As the nation works to recover from recession and move into the decades to come, will we simply re-create the old economy or we will build a healthy new economy for the 21st century? And what role will the union movement have in answering that question? These issues were the subjects of a conversation with AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka this morning.

In an address sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Trumka discussed health care, the Employee Free Choice Act, economic recovery and the future of unions. (You can read Trumka’s speech here.)

We’re not going to get ahead by mimicking the mistakes of the past and re-creating the cycles of debt bubbles and busts, Trumka said, but by giving workers the chance to earn their way into the middle class.

We don’t have a moment to spare….It wasn’t the labor movement that got us into this mess, but we are going to be the people who get us out of it.

You aren’t going to rebuild the economy without increasing wages, and the fastest, surest way to raise wages is the collective bargaining process….Unions built the first American middle class, and they will build the new middle class.

Calling the current moment “an era of change for workers,” Trumka said we need to address the problems of today’s workforce, including contingent workers like temporaries and free-lancers. We need to show that unions have something to offer young workers who are too often saddled with debt and deprived of health and retirement benefits, Trumka said.

A revitalized and healthy union movement will help hold corporations accountable and put wealth back in the hands of the workers who create it—and this starts with listening to the concerns and needs of young workers. In addition, we need to reach out to make sure that those who have historically been left behind or excluded—like women and minorities—have the same opportunity as everyone else to join the middle class:

We dream of a country where all workers are treated with respect and paid for what they actually earn….Here in our America, we think everyone ought to have a seat at the table.

In addition to providing workers with power in the workplace, Trumka said, unions need to fight for them “in the courthouse, in the state house and in the White House.” We can’t shut down the process of educating and mobilizing workers at the grassroots level the day after Election Day—we need the ability to challenge legislators who might forget about their promises after they get elected, he said.

In particular, Trumka said he expects the Employee Free Choice Act to pass this year, in a form that fits the critical principles underlying the bill: the freedom to form a union through a fair process without management intimidation, real penalties for companies that break the law when workers are trying to form unions and a guarantee that workers who do choose a union can bargain for a first contract.

Trumka said there have been two economies operating in America: the real economy and the financial economy. The financial economy was a tool to help the real economy, he said, but for a few people, it became an end in itself—and that small minority prospered while everyone else paid the price. We can’t go back to the way things were, Trumka said:

If all we’re going to do is create the same economy we had before, it will have the same result. We have to ask: What’s going to be the new driver?

You can see video of Trumka’s talk, and the discussion that followed, here.

Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, president-elect of the National Physicians Alliance, joined union members at the AFL-CIO to back passage of a strong health care reform bill.

Health care reform, embodied in the Senate bill crafted by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and H.R. 3200 in the House, will give patients the care they need when they need it and allow doctors the opportunity to provide that care, says Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, president-elect of the National Physicians Alliance.

Arkoosh told a crowd of nearly 300 in front of the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., celebrating the last stop of AFSCME’s Highway to Health Care Reform tour:

Sen. Kennedy’s and the House bill will give our patients the peace of mind that the health care they need will be there when they need it. As a doctor, it means it will be easier for me to take care of my patients…spend more time in the exam room listening to them instead of fighting on the phone with the insurance companies.

AFSCME’s Highway to Health Care Reform tour kicked off Aug. 12 in Bismarck, N.D., and rolled through 19 cities, drawing thousands of union members, health care and community activists and local media. It also provided a compelling counterpoint to the angry agitators who were seeded into health care town hall meetings by extremist groups and health insurance industry front organizations. And as AFSCME President Gerald McEntee said at today’s rally, the opposition to health care has been

fueled by politicians bought and paid for by the insurance companies….We’ve got to stop the insurance companies from getting richer and richer while Americans are getting sicker and sicker.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called the unique tour the “spear head” in the union movement’s August mobilization, with the goal to

send members of Congress back to Washington, D.C., with a strong showing of support for health care reform.

The tour generated more than 4,000 messages to lawmakers urging passage of strong health care reform with a robust public option. In addition, more than 18,000 union members have attended more than 400 congressional town hall meetings since the disruptive tactics and plans by health care reform opponents to hijack the meetings came to light earlier this month.

Sweeney said even more action is in store for the last week of the congressional recess and the Labor Day weekend where the call for health care reform will be heard at thousands of parades, picnics and rallies. He also said the upcoming AFL-CIO Convention will “serve as the launching pad” for an even bigger push to pass health care reform.

There is one more stop to be made on the Highway to Health Care Reform tour, said AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker.

The last stop will be at the White House when President Obama signs the health care reform bill.

Evoking the memory of Kennedy and his nearly five-decade-long fight for health care reform, and the words of Mother Jones, Sweeney said:

We mourn Ted Kennedy’s passing. But we’re not just going to mourn, we’re going to organize by fighting like hell for health care reform.

With unemployment at its highest levels in decades, it’s unbelievable that some $3.1 billion in unemployment insurance (UI) benefits included in the federal economic recovery package is not being spent because 23 states have not yet revised state rules covering jobless benefits.

Today’s USA TODAY reports that nearly 350,000 out-of-work Americans could get benefits if all those states revamp their unemployment systems to qualify for money that is included in the federal stimulus package.

In 11 of the states, Republican governors or legislatures have refused to modify the rules governing unemployment insurance to qualify for about $1.7 billion in stimulus funds. The other 12 states have made only some of the changes, not applied for the funds or not taken legislative votes on the changes. Although the states have until 2011 to change the laws, the reality is that many states need the money now and the workers really need it now.

The five states with the largest number of jobless workers eligible for the expanded unemployment insurance are Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Indiana. There are more than 169,000 people in those states alone who are missing out on nearly $1.6 billion in benefits.   

In some states, “politics is in play,” says Maurice Emsellem of the National Employment Law Project (NELP). Governors such as Rick Perry of Texas and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin refused to accept the funds.  

The Republican governors’ claim that changing the laws would lead to tax increases down the road is not really true, he says. The economic crisis has severely stretched state unemployment trust funds, and several states have laws that require tax hikes when the trust funds run low. But the stimulus funds would go into the state coffers immediately, preventing the mandated tax increases. The federal funds could pay for about seven years of expanded benefits, he says.

[The $3.1 billion] would build funds when they need it most. This little increase in benefits is not going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back to determine whether taxes are going up.

Emsellem adds that once state lawmakers and employers look carefully at the program, they realize that everyone would benefit from the changes. He credits AFL-CIO state federations for playing a key role in building coalitions to push through the changes in several states.

States can get one-third of the money by relaxing their rules on the length of employment needed to qualify for jobless benefits. They can get the rest by providing just two of four kinds of unemployment benefits: extra money for the workers’ dependents, for part-time workers, for those in training programs or for those who quit because of “compelling family circumstances”—such as fleeing domestic violence or caring for a sick relative.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department last week agreed to release $89.2 million in unemployment insurance funds to Wisconsin after the state updated its UI program to reflect the 21st century workforce.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said:

Wisconsin has now updated its law to make it easier for workers who become unemployed for compelling family reasons and workers who are upgrading their skills to be eligible for benefits. These changes not only help workers, but will contribute to the state’s overall economic recovery.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) reached another tentative agreement with AT&T. The three-year deal covers nearly 8,000 technicians and service representatives who were part of AT&T Corp., the company acquired by SBC Communications Inc. in 2006. SBC subsequently changed its name to AT&T.

The workers’ main goal in the bargaining was job security. The tentative agreement—the third with AT&T since negotiations began in February—offers the same 8.75 percent hourly wage increases and benefit provisions as those gained for employees at AT&T Midwest and AT&T West. In a statement, CWA Vice President Ralph Maly says:

This agreement achieves our members’ key goal which was to improve employment security and safeguard jobs. It maintains workers’ standard of living and safeguards quality health care. In these extremely difficult economic times, these are tremendous achievements.

The settlement guarantees no layoffs before April 1, 2010, and limits the number of involuntary layoffs. Under the deal, AT&T cannot lay off any worker before April 1, 2010, and is limited to 1,575 involuntary layoffs after that date. New language sets out employee recall rights if a business unit is changed or eliminated. Also the tentative agreement mandates discussion of the impact that new technologies would have on jobs and training. The current contract expired April 4.

Last week, the Electrical Workers (IBEW) reached a tentative agreement with AT&T covering about 10,000 employees.

Bargaining is continuing for some 65,000 CWA members at AT&T East,  Southeast and Southwest.

The UAW, along with community members and lawmakers are fighting to keep open the NUMMI assembly plant in California—and more updates here from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,100 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work. 

WORK STOPPAGES AND JOB ACTIONS
UAW, GM/Toyota: In California, members of the UAW, along with lawmakers and the community, rallied to keep open the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. vehicle assembly plant. NUMMI, which employs some 4,700 people, is a 25-year-old joint venture between General Motors and Toyota. GM announced in June that it would withdraw from the partnership.

CNA/NNOC, Hospital Corporation of America: Registered nurses from the Hospital Corporation of America, represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), traveled to Las Vegas to protest management harassment of nurses trying to form a union at MountainView Hospital. The NLRB is investigating unfair labor practice charges against hospital management. 

ALPA, Hawaiian Airlines: Hawaiian Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots (ALPA), scheduled a strike authorization vote Aug. 25, the same day informational picketing by their union began at the interisland terminal of Honolulu International Airport. Contract talks have been going on for two years. The pilots’ current contract was negotiated in 2005 before Hawaiian emerged from bankruptcy. 

NEGOTIATIONS
Multiple, Detroit: In Detroit, leaders of teachers and city unions, including AFSCME Local 207 and the Detroit Federation of Teachers/AFT, plan to fight against cuts proposed by Mayor Dave Bing. AFSCME and AFT say their members are being asked to shoulder the burden of eliminating a $300 million budget deficit.

UAW, Deere: The UAW and agricultural implement maker Deere & Co. have begun negotiations on a new contract covering about 9,500 workers across the country. The current contract went into effect Oct. 1, 2003, and expires at midnight Sept. 30.

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS
AFSCME, Illinois: AFSCME Council 31, Illinois’ largest state workers’ union, filed a lawsuit in southern Illinois to prevent 2,600 layoffs planned by Gov. Pat Quinn. They are scheduled to take effect Sept. 30. The union maintains the state is required to bargain over job cuts. 

AFSCME, Monroe, La.: Monroe [La.] Public Works workers, represented by AFSCME Local 2388, filed a lawsuit claiming the city breached its contract with the union and participated in unfair labor practices. 

SETTLEMENTS
ATU, BART: BART train operators and station agents, represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1555, ratified a new agreement that will preserve wages and limit layoffs, but give management more say over worker assignments.

TNG-CWA, Indianapolis Star: Members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA (TNG-CWA) Local 34070 ratified a two-year contract with the Indianapolis Star that includes a 10 percent pay cut in exchange for greater job security. Guild members in June voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer from the Gannett Co.-owned Star that called for 12 percent pay cuts.

AFT, Philadelphia: Some 16,000 teachers in the Philadelphia School District, represented by AFT, agreed to extend their contract through Oct. 31 to give them time to negotiate a new agreement. The biggest roadblock to working out a contract by the Aug. 31 expiration was the lack of a state budget, which supplies half of the school district’s funding. Philadelphia’s teachers are the only state forbidden from striking, a byproduct of the takeover of the schools by the state in 2001.

AFSCME, Coshocton: Workers in Coshocton, Ohio, represented by AFSCME Local 2551, have a new three-year agreement that includes a wage freeze to help the financially struggling city.

Disclaimer: This information is being provided for your information only. As it is compiled from published news reports, not from individual unions, we cannot vouch for either its completeness or accuracy; readers who desire further information should directly contact the union involved.

In Great Falls, Mont., a former manager has come forward to say that her company tried to compel workers to revoke their own freedom to form a union.

The Great Falls Tribune reports that Keri Gorder, who spent eight years working at the Cost Cutters hair salon in Great Falls, left after being asked to pressure employees into signing a one-page agreement that would nullify future attempts to form a union. The hair salon’s parent company, Regis Corp., wanted to compel employees to sign the agreement, which would nullify any future authorization on their part to form a union and get the chance to bargain for a better life.

Authorization cards are a standard, legal feature of both the majority sign-up process and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process. They’re how workers show their interest in forming a union, and they’re an essential part of exercising this basic freedom. When a corporation—which controls workers’ jobs, hours and working conditions—tries to intimidate employees into revoking their own rights, it’s a sign of a broken system.

The fact that a company thought it could intimidate its employees into signing away bargaining rights is one more argument in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would provide a free and fair process for workers to form unions, and real penalties for companies that break the law during workers’ attempts to form unions.

As Gorder says:

They were trying to scare the staff into signing that paper. I don’t feel like my staff or I should have signed it or should have had to sign it.

She says the company also compelled employees to watch an anti-union video during a mandatory meeting, a common tactic in union-busting campaigns.

Ole Stimac, the president of the Central Montana Labor Council, says that compelling employees to pre-empt their own freedom to form a union and bargain could be illegal under the National Labor Relations Act. Stimac said:

What it looks like they’re trying to do is get people to sign a waiver of their rights from now into eternity to ever organize a union. I’ve never seen anything like this before.

This whole thing is written in circles and has falsehoods in it. I don’t know why they would ever think that this could stand up in court. If a person could sign their rights away like this, I would find it deeply troubling.

Read the whole story here and the coverage at Union Review here.

Do you have any similar experiences you’d like to share? If so, please comment here or to ensure anonymity, send us an e-mail at blognews@aflcio.org.

Each Labor Day weekend, Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) and the AFL-CIO sponsor the Labor in the Pulpits /on the Bimah /in the Minbar program, which highlights the shared goals of the faith community and the union movement for a new vision for justice in our communities.

As part of Labor in the Pulpits, union members serve as guest speakers in congregations to speak out about their faith, work and the union movement. Some AFL-CIO central labor councils use this program as an opportunity to host a Faith and Labor meeting in which participants discuss important issues facing workers in their local communities and reaffirm their shared commitments to social justice. This year, more than 1,000 faith congregations are participating in Labor in the Pulpits.

Over the years, the Labor in the Pulpits program has helped thousands of congregations focus their Labor Day weekend services on the injustices facing low-wage workers and the religious community’s efforts to support those workers’ struggles for living wages and family-sustaining benefits.

Says IWJ Executive Director Kim Bobo:

Labor in the Pulpits /on the Bimah /in the Minbar expresses in a very clear way the bonds between religion and labor. Every major religion teaches respect for work and the moral duty to care for the poor and foster social justice-the same goals that the union movement holds.

Those shared goals create a natural bond between us. That bond is even stronger this year as we stand poised to bring about real change in our country from reforming health care to stopping wage theft and making our workplaces more democratic.

On the Labor in the Pulpits /on the Bimah /in the Minbar website here, local unions and faith congregations will find information and aids to plan a worship service focused on social justice and workers’ issues. You can also:

• Hear from some people who have hosted Labor Day services.
• Add your congregation to the growing list of participants.
• Download new materials on Muslim readings and prayers, the 2009 D’var Torah,  Jewish perspectives on healthcare and the rights of workers.

Labor in the Pulpits also offers a series of litanies, responsive readings, reflections, interfaith prayer service guides and healthcare justice quotes.

The Rev. William Corcoran, pastor of St. Linus Church in Oak Lawn, Ill, sums up the value of Labor in the Pulpits this way:

When congregation members make the connection between God, their workplace, their church, and their lives, their faith is deepened and their lives empowered.

The next time Kent Erickson, a member of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 26 in Washington, D.C., heads out for fishing on the Chesapeake Bay or deer hunting in the Maryland mountains, he can haul his gear in a brand new Chevy Silverado.

Erickson is the winner of a drawing for all members of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) held earlier this summer. The truck giveaway was one of several ongoing promotions USA runs for its nearly 20,000 members.

General Motors and its Chevrolet division are partners with the USA, the hunting, fishing and conservation club for union members, retirees and their families, and the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP).

Erickson says he learned about the USA and the TRCP while attending a local union meeting and was eager to join an organization supported by his union that works to protect his right to hunt and fish.

I joined because the USA shares my passion for the outdoors while helping to ensure that I’ll have a place to hunt and fish for years to come. And now I’ve got a great, American-made truck to haul all my outdoor gear.

IBEW is one of the 20 unions of the USA and IBEW President Ed Hill says:

We’re proud of all members who join these vital organizations and make a personal commitment to conserve our hunting and fishing grounds for future generations.

Says Tom Gilbert, Chevrolet regional marketing manager:

The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance brings together union members who appreciate the quality of products made in the U.S. and share Chevy’s passion for preserving the traditions of hunting and fishing, and we feel fortunate to be part of that effort.

Union members can join the USA online (click here) or by calling, toll free, 877-872-2211. The annual fee is $25. While connecting union hunters and anglers across North America, the USA extends union member benefits to the woods and water. Benefits include valuable hunting and fishing information, discounts on outdoor gear and chances to win special prizes.

Just two days before Christmas 2008, workers at the General Motors assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio, watched their livelihood and the lifeblood of their town dry up as their plant shut its doors for good. A new HBO documentary, “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant,” which first airs on Labor Day, offers poignant personal testimony about the impact of the decline of American auto manufacturing on this tight-knit Ohio community.

While the layoffs of the 2,500 workers and 200 management staff was bad enough, thousands more of their friends, neighbors and family would lose their jobs as businesses that serviced the plant—suppliers, restaurants, retail stores—were forced to close for lack of business.

In the documentary, “Popeye,” a toolmaker, simply states what the decline of manufacturing means to him and to the American Dream:

 My grandson will have a worse life than I had.

HBO’s press release about the documentary points out the real extent of the damage from the closing:

…the GM workers lost much more than jobs, including the pride they share in their work and the camaraderie built through the years. To the natives of Moraine and the greater Dayton area, General Motors wasn’t just a car company—it was the lifeblood of the community. 

The plant’s closing reflects the collapse of the U.S. manufacturing and the loss of a nation’s middle class. Over the past few decades, policymakers have systematically dismantled our nation’s manufacturing base through bad tax policies and short-sighted trade agreements that encourage consumption of cheap foreign imports and provide incentives for U.S.-based companies to export jobs.

As a result, some 40,000 U.S. manufacturing plants closed between 2001 and 2008, resulting in the loss of millions of family-supporting jobs. From 2001 to 2007, some 2.3 million jobs were lost just from the nation’s huge trade deficit with China alone.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. A far-reaching national manufacturing policy would place the United States at the center of green jobs creation. It would understand that when manufacturing jobs go away, so does the research and development—and our nation cannot get ahead with such a brain drain. The current economic disaster shows the nation cannot rely on the financial services industry as the generator of its economy.

United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard puts it this way:

If we don’t make things, we will have nothing to export and no jobs to create.

“The Last Truck” examines the final months of the plant through the workers’ eyes as they reflect on their work and consider their next steps. In revealing interviews with people who considered themselves more family than co-workers, the film reveals the emotional toll of losing not just a job, but a sense of self.

Workers like Kim, an electrician, who tearfully says that working at the plant was “the greatest job I ever had.” He recounts how everyone finished their work on the line and followed the last truck until all the work had been done. Then they all came together as a big group, a family saying good-bye.

Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert produced and directed the documentary.

Last night, John Durso, president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, attended a health care reform town hall meeting held by Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.). Like many around the nation, it became quite contentious. Here’s the e-mail Durso sent to the members of his local union, RWDSU/UFCW Local 338, describing the meeting and the need for union members to take political action.

Last night I, along with many of our staff, attended a town hall meeting in Brookhaven hosted by Congressman Tim Bishop. There were 800 people inside and 500 people outside—quite a turnout. As most of you have seen or read, it is a hot topic and one that brings out strong feelings on both sides.

What truly troubles me is the lack of manners, the hatred and the misinformation that was spread on this subject. There was at least one shoving match, a near fight and because I did not live in the district and let that be known. I was shouted down, quite a disruption developed and Tim had to ask me to yield the floor. One guy wanted to fight, to which I asked him to step up but he chose not to join me at the microphone. It was quite a night; very interesting. Tim Bishop showed nothing but class and grace under very uncomfortable conditions.

OK, so why am I telling all of you this story? Well, I think it is interesting, but it underscores why we need to be involved in the political process, these people who were screaming and carrying on did not want to talk. They wanted to disrupt. They were told the truth and still refused to listen. They were shown the passages in the bill and it showed them that their information was wrong and still they would not listen.

If we are not engaged in the process, the crazies and the radicals win. If we do not get our people registered to vote and get our people to sign up for [political action], we concede this fight and all our fights to others who wish us harm. We are in a fight for the future of our nation and for the generations that come after us. It is our job, our mission, our destiny to fight and protect the less fortunate then ourselves. It is our duty to be involved and to speak for those who have no voice. It is our country and we must protect it, we need everyone to get involved.

We need our members registered to vote and to sign up for [political action]. I am counting on all of you. Don’t let me, our members and yourselves down.