LOCAL 608 NEWSLETTER

APRIL/MAY/JUNE  2006                                                                                           VOLUME II    ISSUE X

Local Issues

FROM THE DESK OF USW PRESIDENT:  Rian VanLeuven

AFL-CIO Pushes For Shareholder Power, Curbs On Executive Pay

By Mark Gruenberg, PAI Staff Writer

 WASHINGTON (PAI)--Against the backdrop of crooked Enron CEO Ken Lay getting convicted and facing up to 165 years in jail, the AFL-CIO joined a wide-ranging group of witnesses in urging Congress to give the nation’s shareholders more power, especially in curbing executive pay and perks.

 Brandon Rees, assistant director of the federation’s Office of Investment--which puts together corporate campaigns and AFL-CIO-sponsored shareholder resolutions-- among other things--told the House Financial Services Committee on May 25 that “CEO pay levels are too high” and “a reasonable and fair compensation system for executives and workers is fundamental to the creation of long-term corporate value.”

 That includes “value” that would boost the worth of corporate assets within union pension plans, he noted.  “Union-sponsored pension plans hold approximately $400 million, and runaway executive pay has diminished returns for working families’ pension funds,” he explained.    

 “Moreover, a poorly designed executive compensation package can reward decisions that are not in the long-term interests of a company, its shareholders and its employees,” Rees added.

 “We believe no individual CEO’s contribution is so positive that they deserve unlimited compensation,” Rees said during a break in the hearing.  Yet such pay packages “are caused by power imbalances with companies without independent board chairs, majority voting for directors and without shareholder resolutions” about pay.

 Such compensation packages, what to do about them and the economic inequality they spotlight between the rich and the rest of us, were the topic of the hearing, successfully demanded--using congressional rules--by the committee’s minority Democrats in the GOP-run Congress.

 But whether the legislation Rees and other witnesses pushed will get anywhere is doubtful.  The measure, by top committee Democrat Barney Frank (D-Mass.), would mandate greater disclosure--in plain terms—of executive pay and perks, standards by which boards set those sums, and would give shareholders the power to vote on executive pay and perk packages.  It would also order directors elected by majority vote of all outstanding shares, not just of those voting.

 But the panel’s ruling Republicans seemed more interested in extolling the capitalist system--repeatedly using that phrase—and attacking trial lawyers.

Rees and the other witnesses, including Christiana Wood, the senior investment officer of the giant employee pension fund CALPERS, and Nell Minow, of the Corporate Library, which compiles company compensation data, said there is no question that executive pay is out of control.

 Even the most pro-business witness, Tom Lehner of The Business Roundtable, answered “no,” when Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) bluntly asked him if “It is morally good” for executives to raise their pay while “poverty is rising because of policies encouraged by the Business Roundtable who encourages companies to throw people out on the street and the companies move to China.”

SAFETY ISSUES

Consumer Products Division           

                                Lewiston, Idaho                     

Be Ergonomically Correct So Your Body Won't Object

                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.

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Senator Dorgan Introduces Landmark Legislation

Watershed Anti-sweatshop Legislation Introduced in the U.S. Congress

June 12th, 2006

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-- Watershed Anti-sweatshop Legislation Introduced in the U.S. Congress

-- Senator Dorgan's Press Release

Watershed Anti-sweatshop Legislation Introduced in the U.S. Congress

Senator Dorgan's Press Release

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DORGAN INTRODUCES BILL TO BAN SALE OF SWEATSHOP PRODUCTS

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) introduced legislation Thursday to prohibit the U.S. sale of products produced in “sweatshop factories” abroad.

The ban would be enforced with fines of up to $10,000 for each violation, and a provision that allows competitors of retailers who sell sweatshop-produced products to sue for damages for each violation. Sweatshop factories would be defined under the legislation as factories that abuse their workers in violation of that country’s labor laws.

“Free trade” agreements negotiated between the U.S. and other countries have fueled a growth in sweatshop production, Dorgan said, since products produced by those countries enter the United States duty free.

A 1999 “free trade” agreement with Jordan was supposed to have created jobs for Jordanians and protected workers, but had the exact opposite effect, Dorgan said.

Jordan began flying in so-called “guest workers” from even lower-wage countries like Bangladesh and China to make products in Jordan for sale at stores like Wal-Mart. Working conditions for those workers were “slave-like,” Dorgan said. They were forced to work 20 hour days, often weren’t paid for months, and were often hit by supervisors and jailed when they complained. One worker was paid only $50 for five months of work.

“What we ended up with under the Jordanian Free Trade Agreement are Bangladeshi workers, working 120 hours a week, turning Chinese cloth into clothing for the U.S. market, which enters duty-free in the U.S. market,” Dorgan said.

Jordanian exports to the U.S. increased twenty five fold since the agreement took effect in 1999.

“It’s all part of a global strategy of big corporate interests to find the cheapest possible labor and to exploit free trade agreements,” Dorgan said.

“The best way to put a stop to it is to simply prohibit the sale of products sold in sweatshops, and make sure there are powerful incentives to see that the prohibition is respected and enforced,” Dorgan said.

Click here to read Senator Dorgan's legislation...

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National Labor Committee | 540 West 48th St. | 3rd Floor | New York | NY | 10036

Joke:  DEAR FRIENDS & RELATIVES:

I have the distinguished honor of being on the committee to raise $5,000,000 for a monument of George W. Bush . We originally wanted to put him on Mt. Rushmore
until we discovered there was not enough room for two more faces.

We then decided to erect a statue of George in the Washington, D. C. Hall Of Fame.
We were in a quandary as to where the statue should be placed. It was not proper to place it beside the statue of George Washington, who never told a lie, or beside Dick Cheney, who never told the truth, since George could never tell the difference.

We finally decided to place it beside Christopher Columbus, the greatest Republican of them all. He left not knowing where he was going, and when he got there he did not know where he was. He returned not knowing where he had been, and did it all on someone else's money.

Thank you,

George W. Bush Monument . Committee

P. S. The Committee has raised $1.35 so far!

This comes to us from an affiliate, Mark Wurtzbacher, fellow Steelworker from Marietta, OH.

Mexican Union Leader Seeking Support Not Asylum - Steelworkers

May 31, 2006  

Ottawa - United Steelworkers’ National Director Ken Neumann said Wednesday that rumours circulating in Mexico that union leader Napoleon Gomez Urrutia is seeking political asylum in Canada are false and diverting attention away from the issue of seeking justice and reinstatement for Gomez as the democratically-elected leader of the National Union of Mine and Metallurgical Workers of the Mexican Republic (known as Los Mineros).

 “Mr. Gomez is a guest of the United Steelworkers in Canada,” said Neumann.  “He is meeting with representatives of the opposition parties in Ottawa to update Canadian politicians about the war of persecution being waged by the Mexican government and to seek support for his reinstatement.”

 Neumann added that Canadian Steelworkers have already sent messages to representatives of the Mexican Government in Canada that Canadians are appalled by the actions the government has taken against Gomez, who is still supported by his membership. 

“The Mexican government is responsible for his removal from office and must ensure that he is re-instated, not forced to seek asylum in some other country.” 

Neumann said the only ‘crime’ committed by Gomez is that he spoke out to protect his membership and to demand an investigation into the mine disaster at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine, which killed 65 workers and left their families devastated.

“Our union in Canada worked for more than a decade to bring about legislation that holds corporations, their directors and executives criminally accountable for putting workers lives at risk,” he said.  “The basis for that lengthy lobbying effort was the Westray mine explosion that took 26 lives in 1992.  No one in our union was ever threatened with removal from office for speaking out.  Mexican workers and their representatives deserve no less for defending their rights. 

“We believe the government of Mexico must prove that it believes in democracy and not state-sponsored intimidation and bullying.”

 Opposition parties are being asked to support the following actions:

 ¨                  That the Mexican government restore Napoleon Gomez to his democratically-elected position of General Secretary of Los Mineros;

 ¨                  That the Mexican government uphold its own labour laws that give unions broad authority to regulate their internal affairs in accordance with their constitution;

  ¨                  That the Mexican government uphold Article 3 of the International Labour Organization’s Convention 87 governing worker and employer organizations and their relationship to national governments, a convention which is incorporated into Mexican labour law at a level below that of the Constitution but above federal labour law;

 ¨                  That the Mexican government honour the 65 miners killed at work by undertaking a complete investigation into the explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine.

 Napoleon Gomez can be reached over the next two days through the contacts listed below.

 CONTACT: Dennis Deveau - 613.791.3440

         Roger Falconer - 416.948.4515

JUNE'S UNION CALENDAR

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