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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.

Union Membership Rises for Second Straight Year

WASHINGTON — Amid widening unemployment, home foreclosures and credit woes, union membership jumped to 12.4 percent of the work force last year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the ranks of organized labor rose by 428,000 workers — the biggest annual gain since the government began compiling such data in 1983. It’s also the second year in a row that unions have added to their ranks.

Membership rose by 311,000 members in 2007, to account for 12.1 percent of workers. Overall, union membership remains well below the peak of 35 percent during labor’s heyday of the 1950s.

Membership was about 20 percent in 1983, the first year the bureau began compiling the numbers.

The Job Market is Worse Than You Think

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The unemployment rate rose to 7.2% in December, the highest it has been since 1993. That’s obviously not good news.

But the job market might be in even worse shape than this number suggests. There’s a growing number of market experts who think that the government’s employment statistics don’t accurately paint the true picture of the job market.

Now to be fair, the government also does report a so-called underemployment rate, which includes some part-time workers as well as people who have given up looking for work during the past year. That figure is now 13.5%.

But one prominent critic, John Williams, an economist and publisher of the research site Shadowstats.com, said that when you take into account the large number of people who have been so discouraged by job market woes that they have not been actively looking for work for more than a year, the unemployment rate is actually as high as 17.5%

TVA Ordered to Clean Up Coal Fired Power Plants

(CNN) — A federal judge has ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority to clean up four coal-fired plants that he said were engulfing parts of North Carolina with air pollution — emissions that fouled the region’s health, economy and natural resources.

Properties near ground zero of the December 22 Tennessee spill are covered in sludge.

“I’m pleased that the court ordered the TVA to clean up the air pollution coming from its plants closest to North Carolina,” said North Carolina Attorney General Ray Cooper. “This will help our air, our health, and our travel and tourism industry.”

The Tuesday ruling from U.S. District Judge Lacy Thornburg of North Carolina calls for TVA, the federally-sponsored utility, to meet specific time limits for pollution reduction at the plants closest to the state — three in eastern Tennessee and one in Alabama. Thornburg also ordered the agency to clean up faster and reduce pollution more than required under federal law.

The court concluded “that TVA’s generation of power at low cost to the consuming public has a high social utility” and says “the vast extent of the harms caused in North Carolina by the secondary pollutants emitted by these plants outweighs any utility that may exist from leaving their pollution untreated.”

Started a new job in Masontown, Pennsylvania today.

A little background information for those of you not associated with the IBEW,  (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers).

I was able to secure this job because I am a proud member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

During these times of economic upheaval and uncertainty, I’m very grateful to be a member of the IBEW.

We are the people that help keep the power flowing to this great country of ours.

I picked up a call in Masontown, PA,  IBEW Local 5 Belle Vernon’s Jurisdiction of the Pittsburgh area.

IBEW Local 5 provides Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas with the most highly trained and qualified electricians in the U.S.

I’m working at the Hatfield Powerhouse in Masontown, PA.

We are currently working for Chapman Electric on the wastewater clarification process of the scrubber project.

Casteel Electric has the the bulk of the scrubber project and have been working 5-10′s.  They are still erecting steel and duct work on their side of the job.  That would be the call to pick up in my opinion.