With more than 700 people dying of
hypothermia yearly, the IAM Safety Department wants you to know
how dangerous it is to work
in cold environments.
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www.tradealert.org
is a new website run by the USBIC Educational Foundation, dedicated to
protecting American interests against the damaging effects of
international trade.
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Goiam.org was featured as the "Cool Site of the Day."
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Donald
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GVP Western
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Lee
Pearson
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Dave
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Alex
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Robert
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Warren
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GVP Transportation
Robert
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Tuesday, February
26, 2002
Lockheed
Negotiations Stall on Job Security, Pensions
There is little progress to report on key issues in
IAM contract talks for 6,000 IAM members at aerospace giant Lockheed
Martin, according to John Crowdis, IAM Aerospace coordinator. “Job
security and pensions are two of our members’ main issues. Good pay
and benefits mean nothing if you are laid off or your job is shipped
overseas.
“Lockheed
is a successful and highly profitable company,” said Crowdis. “They
just won the Joint Strike Fighter contract, the biggest in history. They
can afford to share those profits with the workers who spent years
making Lockheed what it is today.” Crowdis added that Lockheed is
proposing to dramatically increase insurance premiums for employees.
“Some of our members are paying Lockheed every month, instead
of getting a pension check,” said Crowdis. “The cost of their
insurance is greater than the pension they receive from Lockheed.”
Negotiations will continue in Florida to replace the current
contract between Lockheed Martin and the Machinists Union, which expires
at midnight, March 1, 2002.
Enron Paid DeLay Staff For Secret Deregulation Push
Enron Corp. paid key members of
House Majority Whip Tom DeLay’s political and fundraising team
$750,000 “to secretly conduct an aggressive grassroots campaign
pushing energy deregulation” the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call
reported Monday.
DeLay’s “inner circle”
created “a coalition financially dominated by Enron, Americans for
Affordable Electricity” to launch “a national grassroots campaign
operated solely at the direction and benefit of Enron,” according to Roll
Call.
The campaign aimed to deregulate
the $300 billion a-year electricity market in all 50 states by targeting
key Congressional races and by intensive lobbying directed at Congress
as well as state regulatory commissions and legislatures.
One tactic used by Enron’s phony
“coalition” consisted of “drafting editorials and then approaching
local school board members to submit them to newspapers under their own
names” to create the appearance of public support for deregulating
energy markets, Roll Call reported.
The key operatives hired by Enron
were DeLay’s former chief of staff Ed Buckham; Karl Gallant,
consultant to DeLay’s political action committee and Ed Hoy, a partner
to a another political consulting firm employed by DeLay, according to Roll
Call.
“DeLay personally recommended to
Enron officials that they hire the team of strategists who make up the
inner circle of his political and fundraising machine,” Roll Call
wrote. DeLay also personally sponsored legislation to deregulate
electricity markets nationwide and organized a 1998 pro-deregulation
“Power Summit” featuring Enron CEO Jeffery Skilling in Houston, the
story continued.
IAM
& NWA Fight Passenger Rage
The IAM and Northwest Airlines announced plans today for a program to
fight passenger rage and increase workplace safety for airport
employees. Both the union and the company agreed the problems must be
tackled on two levels. “The first is legislation,” said GVP Robert
Roach, Jr. “Interfering with the duties of a customer service agent
must be made a federal offense, as it is with in-flight crews.”
The second step in the program calls for revised employee training,
including an incident reporting system, swift prosecution of offenders
and support from airport authorities. The program’s goal is to
inaugurate the program at a single U.S. airport and expand the program
to create an effective zero tolerance policy to combat disruptive
passenger behavior.
“We are pleased that Northwest Airlines is the first airline
to step up to the plate regarding this issue,” said Roach.
“A concerted effort among the airlines, airport regulators,
airport security and the union will be the focus of the program the IAM
is developing.”
Senior
Issues Take Center Stage
The spotlight now shifts towards
Social Security and other senior issues as the 2002 election cycle heats
up. The spreading scandal from the Enron collapse and its bankrupt
pension program has pushed retirement security to center stage.
The Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) issued its first Congressional
Voting Record evaluating members of the House and Senate on 10 key
issues, including a Medicare prescription drug benefit, Social Security
privatization schemes, patient’s bill of rights and other issues of
major importance to senior citizens and disabled Americans.
“The Alliance is committed to
working with Congress to pass legislation that improves the quality of
life for older Americans,” said George Kourpias, ARA president. “We
encourage seniors across the nation to join the Alliance and take a hard
look at who in Congress has been supporting our generation—a
generation that has sacrificed so much for this country.”
The Alliance is comprised of more than 2 million union retirees and
other retired Americans working together to make their voices heard in
the political arena. For more information, check out the Alliance
website at www.retiredamericans.org
Full
Slate of Airline Contract Talks on Tap
United Airlines Ramp and Customer Service members of District
141 look to contract talks in Chicago this week.
“We are prepared to push as
hard as necessary to get the contracts our members deserve,” said
Randy Canale, District 141 president and lead negotiator for the IAM’s
largest group at United. “We are unwilling to discuss United’s
rumored recovery plans until our members’ recovery is complete.”
District 143 is gearing up for negotiations with two major
airlines this year, Northwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines. The
Clerical, Office and Passenger Service agreement at Alaska becomes
amendable on October 29, 2002 and all IAM-Northwest agreements are
amendable on February 25, 2003.
Separately at United, 13,000 mechanic and related members of District
141-M are preparing to vote on a 5-year tentative accord reached after
members rejected a settlement that included recommendations of a
Presidential Emergency Board.
Steelworkers
Set White House Rally
A White House rally set for
Feb. 28
demanding a strong and vibrant steel industry will draw thousands of
Steelworkers and their supporters from across the nation urging
President Bush to adopt a 40 percent tariff on imported steel.
More than 250 buses have been chartered in steelmaking communities from
Minnesota to Alabama, other supporters are expected to drive to the
nation’s capital for the “Countdown to Justice” rally and march,
sponsored by Stand Up for Steel, a coalition of leading steel companies
and United Steelworkers of America. The rally takes place 12 days before
President Bush is expected to decide whether to adopt the stronger
tariff, seen as the key to leveling the playing field for the U.S. steel
industry and slow the dumping of steel products produced in low-wage
countries around the globe.
Poll:
Increase Minimum Wage Now
In a new poll of likely voters,
Americans overwhelmingly see a minimum wage hike as key to boosting the
economy, while calling for a much stronger government role in ending
poverty and creating jobs. A stunning 77 percent of the likely voters
favor an increase from the current $5.15 an hour to $8. Contrary to
conventional wisdom, every demographic group favored an increase in the
minimum wage.
Americans clearly understand the federal poverty line is set
unrealistically low. Half of the voters believe a family of four needs
an income of at least $45,000 a year to make ends meet, 26 percent said
that income should be $25,000. The U.S. Census Bureau sets the poverty
line for a family of four at a meager $18,000.
The poll, conducted for the Ms Foundation for Women, found “the
economy and jobs” is the biggest concern for voters, followed by
education and retirement/Social Security.
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