John McCain on Jobs

John McCain

• Blocked a bill to protect overtime rights.

• Opposed extending unemployment benefits.

• Voted to allow privatization and outsourcing of government jobs.

• Voted to eliminate the minimum wage

Source: AFL-CIO

John McCain on the Economy

"The issue of economics is something that I've really never understood as well as I should."

John McCain

• Says we're better off now than eight years ago and calls our economic problems "psychological."

• Proposed a tax plan that would give billions to corporations and would cut key working family programs.

• Didn't attend Senate vote on a stimulus package hat failed by one vote.

Source: AFL-CIO

USW District 7 SOAR At U. of IL.

This week, SOAR members are busy getting some education at the University of Illinois.
District 7 has been sending Steelworkers to this Labor educational experience for forty eight consecutive years without a lapse.

District 7 SOAR Executive Board Member, Steve Skvara said, "I am glad to see that retirees are staying involved with the ongoing education program for District 7 and I particularly thank Director Jim Robinson for his support".

It's turning out to be a great experience not only for SOAR members but for many active Steelworkers as well.

McCain says it's all in your head

Support Georgia Pacific Workers Against this Greedy Employer

Support Georgia Pacific
Workers
ON
Fridays & Saturdays!

Over a year ago the workers at Georgia Pacific in Wheatfield, Indiana, voted overwhelmingly to organize with the USW. Our union has been negotiating a first contract since that time, and has yet to have a contract.

Georgia Pacific makes wallboard. Though they are making tremendous profits, they are demanding wage cuts, decrease of funeral leave and other take – aways. They have increased wallboard prices three times this year and they sell their products at Menards.

Our newly organized Brothers and Sisters need our help. We will be holding informational pickets at the plant on Fridays and leafleting at Menards on Saturdays, adding a new site every week, until we reach a fair contract!

Friday July 25, Aug. 1 & Aug 8
6 AM till 8 AM

Informational picket at the plant in Wheatfield. The plant is located on 1400 N. off of 49. To get to there from Lake county, go south on I-65 to 231 exit. Take 231 south to route 10. Take 10 east (left) to 49, then north on 49.

From Porter county because of the construction on 49, it’s easier to take route 2 south to route 10. Then east (left) on 10 to 49. Go north on 49 to 1400 – go right on 1400.

Saturday, July 26
9 AM – 10 AM

Leaflet at Menards in Valparaiso (just off of route 2 east side of Valpo)

and

Menards in Michigan City (north of 80-94 on 421)

and

Menards in Portage (Hwy. 6 east of Willowcreek)

We are escalating each week, so …
on August 2 add on Menards in Merrillville

And on August 9 add on Menards in Mishawaka!

If you live near enough to one of those sites, please try to be with us. Thanks!

Contact Number – District 7, Sub 4 Office 574-935-3563

Insurance Company Rules

Will John McCain Return the Social Security check he calls a "disgrace?"

Will John McCain Return the Social Security Check He Calls a “Disgrace?”

Senator’s Monthly Check Averages Nearly $2,000

The following statement was issued today by Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans.

“Retirees are puzzled by today’s media accounts that Senator John McCain received Social Security benefits of $23,157 in 2007, an average of $1,929.75 each month.

“America’s seniors deserve straight talk. Senator McCain, now that you have said that Social Security is a disgrace, will you now mark ‘RETURN TO SENDER’ on your check?”


“Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed.”

- John McCain, July 7, 2008

Source: Alliance for Retired Americans

Meet Barack Obama - Part 7 - Retirement Security

" We'll have to come together to keep America's promise, the promise that in this country, people who work hard will be able to retire with the dignity and the respect that they have earned."

__Barack Obama, speaking in Cincinnati, Feb. 25, 2008

Barack Obama on:

Retirement Security

Barack Obama will protect Social Security, Medicare and pensions.

• Obama voted to protect Social Security and Medicare.

• Obama pledged not to cut benefits or raise the retirement age.

• Obama strongly opposes privatizing Social Security.

• Obama will cut income taxes for low-and middle-income seniors.

Source: AFL-CIO website

Meet Barack Obama - Part 6 - Workers Rights

Barack Obama joins striking workers in Chicago.

"If a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. It's that simple."

--Barack Obama, speaking to the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Convention, April 2, 2008

Barack Obama on:

workers' Rights

Barack Obama will fight for worker's freedom to form unions and bargain.

• Obama co-sponsored the employee Free choice Act and has pledged to sign it into law.

• Obama has voted for collective bargaining rights for public employees.

• Obama left the campaign trail to vote in favor of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

• Obama has rallied with striking workers and supported union organizing campaigns.

Source: AFL-CIO website

Meet Barack Obama - Part 5 - Trade

"Whatever trade deals we negotiate when I'm President will be good for American workers, and...they'll have strong labor and environmental protections that we'll enforce."

---Barack Obama, speaking to the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, April 2, 2008

Barack Obama on:

Trade

Barack Obama will fight for a fair trade policy that protects jobs and respects workers.

• Obama voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

• Obama opposes a free trade deal with Colombia, where workers and their rights are under attack.

• Obama pledges to include enforceable labor standards in any trade deal.

• Obama would expand assistance to workers displaced by trade and invest in industries that create jobs.

Source: AFL-CIO website

Meet Barack Obama - Part 4 - Health Care

"We need to make health care affordable for every single American, and that's what I'll do as President."
--Barack Obama, speaking in Virginia, June 5, 2008

Barack Obama on

Health Care

Barack Obama wants to provide health care for all that cuts costs and improves quality.

• Obama's health care plan would give everyone access to the same quality coverage members of Congress get.

• Obama's plan will cut costs and protect and improve current health care benefits.

• Obama's plan is making sure consumers get fair treatment from insurers.

• Obama voted to protect Medicare and childrens health insurance.

Source: AFL-CIO website

Meet Barack Obama - Part 3 - Good Jobs

"I don't want to wake up one day many years from now and see that our workers are still being denied the wages and benefits and rights that they deserve."

__Barack Obama, speaking at the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department Conference, April 15, 2008

Barack Obama on Good Jobs

Barack Obama will fight to protect good jobs and create new ones.

• Obama voted to raise the minimum wage.

• Obama voted to support overtime pay, equal pay, prevailing wages and family and medical leave.

• Obama voted against privatizing federal jobs.

• Obama will invest in the renewable energy sector and in America's infrastructure to create new jobs.

• Obama will increase the resources for low-carbon, clean coal technologies.

Source: AFL-CIO

Meet Barack Obama - Part 2 - Economy

"The choice we face right now is a choice between more of he same policies that have widened inequality, added to our debt, and shaken the foundation of our economy, or change that will restore balance to our economy, and fuel a bottom-up prosperity to keep America strong and competitive in the 21st century."

--Barack Obama, speaking in Raleigh, N.C. June 9, 2008

Barack Obama on the
Economy

Barack Obama recognizes our nation's economic crisis wasn't inevitable: It resulted from failed policies that hurt working families.

• Obama has proposed a tax plan that rewards working families, not just the very wealthiest.

• Obama has pledged to create a new mortgage tax credit and offer $10 billion in aid to struggling homeowners.
  

• Obama has voted to strengthen vital programs for working families like Medicare and student aid.

• Obama supported extending unemployment insurance and giving rebates to families, seniors and veterans.
  

Meet Barack Obama - Part 1 The Man

• Born Aug. 4, 1961, raised by a working mother and his grandparents.

• Community organizer in chicago area hurt by closing of steel mills.

• First African American president of Harvard Law Review.

• As Illinois state senator, championed access to health care, early childhood education.

• Elected to U.S. Senate by an overwhelming margin in 2004.
  

• Earned a 98 percent lifetime rating as U.S. senator from the AFL-CIO.

Source: AFL-CIO

What a Relief! Bush says Economy is in good shape

See what deregulation does? Gasoline prices, layoffs, plant closings, millions losing their homes. Yeah, the economy is on the move.

Why is Georgia-Pacific putting the screws to American working families?

Not content with jacking up the price of wallboard three times in the past 12 months, Georgia-Pacific is now demanding that the workers who make the wallboard in Wheatfield, Indiana take big pay cuts.

Does their greed have no bounds?

Think about that before buying Georgia-Pacific wallboard at Menards.

A message from your friends and neighbors - The United Steelworkers

This information is being distributed for purely informational purposes. We are not asking or suggesting that any person engage in a strike against his or her employer or refuse in the course of his or her employment to use, manufacture, process or transport or otherwise handle or work on any articles, materials or commodities or perform any service. The Union's dispute is only with Georgia-Pacific. The union is not asking any member of the public to refuse to patronize Menard's or any other retail establishment.

We Don't Need John McCain

I Feel Sorry For John McCain

I do feel sorry for John McCain.
Not because he's getting up in years. Heck, lot's of people in their 80's and 90's are in good mental shape.
But let's face facts. Senator McCain is beginning to lose it.
It's not fair to him, and those egging him on are to blame. I think they're doing him a disservice.

USW 2008 Convention Keynote Video

Is Georgia Pacific just another greedy company?

The workers at Georgia Pacific in Wheatfield, Indiana voted to join the United Steelworkers Union.

The Steelworkers Union has been attempting to negotiate a first contract with the Georgia Pacific Company Located on 485 E. County Road 1400 N. in Wheatfield, Indiana for one year - and has yet to have a contract.

Georgia Pacific makes wall board.

They have increased their prices three times this year and they sell their product at Menards.

Is Georgia Pacific just another greedy employer?

SOAR Members Endorse Barack Obama for President

The Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president at its 9th International Conference in Las Vegas.

The resolution endorsing Obama, passed at the SOAR meeting held June 27 and 28, voices displeasure with the current Bush administration and the damage it has done to the United States and the world.

The 130 delegates to the conference also elected a leadership team for the next three years. International Vice President Fred Redmond administered the oath of office to SOAR President C.L. “Connie” Entrekin, Vice President Harry Hynd, Western Vice President Al Becco and Secretary-Treasurer Charlie Averill.

The resolution endorsing Obama highlighted the repeated failures of the current administration’s domestic and foreign policy including the failure to adequately help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the increase in our national debt and the ill-timed and mismanaged invasion of Iraq.

Delegates also voiced frustration with the present administration’s failure to meet the health and educational needs of the American people while continuing its calculated attack on Social Security and attempts to privatize Medicare.

Obama’s Republican opponent, John McCain, offers a repeat of the same Bush administration policies that have assaulted the quality of life of working families and retirees, the delegates said.

The November election, the resolution stated, is an opportunity to elect a president and Congress that can together stop the nation’s deterioration and rebuild an America that meets the needs of its people and restores our reputation as a leader in the society of nations.
The delegates pledged to commit SOAR to do all it can to elect Obama as the next president. They said

Obama has demonstrated that he has a broad understanding of the situations we face, a vision of how change can be achieved and in what directions it must move, and an ability both to inform and inspire our people.

In addition to the SOAR officers, members elected to the SOAR Executive Board include William Moore (District 1), Milo Rinna (District 2), Gerald Edwards (District 3), Jim Bickhart (District 4) Robert Saumure (District 5), Daniel McNeil (District 6), Steve Skvara (District 7), Jack Casparriello (District 8), Jim Swindle (District 9) Denise Edwards (District 10) Dave Trach (District 11), and Bob Rankin (District12).

In addition to the elected board members, retired International President Lynn Williams serves as SOAR president emeritus. Larry Spitz, and George Edwards serve as emeritus members of the SOAR executive board.