Calling all Union bloggers! I need your help

Do you want to blog, but don’t have to time to run one all by yourself? Well’s, here is your chance. Leave a comment below, and I will email you an invitation. You will be allowed to register and blog from here the latest news and opinions of the workering man. The will, at first, be moderated until it is assured that the blogger is pro-union, but after that, no censure will take place. Let’s build this thing together.

UMWA Praises Boucher Efforts to Protect Coal Miners’ Jobs and the Coal Industry

The UMWA released this today – Not just fighting for the rights of workers, but for the jobs of workers!

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts today made the following statement regarding the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 and the efforts of Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) to protect coal miners and the coal industry, and address the concerns of the UMWA:”Coal is America’s most abundant energy resource. We have more coal than any nation on earth. As the debate over climate change has evolved over the past two decades, we have not only insisted on the preservation of coal mining jobs, but argued as well for the essential part that coal plays in sustaining our national economy and ensuring our independence from foreign oil.

“While we still have concerns about this legislation, it contains many items that Rep. Boucher and others worked hard to attain and which we support, including over $100 billion to advance and deploy carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

“The bill also includes our recommendation for allowances to be given to utilities to permit the continued burning of coal, which should ensure that coal’s market share will remain constant throughout the period required to develop and deploy CCS technology. With 2 billion in allowances for offsets per year, coal should remain a major part of the nation’s power generating mix. In addition, these allowances will protect consumers from large increases in their power bills.

“Although utilities are obviously the largest customer for coal, the steel industry ranks second. This bill allows steel to remain a major part of the economy, as well as the metallurgical coal mines that supply the nation’s furnaces.

“Rep. Boucher and others in Congress have fought hard to protect the interests of coal miners and all working families. We look forward to working closely with him as the legislation moves through the legislative process.”

Remembering the Pittson Strike

Go here: UMWJrlMarApr09FIN.pdf application/pdf Object.

UMWA Praises Obama’s MSHA Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MAY 7, 2009

UMWA Praises Obama’s MSHA Budget

United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

“We applaud President Obama’s budget for the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), especially with regard to the proposed $2.2 million increase in funding for coal mine safety and health. This proposal represents a good step in the right direction toward restoring MSHA’s oversight capabilities.

“Yet while we appreciate the President’s commitment to improving coal miners’ safety and health, we know that there is much more that must be done to change the culture of the agency away from one that coddles rogue operators to one that puts the welfare of coal miners first. We urge the appointment of an Undersecretary of Labor who shares that objective, and we look forward to working closely with the administration to ensure that it is achieved.”

Employee Free Choice Act – Voices

David Letterman: “How’d Dick Cheney Do?”

Cecil Roberts: As nation rethinks coal policies, let’s remember how we got where we are today

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Seems like everywhere you turn these days, somebody’s talking about coal: Where it’s mined, how it’s mined, even whether it should be mined at all.

It’s an important discussion, because the direction our nation takes regarding coal and the future of coal will affect tens of millions of Americans – not just coal miners and their communities, but nearly every American who flips a light switch or turns on a computer, television or air conditioner.

As we develop these policies, it’s important to keep some facts in mind about coal, the UMWA and how we got to where we are today.

Fact No. 1: We would be discussing the future of coal no matter who was elected president of the United States.

Everyone remembers that there was an election last November. And no matter how you look at it, one candidate won (by a lot) and another lost. Even so, many people in the coalfields are saying that the increased attention on coal and especially the rising pressures on the surface mining method known as mountaintop removal (MTR) are occurring only because Barack Obama won that election.

What a crock. I would remind everyone that it was John McCain, not Barack Obama, who said he supported ending MTR during a campaign event in Florida last fall.

I submit that had McCain won the election and done what he said he would do, we would not be talking about whether or not the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should be issuing letters questioning MTR permits. He would have shut those mines down already.

What is happening instead is a review of MTR in its entirety to see what rules and regulations apply and how they should be applied. The EPA and Department of the Interior have taken steps to move oversight of MTR mining back to the situation that existed for decades in the coalfields.

We believe that, as part of that review, the administration must have a clear understanding of what the full effects of surface mining are on coalfield communities – both the environmental and the economic effects.

That is why I have met with Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality and EPA administrator Lisa Jackson in the last few weeks to express our concerns regarding the direction that future MTR policy may take, and to ask for a clearly stated policy that will allow everyone to understand what the rules are as we move forward. I believe the Obama administration is working to do that, though no one can say at this point what that policy will be or whether we will agree with it once they announce it.

I would also remind everyone that Sen. McCain has twice proposed climate change legislation in Congress, including the very kind of “cap-and-trade” mechanisms that are currently being discussed in Washington, which would have severely restricted the future use of coal, especially Appalachian coal.

Indeed, Sen. McCain said in 2000, “In a perfect world, we would like to transition away from coal entirely.” There is no evidence that Sen. McCain has changed his position on this issue. And his is not the only voice on the Republican side of the aisle calling for action on climate change issues and a reduction in the use of coal.

So to say that one political party or another is more favorable to coal and the future of coal is just hogwash. Worse, re-fighting last year’s election is beside the point and does nothing to save a single coal job.

Let’s not forget that we are in the worst recession in decades. Miners are suffering layoffs because the market for metallurgical coal to make steel has dried up and the market for steam coal has stagnated. This situation will eventually reverse itself – hopefully sooner rather than later, for all our sakes.

Fact #2: Action in Washington dealing with climate change was going to happen no matter what the outcome of the 2008 elections were.

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court (a majority of whom were appointed by Republicans) said that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases.

What that means is that one of two things is going to happen: Either the EPA will indeed issue regulations as the Supreme Court says they can, or Congress will pass legislation dealing with climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. For miners, their families and their communities, it is imperative for Congress to act, because only Congress can write laws that will include the kind of help our industry needs to survive and prosper for decades into the future.

So for the UMWA, our members and their families – indeed, for all coal miners and our communities – the issue isn’t whether something is going to be done. The issue is, instead, what is going to be done and what we can do to influence the outcome of whatever legislation is finally passed.

That is why the UMWA has chosen to become involved in the process in Congress over this pending legislation. We believe that for us to do nothing will provide exactly that for our members and their families: nothing.

Because we are involved, members of Congress are listening to the concerns of coal miners, our families and our communities. Indeed, because many from the coalfields have decided to sit on the sidelines and engage in rhetorical attacks and political grandstanding on this issue, ours is one of the few pro-coal voices anyone of consequence in Washington is listening to.

We are being heard when it comes to including language in the legislation to fund the development of technology that would allow us to use coal in a carbon-neutral way for decades to come. We are being heard when it comes to how climate change legislation might look and how to make sure whatever carbon caps may come in the future are realistic ones that don’t destroy the jobs and economies of coal states and communities.

We do not yet know what the climate change legislation Congress eventually passes will actually say, meaning we do not yet know if it will be legislation we can support. But I can promise this: Whatever happens, we will continue to fight on behalf of our members and their jobs.

There is no question that the current situation presents us with a difficult path to navigate. But navigate it we must, for I am determined that the UMWA will remain true to our core mission: To do our best to preserve, defend and expand the jobs of our members and improve their economic well-being.

That is what unions are supposed to do, and that is what the UMWA has always done.

Roberts is international president of the United Mine Workers of America.

Does Wal-Mart really care? Big Blue takes on Big Coal

[youtubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNb_JHvOK5k&feature=player_embedded]

That’s right, the world’s biggest and baddest employer now wants to protect the enviroment. Sure, they deny dignity to millions of workers, destroy small town commerce, and fight for Republicans, but they really care about CO2 emissions. Do you believe that?

Cecil Roberts (UMWA) President on the Ludlow Massacre

President Roberts has become the finest UMWA president since John L., and like John L. and fine wine, he is only getting better with age!

Possible Interrogation Probe Dashes Hopes for Bipartisanship Under Obama

The blowhards, unpatriotic fascists at FoxNews are reporting that the ‘Era of Bipartisanship died.’ Really? When did it start?

Mark your calendar: April 21, 2009. That’s when the Era of Bipartisanship died.

That’s what some Republicans suggested after President Obama opened the possibility of a congressional investigation and prosecution of Justice Department lawyers who authorized “enhanced” interrogation techniques on terror suspects during the Bush administration.

If the coffin needs a final nail, it will come if Democrats decide to fast-track Obama’s legislative priorities through a budget maneuver known as “reconciliation.”

Republicans and some Democrats oppose the tactic because it would prevent a long debate on what they consider complex issues.

Fighting for Living Wages

Nobody in America who works full time should live in poverty. However, the fact is as of April 2007 over 37 million people, more than the population of the State of California, do. According to recent US Census figures, 5 million more people are poor today that were not in 2000. Nearly 8 million live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty where at least 40% of the residents are poor.

Perhaps the most telling statistic is that over 25% of all full time workers do not make enough to keep a family of four above the poverty threshold. The Federal Minimum Wage is an idea whose time has come and gone. The time has come to replace the Federal Minimum Wage with locally derived living wage standards.

Thinking globally, a salary of $40,000/year or more puts one in the top 1% of wage earners in the world. Here in the US, however, that income will put you nearly $10,000 below the US median income. The root question is why are more people falling into poverty in the wealthiest country in the world? One of the biggest reasons for this is that wages in the United States have remained essentially stagnant for the last 30 years. Yet inflation, in terms of the increase in the cost of living, has increased 3% per year, on average, over the same time period. In addition, the real value, adjusted for inflation, has decreased over 25% since 1967.

Read the rest at the link above

The Ludlow Massacre

Progressives today don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We’re fighting for the same things progressives, liberals, radicals have always fought for: democracy applied broadly, justice applied equally, a fair distribution of our nation’s resources. We can look back and see what worked and what didn’t for our forbears. We can examine what kinds of people, and philosophies, and systems opposed them. Then we can look and see the very same kinds of people, and philosophies, and systems opposing us today.

This is a general them I thinkl is lacking in today’s blog world, where we fight for every news cycle.

That’s one reason I’m writing this post. Another reason is that, ever since I first read about Ludlow, in the “early springtime” I get that tune in my head.

Read the rest here.

Shephard Smith drops F-bomb during Freedom Watch: We do not F%$&ing torture!!!

See here.

Coal gets a shot in the arm.

According to the WV Gazette,

Coal supporters have managed to tuck more than $4.6 billion in money for the industry into a Senate version of the economic stimulus package.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the legislation with several coal projects pushed by Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.

The Senate funding is nearly double the $2.6 billion included in a current House version of the legislation, meant to help boost the sagging economy across the country.

Ohio rally hits Chamber of Commerce union-busting forum

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The Chamber of Commerce here got much more turnout for the anti-union seminar at the local country club than they expected, or wanted, for that matter.

The Ross County Chamber had issued a call for a Jan. 23 seminar on “Stopping the Employee Free Choice Act/Standing Up to Big Labor.” They expected a turnout of business types to plot strategy to oppose the proposed labor law reform that would strengthen worker’s right to organize. What they got was a big turnout, but of unionists and union supporters.

UAW, Chrysler Eliminate Jobs Bank

DETROIT – The United Auto Workers union has eliminated its jobs bank for Chrysler workers.

After weeks of speculation, union officials told their members the doors to the controversial job bank will be closing on Monday, Jan. 26.

Consol’s top coal-to-gasoline executive retires

CHARLESTON, W.Va.–The Consol Energy executive who headed the company’s effort to build a coal-to-gasoline plant in Marshall County has retired but Consol’s interest in the project “remains undiminished,” said company spokesman Thomas Hoffman.

Paul Spurgeon retired effective last week. “It doesn’t mean anything for the project,” Hoffman said. “We are still interested in pursuing some sort of a conversion project in the Ohio Valley.”

ExxonMobil sells Monterey coal mine – Will new owners keep the Union?

CARLINVILLE — The Monterey coal mine near Carlinville has been sold.

ExxonMobil spokeswoman Margaret Ross said in an e-mail Monday the company sold the mine to Macoupin Energy LLC. Macoupin Energy is part of the Cline Group, which also owns Hillsboro Energy and has mines elsewhere in Illinois and West Virginia.

Spokesmen for the Cline Group did not return phone calls seeking comment. Ross said questions should be directed to the new owner.

UMWA marks 119th birthday

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E.

Roberts issued the following statement today:

“On January 25, 1890, 119 years ago yesterday, hundreds of incredibly brave coal miners from around the country gathered in Columbus, Oh., and voted to establish the United Mine Workers of America. They were of different racial and ethnic backgrounds and spoke different languages, yet all were united by one common purpose: To throw off the yoke of servitude and oppression that defined life for a coal miner–no matter his race or national origin.

Alabama attorney general’s intervention in Benjamin, Massey recusal outrageous, UMWA says

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 23, 2009

CONTACT: Phil Smith

703-208-7241

Alabama attorney general’s intervention in Benjamin, Massey recusal outrageous, UMWA says

United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:

“The intervention of Alabama Attorney General Troy King (R) into the appeal of the Harman Mining v. Massey Energy case before the U.S.

Supreme Court is an outrageous intrusion into the case and makes one wonder just what Mr. King is trying to do.

“Prior to his election to the West Virginia Supreme Court, Brent Benjamin was an unknown lawyer. He received virtually all of his campaign funding from the head of a powerful corporation– Massey Energy–and was the beneficiary of even more millions spent ‘independently’ on his behalf by that very same person. Once on the court, Benjamin was in a position to vote on matters that directly affected the financial well-being of his campaign benefactor and the corporation he runs. And vote he did, on more than one occasion, including the Harman decision.

“What is it about that sequence of events that Mr. King wants to protect?

“No state justice or judge, sitting on any court in any state, should be able to rule on a case that impacts a major contributor to that judge’s election campaign. That should be the law of the land, whether it be West Virginia, Alabama or anywhere else. In arguing to allow such a seamy practice to continue, Mr. King is in essence arguing to allow the appearance of impropriety to seep into the judicial system of every state in the country where judges are elected.

“What happened in the Harmon case is a travesty, and every person in West Virginia knows it. In addition, the American Bar Association, the League of Women Voters and many major American corporations filed briefs in this case supporting Harman’s appeal. In the words of one of those briefs, ‘There is the need to signal that…judicial decisions cannot be bought and sold.’ That is what happened in this case, and there is no way to put an end to it other than by Supreme Court action.

“Mr. King may believe it’s OK for judges to be bought and paid for, but no one other than the ones doing the buying would agree with him. A reversal of the Harmon decision by the Supreme Court is needed to relieve the concerns of ordinary citizens in West Virginia and elsewhere that justice can be for sale to the highest bidder.”

# # #

A poignant point for an outgoing administration « Vox Nova

Courtesy of James David Baker:

“When an American president leaves office with the Constitution more or less intact, and without a lot of dead American boys scattered around the planet, we out to give him a medal.”

-Charlotte Observer, July 11, 1985

A poignant point for an outgoing administration « Vox Nova.

Teacher unions to ask Legislature for another pay raise

CHARLESTON, W.Va.–The state’s teacher unions plan an aggressive push on lawmakers this session for better pay and more reasonable health care costs.

But officials with the West Virginia Education Association and West Virginia’s chapter of the American Federation of Teachers admit they’ll be facing a tough audience, especially when some lawmakers have already said they’ll be pinching pennies when preparing a budget.

Teachers at 2 Charter Schools Plan to Join Union, Despite Notion of Incompatibility

The United Federation of Teachers announced on Tuesday that it had organized teachers at two respected New York City charter schools, making inroads in a movement that has long sold itself as an alternative that is not hamstrung by union contracts and work rules.

Union officials said the teachers’ decision was an important step because the schools are part of the Knowledge Is Power Program, known as KIPP, which has 66 schools in 19 states and the District of Columbia and plays an influential role in national education debates. Advocates for charter schools — which are publicly funded but independently operated — expressed concern that unionization could undermine the schools’ effectiveness.

Coercion has no place in votes to form unions

A recent article characterized the debate surrounding legislation that would make it easier to form unions in the workplace as a question of survival — a business’s need to control operating costs vs. a union’s fight to stave off dwindling membership. While the reporting and facts were straightforward and accurate, the piece missed what is perhaps the most significant element of the “card check” controversy: the consequences of this bill on democracy and workers’ rights.

I have been to the Mountaintop – MLK, Jr, Union man

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered this speech in support of the striking sanitation workers at Mason Temple in Memphis, TN on April 3, 1968 — the day before he was assassinated. License to reproduce this speech granted by Intellectual Properties Management, 1579-F Monroe Drive, Suite 235, Atlanta, Georgia 30324, as manager for the King Estate. Write to IPM re: copyright permission for use of words and images of Martin Luther King, Jr.