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Archive for the ‘IBEW’ Category

What Can a Union Do For You?

• Employees bargain with strength for wages, benefits and rights when they join together. That’s why it’s important to unionize.
• Under the employment at will doctrine, the cornerstone of American employment law, in general terms, unless you belong to a protected group, your employer has the right to discipline or terminate, with impunity, you for any reason — even a bad one — or for no reason at all. That’s why it is sometimes called the fire at will doctrine.
• However, with a collective bargaining agreement, you have rights. Management must have just cause for any disciplinary action taken against a union employee. You bargain over wages, health benefits, working conditions and a retirement plan for your future. But, you bargain collectively with the strength that comes from a collective voice.
• ITS ALWAYS wise to take full advantage of YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS.
• WITH A UNION, the employer must bargain and pay the wages negotiated.
• WITH A UNION, your rights on the job are spelled out and must be respected.
• WITH A UNION, you can stop abuses on the job. The union can prevent unjust and unfair treatment by giving you representation on the job and the right to file grievances if you are treated unfairly.
• WITH A UNION, you can negotiate for better holiday pay, vacations, health and welfare benefits, and job conditions.
• WITH A UNION, you have greater security on your job. Company management cannot fire you without good reason and they must respect your length of service if there are layoffs.

Congress Played Large Part in Excessive AIG Bonus Mess

If President Barack Obama wants to find a scapegoat for the mess at American International Group, he needs only to look east from the White House to the halls of Congress.

That’s where the legislation was enacted that laid the groundwork for AIG’s collapse, its subsequent multibillion-dollar bailout and even the millions of dollars in bonuses being paid to AIG executives that have so outraged Obama, members of Congress and taxpayers.

Call it the law of unintended consequences.

The controversy boiled over Monday when Obama took aim at the bonuses going to executives who oversaw the risky bets that sank the giant insurer.

AIG has taken out $170 billion in federal funds, and federal officials overseeing the company say it is not out of the woods yet. The backlash intensified over the weekend when the company, now 80 percent owned by U.S. taxpayers, said it was locked into paying $165 million in bonuses to key executives.

“We’ve asked the car dealers to restructure their organization, including workers restructuring their union contracts in order to save the auto industry,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “We ought to be asking the leadership at AIG to make the same kind of concessions to save AIG and the taxpayers’ dollars.”

Five Reasons to Support the Employee Free Choice Act

Today, the Employee Free Choice Act was introduced in Congress. Want some great reasons to support this bill that you’ve been hearing so much about? Here’s five. (And if you already support it, please contact your Members of Congress and ask them to do the same.)

1. Because more jobs should be good jobs.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last year, it’s no surprise that millions of Americans are out of work, losing their health care or their retirement money, or are otherwise in financial straits. Times are tough. And who’s taking this economic crisis on the chin? Well, we are, of course.

Four million people have lost their jobs since the recession began in December 2007. It’s not for lack of trying. In terms of productivity, people are working harder than ever– but American workers still haven’t gotten a raise. And while jobs and wages are down, the cost of living continues to rise: The average cost of family health insurance plan will go up to $24,000 by 2016. $24,000!

The Employee Free Choice Act says that workers should have the ability to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits–like affordable quality health care.

2. It’s good for the economy.

One of the biggest reasons for our current economic crisis? People literally don’t have the cash they need to buy goods and services–which would in turn help the economy. Higher wages and higher benefits would give workers the purchasing power they need to buy more of the goods and services that this economy produces. According to a February report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, unionization could pump more than $49 billion into the economy.

3. Barack Obama loves it, and so do most of you.

Not to mention Joe Biden, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, and majorities in both houses of Congress. And according to recent polling, 73% of the public supports it. Just last week, speaking in front of a labor gathering, President Obama vowed to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

4. Because CEOs should be helping workers, not hurting them.

Want to get really depressed about your paycheck? Compare it to a CEO’s. As a testament to the growing income disparity between CEOs and the workers they employ, look no further than Wal-Mart’s former CEO, Lee Scott. Scott earned $15,000 an hour in 2007 while Wal-Mart workers earned just $10.68 an hour. On average, CEOs earn 344 times what their typical employee makes.

And yet, when Goldman Sachs received $10 billion in Wall St. bailout funds, they turned around and spent $6.5 billion on bonuses! If the Employee Free Choice Act passed, workers would have more of an opportunity to share in the prosperity they helped create.

5. Because the other side is really scary.

Or at least, they’re trying their hardest to scare us. The corporate interests opposing the Employee Free Choice Act have warned of everything from rioting in the streets to, literally, Armageddon if the bill passes.

Corporate interests are bent on lying about the Employee Free Choice Act – they’d have you believe that the bill means the end of the secret ballot – but nothing could be further from the truth. The Employee Free Choice Act simply gives employees the choice to join unions – not the employers.

Right now, workers can join unions through majority sign-up or a secret ballot election, and they can do so under the Employee Free Choice Act, too. The only difference is it will be the employees’ choice, not the employers.

If you’re as fired up as we are, go to SEIU.org and sign up to help. It’s time for the Employee Free Choice Act.

More Green Jobs Coming to Michigan Soon

The same week that automakers sought billions in aid to avoid bankruptcy, two states, including Michigan, announced huge alternative power industry investments, with one site being built on land once set aside to lure auto manufacturers.

Manufacturing strongholds hardest hit by job losses years ago began laying the groundwork to land green jobs and may now be poised for the biggest gains, depending on federal economic stimulus funding.

The $900 billion economic package before Congress has more than $50 billion in energy-related incentives.

IBEW Wins Rat Court Case

In a case that pitted an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union local against a central Jersey town, the high court ruled unanimously that the rodent is protected speech under the First Amendment.

The super-sized rat, sitting on its hind legs and bearing fangs, is a national symbol used by organized labor to signal a labor dispute.