CtW Connect

Unemployment: 15.7 Million Out Of Work

2009-11-06T15:48:12Z

It’s the start of a new month, and that means new unemployment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). And once again, they ain’t pretty:

The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest job losses over the month were in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade.

In October, the number of unemployed persons increased by 558,000 to 15.7 million. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 10.2 percent, the highest rate since April 1983. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 8.2 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 5.3 percentage points.

For perspective, 15.7 million unemployed is roughly equivalent to every single adult resident of the states of Arizona, Pennsylvania and Idaho — all of them together — being out of work.

To help the long-term unemployed make it through this crisis, Congress moved yesterday to extend unemployment benefits:

The measure provides up to 14 weeks of additional assistance to unemployed people who have exhausted their state and federal benefits, but up to 20 additional weeks to those in about 26 states with unemployment rates exceeding 8.5 percent. In the past two months, more than 600,000 out-of-work people have exhausted their benefits, according to the National Employment Law Project, a liberal advocacy group. The legislation will not restore aid retroactively.

The extension brings maximum state and federal unemployment compensation to 99 weeks, the longest ever, reflecting the severity of a recession that has thrown more people out of work for longer periods than at any other time since collection of such data began six decades ago, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

That’s a good start. But America needs more if we are going to turn around the worst employment crisis this nation has seen since the Great Depression.

Are our leaders listening?

Philly Rallies Against U.S. Chamber Extremism

2009-11-02T18:00:41Z

Last Friday, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue — the man whose leadership compromised the Chamber’s position as the “voice of business” — came to Philadelphia to give a speech.

He (and his audience) was met at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel by a diverse coalition of progressive groups, joined together with a single question: who does Tom Donohue speak for? As his use of the Chamber to expound extreme right-wing positions on issues like global warming and financial reform continues to drive more and more companies out, it’s a timely question indeed.

Marc Stier of Health Care for America Now, who was at the rally, has a good write-up of the proceedings on his blog, and got some video of several of the speakers as well, which I’m happy to share here!

Ken Weinstein, Philadelphia small business owner:

Hannah Miller, net neutrality advocate:

Adam Garber, clean energy campaigner:

… and John Meyerson of UFCW Local 1776:

House Health Reform Proposal Released

2009-10-29T21:03:11Z

Another step forward in the health reform process — the House of Representatives put forward its health reform proposal today:

House Democrats on Thursday unveiled an $894 billion package to remake the health care system, and celebrated by holding an outdoor rally at the Capitol where they asserted that tens of millions of Americans would soon gain affordable insurance.

The 1,990-page measure, which was months in the making, would broadly expand Medicaid, the state-federal insurance program for the poor, by offering subsidies to moderate-income Americans to buy insurance either from private carriers or a new government-run plan.

“It is with great pride and with great humility that we come before you to follow in the footsteps of those who gave our country Social Security and then Medicare — and now universal, quality, affordable health care for all Americans,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a crowd of several hundred people.

Our UFCW brothers and sisters were at the rally and got some great pictures. Here’s a slideshow of them:

If you want to know the nitty-gritty details of the House proposal, the Education and Labor Committee’s Web site has everything you need, right down to the complete text of their version of the bill.

Union-Made Treats for Halloween

2009-10-27T15:46:11Z

It’s almost Halloween, and you know what that means: buying tons of candy.

But why give your money to a company that treats its workers like Oompa-Loompas? They were slaves who got paid in beans, remember! (Don’t be fooled by their catchy songs; that’s just a show they put on for the boss. You should hear the things they say about him in the break room.)

UnionPlus has a great list of yummies made by members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), and the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). Among them are:

Hershey’s Kisses
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars
Kit Kat Bars
Caramello
Cadbury Fruit & Nut Bar
Jelly Bellies
Red Vines
Jawbreakers
NECCO Wafers
Clark Bar
Ghirardelli squares
Baby Ruth
Butterfinger

(Note that some of these are made both in union shops in the U.S.A. and non-union shops in Mexico; the list has details on which ones you’ll want to check the country of origin labels on.)

It’s perfect for printing out and taking with you on your big candy run. So what are you waiting for? Get the list here.

OSHA Moves Toward Action on Combustible Dust

2009-10-26T17:42:03Z

I’ve been writing for ages now on this blog on the danger combustible dust poses to workers, so it’s heartening to see after eight years of Bush-era neglect that OSHA is moving to establish a combustible dust standard:

The public will have an opportunity to offer its input toward establishing a combustible dust standard aimed at preventing disasters similar to the explosion that killed 14 workers at the Imperial Sugar Co. in February 2008, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said on Oct. 20…

OSHA has been conducting a Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program (NEP) since October 2007. The NEP has resulted in an unusually high number of general duty clause violations, indicating a strong need for a combustible dust standard, according to OSHA.

The general duty clause is not as effective as a comprehensive combustible dust standard would be at protecting workers, OSHA reports.

Since 1980 more than 130 workers have been killed and more than 780 injured in combustible dust explosions, noted acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab.

Our brothers and sisters at the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) agree that this is encouraging:

“This notice is an important first step on the way to a permanent rule to ensure the safety of millions of American workers,” said Jackie Nowell, Director of the UFCW’s Occupational Safety and Health Office. “More than 900 workers have been killed or injured since 1980 because of combustible dust accidents. These are avoidable tragedies that must be stopped.”

The UFCW also urges OSHA to work quickly to issue a tough rule that will protect workers.

“We can’t wait any longer,” said Nowell, “the time for a tough, comprehensive rule on combustible dust is now. We hope that employers, unions, and OSHA can work together to make this badly needed protection a reality.”

The complete text of the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is available online (plain text, PDF); OSHA is accepting public comments on it until January 19, 2010. Comments can be submitted via regulations.gov.

Pity the Poor Rich: I Guess A Billion Dollars Doesn't Go As Far As It Used To Edition

2009-10-19T16:07:18Z

The saga of media outlets that really should know better asking us to feel sorry for people who are slightly less rich than they used to be continued last week, with Bloomberg News offering a shoulder to media mogul Ted Turner so he could cry about the indignity of having to get buy with used private jets rather than new ones:

While contemporaries such as News Corp. Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Rupert Murdoch, Liberty Media Corp.’s John Malone and Viacom Inc.’s Sumner Redstone keep competing in the media industry, Turner says that he doesn’t have enough money to get back in the business. He now focuses on nuclear disarmament, global climate change, women’s rights, and the environment…

“If you were around at the time, I gave everybody a hundred thousand dollars if they came up with anything,” Turner said. “I just couldn’t hold onto it. I wanted to keep it moving. I get a dollar, I give it to you, you spend it, somebody else gets it. You know, pass it around. You know, it’s kind of like a joint — you just pass it around, light it up, you know, share with your friends.”

Turner said he has learned to live with less, yet he still bemoans the decline in his net worth.

“To drop out of that league, that was hard to do,” Turner said. “I’ve had the experience of being on top and riding the roller coaster down again, nearly to the bottom. You know, if you economize and don’t buy new airplanes or long-range jets, or that sort of thing, you can get by on a billion or two.”

“You can get by on a billion or two.” If you’ve been laid off in this sagging economy, I’m sure those words will come as great comfort to you.

Meanwhile, reporter Paul Sullivan takes to the pages of the New York Times with a warning for all those who e-mailed complaints about a slobbering piece he had written about the woes of the wealthy: class warfare is hazardous to your health!

The vehemence in these e-mail messages made me wonder why so many people were furious at those who had more than they did. And why are the rich shouldering the blame for a collective run of bad decision-making? After all, many of the rich got there through hard work. And plenty of not-so-rich people bought homes, cars and electronics they could not afford and then defaulted on the debt, contributing to the crash last year.

But in this recession, anger flows one way…

The line from my last column that prompted the most responses was about how the wealthy weren’t sleeping well either. The vitriol in the e-mail showed just how deep the anger against the rich is.

Yet put simply, this is not healthy. After all, if you’re wealthy and no one likes you, you still have lots of money. But if you spend your free time obsessing about the rich, you could end up in worse shape emotionally, personally and financially.

“People who get caught up in this paranoia spend all night reading these blogs, and six months later they haven’t done anything to better themselves,” [Manhattan psychologist Dr. Eric Dammann] said. “Even if they’re right, there is a lot of wasted energy put into this. They need to look at the mistakes they’ve made in their life.”

Gosh, Dr. Dammann sure seems concerned for our health! I wonder how he got that way? Another Sullivan column, this one from February, supplies the answer:

Mr. Dammann, the psychoanalyst, said he had many clients who after losing 50 percent of their net worth still had tens of millions of dollars left.

To them, lots of money in the bank was not freedom or security. It was who they were. “As their net worth shrinks, their self-worth shrinks,” he said.

And another clue comes from his profile in Psychology Today:

I have training in a number of therapy modalities (interpersonal psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, coaching), and have found an eclectic and flexible approach which takes into account the particular client and their goals to be crucial… One further area of specialization is Family Wealth Counseling, working with individuals and estate planners on balancing work and finances with other aspects of a meaningful life.

I’m sure that the fact that these poor, poor rich people are his client base has absolutely nothing to do with his advice to the rest of us that we’d all be happier and healthier if we just got off their case already.

What I’m not sure about, though, is why the New York Times feels the need to have a reporter dedicated to covering the pity parties thrown by Dammann and the other hangers-on of the plutocracy whom Sullivan covers with such tender concern.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue: Preaching Principle, Enabling Excess

2009-10-16T19:32:20Z

If you’ve been wondering how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce could have gotten to a point where the policy positions it advocates are so out of sync with the realities of our times that companies like Apple, Nike, PG&E, and Exelon have felt compelled to distance themselves from them by bolting the Chamber’s board or terminating their membership altogether, then I commend to you a new report we released yesterday.

Preaching Principle, Enabling Excess: How Tom Donohue Compromised the Credibility of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lays it all out:

Tom Donohue has hijacked the Chamber’s agenda away from serving the interests of the business community to serving corporate CEOs. Under his direction, the Chamber now rewards corporations that write large checks with specific lobbying on their behalf. Donohue’s Chamber also expends significant resources defending CEOs whose conduct harms their own corporations as well as the business community.

Under his leadership, the Chamber:

Opposes regulating the markets, products and practices that generated massive payouts to Wall Street executives, but ultimately devastated their companies and caused the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Fights reforms that would make executive compensation more transparent, financial statements more reliable and accounting fraud more difficult to conceal.

Attacks the ability of government agencies to investigate and hold accountable executives who may have engaged in wrongdoing.

Defends executives accused or convicted of breaking the law, including ousted AIG head Hank Greenberg, who contributed $24.5 million to the Chamber; ex-Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio who is serving six years for insider trading that took place while Donohue was a Qwest director; and billionaire Philip Anschutz, perhaps Donohue’s closest ally.

These activities are not in the interests of either the small businesses that make up 96% of the Chamber’s members or American business generally. Rather, they are nothing more than attempts to defend discredited practices that enable executives to enrich themselves at shareholders’ expense.

You can download the full report and the executive summary at http://www.changetowin.org/chamber.

Wait, Isn't EVERY Day Boss' Day?

2009-10-16T18:48:07Z

Did you know that there are some people out there who actually think you should celebrate October 16th as “National Boss’ Day”?

Yeah, I don’t understand that either. But thankfully, the folks at someecards.com have some appropriate cards for the occasion:

More here.

Health Reform (Of A Sort) Passes Senate Finance Committee

2009-10-13T20:52:11Z

First, the good news: the Senate Finance Committee passed its health reform package (the “Baucus Bill”) today, 14 votes to 9, with one Republican, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) (pictured), crossing party lines to support the measure:

A key Senate committee easily approved a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health-care system Tuesday afternoon, clearing the way for President Obama’s top domestic initiative to advance to a historic debate before the full Senate…

Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine broke with her party and joined all 13 Democrats on the committee in voting for the package, which would spend $829 billion over the next decade to make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans who would otherwise go without coverage, according to congressional budget analysts.

In a speech from the dais, Snowe said the measure does not address all her concerns. In particular, she said she is worried that the package would force people to buy insurance that remains beyond their means. But with the cost of insurance premiums skyrocketing, she said, the likely consequences of inaction are far more troubling.

Now that both major committees taking up health reform in the Senate (the other one being the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, known as the “HELP Committee” for short) have passed out versions of the bill, the debate in that chamber can move to the floor, where it can be debated by all 100 Senators. This is significant because it’s the first time in all the decades that Congress has debated doing something to fix our broken health care system that a bill has made it this far in the legislative process.

Now, the bad news: unlike the bill passed by the HELP Committee, the Finance Committee’s language does not include a public option.

That’s disappointing, but it’s worth noting that its absence from the Finance bill doesn’t mean it is gone for good — the Finance and HELP bills will have to be merged into a single piece of legislation before it can come to the floor, and it’s entirely possible that the public option (and other progressive-friendly provisions) will be brought over from the HELP Committee bill into the merged bill. Ezra Klein has details on how the negotiating process to decide the contents of the merged bill will work, if you’re interested.

Talking Walmart and Good Jobs on GRITtv

2009-10-08T19:01:17Z

Yesterday on her show GRITtv, Laura Flanders brought together historian Nelson Lichtenstein (author of The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business) , UFCW Executive Vice President Pat O’Neill, Walmart associate Mark Moore, and Matt Ryan of Jobs with Justice to talk about one of today’s most critical subjects — how to ensure that jobs at Walmart, the nation’s largest employer, are good jobs.

Watch online:

Rallying for Health Reform in Wilmington, Delaware

2009-10-07T20:35:07Z

I was fortunate enough to be able to join a group of workers in Wilmington, Delaware yesterday as they took the message that America needs meaningful health reform now to insurance giant WellPoint — whose CEO, Angela Braly, took home $8.7 million last year for putting WellPoint’s profits before their customers’ claims.

I had my camera with me, so here’s a playlist of videos from the day:

And a photo slideshow as well:

Our protest was part of a day of action for health reform all across the nation — a day of action that saw, among other things, five workers arrested in Philadelphia for having the temerity to take the reform message to the headquarters of CIGNA. Health Care for America NOW! (HCAN) has video:

Want to stand up in your own community or online for quality, affordable health care for all? HCAN has a list of things you can do right now to help.

Unemployment: Economy Loses Jobs for 21st Straight Month

2009-10-02T14:50:12Z

The unemployment figures for September have been released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they show the economy losing jobs for the 21st straight month:

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in September (-263,000), and the unemployment rate (9.8 percent) continued to trend up, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest job losses were in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and government…

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment rate has doubled to 9.8 percent…

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs rose by 603,000 to 10.4 million in September. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose by 450,000 to 5.4 million. In September, 35.6 percent of unemployed persons were jobless for 27 weeks or more.

In the New York Times, Jack Healy tells one of the human stories inside that long-term unemployment statistic:

In Elizabeth, N.J., Stephanie Wheeler has been watching her savings and unemployment benefits run out. A year after she lost her job at a data processing company, she has $800 left in her savings account and six more weeks of $379 unemployment checks. After that, she said she does not know what to do.

“It’s terrifying,” Ms. Wheeler, 56, said. “I have an apartment. I’ve been here for eight years. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m petrified of being set out on the street.”

She said she has been applying for work as an administrative assistant, receptionist and in customer service, and resorted to paying an online agency $206 to update her résumé, after she said she was guaranteed a job or her money back. So far, she has gotten neither. She said she has been paring her expenses as best she can, starting with meals.

“I try to eat less,” she said.

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich reminds us that, as bad as things are, if President Barack Obama hadn’t gotten the stimulus package passed, they would be even worse:

According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, the stimulus is saving or creating between 200,000 and 250,000 jobs a month. Without it, job losses in September would have been nearly twice what they actually were.

And economist Paul Krugman argues that now is the time for more stimulus, not complacency:

Stocks are up. Ben Bernanke says that the recession is over. And I sense a growing willingness among movers and shakers to declare “Mission Accomplished” when it comes to fighting the slump. It’s time, I keep hearing, to shift our focus from economic stimulus to the budget deficit.

No, it isn’t. And the complacency now setting in over the state of the economy is both foolish and dangerous…

Indeed, the administration’s own economic projection — a projection that takes into account the extra jobs the administration says its policies will create — is that the unemployment rate, which was below 5 percent just two years ago, will average 9.8 percent in 2010, 8.6 percent in 2011, and 7.7 percent in 2012.

This should not be considered an acceptable outlook. For one thing, it implies an enormous amount of suffering over the next few years. Moreover, unemployment that remains that high, that long, will cast long shadows over America’s future.

Operation Hey Mackey

2009-09-29T18:02:20Z

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey — whose efforts to derail health insurance reform sparked a national boycott — gets a message from his customers in Oakland, delivered in song:

NBCBayArea.com reports:

Protesters picked a store in Oakland, a song and a group of clumsy singer/dancers to pull it off…

After pretending to shop for a few minutes, the mob made their way to the one spot in the store that had room for a dancing number. They all gathered right there in front of the refrigerated guac and salsa, singing their hearts out to the tune of Tony Basil’s “Hey Mickey.” They changed the lyrics to “Hey Mackey.”

A bewildered security guard had only his cell phone to fight against the intrusion. After quickly dialing, the poor guy just had to take it. The group got off not one, but two reditions of their protest song before going outside for more singing on the sidewalk.

“We believe that every human being has a right to health care, and most Americans agree. But conservatives have dominated this debate because they’re willing to be loud. So it’s time for us to make some noise of our own, and stand up for health care that we can afford even if we’re not CEOs like Mackey,” Sarah Norr said…

No one was arrested and organizers say they will do it again. They just won’t say where or when.

Where Ships -- And Workers -- Go to Die

2009-09-29T18:02:07Z

Shocking video from the National Labor Committee on one of the hidden costs of globalization: the human toll of “shipbreaking” on workers in Bangladesh.

What is shipbreaking? Well, in a globalized economy, vast oceans often separate the point where a good is produced from the point where it is consumed. To move those goods across the oceans, armadas of ships are required.

When times are good, those ships are busy sailing from port to port, their cargo holds full. But when times aren’t good, the ships aren’t needed anymore. And that leaves their owners with the question of what, exactly, to do with them, since a massive cargo ship is an expensive beast to operate. The answer is shipbreaking — breaking down a vessel and reclaiming all the valuable materials that went into constructing it, so they can be re-sold in order to recoup some of the owner’s investment.

So what’s the problem? Well, like everything else, the shipbreaking business has been globalized. In the old days, ships were broken down at shipyards, where workers had access to protective gear and the environmental impact of ripping out things like asbestos firewalls could be contained. Today, though, to save a few dollars, ship owners are skipping the yards and disposing of their ships by literally beaching them in Bangladesh — where they are torn apart by armies of workers whose only protective gear is a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses.

The NLC’s Charles Kernaghan went to those Bangladeshi beaches and reports back that “if there is a hell on earth, this is it”:

The shipbreakers do some of the most dangerous jobs in the world, toiling 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for wages of just 22 to 32 cents an hour, handling and breathing in dangerous toxic waste with no safeguards whatsoever and under conditions that violate every local and international labor law. Injuries happen every day—some are paralyzed for life—and a worker dies every three or four weeks. No one helps them. The workers say a dog means more to the business owner than a human being.

Imperial Sugar Tragedy: "Entirely Preventable"

2009-09-25T18:36:46Z

On February 20 of last year, I told you about one of the more shocking workplace disasters of recent times — the Imperial Sugar explosion:

On Friday, February 8, the Imperial Sugar processing plant in Port Wentworth, Georgia, exploded.

The explosion killed at least eight workers and sent dozens more to the hospital. It took firefighters a week to put out the fire.

What could cause such a massive disaster?

The culprit is what experts call “combustible dust” — tiny particles of certain materials (like sugar) that are thrown off in manufacturing and agricultural processes. Unless steps are taken to disperse the particles, they build up inside buildings, and then all it takes is a stray spark of static electricity and — devastation.

That early report noted eight deaths, but by the time the toll was fully counted, that figure had risen to fourteen. 36 more workers had been injured.

Well, yesterday the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released the final report on their investigation of that disaster, and they found that the explosion — and all the human tragedy it caused — was “entirely preventable”:

The report said company officials long knew the dangers of combustible sugar dust, which the board and other agencies say fueled the inferno.

“The explosion at Imperial Sugar was entirely preventable, and the deaths and injuries … should not have happened,” board chairman John Bresland said at a news conference.

Citing “poor equipment design, poor maintenance and poor housekeeping,” Bresland said, “It’s not rocket science; it really isn’t.”

But just as in the CSB investigation into the T2 disaster, while the Board is full of bark about how this particular combustible dust accident happened, their recommendations to OSHA as to how to prevent a similar disaster from happening again are disturbingly free of bite: “Proceed expeditiously, consistent with the Chemical Safety Board’s November 2006 recommendation and OSHA’s announced intention to conduct rulemaking, to promulgate a comprehensive dust standard to reduce or eliminate hazards from fire and explosion combustible powders and dust.”

As Change to Win health and safety coordinator Eric Frumin explained to the Charleston Gazette, “proceed expeditiously” doesn’t actually require that we see a standard for preventing combustible dust explosions issued anytime soon:

Expeditious? What does that mean? Normal OSHA schedules for new standards take many years — 10 years for grain dust explosions; 6 years and counting for crane disasters. Is expeditious half of that? I hope not, but we can’t wait to find out.

Is that the best advice that the Board can offer about the urgency of this crisis with dust hazards? If so, then this Board ought to re-read its charter. Especially after the Congress has even proposed specific legislation to bypass the problems with “emergency” standards, and give OSHA the authority to adopt a temporary fix while the final standard is in the works. Why won’t the Board at least endorse that solution?

The Board knows that major corporations cannot be trusted to take urgent preventive action on their own. That’s why we have safety laws with mandatory standards and enforcement. It’s too bad the Board still fails to act like they believe in them.

One can easily imagine a watchdog that’s all bark and no bite. But that’s not the watchdog I’d want guarding my house.