BLOG IT—In late February, the AFL-CIO will expand its communications outreach with a unique news blog for working families, AFL-CIO Now. The blog will include frequent daily updates on economic, legislative, political, organizing and other news key to working families. AFL-CIO Now will replace the weekly Work in Progress. Those who currently receive WiP by e-mail will automatically get hot topic updates e-mailed to them. There will no longer be any deliveries by fax.  If you currently receive WiP by fax and would like to receive the new blog update by e-mail, please go to www.unionvoice.org/wfean/blogsignup.html with your request.

LOW BUDGET, HIGH QUALITY—The crew of a low-budget movie production slated for Internet release won a voice at work when the production company signed an agreement with the Theatrical Stage Employees last month. IATSE said the new contract brings professional work standards to the low-budget “Lovely by Surprise” production being shot in Memphis, Tenn., and it is part of the union’s initiative to bring a voice to workers who create and produce content for cyberspace. 
 
HOSPITAL WORKERS CHOOSE IBEW—As soon as Boston Children’s Hospital bought a nonunion medical center in Waltham, Mass., members of the Electrical Workers joined with the Area Building and Construction Trades Council to assist the Waltham maintenance workers in forming a union. On Dec. 15, the eight maintenance workers voted to join IBEW Local 103.

SPENDING CUTS FOR WORKING FAMILIES, TAX CUTS FOR RICH—In a 216–214 vote, U.S. House Republican leaders, backed by the Bush administration, muscled through a package of nearly $40 billion in spending cuts Feb. 1, slashing programs vital to working families, especially low-income Americans and those trying to pay for college. The cuts will slash health care funding for the poor and child support enforcement funds while taking $12.7 billion from the federal student loan program, the largest cut in the program’s history. Find out how your representative voted by visiting http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll004.xml. The vote paves the way for the next step in the Bush administration’s budget reconciliation package: $70 billion in tax cuts mostly for the rich that could come up for a full congressional vote in late February or early March. In December, both the House and Senate passed tax cut bills that must be merged into one package. Because of some technical changes in the bill, the Senate voted Feb. 2 on it again and once again approved its $70 billion tax cut legislation. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org/issues/ns02022006.cfm.

BUSH MINE SAFETY APPOINTEE SAYS LAWS ADEQUATE—Despite the deaths of 18 coal miners since the first of the year, the Bush administration’s choice to run the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Richard Stickler—a former mining company executive at a subsidiary of Massey Energy in West Virginia—declined to endorse strong new safety laws, such as those recently passed in West Virginia. Stickler told a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing Jan. 31 he believes the nation’s mine safety laws are adequate. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) requested on Feb. 1 that mine operators hold pre-shift safety reviews before beginning production. Mine Workers’ safety committees at UMWA mines, where collective bargaining agreements give them a wide range of rights to ensure miner safety, are conducting thorough inspections. State and federal inspectors also are inspecting all West Virginia mines. Seventeen of the 18 deaths this year have occurred at nonunion mines. “We must take all steps necessary to look at the condition of the coal mines right now, so as to identify any potential problems and act on them before they cause an accident that could add to this tragic toll,” said UMWA President Cecil Roberts. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org/issues/safety/ns02022006.cfm.

BOEHNER FLUNKS OUTS—Newly elected House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) failed every chance to vote for working families on 13 vital issues in 2005, according to an AFL-CIO review of Boehner’s record. Boehner voted against raising the federal minimum wage and against protecting the pensions of 120,000 United Airlines workers. Boehner also voted against a resolution urging President George W. Bush to rescind his executive order dropping prevailing wages for construction workers hired to rebuild the Gulf Coast after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. He voted to give Wal-Mart a sweetheart deal that would weaken wage and hour protections—after the retail giant violated child labor laws—and supported a trade agreement that would send U.S. jobs overseas and worsen conditions for workers. Boehner’s complete report card, prepared as part of the AFL-CIO’s Who’s On OUR Side? initiative to let working families know where their members of Congress stand on key issues, is available at www.aflcio.org/issues/legislativealert/upload/reportcard_OH_rep_boehner.pdf.
Boehner was elected to replace disgraced former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who had to resign the seat after being indicted on conspiracy and corruption charges in Texas.

BUSH HEALTH PLAN’S NO CURE—So-called Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), President Bush’s answer to the health care crisis, will cost consumers more money and provide less health care, according to health experts. Bush pushed the idea of individual accounts in his Jan. 31 State of the Union address. The accounts require huge out-of-pocket payments because of high deductibles, as much as $10,000 for family coverage. Health experts said HSAs would encourage employers to abandon current heath plans and shift health care costs to workers or state and federal programs such as Medicaid. HSAs also would raise premiums for workers who remain in good, comprehensive health care plans, they said. For an in-depth look at HSAs, visit www.aflcio.org/issues/healthcare/hsa.cfm.

SENATE CONFIRMS ALITO—The U.S. Senate voted 58–42 Jan. 31 to confirm Judge Samuel Alito as President Bush’s latest U.S. Supreme Court choice, despite Alito’s troubling record on workers’ rights cases as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge. “As a member of the Supreme Court, Justice Alito will weigh in on cases that will impact generations of workers on vitally important issues ranging from health and safety and discrimination to minimum wage and the freedom to form a union. We call upon Justice Alito to honor his commitment to the American people to approach the bench without bias or a preset agenda, and to hear and decide cases with an open mind and with fairness to all. Working families deserve nothing less,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

UNITED’S PENSION DEFAULT LARGEST IN HISTORY—In what would be the biggest corporate pension default in U.S. history, United Airlines received approval Jan. 31 from a bankruptcy judge to terminate its four pension plans. The move could put pressure on other airlines to dump their pension plans as well. United’s pensions are underfunded by $9.8 billion, according to court documents. The largest previous default was Bethlehem Steel’s, totaling $3.6 billion in 2002. The United unions representing mechanics, pilots, flight attendants and other personnel plan to appeal the bankruptcy judge’s ruling. On Jan. 18, the Flight Attendants-CWA reached a tentative agreement with United for a new defined-contribution pension plan. The new plan only guarantees United will contribute a certain amount to the pension plan each year. The terminated plan guaranteed that retirees would receive a specific payment each month. Even more insulting to workers is a stock compensation plan approved by a bankruptcy court that will give United’s 400 top executives more than $400 million—including $40 million for CEO Glenn Tilton. United’s workers have “worked harder than the guy at the top to make sure that this is a good value for the consuming public,” said Machinists President Tom Buffenbarger. “And they get...crapped on every time they turn around.”

UAW CHIEF CALLS FOR STRONG ACTIONS TO HELP WORKERS—U.S. workers must form new political alliances and build a better legislative agenda to strengthen the nation’s manufacturing base and help working people, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said. Speaking at the opening of the UAW’s Feb. 5–8 legislative conference in Washington, D.C., Gettelfinger told the 1,600 delegates and activists, “We have to find ways to reach out to those who do not agree with us as well as those who have given up on participating in politics. We cannot just talk to ourselves—the stakes are too high.” He also called for a universal health care system, measures to fight unfair trade practices, support for incentives to make ethanol more widely available and tax credits for gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Evan Bayh (Ind.) are expected to speak to the conference along with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

STRIKING NYU GRAD ASSISTANTS CLAIM RETALIATION—New York University (NYU) graduate assistants striking to regain union recognition charged the university with retaliation against seven members participating in a strike that began late last year. The school sent letters to the seven striking grad assistants threatening to revoke their stipends for failing to fulfill their teaching responsibilities. The graduate workers—members of the Graduate Student Organizing Committee/UAW Local 2110—walked out Nov. 9 to protest the university’s refusal to bargain a second contract. The strike followed the school’s August announcement it no longer would recognize the union. The NYU graduate workers voted to join together in a union in 2000 and negotiated a four-year contract with the university. But in 2004, the Bush administration’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reversed a Clinton-administration ruling and abolished federal labor law protections for graduate employees. Nothing in the NLRB ruling prevents NYU and other universities from voluntarily recognizing the union. Visit www.2110uaw.org/gsoc/ to learn more.

CWA, IBEW RATIFY AT&T PACT—Nearly 12,000 members of the Communications Workers of America and IBEW ratified new three-year national contracts with AT&T Corp., the unions announced Jan. 18. The contract covers technicians and service representatives who were part of the company acquired by SBC Communications in November 2005. The contracts raise wages, increase pensions and maintain health care benefits.

REBUILDING NEW YORK—The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) and the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust (BIT) launched a new initiative to develop and rehabilitate about $1 billion worth of housing and commercial property in New York City. This is the second phase of the trusts’ commitment to rebuild the city in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The first phase, which ended a year ahead of schedule in December, developed or preserved more than 13,000 units of housing, provided 1,760 families with home financing and generated more than 7.2 million hours of union construction work. HIT also unveiled a new homeownership strategy with Union Plus Mortgage, a program of Union Privilege and Chase Home Finance. This partnership will finance $1 billion of home mortgages for union and other families in New York City. HIT is a fixed-income investment company with more than 400 investors and nearly $3.6 billion in assets. BIT is a $2.11 billion pooled real estate fund serving pension plans with union beneficiaries. For more information, visit www.aflcio-hit.com. 

NEW JOBS PAY LESS THAN LOST JOBS—President Bush has been touting the jobs created since the end of the recession. But two new reports show those jobs pay significantly less than the more than 2 million mainly manufacturing jobs that were lost during the same period. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Jan. 31 that wages and benefits paid to civilian workers rose last year by the slowest rate in nine years. Employee compensation was up 3.1 percent in 2005, less than the rate of inflation. When inflation is factored in, overall compensation fell by 0.3 percent, the first time there has been a decline since 1996. The findings backed up a new study showing the new jobs created paid on average $9,000 less per year than the more than 2 million jobs they replaced. The report, The Role of Metro Areas in the U.S. Economy, prepared for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said the 10 sectors of the economy that lost the most jobs by the end of 2003 paid an average of $43,629, while the 10 sectors with the largest job increases paid an average $34,378, a 21 percent difference.

REPORT: REAL JOBLESS RATE HIGHER—The real unemployment rate could be as much as 1.4 percentage points higher than the official rate of 4.7 percent, according to a new report by the nonpartisan Center for Economic and Policy Research. That means there are nearly 3 million fewer people working than the official numbers show, the report said. The report, Missing Inaction: Evidence of Undercounting of Non-Workers in the Current Population Survey (CPS), said the CPS, a monthly survey by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Labor Department, overstates the employment rate by 1.4 percentage points and by as much as 8 percentage points for black males. To read the report, see www.cepr.net/publications/undercounting_cps_2006_01.pdf.

$10 BILLION FUND DROPS COMCAST—The $10-billion Calvert investment fund, one of the nation’s largest socially responsible investment management firms, dropped Comcast from all its portfolios. The investment firm said it was dropping Comcast because of the cable giant’s poor “workplace practices and labor relations.” Comcast was the focus of several demonstrations across the country Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, as hundreds of workers demanded a first contract with the company.

‘GUEST WORKER PLAN UNDERMINES WAGES, RIGHTS’—President Bush’s proposed temporary guest worker program would undermine wages and labor protections for all workers, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. It sends a message to immigrant workers that although “their hard work is essential to the prosperity of our nation, they deserve no better than a perennial second-class status,” said Sweeney. “Immigrant workers need a real path to legalization and a method of addressing America’s future needs for outside labor that guarantees all workers full rights and a voice on the job.”

AIR ‘SAVES’ BRING HONORS—Twenty National Air Traffic Controllers Association members who helped make 10 “saves” of aircraft in distress in 2005 each won the National Air Traffic Controllers’ Archie League Medal of Safety awards. The award, named for the first air traffic controller, salutes controllers who displayed extraordinary skill to ensure safety in critical situations. Audio files of several tower-to-cockpit communications during the saves are available at www.natca.org/mediacenter/2ndAudioFiles.msp. Visit www.natca.org/mediacenter/2ndArchiereleases.msp for a full list of winners.

HOFFMAN, WITHERSPOON, AMONG SAG HONOREES—The Screen Actors honored former child star Shirley Temple Black with the union’s Life Achievement Award during the Jan. 29 live broadcast of the annual SAG Awards, the largest such award show in which all the voters and recipients are union members. Top award winners include Philip Seymour Hoffman for his lead role in the movie “Capote”; Reese Witherspoon for her lead role in “Walk the Line”; Kiefer Sutherland for his role as Jack Bauer in the TV series “24”; Sandra Oh, who plays Dr. Cristina Yang on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”; and the cast of the movie “Crash.” For a complete list of winners, visit www.sagawards.com/PR_060129.htm.

STATE OF UNION WAY OFF MARK FOR WORKERS—President Bush’s State of the Union address Jan. 31 ignored the realities of everyday life of working people: soaring health care costs, stagnant wages and income, erosion of retirement security, trade policies that send good jobs overseas and poorly enforced workplace safety rules, workers who saw the address said. The nation’s health care system is out of control and it won’t get better as long as the Bush administration continues to cater to the wishes of the big drug companies and other big corporations, said Jane McGovern, an uninsured interpreter in Hastings, Minn. “We need universal health care coverage in this country, not stale ideas and savings account schemes” such as those Bush proposed, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. Max Sanders, an unemployed teacher in Euclid, Ohio, said he “had hoped the president would say he is bringing good-paying jobs to Ohio and the rest of the country. But instead he talked about tax cuts to create jobs.” The president ignored a fact that’s understood “by virtually every working American: The playing field is anything but level,” Sweeney said. “And the president’s refusal to take action against currency manipulation by China or submit trade agreements with guarantees for core workers’ rights has only made it more unbalanced.” Bob Butero, a national field representative for the Mine Workers who lives in Wheat Ridge, Colo., said the speech convinced him more than ever that working families must vote their interests in November and regain control of Congress and the statehouses.