LABOR MATTERS
AFL-CIO to Define the Real McCain
compiled by Jeff Burman
 Jeffrey Burman |
The nation’s largest labor federation an-nounced in March that it would continue to remain neutral in the Democratic race between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, but would begin directing its political resources at Senator John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, according to an unsigned article from the Associated Press.
The AFL-CIO’s political director, Karen Ackerman, at the federation’s executive council meetings in San Diego, said the opening volley will link McCain to President Bush, who en-dorsed the Arizona senator on the same day. Speaking of links, the AFL-CIO’s new “McCain Revealed” site is www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/ mccain.cfm.
McCain “voted for every free trade deal that exports jobs; he voted against S-CHIP; he voted for the national right to work bill; he voted against raising the minimum wage,” said Ackerman. He also opposed the Employee Free Choice Act, which would ease union organizing efforts. McCain’s campaign has “no jobs program; his health care program is one that’s based on individual health accounts and not in any way universal health care,” she continued. “So on every single measure on economic issues that working families care about, McCain really stands with the Bush administration’s policies over and over and over again.”
McCain has voted in support of Bush’s positions 89 percent of the time––a lifetime voting record that in 2007 rose to a striking 95 percent, according to Congressional Quarterly.
 The McCain Revealed pamphlet. Used with permission of the AFL-CIO. |
Some analysts say the threat of defections to McCain may be an issue if Obama is the Democratic nominee, according to Janet Hook and Tom Hamburger writing in The Los Angeles Times. In many of this year’s primaries, Obama has lost working-class white voters to rival Clinton. Holding on to those voters in swing states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania will be essential to the party’s efforts in November against McCain. These voters are expected to be swing voters in the fall.
The point of the “McCain Revealed” campaign, writes Chris Cilliza in The Washington Post, is to “bracket” the Republican nominee, so wherever he goes, his coverage carries at least some mention of his record on economic issues. McCain will now spend the next few months burnishing his moderate credentials and casting himself as a centrist candidate, according to Cilliza. Defining McCain is the task at hand. Whoever succeeds will profoundly affect the outcome of the election in November.
Spielberg Resigns as Beijing Olympics Consultant
China expressed regret in February that Steven Spielberg had resigned as artistic
consultant to the Beijing Olympics over Darfur, and accused critics of its
policy in Sudan of having “ulterior motives,” writes Jonathan
Watts in the UK’s The Guardian.
The Chinese government attempted to minimize the public relations fallout from the filmmaker’s withdrawal, which has drawn attention to China’s poor human rights record with the games just months away.
Spielberg said he quit because Beijing had not done enough to halt the killings in Darfur, where Khartoum-linked militias are fighting rebels. As a major supplier of arms to Khartoum and the buyer of two-thirds of Sudan’s oil, Beijing is thought to have more influence in Sudan than any other country.
 The UAW's Douglas Fraser in 1973. Photo by Ira Rosenberg/Detroit Free Press. Courtesy of Detroit Free Press |
Former UAW President Doug Fraser Dies at 91
Erstwhile United Auto Workers president Douglas Fraser, who began
as a Detroit sit-down striker in the 1930s and became a senior statesman
of the union movement over the past quarter century, died in February,
writes John Gallagher in The Detroit Free Press. He was 91.
Fraser led the union from 1977 to 1983, a period of turmoil for the American automobile industry. Rising gas prices and surging sales of fuel-efficient Japanese cars led to dire financial losses at Detroit’s auto companies, write John Holusha and Micheline Maynard in The New York Times. As Chrysler faced bankruptcy, Fraser played a key role in helping to arrange legislation that provided $1.2 billion in federally guaranteed loans that put Chrysler back on its feet. He also convinced Chrysler workers to make significant concessions to keep the company afloat. In 1980, in exchange for his efforts, Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca gave Fraser a seat on the company’s board of directors, making him the first American labor leader to join the board of a major corporation.
Fraser was a shrewd and pragmatic negotiator. He was a protégé of the UAW’s innovative president Walter Reuther as “the union helped set the social agenda of the nation in the 1950s and 1960s,” write Holusha and Maynard in the Times. Fraser was instrumental in winning such historic, breakthrough benefits as comprehensive health care, early retirement benefits, restrictions on compulsory overtime and cost of living adjustments, according to an unsigned essay from the Walter Reuther Library at Wayne State University in Detroit. Acknowledging the relationship between trade union and social justice issues, he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. and supported school busing to foster racial integration––a position opposed by many of his fellow UAW members. He also pushed a reluctant UAW and the Big Three automakers to recruit more minorities and women, adds Gallagher.
Some, however, criticize Fraser’s historic concession with Chrysler. Labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein argues that the Chrysler agreement set off a wave of concessionary bargaining which engulfed the auto industry and spread into steel, mining and other big manufacturers. Such critics claim that a 30-year truce between labor and management broke down after 1979, leading auto manufacturers to oppose pattern-bargaining, job protections and cost-of-living increases. Others would argue that such changes were inevitable.
In 2005, Fraser spoke at a gathering marking the 70th anniversary of the UAW, saying globalization had brought its active and retired workers new threats that were unimaginable decades ago, adds the Associated Press’ David Runk. “Everyone thinks the toughest times were their times. I don’t think that’s so,” Fraser said. “I think the toughest times are now.”
Senate Bill Would Veto ‘Relaxed’ Ownership Rules
In early March, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) introduced a “Resolution
of Disapproval” that would overturn media ownership rules approved by
the Federal Communications Commission last December, according to an unsigned
article on the Free Press website.
“Our nation is best served when we have access to a variety of media
sources,” said Senator Dorgan. “Smaller and independent media
outlets across the country provide local news that simply would not exist
if large media conglomerates continue their consolidation efforts.”
The resolution has 15 co-sponsors, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton,
according to the Library of Congress. So far, John McCain has been silent
on the matter.
In a 3-to-2 vote on December 18, the FCC eliminated its longstanding ban on “newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership,” which prohibits one company from owning a broadcast station and a major daily newspaper in the same market. In 2003, the last time the FCC tried to “relax” media ownership rules, the Senate passed a similar resolution to reject the new rules.
Wal-Mart Drops Suit Against Injured Employee
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is dropping a controversial lawsuit to collect over $400,000
in health care reimbursement from a former employee who is confined to a southeast
Missouri nursing home since she suffered brain damage in a traffic accident,
writes Marcus Kabel in Business Week.
In early April the world’s biggest retailer stated in a letter to the family of Deborah Shank that it will not seek to collect money the Shanks won in an injury lawsuit against a trucking company for the accident. Shank, 52, lost much of her memory and ability to communicate or walk in a crash between her minivan and a large truck in May 2000. Her family sued the truck’s owner and won $700,000. Court records show that after costs and attorney’s fees, the remaining $417,477 from the settlement went into a trust to care for Shank.
Shank’s health insurance was provided by Wal-Mart, where she worked nights stocking shelves. After the Shanks won their lawsuit, Wal-Mart sued the Shank family to recover medical costs totaling about $470,000.
Wal-Mart has been widely criticized in the press and by its union foes for its claim to the funds. Insurance experts say this practice of “subrogation” is increasingly common for health plans, which seek reimbursement for the medical expenses they paid for someone’s treatment if the person also collects damages in an injury suit. The practice has increased since a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that eased it.
Court Awards Starbucks Baristas in Tip Dispute
A court in California awarded baristas at Starbucks cafés in the state
$105 million in March, ruling that the company had wrongly allowed supervisors
to share in tips, writes Vikas Bajaj in The New York Times.
If the verdict is upheld, damages will be shared by about 100,000 past and present baristas who worked at stores in California since October 2000. Judge Patricia Cowett of the California Superior Court in San Diego also granted an injunction prohibiting Starbucks from allowing supervisors to take a share of the tips in the future.
Hollywood Strike Cost $2.5 Billion
The residual effect from the Hollywood writers strike might be broader and
longer lasting than first thought. So says Los Angeles economist Jack Kyser
in his annual “Economic Forecast Report” for Los Angeles County
and its surrounding areas, writes Elizabeth Guider in The Washington Post.
The work stoppage that began November 5 cost the town an estimated $2.5 billion, according to Kyser, the chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. The figure includes lost wages from TV shows that were canceled and films that were put on hold as well as numerous support services, ranging from limo drivers to lunch trucks. As an example, Kyser says that the cancellation of the Golden Globe Awards alone resulted in a $60 million shortfall for the community.
Jeff Burman represents Sound Editors on the Guild's Board of Directors. He can be reached at jeffrey.burman@nbcuni.com.