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No Republicans Whined When Bush Made 171 Recess Appointments
Earlier this week, Republicans proved the lesson we all learned in school, “the majority rules,” doesn’t apply to the U.S. Senate. With every single Republican vote and two from defecting Democrats (see below), Republicans sustained a filibuster against Craig Becker’s nomination to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Read more...
Call the White House switchboard today and fight Republican obstructionism
by Thomas Collard Jr., Local Lodge 141 Legislative Director
We’ve just learned that the Senate and the White House cut a last-minute deal with obstructionist Republicans to approve some of President Obama’s nominees. But guess who was left out of the deal?
Yup, that’s right: working people.
Craig Becker and Mark Pearce, highly respected labor lawyers whom President Obama nominated for seats on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), weren’t included in the deal. Meanwhile, the NLRB, tasked with protecting American workers’ rights, has been handicapped with vacancies for the past two years.
Enough is enough.
Call the White House switchboard today and demand that President Obama fight Republican obstructionism and use his executive power to appoint Craig Becker and Mark Pearce to the NLRB during the Presidents Day recess
.Call the White House Switchboard NOW: 202-456-1111 OR 202-456-1414. Becker already has received majority backing in the Senate and both won committee support, but the Republican minority has continually blocked their appointments. America’s working people are getting short shift and it’s past time to do something about it.
Workers need an NLRB that can enforce the National Labor Relations Act and protect workers' rights—not an NLRB handicapped by vacancies.
Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009
The IAM is joining the Workforce Alliance to help pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, HR 3221. This legislation will provide community colleges and the broader workforce development system with the necessary resources to provide much-needed job training and related services to millions of U.S. workers. The act incorporates President Obama’s American Graduation Initiative, announced last July, which calls for significant investments in innovative community college programs aimed at helping more Americans receive a postsecondary degree, certificate, or industry-recognized credential. President Obama is calling for five million new college graduates by 2020 – the highest graduation rate in the world. A highly-skilled workforce will help put the country on the road to economic recovery.
The House just passed the bill, and now the action moves to the Senate.Members can help working families upgrade their skills by sending a letter to your Senators demanding they strengthen and support the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 right now.
Tell Senators No Way on Health Care Benefits Tax
On Sept. 16, Senator Baucus (D-MT), Chair of the Senate Finance Committee released a deeply flawed health care reform bill that fails to meet the most basic promise of health care reform - and threatens to shift more costs to employees represented by labor unions.
Senators will begin "marking up" (making changes and amendments, if any) on Tuesday, September 22.
Members in the following key states should contact their senators IMMEDIATLY at 1-877-264-4226 and insist the legislation be revised to eliminate the excise tax on workers' health care benefits.
Click here to the send a letter. To learn more about the Health Care issue, you can click here.
Health Care Myths, Lies and Whoppers
The extraordinary campaign to defeat much-needed health insurance reform in the U.S. is heating up again, with misinformation and fear-mongering reaching near-hysterical levels. Among the latest attempts is a totally false claim by GOP National Chairman Michael Steele that the proposed legislation would encourage disabled veterans to commit suicide rather than be a financial burden to their families and communities.Click here and here to peruse a list of the most outrageous claims by the anti-reform zealots and to learn how to counter these deliberate falsehoods.
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Employee Free Choice Act: Why Do We Need It?
Joining together in a union to bargain for health care, pensions, fair wages and better working conditions is the best opportunity working people have to get ahead. Today, good jobs are vanishing and health care coverage and retirement security are slipping out of reach. Only 38 percent of the public says their families are getting ahead financially and less than a quarter believes the next generation will be better off.
But workers who belong to unions earn 28 percent more than nonunion workers. They are 52 percent more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and nearly three times more likely to have guaranteed pensions. All workers should have the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life. Send a letter to your lawmakers in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. Get all the facts HERE.
McCaskill-Bond Bill offers some protection in case of merger
U.S Senators Claire McCaskill and Kit Bond secured a provision to the Senate’s omnibus spending bill to provide air carrier employees with a BASE level of protection during mergers. The provision would ensure a merger process by which airline employee seniority lists can be integrated in a FAIR manner to be determined by the controlling carrier. If a dispute occurs, the parties can engage in binding arbitration.While the language of this bill may be a step in the right direction, District 143 feels that stronger seniority provision language could be obtained through collective bargaining.Unions Promote Conservation in Climate Change Legislation
The IAM joined with a diverse group of U.S. labor unions today calling on leaders of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to dedicate funding to safeguard fish, wildlife and ecosystems in climate change legislation being deliberated by Congress. The 20 unions, all partners of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, stress that a share of annual funding, no less than that contained in the House version of the bill should be directed toward protecting and restoring the natural environment.
“We know that more than 3.2 million AFL-CIO union members spend some of their well-deserved free time hunting and fishing and that climate change has the power to change that,” said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka. “Responsive measures in the Senate legislation will help prevent drastic declines in hunting and fishing opportunities caused by climate change and better secure the $70 billion conservation dollars generated by hunters and anglers each year.” Click here to read the letter and see a complete list of union signatories.
