Voices At Work

     

Even though the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has not been confirmed, AFGE is moving ahead quickly with its plans, seeking an election so transportation security officers (TSOs) can join a union.

On Feb. 22, AFGE filed a petition with the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) for an election to allow the 41,000 TSOs to vote on union representation. In 2003, the Bush administration stripped the workers of collective bargaining rights. The FLRA is moving the petition through its election process quicker than usual, AFGE President John Gage said on the “Inside Government” radio show.       

Under law, the TSA administrator will decide if workers can have bargaining rights. The workers would then choose a union to represent them. President Obama this week nominated Maj. Gen. Robert Harding as TSA administrator. The previous nominee, Erroll Southers, withdrew after his nomination was held hostage by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) because DeMint opposes allowing TSA workers the freedom to form a union.

Gage told “Inside Government” today:  

We’re not asking anybody for rights. We have these rights as citizens. We’re basically asking the Congress, the Senate [and] the administration to get out of our way in exercising these rights.  

Download the radio show here.

Click image to view the enlarged version.

The pay gap between female and male workers in this country got a hearing in a Senate committee yesterday. But you wouldn’t even know the hearing happened: The issue apparently doesn’t rank up there with the antics of drunk superstars or foolish golfers to get attention by the corporate media.

Right now, U.S. working women receive 77 cents for every dollar paid to a male worker. The ratio has remained nearly unchanged for years. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has been pushing for more than a decade to pass a paycheck fairness bill, and yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 12/S. 182).

The act would amend the 1963 Equal Pay Act, in a way DeLauro describes as a modest reform “that closes longstanding loopholes” and “stiffens penalties” for employers who discriminate based on gender. (Much of the info on the hearing is based on Daily Labor Report, subscription required.)

So why isn’t the 1963 act good enough?

The premise that current laws are effective is wrong, said Deborah Brake, a University of Pittsburgh law professor. Testifying before the Senate committee, she said most of women’s wage gains in pay relative to men occurred in the 1980s and there has been very little movement since.

Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economist Heather Boushey noted the pay gap starts the minute college grads throw their caps in the air, with newly graduated women earning an average 5 percent less than men who graduated from similar universities and engage in similar work. What then follows is a “career pay gap” of up to $434,000 in lifetime lost earnings for women who are the most educated and have higher-paying jobs.

The persistent gender wage gap is one more step on the ladder toward the nation’s growing income inequality. Unequal income leads to unequal wealth, with the persistent wage gap affecting families’ ability to pay the bills, finance their children’s education, buy a home or save for retirement, Boushey said.

The wealth gap differs from the income gap—it’s a person’s total assets, like pension funds and houses. A report out this week shows how bleak the wealth gap is for women, especially women of color.

Nearly half of all single black and Hispanic women have zero or negative wealth, meaning their debts exceed all their assets. The median wealth for single black women is only $100; for single Hispanic women, $120. This compares to just over $41,000 for single white women. About one- third of single Hispanic women and one-fourth of single black women have no checking or savings account.

The picture gets bleaker when these data are compared with men. Mariko Lin Chang, author of  “Lifting as We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth and America’s Future,” says:

Women of color own only a penny for every dollar of wealth owned by their corresponding men of color, of their same race. And in comparison to white women, women of color own only a fraction of a penny for every dollar of wealth owned by white women.

In short, women of color

face a double wealth disadvantage of being both a person of color and a woman.

In this cross-post from Border Jumpers, Bernard Pollack, who is taking a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to travel through Africa, and Danielle Nierenberg send us another report from their journey through Zimbabwe.

Imagine being one of only five opposition voices in a country of 13 million people, where all radio, print and television is strictly controlled by the government. That’s Ben Madzimure’s uphill battle every day as editor of The Worker, the voice of the labor movement, in Zimbabwe—especially because his newspaper is only printed once a month, with only 5,000 copies distributed throughout the country.

“Zimbabwe used to have such a vibrant and independent media but most of the press was shut down,” said Madzimure. Today, many of the print reporters across the country bite their tongues and print the government’s viewpoint. Madzimure, on the other hand, actively seeks out stories the government doesn’t want mentioned, such as worker discontent and political corruption, and provides an unfiltered analysis of current events.

While President Mugabe lost the presidential election of 2008 (despite employing voter suppression strategies), he refused to relinquish power to the victor, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai. Today, under a “power sharing” agreement between the parties of Mugabe and Tsvangirai, the government continues to control all forms of media and mass-communication.

Given that Zimbabwe is one of the most literate countries in Africa, around 90 percent literacy rate, print media is a critical tool in moving a message. Madzimure says that after the newspaper is read, it’s passed on to at least nine other people and it remains a “permanent marker” because people use it to “wrap things or to fill holes.”

With a population spread out over hundreds of miles in rural areas, The Worker is the main way for the trade union federation, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), to disseminate news and inspire activity. “When ZCTU calls for national actions, the media doesn’t report on it at all. The Worker is a main vehicle giving directions to people on how to participate in strikes, elections and public actions,” said Madzimure.

Yet, despite financial support from the ZCTU, the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center in the United States, the Canadian Labour Congress, and others—the $1 USD price tag to purchase the paper is too expensive for most Zimbabweans. With 80 percent job informalization in the country, according to a recent United Nations report, the labor movement relies on its local networks to make sure the message filters throughout the country. Union members at every district are providing reporting as “volunteer correspondents” and several unemployed reporters are also lending a hand.

Madzimure’s dream is to eventually turn The Worker into a daily publication, offering investigative reporting and political analysis. In the meantime, while most Zimbabweans have no access to the computer, this does not stop Ben from promoting widely via every medium at his disposal, including a news blog, a fan page on Facebook (it has 3,800 fans) and on Twitter (12,000 followers).

MP3: 

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Transcript: 

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Working people have plenty to be angry with Wall Street about. A $700 billion bailout. Toxic assets and loan guarantees to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. A financial crisis and credit crunch. Billions of dollars in six- and seven-figure bonuses to the Wall Street executives who got us into this mess.

Unemployment reaching 10 percent. A mortgage crisis extending far beyond subprime loans. Abusive credit and debit card fees. More than five job-seekers for every one job.

Wall Street has treated Main Street as a giant ATM—gambling with the economy, then coming back with their hands out for help. But somehow, no matter how much help the banks need to survive, they always have the resources to fight proposals to regulate them or get them to pay their fair share.

That’s why the AFL-CIO community affiliate, Working America, has launched the ”I am not your ATM” campaign. Already, people in Albuquerque, N.M.; Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Ore.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Minneapolis have been photographed with “I am not your ATM” signs at major banks to let Wall Street know they’ve had enough. Wall Street’s biggest banks need to be held accountable, with a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Rather than asking taxpayers for more money, Big Banks need to start repaying us for the damage they’ve done.

In the coming week, we at Working America will hold more events in cities across the country, but you can participate online. Submit a photo to NotYourATM.com and send Wall Street the message that you’re done being Big Banks’ ATM. It’s time for them to clean up the mess they made, instead of expecting working people to do it for them.

Solidarity eXhange is a grassroots effort to identify, train and support a new generation of Sweatfree sales people. It is an exciting opportunity for young labor activists who want to bring a new generation to buying sweatfree, USA made and union made apparel and other items. Below is a letter from SX that I am posting in full for anyone who is interested in participating. Also, the video with the story explains in detail how this program works -- you should definitely check it out.

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Two reports out this week offer a telling glimpse into the direction of the nation.

• The number of U.S. households with a net worth of at least $1 million jumped 16 percent last year after dipping sharply during the financial crisis, according to a new report. The Spectrem Group study also found “ultra-high net worth families—those with at least $5 million—grew 17 percent last year to 980,000.
• Some 6 percent of all workers were living in poverty in 2008, up from 5.1 percent in 2007—the highest proportion since 6.2 percent in 1994, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2008, some 8.9 million adults were among the “working poor”—1.4 million more than in 2007.

These are more than one-off data. They are the most recent indicators of the long-term trend toward growing inequality in this nation. The gap between the annual income of the top 10 percent and the rest of us has been widening sharply for the past 30 years. According to one analyst—who estimates that income inequality in the United States is now greater than it has ever been over the past century—the wealthiest 10 percent took between 30 percent and 35 percent of total national income from the early 1940s to the early 1980s. After that, their share rose to its current 45 percent to 50 percent level.

As the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) points out, the 400 American households with the highest incomes also have enjoyed a much faster pace of income growth than the vast majority of households.

The median pre-tax household income for a family of four in 2007 was $50,233, while the top-earning 400 households earned a median $345 million, almost 6,900 times as much income.

Put another way: If our income had kept pace with compensation distribution rates established in the early 1970s, we would all be making at least three times as much as we are currently making. How different would your life be if you were making $120,000 a year, instead of $40,000?

What does it mean for a nation to have an income gap that’s 6,900 times that of the median—not the lowest income, the median-income?

For one, studies show a correlation between unequal societies and an increase in illness and social problems, including mental illness and drug use. The lower the income gap in a society, the healthier it is overall.

Makes sense. Because a massive and growing income gap also means what Business Week, not exactly a radical media outlet, calls “the rise of the permanent temporary workforce.” One in which we see falling pay, vanishing benefits and where no one’s job is secure. When people work one or more jobs and still can’t afford health care or hope for retirement security—and when they can’t count on having a job at all—illness, addiction and other social ills quickly follow.

What does massive and growing inequality mean for the United States? It means that unless lawmakers directly address the crisis through coordinated policies—like establishing a national manufacturing policy and creating tax incentives for corporations to remain in the United States rather than ship jobs overseas, for starters—the United States by 2043 will have the same income inequality as Mexico.

Economic Report:

The number of newly laid off workers dropped slightly last week. Initial jobless claims fell by 6,000 over the previous week. However, according to economists the numbers still aren’t at a point that would indicate consistent job creation. Claims were at 462,000 and they would need to fall below 425,000 to signal sustained growth.

As low wage workers continue to struggle in today’s economy a new book exposes a small group of managers that are playing the role of modern day “Robin Hoods.” Jesse Russell reports:

While researching a book about the difficulties of low-income workers, Brandeis University sociologist Lisa Dodson stumbled into the world that exists between low-income and middle class workers. Dodson found managers who were concerned about the wages being paid to workers they oversaw, but felt there was little they could do. However, among this group she found a number of modern day “Robin Hoods.”

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By Doug Cunningham

[Amy Carroll]: “It's a really exciting piece of legislation in New York state that's going to make New York state that's really going to make New York the leader in the fight to end wage theft."

Make The Road New York Legal Director Amy Carroll, on a bill introduced in the New York state legislature this week to combat wage theft. Wage theft by employers is a growing problem nationally and Carroll says it’s a big problem in New York, where the Coalition to Prevent Wage Theft & Protect Responsible Businesses will conduct a vigorous campaign against wage theft.

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Recent polls show a majority of Americans want Congress to pass comprehensive health care reform now. And for good reason: There’s more news out this week about the enormous increases in health insurance premiums, according to a new report.

A survey from Economist/YouGov released this week shows 53 percent of respondents support changes proposed by the Obama administration. A second poll by Ipsos/McClutchey shows that 53 percent of Americans either support the current reform option or hope for an even stronger reform package. More than a third of those who oppose current reform proposals actually favor stronger reforms.  

Meanwhile, a study by Health Care for America Now (HCAN) shows jaw-dropping insurance premium hikes—up 97 percent for families and 90 percent for individuals between 2000 and 2008. Premiums rose two times faster than medical costs and more than three times faster than wages. Companies like WellPoint are raising premiums by as much as 39 percent in California and by double digits in at least 11 states.

An analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that people who bought insurance on their own between 2004 and 2007 on average paid more of their health expenses themselves—52 percent—than insurance companies. Yet those who had employer-sponsored coverage only paid 30 percent out of pocket.    

The industry front group, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), heard plenty this week as thousands gathered in Washington, D.C., outside AHIP’s meeting to stage a citizens’ arrest for its crime in blocking health care reform.  

Says Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman:

The recent premium increases in the individual market probably have done more to illustrate the cost of doing nothing in health reform in simple, graphic terms people can understand than anything so far in the health reform debate.

Here are a few items worth noting today.

* Kudos to union members in West Virginia who successfully pushed the state’s legislature to adopt a resolution creating Labor History week following Labor Day. Just last month, Wisconsin union activists succeeded in their years-long effort to get the state legislature to make labor history part of the state’s public education standards. 

* From the Campaign for America’s Future: Huffington Post’s Art Delaney highlights expiring stimulus program that could cost 100,00 jobs: “…more than 100,000 people…will lose their jobs by September unless Congress extends a stimulus bill provision that gives states funding to create jobs programs for low-income parents and young adults….”

* A laid-off worker now spends nearly five months unemployed, longer than any other time on record, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). 

* In the “here’s how hard up we are for good news about jobs” category: The ratio of job seekers per job opening dropped from six to one in December to 5.4 in January. How sad is it that this is good news?

About 75 telecom workers and community supporters rallied in support of a Verizon technician in Lynn, MA who was recently threatened by a supervisor while acting in his capacity as an IBEW Local 2321 steward during a "captive audience" safety meeting. 

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More than 125 union leaders and activists from 25 states gathered at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, MD last weekend to strategize about next steps at the state and national level to win comprehensive health care reform.  The group is promoting a "single-payer" reform plan that would work like the Medicare program, except improved and expanded to cover everyone.

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