Well, the numbers are in and Michigan continues to lead the nation in unemployment, posting a staggering 15.3 percent unemployment rate in September. And while there was good news this month, the 19,500 jobs created or saved by the federal stimulus, we need to do more to create good paying jobs here at home.
Next week, the U.S. Senate will be taking up the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act in the Environment and Public Works Committee. We need to make sure our Senators are supporting strong clean energy legislation that protects jobs here in Michigan but addresses the global climate change crisis we're facing. A strong bill will create jobs. A report from the Center for American Progress said the House bill passed this summer and other investments already passed would create over 53,000 jobs.
If we're going to get our state, and our country, back on track, we need to get a strong bill from the Senate. Contact Senators Levin and Stabenow to make sure that they will take the steps we need to get Michiganders back to work.
I'm Sue Browne and I am a Regional Manager for the Blue Green Alliance's Labor Climate Project. I travel throughout Wisconsin and Michigan to educate Union members on the importance of developing clean energy in America, both for our jobs and our planet. I'm starting this diary to both raise the awareness of the importance of clean energy in our future and to let the Michigan progressive community know what Blue Green Alliance (BGA) and the Labor Climate Project (LCP) are all about.
First, I'll let you know a bit about myself. I live in Hastings, Michigan. I've been a lifelong activist and have been a United Steelworker for over 20 years. I came out of USW local #5965 where I was very active, serving as a steward, sitting on the bargaining committee and holding many other various positions. I went to work for the International Union as the Rapid Response coordinator for District 2, which led me to my current work with the BGA. Blue Green Alliance is a national, strategic partnership between labor unions and environmental organizations dedicated to expanding the number and quality of jobs in the green economy. It was launched in 2006 by the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club. Our unique labor-environmental collaboration has grown to include the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). We unite eight million people in pursuit of good jobs, a clean environment and a green economy.
I get to meet a lot of people throughout the labor community by visiting local unions to talk about how climate change is impacting us all and how clean energy will help us both economically and environmentally. One common theme is that people are ready for a change in the way we get our energy. The U.S. spends $1 billion a day on foreign oil. We need to fundamentally change that by switching to cleaner energy solutions that are homegrown that will create jobs right here. The U.S. House already passed a strong climate change and clean energy jobs bill, and now the Senate will begin debating their version, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act this year. To achieve the goals of a cleaner environment and a prosperous and fair clean energy economy, we need to be sure they pass legislation that protects workers and ignites our clean energy economy.
It's my hope that this diary can help ensure that progressives across Michigan get involved and let our Senators know that we can't afford to wait to act on America's clean energy future. Too much depends on it: jobs, the environment, and even our national security.
I'll be posting these diaries periodically to let you know how things are going and provide information about clean energy. Thanks for reading!
When it comes to getting around, Americans love to consider the question of “what if…?”
As a result, our cars have evolved into “land yachts”, our trucks have become “monster trucks”, and the desire to drag our living spaces around with us has morphed into converted busses with rooms that pop out of the side, a Mini-Cooper hidden under the master bedroom floor, and self-tracking satellite dishes that fight for space on the roof with air conditioning equipment.
And for more than a few of us, “what if…?” has even extended to “what if my car…was a jet car?”
In today’s improbable reality I’m here to tell you that Chrysler engineers asked that exact same question, for roughly a quarter of a century, and as a result they actually designed and deployed seven generations of cars with jet engines—and they came darn close to putting the eighth-generation design on sale to the general public.
It’s a story of pocket protectors and slide rules and offices full of guys who look a bit like Drew Carey…but as we’ll see in Part Two, it may also be a story of technology that couldn’t be perfected “back then”, but could be reborn in our own times.
This Labor Day, Wake Up Walmart, along with a large coalition of labor, environmental and community groups, are challenging Walmart to live up to their PR promises and join us in supporting the American Values Agenda for Change at Walmart.
To help with the effort, Wake Up Wal-Mart is airing two TV ads in major cities. Check out the first here and the second below the fold:
Monroe is the place to be this Labor Day weekend, and the highlight of the day is the dedication of the new neon sign at the Monroe County Labor History Museum, in downtown Monroe on Saturday, the only labor museum in the state.
The museum in the historic Phillip Murray Building at 41 W. Front St. - named in honor of Philip Murray, the first president of the United Steelworkers of America - is dedicated to Michigan's long and rich history of organized labor. Organized labor brought us the weekend, the 40 hour week, overtime pay, workplace safety standards, health insurance, unemployment insurance, worker's compensation and decent wages.
Lt. Gov. John Cherry will be the keynote speaker at 5 p.m., but before that there will be tours, an cream social and a moonwalk beginning at noon.
The Monroe County Council CIO Social and Welfare Association has been working on the restoration and improvement of the only labor museum in the state since 2001, and in February of 2007 it opened for business. There have been monetary donations - and they certainly can use more, but most of the work was done by the donated labor of union skilled tradesmen. It has been a work in progress, and a labor of love.
Bill Conner, the president of the Monroe County Council CIO Social and Welfare Association and the museum curator, said one of the biggest missions of the museum will be to educate children on the role labor has played in creating the middle class and improving the lot of workers; something that has been taken for granted.
But that's not all of the celebrations going on in in Monroe on Saturday to celebrate the huge contribution of organized labor. A 5-mile Labor Day walk from Sterling State Park to St. Mary's Park will step off at 10 a.m.
The downtown barbecue will begin around noon, and downtown restaurants will set up in tents so festival-goers can enjoy outdoor dining. Music will also start at noon on a stage at E. Front and Washington and go into the night. Also throughout the day, local artists will set up booths to sell their creations and nonprofit agencies will be on hand to tell visitors about their services. There will be face-painting and other activities.
Labor Day is, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. On June 28 1894 Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
Something bad happened in the past 10 years to young workers in Michigan and all across this country: Since 1999, more of them now have lower-paying jobs, if they can get a job at all; health care is a rare luxury and retirement security is something for their parents, not them. In fact, many-younger than 35-still live at home with their parents because they can't afford to be on their own.
These are the findings of a new report, "Young Workers: A Lost Decade." Conducted in July 2009 by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the AFL-CIO and our community affiliate Working America, the nationwide survey of 1,156 people follows up on a similar survey the AFL-CIO conducted in 1999. The deterioration of young workers' economic situation in those 10 years is alarming.
Coming on the heels of the news of a planned $1 billion conversion of the idle Ford Wixom plant into a massive renewable energy park resulting in 4,300 direct jobs, the BlueGreen Alliance and Repower America are holding a rally for clean energy jobs at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday Sept. 2 at the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1299 hall at 11424 West Jefferson in River Rouge.
The rally will be in support of clean energy jobs in America, and more specifically in Michigan. It's fitting that the BlueGreen Alliance is a coalition of the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Sierra Club and other environmental groups formed in the summer of 2007. The strange bedfellows formed the strategic alliance to pursue a joint public policy agenda that includes stopping global warming, clean energy, fair trade and reducing toxins in the environment.
Repower America was launched in 2008 by former Vice-President Al Gore with an ambitious plan n to "repower" our country with 100 clean electricity and revitalize our national energy infrastructure. Repower America stands for the importance of investing in energy efficiency; clean, renewable and diversified energy sources; a unified national smart energy grid that connects these renewable energy sources to every part of the country; and clean car technology.
Repower America has goals very similar to the BlueGreen Alliance, and they include jumpstarting our economy and create millions of jobs; help end our dependence on foreign oil; reward innovation and job creation, not polluters; and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the threat of climate change.
There has been a lot of talk this week about the surprising move by Walmart to publically support President Obama’s health care reform plan, supposedly positioning themselves as a
leader in the fight to bring health care to all Americans. As we mentioned in a post on our blog
yesterday, this might be easier to swallow if Walmart had any history of leading by example. Instead, they usually do just the opposite.
Given
Walmart’s long record of trying to build a positive
reputation on ineffective work-arounds to health care coverage
for employee, the recent revelations about sacrificing quality for cheap perescription drugs, and their deceptive PR campaign that severely overstated their workers’ health
care coverage, it’s not hard to understand our skepticism. [get the details in the extended entry]
One of the most consistent defenses of Walmart is that it has succeeded because it simply delivered what customers wanted and that if you don't like it, just don't shop there. But Firedoglake has a great piece up this week that explains how even the non-Walmart shoppers are not only affected by Walmart, but are actually paying in many ways to subsidize it:
With the troubled state of the U.S. auto industry and more than 1000 members on the out-of- work list for several years, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Detroit Local 58 Business manager Joe Abdoo challenged his staff to get "proactive and creative" and build some grassroots activism to reclaim lost market share. They heeded the call.
(During this economy it's tough to resist the low prices, but this is food for thought. - promoted by DianeS)
If you are, I'm sure the Chinese will be psyched.
Wake Up Walmart, who I'm working with, has a great new video up highlighting the perils of supporting the Bentonville behemoth.
In their quest to cut costs, Walmort outsources more and more jobs overseas. It's come to the point where 70% of Walmart products are now made in communist China. "In the race to the bottom, Walmart gets ahead and the middle class falls behind," the ad warns.
Walmart's hometown newspaper, the Northwest Arkansas Morning News, has an interesting article up today about Walmart executives meeting with 200 of their cronies at a conference and outlining their plans for 2009. It could be a watershed year for progressives, but the Bentonville behemoth has some plans of its own and they ain't pretty.
So I thought I'd go through each one of Walmart's plans and translate some of their PR spin – or wipe the lipstick off the pig, if you will. All stats and figures are compliments of WakeUpWalmart.com, with whom I do some work.
Many of us who live in our near Lansing have been tuned in to the controversial proposed deal to give developer Pat Gillespie millions of dollars in tax abatements to tear down the historic Lansing City Market along the Grand River and replace it with high-end condos and a newer, smaller City Market.
This issue has raised quite a bit of a stir, as the deal is opposed by many labor groups and historic preservationists. The giveaway is supported by the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce and developers.
In many ways, the City Market deal represents a larger issue, both in Michigan and throughout the nation. Should cities and the state give away huge chunks of money to private developers and firms with very few strings attached, particularly when it comes to labor issues? Shouldn't tax abatements have more strings attached to ensure economic investments stay within the community?
I wrote a column in today's (Lansing) City Pulse addressing the City Market issue, which is scheduled to be voted on by the Lansing City Council on Monday.
(Cross-posted from the AFL-CIO
Now Blog. The ad will air on markets in Michigan and other states.)
Today the AFL-CIO launched the Union Veterans Council, bringing together veterans and members of military families to hold our leaders accountable on the issues that matter most.
The launch of the Union Veterans Council will help mobilize the more than 2.1 million union members who
are veterans to get involved in the 2008 elections and fight for the health and education benefits they deserve. These veterans will speak out to advocate policies like a fully funded Veterans Affairs (VA) and the recently passed 21st Century GI Bill.
(The "Meet Barack Obama" site is pretty cool. - promoted by rich)
Cross-posted from the AFL-CIO Now Blog. Michigan will be a key state this fall, and Michigan's unions will make the difference.
The AFL-CIO today endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president.
The AFL-CIO General Board, which voted to endorse Obama, includes presidents of all 56 unions in the AFL-CIO, as well as Executive Council members and representatives of state and local federations, trade departments and constituency groups. The General Board votes by per capita membership. In conjunction with the endorsement, the AFL-CIO launched a new website: Meet Barack Obama.
DETROIT --About 3,600 workers at American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. will find out soon whether a new contract was worth 80 days without a company paycheck.
Bargainers for the United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement with the company on Friday that could end a bitter strike against the auto parts maker that crippled dozens of General Motors Corp. factories in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Every weeknight on Ebling and You, Jack Ebling touches on any and all issues related to Mid-Michigan. Thursday was no exception. Note: Just click on "talked" below to hear each audio segment.
Jack talked with the UAW's Local 602 President, Doug Rademacher, about the latest agreement between the United Auto Workers and General Motors at Lansing's Delta Township facility.
Jack talked health care with Karen Surdenik and Louis Jones-Keren from Ingham Regional Medical Center about the latest news from Healthwise University.
Jack talked with Jessica Yorko, from the Mid-Michigan Environmental Action Council, about the effect of gas prices on local commuters and the upcoming Smart Commute Festival.
Jack talked with Michigan Attorney General spokesperson Rusty Hills, about their project to fight scams against Michigan seniors.
Finally, Jack talked to MSU football legend, John Shinsky, about the 24th Annual Father Mac Dinner to raise money for Shinsky's Mexican Orphnage and Lansing Catholic High School.
Read more about Shinsky, his orphanage and his life story by clicking HERE.
Jack talked Friday afternoon, with T.C. Wallace Jr., superintendent of the Lansing School District, for his first live radio interview after Friday's mass layoffs.
(This diary was inspired partly in response to sentiments expressed in the comments at this diary at DailyKos. The diary's author expresses frustration that the American Axle strike has been ignored by the mainstream media, the blogosphere, and the presidential candidates. In MichLib's defense, several American Axle stories have been posted in Coffee Talk, and the lack of front-and-center attention is in no way a reflection of us ignoring the strike. There has been so much going on in Michigan of late that we have not given the American Axle strike the coverage it has warranted, and this diary is an attempt to rectify that. Also, in fairness to the Detroit Free Press, their coverage of the strike has been fairly extensive, and they deserve credit for that.)
I have to confess that between the Kilpatrick saga, the renewable portfolio standards fight, the McManus clan's antics, the MPI Research announcement, Bishop's ongoing shenanigans, the National Day of Silence, the crumbling economy, the primary fight, and so much more, the American Axle strike has fallen off my radar screen, until now.
Headquartered in Detroit, American Axle was founded in 1994 when investors purchased the Final Drive and Forge business from GM's Flint operations. The company now manufactures drivetrain components at several facilities across the country, including eight facilities in Detroit, a forge operation in Oxford, a driveline facility in Three Rivers, and a technical center in Rochester Hills. Seventy-six percent of American Axle's business comes from General Motors.
This year when the UAW's American Axle contract came up for renegotiation, American Axle Holdings, Inc. saw it as an opportunity to reduce labor costs under pressure from GM. Unable to reach an agreement, 3600 American Axle workers walked off the job on February 26.
