidential election of 2008 (despite employing voter suppression strategies), he refused to relinquish power to the victor, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai. Today, under a “power sharing” agreement between the parties of Mugabe and Tsvangirai, the government continues to control all forms of media and mass-communication.

Given that Zimbabwe is one of the most literate countries in Africa, around 90 percent literacy rate, print media is a critical tool in moving a message. Madzimure says that after the newspaper is read, it’s passed on to at least nine other people and it remains a “permanent marker” because people use it to “wrap things or to fill holes.”

With a population spread out over hundreds of miles in rural areas, The Worker is the main way for the trade union federation, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), to disseminate news and inspire activity. “When ZCTU calls for national actions, the media doesn’t report on it at all. The Worker is a main vehicle giving directions to people on how to participate in strikes, elections and public actions,” said Madzimure.

Yet, despite financial support from the ZCTU, the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center in the United States, the Canadian Labour Congress, and others—the $1 USD price tag to purchase the paper is too expensive for most Zimbabweans. With 80 percent job informalization in the country, according to a recent United Nations report, the labor movement relies on its local networks to make sure the message filters throughout the country. Union members at every district are providing reporting as “volunteer correspondents” and several unemployed reporters are also lending a hand.

Madzimure’s dream is to eventually turn The Worker into a daily publication, offering investigative reporting and political analysis. In the meantime, while most Zimbabweans have no access to the computer, this does not stop Ben from promoting widely via every medium at his disposal, including a news blog, a fan page on Facebook (it has 3,800 fans) and on Twitter (12,000 followers).

Working people have plenty to be angry with Wall Street about. A $700 billion bailout. Toxic assets and loan guarantees to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. A financial crisis and credit crunch. Billions of dollars in six- and seven-figure bonuses to the Wall Street executives who got us into this mess.

Unemployment reaching 10 percent. A mortgage crisis extending far beyond subprime loans. Abusive credit and debit card fees. More than five job-seekers for every one job.

Wall Street has treated Main Street as a giant ATM—gambling with the economy, then coming back with their hands out for help. But somehow, no matter how much help the banks need to survive, they always have the resources to fight proposals to regulate them or get them to pay their fair share.

That’s why the AFL-CIO community affiliate, Working America, has launched the ”I am not your ATM” campaign. Already, people in Albuquerque, N.M.; Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Ore.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Minneapolis have been photographed with “I am not your ATM” signs at major banks to let Wall Street know they’ve had enough. Wall Street’s biggest banks need to be held accountable, with a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Rather than asking taxpayers for more money, Big Banks need to start repaying us for the damage they’ve done.

In the coming week, we at Working America will hold more events in cities across the country, but you can participate online. Submit a photo to NotYourATM.com and send Wall Street the message that you’re done being Big Banks’ ATM. It’s time for them to clean up the mess they made, instead of expecting working people to do it for them.

Working people have plenty to be angry with Wall Street about. A $700 billion bailout. Toxic assets and loan guarantees to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. A financial crisis and credit crunch. Billions of dollars in six- and seven-figure bonuses to the Wall Street executives who got us into this mess.

Unemployment reaching 10 percent. A mortgage crisis extending far beyond subprime loans. Abusive credit and debit card fees. More than five job-seekers for every one job.

Wall Street has treated Main Street as a giant ATM—gambling with the economy, then coming back with their hands out for help. But somehow, no matter how much help the banks need to survive, they always have the resources to fight proposals to regulate them or get them to pay their fair share.

That’s why the AFL-CIO community affiliate, Working America, has launched the ”I am not your ATM” campaign. Already, people in Albuquerque, N.M.; Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Ore.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Minneapolis have been photographed with “I am not your ATM” signs at major banks to let Wall Street know they’ve had enough. Wall Street’s biggest banks need to be held accountable, with a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Rather than asking taxpayers for more money, Big Banks need to start repaying us for the damage they’ve done.

In the coming week, we at Working America will hold more events in cities across the country, but you can participate online. Submit a photo to NotYourATM.com and send Wall Street the message that you’re done being Big Banks’ ATM. It’s time for them to clean up the mess they made, instead of expecting working people to do it for them.

Two reports out this week offer a telling glimpse into the direction of the nation.

• The number of U.S. households with a net worth of at least $1 million jumped 16 percent last year after dipping sharply during the financial crisis, according to a new report. The Spectrem Group study also found “ultra-high net worth families—those with at least $5 million—grew 17 percent last year to 980,000.
• Some 6 percent of all workers were living in poverty in 2008, up from 5.1 percent in 2007—the highest proportion since 6.2 percent in 1994, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2008, some 8.9 million adults were among the “working poor”—1.4 million more than in 2007.

These are more than one-off data. They are the most recent indicators of the long-term trend toward growing inequality in this nation. The gap between the annual income of the top 10 percent and the rest of us has been widening sharply for the past 30 years. According to one analyst—who estimates that income inequality in the United States is now greater than it has ever been over the past century—the wealthiest 10 percent took between 30 percent and 35 percent of total national income from the early 1940s to the early 1980s. After that, their share rose to its current 45 percent to 50 percent level.

As the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) points out, the 400 American households with the highest incomes also have enjoyed a much faster pace of income growth than the vast majority of households.

The median pre-tax household income for a family of four in 2007 was $50,233, while the top-earning 400 households earned a median $345 million, almost 6,900 times as much income.

Put another way: If our income had kept pace with compensation distribution rates established in the early 1970s, we would all be making at least three times as much as we are currently making. How different would your life be if you were making $120,000 a year, instead of $40,000?

What does it mean for a nation to have an income gap that’s 6,900 times that of the median—not the lowest income, the median-income?

For one, studies show a correlation between unequal societies and an increase in illness and social problems, including mental illness and drug use. The lower the income gap in a society, the healthier it is overall.

Makes sense. Because a massive and growing income gap also means what Business Week, not exactly a radical media outlet, calls “the rise of the permanent temporary workforce.” One in which we see falling pay, vanishing benefits and where no one’s job is secure. When people work one or more jobs and still can’t afford health care or hope for retirement security—and when they can’t count on having a job at all—illness, addiction and other social ills quickly follow.

What does massive and growing inequality mean for the United States? It means that unless lawmakers directly address the crisis through coordinated policies—like establishing a national manufacturing policy and creating tax incentives for corporations to remain in the United States rather than ship jobs overseas, for starters—the United States by 2043 will have the same income inequality as Mexico.

Two reports out this week offer a telling glimpse into the direction of the nation.

• The number of U.S. households with a net worth of at least $1 million jumped 16 percent last year after dipping sharply during the financial crisis, according to a new report. The Spectrem Group study also found “ultra-high net worth families—those with at least $5 million—grew 17 percent last year to 980,000.
• Some 6 percent of all workers were living in poverty in 2008, up from 5.1 percent in 2007—the highest proportion since 6.2 percent in 1994, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2008, some 8.9 million adults were among the “working poor”—1.4 million more than in 2007.

These are more than one-off data. They are the most recent indicators of the long-term trend toward growing inequality in this nation. The gap between the annual income of the top 10 percent and the rest of us has been widening sharply for the past 30 years. According to one analyst—who estimates that income inequality in the United States is now greater than it has ever been over the past century—the wealthiest 10 percent took between 30 percent and 35 percent of total national income from the early 1940s to the early 1980s. After that, their share rose to its current 45 percent to 50 percent level.

As the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) points out, the 400 American households with the highest incomes also have enjoyed a much faster pace of income growth than the vast majority of households.

The median pre-tax household income for a family of four in 2007 was $50,233, while the top-earning 400 households earned a median $345 million, almost 6,900 times as much income.

Put another way: If our income had kept pace with compensation distribution rates established in the early 1970s, we would all be making at least three times as much as we are currently making. How different would your life be if you were making $120,000 a year, instead of $40,000?

What does it mean for a nation to have an income gap that’s 6,900 times that of the median—not the lowest income, the median-income?

For one, studies show a correlation between unequal societies and an increase in illness and social problems, including mental illness and drug use. The lower the income gap in a society, the healthier it is overall.

Makes sense. Because a massive and growing income gap also means what Business Week, not exactly a radical media outlet, calls “the rise of the permanent temporary workforce.” One in which we see falling pay, vanishing benefits and where no one’s job is secure. When people work one or more jobs and still can’t afford health care or hope for retirement security—and when they can’t count on having a job at all—illness, addiction and other social ills quickly follow.

What does massive and growing inequality mean for the United States? It means that unless lawmakers directly address the crisis through coordinated policies—like establishing a national manufacturing policy and creating tax incentives for corporations to remain in the United States rather than ship jobs overseas, for starters—the United States by 2043 will have the same income inequality as Mexico.

     

Recent polls show a majority of Americans want Congress to pass comprehensive health care reform now. And for good reason: There’s more news out this week about the enormous increases in health insurance premiums, according to a new report.

A survey from Economist/YouGov released this week shows 53 percent of respondents support changes proposed by the Obama administration. A second poll by Ipsos/McClutchey shows that 53 percent of Americans either support the current reform option or hope for an even stronger reform package. More than a third of those who oppose current reform proposals actually favor stronger reforms.  

Meanwhile, a study by Health Care for America Now (HCAN) shows jaw-dropping insurance premium hikes—up 97 percent for families and 90 percent for individuals between 2000 and 2008. Premiums rose two times faster than medical costs and more than three times faster than wages. Companies like WellPoint are raising premiums by as much as 39 percent in California and by double digits in at least 11 states.

An analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that people who bought insurance on their own between 2004 and 2007 on average paid more of their health expenses themselves—52 percent—than insurance companies. Yet those who had employer-sponsored coverage only paid 30 percent out of pocket.    

The industry front group, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), heard plenty this week as thousands gathered in Washington, D.C., outside AHIP’s meeting to stage a citizens’ arrest for its crime in blocking health care reform.  

Says Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman:

The recent premium increases in the individual market probably have done more to illustrate the cost of doing nothing in health reform in simple, graphic terms people can understand than anything so far in the health reform debate.

Here are a few items worth noting today.

* Kudos to union members in West Virginia who successfully pushed the state’s legislature to adopt a resolution creating Labor History week following Labor Day. Just last month, Wisconsin union activists succeeded in their years-long effort to get the state legislature to make labor history part of the state’s public education standards. 

* From the Campaign for America’s Future: Huffington Post’s Art Delaney highlights expiring stimulus program that could cost 100,00 jobs: “…more than 100,000 people…will lose their jobs by September unless Congress extends a stimulus bill provision that gives states funding to create jobs programs for low-income parents and young adults….”

* A laid-off worker now spends nearly five months unemployed, longer than any other time on record, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). 

* In the “here’s how hard up we are for good news about jobs” category: The ratio of job seekers per job opening dropped from six to one in December to 5.4 in January. How sad is it that this is good news?

Bernard Pollack, who is taking a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to travel through Africa, and Danielle Nierenberg describe their visit with Wellington Chibebe, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).

In Harare, on the way to our meeting with Wellington Chibebe, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), even our driver was excited for us.

He is a good, good man. I’ve only seen him on TV, but he fights very hard for the people and to promote democracy!

Since the early 1990s, ZCTU grew increasingly opposed to the government of Robert Mugabe and was the main force behind the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In fact, MDC’s leader and the current prime minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, held the same position with the ZCTU before Chibebe.

Chibebe is one of the most vocal—and effective—voices in civil society promoting respect for human rights and democracy. Despite being brutally beaten, tortured and having his life threatened over the last two decades, Chibebe remains more positive than ever about the direction of his country. It was largely due to Zimbabwe’s labor movement that in the 2008 presidential election Tsvangirai defeated Mugagbe. Yet, despite MDC’s victory, Mugabe refuses to step down and the nation has a “power sharing” agreement.

When we met with Chibebe, he was cautiously optimistic about the power-sharing agreement and the future of democracy in Zimbabwe.

Our role as the labor movement is to fight for democracy and good governance, respect for people’s basic rights and also social and  economic rights.

He says that while the MDC plays a critical role in promoting democracy, the mission of the union movement will be to hold all political parties accountable to these principles. “We just can’t afford to repeat the same mistake by treating any government or political party as angels from heaven,” he says. While he described the beginning of the power-sharing agreement as “terrible,” Chibebe felt strongly that “things are now getting better, we are able to make some positive changes happen.”

Chibebe was born 300 miles south of Harare. His upbringing herding goats and farming built both a sense of responsibility and social consciousness, he says.

Rural kids grow up different from urban ones, you start fighting for your rights at a very early age. If you aren’t aggressive, you’ll get abused.

He also described how in rural life he had no access to books or libraries, so everyone listened to their elders, learning about the importance of struggle and hearing passionate tales of resistance against the ruling government. Not even a teen when his mother passed away, Chibebe became passionately involved in political struggle for social and economic justice that has lasted his whole life.

Being at the helm of the Zimbabwe labor movement at this moment is no easy task. The country faces unemployment rates of more than 90 percent. The media is controlled by the government. Union leaders are routinely harassed and imprisoned. And the Mugabe government instituted draconian laws to thwart unions, such as arresting any meeting of more than four people. Yet the affiliates of the ZCTU, representing more than 30 unions and every sector of the economy, have remained united. Says Chibebe:

While it is very difficult at times with unemployment so high to convince people to be in unions, we are still able to recruit and grow.

Chibebe works tirelessly to bring attention to Zimbabwe’s economic and human rights realities and to pressure the government to reform its ways. As workers struggle to survive inflation and low-paying informal employment, Chibebe has expanded the work of the ZCTU to represent all workers in both formal and informal employment. ZCTU fights for economic and social justice not just for his members, but for the fundamental rights of all of Zimbabwe’s workers.

In 2002, Chibebe and the ZCTU had the vision of helping informal sector workers—everyone from street vendors to musicians and artisans—form unions. The desire for social and economic change spread like wild fire when the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Associations (ZCIEA) started in 2002. Presently with more than 1.5 million paying members (out of 3.5 million members), the informal workers now have access to all the resources of the ZCTU such as their lobbyists, their research arm, and the strength and power of their affiliate unions.

Chibebe, and everyone we met with at ZCTU, speaks with great pride about the support they’ve been given by the American labor movement through the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, which maintains an office in the country. “Because of the Solidarity Center and the American worker, we’ve had incredible moral and material support,” Chibebe said. Some of the examples he cites are the role the Solidarity Center plays in supporting their research institute, expanding distribution of their newspaper, The Worker, their ability to fund a lobbyist, create a paralegal program, training activists and leaders and getting support from international governments and politicians through organizational delegations such as the visit from the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU).

This is a cross-post from Border Jumpers.

   

The vice president for one of the nation’s most anti-union, anti-worker organizations showed what we knew all along: Those fighting workers and their unions oppose the democratic process. 

During a hearing yesterday on a House bill to expand bargaining rights for the police and firefighters, Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) exposed the myths and lies spun by the Big Brother-named National Right to Work Committee.

Doug Stafford, the group’s vice president, attempted to portray the bill as forcing “monopoly bargaining on every police and firefighter.”

Hare, a former president of and steward for his union, would have none of it.

The bill provides unions only will be established in places where a majority of officers and firefighters choose to form one, is that correct?

Stafford:

I believe that’s true, however….

Hare:

Can you point to anywhere in this bill that would force this union into existence against the wishes of majority?

Stafford:

Against the majority, no, but what about the other 49 percent?

Hare:

All of us are elected here by majority. I would assume, that wouldn’t be the majority rule? I mean if the majority of these folks want [a union], you’d find a problem with that?

Stafford:

Yes.

Case closed.

The union movement and our allies are taking our fight for good jobs now to the biggest Wall Street banks whose reckless greed has gone a long way to wreck the U.S. economy and kill American jobs.

From March 15-26, working people will hold rallies and demonstrations at branches of the Big Six Wall Street banks—Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, Wachovia-Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley—across the country. They will tell the banks “We Are Not Your ATMs” and “Make Wall Street Pay for Creating New Jobs.”

You also can tell Wall Street executives to pay to create good jobs by sending a letter urging them to do the right thing. Just click here.

Find out about events in your area here. If you take part in an event, be sure to send us your photo or video here.

The AFL-CIO Good Jobs Now site has all the tools you’ll need to let Wall Street know we mean business. There’s a Wall Street fact sheet, along with an explanation of our stand on making Wall Street pay to create good jobs, arguments for extending unemployment insurance benefits, creating good, green jobs with benefits and other issues.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said working Americans have three demands of the banks:

Stop refusing to pay your fair share to restore the jobs you destroyed, stop fighting financial reform and start lending to your communities, small businesses and others starved for credit.

While millions of Americans continue to lose their homes, their jobs and their retirement saving, it’s been business as usual for Wall Street doling out record pay and bonuses to their CEOs.

While working families lost jobs, homes and hope, Wall Street took $700 billion in taxpayer bailouts and went right back to business as usual—choking off credit, handing out about $145 billion in 2009 pay and bonuses to the executives who tanked our economy and hiring an army of lobbyists to fight financial reform.

The nation is more than 11 million jobs in the hole. We need good jobs now—and it’s time Wall Street helps pay to create them.

The AFL-CIO supports four proposals for banks to pay a fair share to restore the economy: fees on Wall Street banks to pay back the cost of the bank bailout; a special levy on Wall Street bonuses, as proposed in the United Kingdom; a tax on the income of hedge fund and private equity managers, the wealthiest people in the country, at ordinary income rates, by closing the carried interest loophole and a financial speculation.

In addition to these efforts, Working America, the 3 million-member community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, is launching a campaign called “I am not your ATM.” People across the country will be submitting photos of themselves in front of ATMs, asking “Where’s my bailout?” and delivering the message to Wall Street: ”I am not your ATM.” To see the photos already submitted, click here.

Members of Congress and a bipartisan group of mayors today announced new legislation they say will create or save up to 1 million public- and private-sector jobs. Jobs saved would include those such as firefighters, police and teachers and others whose jobs are in jeopardy because of local government budget cuts. 

The nation’s economic crisis is forcing states and municipalities to cut jobs that are critically important to local communities. State and local governments and school districts face $178 billion in budget deficits this year alone. Last month, AFSCME members across the country rallied in state capitals to urge legislators to raise revenue to save needed public services. 

The Local Jobs for America Act, developed with mayors, county officials and others, also contains job-creation strategies to enable small businesses to help hundreds of thousands of individuals get private-sector jobs. A bill number has not yet been assigned.

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, made the announcement along with Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Phil Hare (D-Ill.), Elizabeth Kautz, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and  Ronald  Loveridge, president of the  National League of Cities.

Speaking this morning on CNBC, Miller said:

If we lose another million jobs over this year, it’s going to impact our local communities. And these are vital services. They’re health services, fire fighting services, police services, parks and recreation services, health inspections, housing inspections. These are what keep the civil side of America together. To have the loss of these jobs doesn’t serve the national economy and certainly doesn’t serve the local economies and the quality of life in our schools and our communities. 

Specifically, the bill allows for community block grants to local governments to fund jobs providing local services for two years. The money is allocated as follows:

• $75 billion for 750,000 jobs providing needed local services with $52.5 billion directly to communities with at least 50,000 residents.
• $22.5 billion directly to governors to distribute to communities with fewer than 50,000 residents-job creation funding will sent to towns, counties, or private non-profits outside communities eligible for the funding above. Local governments will apply to the governor for the funding.
• $23 billion to help states support an estimated 250,000 education jobs; $1.18 billion to put 5,500 law enforcement officers on the beat; and $500 million to hire and retain fire fighters
• $500 million for approximately 50,000 additional on-the-job training positions slots to help private business expand employment.

   

A panel of 24 victims of insurance industry abuse and their families told their heart-rending stories directly to members of Congress this morning and asked the lawmakers to listen to the American people and pass health care reform that works for us, not Big Insurance.

Marcelas Owens is spending his 11th birthday telling lawmakers it’s time to provide real health care to all Americans. Marcelas, who lives in Seattle, lost his mother, Tiffany, in 2007. She was too sick to work and lost her job as manager of a fast-food restaurant. She also lost her health insurance. She died of pulmonary hypertension at age 27.

Today’s forum on Capitol Hill, where Congress is debating how to fix the nation’s broken health care system, follows nationwide rallies yesterday, including one in Washington, D.C., where we told Big Insurance that blocking health care reform is a crime.

Members of Congress also heard from Leslie Boyd of Asheville, N.C., whose uninsured son died in 2008 at age 33 after a delayed diagnosis for colon cancer because he could not afford colonoscopies. Boyd’s husband also recently suffered a heart attack after his insurance company delayed approving his doctor’s request for a stress test.

They heard from Marcus Grimes of Woodbridge, Va., a former teacher who lost his sight because he did not have the $3,000 down payment for doctor-recommended surgeries that would have saved his sight (see video above). Speaking to the rally yesterday, Grimes said:

When you leave here to go to your congressman, go to your senator and tell them: “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.” We ask you senators. We ask your representatives. What side of history do you want to be on? We should have no more people dying….We stand as one. We walk softly, but we carry a big stick.

The forum on Capitol Hill, and yesterday’s rally, were sponsored by Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a coalition of more than 100 organizations, including the AFL-CIO and many union affiliates. You can read the stories of all 24 victims of insurance abuse here.

Wendell Potter, a former vice president of insurance giant CIGNA and now senior fellow at the Center for Media and Democracy, moderated today’s forum. He points out the insurance industry is trying to drown out the voices of ordinary Americans in the health care debate.

The insurance industry is working hard, spending millions of our premium dollars, on a propaganda campaign designed to either kill reform or make sure reform benefits insurance companies and their shareholders far more than average working Americans.

The big for profit-companies that now comprise a cartel in the industry are accountable first and foremost to their shareholders, and they will promise to do whatever it takes to meet those shareholders’ expectations and the expectations of a handful of enormously influential and powerful financial and investment analysts.

Less than a week after agreeing to negotiate with fired teachers at Central Falls (R.I.) High School and their union, the school superintendent is delaying the talks.

In a statement, Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers Union, an AFT affiliate, urged Superintendent Frances Gallo to “resume negotiations with the teachers union and to accept (Rhode Island Education) Commissioner Deborah Gist’s offer to provide impartial mediation.”

We must not keep this school, its students, teachers and staff on tenterhooks any longer.

The school superintendent fired all teachers at Central Falls High on Feb. 23. She agreed March 3 to resume bargaining and include the union in all discussions on a comprehensive education plan that will help students and teachers succeed. The move followed a nationwide public outcry, with thousands signing an online petition to tell school officials the students deserve better and they should work with teachers to build on improvements at the high school. (Keep the pressure on the Central Falls school administration. Sign a petition here.)

On Tuesday evening, a group of  about 40 current and former Central Falls High students held a candlelight vigil in honor of the fired teachers and staff. Priscilla Villa, 18, a freshman in college told the Providence Journal:

All the teachers here have been a big part of my life. The teachers here inspired me to go to college.

The teachers union has presented a comprehensive education plan to transform the school, Sessums said. The proposal includes serious recommendations for implementing high school reform programs that have succeeded in other low-performing districts and it needs to be an integral part of what the parties discuss when they return to the table, she added.

Sessums adds:

As we have consistently said, the Central Falls Teachers Union is ready to resume negotiations. We are committed to a reform plan that will put Central Falls High School on a pathway to excellence. Delaying negotiations is done at a cost to the students of Central Fall High. We urge Superintendent Gallo to reconsider her ill-advised resistance to beginning that process.

The nation’s political leaders have a choice: They can strike out on a new economic course for America that will turn around the nation’s economy or they can give in to political paralysis and yield to the demands of the financial and corporate elites.

Speaking Friday before a Harvard University study group on “Working Class Revolt,” AFL-CIO President Emeritus and Harvard Fellow John Sweeney and AFL-CIO Policy Director Damon Silvers said policymakers failed to heed the union movement’s warnings against a campaign of radical federal deregulation and corporate empowerment—one that celebrated private greed over public service.

Those policies led to flawed trade deals that accelerated outsourcing, financial deregulation designed to promote speculation and the dismantling of our pension and health care systems. As a result, the enactment of these types of policies has now culminated in the worst economic decline in living memory.

Sweeney told the group that while our leaders are debating, the public is “angry and clamoring for action and results that work for them.”

The momentum is building for grassroots activism to push back against Wall Street and those who stand in the way of what needs to be done to turn our economy around.

Sweeney is a resident fellow during the spring term at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. The institute is part of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and resident fellows participate in the intellectual life of the Harvard community and lead weekly study groups on a range of topics. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will address the study group this week.

The key to turning around America’s economy, Sweeney said, is to create new, good jobs.

The labor movement is mobilizing and organizing union members, communities and allies all over the country in a major fight for jobs. The plan is to restore and create good jobs and we will be holding our elected leaders and accountable for what they do or don’t do to take action.  We will also hold the private sector accountable—the Wall Street banks that caused the crisis and companies that destroy jobs—and we will stand with anyone in the business community that is working to create good jobs. We plan to be in the street wherever the fight for jobs is being fought.

Silvers told the assembled students and academics that the roots of our economic crisis come from trying to have a low-wage, high-consumption economy.

The only way to get out of this is to have an economy built on good jobs. We can start by creating the 11 million jobs that were lost in this economic crisis.

Although United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard was unable to attend the study group, Sweeney quoted some of what he described as Gerard’s passionate thoughts about the need for good jobs.  

Our members are losing patience with talk; they desperately want action now. We need job-creating action that is bold, swift and sustained. The United Steelworkers are ready to roll up our sleeves and help President Obama get our economy back on track by getting Americans back to work.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President William George leads a discussion on tapping into economic recovery funds with union leaders from across the state.  

Yael Foa, AFL-CIO senior field representative for the Northeast Region, sends us this report on union efforts in Pennsylvania to tap into federal economic recovery funds to create jobs across the state.

The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO recently sponsored two first-of-their-kind forums to provide union leaders with specifics about where and how American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) dollars are being spent in our state. We also examined how union leaders can identify opportunities to access economic recovery dollars for job creation and training programs. Nearly 300 union leaders from across the state took part.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President William George framed the agenda this way:

Billions of dollars of federal stimulus dollars are flowing into cities and towns across Pennsylvania. We want to be sure that our unions and their members take advantage of every opportunity to put these funds to work in creating and protecting good jobs. Some of our unions have been very successful at leveraging this money on behalf of their members. These conferences provide all of our unions the opportunity to put this information and knowledge to use for their members and their communities. Our top priority is Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Now. The road to economic recovery and prosperity is good jobs that support workers and keep local economies strong and vibrant.

George strongly encouraged union leaders to work closely with their local elected officials, members of Workforce Investment Boards, state agencies and other entities to identify opportunities to access ARRA funds in their communities.

Jim Kunz, business manager for Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 66 in Pittsburgh, described the steps Local 66 takes to track funding for upcoming projects and work with signatory contractors and contractor associations to identify stimulus-funded construction jobs. Some local leaders also make competitive adjustments to their collective bargaining agreements to help contractors win bids for these jobs—all of which helps to keep more union members working in these tough economic times. Said Kunz:

There are so many baskets of stimulus dollars going in so many directions that it takes a lot of time and effort to find and track these dollars, but we believe in the long run it will be worth it. Better we get them instead of the open shop companies who will use them to undermine our wages, benefits, and working conditions.

At the forum in Plymouth, union leaders highlighted a stellar example of how the recovery act works to save and create jobs. Gamesa, a wind turbine manufacturer with its headquarters in Spain, employs United Steelworkers (USW) members at its manufacturing plants in Ebensburg and Fairless Hills, Penn.

Last November, the company was forced to lay off 79 workers at their Ebensburg facility due to a drop in new orders. But because of the stimulus-funded Green Energy Works wind grant program, Gamesa turbines will be used by the three wind farm developers that received a total of $22.8 million in grants last month, which enabled Gamesa to bring back the laid-off workers and hire an additional 50. The grants also will create 257 more jobs at the three large-scale wind farms in Pennsylvania.

Rob Witherall, USW lead negotiator of Gamesa, made the case that “rebuilding our economy means rebuilding our manufacturing base.”

Every good-paying manufacturing position supports up to five other jobs. We believe the best use of our U.S. tax dollars is exactly what it is being used for here:  creating and saving good U.S. jobs.