IT MAY SEEM THAT MANY ITEMS ON THIS SITE HAVE NOT CHANGED FOR A LONG TIME! YOU WOULD NOT BE INCORRECT IN THAT PERCEPTION. THE SIMPLE TRUTH IS THAT MANY OF THE ISSUES WE ARE CURRENTLY DEALING WITH ARE NOT NEW, BUT HAVE PERSISTED FOR MANY YEARS AND ARE LEADING TO EVEN MORE ISSUES, SUCH AS THE UNRELENTING UNEMPLOYMENT THAT SO MANY ARE SUFFERING FROM. IT WILL BE A HAPPY DAY WHEN WE CAN BEGIN ERASING THESE PROBLEMS OFF THIS SITE AND OUT OF OUR LIVES, BUT I WOULD NOT HOLD MY BREATH. THE ATMOSPHERE IN WASHINGTON AND IN THE STATES APPEARS ONLY TO GET MORE ANTAGONISTIC, WITH NO SOLUTIONS IN SIGHT. THE CURRENT COVERT POLITICAL ATTACK BY THE GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN IS THE MOST RECENT AND SERIOUS ATTACK AGAINST UNIONS. THE ATTEMPT TO ELIMINATE THE BARGAINING RIGHTS OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES HAS ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING ON A BUDGET WHICH WAS IN SURPLUS UNTIL OVER A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS WAS GIVEN AWAY AS CORPORATE WELFARE. BUSTING THE UNION IS THE SINGLE GOAL OF THIS ATTACK, NOT BALANCING A BUDGET. MASKING THE TRUE PURPOSE OF THIS ATTACK AND DENYING TIME FOR DEBATE AND DISCUSSION MAKE THIS A TRULY VICIOUS ACT. THE PUBLIC WORKERS IN WISCONSIN AND IN ALL THE STATES DESERVE BETTER. WHEN LEGISLATORS CAN SIT AND DECIDE WHAT THEIR OWN WAGES AND BENEFITS WILL BE, THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO DENY OTHERS THE RIGHT TO BARGAIN FOR THEIRS. THIS IS A REPEAT OF THE FEDERAL FIGHT AGAINST A PUBLIC OPTION. WHILE LEGISLATORS RECEIVE THE BEST HEATH CARE IN THE COUNTRY THROUGH A PUBLIC PLAN, THEY DENIED THEIR CONSTITUENTS, FOR WHOM THEY PRESUMABLY WORK, THE SAME BENEFITS UNDER A PUBLIC OPTION. SO THE ATTACKS CONTINUE AGAINST THE MIDDLE AND LOWER CLASSES WITH NO END IN SIGHT. THIS IS WHAT GIVES THE TERM 'CLASS WARFARE' MEANING. SUPPORT YOUR FELLOW UNION WORKERS IN ANY WAY THAT YOU CAN. THERE IS A NEW NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION, progressivesunited.org, WHO'S MISSION IS TO OVERTURN THE UNETHICAL SUPREME COURT DECISION GIVING CORPORATIONS THE RIGHTS OF PRIVATE CITIZENS, ALLOWING THEM TO SPEND HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY TO INFLUENCE ELECTIONS, FAR MORE THAN THEY COULD IN THE PAST AND FAR MORE THAN ANY OTHER ORGANIZATION IN THE COUNTRY. THERE IS PROBABLY NO BETTER MOVEMENT TO SUPPORT RIGHT NOW. CHECK OUT THEIR SITE! KEEP ALERT AND GOOD LUCK!
THE LITITZ FACILITY
There has been an ongoing need for better communications among the members of the local. While the newsletter was somewhat effective, it was reported that salaried employees were taking it upon themselves to censor the union by trashing copies of the newsletter prior to members being able to obtain copies for themselves. The union considers such behavior reprehensible and hopefully these and similar actions will not be repeated. Meanwhile, this should be an effective method of circumventing the censorship and getting the truth to the membership.
Having recently been purchased by J&J, It seems that management and supervisory personnel are making special, even extraordinary efforts to prove their worth at the expense of the working conditions, especially safety, of the hourly employees. Short staffing of the production lines continues to be an issue as it relates to employee safety and it indicates to us that, even as a new safety program is initiated by the company, it speaks only to the employees responsibilities. We maintain that the company should also bear responsibility for safety through the provision of a safe work environment, not simply expecting employees to adapt to a less than safe environment. Actions speak louder than words!
It will take some time to build this site into a great tool for communication, but I have no doubt it can be done. So have a little patience, and keep checking back as the site continues to grow and change. Hopefully it will be an interesting and educational experience for both the membership and the site builder.
DON'T FORGET TO ADD THIS SITE TO YOUR FAVORITES LIST!
ATTENTION!
If you do not use this site for anything else, it is imperative that you you go to the links page and use the National Labor Committee link to read about the work that Charles Kernaghan is doing to expose the sweatshops that continue to exist in foreign countries; sweatshops that continue to use child labor paid at as little as 6.5 cents/hr.; where children as young as 11yrs. old are physically abused for mistakes and forced to work 12 to 14 hour shifts, often 7 days a week, and even mandatory all night 19-20 hour shifts to meet deadlines; where the workers are cheated of half or more of their overtime pay by forged timekeeping methods; where oversight by the U.S. companies who contract with these sweatshops is a complete failure because they only choose to see what they want to see. The reason it is so important to know this information is because it is with these contractors and these ill-treated employees that U.S. companies tell us we have to compete. It is an impossible competition and it is all the result of corporations pushing for free trade without the proper and necessary labor and environmental controls. Welcome to the global economy and the vanishing American middle working class!
Corporate greed, designed to feed the stock market, has become all too common in recent years. A huge percentage of the good wage, union, middle class supportive jobs have been eliminated in the name of efficiency (aka 'GREED'). U. S. companies have abandoned the workforce that made them successful and are giving the jobs to foreigners for a fraction of the wages and turning around and telling us we have to compete with these foreigners. Americans can not live in America on third world wages. On top of giving away jobs, corporate america no longer wants to provide the health benefits and pensions which help sustain our families in hard times and in retirement. Corporate america no longer has any sense of responsibility for their contribution towards the physical, mental or social health of the country that supports their existance. Their only concern is the CEO's salary and the stock holder's profit. Sure, they do their public service PR claiming to care, but if they really cared, they would provide jobs here in the U.S. and take care of their employees, which would probably result in a great deal less of a need for the bogus PR.
Here are some income gain/loss statistics from the Economic Policy Institute arranged by income percentile. If this can not arouse your interest, nothing will!
- For all workers up to the 90th percentile - Wages declined 0.6%
- For workers in the 90th-95th percentile - Wages increased 2.2%
- For workers in the 95th-99th percentile - Wages increased 4.4%
- For workers in the 99th-99.5 percentile - Wages increased 7.6%
- For the top 0.5% - Wages increased 16%
Our country has been divided at every level: economically, politically, socially and intellectually since the conservative politics of Reagan and his institution of 'voo doo', 'free market economics' and the blatant attack against unions. Such rapid and extreme division has historically never had a peaceful resolution. . We can only hope that change will not arrive too late. The 2010 elections have only exacerbated the situation. The profound and disasterous calamity that has befallen our financial markets, caused by the greed and deregulation of wall street, is now threatening the business sector and taking jobs by the millions. Our future depends on a huge change of course, and soon! So become a union activist, keep alert to bills and activities which affect the workplace and vote for pro-labor candidates. The Employee Free Choice Act is a particularly important piece of legislation which needs the attention of each and every one of us. Please contact your congressmen and senators and let them know it is important. Your future success or failure, and if not yours, the success of your children and grand children, will depend on it!
Labor Day
Labor Day, legal holiday honoring workers, celebrated in the
United States and Canada on the first Monday in September. The
observance includes parades and speeches reviewing labor’s contributions
to society. In most of Europe the first of May—May Day—is set aside as a day to honor
workers.
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Origins of Labor Day in the United States |
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Peter J. McGuire, a
carpenter and union leader, generally receives credit for suggesting a
holiday to honor workers in 1882. McGuire chose the September date to
give workers a holiday midway through the long stretch between Independence Day (July 4) and Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in
November). The first Labor Day observance was held in New York City on
September 5, 1882. Thousands of workers marched in a parade from City
Hall to Union Square. Afterward, they gathered in a park with their
families for a picnic and speeches.
In 1887
Oregon became the first state to make Labor Day a legal holiday. Other
states soon followed. Early Labor Day parades were demonstrations in
support of an eight-hour workday. During the 1800s most laborers worked
long hours at low pay.
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Labor Day Becomes a Federal Holiday In 1894 the United States Congress passed
legislation that made Labor Day a federal holiday, and President Grover Cleveland signed the bill into law.
That year, railway workers in Pullman, Illinois, had gone on strike to protest wage cuts. Cleveland sent
in federal troops to end the strike. Strikers were killed, and their
leaders were jailed. Congress and the president hoped to pacify labor
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For some time Labor Day remained a time not only
to commemorate labor’s contributions but also to draw public attention
to the plight of workers and the struggle of labor unions to improve working conditions.
Parades in which workers march with their local union and at which labor
leaders give speeches are still a major feature of Labor Day in many
U.S. towns and cities. One of the largest Labor Day parades in the
United States takes place in New York City.
May 26, 2008
Remembering the Memorial Day Massacre
Industrial workers faced long hours, low wages, and unsafe conditions in 1936 as the Steelworkers Organizing Committee reached out to Chicago's steelworkers. After a year of organizing, U.S. Steel agreed to recognize the union in 1937, but other, smaller steelmakers refused, and on May 26, the workers struck. On May 30, the union held a picnic in front of Republic Steel, at 117th and Avenue O, to support the strike. After a round of speeches, the strikers marched toward the steel mill. As they crossed the field, they were met by a line of Chicago policemen. When the day was over, 10 strikers were dead, and dozens more had been beaten by the police.
Known as the
Memorial Day Massacre, the event became part of the history of the modern American labor movement, and is honored each year at the Steelworkers Local 1033 union hall, across the street from killings. This year, the monument to the event was rededicated in a ceremony attended by 10th Ward Ald. John Pope, Steelworker's International Union President Leo Gerard, and Ed Blazak, the Republic Steel worker who designed and created the monument. "So many people here in the community worked so hard on this sculpture," Pope said. "And it's so important that we honor the men and women that made this community what it is."
A great page of newsreel photos can be seen here and here
Image by cityofprogress
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