Almost daily, the reverse mortgage industry is changing, and it’s worrying plenty of people.For years, reverse mortgages have been reliable, a way for seniors to live off the equity in their homes as they age. While complicated, these loans have been highly regulated in terms of fees and rate disclosures. Geared to homeowners age 62 [...]

A “reverse” mortgage is a loan against your home that you do not have to pay back for as long as you live there. With a reverse mortgage, you can turn the value of your home into cash without having to move or to repay the loan each month.

A “reverse” mortgage is a loan against your home that you do not have to pay back for as long as you live there. With a reverse mortgage, you can turn the value of your home into cash without having to move or to repay the loan each month. The cash you get from a [...]

Senior Obama administration officials said Sunday night that GM will file for bankruptcy Monday. For workers GM’s bankruptcy filing will throw decades of building a blue-collar middle class into reverse. The real issue for workers is not whether a much smaller, restructured GM can emerge from bankruptcy to be a “viable” new company. The real [...]

Current and former workers at plants in two states that produced uranium during the Cold War have received more than $1.5 billion in compensation and medical benefits from the U.S. Labor Department. Jesse Russell has more.

Nine thousand one hundred thirty four workers at facilities in Tennessee will share more than $1 billion for their work and exposure at a Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and a K-25 uranium enrichment plant. An additional $500 million will be shared by 4,798 workers at a diffusion plant in Kentucky. The payments will be provided to workers that have been diagnosed with cancer and other illnesses that can be caused by exposure to radiation.

By Doug Cunningham

Senior Obama administration officials said Sunday night that GM will file for bankruptcy Monday. For workers GM’s bankruptcy filing will throw decades of building a blue-collar middle class into reverse. The real issue for workers is not whether a much smaller, restructured GM can emerge from bankruptcy to be a “viable” new company. The real question is where will workers stand in this restructured auto world? Obama administration officials say the qualified pension plans for both hourly and salaried workers will carried over to the new GM and remain intact and benefits will paid as normal. UAW President Ron Gettlefinger says 20-25 percent of UAW workers’ benefits were given back in the latest round of concessions – a $1.3 billion per year loss for autoworkers. The right to strike is gone for six years, but Gettelfinger insists the UAW still has power and is ready for whatever GM does.

Father’s Day is just three weeks away and if your dad loves the outdoors, get him a special gift: a membership in the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA). As a USA member, he will enjoy top-notch reading material with a subscription to In-Fisherman, Petersen’s Hunting or Guns & Ammo, as well as the USA newsletter. 

He also can create, customize and print maps for every need with an online mapping subscription. And he can take advantage of the USA member deals and discounts or a Beretta gift certificate on the gear he needs. 

Your gift of a USA membership also might earn your father a brand-new gun in the USA Gun-a-Month giveaway or other great prizes. For more information on how to join USA, click here or call 1-877-872-2211.

Launched in 2007, the Nashville, Tenn.-based USA is a joint venture of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) and 22 unions. The nonpolitical hunting and fishing club is open to union members, retirees and their families. Last month the group welcomed its 10,000th member.

One of the newest USA members is Tom Skladany, a retired NFL Players Association member and former punter for the Detroit Lions. An avid bass fisherman, he is the first retired professional athlete to join the USA.

For many years, Skladany helped plan and organize an annual Florida monster bass fishing trip for 50 people, bringing his buddies from Columbus, Ohio, and across the country together to compete for the biggest bass.

Playing pro-football was high-pressure, and Skladany says fishing provides a way to kick back and simply enjoy the outdoors. 

It’s the most relaxing, fun-filled day you can have, even if you don’t catch anything. It’s about being in nature with birds, snakes, frogs, alligators, blue sky and a cold beer.

In other USA news:

• More than 200 union outdoor enthusiasts helped make USA’s inaugural Sportsmen’s Dinner last month in Minneapolis a huge success. The dinner included a special presentation by Ron Schara, outdoor writer and TV host of “Backroads with Ron and Raven.” The event also featured a silent auction and raffles for prizes, including a two-day South Dakota pheasant hunt, a Lincoln Electric stick welder and a special edition 12-gauge Beretta 3901 shotgun featuring the USA logo.
• The TRCP is raffling off a chance at a dream big game hunt in Wyoming for the fall. The prize is a Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioner’s Tag, good for an elk, mule deer or pronghorn antelope license in any unit in Wyoming. The winner will be randomly selected June 15. In honor of TRCP’s namesake, the 26th president, every 26th person who purchases a chance will receive a bonus gift. Click here to buy your chance to win.
• Share your favorite stories and pictures with other USA members and you could win great gifts. Submit a story about your latest hunting or fishing trip online at USAmembers@trcp.org and you will automatically be entered in a drawing for a U.S.-made Beretta 3901 American Citizen shotgun featuring the USA logo. The story must be at least 300 words and be submitted by Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2009. Or you can submit your best photo of a recent hunting or fishing trip and you could earn a #110 Buck knife engraved with the USA logo in the USA Best Shot monthly photo contest. Click here to learn more.

Here’s your chance to tell the world what the workday is really like for workers. The AFL-CIO Union Label and Service Trades Department (UL&STD) wants to know what it’s like to walk in your shoes. If you work on an auto assembly line, in a hospital emergency room, classroom, coal mine, mailroom, office, grocery store or one of a million other locations, Union Label wants to hear your story of what it is really like on your job. It doesn’t matter if you’re laid off, unemployed or retired—your story is important as well.

Here’s the idea. Tell Union Label what your workday was like on “Walk in My Shoes Day”—Thursday, June 11, 2009. Union Label wants to hear it all—whether you faced a tough commute, dealt with a grumpy boss, took on a big challenge or had a great success. The best submissions will be posted in the Label Letter and on the UL&STD website.

“We want rank and file members to help us illustrate the rich, diverse tapestry of hard working men and women who make up the American labor movement. They are proud of their work and proud of the contributions they make to their communities,” says UL&STD President Richard Kline.

We want to demonstrate to American consumers and businesses that union labor gives added value in quality and reliability to products and services that are bought and sold. Economic history is made daily by America’s union workers, and we are giving these workers a chance to speak to their concerns. By humanizing “organized labor,” we’re also diffusing the myths that have been advanced by anti-union forces and increasing the understanding of what unions actually do for the workers they represent.

You can send a digital photo or film print of yourself at work along with a short summary—150 words or less—of what happened at work on June 11. Send digital photos and entry information by e-mail to: info@unionlabel.org. Digital photos should be at least 300 dpi (high resolution) to be adequate for printing. Make sure you include your name, your union and include complete contact information (best phone number and mailing address as well as e-mail).

If you’re sending snapshots or printed photos, mail to: Union Label & Service Trades Department, Attn: Walk in My Shoes, 815 16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006.

Click here to download a form to print and return to Union Label.

Members of the UAW overwhelmingly ratified an agreement with General Motors (GM) Corp. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told a Detroit press conference today that 74 percent of GM’s U.S. production and skilled-trade workers voted in favor of the deal.

Under the agreement, the union-run retiree health care trust will gain 17.5 percent ownership of a post-bankruptcy GM, with an option to buy another 2.5 percent.

“UAW members have once again stepped up to make necessary and painful sacrifices to preserve U.S. manufacturing jobs,” Gettelfinger said.

This settlement agreement will give GM a chance to survive the worldwide collapse of industry sales and return as a viable company once the economy recovers and consumers begin purchasing vehicles again.

The concessionary settlement agreement, which takes effect today, meets the requirements of the U.S. Treasury for additional loans to General Motors. It includes modifications to the union’s 2007 collective-bargaining agreement with GM and modifications to the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) trust.

UAW Vice President Cal Rapson, who directs the union’s General Motors Department, said:

We’ve negotiated an agreement which will make GM competitive. And thanks to hard bargaining and strong public support from our members and from many Americans who care about our country’s manufacturing base, we won a commitment from GM for new small-car production here in the United States.

“It’s going to stop the imports coming in here from China,” Gettelfinger added. “We can build those small cars in this country.”

In a separate announcement, GM said it plans to reopen a shuttered U.S. factory to build compact cars that will likely be the smallest vehicles GM has ever produced here.

The company said in a written statement that the retooled factory will be able to build 160,000 small and compact cars per year. The automaker did not say which factory would be selected to build the cars.

A pact between GM and the UAW was essential before a June 1 deadline for the company to restructure its debt as part of a process widely expected to include a bankruptcy filing.

In April, UAW members ratified a similar agreement with Chrysler, Fiat and the Treasury Department.

In the end, Gettelfinger said, the deal is good for America. In an interview on the PBS “NewsHour” last night, he added:

It’s good for the economy. The auto industry is a major economic driver in our country, and to see the companies fail would be economic disaster.