Main Street Blog/Working America

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Super Bowl Sunday is almost upon us, and the New England Patriots and the New York Giants are preparing to battle it out for dominance. But there’s an extra wrinkle in this year’s Super Bowl. Just days ago, down the street from Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis where the game will be held, Governor Mitch Daniels signed a union-busting “right to work” bill into law. In the other 22 states where these laws are on the books, wages for all workers have gone down, workplaces have become less safe, and the power of unions to advocate for their members has dissipated.

For you at home, there’s somewhat of a dilemma. You want to enjoy the experience of Super Bowl Sunday: the gathering of friends and family, the commercials, the rush of the game, and of course, the food. On the other hand, you don’t want to be just another cog in the enormous corporate machine, the “miasma of Madison Avenue-produced militarism,” the forces that have turned an annual sporting event into a full-on marketing assault on the American public; forces that are tied philosophically and financially to the political war on workers.

So along with American Rights At Work, we want to help you throw your own pro-worker Super Bowl. Don’t believe the myths: there are plenty of products out there made in United States by well union workers, despite the best efforts of Walker, Kasich, and Daniels. Let’s get started!

• Snacks. Luckily, you can support American workers with every handful. Chips and other snacks by Doritos, Lays, Kraft, and Wise are American and union made. For something sweet (ideally around fourth quarter, with the Pats up two scores) try some Ghiradelli Chocolates.

• Drinks. Beer and football go together like…come on, nothing goes together better than beer and football. Crack open a brew from Budweiser, Busch, Leinenkugel, Michelob, Miller, Molson, Pabst, or Rolling Rock, and you’ll be enjoying a union-made product. But drink responsibly, guys – this game is Boston versus New York, so there will be enough trouble afterwards without you joining in. How about after third quarter you switch to Coke, Sprite, or juices from Welch’s or Minute Maid.

• Grill. Firing up the grill or the slow cooker? Throw on some hot dogs from Oscar Meyer, Nathan’s Hebrew National, Ball Park, or Hormel. Calm down, Wisconsin, we have you covered – get your brats and sausages from Johnsonville, Armour, or Eckrich. If you’re like me and want some poultry at half time, go for Butterball, Healthy Choice, Smithfield, or Tyson. Top it all off with some Heinz ketchup, French’s or Gulden’s mustard, Open Pit barbecue sauce, or pace salsa, and serve with a Vlasic pickle. Whew!

• Fun. Madonna’s a talented lady, no doubt, but she’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Toss around a Wilson’s football during half time – made by union workers in Ohio. (No passes to John Kasich, he’s lost his football privileges).

• Conversation. Just like Turkey Talk during Thanksgiving, the Super Bowl can bring its own brand of, shall we say, lively debate. Let’s call it “Chili Talk.” When you’re done discussing the Deion Branch–Hakeem Nicks matchup or if Tom Brady’s plays better with a shorter haircut (he does), the topic might turn to workers’ rights. This will especially be the case if the cameras show the protest activity expected for Indianapolis.

Here are some resources to prep for the Chili Talk at your Super Bowl gathering on Sunday:

• Pro-football, pro-union myths and facts from American Rights at Work.
• Turkey Talk Tips from Working America.
• Two great descriptions of how “right to work” laws hurt all workers by Laura Clawson of DailyKos: a shorter one and a longer one.
• “In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans such as ‘right-to-work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining…We demand this this fraud be stopped.” –Martin Luther King in 1961
• What some big NFL players like Rex Grossman and Jay Cutler have to say about “right to work” from the NFL Players Association.
• Great fact sheets from the AFL-CIO: How right to work lowers wages, leads to more workplace injuries and deaths, hurts women and minorities the most, and how unions raise wages for all workers.

Enough information for you? Let us know how your pro-worker Super Bowl party went on Facebook and Twitter. Have a great Sunday!

Photo by deege@fermentarium.com on Flickr, via Creative Commons.

This post originally appeared on Main Street, the blog of Working America

The Catholic Labor Network‘s annual meeting in conjunction with the Social Ministry Gathering of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will be held Saturday, February 11, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.. The theme will be “Church and Labor in the Great Recession.”

Featured speakers will include:

• Tom Mulloy from the USCCB Office of Justice, Peace and Human Development, who will review public policy issues of 2011 like collective bargaining, the budget, and unemployment insurance, from the Bishops’ perspective

• Randy Keesler, from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), will discuss grassroots worker justice efforts supported by CCHD

• John Patrick, Secretary Treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO, the struggle that he has been engaged in muting the assault on public workers.

• Rick Schmidt, President of Teamsters 344 in Milwaukee and former religious studies grad student at Cardinal Stritch, will speak about the 2011 collective bargaining fight in Wisconsin.

• Phil Tabbita of the American Postal Workers Union will reflect on last year’s blistering attacks on public employees and public services from the perspective of a Catholic labor leader

• Joseph McCartin, Georgetown University History Professor, will discuss his new book Collision Course (Oxford 2011), about the 1981 air traffic controllers’ strike, and what it means for labor today

• Rita Schwarz, President of the National Association of Catholic School Teachers (NACST), will discuss the Catholic schoolteachers strike in Philadelphia, and the agreement that resolved it

• Clayton Sinyai, director of the Catholic Employer Project, will share the results of a year of tracking the labor relations practices of Catholic institutions.

For more information, and to register, click here.

Hello to all our unions friends! We wanted to invite you to join us on our new social media adventure, UnionSocial. A few weeks ago, UnionsOrg set out to find a social network that would allow us to be more interactive with our union family across the country. We also thought it would be nice if our union family could get to know each other. We came across FindandRemind and decided to investigate. We saw that we could create a group and any member of that group, can also create a group, and so on and so on. We thought that would be great for our unions to get to know the other Locals around their area. Then we realized that there is a place were you can create and coordinate events of all types. Anything from the Local picnic to the next rally. We thought that would be a wonderful way for unions to communicate. There are message boards for each event, sign-up sheets, volunteer sign-ups, even car pool sign-ups. And don't worry about remembering all those events, there's a personalized calendar that automatically reminds you of upcoming events in groups that you're in as well as any appointments you may have in your personal life. So we decided to go for it, and we would love to have you all come and check it out with us, click here if you're interested in joining us at UnionSocial.

On this week’s episode of “Brotherhood Outdoors,” Lee Hengsteler, a member of Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) Local 359 in Arizona, gets to realize a dream he’s had since he was 6 years old:  He heads to Montana to hunt elk.

The show airs on the Sportsman Channel at 8 p.m. EST and PST every Thursday.

His bow hunting expedition was made possible when his wife, Neva, applied to the show on his behalf. Says Hengsteler:

People like me don’t win things like a guest shot on a nationally televised show, but Neva insisted on applying for me. I have one heck of a wife.

The award-winning “Brotherhood Outdoors,” Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA‘s) hunting and fishing series pairs union members with renowned outdoorsman Tom Ackerman for a guided hunting or fishing trip in North America or the opportunity to show off their skills by taking Ackerman to their own favorite hunting or fishing sites.

You can click here to apply to be a guest on “Brotherhood Outdoors.” Says Hengsteler:

Tell all those union men and women out there to apply for a guest shot on “Brotherhood Outdoors,” and tell them they can win. I’m just a normal blue-collar working guy, and I won, thanks to my wife.

Click here for more photos form his elk hunt and here for more on the hunt.

Warehouse workers from Wal-Mart distribution centers in metropolitan Chicago and southern California took two big steps this week toward enforcing laws on working conditions and wages, fighting retaliatory firings, and ultimately forcing Wal-Mart to live up to its responsibilities as an employer.

Working through Warehouse Workers for Justice, workers at the Elwood, Il, distibution center—reputedly Wal-Mart's largest with 3 million square feet of space—filed suit against Eclipse Advantage and Schneider Logistics for firing roughly 65 workers on December 29. In November, some of these workers had sued the two companies for violating state and federal wage and hour laws, such as not paying a minimum wage or premium pay for overtime in many cases.

The new amendment to that suit filed on February 1 claims that Schneider and Eclipse as "joint employers" failed to give the required 60-day notice of a mass layoff required by the federal WARN Act.

Although Wal-Mart owns the building, according to WWJ organizer Mark Meinster, Schneider contracts to operate the warehouse and sub-contracts with staffing agencies like Eclipse to provide part of the workforce, and Eclipse or other firms may further subcontract for supply of labor. Beyond trying to maximize its flexibility, "it's a shell game to avoid responsibility," Meinster says. 

Wednesday marked the six-month anniversary of America Crystal Sugar Co.’s lockout of 1,300 workers and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) told the U.S. House: “It’s time for the company to negotiate.”

In a speech on the House floor, Ellison said the workers, members of Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 167G at plant sin Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa, have been

denied the basic and most fundamental right to work and support their families. These workers have gone to bat for the company. These workers stood shoulder to should with the company to fight for a better sugar program in the farm bill just because that’s how dedicated they. What have they got in return? They’ve gotten locked out. They are not on strike. They are locked out because they refuse to accept an unfair take it or leave contract. They have been locked even though they have agreed to a no-strike guarantee.  It’s wrong, these 1,300 folks deserve better from this company.

Locked out worker Jay Holter told Steve Share, editor of Minneapolis Labor Review,

We’ve given the best we’ve got to this company and this is how we are treated. It’s probably only a year and a half ago the company gave us shirts that said, “You’re the best at what you do.”

Click here for Share’s full update on the lockout.

WASHINGTON, DC - Service Employees International Union (SEIU) International President Mary Kay Henry issued the following statement following the release of the monthly jobs report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicating the economy added 243,000 jobs in January 2012:

"For the fifth month in a row, the unemployment rate in this country dropped, and for the twenty-second month in a row, our economy has added jobs - both significant signs of the impact of President Obama's strong leadership rebuilding the American economy.

"But let's be clear: while we are making progress, the number of long-term unemployed is virtually unchanged and there are still 23 million unemployed or underemployed. The worst thing Congress could do right now is cut unemployment insurance, a move that would send shockwaves through our still-fledgling economic recovery.

"While Republicans like Mitt Romney continue to build their campaigns on the hope of failure, President Obama has championed policies like extending unemployment insurance and the payroll tax cut that have sustained economic growth and helped working people stay afloat."

SEIU's Henry: Obama's Leadership Key Part of Job Growth originally appeared on SEIU.org on Friday, Feb 3, 2012.

Not that we ever believed right-wing lawmakers in the first place. But the cover’s been blown on all who claim that the extremist bills they introduce—uncannily similar from state to state—are the works of their own fertile but twisted minds.

They fervently deny that the legislation designed to strip workers of their rights, voters of their franchise, bust unions and boost corporate profits and power are handouts from the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC’s) corporate power toolkit.

Click here to take a look at a bill introduced last fall by Florida state Rep. Rachel Burgin (R) to reduce corporate taxes. Notice the second paragraph, “Whereas is the mission of the American Legislative Exchange Council….” That’s right ALEC’s mission statement is smack dab near the top of Burgin’s measure.

The next day Burgin apparently realized she had left the smoking gun at the scene and withdrew the bill only to reintroduce it later with ALEC’s mission statement removed. H/t to Common Cause for uncovering the deception.

Member Organizer originally appeared on SEIU.org on Friday, Feb 3, 2012.

SEIU nurses and healthcare workers who care for patients everyday know that there are still too many patients who cannot afford the healthcare coverage they need, including contraception. But thanks to the nation's healthcare law, this is about to change. Starting this August, most health insurance plans will be required to cover women's preventive services, including contraception, without charging a co-pay or deductible. This is a tremendous milestone for women's health and equality in our country.

And yet, this decision has come under attack by some in the Catholic hierarchy because of the administration's decision not to expand an exception it created for churches and religious institutions to encompass a broader set of "religiously -affiliated" employers, such as hospitals and universities.

Here are the facts:

• The healthcare law seeks to improve women's health by expanding preventive coverage, not to interfere with personal religious beliefs. Religious institutions--churches--are exempt.
• Birth control use is nearly universal among women of child-bearing age and 98 percent of Catholic women will use birth control at some point during their lives. The law seeks to increase access and affordability.
• No woman will be forced to buy or use contraception and no doctor will be forced to prescribe it.
• In 28 states, Catholic hospitals and institutions are required to offer contraceptive insurance coverage under existing state law.

If the religious exemption were expanded nearly 500,000 women who work in Catholic Hospitals could be denied coverage.

Far too often, women's healthcare choices are driven by the reality that the cost for gas and groceries comes first. The expansion of preventive coverage under the Affordable Care Act will bring real economic and emotional relief to the millions of women who prior to the healthcare law, had nowhere to turn.

SEIU Nurses are speaking out in their communities and standing up for the freedom of women to make their personal health decisions with their families and physicians, not their employers. Here is some of what they are saying across the country:

"As a registered nurse for more than twenty-five years, I applaud President Obama and Secretary Sebelius for standing strong to make sure all women -- no matter where they work -- will have access to affordable birth control. Too often, working women are unable to afford the family planning help they need."

- Dian Palmer, RN, President of SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin and President of the Nurse Alliance of SEIU Healthcare.

"As a nurse, I know the decision not to expand the exception was the right one--as a matter of public health, respect for individual conscience and simple fairness to Ohio women and their families. This is a decision that should be made 'between a woman and her God' -- not between a woman and her employer."

- Beth Zaworski, RN, Mercy Regional Medical Center, Lorain, Ohio,

"Reality Check: Just because most women's insurance policies will now cover contraception thanks to the healthcare law does not mean women must use that benefit. Also, the rule from the Department of Health and Human Services gives religious employers, such as churches, a waiver on the requirement....

"Concern about employers whose principles would be offended by having to underwrite such coverage ignores the principles of the thousands of Iowans who would be denied this insurance coverage if the exception were expanded. Further, evidence demonstrates that employers would not really be underwriting this coverage, since their premiums would likely not change, or could even decrease, when contraceptive coverage is included."

- Cathy Glasson, RN, Coralville, IA

"As a Catholic, my mother had ten pregnancies within less than twelve years. With birth control, her pregnancies could have been spaced so as to minimize the extreme physical, emotional, financial, and psychological toll placed upon her and our family."

- Mary McNaughton RN, BSN, Everett, WA

SEIU Nurses: No Woman Should Be Denied Contraceptive Coverage Because of Where She Works. originally appeared on SEIU.org on Friday, Feb 3, 2012.