|
|
|||
| WOMEN OF STEEL PAGE | |||
|
From:
International President June
11, 2008 Now
that the Democratic Primary race has come to an end, let’s look at the
November election in a clear light of what it will mean to working
families. Too many attempts were made in the past months to define
working people’s voting decisions as racially based, while completely
ignoring the fact that for years Senator McCain and many of his
Republican colleagues have treated all working people with complete
disdain, whether those workers are white, Black, Hispanic or otherwise.
We can expect the Republicans to continue to utilize this tactic to
distract attention away from the fact that John McCain will only offer a
continuation of the Bush administration’s assault on working people
and unions. Here are some facts:
USW
Reaches Global Agreement with ArcelorMittal on Health and Safety Issues Last
week our union announced a groundbreaking agreement with ArcelorMittal,
the world’s largest steel company, to improve health and safety
standards throughout the company. The global agreement covers
ArcelorMittal workers represented by unions throughout the world.
In
addition to recognizing the vital role played by unions in improving
health and safety conditions, the unprecedented agreement establishes
universal minimum standards at every site the company operates. Also
included in the agreement is the creation of a joint union-management,
global health and safety committee that will target plants in the group
in order to work to dramatically improve their performance. For
more information, click here. New
Contract Ratified at Georgia-Pacific’s
Brewton, Ala. Mill Our
members at Local 888 and Local 941 recently ratified a four-year labor
agreement by a wide margin at the Georgia-Pacific (GP) paper mill in
Brewton, Ala. that will provide wage and benefit increases, improve
retiree health care and pensions,
in addition to restoring all seniority rights that existed on Sept. 27,
2007 under the plant’s previous owner. Unlike the old contract, this
one contains successorship language. When Smurfit Stone sold the mill to
Georgia-Pacific in September of 2007, all of our members were forced to
re-apply for their jobs. That won’t happen again. USW
Supports Severstal’s Purchase of Esmark The
USW continues its active and vital role in consolidating a healthy steel
industry in For
more information, click here. USW’s
Blue Green Alliance Links Jobs and Global Warming Our
union and the Sierra Club last week sent a joint letter under the banner
of the Blue Green Alliance to the U.S. Senate pushing for Climate
Security legislation that also addresses the
competitiveness
provision. We want to make sure that manufacturing capacity in the For more information, click here. USW
and U.S. Companies Fighting Back Against
Dumped Circular Welded Steel The
U.S. Department of Commerce may soon impose duties on Chinese circular
welded pipe. This is the first investigation involving Chinese
government subsidies to the steel industry. The Commerce Department
found that Chinese pipe exports are being dumped at rates ranging from
about 70 to 85 percent. In addition, the Commerce Department found
that Chinese pipe producers benefit from illegal government subsidies at
rates ranging from about 30 to 615 percent, with an average subsidy rate
for all respondents of some 37 percent. The trade suit was brought by
the Ad Hoc Coalition for Fair Pipe Imports from |
|||
|
Attention
all USPA Communicators For
Immediate Release
Contact: Alison Omens 202-637-5018 Statement
by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney On
the Biggest Swing in Unemployment Rates since 1986 June
6, 2008 The
economy is in meltdown. Today’s report isn’t isolated – it is part
of a long-brewing problem that is toxic when combined with falling incomes,
the mortgage crisis and out-of-control everyday gas, food and health care
costs. For working people, the numbers
mirror the worries around the kitchen table each night. For
legislators and policymakers, the numbers should be a red flag that it is high
time for aggressive action. Our
economy shed jobs for the fifth straight month. Among African Americans,
unemployment rates are even worse, jumping to 9.7 percent in May from 8.6
percent in April. There is one job for every two people seeking work. Today,
Congress has an opportunity to give desperately needed help to the 1.55
million people who have been jobless for more than six months. The bill to
fund the Congress
must also provide relief to cash-strapped states and enact
an immediate
moratorium on subprime mortgage foreclosures. In addition, we need to
put people to work with a major initiative that green-lights ready to go
infrastructure projects that will rebuild our crumbling schools, bridges and
roads, including emphasis on the green jobs of the future. And
we need to begin now on a far-reaching, long-term strategy to turn around the
failing economy by addressing the structural flaws that put corporate profits
above people. Instead of proposing solutions, Republicans like Pres. Bush and
Sen. McCain continue to promote the wrongheaded economic policies on taxation,
deregulation and trade that got us into this mess in the first place. The economic squeeze is choking off the American dream for millions of working families. The time for delaying has passed.
|
|||
|
STOP the Colombia Free Trade Agreement
The Colombia Free Trade Agreement should be a complete non-starter, yet the Bush Administration insists on pressuring Congress to support the agreement. We need to make sure that Congress understands that our union will not sit by and allow a trade agreement with the country that has the worst track record of union member murders in the world. This is unacceptable, and we want the positions of Members of Congress on the record.
It is up to your local to determine how you will ask! - Phone
Calls - Write
Notes Senator
[last name] - Set up a
Meeting with your Members of Congress
|
|||
|
Are you curious about the toys you already have? How about vinyl lunch boxes... bibs, toys, soft-sided coolers, games...etc.? Bring them to the December 20 Regular Union Meeting and we'll do some testing. |
SEE TOXIC TRADE ON THE WOMEN OF STEEL PAGE. | ||
|
The following is a letter from USW Internation President Leo W. Gerard Brothers and Sisters, We have a unique opportunity during this holiday season to create a groundswell of support for product safety regulations and new trade policies that work for working families. We need your help. The USW has produced a video featuring Steelworkers kids that symbolizes what our Stop Toxic Imports campaign is all about: protecting our children from dangerous, imported products and fighting unfair laws that allow global corporations to cheat us out of good jobs. It's an important message that should be front and center. And you can help by watching the video, now posted on YouTube, rating it, commenting on it and sending it on to a friend. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIXGXyQ6L1Q Your efforts to raise the exposure of this video can help us convince members of Congress that we must act NOW to protect our families from toxic products and the change the terrible trade policies that cause this problem. To help spread the word, hear are a couple of things you can do: 1) Register with YouTube (in other words, join the site - you don't have to post any videos to do this). Once you've registered, you can rate the video (we recommend giving it the highest star rating!). 2) After you watch the video, add your personal comments to USW's Toxic Trade Channel on YouTube.com Watch the entire video, or your "hit" won't count! 3) Please forward this e-mail or the YouTube link to your friends, family and others. 4) You can also subscribe on YouTube to get additional updates from the USW channel Let's send a strong message today! Watch the video and help us move it through the grassroots. In solidarity, Leo W. Gerard |
 The Get the Lead Out screening kit can help you make your home safer. The kit contains two Lead Check swabs, a test verification sheet, reporting forms, manufacturer's directions, MSDS data sheet, information on recent recalls and a tip sheet about what you can do to help stop toxic imports. The screening kit is free - you just pay $3.00 shipping & handling (up to 10 kits). For 10 kits and above, you will be contacted following your order for actual costs approval. |
||
|
The National Labor Committee Putting a Human
Face on the Global Economy - Wednesday,
December 12, 2007 Contact:
Barbara Briggs
office: (212) 242-3002
cell: (412) 417-9384 Wal-Mart
Christmas Ornaments Made Under Illegal
Sweatshop Conditions in Wal-Mart
Christmas ornament workers toil 10 to 15 hours a day, seven days a week, going
for months without a day off. Many workers earn as little as 26 cents an
hour—just half of At
a press conference at ·
Workers
in the Spray Paint department who develop skin rashes and sores while handling
potentially dangerous chemicals have no choice but to leave the factory, as
management does not pay medical bills or sick days. For quitting on
short notice, workers are docked one month’s pay. ·
By
July, the high school students were so exhausted from the grueling 12 to
14-hour shifts, seven days a week that they went on strike and brought a legal
suit against the factory, denouncing the grueling, illegal hours and seven day
workweeks for which they were paid below the legal minimum. The students
also reported to the Labor Bureau that some 12-year-olds worked at the
factory. “With
its expensive PR campaign, and masquerading as Tiny Tim, Wal-Mart is
glorifying the virtue of buying cheap goods in its stores, claiming this is
the real holiday spirit,” said
Charles Kernaghan, “But,
especially at this time of year, no American would knowingly purchase a
product in Wal-Mart if they knew that bargain was based on the exploitation of
children and teenagers forced to work grueling hours, seven days a week, who
are stripped of their rights and paid pennies an hour. Wal-Mart will
remain a Scrooge, so long as its bargains are based on the cheapening and
immiseration of the lives of the young workers in U.S.
Senator Byron Dorgan
(D-ND) said in a statement released in Washington, D.C., “Chinese
sweatshops now produce not only the toys under our Christmas trees, but even
the ornaments that hang on those trees. It is completely against the
spirit of Christmas to produce ornaments in sweatshop factories where the
workers who are physically abused and financially cheated. We need to get
serious about keeping the products of foreign sweatshops off American shelves.
And we shouldn’t wait until next year’s holiday season rolls around before
we take action.” USPA
Secretary Treasurer USW
Communications Department |
Merry
Christmas from the Senate Republican Leadership: Taking
Away Vital Benefits to Laid Off Workers and Their Families The Senate
Republican Leadership has refused to agree to an extension of the Trade
Adjustment Assistance program, a program that provides financial assistance
and training to workers who lost their job due to imports or offshoring.
If the Senate Republicans persist, and they succeed in forcing the TAA program
authorization to expire, then thousands of workers throughout the country will
be denied vital benefits to support their families under this important
program – NO financial assistance, NO job training, NO help maintaining
health insurance, NO wage insurance if they are forced to take a lower paying
job. The Senate Republican Leadership is sending UN-Happy Holidays to
workers from the following companies, praying for help in this holiday season
(partial list): Peoploungers,
Smurfit
Stone, Ethicon,
Johnson and Johnson, Brenham
Spring Lexmark
International, Inc. IBM Leitchfield
Plastics Syntax -
Brillian Rockford
Corporation Tennplasco
Lafayette
, France
Scott Fetzer Company Sports
Belle, Inc. Magneti
Marelli North America, Inc. (NA) Dunlap
Industries Dunlap, TN HSBC CHF
Industries, Inc. Loris, SC General
Electric Glen Raven
Elberton, GA MI Windows
and Doors, Inc. WestPoint
Home Valley
, Wolverine
Tube, Inc. W. R.
Hosiery Siemens
BMI
Electronics, Inc. BCGI
Cellular Express Shape
Global Technology Telex
Communications, Inc. Blue Earth, MN Enhance Hutchens
Industries, Inc. Integram
St. Louis Seating Pacific, MO Holt
Sublimation Printing and Products, Inc. Carson
's Furniture Culp, Inc
Pilot
Hosiery Mills, Inc. Charles D.
Owen Manufacturing Swannanoa, NC American
Fiber and Finishing, Inc. Umpqua
Lumber Company Credence
Systems Corp.
|
||
|
Kids
Make YouTube Appeal with ‘ ‘Please
Don’t Bring Us Toxic Toys This Year on Christmas Day’ For
Immediate Release
December 12, 2007 “Out
of the mouth of babes comes a profound message,” said Leo
W. Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, which produced the
video. “Because lead-tainted and other unsafe imports are being allowed to
pass through North American ports and are being stocked on store shelves this
season, our kids are in danger if parents don’t check labels and ensure that
the toys they buy are safe.” As
part of the USW’s “Protect Our Kids – Stop Toxic Imports” campaign,
the union’s Women of Steel are conducting in-home training sessions across
the United States and Canada to educate families about the threat of lead and
demonstrate how to test for lead in toys and other products. Millions of
lead-tainted imported toys have been recalled this year. The
Toxic Toys Jingle is posted on the StopToxicTrade channel on YouTube. Click
here
to see it. Or cut and paste this address into your browser address bar. http://youtube.com/watch?v=hIXGXyQ6L1Q Contact:
Connie Mabin (412) 562-2616 David Roscow (703) 276-2772 X 21
|
|||
WEB
ALERTS
