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The 35 unions
affiliated with the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD)
pledged their support for IAM District 141-M in their dispute with US
Airways over potential outsourcing of heavy maintenance on its Airbus
aircraft.
“These are the same tactics used by Frank Lorenzo to destroy Eastern Airlines,” said IP Tom Buffenbarger. “If we allow US Airways to subcontract out work that has been contractually performed by IAM-represented members for 46 years, it will have a ripple effect throughout the industry in all classifications.”
The TTD resolution of support underscores individual commitments from affiliated unions at US Airways, including IAM District 141, the Air Line Pilots Association, the Association of Flight Attendants, the Communication Workers of America and the Transport Workers Union.
“Our members have repeatedly
sacrificed to avoid the liquidation of US Airways,” said Transportation GVP
Robert Roach, Jr. “For the airline to cast-off the employees that recently
rescued the carrier and the critical jobs they perform is criminal. If CEO David
Siegel wants to go to war with his employees, then it is war he will get.”
President Bush is
paying a political price for the lagging economy and unease over the war
in Iraq. A recent NBC –Wall Street Journal poll shows his approval rating
at a modest 49 percent, while 45 percent of those polled disapproved of
his performance.
In his State of the Union message, Bush said his policies would create an economy that “would employ every man and woman who seeks a job.” In fact, Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over an economy that has lost jobs, not created them, said IP Tom Buffenbarger. “More than 3 million jobs have disappeared since Bush entered the White House, most of them in the manufacturing sector,” he added.
In that same speech, Buffenbarger noted, Bush said “we will not pass our problems to other generations.” That looks like another hollow promise. It now appears that we will suffer at least $1.9 trillion in new debt, according to the Office of Management and Budget, with budget deficits running into the foreseeable future.
“This administration simply cannot see the forest for the trees,” Buffenbarger said. “The costs of the Bush tax cuts alone are three times more than the entire projected shortfall in Social Security and very few working Americans benefit from those misguided tax cuts,” he charged.
Bush promised “ an average
$1,000 tax cut for everyone who pays taxes.” Buffenbarger called that another
hollow pledge. “More than half of all taxpayers get less than $100 and 31
percent of all taxpayers get nothing at all,” he said. An analysis by Citizens
for Tax Justice supports Buffenbarger’s charge.
Wesley Clark Unveils
Jobs Plan
While Clark has remained quiet on specific policy views, he announced a $100 million plan that he believes will create jobs and turn the economy around. The plan features a state and local tax rebate fund of $40-billion and provides $20-billion in business tax incentives over two years.
Just one week after he entered the race, the retired army general is leading all candidates in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to the latest CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll.
“Hot air can make any
balloon rise,” noted IP Buffenbarger. “Eventually a cold reality seeps in and
the balloon sinks back to earth.
Aviation Bill Stalls
Over Tower Privatization
FAA chief Marion
Blakey appeared this week before a House Committee and defended the Bush
Administration plan to privatize government-run air traffic control
towers.
Blakey spoke on behalf of the proposal to eliminate federal air traffic controllers at 69 airport towers; a move that would mark a significant step forward for the administration’s highly controversial effort to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system.
Two key Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Lames Oberstar ((D-MN), are urging their colleagues to oppose the entire $60 billion aviation spending bill if the legislation is not rewritten to include a ban on privatization.
Transportation labor leaders
are objecting to provisions in the aviation bill that allow foreign cargo
carriers to service markets within the U.S. and takes the teeth out of federally
mandated anti-terrorism training for flight attendants.
UAW, Big
Three Agree
The UAW
reached tentative agreements with the Big Three automakers all within four
days of each other—the first time the contracts have been wrapped up so
closely. After two months of negotiations, the union reached tentative
pacts with General Motors and Delphi Corp. Sept. 18, with DaimlerChrysler
Sept. 14 and Ford Motor Co. Sept. 15.
Details of the tentative agreements have not been released, pending
ratification votes by the union’s members. These are the largest
collective bargaining negotiations of the year, covering more than 330,000
workers.
IAM
Backs CLC Boycott of Rol-Land Farms
The Canadian Labour
Congress has endorsed a National Consumer Boycott against Rol-Land Farms
Inc., which sells products sold as Essex Kent Mushroom, Essex Continental
Distribution Inc. or Unionville Farms. The boycott is at the request of
the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada and is in support of
workers of Rol-Land Farms Inc. in Kingsville, Ontario who have chosen UFCW
to represent them. The owner, however, refuses to recognize the union as
the bargaining agent.
Union Plus Scholarship
Forms Available
Deadline for the scholarship applications is January 31, 2004
This year, 105 students, representing 42 AFL-CIO unions, were selected to receive $150,000 in scholarships. Since 1992, the program has provided more than $1.8 million to help fulfill the educational dreams of students who represent more than 13 million working families across the nation. The scholarships are awarded to union members or their families who want to begin or continue their secondary education.