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last updated (1-26-2012)
Utility Questions Dominate Town Hall Meeting
Questions regarding the city’s utility system – customer rates, reuse water for irrigation, its debt and the cost of service study – dominated the town hall meeting held on Monday by the Marco Island City Council.
The council meeting room was standing-room-only for much of the almost four-hour long meeting that saw the council fielding questions that were both submitted in advance and posed impromptu by audience members.
Jennifer Edwards, a Marco resident and Collier County’s elections supervisor, put the prepared questions to the council.
Each councilman had the opportunity to weigh in on resident questions.
Read More: http://www.news-press.com/article/20120126/MARCONEWS/301260005/Utility-questions-dominate-town-hall-meeting?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cs
13-Year-Old Makes Solar Power Breakthrough by Harnessing the Fibonacci Sequence
While most 13-year-olds spend their free time playing video games or cruising Facebook, one 7th grader was trekking through the woods uncovering a mystery of science. After studying how trees branch in a very specific way, Aidan Dwyer created a solar cell tree that produces 20-50% more power than a uniform array of photovoltaic panels. His impressive results show that using a specific formula for distributing solar cells can drastically improve energy generation. The study earned Aidan a provisional U.S patent – it’s a rare find in the field of technology and a fantastic example of how biomimicry can drastically improve design.
Aidan Dwyer took a hike through the trees last winter and took notice of patterns in the mangle of branches. His studies into how they branch in very specific ways lead him to a central guiding formula, the Fibonacci sequence. Take a number, add it to the number before it in a sequence like 1+1=2 then 2+1=3 then 3+2=5, 8, 13, 21 and so on a very specific pattern emerges. Turns out the pattern and its corresponding ratios are reflected in nature all the time, and Aidan’s keen observation of how trees branch according to the formula lead him to test the theory. First he measured tree branches by how often they branch and at what degree from each other.
Read more: 13-Year-Old Makes Solar Power Breakthrough by Harnessing the Fibonacci Sequence | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
Billions Needed to Upgrade America’s Leaky Water Infrastructure
At first glance, the pizza-size hole that popped open when a heavy truck passed over a freshly paved District street seemed fairly minor.
Then city inspectors got on their bellies with a flashlight to peer into it. What they discovered has become far too common. A massive 19th-century brick sewer had silently eroded away, leaving a cavern beneath a street in Adams Morgan that could have swallowed most of a Metro bus.
It took three weeks and about a million dollars to repair the sewer, which was built in 1889.
Time and wear “had torn off all the bricks and sent them God knows where,” said George S. Hawkins, general manager of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority. “We have to find them and see if they’re plugging up the system somewhere farther down the line.”
If it were not buried underground, the water and sewer system that serves the nation’s capital could be an advertisement for Band-Aids. And it is not much different from any other major system in the country, including those in many suburbs and in cities less than half as old as Washington.
Read More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/billions-needed-to-upgrade-americas-leaky-water-infrastructure/2011/12/22/gIQAdsE0WP_story.html
Workers File Federal Labor Complaint Against Asheville Call Center
Employees trying to establish union
Workers with a 600-employee call center have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, saying they were threatened with firing after attempting to form a union.
About 60 employees signed a protest petition saying more than 150 women had to work in a facility with only one toilet, and they began discussing forming a union to address that and other concerns, said John Murphy, a Franklin-based spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
His organization is working with the Sitel employees at the company’s Hendersonville Road site, Murphy said.
Read More: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20111228/NEWS/312280022/Sitel-workers-file-labor-action?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFrontpage%7Cs
UN Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa
By Stewart Acuff, UWUA Chief of Staff
12/15/2011
I was very pleased to represent the Utility Workers Union of America at the recently concluded United Nations climate change conference in Durban, South Africa. We joined with unions from around the world calling for the development of green energy and green economies while protecting existing jobs.
I stayed quite busy while there as part of the Blue Green Alliance and the International Trade Union Confederation.
I spoke for all of us at a meeting of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) about our being at the table in the development of new green industries. Of course that has never happened in America before.
I was pleased to meet with the US negotiators and talk about the UWUA's commitment to green energy development as a way to create new jobs and secure greater energy independence.
A global news conference called by the Blue Green Alliance with reporters from around the world gave us another opportunity to talk about the need to grow green energy as a way to create hundreds of thousands of new, good jobs. That news conference included the United Steelworkers, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Finally, we marched in a 10,000 worker global march through downtown Durban calling for the development of green energy as a way to create millions of good jobs all over the world.
Read More: http://uwua.net/chief-of-staff/un-climate-conference-in-durban-south-africa.html
Give union-made gifts
Did you know all Hasbro toys and games including Monopoly, G.I.Joe and My Little Pony are made by union “elves”?
Also look for union-made household items, clothing, shoes, even espresso machines and other popular small kitchen appliances. Check out this UAW Consumer Buying Guide for more ideas.
Is the iPhone 4S on Santa’s list? Shop AT&T and you’ll be supporting fellow workers at the only nationwide unionized wireless provider. You can also save 15% on AT&T wireless service when you use your Union Plus discount.
And for made-in-the-USA gift ideas, check out this DailyKos article.
And you can even support unionized actors - and save with your union member discount - by purchasing theater tickets and other entertainment discounts through the Union Plus Entertainment Discounts program.
Buy union-made holiday treats, turkeys, hams and more
Check your favorite brands to see if they support America’s workers on the UFCW site. “Buy union” when it comes to everything from coffee, turkey and ham for holiday dinners to chocolates, chips and beer for parties.
Don’t forget to use your Union Plus discounts
You can save on a long list of holiday gifts including flowers, gift cards from some of your favorite stores, Dell laptops, cameras, movie tickets, car rentals, and more. And how about sending holiday greeting cards that show solidarity and support fellow union workers? Choose from more than 200 designs that all carry the Allied Trades logo.
Read More: http://www.unionplus.org/blog/deals-and-discounts/holiday-savings
Panasonic Designs Energy Efficient LED Bulb That Looks Like an Incandescent
Remember a few months ago when a group of politicans wanted to repeal parts of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) in order to bring back the inefficient incandescent light bulb? Well, Panasonic have developed a solution for all those that can seem to let go of the past, with a high-tech LED alternative that resembles the bulbs of old.
Panasonic’s new LED bulb may look like an old fashioned incandescent bulb with its clear glass and visible filament, yet it only uses 4.4 watts. As a result, this ultra-efficient LED bulbs has a lifetime of 40,000 hours which is approximately 40 years (if you use it 2.7 hours per day).
Unlike the old Edison bulb, the Panasonic bulb does not use compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which contain mercury and thus need to be disposed of properly. They also reach full intensity as soon as they’re turned on, which hopefully means that certain politicians won’t want to ban them.
As well as being A-energy rated, Panasonic LED bulbs are high in efficiency with 48 lm/W and have a high lumen maintenance of 70% at end of life and a high colour rendering of 80%.
This wonderful idea which must have been a lightbulb concept at Panasonic headquarters has already won a 2011 Good Design Award, and hopefully we will see the electronics company pressing forward with production in the near future.
Read more: http://inhabitat.com/panasonic-designs-energy-efficient-led-bulb-that-looks-like-an-incandescent/
How long do we have to wait before solar technology reaches 'grid parity'?
The solar energy industry needs the electricity it produces to cost the same as electricity generated from fossil fuels.
There is little point denying that the renewable energy industry faces an uphill challenge in persuading both governments and consumers that it should be favoured over the fossil fuel industry when it comes to generating electricity.
The economic maelstrom that rages around us all at the moment means that everyone is concentrating on the bottom line. Nowhere is this focus more acute than with the cost of energy. It takes a brave politician - of which we seem to have very few - to stand up for any fledgling industry needing financial support in the way of subsidies. And the solar energy industry is a sector which is currently seeing any support it has received in the past fast withering.
For example, the recent announcement by the government that it intends to slash the feed-in tariff aimed at kick-starting the solar industry in the UK has caused much consternation across the renewables sector. And, in the US, the media and political spotlight is currently focused on the bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra and the details of the $535m loan guarantee it received from the US Department of Energy.
The solar industry would have a much easier ride, of course, if it could proclaim "grid parity": the moment when the electricity it produces costs the same as the electricity generated by fossil fuels. Just when this magical moment is due to arrive is, quite naturally, the subject of much speculation. And any calculations are made much harder when governments send out mixed messages to the industry.
Read More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2011/nov/17/solar-energy-electricity-grid-parity
EPA's Impact on Coal Power Plants
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
As discussed with many of you earlier this week, we are deeply concerned over the compliance requirements of two recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Rules. If these rules stand as they are, the unreasonable deadlines will certainly result in the closing of many of our coal-burning plants across the country and force the layoff of many of our members. I want to bring you up todate as to where this matter is at and what we are doing.
The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSARP) requires utilities to reduce power plant emissions that may cause air-quality complications in neighborin g states and has a Phase I compliance deadline of January 1,2012 and a Phase II compliance deadline of January I, 2014. The Utility Maximum Achievable Control Technology Rules (Utility MACT) requires a decrease in mercury emission at power plants with a current compliance deadline of January I, 2015. Almost all of the country's coal-fired plants will be required to retrofit their tacilities in order to meet the standards set by these rules. The current deadlines simply will not allow most utility companies adequate time to comply and these companies will be forced to close plants and lay off workers. In addition to the devastating loss of jobs, it is also expected that the current compliance deadlines will result in dramatic increases in electricity rates and jeopardize the stability of the electric grid.
Yesterday, Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Dan Coats (R-Ind.) introduced the bipartisan Fair Compliance Act which proposes to create more reasonable timelines for compliance with these two rules. The proposed legislation would provide utilities with an extension of time and synchronize the implementation schedule for meeting compliance, providing a new deadline of January I, 2017 for both rules. In addition, the bill would also require utilities to submit implementation plans to NERC to (I) ensure that compliance will occur, and (2) to safeguard the reliability of the electric grid. These proposals will not alter the stringency of the EPA's rules in any way.
We strongly support this proposal and believe that it is common sense legislation that combines the needs of protecting the environment and preserving American and UWUA jobs. We also believe that the additional time will result in the creation of additional, permanent UWUA jobs within newly retro-fitted plants. The UWUA has already sent letters of support to several Senators, a copy of which is attached, and I am working to schedule face-to-tace meetings with Senators who have UWUA constituents. We intend to deliver the message personally that we expect and demand they support UWUA issues and goals if they expect to look to us to be there for them when re-election rolls around.
I hope to shortly appoint someone to work full-time to coordinate our efforts and be our voice on the Hill on this subject. In the meantime, I would request that each of you begin by calling and writing your own Senators and encourage them to co-sponsor the Act. For your additional information, I am also including a copy of the proposed legislation, a press release about its introduction, a fact sheet and talking points which summarize the bill.
I will keep you updated, and thank you in advance for your hard work on this extremely important issue.
Yours in Unity,
Michael Langford
UWUA National President
Whirlpool Workers Go Down The Drain
It’s sad and ironic to see the decline of manufacturing in the American southeast.
Those states – Arkansas, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia – lured industry from the rustbelt (Milwaukee, Cleveland, Pittsburgh) in the 70s, 80s and 90s – with promises of nonunion wage rates and compliant labor.
It turns out, of course, that many of the relocating companies used these right-to-work states as way-stations to their more recent destinations in Latin America and Asia.
Whirlpool’s decision last week to desert Fort Smith, Arkansas in a few months and strand more than a thousand workers gained national attention. It came as a surprise that refrigerators were still being made in the United States and that these employees were Steelworkers (there was no direct indication that unionization per se prompted the plant closing).
Read More: http://laborlou.com/2011/10/whirlpool-workers-go-down-the-drain
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‘Right to Work’ for Less Passes, Indiana Working Families Vow to Fight On
The Indiana state Senate this morning approved (28-22) a “right to work” for less bill. Passage of the bill, says Indiana State AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott, “means that strong arm tactics, misinformation and big money have won at the Indiana Statehouse.”
She says the bill, which Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) will sign, sets Indiana upon:
a path that will lead to lower wages for all working Hoosiers, less safety at work and less dignity and security in old age or ill health. Indiana’s elected officials have given the wrong answer to the most important question of this generation.
While thousands of working people—some days more than 10,000—traveled to Indianapolis over the past few weeks as Daniels, House Speaker Brian Bosma (R) and others muscled the bill through the legislature, they were often denied the right to be heard. Says Guyott:
Citizens who stood against this legislation were barred from entering the Statehouse, were denied the chance to testify before the committees considering it and were refused meetings with their own legislators.
Independent, fact-based assessments of the economic impact on this legislation were dismissed in favor of stories, promises and unsubstantiated claims by out-of-state special interest groups. And Indiana’s legislative traditions were dishonored as those in power rammed through this bill at reckless speed to avoid further public scrutiny and to please their corporate paymasters.
A similar bill was passed in 1957, but voters not only turned out the Republican majority in the next election cycle, but the law was was repealed in 1965. Says Guyott:
As working men and women did in the 1950s and 60s, this generation of Hoosiers will now rise up, join forces and repeal this anti-worker agenda again.
From: http://blog.aflcio.org/2012/02/01/right-to-work-for-less-passes-indiana-working-families-vow-to-fight-on/
Unions Hit Daniels on Flip-Flop
The AFL-CIO is using Gov. Mitch Daniels' turn in the spotlight tomorrow night to highlight his about-face on the right-to-work bill.
The governor is scheduled to give the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address.
So the AFL-CIO will run a 30-second ad highlighting remarks Daniels made in 2006 at a Teamsters event stating his opposition to changing Indiana's labor laws. The ad will air surrounding the governor's response on broadcast networks in Indiana and nationally on CNN and MSNBC.
It plays video from the 2006 event in which Daniels says "I have said over and over, I'll say it again tonight. I'm a supporter of the labor laws we have in the state of Indiana. I'm not interested in changing any of them. Not the prevailing wage and certainly not a right-to-work law."
Read More: http://www.journalgazette.com/article/20120123/LOCAL0202/120129787/1002/local
Walker Recall Election Now All But Certain to Occur
Gov. Scott Walker probably knew it was coming when he came to Texas last week and proceeded to other states to raise money: More than 1 million signatures have been submitted on behalf of his recall.
While no one should be under any illusion that the election will be easy, that’s an amazing number of people who support the fundamental workplace rights of public employees so passionately that they would seek to toss a governor out of office for abridging those rights. Congratulations to our Brothers and Sisters in Wisconsin. The Washington Post reports:
Wisconsin Democrats are telling reporters that they have gathered more than one million signatures to recall Governor Scott Walker — a remarkable number that could have real ramifications for this year’s presidential race.
While that total had been hinted at, Wisconsin Dem spokesman Graeme Zielinski confirms to me that it’s official. John Nichols, speculating earlier today about this possibility, puts the number in perspective:
If that is the case, the movement to oust Walker will have secured the support of a higher percentage of eligible voters than has ever before sought to recall an American governor.
Dems need around 540,000 of those signatures to be certified as official in order for the recall of Walker to proceed. The one-million total makes that cushion pretty comfortable.
There is still a very long way to go in terms of getting Walker recalled. A massive amount of cash will again flood into the state from both sides in order to influence the outcome. But the mere fact that there’s already so much support for the recall suggests that despite the Dem failure to take back the Wisconsin state senate last year, there’s still a tremendous amount of grassroots energy on the ground on the Dem side — nearly a year since the fight in Wisconsin first began — in a key swing state in a presidential election year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/dems-gather-more-than-one-million-signatures-to-recall-scott-walker/2012/01/17/gIQAE2225P_blog.html
Indiana anti-union bill to get vote next week as Republicans and Democrats make a deal
Indiana Republicans and Democrats have reached a deal that will bring the state's so-called "right to work" bill to a vote next week. Democrats had objected to Republicans trying to rush the bill through, holding a joint House-Senate hearing rather than the usual separate hearing process, and blocking amendments and debate at the committee stage, and had twice stayed away to deny Republicans a quorum, a tactic Republicans squealed about but have employed themselves in the past under their current leadership.
Republicans seem to have concluded they're not winning political points trying to ram the bill through at top speed:
House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said he watched video of the hearing and concluded it "did not reflect democracy's finest hour," though no rules were broken. Still, Bosma said he reached out to House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, on Wednesday "to see if we couldn't find something to calm people down."
The olive branch: giving Democrats more time to prepare amendments by scheduling them for Tuesday, with full debate and a vote on the bill later next week.
The question is whether Democrats have any amendments that both have a shot at passing and will make a difference; will they, for instance, exempt building trades unions from the law, as at least one Republican strongly supports? With or without amendments, though, Republicans are overwhelmingly likely to have the votes they need to pass the bill, forcing union members to pay the costs of union representation for their coworkers who don't belong to the union.
Read More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/12/1054035/-Indiana-anti-union-bill-to-get-vote-next-week-as-Republicans-and-Democrats-make-a-deal
Indiana Labor Measure Is Expected to Progress
House Democrats brought state lawmaking to a halt in Indiana for much of this week, refusing for a third straight day on Friday to come out to their chamber floor in a procedural effort to stop “right to work” legislation at the center of a mounting battle over unions here.
But by Friday afternoon Republicans in the Senate succeeded in moving the measure out of a committee to the full Senate, where passage is likely next week. And by the end of the day, even Democrats in the House — who could face steep fines for not attending the session in the coming days — seemed to hint that there was only so much they could do to stop the provision from eventual adoption.
“We know we can’t stay out forever,” Representative B. Patrick Bauer, the Democrats’ leader, said after emerging Friday afternoon from a room in the Statehouse where the Democrats had been meeting privately and using the Internet to watch the floor proceedings they were missing.
Republicans have solid majorities in both the State House and Senate. But only in the Senate do they have such a big advantage that Democrats cannot avoid a quorum or stop votes on issues — an option House Democrats have enough seats for.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/us/indiana-right-to-work-measure-expected-to-pass.html?_r=1
A Gathering Storm Over ‘Right to Work’ in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS — Nearly a year after legislatures in Wisconsin and several other Republican-dominated states curbed the power of public sector unions, lawmakers are now turning their sights toward private sector unions, setting up what is sure to be another political storm.
The thunderclouds are gathering first here in Indiana. The leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature say that when the legislative session opens on Wednesday, their No. 1 priority will be to push through a business-friendly piece of legislation known as a right-to-work law.
If Indiana enacts such a law — and its sponsors say they have the votes — it will give new momentum to those who have previously pushed such legislation in Maine, Michigan, Missouri and other states. New Hampshire’s Republican-controlled Legislature was the last to pass a right-to-work bill in 2011, but it narrowly failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto by the Democratic governor; an Indiana law would re-energize that effort.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/business/gathering-storm-over-right-to-work-in-indiana.html?_r=2&ref=business
The Nasty Truth About the Online Retailers You Probably Used for Your Holiday Shopping
The workers who box the stuff we order online are often treated terribly.
Since June, I've been ruining my friends' online-shopping lives. Back then, I reported on a vast warehouse in Ohio where goods bought from online retailers are sorted, boxed, and shipped to consumers. Unsurprisingly, this job does not pay well. A little more surprisingly, this job seems designed to crush employees' spirits. During my visit, two people got fired within 10 minutes, one for talking to someone while he was working—"Where are you from?" was the offending comment—and one for going to the bathroom too much. So occasionally, and now more that it's the holidays, my friends and family will call to complain that "Bleh, I want to order something from Amazon/Walmart/Staples/whatever, but I feel guilty about helping oppress workers."
Why would online retailers be so mean? Well, in the case of many, they have helpfully outsourced interaction with workers. When Walmart started selling its merchandise on the internet, it turned to third-party logistics contractors, or 3PLs, experts who could handle the, uh, logistics, like warehousing and transportation, of online sales. Take Exel, for example, the largest 3PL in the country, and a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL, one of the largest companies in the world. Exel alone has 86 million square feet of warehouse all over North America and processes literally millions of goods every single day. Other retailers directly perpetrate the oppression. Amazon.com made headlines earlier this year when 20 current and former employees of its Breinigville, Pennsylvania, warehouse told the local Morning Call that workers were fainting in stifling heat and getting yelled at for not meeting ridiculously high productivity goals and generally being "treated like a piece of crap." Employees who were sent home with heat exhaustion were disciplined; a local ER doc eventually called OSHA and reported "an unsafe environment."
Read More: http://www.alternet.org/story/153556/the_nasty_truth_about_the_online_retailers_you_probably_used_for_your_holiday_shopping
Right to Work Reality Check: Debunking Jim Buck
Republican State Senator Jim Buck of Kokomo, a supporter of the so-called “right to work” law, has provided the press with misleading information to support his position that needs to be corrected.
In a December 13 interview with the Kokomo Perspective, Buck claimed that there were a number of companies that refused to locate to Indiana because of a lack of such a law. However, when pressed for examples, he could not name a single company and offered to provide "a list" later. His office recently provided this “list,” and, as the newspaper reported it was “…a compilation of quotes from site selectors and consultants. Very few actual businesses are listed at any point. In fact, only three businesses are named by the site selectors as preferring Right to Work states.”
Read More: http://in.aflcio.org/statefed/?action=article&articleid=b2c1850b-c0e8-4c6f-8ce1-d41bf056dfd1
30 Major U.S. Corporations Paid More to Lobby Congress Than Income Taxes, 2008-2010
By employing a plethora of tax-dodging techniques, 30 multi-million dollar American corporations expended more money lobbying Congress than they paid in federal income taxes between 2008 and 2010, ultimately spending approximately $400,000 every day -- including weekends -- during that three-year period to lobby lawmakers and influence political elections, according to a new report from the non-partisan Public Campaign.
Despite a growing federal deficit and the widespread economic stability that has swept the U.S since 2008, the companies in question managed to accumulate profits of $164 billion between 2008 and 2010, while receiving combined tax rebates totaling almost $11 billion. Moreover, Public Campaign reports these companies spent about $476 million during the same period to lobby the U.S. Congress, as well as another $22 million on federal campaigns, while in some instances laying off employees and increasing executive compensation.
Read More: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/264481/20111209/30-major-u-s-corporations-paid-lobby.htm
Times of Northwest Indiana: Report finds flaws in favorable right-to-work study
Right-to-work and Indiana's Economic Future
What's Wrong with Right-to-work
INDIANAPOLIS | A study paid for by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce detailing the positive economic effects of a right-to-work law mistakenly credits those effects to right-to-work, a University of Oregon political scientist says.
The chamber study by Richard Vedder, an Ohio University economist, finds right-to-work states had higher average personal income and employment growth between 1977 and 2008 compared to states without a right-to-work law.
Vedder projects Indiana's annual per capita income would be $2,925 higher today if Indiana had experienced the same growth as right-to-work states over that period. He says passage of a right-to-work law now would boost per capita income by nearly $1,000 over the next decade.
House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, repeatedly have cited Vedder's estimates since declaring their top legislative priority is passing a right-to-work law. The law would exempt nonunion members at a union workplace from paying their share of the cost of collective bargaining and other union services.
But a report by Oregon's Gordon Lafer says just because Vedder found positive economic outcomes in states with right-to-work laws, that doesn't mean right-to-work is responsible for those results.
Lafer does not dispute Vedder's finding that right-to-work states had higher average income and employment growth but points out not all right-to-work states grew at the same rate. Between 1977 and 2008, per capita income grew 82 percent in right-to-work North Dakota, but only 32.5 percent in right-to-work Nevada.
Indiana's per capita income grew 37.2 percent over the same period, and Massachusetts, which like Indiana lacks a right-to-work law, had the highest per capita income growth in the nation at 88.9 percent.
"The immediate fact that jumps out from this data is that there is no clear relationship between income growth and right-to-work laws," Lafer writes.
Looking at state-by-state employment, Indiana grew 42.8 percent between 1977 and 2008, while Iowa, the most similar right-to-work state, grew only 34.4 percent in that time.
"Iowa can increase its job growth by repealing right-to-work and making itself more like Indiana," Lafer suggests.
Read More: http://in.aflcio.org/statefed/index.cfm
Stand Up for Unemployment
Congress has never cut back on federally funded unemployment insurance when unemployment was anywhere near this high for this long.
But this time, it looks like it really might happen. Speaker Boehner is using the limited time left in this year’s legislative calendar not to extend unemployment, but to hold votes on legislation designed to benefit corporate CEOs and the richest 1% of Americans.
If Congress fails to act because of obstructionists like Speaker Boehner, 2 million people who can’t find work and are relying on emergency unemployment benefits will lose their lifeline in January. And if action isn’t taken at all, the total will rise to at least 6 million over the course of 2012.
The legislative package Speaker Boehner’s moving this week—his misleadingly named “Jobs Agenda”—would do nothing to create jobs if it ever became law. Instead, it would weaken unions and workers’ collective bargaining rights, gut workplace safety and health rules, end environmental and consumer protections and stop health care regulations and financial safeguards designed to prevent another Great Depression.
Working families rightfully demand bold action to extend unemployment benefits, address our immediate unemployment crisis and create jobs—now. Read More: http://act.ly/52x
Indiana Republicans aim to get right to work on 'right to work'
The final legislative session of Gov. Mitch Daniels' tenure will be a battleground over labor union rights.
The fight to make Indiana the 23rd so-called "right to work" state in the nation began Monday, when House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said the issue will be their top priority.
Unions call the legislation -- which bars companies and unions from negotiating a contract that requires nonmembers to pay fees for representation -- the "right to work for less." Their protests over this and other bills aimed at labor unions shut down the House for five weeks in 2011, when Democrats left the state to deny Republicans the ability to cast votes.
Republicans tabled the issue then, in large part because Daniels said 2011 wasn't the right time to deal with it.
But he's made it clear that he won't raise the same objections in 2012. Although he hasn't endorsed the legislation -- and his office declined to comment on it Monday -- he has argued that not having this law costs jobs.
Read More http://www.indystar.com/article/20111122/NEWS05/111220323/Indiana-Republicans-aim-get-right-work-right-work-?odyssey=mod%7Cmostcom
THE UNION’S ON YOUR SIDE - By Wayne McCallum (2006)
In an age of no values, no shelter, no friends
No rest or harbor for the working men
Where women work streets and children are slaves
Where the bosses will work you till you're dead in your grave
If you want your freedom you'll need to fight
You'll need good help as you push for your rights
Join together and stand there with pride
You've got the union on your side
Lindsey Graham Tried to Bully NLRB Before Boeing Complaint
Sen. Lindsey Graham openly threatened the National Labor Relations Board before they filed a complaint against Boeing for illegally moving their plant from Washington state to South Carolina, according to notes taken by the NLRB’s general counsel, Lafe Solomon.
The House Oversight Committee obtained the documents through a subpoena, and they show total intimidation on the part of the Senator:
Days before the NLRB issued the April 20 complaint against Boeing for allegedly retaliating against union workers, there were at least two phone calls between Graham and Lafe Solomon, the NLRB’s acting general counsel, during which the senator tried to talk the agency out of filing the complaint.
“He said that if a complaint was filed, it will be ‘nasty,’ ‘very, very nasty,’ ” Solomon wrote in notes describing a phone call with Graham on April 11. “He said that if complaint issued, he was going ‘full guns a-blazing.’ ”
Graham didn’t disappoint after the complaint was filed, and Solomon didn’t disappoint in letting the law rather than Lindsey Graham guide his actions. But this is completely out of bounds.
Graham copped to making the call when confronted by the Hill. “I meant that I would vigorously criticize the NLRB and actively work to protect the economic interests of South Carolina,” he said in a statement. “Those statements were made to convey to Mr. Solomon the political uproar that would occur both in South Carolina and nationally if the complaint was filed.” So this is an admission of guilt.
Read More: http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/11/10/lindsey-graham-tried-to-bully-nlrb-before-boeing-complaint/
Ohio Vote on Collective Bargaining May Foreshadow Wisconsin Recall Efforts
A vote taking place three states and more than 500 miles from Madison could foreshadow the future for Wisconsin and its controversial governor.
When Ohio voters head to the polls Tuesday, they will have the chance to essentially veto a measure that bears a striking resemblance to Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining bill, which led to the longest and most heavily attended protests in Wisconsin history.
In March, not long after Walker signed his bill into law, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, also a Republican, signed a measure that greatly reduced the collective bargaining abilities of his state's employees.
Like here, the move was seen by critics as an overreach by the GOP, an attempt to deliver a crippling blow to organized labor in that state. Here, backlash to the measure focused on recalling state senators who supported it. But unlike here, Ohio voters can repeal individual pieces of legislation.
Since the spring, thousands of the law's opponents have taken to the streets to collect signatures and generate support for overturning the measure. As it stands now, Kasich and his bill are both lagging in public support. A Quinnipiac University poll released this week showed the repeal effort was leading by a 25-point margin.
Should the Ohio law fall, it could provide the clearest example yet of the trouble Walker will face when his recall election kicks off in earnest next week.
"These two situations are about as identical as you can get," said Mordecai Lee, UW-Milwaukee political science professor. "You can say one is about a law, the other is about a governor, but both really are about how the public at large feels about organized labor and whether they feel the Republicans are going too far."
Twin protest
At the same time that thousands of Wisconsinites packed at the Capitol in protest in February and March, thousands of Ohioans gathered outside their statehouse to protest their collective bargaining law.
In many ways Ohio's law went further than Wisconsin's. The Ohio law banned binding arbitration and required government workers pay more of their health insurance costs and to their pensions.
In Ohio, opponents of the collective bargaining law needed to collect 231,149 signatures in 90 days to trigger a statewide referendum on the measure. The opponents, led by political action committee We Are Ohio, collected more than 915,000 valid signatures.
"Our goal was 450,000 to 500,000," said Melissa Fazekas, We Are Ohio spokeswoman. "But they just kept coming and coming. I have been around Ohio politics for 10 years and have never seen people so motivated."
Comparing the laws
Wisconsin's law:
• Limits public employees' ability to bargain collectively.
• Prohibits any bargaining over health coverage and pensions.
• Requires public employees contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries to pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health-care premiums.
• Exempts firefighters, most police and some transit employees.
Ohio's law:
• Limits public employees' ability to bargain collectively.
• Prohibits any bargaining over health coverage and pensions.
• Requires public employees pay at least 15 percent of their health care costs and contribute at least 10 percent of their salaries toward their pensions.
• Does not exempt firefighters or police.
Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_e2215c22-099b-11e1-ad6f-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1d9G4oofd
It Can't Happen Here
Unlike Oakland, political leaders in Los Angeles would not allow police to use tear gas and “bean bag rounds” to contain, move or discipline Occupy LA protesters.
Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor’s staff, council members and civic authorities deserve enormous credit so far for their handling of the occupation outside city hall. Support for the demonstrators is genuine and the spirit of cooperation is exemplary.
Also, LAPD culture has been transformed since the Daryl Gates / Rodney King era and – more recently – in the aftermath of the May Day /MacArthur Park crackdown.
Of course, tensions could flair over conditions at the site, or protesters could make a strategic decision to become more provocative.
Here’s where the Los Angeles Labor Movement can be particularly helpful. Many union-led actions over the past several years – including civil disobedience – involve the police in advance. This dramatically reduces the chance of excessive force.
Keep in mind, LA’s political and winter climate could make it a magnet for “occupiers” from other regions. I suspect and hope that our leaders are preparing for that possibility.
Read More: http://laborlou.com/2011/10/it-cant-happen-here/
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(last updated: 02-02-12 )
NRC denies most exemptions for Entergy reactors
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Federal regulators said Wednesday they have denied most of the fire-safety exemptions sought by Entergy Corp. for its Indian Point nuclear plants near New York City.
The state attorney general called the rulings "a major victory for the safety of millions of New Yorkers."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it turned down 42 of the 50 exemptions requested three years ago by Entergy Nuclear after new NRC standards were imposed.
Where exemptions were granted, they allow Indian Point, which is 35 miles north of Manhattan in Buchanan, to substitute manual actions by operators for automatic fire protection features that are required by NRC regulations.
Read Full Article at: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/NRC-denies-most-exemptions-apf-2264514008.html?x=0
American Water Named in Labor Complaint
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint against American Water Works Co. Inc. after unions at the company alleged it illegally cut health care and other benefits for workers during contract negotiations last year.
Voorhees, N.J.-based American Water, which employs union-represented workers in Pennsylvania, said it has responded to the board's complaint and is prepared to defend itself. The labor board will hold a hearing in March.
The Utility Workers Union of America said American Water cut employee health care, retiree health care and short-term disability benefits at the beginning of 2011 without notifying federal and state mediation agencies about an ongoing contract dispute. The contract covers 3,500 company workers represented by nine unions, according to the Utility Workers Union, which led negotiations and took the charge to the labor board.
Read More: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_776905.html
Peoples Gas Provides Winter Safety Tips
"Install Carbon Monoxide Detectors, Have Appliances Checked"
Chicago, IL - Winter may be the coldest season and the busiest season as residents prepare for holiday cooking and shopping. It’s also the season when Peoples Gas receives the highest number of carbon monoxide-related calls.
To help customers stay safe while using natural gas this winter, Peoples Gas has the following vital safety tips. The utility encourages everyone to help get the word out by passing them on.
•Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless and tasteless gas and that can cause sickness and in some cases, death. Every year, especially during the winter months, we hear about residents becoming ill due to the possibility of breathing carbon monoxide fumes, or even dying from the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide can come from inadequately burned fuel and improperly vented appliances, such as water heaters, furnaces, space heaters, boilers, ranges/stoves, clothes dryers, grills, fireplaces and portable generators.
It's extremely important that residents have a working carbon monoxide (CO) detector as required by Illinois law in their homes and apartments. The presence of carbon monoxide detectors can save lives. Carbon monoxide detectors should be installed within 15 feet of sleeping areas. Batteries should be changed every six months to ensure they are working.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning may include:
•Sudden flu-like illness
•Dizziness, headaches, sleepiness
•Nausea or vomiting
•Fluttering or throbbing heartbeat
•Cherry-red lips, unusually pale complexion
•Unconsciousness
If you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning, you should leave the premises immediately, get to a safe location and call 911 first, then the Peoples Gas emergency number at 1-866-556-6002. If your CO detector should sound an alert, and you are not experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning you should leave the premises immediately and contact your HVAC professional. For more information on CO safety, please visit the company's website: www.peoplesgasdelivery.com.
•Residents should have their appliances inspected and/or repaired by a licensed or certified technician. Having an unqualified person connect, inspect or work on your appliances presents a safety hazard that not only puts your household at risk, but can pose a danger to your neighbors.
•Whenever natural gas service has been disconnected, there are certain steps that must be taken before service may be restored. It is the customer's responsibility to make proper arrangements with his or her natural gas company for service reconnection. Recognize that tampering with natural gas services, meters or any other utility equipment can create a serious safety hazard and is illegal. Tampering with natural gas facilities can cause leaks and endanger not only those who tamper with the utility facilities, but also their neighbors and the community as well.
If you should come across any suspicious activity, including tampering, illegal hook-ups and/or the unauthorized moving of meters and service pipes, please call the Peoples Gas emergency number at 1-866-556-6002.
About Peoples Gas
Peoples Gas, a subsidiary of Integrys Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE: TEG ), is a regulated natural gas delivery company that serves approximately 819,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in the city of Chicago. For more information about Peoples Gas, visit the company’s website: www.peoplesgasdelivery.com.
Read More: http://www.integrysgroup.com/news/view_article.cfm?reckey=02204&companyID=pg
OSHA Aims to Protect Workers During Winter Storms
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has created a web page to help protect workers from hazards they may face during winter storm response and recovery operations.
The Web page provides guidance on how employers and workers involved in cleanup and recovery operations can recognize snow storm-related hazards and the necessary steps that employers must take to keep workers safe while working in these conditions. The page includes guidance for workers clearing heavy snow in front of workplaces and from rooftops, workers encountering downed power lines or traveling on icy roads, and utility workers restoring power after winter storms.
Hazards associated with working in winter storms include:
* being struck by falling objects such as icicles, tree limbs, and utility poles
* driving accidents due to slippery roadways
* carbon monoxide poisoning
* dehydration, hypothermia and frostbite
* exhaustion from strenuous activity
* back injuries or heart attack while removing snow
* slips and falls due to slippery walkways
* electrocution from downed power lines and downed objects in contact with power lines
* burns from fires caused by energized line contact or equipment failure
* falls from snow removal on roofs or while working in aerial lifts or on ladders
* roof collapse under weight of snow (or melting snow if drains are clogged)
* lacerations or amputations from unguarded or improperly operated chain saws and power tools, and improperly attempting to clear jams in snow blowers
Read More: http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=21549
New Balance struggles as last remaining major U.S. athletic shoemaker
At the factory here owned by New Balance, the last major athletic shoe brand to manufacture footwear in the United States, even workers on the shop floor recognize that in purely economic terms, the operation doesn’t make sense.
The company could make far more money if, like Nike and Adidas, it shifted virtually all of these jobs to low-wage countries.
So employees try each shift to make it up. Conversations on the shop floor are sparse at best, and the tasks at each work station have been stripped of waste and precisely timed. Workers cut leather for a pair of shoes in 88 seconds, handle precise stitching in 37 seconds, and glue soles to uppers even faster.
“The company already could make more money by going overseas and they know it,” said Scott Boulette, 35, a burly team leader who has his son’s name tattooed in Gothic letters down his left forearm. “So we hustle.”
Read More: http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/29/business/new-balance-struggles-as-last-remaining-major-u-s-athletic-shoemaker/
Talent and skills shortage among top business risks for 2012
Despite high levels of unemployment, U.S. business leaders say one of the biggest risks they’re facing is a talent and skills shortage, according to the 2011 Lloyd’s Risk Index.
Talent and skills shortages shot up to the number two risk facing businesses, up from the 22nd place in the 2009 index. The survey polled 500 C-suite and board level executives in North America, Europe, Asia and elsewhere to assess corporate risk priorities and attitudes around the world.
Forty-five percent of respondents in North America rated talent as a high or very high priority over the next year.
Boosting talent retention was named in the survey as one of the most effective risk management actions taken by management over the last three years, highlighting just how keen businesses are to retain the staff they have.
Read More: http://ebn.benefitnews.com/news/unemployment-lloyds-risk-index-talent-skills-2720459-1.html?ET=ebnbenefitnews%3Ae2714%3A2461436a%3A&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBN_inBrief_120711
Peoples Gas Provides Winter Safety Tips
"Install Carbon Monoxide Detectors, Have Appliances Checked"
Chicago, IL - Winter may be the coldest season and the busiest season as residents prepare for holiday cooking and shopping. It’s also the season when Peoples Gas receives the highest number of carbon monoxide-related calls.
To help customers stay safe while using natural gas this winter, Peoples Gas has the following vital safety tips. The utility encourages everyone to help get the word out by passing them on.
-
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless and tasteless gas and that can cause sickness and in some cases, death. Every year, especially during the winter months, we hear about residents becoming ill due to the possibility of breathing carbon monoxide fumes, or even dying from the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide can come from inadequately burned fuel and improperly vented appliances, such as water heaters, furnaces, space heaters, boilers, ranges/stoves, clothes dryers, grills, fireplaces and portable generators.
It's extremely important that residents have a working carbon monoxide (CO) detector as required by Illinois law in their homes and apartments. The presence of carbon monoxide detectors can save lives. Carbon monoxide detectors should be installed within 15 feet of sleeping areas. Batteries should be changed every six months to ensure they are working.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning may include:
-
Sudden flu-like illness
-
Dizziness, headaches, sleepiness
-
Nausea or vomiting
-
Fluttering or throbbing heartbeat
-
Cherry-red lips, unusually pale complexion
-
Unconsciousness
If you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning, you should leave the premises immediately, get to a safe location and call 911 first, then the Peoples Gas emergency number at 1-866-556-6002. If your CO detector should sound an alert, and you are not experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning you should leave the premises immediately and contact your HVAC professional. For more information on CO safety, please visit the company's website: www.peoplesgasdelivery.com.
-
Residents should have their appliances inspected and/or repaired by a licensed or certified technician. Having an unqualified person connect, inspect or work on your appliances presents a safety hazard that not only puts your household at risk, but can pose a danger to your neighbors.
-
Whenever natural gas service has been disconnected, there are certain steps that must be taken before service may be restored. It is the customer's responsibility to make proper arrangements with his or her natural gas company for service reconnection. Recognize that tampering with natural gas services, meters or any other utility equipment can create a serious safety hazard and is illegal. Tampering with natural gas facilities can cause leaks and endanger not only those who tamper with the utility facilities, but also their neighbors and the community as well.
If you should come across any suspicious activity, including tampering, illegal hook-ups and/or the unauthorized moving of meters and service pipes, please call the Peoples Gas emergency number at 1-866-556-6002.
Read More: http://www.integrysgroup.com/news/view_article.cfm?reckey=02204&companyID=pg
New study shows steady march to retail electricity competition
The Distributed Energy Financial Group (DEFG) has released its annual assessment of retail electricity competition and the 2011 version is surprisingly upbeat. In "traditional" or "vertically integrated" markets, one company provides all parts of the service -- generation, transmission, distribution, and retail sales. With competition, the parts are separated into different companies. A local “wires company” delivers electricity and maintains the system. Retail providers sell electricity and provide customer service, competing with other providers for business.
Although retail electricity competition still has many skeptics, more and more energy companies are jumping onto the bandwagon. "More than 12 million business and residential consumers are shopping for electricity across our country, reaping the benefits of innovative energy solutions, [and] lower prices," says David I. Fein, Director of Retail Energy Policy at Constellation Energy. "While more work needs to be done, the trend is toward continued expansion of competitive markets for all consumers."
Read More: http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/Business_Markets_Pricing/New-study-shows-steady-march-to-retail-electricity-competition-4269.html
Home Energy Saving Rebates
Consumers Energy is offering Home Energy Saving Rebates to its customers, check out the link below.
http://www.consumersenergy.com/eeprograms/Residential.aspx?id=4069&linkidentifier=id&itemid=4069
At G-20 Summit, Union Leaders to Demand ‘Robin Hood’ Tax on Speculators
As world leaders head to France for the the G-20 economic summit in Cannes, labor leaders from around the globe will gather nearby to represent the needs of the world’s workers. Among their demands is a Robin Hood tax on banks and financial institutions that would exact a nano-percentage of each financial transaction to the tune of 0.5 percent. (See video.) That’s one half of 1 percent on every bond or derivative traded, stocks sold and a host of other “financial instruments” bought and sold by the very institutions bailed out by the world’s taxpayers.
Also known as a financial speculations tax, or a financial transactions tax, the idea is catching on in the United States through the activism of unions, especially the National Nurses United (NNU), which has been joining with Occupy protesters to support the Robin Hood tax. The idea has already gained significant momentum across the pond, where British activists are using creative means, such as this video, to sell the public on the Robin Hood tax.
Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), explains it this way:
Banks don’t come with an internal switch that says “Enough! Let’s slow down a little.” Or “Let’s just share this wealth around for the benefit of the community now.”…We need a new political contract. The G-20 leaders’ meeting…is a chance for leaders to set a new direction for their governments and to re-establish a fractured trust with their citizens.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will join union leaders at the Labor Summit in Cannes to call for governments around the world to focus on creating jobs and to raise much-needed revenue from financial speculators via a Robin Hood tax. As the AFL-CIO has stated:
In the U.S., a tiny tax on financial transactions could raise hundreds of billions in revenue that could fund education and create jobs rebuilding our country, while discouraging speculation and encouraging long-term investment. Both Warren Buffett and Pete Peterson have urged Congress to consider a financial speculation tax.
Nurses in Cannes also will lead a press conference at the G-20 calling for governments worldwide to implement a Robin Hood tax.
While the global labor leaders and heads of state convene in France, working people and Occupy activists will gather with the AFL-CIO and members of the NNU at a rally in Washington, D.C., Nov. 3 to demand a Robin Hood tax that will make financial institutions pay their fair share to help put Americans back to work.
For more on the Robin Hood tax, click here.
Entergy to Buy NextEra Power Plant
Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR - News) has entered into an agreement with a unit of NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE - News) to acquire the latter’s Rhode Island State Energy Center (“RISEC”) for approximately $346 million.
NextEra’s 550-megawatt power plant is a Siemens natural gas-fired combined-cycle generating plant. Located in Johnston, Rhode Island, the plant is currently working with Siemens to facilitate the uprate of its combustion turbines, which is scheduled for completion in November 2011. This will increase the facility's nominal capacity to 583 megawatts. The plant entered into commercial service in 2002.
NextEra Energy expects the transaction to close at the end of 2011 and expects to incur a one-time, after-tax loss of approximately $2.0 million.
The acquisition of new assets would improve the value of Entergy’sportfolio through the addition of generation in the New England market that is well positioned to benefit from expected market recovery.
Entergy is well positioned through its geographically diverse mix of regulated and merchant operations. The company is the second largest U.S. nuclear power generator after Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC - News). The company is focused on maximizing shareholder value on the back of steady investment in rate base growth, an ongoing stock buyback program and incremental dividends.
Despite the positives, we are cautious about tepid growth at the company’s competitive business on account of lukewarm power demand in the Northeast, and pending regulatory approvals. The company presently retains a short-term Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) that corresponds with our long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock.
On November 1, 2011, Entergy is expected to release its third quarter results. The Zacks Consensus Estimates for third quarter 2011 and fiscal year 2011 are currently at 3.19 per share and $7.20 per share, respectively.
Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Read More: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Entergy-to-Buy-NextEra-Power-zacks-3837042560.html?x=0&.v=1
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(last updated: 01-23-11 )
Michigan State AFL-CIO Union Label
 Union Goods and Services:
If you can eat it, drink it, wear it or ride it…If you can sit on it, play on it, work in it, or stay in it…If you can tell time with it, build with it, or cook with it…If you watch it, listen to it, or keep things cold with it…If you use it for work, or just to have fun…You can find one made by union workers.
But, did you also know that union members treat you when you’re sick and help you stay well.
We teach kids, and help them stay safe…We make candy and cookies, medicine and machines, rubber tires, bikes and toys…We fight fires, fly airplanes, drive buses and trucks…We build houses and buildings, churches and schools…We make trains, airplanes and boats—and the engines that move them.
We build auto and trucks and the roads that they follow…We run railroads and subways, and ships big and small…We make glasses to wear—and the kind that you drink from…We keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer…We connect you to family by phone or by mail…We make music and movies and we film TV news…We write newspapers and print them, take pictures and tint them…We harvest your food and staff stores where it’s sold.
We do thousands of things to make life more secure.
So Look For The Union Label: http://miunionlabel.com
The Union Edge
 The Union Edge features daily broadcasts from Charles Showalter and other contributors that meet their mission to develop a national radio and internet based public affairs outlet for unions and progressives to express their views to the public and build support for issues that are important to all Working Families.
Visit: http://www.theunionedge.com
Union Veterans Council
 The AFL-CIO launched its first-ever Union Veterans Council in July 2008 to bring together union veterans on the issues that matter most to veterans, their families and working men and women.
Visit: http://www.unionveterans.org
Hard Hatted Women
 To empower women to achieve economic independence by creating workplace diversity in trade and technical careers.
Hard Hatted Women is the only community non-profit organization dedicated to supporting women in high-wage, nontraditional, blue collar careers.
Visit: http://www.hardhattedwomen.org
Maverick Construction
 Maverick’s resolute commitment to quality and safety infuses every aspect of our firm. We require technical and safety training for our employees, and also provide apprenticeship training. We are power certified and follow rigorous on-the-job safety practices. We apply our high safety standards for power distribution network projects to all communications network projects as well.
Visit: http://www.maverickcorporation.com
Coalition of Labor Union Women
 CLUW is the national women's organization within the labor movement. Our members are on the frontline, empowering working women to become leaders in their unions and encouraging them to make a difference on the job and, most importantly, in their own lives. Our values are simple: Solidarity, involvement, dignity and justice.
Visit: http://www.cluw.org
The Union Boot Pro
 Nothing but the highest quality American Made Union Made Work Boots
Job-Fitted Occupational Work Boots
Uniform Boots
Union Discounts
Visit: http://www.theunionbootpro.com/unionmedia.cfm
CUTCO - The World's Finest Cutlery
 2002 Labor-Management Award from the AFL-CIO Union Label & Service Trades Department - awarded to CUTCO for "demonstrating a commitment to the collective bargaining process and to the production of competitive union-made products and services in the United States."
Visit: http://www.cutco.com
Appletree MediaWorks
 Appletree MediaWorks is a union media company, providing communication solutions for your membership through online and print mediums.
Visit: http://www.appletreeunionmediaworks.com
The National Labor College
The National Labor College is the nation’s only accredited higher education institution devoted exclusively to educating union members, leaders and staff.
Visit: http://www.nlc.edu
The USA Coffee Company
The USA Coffee Company is a American Company providing "union grown in the USA" coffee products; featuring "Obama Java" and "All American Union Roast" among its extensive list of products.
Visit: http://www.usacoffeecompany.com
UNION BUILT PC
UNION BUILT PC, computers made by Union Workers in detroit, chicago, maryland, and new york. Union consulting, support, software, programming, and web sites.
Visit: http://www.unionbuiltpc.com/
American Arbitration Association University - Courses
The American Arbitration Association provides education programs for counsel and neutrals that are delivered regionally and internationally, as well as via the Internet. AAAU offers training courses in domestic and international arbitration and mediation.
Visit: http://www.aaauonline.org
Water Solutions Inc. - Water Treatment Consulting
Water Solutions provides consulting services for water treatment, water disinfection and water storage projects. Our clients are public utilities, private; industrial water users. We offer Water Operator exam preparation classes.
Visit: http://www.h2osolutions.com
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