#71 English 2/24/09

The NAFTA Shuffle

Nearly 15 years after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) became law, the global recession is exposing a new dimension of the controversial trade accord.

High unemployment is on the march in Mexico, where manufacturing companies are shutting down and moving abroad in search of lower costs and even cheaper labor. Sound familiar? 

Recent statistics show the Mexican economy in tatters, with auto and manufacturing workers suffering a fate not unlike U.S. workers who saw tens of thousands of their jobs sprout wings and fly south in the wake of NAFTA. 

More than a half-million Mexican workers lost manufacturing jobs since November 2008, as the official unemployment rate climbed to 4.3 percent. The actual unemployment rate is much higher, as the Mexican government counts anyone working even one hour a week as being employed. 

With U.S. unemployment hitting record highs each month, U.S. workers maybe slow to sympathize with Mexican workers losing jobs that were once performed here, but workers in both countries now share something besides a similar former occupation: They’re both casualties of NAFTA. 

The migration of U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico was initially touted as necessary to jump start the development of new industries in both countries.

But with corporations now looking beyond Mexico to China, South Korea and Indonesia, it’s increasingly clear that whatever NAFTA may give, NAFTA can also take away. 

As the years pass and workers in one country after another feel the pain of NAFTA, the question to ask is not who’s losing, but is anyone really winning?

#70 English 12/03/08

Save Auto Industry Jobs

Tell Congress what’s good for the corporate suits on Wall Street and their multi-billion dollar bonuses is good for the millions of U.S. citizens whose jobs now hang in the balance due to the financial decline of the American auto industry.

 The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is calling on Congressional leaders to support a financial rescue package for U.S. automakers. The auto industry is a key sector of America’s manufacturing base that supports millions of jobs in the U.S. economy. Thousands of IAM members are also employed in the industry and at car dealerships across the nation. 

“We cannot afford to let another vital part of our manufacturing base slip away,” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger. “We’ve spent billions of dollars  bailing out Wall Street, now Congress must act to protect the millions of jobs in American communities that depend on a healthy auto industry.” 

The IAM has joined the United Auto Workers (UAW) in the fight on Capitol Hill to revitalize the auto industry, agreeing automakers should submit a business plan to Congress that demonstrates the industry’s viability, accountability and provides a road map for avoiding bankruptcy – but not at the expense of union employees and retirees. Workers didn’t get us into this mess, so their pensions, wages and benefits shouldn’t be used to get us out. 

Do your part to help save millions of jobs, now! Contact your Senators and Representative at www.goiam.org or use the toll-free number (877) 331-1223 and urge them to pass an auto industry financial rescue package – one that gives America the boost it needs to save our economy and millions of working families.

#69 English 07/08/08

Defeating the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is a top priority for George Bush, Dick

Cheney, the Department of Labor and nearly every corporate lobbying group from the

Chamber of Commerce to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

Why? Because EFCA would bring their union-busting free ride to an end. After hijacking

the system intended to protect the right to a fair union election, corporations have had near

total freedom to threaten, terminate and illegally discriminate against any employee who

dared to exercise his or her legal right to form a union.

EFCA would grant union representation as soon as a majority of employees in a workplace

signed cards indicating they want a union, unlike the present system which guarantees a

lengthy period of time between the start of a campaign and an election.

No longer would anti-union employers have the time to mount campaigns of intimidation

and harassment, often employing sophisticated union avoidance law firms that specialize in

breaking the law while appearing to only bend it.

From organizing campaigns at Reynolds Tobacco in Winston-Salem, NC, to Mercedes-

Benz in Tuscaloosa, AL, workers who wanted to join a union were subject to illegal surveillance,

threats and sophisticated fear tactics that are more appropriate to military dictatorships

than the land of the free and the home of the brave.

It is worth remembering that EFCA does not break significant new legal ground. It does not

add substantially to organizing laws already on the books, nor does it limit corporations’

legal rights. EFCA simply ensures American workers have access to something they have

had for nearly a century – the right to form a union and bargain collectively.

Contact your elected representative today. Tell them if they want your support, they should

be giving their support to the Employee Free Choice Act.

#57 English 06/26/06

Country music singer Gretchen Wilson brought her Redneck Revolution Tour to Washington,

D.C. recently. And, except for the 25,000 fans at an all-day music festival, the political

establishment paid her little notice.

Big mistake. Wilson’s lyrics reflect a tidal wave of emotion running like a riptide below the

surface of public debate.

Her song "Politically Uncorrect" captures the feelings of millions of blue collar workers all

across North America. She starts with:

Wilson's final refrain goes like this:

Think of those lyrics next time a Washington or Ottawa politician or pundit issues another

polished sound bite.

This single mom from Pocahontas, Illinois is making history. With an eighth grade education

and years of tending bar at Big O's on the outskirts of her hometown, Gretchen Wilson’s

first album, “Here for the Party,” proved to be a quadruple platinum recording. Little

wonder. There's some down home wisdom in her lyrics.

#56 English 5/17/06

#55 English 03/02/06

Pensions differ from traditional pay and benefits in one important way. Pensions are what

economists call “deferred compensation” – rather than receiving all your pay today in the

form of wages, some is put off to the future, to be received once you retire.

Generations of Americans have understood that this trade-off; wages today for pensions tomorrow,

is the key to enjoying a middle-class standard of living in retirement.

Pension promises are only as secure as the funds backing them up. That’s why the law requires

companies to set aside money to pay for pension benefits their employees have

earned.

But many companies have spent years contributing the bare minimum required by law,

leaving pension plans with too little money to cover promised benefits. Rather than restoring

their pension plans, many financially weak companies have instead targeted pensions

for elimination.

Enough is enough!

We need to reform the pension laws. Pensions are deferred compensation. These benefits

have been bought and paid for at the bargaining table. Companies should be held to tougher

standards to ensure that pension promises are backed up by hard dollars.

We need bankruptcy laws that support pension plans, instead of undermining them. And we

need to hold companies to their pension promises at the bargaining table. It is much too

easy for companies in bankruptcy to dump their pensions. And it is unacceptable that employees

are losing hard-earned benefits when they do.

Congress will be taking up the issue of pension reform in the coming months. The IAM is

lobbying on your behalf in Washington to hold companies accountable for their pension

promises. Stay tuned and be ready to join the fight to protect your pension!

#54 English 01/27/06

Anyone looking to understand the turbulent state of today’s airline industry can find similarities

in a business strategy developed centuries ago.

Throughout the sixteenth century, bloodthirsty buccaneers sunk ships, sacked towns and

terrorized entire populations. They enriched themselves in the name of country and under

the cover of law.

Men like Sir Francis Drake and Captain Henry Morgan were honored by the King of England

even as they left thousands floating in their wakes. Rape, torture, murder and enslavement

became a day at the office on the high seas.

A similar brand of state-sponsored terrorism – air piracy – survives to this day. Its victims –

the men and women who work in the airline industry – suffer grievously from raids on their

pension funds and the destruction of their jobs.

Men like Glenn Tilton of United Airlines and Doug Steenland of Northwest Airlines gain

stature on Wall Street by shaking down their workers until every last wage and benefit concession

is extracted.

After stripping off all loose assets and ravaging stockholders, they reward themselves with

lucrative post-bankruptcy life boats worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Under the latest plan proposed by UAL, Glenn Tilton and his crew stand to divvy up as

much as $480 million in equity upon the company’s emergence from bankruptcy.

Tilton, already the nation’s highest compensated airline CEO, could collect a lottery-like

windfall valued at more than $40 million just for waking up on the day after the carrier

emerges from bankruptcy.

It’s high time we recognize what’s happening to the airline industry in America: It is being

hijacked, stripped of its most valuable assets and left to the mercy of foreign investors who

will finish the job. If this is not piracy, what is?