Happy Anniversary

I was privileged to be invited to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Plumbers & Pipefitters Local #145 in Grand Junction last evening.  It is no secret that I think that unions are good for workers, and that they have been unduly maligned by corporations who believe that profits should trump worker safety every time. What I’ve never been able to figure out is why workers buy into the corporate story line, when it is so obviously not in their own best interest.  Unions have fought for worker safety since they were founded, and Local #145 is no different. 

But let me give you another reason for joining a union. They throw great parties! The workers were dressed to kill—their president was even in a tux, and looked like a million bucks. Ladies got out their party dresses. The food was delicious—I lamented not having a baggie in my purse so that I could take what I could not eat home with me. As if large portions of really good food weren’t enough, they had a live band for entertainment and dancing. Local 145, I hope you enjoy another 75 great years!

Meeting in Silt

There is an important meeting in Silt, Colorado on Monday. Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend because I’ll be in Denver with Western Colorado Congress talking to legislators about this legislative session. I’m hoping some of my readers will attend, and testify about your concerns about the development of Oil Shale.  I’ve linked to a story below that has lots of good information and points you to even more resources. Read it, and then go to the meeting. Please, stand up for our water and air!

Monday, March 12, 2012
BLM Colorado River Valley Office
2300 River Frontage Road, Silt, Colorado
7:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

Campaign Gets Ugly

I got word yesterday that a young woman has been assigned to follow Dan Robinson around and find things that can be used against him. I went to her website to see what she had to say, and was appalled at what I saw. This young woman is a special education teacher in School District 51. Her attack on Dan proved that she is a white supremacist. She believes that he is a racist because he advocates in favor of special needs and minority kids. I am appalled that she is in a classroom every day with the very children that need the protections Dan is offering. If there is a racist in this ugly story it isn’t Dan Robinson. (No way am I linking to her story—she doesn’t need any readers.)

Homework

Local 145

Oil Shale 2050

Hate Groups on the Rise

Yesterday I blogged about how unions are reacting to workers who consistently vote against their own best interests. Today’s look is at how they are reacting to the future.

I’m not sure what “FRESC” is short for, but it is a coalition between labor and the environmental community. FRESC convened a coalition to raise renewable energy standards in Colorado. Okay, so the “RES” in FRESC must mean “renewable energy standards” and the “C” must mean Colorado. I’m still clueless about the “F,” but this organization deserves an “A.”

They are claiming responsibility for getting legislation passed in 2010 that increases the renewable energy standard to 30%. Environmental groups had worked for at least 10 years trying to move Colorado toward cleaner energy. Recognizing that green energy also meant good green jobs, and healthy communities, labor joined forces with the environmental community to build a broad coalition.

There are some unlikely partners in FRESC, which bills itself as a “blue-green” coalition: Environment Colorado, Colorado AFL-CIO, Colorado Environmental Coalition, IBEW, Colorado Conservation Voters, Sun Edison, Colorado Building Construction Trades Council, Interwest Energy Alliance, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Solar Alliance, and the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association. They worked with Colorado’s Governor and Xcel Energy to create a policy that promotes both clean energy and workplace standards.

According to a FRESC brochure, during the five year period between 2005 and 2010, employment in Colorado’s clean-tech industry increased 32.7%, while the national increase was only 10%. In 2010, the only growth sector in the state was clean-tech, which had increased to 1,600 companies which employed 19,000 workers.

I was running for office in 2010, so I met with representatives at Xcel Energy to understand how the requirement to produce at least 30% of its energy from renewable sources was impacting the utility giant. They said that it was easy, and they were proud of leading the nation in their movement toward cleaner energy.

What I didn’t realize at the time is that there was another component to House Bill 1001, which Bill Ritter signed into law. Labor is proud that clean energy jobs will be good jobs thanks to provisions in the bill. It requires that solar installation projects include certified solar installers and an on-site project supervisor who holds certification. Certification is through a test that is administered by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners. Community colleges and union apprentice programs are designed to prepare workers to pass the test.

The law also requires the PUC to consider job quality and community impact, in addition to environmental impact and public health, when reviewing proposals to build new energy plants. The bill instructs the PUC to consider long-term career opportunities, health care and pension benefits, and wages as part of the approval process. This changes the dynamic form projects with the least cost being approved to projects with the highest probability of creating good middle class jobs in local communities.

It looks to me that this “blue-green” coalition is a winner that deserves an “A” and one that we should be glad exists as their future policy work extends beyond the Front Range into our part of the state.

Homework
www.fresc.org

Last Saturday I attended a meeting hosted by the Colorado AFL-CIO. In addition to union leaders, the Pipefitter’s Hall in North Denver was filled with Democratic legislators and candidates interested in learning about the issues important to unions. Presentations were given by the Colorado Building and Construction Trades Council, public sector unions representing both state and federal government workers, private sector unions, and allied organizations.

The allied organizations were the most interesting to me. There is the Colorado Alliance for Retired Americans, made up of retired union workers.  There is Working America, an organization working to reach out to all working families, regardless of union membership. And there is a Young Worker Project. How about FRESC, working on a “formula for a new energy economy in Colorado?” Finally, there is the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, working on organizing Latino workers.

Working America is working to organize the 99%. They are “the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO.” In their eight years of existence, they have recruited 3-million members by reaching out to working-class moderates and conservatives who don’t have a union on the job. Their membership is not the traditional union membership:

70% are moderate or conservative.

33% own guns.

33% are weekly churchgoers.

82% are active voters.

500,000 are young.

500,000 are unemployed.

Working America recognizes that good jobs will be on the mind of most voters in 2012. Their issues during this election cycle include extending unemployment insurance, creating green jobs and investing in infrastructure, protecting quality public services and public jobs, preserving Medicare and Medicaid, holding Wall Street accountable to Main Street, and getting corporate money out of elections, while protecting voting rights.

Working America canvassed neighborhoods in nine states during the 2010 election. They cite wins in Minnesota and Colorado. In Minnesota, they had 50,000 in-person conversations with voters, helping to elect Mark Dayton.  In Colorado’s seventh district they contacted more than 40,000 voters to help elect Michael Bennet.

I plan to write more about what I learned about unions over the next few days, so stay tuned.

Homework

www.workingamerica.org

For those of you wondering where I’ve been, the answer is Denver. When I visit Denver I usually stay with an artist friend who is not connected to the internet. I stay with him because he doesn’t mind me bringing Jackson, and is willing to babysit the dog while I do other things.

Laura Bradford

I wrote previously about testifying at a Senate hearing about the Cottage Foods Act. One of the companion bills in the House is a cake and cookies bill sponsored by Laura Bradford. There was a hearing on that bill at the same time as the Senate hearing. But Laura Bradford made the news for another reason—it seems that she had a few drinks with some lobbyists. Then while driving around Capitol Hill, she made a mistake with an illegal turn, which attracted the Denver police. She failed one of the roadside sobriety tests, but did not have a blood test or a breathalyzer test. During the traffic stop, it became apparent that she was a legislator, which prompted a conversation among the cops about immunity for legislators. Suddenly Laura was in even more hot water, with her ethics as well as judgment being questioned. If only she would have stuck with cakes and cookies.

Unions

On Saturday I attended a briefing at a Pipefitter’s Union hall in north Denver. It was an issues briefing by unions for the benefit of sitting legislators and/or candidates. I’ll write more about that later, but the big take away was that unions plan on playing a big role in elections this fall, but they are only going to support candidates who support their issues. They believe they represent workers, whether or not those workers are unionized, so they plan on reaching out to working households that they may not have reached before. They made a point of telling candidates that they might be working on their behalf, but that they weren’t going to coordinate any of that with the campaigns.

Foreign Cars

Finally, the best reason I can think of for buying American is the price of getting a foreign car fixed. I could’ve bought a new car for the amount I’ve spent on my VW bug over the past year. But it wouldn’t be as cute.

There is an old adage about a pendulum swinging. Since grandfather clocks have been out of vogue for at least a century, and even the wrist watch is sliding into oblivion with the advent of smart phones, it may no longer be a recognizable analogy to anybody under the age of 60. When a pendulum swings to the peak of its arc, it changes direction and begins a swing in the other direction. Used in analogies a pendulum swinging usually means that something has gone so far in one direction that it must begin to self-correct.

I’m hoping that anti-union sentiment has finally reached the peak of its arc, and people will finally begin to see the need for working together to improve the job experience of workers. Unfortunately, I don’t see much movement toward self-correction. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January of this year that 2010 saw union membership decline from 12.3% to 11.9% during the previous year. The government first started keeping records on how many union members there were in 1983. That year there were 17.7 million union workers, which represented 20.1% of all workers. Today there are 14.7 million union workers, a decline of almost 17% over the past 28 years.

Today the average American worker earns $1 for every $263 a corporate CEO is paid. That corporate CEO authorizes his company to pay more money to lobbyists than it pays in taxes to support the policies for which he is advocating. The American worker has seen his wages stagnate for decades as his jobs have been outsourced and moved overseas, and corporate backed groups like ALEC have worked tirelessly to destroy the ability of American workers to organize.

The stagnation of American wages corresponds closely with the decline of union membership. From the same Bureau of Labor Statistics report: “In 2010, among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $917, while those who were not represented by unions had median weekly earnings of $717.” The broader story is demonstrated in a chart at the first Homework link. Check it out.

The moral of this story is if you want a raise, join a union. Unions are the only organizations looking out for workers and their families. Don’t buy the spin being sold by ALEC and corporate CEOs. Until the pendulum starts to swing, there will be little to celebrate on Labor Day.

Homework

Wages and Union Membership

Government Statistics About Union Membership

ALEC and Union Busting

Iowa Straw Poll

Most of you know that I faithfully watch Meet the Press on Sunday mornings. It is a tradition started when I was a child and watched that show with my grandfather. I really liked Tim Russert, and groused about the show when David Gregory took over after Russert’s death. I didn’t think Gregory had the chops to grill both sides of the aisle. From my perspective he leaned too far to the right. He may be growing into his role—he didn’t irritate me nearly as much today.

Today David’s guest was Michelle Bachmann fresh from her straw poll win in Iowa. The thing that continues to strike me about Bachmann is her confidence and authority. She is unflappable. Read Narcissits Rise to the Top to see why that is striking.

Yesterday Rick Perry rained on Bachmann’s parade by announcing his bid to be the GOP nominee. Bob Shrum today on Meet the Press called Rick Perry a barracuda who will eat Bachmann alive. Clearly Bachmann and Perry will be competing for the evangelical vote. It was the consensus on the Meet the Press panel that neither will be the eventual nominee. Neither will Tim Pawlenty, Lawrence O’Donnell’s pick for eventual nominee on his show The Last Word. Pawlenty left the race today. He was unable to raise enough cash to keep going.

Unions

Several unions announced this week that they will boycott the Democratic convention in South Carolina. There were similar rants when the convention was in Denver, which ended in a compromise when union workers were allowed to work the Pepsi Center. After reading the linked article about Grover Norquist, I have to ask the unions, ARE YOU NUTS?

Who Rules the World

I direct you to an article that analyzes the people and companies that control at least $46 billion in wealth, and how they are picking the pockets of ordinary Americans. Conservatives, in comments on the Sentinel’s on-line edition, recently accused me of engaging in class warfare.  I confessed in a follow-up post to this blog. Warren Buffet, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” It is the middle class that is losing, and nothing the GOP is offering is going to change that.

The Impact of War

Finally I direct you to a really sad story about a soldier who couldn’t get the help he needed.

Homework

Narcissits Rise to the Top

Grover Norquist Wants to Destroy Unions

Pawlenty Quits

Latinos Don't Like Rick Perry

Who Really Rules the World?

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Political Polls

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About the Impacts of War

Political junkie that I am, I spent a lot of last night watching the returns in Wisconsin’s special recall election. Things just got more difficult for the Republicans in the Senate, but they are still in control, with a one vote majority.

Some of the highlights of my watching included an interview with three New York City firefighters who had been in Wisconsin, knocking on doors, in support of the Wisconsin firefighter’s union. They said that Wisconsin sent help to New York after 9/11, and so they wanted to return the favor. That sounds a lot to me like neighbor helping neighbor, which we need more of.

Another factoid was that prior to these six election contests, there had only been 20 recall elections in the history of the nation. So, win or lose, this was an historic election, and demonstrated that people working together can make government more responsive.

Somewhere along the line I saw a chart of the trend in numbers in union workers in the US superimposed on a chart of the percentage of GDP controlled by the middle class. Amazing chart. The trajectory on both statistics is negative, and almost identical.

Wake up middle class! Unions created a middle class, and now that the Republicans are intent on destroying unions, the middle class is disappearing. This isn’t a coincidence. It is past time for the pendulum to swing in favor of unions.

Homework

Milwaukee Report of WI Elections

Chart Comparing Middle Class GDP with Union Membership

Candidates are required to report the amount of money they raise in any quarter. Poor Scott Tipton, the newcomer is seriously nipping at his heels. During the last quarter Tipton raised $146,000. Sal Pace, his Democratic rival, raised $102,000.  On the surface it looks like Tipton won that race.

But look again. Tipton took three months to raise his money, while Pace only had one month to raise his money.  Put another way, Tipton raised $49,000 each month, while Pace raised $100,000 each month. Pace is setting the pace.

Tipton is a millionaire. Pace is not. Tipton can seed his own campaign if he needs to. The national Republican Party will support Tipton. The national Democratic Party will support Pace. Money will come from 527 organizations for both candidates. There is going to be a lot of money in this race because we live in a swing district.

A bit of a surprise for me: Pace has already received $15,000 from unions. They don’t usually enter a race so early on. Tipton must have really pissed off union workers. Pace, being from Colorado’s only real steel town, would naturally have some union contacts, and has apparently already tapped into that resource. More than money, unions can get out the vote with boots on the ground during the get out the vote phase of an election.

Go Pace! 

Homework

Tipton's Hometown Newspaper Story About Tipton's Fundraising

Usually I don’t comment on elections in other states, but one yesterday was a doozie. It proves that voters see through all the crap that the GOP is slinging into the election process, and think it stinks.

Remember all the protestors in Wisconsin when the newly elected Republican governor decided to strip union workers of their rights in the state where most union rights were invented? Despite the protests, the GOP passed their bill, to chants of “shame, shame” by Democrats and protestors. Democrats responded by launching a recall campaign against six GOP lawmakers in an attempt to take back the Senate. The GOP responded by passing laws making it harder to vote, and by running fake Democrats in a recall primary in order to slow the process.

Yesterday was primary day in Wisconsin, and the fake Democrats lost their bids in overwhelming numbers. Wisconsin isn’t like Colorado where only Democrats vote in Democratic primaries and only Republicans vote in GOP primaries. Anyone registered to vote can vote in either primary. No doubt the GOP had a significant get out the vote effort to elect the fake Democrats. The voters saw the deceit and decided they wanted nothing to do with it.

Now there will be actual elections that could change the make-up of the state senate, turning it from red to blue once again. August is going to be a busy month, with the potential default of the U.S. government and elections in Wisconsin.

Colorado has a Secretary of State who is taking some pages out of the GOP dirty tricks book to make it harder for Coloradans to vote. Even Republican election officials see his efforts for the stinking pile of crap that it is and have refused to play the game.

Homework

Reuters Story About Wisconsin Primary

ColoradoPols Blog About Gessler Vs Reiner (Mesa County's Election Official)

What do Unions and Dictators have in common? Both are under attack, and isn’t it ironic.

It looks like 2011 will be a banner year for both democracy in the Middle East and democracy in the workplace, as protesters are out in the streets of the world in support of both individual civil rights and worker’s rights to organize. The GOP, and its phony astro-turf supporters like Americans for Prosperity, is out to destroy unions, but may destroy the GOP instead.

Try to remember that I’m the eternal optimist, but I believe that even if Governor Walker in Wisconsin gets his bill passed, it will be a hollow victory. Workers will remember, if nothing else, his conversation with a pretend Koch brother. He said that he was thinking about creating some diversions to make the protest turn violent. That brought everyone into the fray, including police departments—who are unionized. They thought that Walker had a very bad idea.

What I see happening, through my rose colored glasses, is workers who may have been anti-union beginning to see how the work that unions do to keep workplaces safe, and promote livable wages for all Americans benefits all workers. In fact a local union organizer told me that they had signed up enough new workers this past week to increase their union by almost 10% in Mesa County. I’d say it is a good time to be a union organizer, and a bad time to try to keep workers quiet anywhere on this planet.

Maybe workers will finally stop voting against their own best interests. Maybe workers will stop believing the lies told by the likes of Americans for Prosperity. If an organization is supported by major multinational corporations, they aren’t interested in making life better for the ordinary working guy. Believe me: they want profits, and workers salaries dig into profits.

Homework

European leaders tell Gaddafi to go

Protesters across US decry anti-union efforts