National News

Initiative On Worker Safety Gets Poor Marks
IG's Report Links Weak Enforcement To Job Fatalities
    Washington, DC, April 2, 2009 - A special government program to improve worker safety in hazardous industries rarely fulfilled its promise, a Labor Department audit concluded yesterday, and over the past six years, dozens of deaths occurred at firms that should have been subjected to much tighter federal safety enforcement...more

NCPA Alleges Student Athlete Abuse
     March 30th, 2009 - The NCPA released a study recently surveying athletic scholarships at Division I schools which has uncovered some serious funding problems. Allegedly, schools have been deceiving recruits, many of whom are under the age of 18 and from disadvantaged backgrounds, into unwittingly being...more

GOPers That Demanded Auto Unions Renegotiate Contracts Aren't Demanding the Same of AIG
    Washington, DC, March 25, 2009 - When the Senate last December killed legislation to bail out Detroit’s automakers, there was no mystery behind the impasse. Senate Republicans had demanded that the United Automobile Workers renegotiate their contracts to cut workers’ pay and benefits, and when Democrats and the UAW balked, the deal was dead. What a difference 100 days can make. In the midst of the public outcry over $165 million in contractual bonuses paid last week by bailed-out American International Group, many of those same Republicans are treading … more

Specter Takes Quarter Million Dollars from Union Buster
    Washington, DC, March 25, 2009 - Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) has spent a career crafting an image of independence and integrity. Yesterday he sacrificed both when he turned his back on the working people in his state. Specter announced that he would not vote to allow the Employee Free Choice Act to receive an up or down vote on the Senate floor; a move that some consider fatal to the legislation. In a statement on the Senate floor he waxed eloquent about his belief that a difficult economic climate is no time for workers to receive a living wage. Specter received $235,350 … more

More Layoffs Hitting Brooke County
    Wellsburg, WV, March 25, 2009 - The United Steelworkers which represents workers at  Graphic Packaging has just learned the company will be forced to layoff 30 employees. The company produces food packaging products and also produces bags.  It's that part of the business that is being curtailed...more

Is Dry Wall the Next Chinese Import Scandal?
    Miami, Fla., March 23, 2009 - Soon after Danie Beck and her husband bought their two-story townhouse west of Miami in the summer of 2006, she thought an animal had died somewhere behind the walls. The strong sulfurous odor lingered, she says, and she began having dizzy spells that would keep her in bed for days. She began suffering from insomnia and sore, swollen joints. The house, too, appeared to be ailing: Lights began blinking on and off, and Beck noticed discoloring of her wood furniture. The air conditioner, an indispensable appliance in … more

China Environmental Practices Cast Pall on Climate Issue
    Washington, DC, March 23, 2009 - With China now among the world’s leading polluters, climate change can not be achieved unless the Administration and Congress hold China accountable for its reckless environmental practices. A new report provides the most in-depth and detailed examination to date of the serious flaws in China’s pollution-control regime and the damage it is doing to human health and global efforts to address climate change. Released on the eve of a Congressional hearing on climate issues, the report focuses on China’s rapidly growing … more

'Made in India': Lawmakers Call Foreign Steel A Slap In The Face To U.S. Workers
    Granite City, IL, March 20, 2009  Local lawmakers are calling foreign steel being used to construct a pipeline near the metro-east a slap in the face to U.S. workers. Steel pipes painted with a "Made in India" logo are being shipped through Granite City, right in front of the steel mill where more than 2,800 steelworkers have been laid off.  more

Granite City Workers Upset Over Steel Pipes Made In India
    Granite City, IL, March 18, 2009 - Granite City has lost almost 3,000 steel jobs in recent month, which is a big reason the words “Made in India” inside steel pipes has a lot of union members upset. Erica Byfield talked to workers who are upset because they say they could have made those pipes. Instead, they are out of work … more

AK Steel Coke Plants Receive Safety Honors
    Ashland, KY, March 18, 2009 - AK Steel said that, for the first time in history, the American Coke and Coal Chemicals Institute (ACCCI) bestowed its highest award for safety on two coke making plants in the same year, both of which are AK Steel facilities. AK Steel's Ashland and Middletown coke plants both earned the award because employees at each location worked the entire year of 2008 while logging a safety record of zero OSHA recordable …more

Battle Brewing Over Employee Free Choice Act
    Lehigh Valley, March 8, 2009 - Businesses and unions are getting ready to square off over the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill would make it easier for labor groups to organize.,,more

One in Four Chance Workers Will be Fired When Forming A Union
by Seth Michaels,
    AFL-CIO Now Blog, March 4, 2009 - Every time workers try to exercise their freedom to form a union, there’s a better than one-in-four chance that a worker will be illegally fired as a result. That’s the finding of a new study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), and it’s a strong argument for passing the Employee Free Choice Act and restoring the freedom to form unions and bargain... more

Bankruptcy Judge Tells Checker Motors They Can't Eliminate Labor Contract
    Kalamazoo, MI, March 3, 2009 - Company had awarded four top executives a total of $275,000 in retention bonuses prior to filing for bankruptcy then wanted to eliminate health care and pension benefits for 176 union retirees... more

A Pig in a Poke
    Charleston, WV, March 2, 2009 - Columbia Gas's parent company, NiSource, announced last week it would let go of 170 workers across the state of West Virginia including 95 in Charleston.  How many will be laid off depends on how many of USW Local 628 members take a severance package.  The problem is that the Company won't give any details of the package... more

Mill to Reopen in Old Town
    Old Town, Maine, Feb. 24, 2009 -  The former Georgia Pacific mill in Old Town is once again reopening, now with the backing of a New York-based firm. As Anne Ravana reports, the newly named Old Town Fiber and Fuel will continue to produce electricity and pulp, and has long-term plans to create jet fuel from wood products... more

Skilled Workers in Demand
    Montgomery, AL, Feb. 22, 2009 - Alabama's organized labor unions and non-union contractor associations are joining forces to attract the next generation of skilled craft employees to replace an aging work force... more

Union Braces for New Layoffs at AK Steel
    Mansfield, OH, Feb. 21, 2009  - On Thursday, AK Steel's chairman and chief executive officer said more steel industry layoffs are likely because of the struggling economy... more

Goodyear Cuts Expected to Spare Fayetteville Workers
    Fayetteville, NC, Feb. 18, 2009 -The latest job cuts at Goodyear Tire & Rubber aren't expected to hurt workers at the tire maker's massive factory in Fayetteville... more

Unions Are Good for Workers and the Economy in Every State
    Feb. 15, 2009 - Unions paved the way to the middle class for millions of workers and pioneered benefits along the way, including paid health care and pensions... more

Checker Motors Wants To Cancel Union Contract And Retiree Benefits
    Kalamazoo, MI, Feb. 11, 2009 - Checker asked the court to reject its collective bargaining agreement with the United Steelworkers Union Local 2-682 and terminate "any retiree benefits for its existing retired union employees and active employees represented by the union."... more

CSX Furloughs Local Workers
    Russell, KY, Feb. 10, 2009 - Thirty-five workers from Russell, Kentucky and two from the Huntington office have been let go. CSX hopes to bring the workers back, but it depends on the future of the economy... more

    More CSX news from the Jacksonville Business News.  The Federal Railroad Administration found that CSX was discouraging employees from receiving proper medical treatment for injuries... more

Goodyear Execs, Union Talking in Danville
    Danville, VA, Feb 10, 2009 - Goodyear executives and union leaders are meeting this week to discuss the future of the company’s Danville plant. Company executives arrived Monday and are expected to be in Danville through Wednesday... more

Deal Gives Workers Raise, Better Pension
    Manitoba, Can, Feb 9, 2009 - Higher salaries, stronger pensions, and the right to replace certain contractors are among the benefits for unionized workers in their newly ratified deals with HBMS. The United Steelworkers of America, the largest union at the company, announced on its website that the three-year contracts grant workers raises of 2.5 per cent each year for a total increase of 7.5 per cent. Retroactive to January 1, 2009, the deals boost the defined pension plan by $1.50 per month per year of service in each of the three years, bringing the pension … more

Channellock Cuts Workweek to 4 days
    MEADVILLE, IN, Feb 7, 2009 - Channellock, a family-owned company, will continue to maker pliers round-the-clock, but will discontinue Friday operations as of Feb. 13. All 410 of the company's employees will be paid 80 … more

Hours Cut For Alcoa Workers
    Massena, New York, Feb. 5, 2009 - To prevent more job cuts, Alcoa employees at Global Hard Alloy Extrusions have moved to a 32-hour work week. The measure went into effect Monday... more

Severstal To Shut Down In March
    Pittsburg, PA, Jan. 25, 2009 - Company and Union officials stated that the shutdown affecting 1,100 Steelworkers to be temporary... more

Century, Alcan Retirees Disappointed - Optimistic
    Ravenswood, WV, Jan. 22, 2009 - At their monthly SOAR (Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees) meeting retirees voice their disappointment of the current situations at Century and Alcan but they are optimistic that President Obama can turn the economy around... more

Some Locked Out Steelworkers May Return To Work
    Van Wert, OH, Jan. 21, 2009 - Local 524 Officials will meet with representatives of Kongsberg Automotive on Thursday to discuss going back to work, on the company's terms, until the plant is shut down this summer... more

Wood County Plant to Close
    Pemberville, OH, Jan. 20, 2009 - Modine Manufacturing Co said it would close the plant because of dwindling demand of the copper-brass radiators and other vehicle heating and air conditioning components constructed there... more

Haynes Int'l  To Lay Off And Freeze Salaries
    Kokomo, IN, Jan 17, 2009 - Vice President David Tocco of United Steelworkers Local 2958 in Kokomo says the layoffs come as a surprise. He says it's Haynes' first layoff in "quite some time." ... more

Alcoa Cutting 13%
    New York, NY, Jan. 7, 2009 - Because of the global economic downturn Alcoa Aluminum will be cutting production to reduce costs... more

Current Employees and Retirees Discuss Alcoa's Cutbacks.
    Alcoa, Tenn., Jan. 7, 2009 - The announcement of 450 Union workers to be laid off has everyone talking... more

Blast Furnace At AK-Steel to Restart
    Ashland KY - January 5, 2009 - Forty eight members of USW Local 1865 were recalled from layoff to restart the Amanda Blast furnace... more