"Our nation," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, "has been reminded again and again, by the grim and inspiring images of rescue and relief workers, that it is working people who are

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney at ground zero in New York. Photo by Jim Tynan.

the first to step up to respond to their neighbors, their community and their country." Sweeney was quick to support President Bush in his efforts to bring those responsible for the September 11 attacks to justice. And he was just as quick in calling for religious tolerance. But he urged caution when it came to reevaluating protections for civil liberties.

Where the AFL-CIO differed sharply with the President was on the issue of relief. "It is workers and their families," said Sweeney, "who are taking a direct and immediate hit from the terrorist attacks and the resulting airline crisis – a hit that will also have a rippling, destabilizing effect on the economy unless it is addressed." Sadly, Sweeney’s plea seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Congress rapidly granted the airline industry a $15 billion bailout, repackaged a fast-track foreign trade package as a patriotic response to the attacks, and offered a relief package for affected working people that amounted to little more than crumbs by comparison.

AFL-CIO Analysis of Bush Relief Package | NY Daily News 10/23/01

Labor Department Nominee Scalia Grilled by Senate Panel

Eugene Scalia, President Bush’s nominee to be the Labor Department’s top lawyer, defended his opposition to workplace safety regulations at a Senate confirmation hearing. If approved for the position of Labor Solicitor, Scalia would provide advice and guidance on virtually every department initiative in areas such as safety and health, minimum wage and pension security. Democrats on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee appeared to be solidly against Scalia, who has criticized ergonomics and Clinton-era regulations as "quackery" and "junk science."

Pressed by Senator John Edwards, D-NC, Scalia admitted he has represented just two workers in his 10-year labor law career, which has focused mostly on corporate clients. Edwards wondered whether Scalia has the "necessary empathy for workers in order to adequately and properly represent them." Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy said, "Many of us have serious concerns about Mr. Scalia’s nomination…his views are outside the mainstream on many issues of vital importance to the nation’s workers and their families."

ErgoWeb 10/03/01

Unions Persist in Right-To-Work States

In an unusually pro-union piece in Daily Variety, Bashirah Muttalib writes that unions are doing rather well in some of the nation’s 26 "right-to-work" states. These states make it illegal to require union membership at any given workplace. "Indie productions are more likely to use a non-union crew, whereas big-budget studio pics operate within the contractual limits set in Los Angeles," says Tom Copeland, Texas’ film commissioner. According to Copeland, once Texas developed a substantial, experienced crew base, the unions arrived and successfully organized below-the-line workers. "It is still a right-to-work environment, but the unions have established their rights, as well."

Variety 10/10/01

Clinton’s "Extraordinary Accomplishment" on the War Against Poverty

While all eyes grimly follow America’s "New War," Ron Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times’ writes about a remarkable achievement in a much older conflict: the war on poverty. Census Bureau figures reveal the nation's record on reducing poverty during the two terms of former President Clinton. "From any angle, it was one of his era’s most extraordinary accomplishments. From 1993 through 2000, the poverty rate in America fell from 15.1 percent to 11.3 percent – a reduction of 25 percent. That’s by far the biggest drop in the poverty rate during any presidential term since the 1960s (when a booming economy and Lyndon B. Johnson's launch of the Great Society cut the poverty rate by 40 percent)," writes Brownstein. "By contrast, the economic boom under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s cut the poverty rate by just 7 percent. Put another way, during Reagan’s eight years, the number of Americans in poverty fell by 77,000. During Clinton’s eight years, the number of poor Americans dropped by 8.1 million. The poverty rate today is the lowest since 1974. What makes that record even more impressive is that the groups that had been the most bitterly impoverished scored the biggest gains."

LA Times 10/1/01 (fee required)

Ending the Charleston Five Case

In a triumph for workers' rights and free speech, the case against the three remaining union dockworkers known as the Charleston 5 has been resolved.

On January 20, 2000, about 150 members of the AFL-CIO International Longshoreman’s Association in Charleston, South Carolina, assembled for a legal informational picket. The dockworkers were attacked by 600 police officers in riot gear. That night, eight of them were arrested and charged with misdemeanors, mainly trespassing. But South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon, then a candidate for governor, intervened and raised the charges to rioting and conspiracy to riot, which are felonies, and took over the prosecution. A Charleston judge later dismissed these charges for lack of evidence but Condon secured felony indictments from a grand jury against five of the eight, which then became known as the Charleston Five.

In October, 2001, Condon removed himself from the case after attorneys for the dockworkers demanded that he be disqualified for gross misconduct. The case was transferred to a local prosecutor and the five defendants pled no contest to low-level misdemeanor charges. "This is a tremendous victory for the labor movement in South Carolina." said Kenneth Riley, president of Longshoreman’s Local 1422. He added that the prosecution helped energize the labor movement in a state with the second-lowest percentage of union workers in the country.

AFL-CIO Press Release 10/15/01 | South Carolina Progressive Network

A Childrens’ Book That Talks about Labor

Books for children are often given a short shrift in grown-up periodicals. But here’s

Click, Clack, Moo: Farmer Brown’s cows go on strike.

something completely different. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type is a storybook that poses a problem, offers a solution, and does it with wit and charm. What makes it unusual is its subject – labor relations.

It seems that Farmer Brown’s cows are unhappy. They’re cold at night. They want electric blankets. When Farmer Brown refuses, the cows go on strike and leave a note on the barn door. "Sorry. We’re closed. No milk today."

I read this book to my six-year-old and was dumbstruck. I had never read a kid’s book that used the word "strike." I’ve read books that spoke well of work, but the few that mention the boss always do so with deference. Here is a little wisp of a book with a difference. The cows not only win their strike, but their idea catches on.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type, Written by Doreen Cronin, Illustrated by Betsy Lewin, Published by Scholastic, Inc., 2001. 32 pages.