| Thursday, June 10, 2010
CWA DISTRICT 2 MOVES TO BLOCK CORPORATE TAX-DODGERS: CWA District 2 activists recently "played a huge role" in winning support from a key U.S. Senator to stop corporate tax-dodgers. Legislation t o close a major tax loophole is before the Senate this week, and CWA members last month won support from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), a key member of the Senate Finance Committee. District vice presidents and local union presidents urged their senators to oppose the tax loophole, which they called "a Wall Street scheme that allows big businesses to avoid paying taxes on the sale of company assets," costing hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tax revenue. The provision closing the loophole is part of the jobs bill that stalled in the Senate yesterday, reports CWA's Shane Larson.
- Ryan Carty, AFL-CIO Union Summer intern; based on a report on the CWA District 2 website
AIRLINE WORKERS SKEPTICAL OF UNITED-CONTINENTAL MERGER: Area airline workers were among th ose keeping a close eye on Congressional hearings that began yesterday on the proposed merger between United Airlines and Continental Airlines. "The IAM is concerned that the new entity may be too big to succeed," International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' (IAM) General Vice President Robert Roach, Jr. testified. "Failure of such a large entity could be disastrous to employees, the industry and the national economy." The hearings continue today; IAM Local 1759 - whose members work at several major airlines, including United - is tracking the hearings here. - Jasmine Butler, AFL-CIO Union Summer intern; photo courtesy George Frey/Getty Images
3 UNION EMPLOYERS MAKE 2010 "BEST PLACES TO WORK" LIST: Three local union employers have made the Washington Business Journal's "2010 Best Places to Work." Workers at the Omni Shoreham - the union hotel where the Metro Council holds the annual Evening With Labor - are members of UNITE HERE Local 25 and IUOE Local 99, while HITT Contracting and James G. Davis Construction both use area building trades members. "This is the best place I have worked, and plan to stay for a long time," one Omni employee told the Business Journal. "I love working for Omni." All three won in the Large Companies with Local Headquarters category. - image courtesy Washington Business Journal
LABOR PROFILE: Union Summer Intern Ryan Carty: North Carolina native Ryan Carty “didn’t really know much about the labor movement,” but says he’s already gained “excellent hands-on experience” since bein g hired as part of the AFL-CIO’s Union Summer internship program at the Metro Washington Council. “In North Carolina there aren’t many unions, so I had no opinion on them,” says Carty. “However, I’m very enthusiastic about the opportunity to learn how everything works in the union from the ground up.” Ryan, 18, worked as a bus boy, receptionist, tutor, and soccer referee. More than 30 Union Summer interns – including seven who have been assigned to the Metro Washington Council – began working Monday at labor councils across America, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles to learn about mobilizing workers and how to play a role in restoring jobs lost during the economic collapse. “The 10-week program gives young activists on-the-ground education in organizing, community activism and coalition building,” says the AFL-CIO. Carty studies science technology and society at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where he begins his sophomore year this fall. - report/photo by Jasmine Butler, AFL-CIO Union Summer intern
TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY: Susan B. Anthony goes on trial in Canandaigua, N.Y. for casting her ballot in a federal election the previous November, in violation of existing statutes barring women from the vote (1873); Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (below) leads a rally in Phi ladelphia to focus public attention on children mutilated in the state's textile mills. Three weeks later the 73-year-old will lead a march to New York City to plead with President Theodore Roosevelt to help improve conditions for the children (1903); Twelve trade unionists meet in Pittsburgh to launch a drive to organize all steelworkers. It was the birth of the United Steelworkers of America (then called the Steel Workers Organizing Committee). By the end of the year 125,000 workers joined the union in support of its $5-a-day wage demand (1936); More info & ammo for unionists is available online from Union Communication Services.
- photo courtesy Library of Congress
HIRING HALL: Click here for full details & complete union jobs postings from the past month. Email streetheat@dclabor.org to post an opening!
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Published by the Metropolitan Washington Council, an AFL-CIO "Union City" Central Labor Council whose 200 affiliated union locals represent 150,000 area union members. JOSLYN N. WILLIAMS, PRESIDENT.
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