AFL-CIO Pennsylvania Labor 2008 Blog

June Week of Labor Walks a Huge Success

Across the state union activists and working families came out to talk to each other about the importance of passing the Employee Free Choice Act.  Barack Obama pledged to pass it his first year in office and to protect working peoples' freedom to organize and bargain for fair contracts. With this week's endorsement by the AFL-CIO working families are uniting to make sure he is elected in November. Members from the following unions came out to participate throughout the week: AFGE,AFSCME, AFT, BAC, CWA, GMP, IAFF, IAM, IBEW, IBT, IUOE, LIUNA, PSEA, SEIU, TWU, UA, UAW, UBC, UFCW, UMWA, UWUA, UNITE HERE, and USW. 

"It is important to come out and support the labor movement and communicate the issues that are most important to us.  Today we talked about the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that will protect workers' freedom to organize and bargain fairly" said Colleen Evans, AFGE Local 3344 President on Saturday, June 21st at the Pittsburgh walk.  "It is important for union members to talk to each other about union issues.  That is why we are out walking and talking about the Employee Free Choice Act" said Lehigh Valley Central Labor Council President Gregg Potter on Thursday. 

"It is so important that the labor movement comes out and participates this year," said Lori Reinhart, SEIU Local 1199P.  "We can make it or break it this election and so we need union members to understand that Barack Obama is our candidate.  He support the Employee Free Choice Act and working families will be better off with him in office."

After such a strong turn out for the June Week of Labor Walks and the AFL-CIO's endorsement of Barack Obama this week, the voice of the labor movement is growing stronger. The political program is in full swing and momentum continues to build as we grow closer to a better future for working families with Barack Obama in the fall. 

 

Pennsylvania Union Members in Allentown Say No to Tax Breaks for Big Oil

In Allentown on Thursday union activists gathered in front of a gas station at rush hour to draw attention to the fact that working families are struggling to afford enough gas to get to work while John McCain continues to support Big Oil.  “It is abundantly clear that John McCain is for big oil and against working families,” said Gregg Potter, Lehigh Valley Central Labor Council President, at the rally.

“The Bush Administration’s failed oil policies have working families struggling to afford a tank of gas and John McCain only promises more of the same,” said President Potter.

“I don’t know how some people are making it, especially non-union workers,” said Cas Riepensell from IBEW Local 1600. “I know what some people make and I know that their whole paycheck must be going into their gas tank.  It breaks my heart that this is happening in America.”

Rick Sturz from IBEW Local 126 added that as veteran, he respects John McCain’s military service but his policies are very destructive for working families.  “I go to union meetings and people talk about how hard it is just to get to work with these gas prices.  It is clear that John McCain does not care about working people.”

John Lemos, IAM Local 917 says that “it is time for people to get involved.  People are starting to get angry and realize that the Bush Administration is not taking care of us and that John McCain will be more of the same. Union members have got to get involved and let every one know that John McCain does not stand for working families.”

On Thursday, Pennsylvania union members made sure that McCain knows where they stand on gas prices.  By standing together in solidarity to make sure other members are informed, they also helped ensure that come November John McCain and his anti-labor policies will no longer be allowed free reign to support big oil companies and ignore working families.

Local Union Spotlight: IBEW Local 712

IBEW Local 712, an electricians local in Beaver, Pennsylvania is led by Business Manager Frank Telesz. It represents members in Beaver, Lawrence, Mercer and Crawford Counties. Local 712 has a proud legacy of 90 years of leadership in Beaver County. The local hosts the main office of the Beaver-Lawrence Central Labor Council and is the home local of IBEW International President Edwin Hill. In 2006 it played a central role in a successful program to elect endorsed candidate Jason Altmire in Congressional District 4. This year the local continues its legacy by hosting the command center for Labor 2008 Political Zone 7.

Business Manager Frank Telesz emphasizes the need to change the country's course in November. "All the decisions at the national level these past eight years have been going the wrong way for us and that trickles down."

"The labor movement is very powerful and when we put our heads together collectively we have a very strong voice," says Telesz. "In Pennsylvania, if you take union members along with their household members we have a huge number of voters. We were very successful in 2006 and, with high levels of volunteer turnout and voter turnout we will be very successful again this year."

Telesz adds that the best way to ensure a change in the country's directions is got get union members involved in the process. "There are so many ways to get involved. Members can talk to their neighbors, knock on doors, make phone calls and help distribute information at the job sites." 

Already Local 712 has distributed the first round of worksite flyers about John McCain's record to its members in the month of March. This week Local 712 members will be coming out to the June labor walks in Beaver.

(Photo: President John Kochanowski, IBEW Local 712 and Jim Schlosser, IBEW at a Trainer the Trainer event for An Economy That Works For All.  Just one of many events hosted by IBEW Local 712)

Meet Your Release Staff: Ron Oliver, USW Local 3199

As the Labor 2008 release staff from USW Local 3199, Ron Oliver is working hard in the Northwest region, reaching out to USW locals in Erie/Crawford, Warren and Venango County and building the structure of the Labor 2008 program to educate and engage union members in the political process this year.

Originally from Cleveland, OH., Oliver was stationed in Erie with the military until 1987 when, only one week out of the service, he started working full time as a machinist at the PHB Die Casting Plant. He got involved with the union in the early nineties and over time rose to a position on the executive board and various committees in his union.

"Military life and civilian life are very different," says Oliver. "Once I got out and into the working field my perspective changed. I started paying more attention to things like jobs going abroad and I thought 'Hey, that could be my job unless I start fighting for it now.'" But it's more than just his own job that Oliver is concerned about. "I am tired of watching my friends lose their jobs. These issues don't just
affect me ? they affect everybody. I don't want to wait for that knock on the door. I want to be out there on the front lines."

The front lines for Oliver mean "getting out there making phone calls, knocking on doors, and leafleting at worksites. I did that in 2006 when I had a full time job. Now that I am a release staff I am out there every day. I am trying to make sure people are registered to vote. I try to keep everyone on the same page and make sure that everyone knows where the candidates stand on our core issues."

Oliver knows that the labor movement, when it works together and focuses on the issues, has the power to decide an election. "The unions built this country. We built the middle class and we know that here in America you are supposed to have a secure job, a house and to be able to take care of your family. This is the American dream. We need to get our members back on track so they can get back to the polls and get America back on track. Once we are together, we can be a force. We did it in 2006. There were more union houses voting than ever before. If we get out there and all work together we can do it again."

Labor Leader of the Week: Barbara Barnes, CLUW

Barbara Barnes is the Pennsylvania State Vice president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), a constituency group of the AFL-CIO that promotes equal pay, the organizing of non-union women and men, job security,  health care, workplace safety, and protection from violence and sexual harassment at work.  Barnes emphasizes that "women's issues are labor issues" and CLUW's focus on workers' rights extends to all workers and their families. 

Barnes grew up with "union talk and lots of politics at the dinner table," and credits her father, Frank Barnes, UMWA, for instilling in her a passion for activism. Reaching out to members and talking about issues that directly effect them is her way of giving back to the union movement that she feels has given so much to her. 

This year CLUW members are working hard to engage union members in the political process.  "We've participated in the May 17th labor walks.  We've distributed leaflets to educate members about John McCain.  We've advertised the McCain Revealed website in our newsletter.  On April 15th when McCain was in Pittsburgh we had a lot of members outside the William Penn Hotel to express our dismay at his desire to tax our health care benefits," says Barnes.

Barnes adds, "It is important for union members to talk to each other because I've had people say to me, 'I really don't care who is in the White House because I'm living from week to week, I'm barely getting enough gas in the car to get to work' and I understand that."  This is why she stresses that one-on-one conversations between members are so important. "We are all in the same boat and there is a connection between the issues and the people in power.  If we are in the same union we are in the same boat.  And we have to let our members know that McCain will sink our boat."

Barnes notes that "our members have suffered because of all the things that have been taken away from us these past eight years" but she remains optimistic about the fall because there has been such a positive response. "There has been more activism this year than ever before.  I know the union members are awake and ready for a change.  They are truly awake."

Barnes joined the Sprinkler Fitters, UA Local 542 in 1979, becoming the first woman to complete their apprenticeship. She was on the finance committee for two terms and was the first female elected officer in UA Local 542, serving three terms as financial secretary.  She is currently a delegate for UA Local 542 for the Allegheny Central Labor Council and became involved with CLUW in 1999.  She was elected State Vice President of CLUW in 2006.

Pittsburgh Union Members Rally Against John McCain's Tax Breaks for Big Oil

On Saturday, June 21st members of AFT, UA, UMWA, and USW rallied in Pittsburgh to tell John McCain and the Bush Administration to stop giving tax breaks to big oil.  Over fifteen people gathered at a corner gas station on East Carson and South Tenth Street and chanted “working families, not big oil” as cars drove by and honked in support.

Bob Muchow of AFT Local 400 said that he had come out because oil prices are not just affecting the way people commute but every aspect of their lives from how they buy food to how they shop for new clothes. 

“I don’t know how people who have families can afford to put gas in their car.  I don’t have kids and for me it is a daily struggle.  The little money I get each year, any raise I might get, is for nothing.  The cost of food and gas takes it away.  Oil prices are affecting everything from the cost of groceries to clothing. Nothing is affordable anymore.  McCain must be held accountable for his tax breaks for big oil while working families struggle just to put food on the table.”

Jim Lewis of UA says he is worried about families struggling to get to work each day. 

“When Bush came into office, gas was $1.47 a gallon and now it is over $4.00 a gallon.  It is changing the way working people live and not for the better.  I have three kids that I have to shuttle around to different activities and people are struggling to get to work every day.”

It is clear that working families are ready for a change.  The overwhelming support the Pittsburgh rally received from passing vehicles goes to show that voters are tired of tax breaks for big oil. Higher gas prices mean less money for basic necessities like food and monthly bills and the Pennsylvania labor movement is out in full force to tell John McCain and the Bush Administration that their priority needs to be working families and not big oil.

Pennsylvania Shows Solidarity with the UAW Casino Workers

Members of the Pennsylvania labor movement are coming out in full force on Saturday, June 21st to join the UAW casino workers in Atlantic City to demand that casino owners stop stalling and negotiate with the workers’ union. “We want a decent contract, or just a contract in general,” says UAW Pennsylvania Community Action Program Director, Tony Forte. “To date, none of the casinos have seen fit to offer anything that our workers deserve.”  The casinos make a huge profit every year and yet employees haven’t seen an increase in wages or health benefits.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George and hundreds of supporters from the Pennsylvania labor movement including members representing AFGE, AFSCME, APRI, BCTGM, CLUW, CWA, IBEW, LCLAA, LIUNA, TWU, UA, UAW, UFCW, USW, and Working America will attend the rally.  Buses are leaving from locations all over the state, including Bensalem, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Plymouth Meeting, and Reading.

Jake Long of BCTGM Local 464 says that as “a public display of strength, the rally sends a message to all workers and the public that the labor movement is alive and well.”  Long believes that the show of support will have larger ramifications than just helping to gain casino workers and the UAW a fair contract.  “I hope that it will help us to get the Employee Free Choice Act passed in 2009.”

Bucks County CLC President Tom Bates, who is hosting a solidarity bus to Atlantic City, emphasized that “it is important for union members to support each other because we need each other.  The movement is bigger than just one union.  It is all working people standing together.”

Other confirmed participants include AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, UAW President Ron Gettlefinger, UAW Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn, UFCW President Joe Hansen, IAFF President Harold Schaitberger, IATSE President Tom Short, IUPAT President Jimmy Williams, and President of Security, Police, Fire Professionals of America David Hickey.

(Photo above: BCTGM Local 464 members get ready to head to Atlantic City for the June 21st Rally in support of the UAW and casino workers fighting for a fair contract. From left to right: Jake Long, Ginny Houser, Peter Wingerter, Chuck Prince, and Robert Huffman)

Meet Your Release Staff: Harry Arnold, CWA Local 13000

As the Labor 2008 release staff from CWA Local 13000, Harry Arnold is the lead for his local union's political action in Eastern Pennsylvania. In that role, Harry communicates with unit chairs, activists, and members and mobilizes them to take part in the Labor 2008 labor walks, phone banks, rallies, and events.  In addition, Harry Arnold maintains the political section of his local's website: http://www.cwalocal13000.org/pages/t2.asp?PID=165

 

As a skilled union organizer, Harry tries to make it as simple as possible for leaders and activists to find information and get involved in Labor 2008. Since the Labor 2008 program is rooted in member-to-member personal contact, he is available to come out and "talk about the Labor 2008 program and why it is so important in person" at any local unit meetings and events.

 

The labor movement's political program is first and foremost about issues, and Harry tells us that the Employee Free Choice Act is especially important to him.  As an organizer, he knows first hand that workers "are not properly protected and while technically they have the right to form a union, more often then not they struggle to do so."  He emphasizes that it is important to elect someone "sympathetic to the labor movement's needs this year" and is excited to be a part of the Labor 2008 program, working to do just that.

 

Originally from Philadelphia, Harry has been with CWA for twenty years and first volunteered to do grassroots organizing for the local in 1996.  He became a full-time organizer in 2001 and helped to successfully organize a number of cable units.  He comes from a union household and has been a union member himself since his first job in high school. 

Labor Leader of the Week: Dennis Bomberger, BCTGM Local 464

Dennis Bomberger is the Business Manager of Hershey Chocolate Workers (BCTGM Local 464). Like unions in the manufacturing industry, the confectionary industry has been hit hard by downsizing, off-shoring, and outsourcing over the last decade. 

 

When he first started working at the Hershey plant in 1967, Bomberger was one of 3,300 employees at a bustling Central Pennsylvania facility. Due to outsourcing to Monterrey, Mexico, by Spring of 2009 the main plant will be down to between 1,000 and 1,100 employees.  Another facility in Reading is closing and taking with it 250 good union jobs.  Bomberger reflects that his is not "the first company that this has happened to and not the last company that this will happen to, either."

 

Bomberger reasons that "the Hershey products that are made in Reading and in Hershey would not be scheduled to go to Mexico" if it were not for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

 

Bomberger believes that the upcoming election is an opportunity to turn the tide of jobs flowing out of the country.  While many union members respect McCain as a war hero, Bomberger explains that people must "vote based on the issues.  [They] have to base it on how the candidate is voting and which policies he is going to support." Because "John McCain is for every free trade agreement that ever existed, we can't have our people not know the issues."

 

He is heartened by the labor movement's political program and expects that this year working families will "have the biggest turnout we've ever seen."  As a result, "at every executive board meeting and every union meeting," he speaks to members about getting involved with labor walks and phone banks. "This is our chance for change and it doesn't come around too often."

 

Bomberger started in the Hershey plant as a worker in 1967.  He was encouraged to run for the position of shop steward in 1970 at the age of twenty-one because he "was already involved in union issues on the shop floor," and has held leadership positions in the union ever since.  He became a full Union Officer at his local in 1986.

Local Union Highlight: ATU Local 568

ATU Local 568 represents transit operations, mechanics and clerks at the Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority. Since the new management has come in 2001, the union has been undergoing heavy anti-union pressure, which peaked last year when Union President Ben Carrik was terminated for actively defending the union rights of his members at the worksite. Pres. Carrik was kept off the property for 355 days, but an arbitration resulted in his is holding information pickets and working to inform the public and local decision makers about the need for a new contract and accountability in the transit authority's management. Thanks to the understanding of many new members, who were victims of company propaganda, there is great solidarity in the ranks. "I'm proud that despite the company's intimidation, our members are sticking together," says Pres. Carrik.