An update from the CPUSA's Labor Commission
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Vol. 1, Issue 8
Scott Marshall, Labor Commission Chair
Melissa O’Rourke, Labor Commission Coordinator, Labor Upfront editor
In This Newsletter:
May Day: finding its way back home
Cananea, Mexico Strike Update
McCain a no-show on equal pay for women
Over 80,000 petitions delivered to BK HQ
Ohio Labor says Jobs not War!
Union Jobs (still more needed!)
May Day: finding its way back home
By Scott Marshall
I’ve always wanted a button that reads, “Workers of the world unite, back by popular demand” — almost as long as I’ve wanted one that says, “May Day, made in the USA.”
May Day 2008 would have been a great time for both.
Not that long ago labor activists had to struggle with a Cold War mythology that had May Day as a creation of the Soviet Union. Back in the late 1960s, my Steelworkers local union boldly, but nervously, published an article I wrote titled after my button, “May Day, made in the USA.” My local president asked, “Well, this is all true isn’t it? It really did originate out of the Haymarket eight-hour-day protest in 1886, right? Samuel Gompers really did propose it to an international labor meeting in Paris in 1889, right?” My president knew the history very well, but wanted to be reassured and prepared.
This year, unions, central labor councils, labor history societies and labor allies around the country joined with others around the world to celebrate this true international workers’ holiday. And like the original Gompers proposal, May Day is seen as a day of action, a day of fightback. So this year the West Coast longshore workers took May Day off to protest the war in Iraq, to demand fairness for immigrants, and to demand a decent union contract in critical negotiations with shippers and dock owners. Unions and labor councils around the U.S. endorsed and supported the longshore action and added their voice to this May Day call from labor to end the war. Story continues here.
Editor’s note: Check out the coverage of May Day and other recent events from our friends over at Willamette Reds.
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International Labor News
Cananea, Mexico Strike Update: Workers hold fast - win court victory
Striking copper miners in Cananea Mexico scored a much needed victory when Mexico's courts overturned a previous ruling by the Mexican labor board and declared the nine month strike by the miners union legal. Grupo Mexico, the mine owners, is trying to end the strike by closing the mines - but it is illegal under Mexican law to close a plant while a legal labor dispute is going on.
Grupo Mexico has tried to buy off the strikers by offering large severance packages to be allowed to close the mine. But the workers are standing strong and refusing the buyouts. Grupo Mexico posted a $453 million profit in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile international solidarity is growing for the miners. And US unions, led by the steelworkers, continue to build support in Congress to end military aid to Mexico that can be used for the kind of union busting violence used by police against the striking miners in Cananea.
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U.S. Labor News Election '08
McCain a no-show on equal pay for women
By John Wojcik
GOP presidential candidate John McCain is saying it’s fine with him if women never get justice for pay discrimination they suffer on the job.
Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama left their campaign trails and flew to Washington April 23 to vote for the Fair Pay Restoration Act. McCain didn’t bother to show up for the vote but said, had he taken the trouble, he would have voted against it.
The Senate vote was four short of the 60 needed to advance the bill, which would have allowed women who are paid less than men doing the same work to challenge the discrimination. Unlike McCain, five Republicans voted with Democrats 56-42 to move the bill to full debate and passage.
“I am in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what’s being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems,” McCain said. He complained that the measure would mean “government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system.” Advocates for fairness on the job say that’s exactly the point. Story continues here.
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Over 80,000 petitions delivered to BK HQ
From the Coalition of Imokalee Workers:
After weeks of gathering petition signatures in communities across the country, CIW members and allies prepared to deliver their urgent message of reform to Burger King headquarters in Miami.
But first, the day broke with shocking news as residents of Ft. Myers -- the Gulf Coast city across the Everglades from Miami -- awoke to a front page story about the widening "dirty tricks" scandal linked to Burger King Vice President Steve Grover. The Ft. Myers News-Press article, "Burger King VP puts self on grill" (4/28/08), details the harsh and libelous online campaign against the CIW, its allies, and the Campaign for Fair Food.
The breaking story -- which spread rapidly through an AP wire story, "Farmworker advocates to present Burger King with petition" (4/28/08) -- even landed Grover on the popular MSNBC news program "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." As part of his recurring series, "Worst person in the world," Olbermann awarded Grover a bronze medal for "anonymously trashing farmworkers and using his daughter's online ID to do so."
The CIW's call was backed by allies representing nearly 85,000 (84,952, to be exact...) Fair Food activists from across all fifty U.S. states and forty-two countries. Here South Florida AFL-CIO President Fred Frost stood in for more than 10,000 signatures collected by the AFL-CIO nationally and pledged the continuing support of the nation's largest labor federation to the Campaign for Fair Food.
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Ohio Labor Says:
End the War!
Rebuild the Economy!
Make 2008 Elections count!
- From a letter from Ohio trade unionists
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Resolution on the 2008 Elections and the War in Iraq
Whereas, the AFL-CIO, on the national, state and local levels, as well as the Change to Win unions, is officially on record as being opposed to the war in Iraq; and polls continue to show that 70% of the American people, including union members, believe the U.S. never should have gone to war in Iraq and should bring our troops home; and
Whereas, the two Democratic candidates for President, Senators Obama and Clinton, share labor's opposition to the war, while the GOP candidate, Senator John McCain, supports the war and President Bush's military policy; and
Full text of resolution can be found here.
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Union Jobs (We need more listings!)
We've gotten an increasing number of responses in the call for union job listings, more than we can list anymore. For the sake of space and ease, we'll list cities and industries, and for further information please contact me, morourke@cpusa.org.
Chicago: IBEW: further info is available at www.ejatt.com
Chicago Education-to-Careers: http://www.cisco.org/etc/apprec.htm
Dallas: Jobs at IBT and UAW represented facilities
There is also a website, http://www.unionjobs.com/ that lists union jobs, including staff, trades and apprenticeships, by state.
Keep them coming!!!! In an effort to assist young workers in finding decent-paying union jobs, I’m requesting that anyone who knows of job openings or apprenticeships, in all fields and across the country, please forward that information to laborupfront@cpusa.org.
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