Feb
2011 10
2011 10
MILES OF SMILES: The Untold Story of the Pullman Porters, the First Black Trade Union
Miles of Smiles describes the harsh discrimination which lay behind the porters’ smiling service. Narrator Rosina Tucker, a 100 year old union organizer and porter’s widow, describes how after a 12 year struggle led by A. Philip Randolph, the porters won the first contract ever negotiated with black workers. Miles of Smiles both...
Feb
2011 10
2011 10
“The Packers are a team without an owner. They’re a community-run nonprofit owned by 112,000 fans.”
The team from Green Bay stands as a living breathing example that if you take the profit motive out of sports, you can get more than a team to be proud of: you get a Super Bowl Champion. It aint Tahrir Square, but it’s something, in our over-corporatized, hyper-commercialized sports world, to cheer. Decorated sports ...
Feb
2011 9
2011 9
Missouri Gains Union Membership
So much for those Saint Louis Blues… “The percentage of working Missourians in unions rose to 9.9 percent in 2010 compared with 9.4 percent in 2009,” STLtoday.com reported this weekend. The clear national trend of declining union membership has been bucked in the “Show-Me” State, with local government employment,...
Feb
2011 9
2011 9
The Infrastructure Pin Drops
Yesterday, the office of Vice President Joe Biden announced an $8 billion plan to jump start a national high-speed rail initiative. From WhiteHouse.gov: As the first step in this comprehensive, six-year plan, the President’s Budget for the coming fiscal year would invest $8 billion in expanding Americans’ access to high-speed passenger...
Feb
2011 7
2011 7
NEBRASKA: The Latest Battleground State for Workers’ Rights
New Nebraska Network informs us that today, Monday, February 7th, nine bills that will set the terms of debate for the 2011 session will go to committee hearing in the legislature. According to the Lincoln Star-Journal, some of these bills could “outright slaughter” union negotiating rights. NNN writes that “the main target of...
Feb
2011 4
2011 4
Union-Made Super Bowl Party Shopping
Support the brothers and sisters of all unions. Shop for Union-made products tomorrow to show your super support on Sunday. A list of Union-made products, courtesy of the Union Label & Service Trades Department, is below. They appear in no particular order which you may have deciphered for yourself based on Jim Beam being near ...
Feb
2011 4
2011 4
IBEW Local 569 Completes “Zero-Loss” Implementation of Solar System at Military Base
Yesterday, the U.S. Marine Corps unveiled their new 1.48 megawatt, $9.4 million photovoltaic system at Camp Pendleton. The Box Canyon solar energy system, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, stretches over six acres where an inactive landfill used to sit. It is capable of providing electricity to more than 400 homes on the ...
Feb
2011 4
2011 4
Job-Creating ‘Better Buildings Initiative’ Would Be a Boon to Sheet Metal Workers, Construction Industry
During a recent speech at Penn State University, President Obama advocated a complete overhaul of existing tax and other incentives for commercial building retrofits and proposed a new competitive grant program. He called on Congress to redesign the current tax deduction for commercial building upgrades, in order to transform the current deduction...
Feb
2011 3
2011 3
Policies That Incentivize Manufacturing in the U.S. Are the Only Way Upward. Job Growth Projections Are Meaningless.
We Party Patriots is making a habit of attacking statistics which aim to revitalize the public’s faith in the economy through projections that are based on survery and polls. These practices, which I like to call deflectionism, only serve to dilute the real conversation about actual progress which must begin with written laws and policies ...
Feb
2011 2
2011 2
VIDEO: “If you’re not a praying person, when this news came out, I’m sure a lot of people became a praying person, because all you can do is pray.”
Northrop Grumman has announced they will be shutting down Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, the largest private employer in Louisiana. Closure of Avondale will result in the loss of 4,500 direct jobs and as many as 12,500 additional jobs, devastating a community thrice scorned by Katrina, the BP oil spill and the ongoing recession. Workers, ...
Feb
2011 1
2011 1
Minnesota’s Governor Introduces $1 Billion Jobs Bill, Gets Budget Blowback from Conservatives
The first reason to invest in Minnesota’s capital infrastructure is because existing infrastructure is wearing out. It needs replacing. The second reason is to take advantage of extremely low borrowing rates and construction costs. We’ll never get public projects built as cheaply in our lifetimes as we can build them right now. Lastly,...
Feb
2011 1
2011 1
NEBRASKA: Be at the Capitol Today, Show Your Support for the 13K Jobs Keystone XL Would Create
LIUNA Local Union 1140 will be holding a press conference tomorrow morning at 9AM at the Holiday Inn in downtown Lincoln, NE (map below). Local union members from all trades are asked to join Local 1140 at the press conference or at the Capitol where they will rally to tell lawmakers to support the job-creating ...
