LOCAL 608 NEWSLETTER

July/August 2006 VOLUME II ISSUE XI

Local Issues

In June the the representatives of our local attended the Idaho State AFL-CIO state convention. This is a Constitutional Convention where issues important to the working women and men of the state are heard and resolved for what is hoped to be the betterment of the Labor movement as a whole. This year was different in that a couple of major issues surfaced during the convention. One dealt with the funding of our State Federation and was discussed via the Constitutional Committee of the convention. The USW was represented by three members on this important committee and a resolution was forwarded to the floor after much debate and clarification to resolve and clarify the amount of per capita tax to be paid by members of local unions to the State Federation to support and foster the goals of the organized Labor movement in the state of Idaho. This per capita tax involves an increase effective July 01, 2006 and will increase again in January of 07. The goal of this resolution is to have the Idaho trade Labor movement in a position to better represent its members. This resolution passed the floor vote unanimously and will send a message to all that the Idaho Trade Labor movement in Idaho is far from gone and that the members by their representatives votes are truly committed to forwarding the goals of the working people in our great state. The other was a resolution to broaden the scope of the representation of the membership as a whole through reorganizing the role of the ad-hoc committee members of the Idaho State AFL-CIO Executive Board. This resolution was pulled and after testimony by the members of the executive board and was recommended to continue in place as is to be the rank and file voice for the CLC's on a District by District basis. We also were fortunate to have our USW District Twelve (12) Director Terry Bonds join us at the convention. Terry was the banquet speaker on Tuesday night and spoke on the issues of out sourcing and the need to maintain a vibrant and strong labor movement in the State of Idaho. He spoke of the merger of the PACE and the USWA and the benefits of the size of what is now the largest Industrial Trade Labor Movement in the United States. He also conveyed the best wishes and continued support of the USW President Leo Gerard to the state of Idaho and his pledge to maintain the high level of support for the continued jobs in our great state while protecting the opportunities for sustainable resources for our children and our grandchildren. This may involve working with folks we are not commonly used to working with and we will need to proceed with our eyes wide open and with diligence to our crafts and the fact that we are an industry of the future and the protection of the jobs and the environment are first and foremost the goals of our members and that we will not let special interest groups of any kind remove us from the resolve.

As Always Fraternally Yours,

Rian ...

Attention:

Survey # 3 is came out on Wednesday July 19 and 20 2006. We would like you to try and get the surveys back by next Friday July 28th at the latest.

Greg and Wayne. Help out and request it, don't wait for it to find you!!!

{If you haven't seen or filled out a survey yet, contact one of the Coordinators by clicking their name under the big C.A.T. above.}

Dear Members,

Social Security Privatization: Here It Comes Again

President Bush and key Republican leaders are promising again to privatize Social Security if their party retains control of Congress.

Do your part to stop Social Security privatization:

Step 1: Sign our Petition to Strengthen Social Security, urging all incumbents and candidates for Congress to oppose privatization.

Step 2: Help spread the word. Once you’ve signed the petition, the next step is downloading and circulating the petition to your co-workers and neighbors.

Click here to download.

Listen! You can hear the drumbeat coming from Republican leaders to privatize Social Security if their party retains control of Congress in the November elections:

Last week, President Bush talked about overhauling Social Security and Medicare: “I’m going to continue to work with the Congress and call on the Congress to work with the administration to reform these programs.”
On June 27, Bush told the Manhattan Institute, “If we can’t get it done this year, I’m going to try next year.”
That same month, Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), who’s likely to chair the powerful House Ways and Means Committee if Republicans retain control of the House, said overhauling Social Security should be the top congressional priority next year.
In July, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) declared, “If I’m around in a leadership role come January, we’re going to get serious about this.”

Do your part to stop Social Security privatization. Please do two things now:

Sign the online Petition to Strengthen Social Security. Click here.
Once you've signed, download the petition and get it signed by your co-workers and neighbors. Click here.

The petition urges your members of Congress and candidates to strengthen Social Security, rather than privatize it, and to oppose cutting benefits, running up huge new debt or raising the retirement age to pay for privatization.

Last year, we dealt Bush his greatest domestic policy defeat by blocking his attempt to privatize Social Security—which would cut our benefits, place our retirement security at risk, run up massive federal deficits and possibly raise the retirement age.

But now Bush and key Republican leaders are at it again. This is a classic battle of working people taking on big-money interests.

Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security would make working families’ retirement problems worse, not better. But it would give billions of dollars in privatized account management fees to rich Wall Street outfits that can afford high-priced lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

We beat the big-money lobbyists last year. Now we have to do it again—and when candidates are asking for our votes, we have the power to demand they keep the “security” in Social Security.

Take these two steps now to protect Social Security:

Step 1. Sign the online Petition to Strengthen Social Security. Click here.

Step 2. Download the petition and get it signed by your co-workers and neighbors. Click here.

When you have collected as many signatures as you can (make additional copies for more signatures, as needed), fax the signed petition pages to 1-202-449-8303.

In this election year, we have the power to tell candidates and members of Congress we expect them to strengthen Social Security, not destroy it through privatization. If they deserve our votes in November, they will.

Thank you for fighting to stop Social Security privatization—again.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO

P.S. Please forward this e-mail to others you know who are concerned about the future of Social Security. Urge them to sign, download and circulate the petition, too.

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

Tell the House
to Raise the Minimum Wage
to $7.25

Thanks to political pressure, we hear House Republican leaders may finally—after a decade—allow a vote to raise the minimum wage before the fall elections. Tell your U.S. representative we need to raise the wage to $7.25 an hour—not a penny less.

After a decade of refusing to even vote on giving low-wage workers a raise, it looks like the Republican leadership of the U.S. House may bow to political pressure and finally act. According to media reports, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) has predicted the House will take a minimum wage vote this fall or sooner—before the November elections.

Here’s the hitch: Republican leaders don’t want to face voters in November without giving minimum wage workers their first raise since 1997—while voting to increase their own pay nine times. In fact, 48 moderate Republicans have urged House leaders to schedule a minimum wage vote they can campaign with. But the Republican leadership remains opposed to helping out America’s low-wage workers and is likely to try a sleight of hand move to pass a smaller, stingier increase and possibly tie it to attacks on workplace rights.

Please click here now to tell your U.S. representative America needs a raise—increase the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour with no amendments that would hurt workers.

The minimum wage remains stuck at a shameful $5.15 an hour—a guarantee of poverty for even a small family struggling to survive at the wage floor. Meanwhile, members of Congress have voted to increase their own pay by $34,900 a year—three times more than a minimum wage worker’s total annual salary.

America is supposed to value hard work and represent the opportunity for anyone who works hard and plays by the rules to get a foothold on the American Dream. Instead, Republican leaders in Congress have steadfastly refused to increase the minimum wage, which has lost half its buying power since it last was raised. Today, a minimum wage worker has to put in more than 11 hours just to buy a tank of gas to get to and from work.

This injustice and insult to low-wage workers has gone on long enough. Now we have a chance at a House vote to raise the wage. Please urge your U.S. representative to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour with no anti-worker amendments.

Click here to act now.

Thank you for helping America’s working families.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO

P.S. Once you have sent your message, please forward this e-mail to others you know who want to increase the minimum wage. Urge them to send messages to their U.S. representatives as well. Thanks.

Safety Issues

Consumer Products Division

Lewiston, Idaho

July 2006 Phone 799-1924 Volume 10 Issue 7

Be Ergonomically Correct So Your Body Won't Object

a worker with back pain bends over to use a hand grinder to polish materials on the conveyer belt

Statistics
*Thanks for your observations!*
Observations
	2005		2006
	June	Ytd	June	Ytd
# of Observations	460	2,043	180	2,010
# of Safe’s	4,975	20,766	1,990	19,531
# of @ Risks	281	1,215	108	1,295
Painful Experiences
	2005		2006
	June	Ytd	June	Ytd
Recordable	2	9	1	8
Lost Time	1	5	0	5
Inc. Rate	4.38	3.26	2.18	2.83

In the month of June, employees were observed with good eyes on path, doing all pre-job inspections when needed, and properly operating vehicles and in some areas the lighting and walking working surfaces are improving.

Last month observations showed the POWER group that people are not taking the time to use 3pt contact. Also, we have been seeing many items at risk in housekeeping and as always ergonomics proves to be a risk in all departments. Take the time to pick up around you, grab the hand rail up and down the stairs, and stretch whenever needed.

When the Standard Lift Won’t Work

We’ve all been trained to lift safely by squatting down and picking up the object with both hands. That’s fine when you can maneuver yourself into this position next to the item you are lifting. Squatting down instead of bending at the waist can help prevent back injuries by putting the load on your legs rather than your back. But this is not always possible to use this lifting method. For example, many of us spend a good part of the work day picking components out of deep bins. Because the sides of the bin prevent you from bending your knees, you may try to lean over the side and pick up the material with both hands. This method puts a strain on your easily injured lower back. If the item you are picking out of the bin isn’t too heavy or too awkward to handle with one hand, there’s a better way to do it. Use a one-handed lift, also known as the golfer’s lift.

Here’s how it is done:

Stand close to the bin.
Put your non-lifting hand on the side of the bin.
Bend over the container. You can also put one foot out behind you for balance.
Pick up the object with one hand.
Use your non-lifting hand to push your body back up out of the bin. Make sure your arms and shoulders take the load, not your back.

Look for ways to eliminate heavy or awkward lifts from your work routine. Perhaps the parts bin can be tilted so you can reach items more easily. Get help with heavy or difficult loads.

Here are some more reminders about safe lifting:

Clear your route before you attempt to move an object. Make sure you have a clear pathway and a place to set the load down easily.
Check the weight of the object to see if you can handle it. Look at the weight on the label, or lift a corner of the object.
Keep the load close to your body as you carry it and set it down.
Lift the object straight up smoothly and do not twist your body once you have made the lift.

A modified one-handed lifting technique may be useful in some situations, such as picking items out of a large container. No matter how you lift, protect your back from injury.

National Issues

House Committee on Education and the Workforce Produces Scathing Report on NRLB Decisions

Report Points to Unfair and Inconsistent Rulings in Favor of Employers

The Democratic staff led by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, have produced a 25-page report detailing how the rulings of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have either taken away or "severely restricted" the rights of millions of workers to organize into unions over the past five years.

"President Bush has filled the NLRB with anti-union members who have made it more difficult for workers to organize a labor union," Miller said in a statement releasing the report, Workers' Rights Under Attack by Bush Administration: President Bush's National Labor Relations Board Rolls Back Labor Protections. The NLRB has "used double standards, rationales, and unfair, inconsistent rulings to give employers more power over workers," he said.

The report lists several large groups of workers who have been excluded from the protection of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by ruling that they are not employees.

Examples of hypocrisy and unfairness are highlighted as the NLRB applies double standards to supervisors' anti-union and pro-union conduct. In one such case, when a supervisor campaigned against a union, the NLRB deemed it free speech. When a supervisor campaigned for a union, however, the Bush Board overturned the entire union election.

The Bush Administration continues to undermine an already weak federal labor law, as Democrats fight to "strengthen workers' protections" through the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 1696, S. 842). The legislation, which would require employers to recognize a union through a "card-check" process that does not include a formal election, has 216 bipartisan co-sponsors in the House and 43 in the Senate, but the Republican leadership has refused to give the bill a hearing or a vote.

The summary concludes that "millions of workers have lost their right to organize into unions, their basic rights have been trampled, and businesses have essentially been given free rein to make it as difficult as possible for their employees to organize."

For a copy of President Bush's National Labor Relations Board Rolls Back Labor Protections

CEO's-Minimum Wage Ratio Soars

In 2005, an average Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was paid 821 times as much as a minimum wage earner, who earns just $5.15 per hour. An average CEO earns more before lunchtime on the very first day of work in the year than a minimum wage worker earns all year.

This extreme compensation ratio reflects both the extraordinary growth of CEO pay and also the diminishing value of the federal minimum wage that has not been raised since 1997: adjusting for inflation, the purchasing power of the minimum wage is now at its lowest since 1955.

The ratio wasn't always so extreme. As recently as 1978, CEOs were paid only 78 times as much as minimum wage earners.

Written by Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Lawrence Mishel.

The Labor Department’s Anti-Worker Agenda

Now that the ties between the Bush administration’s Department of Labor and the anti-worker Center for Union Facts have been established, let’s take a look at the Labor Department’s original mission and compare it with its current operations.

On Thursday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) posted 108 pages of documents it received through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that showed the Labor Department’s “supportive” ties with Berman.

U.S. employers never liked the nation’s Department of Labor. And they liked it a lot less when it reached cabinet-level status in 1913, which indicated to Big Business that workers for the first time had a voice in government.

And after all, that was the point. Employers had all the money and means to dictate at the workplace. Shouldn’t workers have an advocate as well?

But as Jordan over at Confined Space points out, the Bush administration has distorted the original goal of the department.

In the words of the organic act establishing the Department of Labor, its main purpose is “to foster, promote and develop the welfare of working people, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.” (From the Official History of the U.S. Department of Labor.)

Now, Jordan writes, the mission more accurately should be rewritten as follows:

In the words of the organic act establishing the Department of Labor, its main purpose is “to foster, promote and develop the welfare of working people corporate America, to improve their working conditions ability to stay union free, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.”

As Ed Sills at the Texas AFL-CIO points out:

The National Labor Relations Act states in its preamble that it is the
national policy of the U.S. to encourage collective bargaining. Now there is proof that the U.S. Department of Labor does not encourage collective bargaining and is consorting with those who would destroy it.

Richard Berman, whose projects have included slamming Mothers Against Drunk Driving in a vicious campaign on behalf of the alcohol industry, launched the center in February. For his latest industry front group, Berman has launched a website that purports to show the “facts” on unions but instead provides twisted distortions.

Berman is spending his multimillion budget on full-page anti-union ads published in The New York Times, The Washington Post and other newspapers. Berman also has taken out TV ads in local markets where actors dressed as workers attack unions, but those ads ceased airing after CREW contacted stations to point out their falsehoods.

Berman huffs and puffs about union “transparency,” neglecting to mention that only 10 percent of corporations file some financial information with the Federal Election Commission. Meanwhile, all unions are required to file their financial information with the Labor Department, where it is publicly available. But Berman isn’t saying who’s funding his organization, which sources say has an $8 million bankroll. But it’s clear there a political agenda. And it isn’t in favor of working families.

Leo Casey on EdWize notes CREW’s FOIA documents show...

…considerable supporting evidence for the thesis that the Bush administration and its corporate bank-rollers have targeted teacher unions for political reasons, on the theory that weakened teacher unions would mean a weakened Democratic coalition.

New Benefit Is Latest Innovation in USW’s Continuing Commitment to Retirees’ Security

An innovative trust fund set up to benefit retirees who lost health care coverage in the bankruptcies of four steel companies – Bethlehem, LTV, Acme Metals and Georgetown Steel – is announcing a new benefit.

A portion of the assets of the trust, now known as the Mittal Steel USA Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA), will be used this year to reimburse as many as 75,000 eligible beneficiaries and spouses for part of their 2006 Medicare Part B monthly premiums.

“The creation of this new benefit,’’ said USW President Leo W. Gerard, “is further proof that the union has never given up the fight for the rights of our retirees, despite the fact that they’ve been abandoned by their former employers and given cruel short shrift by the bankruptcy courts.”

The fund will reimburse retirees and surviving spouses for part of the Medicare Part B monthly premiums paid during the first six months of this year. Premiums are typically $88.50 a month for Medicare beneficiaries.

The actual amount of the reimbursement will depend upon the number of VEBA beneficiaries and spouses who apply for the benefit. But the minimum reimbursement payment will be $40 per month, or $240 for any eligible individual who paid Medicare Part B premiums for all of the first six months.

The cash payments will be distributed to eligible applicants in December, 2006.

Thomas Duzak, director of pension and benefits for the USW, said the new one-time benefit will be paid for from a surplus in the fund resulting from favorable steel industry conditions.

Duzak also urged eligible retirees to enroll in a Prescription Drug Program established for VEBA beneficiaries in March 2005. The monthly cost is only $10 per person, and the benefits are, on average, equal to or better than the standard benefits under Medicare.

Retirees who are not already enrolled for prescription drug coverage are urged to contact the VEBA at 1(877) 474-8322.

The VEBA trust was established in 2002 through negotiations between the United Steelworkers and International Steel Group (ISG), which has since been acquired by Mittal Steel USA.

The VEBA is funded by contributions from Mittal, based on company earnings and steel tonnage. Benefits are jointly determined by the USW and Mittal, depending on funds available in the trust and the needs of eligible retirees.

USW Designates BFGoodrich as "Target" for Tire and Rubber Master Contract Negotiations

Steelworkers look to establish template in an agreement that will serve as a pattern for other contracts.

The United Steelworkers (USW) announced today that BFGoodrich/Michelin has been selected as the "target company" for 2006 master contract negotiations in the rubber and tire industry. Representatives from USW bargaining committees engaged in contract talks with Bridgestone/Firestone (BFS), Goodyear and BFGoodrich/Michelin voted today in Cincinnati, Ohio.

"Significant in the selection of BFGoodrich is the fact that we believe that we can set an industry pattern that looks after our retirees, enhances job security and protects the standard of living for our active and retired members" said USW executive vice president Ron Hoover.

The purpose of pattern agreements is to provide a level playing field for employers when it comes to the cost of labor. This compels employers to compete on the basis of product and service quality, innovation, up-to-date technology and management.

Negotiations began earlier this month. The BFGoodrich/Michelin talks cover 4,000 members in three facilities and have been taking place in Knoxville, Tenn. The contract expiration date for the current three-year pact is July 22, 2006. The USW Goodyear/Kelly-Springfield/Dunlop negotiations cover 14,000 members at 12 plants in the U.S. Another 3,000 members are involved in talks in Canada. Talks are taking place in Cincinnati. The negotiations with Bridgestone-Firestone are being held in St. Louis and cover 6,000 workers in eight U.S. plants. The expiration date is also July 22.

Double Whammy of Rising Prices, Falling Wages Hits Workers

Two reports by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on rising consumer prices and sharply falling real wages again show just how vulnerable is the economy to sharp slowdown.

Consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent in May and by 4.3 percent since May a year ago. Over the past three months, the Consumer Price Index has risen at an annual average rate of 5.7 percent. Urban consumers are paying even more because of higher commuting costs.

The BLS report issued June 15 shows real weekly wages fell 0.7 percent behind prices in May for non-supervisory workers in the service and manufacturing industries.

Weekly wage declines in May were widespread, said Charles W. McMillion, president and chief economist of MBG Information Services.

Wages for service-producing jobs are down 0.4 percent compared to a year ago. Manufacturing wages dropped by 0.9 percent over the same period.

At the same time, worker productivity in the manufacturing sector increased by 4 percent over the past year and is up 43.7% since 1998, McMillion said.

In the distant past, real wages and productivity grew at roughly similar rates. But that has changed dramatically with today’s unregulated global commerce.

The report of sharply falling real wages should be a matter of great concern, McMillion said.

Households were already spending far more than their disposable incomes in April and even with very weak retail sales in May, the report suggests that households were forced to dip even further into their savings in May.

Current Household Savings from 1933 to 2006

Purchasing Power of Weekly Wages from 1985 to 2006

THE FIGHT FOR A SINGLE PAYER HEALTHCARE SYSTEM”

Labor unions and workers from unions across the board are at the forefront of the broad national single payer healthcare coalition. Such a system would cover everybody in the United States with quality and affordable healthcare. Through the efforts of the ALL UNIONS COMMITTEE for SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE…., over 160 labor endorsements have been voted by local unions, Central Labor Councils and Internationals… all in support of H.R. 676, the Conyers Bill that would provide the best healthcare system in the world for every single person in the United States.

Healthcare-NOW, the national coalition dedicated to this healthcare advance is headed by a team of three national co-chairs representing the view that we must work together with a broad and diverse coalition if we are to defeat the forces that want to keep healthcare in the hands of the for-profit, Healthcare Industrial Complex, the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical drug corporations and the for-profit hospitals and lobbyists..

The Single Payer leaders who co-chair Healthcare-NOW are Leo Gerard, President of the United Steelworkers, Jim Winkler, head of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, and Dr. Quentin Young, National Coordinator of the fastest growing and most progressive group of doctors in the nation, Physicians for a National Health Program.

Says Gerard: “The news about healthcare is worse every day. The costs are going up. Employer contributions are going down or becoming non-existent. Quality of care is questionable, and corporate fraud is rampant. Every contract is about negotiating healthcare benefits rather than for better salaries and working conditions. But there is a solution and it is a single-payer system.

What would a single payer system do for us? We would get a lot more than we do now. All medical, dental, optical, mental health coverage, all hospitals, medical equipment, pharmaceutical drugs, long term care, drug and alcohol treatment and more would be a part of the new system. Attention to and control over the corporate fraud that now takes away hundreds of billions of dollars would help us pay for this kind of healthcare for everybody.

How much would we pay? Surprisingly, we would pay less than we are paying now considering premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and uncovered costs such as dental, pharmaceutical drugs and long-term care. An average family of three that pays more than $10,000 a year now – including all of the above costs, would now pay about $1,200 a year– or $100 per month. Employers would contribute too – the same amount per employee based on their income. How would this work? We all would be paying a small amount into the system. The big corporate entities would no longer be handling the money and reaping huge profits, paying for advertising, lobbying and denying our needs because we would have a single payer and we would have an entitlement to healthcare.

NEW CAMPAIGN Healthcare-NOW is launching a new campaign to ELECT A HEALTHY CONGRESS. Unless we change the Congress in the 2006 election, we will not be able to push forward the ambitious agenda we have for getting national healthcare or any other progressive legislation.

New indicators of the extreme healthcare and leadership crisis in this country appear every day. Today, the crisis involves two major concerns:

1. The Bush- appointed National Labor Relations Board is voting this week on a new rule that would cut the numbers of union members by the hundreds of thousands –turning worker categories into supervisors – particularly nurses – but also people in every type of work, eliminating their right to be members of a union. The NLRB has refused to hear testimony, and a fight is being launched to stop this blatant anti-worker strategy. The California Nurses Association and other unions are leading this struggle.

2. Insurance companies are refusing to provide coverage for patients who use particular hospitals. For example, today’s Atlanta Constitution reports that Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the largest insurer in George is refusing to pay Piedmont Hospital for patient services. And a similar crisis faces Jamaica Hospital in New York City , denied payment by United Health.

Single payer insurance is the answer that makes the most sense. Keep up to date on the USW fight to change our current healthcare system by visiting our union’s website at: www.usw.org. Also, more information can be found on the website for Healthcare NOW at: www.healthcare-now.org.