AFGE's UnionBlog

NAFTA: Time for a Trade-in

Bill Fletcher — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:42:00 EST

So Many NAFTA Casualties

The most conservative estimates indicate that NAFTA has cost the U.S. a minimum of 525,000 manufacturing jobs, and some estimates range as high as 766,030. These jobs have not been replaced by other manufacturing opportunities. In general, those who have lost employment as a result of NAFTA, as well as the roughly 3 million workers who have lost manufacturing jobs during the post-1994 period, have “migrated” into lower-wage employment in the service sector.

Ross Perot famously talked about a “giant sucking sound” of jobs moving from the U.S. to Mexico, but the picture has been more complicated than that. Mexico has suffered severely from NAFTA with the depression of its agricultural sector—its products couldn’t compete with cheap foodstuffs from the U.S.—leading to a mass relocation of rural residents into cities and later to the U.S. The combination of documented and undocumented immigrants has served as a ready-made low-wage pool for avaricious U.S. employers seeking to cut costs and increase profits. In addition, and ironically, employers that did relocate to Mexico from the U.S. and Canada have now begun an exodus, moving to even lower-wage areas such as China and Vietnam.

What the NAFTA experience really points to is that steps such as NAFTA, allegedly taken to “grow the economy,” increasingly benefit a smaller and smaller segment of those societies, including the U.S., that follow a “neo-liberal economic model.” In comparison, little has been gained by those who have lost their jobs (or the communities that shared the benefits of their employment) because of NAFTA.

The time has come for a renegotiated relationship that places the interests of working people and the environment ahead of the corporate bottom line. The same myopia that has our financial markets in meltdown shaped the thinking and objectives behind NAFTA.

Click here to read the rest of the BusinessWeek article.

Middle Aged White Guys for Obama

Mark Gibson — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:28:00 EST

Having been moved by both President John Gage’s and Field Services Director Bill Fletcher’s words during a recent conference in Las Vegas, it struck me that just maybe, some of us middle aged white guys who have managed not to be overcome by the presence of racial biases and bigotry that exists in our society may get cast in the same low illuminate that some folks will bring to this election. It kind of ticks me off.

I would hate to be judged, or have it inferred, that my vote and therefore my political voice on governance was swayed by something that in all honesty, if I practiced, my mother would come back from the grave and beat me to within an inch of my life.

So I’m thinking that maybe some of us middle aged white fellas should have a coalition so that we can let folks know that the colors we see are red, white and blue. And that to make sure those colors are honored, supported, held in prosperity and with respect, and that all those who live under the stars and stripes are treated with respect, dignity, and honor. And, as such, we will support Obama.

While I undoubtedly respect John McSame’s service to his country, there is more to being President of these United States in 2008 than being a POW over three decades ago. Besides, I don’t drink the brand of beer his wife hawks.

But I think a good number of us middle aged white guys want more from our President than remembrances of a previous time and point in history. We want a president for today and tomorrow and one that has at least a fighting chance of instituting some long needed change in what we have been forced to endure under threat of having our patriotism and beliefs challenged these past 7 and ½ years.

Why should I now be ashamed of the visual picture people see of Mark Gibson, middle aged white guy? When people see me voting in November, will they assume the worst and believe that some deep seated racial bias is influencing my vote? Or should they look at me as a voter, and wonder if I smelled the bull [expletive] and decided that a change is in order? I prefer the later. “One can always close their eyes, but smell always seems to filter through”.

My first steps in forming my coalition, which I intend to call “Middle Aged WHITE MEN for Obama” is to find like-minded individuals who share my view. Part of my thought in the MAWGFOBAMA would be to have the founding members’ picture taken. I’m thinking your run of the mill, middle aged, average working stiff white guys for the photo. Dress as we are, representing who and what we are. Voters looking to make a difference. It’s time to stop the madness, identify the idiots, return them to their village, and move in a direction together.

So, should I refill the prescription or run with the idea?

Mark Gibson
Coalition Founder of MIDDLE AGED WHITE GUYS FOR OBAMA.

PS – if you are interested in joining, all you have to do is pronounce the racial implications in this election and pledge your support to Obama.

PSS – Joe Biden ain’t a bad fellow either. If any of you know his email, you could forward this to him. Maybe he’d want to join us.

Wall Street Crisis Good Time to Reflect on What’s Working: Social Security

Tula Connell — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:05:00 EST

This past weekend, we saw Hurricane Ike spread destruction along the Gulf Coast and we witnessed the devastation along Wall Street in the wake of financial greed helped along by the bank deregulation legislation of Sen. John McCain’s economic adviser Phil Gramm (the same Gramm who said the nation is a bunch of whiners for complaining about the U.S. economic crisis).

As Harold Pollack, associate professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, writes on Huffington Post today, the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the fire-sale takeover of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America—along with last week’s government bailout of private mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—provide a good time to reflect on the fiscal soundness of the nation’s Social Security system.

And a good time to see how McCain’s policies would destroy the nation’s most successful social safety net. Because while Sen. Barack Obama would strengthen Social Security, McCain wants to throw it to the private sector—where our retirement funds could easily be gambled away in a volatile stock market such as the one we’ve seen in recent months.

Writes Pollack:

Whatever you may hear, the system is in remarkably good shape these days, even as everything else in the economy seems headed to hell in a hand basket.

Social Security actuaries note that unfunded Social Security liabilities over the next 75 years amount to about 0.6 percent of GDP. Making the Bush tax cuts permanent digs a budget hole three times as large.

And making tax cuts permanent is exactly what McCain said he would do if elected. Pollack continues:

McCain says it’s a “disgrace” that younger people subsidize the retirement of preceding generations. The real disgrace is the utter mismatch between McCain’s rhetoric and his own tax plan.

McCain’s rhetoric is a stalking horse for private accounts. Many libertarians and conservatives want to replace the current Social Security system with one modeled on corporate 401(k) plans, with an ancillary welfare program tacked on.

Never mind the findings of nonpartisan experts that his tax plan leaves the great, great majority of American households worse off than the Obama plan does. Never mind the growing pile of newspaper stories noting that McCain’s been repeatedly lying about this simple fact.

If McCain is worried about the future, what on earth is he doing suggesting a tax plan that accumulates such huge deficits? By 2018, his tax plan adds more than $200 billion more than the Obama plan does to the federal deficit, every year. Given the difference in tax plans, Senator Obama could wage another Iraq war and cover about 90 percent of the projected Social Security shortfall while still running a lower deficit than Senator McCain would.

As AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said today:

The events of the weekend should make clear the desperate need for a President who understands the nature of the economic crisis facing our country and has a concrete plan for rebuilding our economy that is founded on good jobs rather than financial bubbles. Again today, Sen. John McCain repeated that the “fundamentals of our economy are strong,” a statement he and President Bush have made regularly over the past nine months, as conditions deteriorated. As president, Sen. Barack Obama will lead the fundamental economic changes we so urgently need.

Our retirement security could depend upon who’s elected president this November. Take a look at the positions of McCain and Obama on Social Security and retirement.

This blog is a re-post from the AFL-CIO blog, to see the original post click here

7 Years Later, Bush Still Blocks Health Care Funding for 9/11 Rescue Workers

Mike Hall — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:47:00 EST

Originally posted on the AFL-CIO Blog http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/09/11/7-years-later-bush-still-blocks-health-care-funding-for-911-rescue-workers

Today marks the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93 that killed more than 3,000 people, including some 600 union members.

At the World Trade Center, 343 of the dead were New York City firefighters. Says Fire Fighters (IAFF) President Harold Schaitberger:

No matter how many years pass, we must always remember the ultimate sacrifice made by our 343 fallen FDNY brothers after terrorists launched their cowardly attacks on the World Trade Centers.

We must always remember the thousands of IAFF members in Washington, D.C., and Virginia who risked their lives to pull hundreds of victims from the Pentagon.

This Day of Remembrance will live forever, in honor of the price these brave fire fighters made in the line of duty….We owe it to them to continue the fight make the lives of our members and the public safer.

In late August, New York firefighters delivered a large cross made out of steel from the World Trade Center North Tower to Shanksville, Pa., where United Flight 93 crashed. The cross is now part of a memorial site there.

Today, at St. Peter’s Church, near Ground Zero, the Rev. Brian Jordan, who works closely with New York City unions, is conducting a special 9/11 mass. St. Peter’s became known, in the days after the attacks, as the place where first responders and rescue and recovery workers gathered to rest, exhausted, sleeping on the pews and the floor.

Also, several city unions are holding memorial services and the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council unions building the new Yankee Stadium will pause to remember the 61 construction trades workers killed on Sept. 11.

While solemn remembrances are being held in New York, at the Pentagon and throughout the nation, there still is no permanent medical monitoring and treatment program for the as many as 100,000 responders—firefighters, paramedics, rescue and recovery workers—who were exposed to the stew of chemicals and other toxic substances in the rubble of the World Trade Center. Seven years later they are a still suffering from illnesses directly related to the attacks.

In the years since the attacks, the Bush administration consistently has delayed and blocked efforts and cut funding for Sept. 11-related health care. Last year, Congress appropriated $108 million toward health care for Sept. 11 workers, but in his fiscal 2009 budget, Bush cut that by 77 percent—to $25 million.

A study by doctors at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City in 2006 found nearly 70 percent of firefighters, police officers, emergency medical crews, construction workers, utility workers and volunteers suffered lung and other serious health problems.

The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (H.R. 6594) would establish a monitoring and treatment program for responders and people who lived near Ground Zero. It is named after a New York police detective who died from the aftereffects of responding to the disaster. But it is unclear when the bill will come up for a vote.

AFL-CIO Pres. Sweeney on Takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Call for Economic Stimulus

John Sweeney — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:36:00 EST

While a federal bailout is never welcome news to taxpayers, the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- institutions pivotal to middle class home ownership – was clearly necessary. Rep. Barney Frank in particular is to be commended for his leadership, in addition to Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke.

However, we are concerned about press reports of executive severance packages totaling over $21 million. All payments to departing executives should be frozen pending a full review of their conduct. These institutions play an important public role and need to be managed and regulated with that responsibility in mind. The Treasury's short term plan to increase their activity is wise. However, the long term plan to shrink their role in the mortgage markets will put us right where we started, with a shaky structure easily abused and more deregulation. It should be changed by the next Administration.

Our nation got into a full-blown housing crisis because of years of deregulation and privatization in the financial industries - - no one was watching the hen house. The evidence is clear that conservative economic theory, championed by Bush and McCain, has utterly failed working families.

Now, our leaders must be just as aggressive in enacting a stimulus package that will quickly stabilize and spur our nation’s entire sinking economy. Friday’s announcement that 6.1 percent of Americans are now unemployed makes crystal clear the need to jump-start our economy quickly and deliberately.

Congress must pass a stimulus package that focuses on fiscal relief for states and cities and extends unemployment benefits for those still without work. It should include funding for food stamps to make sure that all Americans can provide for their families. Finally, it must provide funding for ready-to-go construction to repair schools, roads and bridges -- construction that will to help create good, family-supporting jobs in many communities where there are currently none.

Fundamental economic change is necessary to reverse the decades-long decline of the middle class and to shore up an economy built like a house of cards. In the long term, we should move to reform our financial institutions and ineffective regulations to ensure the integrity of our capital markets. And we must address the huge economic imbalance between workers and corporations by passing the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation which will give workers the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively.