LABOR MATTERS
Early Primary Schedule Favors Western Unions
compiled by Jeff Burman
 Jeffrey Burman |
With union-friendly western states such as Nevada and California moving up their primaries in the 2008 presidential race, organized labor hopes to increase its traditional influence in the Democratic nomination process, writes Brian Wolly for PBS’ Online NewsHour.
In Nevada, caucuses are set for January 19, just after the first caucuses in the nation in Iowa January 14. One of the nation’s largest unions, UNITE HERE, a service industry union, boasts more than 60,000 hotel, restaurant and casino workers in the state. Delegate-rich California advanced its primary to February 5. Its 2.2 million union members comprise 15.7 percent of the state’s working population, making it the largest union state in the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, adds Wolly.
Democratic presidential candidates seeking the AFL-CIO’s endorsement will get two chances to pitch union members: once alone at a town hall-style meeting and again at a multi-candidate forum in Chicago. The latter will be held August 6 or 7, coinciding with the union’s executive council meeting.
New York, California Labor Lend Support to Hillary Clinton
 Democratic presidential hopefuls, from left, former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.; Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.; and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., appear on stage before the start of the Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, Sunday, June 3, 2007. AP Photo/Charles Krupa |
The New York State AFL-CIO, representing 2.5 million union members, in early May announced the passage of a resolution urging the National AFL-CIO to “consider Senator Clinton’s extraordinary body of work on behalf of the cause, values and principles of organized labor when deciding labor’s endorsement for President of the United States.”
On the West Coast, Senator Clinton picked up valuable endorsements this spring in the battle for California’s Democratic presidential delegates: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and State Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez––both friends of the state’s powerful unions––endorsed the senator from New York. Both will serve the Clinton campaign as national chairmen.
Obama Speaks at an AFL-CIO Sponsored Forum
Illinois Senator Barack Obama told a raucous crowd of more than 700 working
men and women in Trenton, New Jersey that, as president, he would fight for
the freedom to form unions, the creation of universal health care and an end
to the Iraq occupation, writes Payson Schwin in the AFL-CIO weblog Now.
In his opening statement, Obama spoke about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
1968 trip to Memphis, Tennessee to help the sanitation workers organize. “They
stood up for themselves. In America, we should value the labor of every single
American worker. King said every worker deserves the freedom to form unions
without intimidation, bargain in good faith and work in a safe environment.
Those rights are in jeopardy today,” he warned. When workers join unions,
“not only do workers prosper, America prospers.” Obama promised
to make the Employee Free Choice Act “the law of the land” and
to make universal health care coverage a reality.
John Edwards Offers Lots of ‘Big Ideas’
Candidate John Edwards is offering more policy proposals than any other candidate
running, and his ideas are winning loud applause from Democratic audiences,
according to an unsigned article published by the Associated Press. Edwards
is quick to acknowledge his anticipated spending on poverty reduction, health
care and energy would come at a cost. One proposal is an $8 billion college
scholarship program, an outgrowth of his “College for Everyone”
idea from 2005.
All together, Edwards’ proposals would cost more than $1 trillion if he could get them enacted into law. To put the numbers in perspective, President Bush has set aside more than $1.8 trillion in tax cuts. The cost of the Iraq war is nearing $450 billion. And this year’s federal budget is about $2.8 trillion.
The 2004 vice presidential candidate brings to the contest a core belief that expanding organized labor––which now accounts for just 12 percent of the workforce, down from 20 percent in the early 1980s––is the way to reduce poverty, expand the middle class, narrow the nation’s income gap and make globalization less painful, writes Nina Easton in CNN/Money. “The difference between non-union and union is literally the difference between poverty and middle class,” said Edwards.
Edwards has also received an unusual endorsement, which speaks clearly to those he is trying to reach. Few prominent political activists are more willing to put their time and energy into the struggle for economic and social justice than actor Danny Glover, writes John Nichols in The Nation magazine. Said Glover, “John Edwards brings everyone to the table. His words, actions and policies speak to all of us. He brings integrity, honesty, and a spirit of activism that challenges each of us to do more to make this a better nation and a better world. I know him, I trust him and I know he will be a great president.”
 The Passing of a Wage Congress handed a major victory to low-income workers on May 24 by approving the first increase in the federal minimum wage rate in a decade. The measure would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour from $5.15 in three stages over two years. The provision was combined with a bill providing more money for the occupation of Iraq. Cartoon by Stephanie McMillan, MinimumSecurity.net |
Writers Guild Announces Start Date for Contract Talks
The Writers Guild of America has set July 16 as the opening of contract negotiations
with the studios and networks for a new contract to replace the current three-year
deal, which expires on October 31, writes Dave McNary in Variety.
WGA, west Executive Director and lead negotiator David Young said the guild looks forward “to a productive series of discussions that will lead to a fair deal for everyone in the talent community. The guild is strong and reasonable.” WGA leaders have outlined a series of demands they plan to make in upcoming studio contract talks, with compensation for work appearing on the Internet a top priority, writes Richard Verrier in The Los Angeles Times. The WGA’s east and west branches sent their “pattern of demands” to more than 12,000 writers for their approval.
Many of the WGA’s key issues are likely to incur stiff resistance from the producers, writes Dave McNary in another Variety piece––including jurisdiction over reality TV, animation and game shows; hikes in minimum pay and residuals at The CW network; an improved home video residuals formula; raising caps on company pension and health contributions; and inclusion of language addressing product integration in guild-covered work.
Study Points to Limits of Hollywood Downloading Business
The US video download market is likely to nearly triple in size to $279 million
this year, from $98 million last year, but that may be about as big as it
gets, according to a new study by James McQuivey of Forrester Research, one
of the first to analyze the new download business.
While many in Hollywood are hoping that new vendors like Wal-Mart.com and devices such as Apple TV will help spark interest in video downloads, Forrester doesn’t see it that way, writes Ben Fritz in Variety. The Cambridge, Massachusetts research firm found that the small portion of people already downloading movies and TV shows will likely increase their spending as a result, but that most people simply aren’t interested. “To attract more mainstream viewers, media strategy executives must develop new business models and delivery mechanisms to make video downloading ad-supported and geek-free,” says the report.
Wal-Mart Violates Workers’ Rights, Says Human Rights Watch
In its first study of how an American company treats its workers, Human Rights
Watch asserted in early May that Wal-Mart’s aggressive efforts to keep
out labor unions often violated federal law and infringed on its workers’
rights, writes Steven Greenhouse in The New York Times.
In a 210-page report, Human Rights Watch said Wal-Mart uses an arsenal of sophisticated tactics–– some of which it says are illegal––aimed at thwarting union organization and creating a climate of fear for its 1.3 million US workers, adds Anne D’Innocenzio in USA Today.
While Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is not alone in using illegal anti-union tactics, the retailer “stands out for the extreme sophistication and aggressiveness of its anti-union strategies,” said Carol Pier, senior researcher on labor rights and trade for Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “Wal-Mart should change its anti-union behavior. When companies like Wal-Mart can regularly violate US workers’ right to organize, they threaten a fundamental right and one that the government is duty-bound to uphold.”
“The Human Rights Watch Report,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, “exposes in horrific detail Wal-Mart’s dogged and systematic exploitation of weak US labor laws and clearly illustrates why the law must be changed to protect workers’ freedom to form unions.”
Former LA Labor Leader Linked to Martin Ludlow, Sentenced
Janett Humphries, former president of the union representing Los Angeles school
workers, was sentenced in May to five years probation for embezzling funds
to pay for her own travel, and for campaign workers for the City Council campaign
of former LA labor leader Martin Ludlow in 2003, writes Joe Mat-thews in The
Los Angeles Times.
Assistant US Attorney Craig Missakian criticized the sentence for Hum-phries, who had “betrayed the trust” of members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 99. He explained that Ludlow, when confronted by investigators in the case, admitted responsibility and cooperated with prosecutors. Humphries, Missakian said, “did exactly the opposite.”
Ludlow was director of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor from July 2005 to February 2006 after the sudden death of former director Miguel Contreras.
An Insider Rethinks Globalization
Former IBM Senior VP Ralph Gomory wrote a slim book––Global
Trade and Conflicting National Interests––in collaboration
with respected economist William Baumol, former President of the American
Economic Association. Gomory’s critique has great political
potential because it provides what the opponents of corporate-led
globalization have generally lacked: a comprehensive intellectual
platform for arguing that the US approach to globalization must be
transformed to defend the national interest, writes William Greider
in The Nation.
Oscar Winner to Play Riefenstahl in Film
 Nazi film director Leni Riefenstahl operates a camera from a cable-operated lift basket while filming Triumph of the Will at the 1934 Nuremberg Party Rally. ©CORBIS |
Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster will play the leading role of Leni Riefenstahl in a work that will certainly generate heated discussion, as it examines the beautiful woman who became Adolf Hitler’s favorite director and whose slick propaganda helped the Nazi war machine, writes Paul Harris in The Guardian in the UK.
Two new biographies, Jürgen Trimborn’s Leni Riefenstahl: A Life and Steven Bach’s Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl, re-examine Riefenstahl’s inseparable roles as artist and political player. “Next to the damning evidence Trimborn and Bach have amassed, their occasional allowance for her talent has the force of a snowflake in an avalanche,” writes Charles Taylor in The Nation. “With Riefenstahl no longer around [she died in 2003, at the age of 101], and with dogged research having uncovered new sources, Trimborn and Bach are free to compile the sources that expose her as an inveterate liar, fantasist and self-apologist, and even to add some new ones.”
Jeff Burman represents Sound Editors on the Guild's Board of Directors. He can be reached at jeffrey.burman@nbcuni.com.