Legislative Action
Historic
National Mediation Board Rule Change
The National Mediation Board (NMB) made history on May
11 when it declared that airline and rail workers deserve
the same voting rights as workers in every other U.S.
industry.
U.S. Senators will soon begin debate on a last-ditch
resolution by Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson that
would block the NMB rule change and restore the unfair
voting procedure that was a key tool in anti-union
campaigns.
Under the new voting guidelines, representation
elections for transportation workers will be decided by a
majority of workers who actually vote. The new NMB
guidelines would end the practice of assigning “no” votes
to all workers who do not participate in an election.
Click
here to send a message to your
Senators and ask them to oppose the Isakson resolution.
The National Mediation Board (NMB) this week published in the
Federal Register its long-awaited change to rules governing
representation elections conducted under the Railway Labor Act.
In the brief summary of the historic change, the NMB declared:
“As part of its ongoing efforts to further the statutory goals of
the Railway Labor Act, the National Mediation Board is amending its
National Railway Act rules to provide that, in representation
disputes, a majority of valid ballots cast will determine the craft
or class representative (italics added). This change to its
election procedures will provide a more reliable measure/indicator
of employee sentiment in representation disputes and provide
employees with clear choices in representation matters.”
Under the NMB’s previous election guidelines, 50+1 of eligible
voters in an election were required to participate in the election
in order for the NMB to certify a union. Anyone who did not cast a
vote was automatically considered to have voted against union
representation. In contrast, union representation elections
conducted under the National Labor Relations Act, as well as all
other public elections, are decided by a simple majority of those
who actually cast a ballot.
“Thousands of Machinists union members and hundreds of members
of Congress told the NMB that it was time to end its 75-year
practice of imposing a viewpoint on people who, either by choice or
by chance, do not participate in representation elections,” said
Transportation GVP Robert Roach, Jr.
The NMB’s new rule will take effect 30 days after being
published in the Federal Register.
U-Cubed
A month-long effort by UCubed leaders and activists to
craft a guiding document for the
Ur
Union of Unemployed has resulted in a
21-point plan that is unique
for priorities it identified, as well as for how the plan
was developed.
Nearly 450 UCubed activists participated in an online
survey to solicit, debate and refine suggestions for an
action plan to put more than 30 million unemployed
Americans back to work. Click here to view the plan.
“Now that the Hire US, America plan is finalized, the
next step is to secure its endorsement by state and federal
candidates for office,” said UCubed Acting Executive
Director Rick Sloan. “UCubed leaders and jobs activists
will be visiting campaign headquarters this summer and
asking them to support the Hire US, America plan.”
“The unemployment numbers for May are expected to show a
dramatic increase in jobs,” said Sloan. “But we cannot rely
on the invisible hand of the market to create jobs. It's
not calloused enough. And it's always too busy fingering
its trading programs. We need an aggressive plan that does
what the private sector cannot do: put 30 million Americans
back to work. That's what the Hire US, America plan starts
to do.”
Ur Union of Unemployed, or UCubed, is a community
service project of the International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) designed to assist
the millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans, and
to provide them with a structure that allows them to take
advantage of their growing numbers. For more information,
visit
Ur Union of Unemployed.
U.S Aerospace
Companies Sending American Jobs to China
In testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security
Review Commission, IAM Director of Trade and Globalization
Owen Herrnstadt described how Western aerospace companies
are providing China with billions in tools and technologies
that are certain to cost U.S. aerospace jobs.
“The outsourcing of aerospace and related work to China
poses a threat to U.S. aerospace workers and the U.S.
industrial base in four different but related ways,” said
Herrnstadt. “First, jobs that may be associated with the
transfer of technology and production are lost; second, the
skills that accompany the transfers are lost leading to a
further decline in our industrial base; third, additional
jobs could be lost in the future as China utilizes the
transfer from the U.S. to create and strengthen its own
aerospace companies that will compete directly with U.S.
companies; and fourth, the technology and production that
would have lead to more U.S. jobs through the development
of innovative products is lost.”
Click
here to read the full testimony.
Herrnstadt called on policy makers to focus on ways to
minimize the growing threat of China’s aerospace industry
by undertaking efforts to curtail outsourcing of aerospace
and related work to China. Among other things, he proposed
a framework that collects accurate information regarding
the precise number of U.S. jobs that are lost due to
China’s growing aerospace industry.
Additional IAM recommendations include implementation of
mechanisms to determine with precision the employment
impact of transfers of technology and production on the
domestic workforce; establish an effective and speedy
system to track all parts and materials used by domestic
aerospace and aviation companies; mandate fully transparent
and uniform domestic content requirements that support
domestic jobs; review China’s aerospace industry for a
possible trade complaint and raise China’s use of transfers
of technology and production in bilateral and multilateral
dialogues.
Union Cite
Pensions in Call for Bankruptcy Reform
In testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on
Commercial and Administrative Law, the IAM called for
passage of H.R. 4677; Protecting Employees and Retirees
in Business Bankruptcies Act of 2010, to close
loopholes in current bankruptcy law that gives some
corporations incentives to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection.
“While Chapter 11 bankruptcy can provide struggling
companies an opportunity to regroup and avoid liquidation,
it is increasingly abused as a means to get a leg-up on the
competition,” said IAM Transportation General Vice
President Robert Roach, Jr. “Companies are also using
bankruptcy as a means to take what they can from employees
outside of the normal collective bargaining process, not
just what is needed for a corporation to survive.”
Roach cited airlines use of bankruptcy protection to
cease funding of defined benefit pension plans for tens of
thousands of employees, which ultimately led to termination
of those plans by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
(PBGC).
“Bankruptcy law should be amended to ensure employers
engage in good-faith bargaining when seeking contract
modifications,” said Roach. “Companies should no longer be
able to use the bankruptcy code to eliminate decades of
collective bargaining gains when there is no justifiable
reason - other than corporate greed.”
Click
here for the entire testimony.
Wisconsin State
Politics
Wisconsin Eye is a web sight that allows you
to see what's happening in
Wisconsin politics. This web site is available to
provide unfettered access to the actions of our state government
and to the full range of forums, activities, and participants
throughout our state that constitute community and public life in
Wisconsin; To provide access to the
public policy debate and decision-making process without editing,
commentary, or analysis and with a balanced presentation of points
of view;
Health Care
Tell Congress: No Taxes on Family Health Care Benefits
As the fight to shape a final health care bill moves through
Congress, working families can help stop the effort to tax their
health care benefits by joining millions of fellow workers in the
AFL-CIO’s National Call-In Blitz to the U.S. House of
Representatives on Wednesday, January 13, 2010.
Call your Representative using the toll-free number 1-877-323-5246.
Tell your Representative that you want health care reform that:
Does not tax health benefits for working families; requires
employers to pay their fair share and maintains a public option to
reduce costs. Click
here to send an email message to Congress to oppose the tax on
health care benefits for working families.
The House is trying to reconcile its version of health care reform
with the bill passed in the Senate. The House version does not have
a tax on health care benefits, has a public option and stronger
language to make employers pay their fair share of health costs.
But without a strong protest from working families, many of these
provisions could be dropped if the final health care package tilts
more toward the Senate version which has the health care tax
provision.
Election Information - Elections and Candidates
Whether it's working behind the scenes getting an anti-labor
provision removed from a bill or mobilizing a nationwide
grassroots effort, the Legislative Department is one of the few
voices in government fighting for working men and women.
Click here to TAKE ACTION NOW
The Political / Legislative Department of the IAM At the
IAM''s Political and Legislative Department, our primary focus
is jobs. We are constantly pressing Members of Congress to find
new and innovative approaches to job creation, pay special
attention to the job retention issues and insure that our
members and the companies they work for remain victors in the
global economic battles. Each day finds us pushing for more:
more worker rights, more job security, more jobs, more
training, more development, and more political education.
The United States Senate
This site includes links to Senators' offices and also includes
bills, calendars, notices of committee hearings, and a daily
digest of Senate action (usually with a one day delay)
U.S. House of
Representatives This site includes Member
Offices, schedule of hearings, "real time" reports on floor
action, a schedule for the week and other current information.
Congress.org This site
has been updated for the 105th Congress. It includes a page for
each U.S. Senator and Congressman. All committee assignments
are listed as well. The site provides a guide for contacting
your Senator or Congressman and an e-mail form for doing so.
THOMAS Full
text of legislation, all versions of House & Senate bills are
searchable by keywords or by number. Full text of the
Congressional Record from 1994. This site has links to
other useful government information and historical documents.
Political Action by State
The Wisconsin State
Legislature Office addresses, e-mail addresses
and other important information about the
Wisconsin State Legislature.
Machinists Non-Partisan Political League
The Machinists Non-Partisan Political League is the
political arm of the International Association of Machinists
and Aerospace Workers. It was created in 1947 to allow IAM
members to gather individual contributions, coordinate
political activity, and elect candidates who support IAM
members and their families.
Candidates we support know that the MNPL stands for economic
justice, security in the workplace and equality for every
member. They do not take us for granted.
The MNPL scrutinizes each candidate thoroughly. We ask tough
questions such as their positions on trade, labor law reform,
economic conversion, transportation policies, and enhancement
of the U.S. manufacturing base.
Contribute NOW!
Who's fighting to protect your job, pension, health
insurance and social security? Who's wrestling with the current
administration over CAFTA, Social Security and JOBS? Who's
protecting your health and safety, your right to organize, your
job security? Who's taking on the multi-national corporations'
schemes to demean the American Dream, to weaken North America's
might? Who's battling Corporate America's 34,000 high-priced
lobbyists day in and day out?
MNPL is. The Machinists Non-Partisan Political League is IAM's
heavyweight champion when it comes to politics and legislation.
But these fights are expensive. Sadly, money buys access in the
halls of power. And politicians listen more closely when
contributors come calling. So, MNPL needs your contribution to
wage these fights.
Click
here to make an online contribution today.
