Rally in Goshen, Indiana

Rally Monday, October 29, 2012

Supporting Steelworkers--

Cequent, a manufacturer company in Goshen, Indiana is saying that they are moving to Mexico--

Help Save These Jobs

Stop Cequent of Goshen From sending our jobs to Mexico!

Rally & Informational Picket

Date: Monday Oct. 29th at 1PM est
Location: Gather in the parking lot of Menards in Goshen.
(1925 Lincolnway East (US 33), Goshen, IN)

See previous post

NIPSCO Retirees Reunite

The Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and although the company didn’t see fit to invite their retirees to the celebration, over ninety members of SOAR Chapter 30-18 celebrated their fourteenth year by holding their fourteenth annual Retirees Reunion this month.

Chapter President, Dorine Godinez and the committee made sure that all went well and members enjoyed visiting with old friends and making new ones.

Because the company service territory covers the northern third of the state, the chapter limits its social activities to this one event each year, which is subsidized by USW locals 12775, 13796, 5840 and District 7 Sub District 4.

Door prizes, all made in the U.S.A., were handed out to all and we were honored to have as our guests, SOAR Director Jim Centner and his wife, Carol.


You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

I Will Fight Back

I will NOT lie down

I will NOT go quietly

I will NOT submit

I will NOT roll over

I will NOT comply

I will NOT shut up

I will NOT sit down

I will STAND UP and

I will FIGHT BACK AGAINST ATTACKS on WORKER'S RIGHTS!

Divide And Conquer

The Attack On The Middle Class, 

                           Divide And Conquer

The disappointing results of the recall election of Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin have revealed the challenges workers and the middle class are faced with. The least of which is not the unbridled, obscene amounts of money corporate interests and billionaires poured into this race, outspending the opponent 8 to 1.

What should be a wake up call for all of us is the statement by Walker that his strategy in stripping state employees of their basic work place democratic rights is based on a divide and conquer approach.

This strategy simply pits one worker against another, based on the premise that one is getting more than the other. Thereby diverting attention to what is really causing both to lose and causing workers to vote against their own best interest.

Putting aside the fact that most of the problems with funding public employee pensions and other state budgetary problems and that our overall economic problems were and are caused by wall street/big bank misdeeds, many would rather attack what some other worker is getting. Rather than a race to the bottom, let’s stand up, fight back. Support your union.  

Why as retirees and seniors should we care? For many reasons, including our concerns for the well being of our children and grandchildren, but also to protect the attack on our benefits including Medicare and Social Security. The Republicans have already started a generational divide on their budget proposal regarding these programs.

Bill Gibbons, PACE Board Member of SOAR

Wisconsin - Not Our Waterloo

If you listened to right-wing commentators after the Walker recall election, you heard about the declining influence of organized labor. This was not our last stand! Unlike Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo, we have not been defeated and exiled never to be heard from again. If anything, we have been reenergized in our fight to prevent the one per centers from destroying our country. As USW International President Leo W. Gerard stated, the defeat was “disappointing, but we’re not done fighting for workers’ rights.”

The two biggest factors in the recall was the huge amount of money spent by the Walker campaign to keep his job, thanks to the “Citizens United” ruling by the Supreme Court and the debate on whether utilizing the recall procedure for anything rather than malfeasance is the proper use of this type of referendum.

This was a perfect example of corporate money drowning out the voices of real people. According to the New York Times, Walker and his Republican allies spent $45.6 million on the race as of May 21, while Barrett and his allies spent $17.9 million. The other factor was the recall itself. In exit polling results compiled by the New York Times, 68 percent of those voting for Walker believed recall elections should only be held for reasons of official misconduct, which I believe played a major role in the outcome of this election.

We should all be proud of our union and all of organized labor’s work in this election. If anything, our resolve to stand up and fight to protect our rights from the corporate elite is stronger than ever and battle tested. The challenge is great but as our past USW President George Becker was often quoted, “failure is not an option!”

Connie Entrekin, SOAR President

We Must Remember

 By Bill Gibbons

Two dates in May, 2012, represent the anniversary of two major historic labor events. One is the 70- year anniversary of the founding of the United Steelworkers of America  in Cleveland, Ohio. The other is the 75-year anniversary of the May 30, 1937, Memorial Day Massacre, at which time ten brave Steelworker members of Local 1033 were killed by Chicago police, while peacefully marching and picketing for a union contract at the Republic Steel Mill on the South Side of Chicago. Nine died of gunshot wounds and one from being beaten, and over a 100 others, including woman and children were injured. The sacrifices made by those injured and killed at Republic Steel, at what became known as the “Memorial Day Massacre,” was a major contribution to the formation of our union and the improvement in the working conditions, rights, wages and benefits that workers enjoyed for decades thereafter.

Statesman, Edmund Burke in the eighteenth century stated: “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” As we reflect on the history of the formation our union and the sacrifices made by so many such as at the Memorial Day Massacre so that so many of us enjoyed the status of the middle class, we see those accomplishments attacked on a regular basis by the extreme conservative Republicans today.

Let’s not allow history to repeat itself. The 2012 elections will be critical to our future and that of our children and grandchildren. We must be educated about the issues and policies and talk to our friends and family to make sure we vote and support worker friendly candidates that believe in workers’ rights.

For those that can make it, SOAR Chapter 31-9, USW Dist. 7,  USW 1010 and the Illinois Labor History Society are sponsoring a special Memorial Day Commemoration event on May 26, 2012 at 10:00 am at the George Washington High School, 3535 E 114 St. Chicago, IL. The day will include great speakers including USW President Leo Gerard, panel discussions on union and workers’ rights, yesterday, today and tomorrow; food and music.

Bill Gibbons, Pace Retirees Representative and Board Representative of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR)

The Road We've Traveled

Indiana Workers Will Not Back Down

Friday Alert Alliance for Retired Americans

Excepts from the November 18, 2011 edition

Super Committee Negotiations Go Down to the Wire

Just five days before the deadline for a deficit reduction deal, the Super Committee dealing with the nation’s budget deficit in Congress still did not seem close to reaching an agreement on tax reforms and spending cuts. According to CNN, 72 conservative House Republicans made public their opposition to any Super Committee agreement that includes tax increases. Such a large voting bloc in the Republican majority means Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) would need support from Democrats to get a deal that contains tax increases to pass the House. Democrats said they would not accept Republican demands to raise the Medicare eligibility age to 67, lower cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries, and permanently reduce all income tax rates. The special joint congressional committee has until November 23 to come up with a plan. A majority of the panel's 12 members, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate, need to agree on savings of at least $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. If they reach a deal, then Congress will have until December 23 to vote on it without amending it. A failure to pass any agreement would result in $1.2 trillion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts starting in 2013, evenly divided between defense and non-defense spending.



Brown-Mikulski-Merkley Bill Would Help Seniors by Changing Social Security COLA
On Wednesday, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced S. 1876, the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act. It is a bill to change the Social Security COLA to what is called the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) formula. "Retirees spend more of their financial resources on health care and housing than the general population. Because health care inflation rates, in particular, have been much higher than general inflation during the past twenty years, the current formula used to calculate the Social Security annual COLA does not accurately reflect the everyday costs that seniors face.  This legislation would be a financial help to seniors by addressing the existing disparity in calculating the COLA formula," said David Friesner, President of the Ohio Alliance and a constituent of Sen. Brown. The bill comes at a crucial time, given news stories about the Super Committee’s possible plans to adjust the COLA downward, and is a counterweight to those frightening reports.

Alliance Activists Take to the Streets, Community
As the Super Committee nears its deadline, Alliance activists this week made their voices heard all across the country.  At events ranging from protests and rallies in California, Arizona and Texas to Social Security and Medicare forums in Iowa, Florida, and New York, to a state convention in West Virginia, Alliance members educated their local community on issues facing current and future retirees.  Watch the Arizona Alliance on the TV news in Phoenix at http://bit.ly/syghWL. "From city sidewalks to senior centers in small towns, Alliance members are out there every single week, fighting for social and economic justice," said Ruben Burks, the Alliance’s Secretary-Treasurer.

Regional Meetings Begin in February

Be sure to hold the following dates for the Alliance’s 2012 Regional Meetings:
•    Western Regional: February 29 – March 2, 2012 - Las Vegas, Nevada - Bally’s Hotel

•    Midwest Regional: March 5-8, 2012 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Hilton Hotel Milwaukee

•    Southern Regional: April 29 – May 1, 2012 - Orlando, Florida – Buena Vista Palace Hotel
•    Northeastern Regional: May 14-16, 2012 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Sheraton City Center Hotel

A Stronger Voice

Finally, An American Jobs Plan Worth Fighting For

Sisters and Brothers,

The proposed American Jobs Act has the potential to create 4.3 million new jobs over the next couple of years – many of them in the manufacturing and other fields that employ our members.

We’ve created an online toolkit at www.usw.org/jobs where you can find fact sheets, talking points, video and other resources to help you find the facts about this proposal.

Obviously, no plan is perfect, and we do not and will not support new free trade agreements with Columbia, South Korea and Panama. We also will examine closely any proposed changes to Medicare and Medicaid before taking a stand on those issues.

But we can’t ignore all the good that in this plan.

The Economic Policy Institute is estimating the president’s plan could create 4.3 million new jobs. And the Alliance for American Manufacturing in a study with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst says that for every $1 billion in infrastructure spending, 18,000 new jobs would be created, including jobs in metals, concrete, cement, glass, rubber, plastics, wood and steel.

Among other things, President Obama’s plan, which adds no new government spending, calls for modernizing schools and investing $50 billion in rebuilding roads, bridges, transit, port, rail, communications and energy systems. That supports a potential 900,000 jobs in many of our core manufacturing industries.

And since we know every manufacturing job pays on average 10-50 percent more than service sector jobs and supports five more jobs in a community, the ripple effect could be huge.

The jobs plan is also a good reason to push other parts of our agenda, including the creation and implementation of a coordinated manufacturing policy that would:

• Establish a national infrastructure bank to leverage capital for large-scale transportation and energy projects.

• Reshape the tax code in a revenue neutral way to provide incentives for job creation and investment. Research and Development tax credits should help firms that not only innovate in America but also make their products here.

• Lower tax rates for manufacturing activity in America and eliminate tax shelters for hedge funds or financial transactions that have no real value.

• Consistent with our international obligations, apply "Buy America" domestic content provisions to all federal spending to ensure that American workers and businesses get the first shot at procurement contracts. 

• Shift some education investment to rebuilding our vocational and technical skills program, which would address looming shortages in the manufacturing sector.

• Refocus the trade agenda by giving American businesses new tools to counter China's currency manipulation, industrial subsidies, intellectual property theft and barriers to market access.

• Condition new federal loan guarantees for energy projects on the utilization of domestic supply chains for construction.


Focusing on manufacturing not only helps solve the need for jobs, but also will lower our trade deficit, which will make it easier for America to pay its bills.
 
We simply cannot continue to allow Congress to do nothing to address our jobs crisis! 

We’ll do our best to help keep you informed, including by keeping the newly created online “USW American Jobs Act Tool Kit” updated regularly. You can find it at www.usw.org/jobs.


In Solidarity,

Leo W. Gerard
USW International President

USW Slams Walker's Assault on Democracy

(Pittsburgh) – This statement was released this morning by the United Steelworkers (USW) on actions taken last evening by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Republican Senators.

In a clear violation of Wisconsin’s open meeting law, Wisconsin conservative senators yesterday voted without a quorum to strip the state’s public sector workers – teachers, nurses, and librarians – of collective bargaining rights that the people of Wisconsin granted them a half century ago.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                          
March 10, 2011                                                                                                                           
CONTACT:   Wayne Ranick (412) 562-2444

United Steelworkers International President Leo W. Gerard said this attack on the rights of Wisconsin’s public sector workers is an attack on all working people. “Although Wisconsin law requires a quorum when Senators vote to spend the people’s money, these conservatives exploited a loophole to vote without a quorum on legislation to steal workers’ rights. This is not democracy,” Gerard said.

“As illustrated by the surging crowd of protesters who filled the capitol building in Wisconsin after the undemocratic sneak-vote Wednesday, workers everywhere, whether public sector or private sector, union or unrepresented, will unite to win back their rights with their feet at protests and their votes at ballot boxes,” said Gerard, who leads North America’s largest industrial union, with 850,000 members, including steelworkers, paper workers, oil workers, rubber workers and public sector workers in the U.S. and Canada.

The conservative attack on workers in Wisconsin is far from isolated, Gerard said: “This is a nation-wide campaign by billionaires and country-club conservatives, to terminate workers’ rights, giving unfettered power to corporations.” So far in Wisconsin, conservatives have granted only government workers the right to freeload – the ability to benefit from collective bargaining without paying union dues. In nine other states, from Maine to Missouri, conservatives are pushing right to freeload legislation to cripple all unions.

“All this legislation is an attack on the middle class, which blossomed in this country as a result of collective bargaining victories during the middle of the last century. Middle-class workers, whether Republican or Democrat, know they must repel this assault on their right to collectively bargain or be reduced to insecurity and poverty,” Gerard said.

Nine Ladies Need our help

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

If you live in Northern Indiana, I'm pretty sure you're not going golfing tomorrow so why not take a leisurely drive for breakfast or lunch.

A company in Elkhart, Indiana by the name of American Electronics Components has been in negotiations with USW Local 1056 for two or three months. The local union consists of nine ladies.

This company refuses to bargain after offering their workers a raise of 18 cents over three years. Oh, they also offered to increase their medical insurance premiums 40% for an employee and an increase in premium of 60% for a family member. Some workers pay more than $200 a week for their health care.

The company needs assistance from our retirees in learning why it's a good idea to bargain in good faith.

If you can help us with an informational picket tomorrow, January 27th, please do so. The picketing will be at 1101 Lafayette St., (near Oakland Ave) in Elkhart, Indiana, from 9 am till 11 am EDT.

We would appreciate your being with us, but if you will be unable to help with the picketing, perhaps you could make a phone call to the company and encourage it to come back to the bargaining table. Their phone number is 574-295-6330. The plant manager name is Keith Vanderbosch. If he's not there, ask to speak to the owner.

Support Honeywell Workers

To read more about these greedy corporate thugs, click here.

The Light Bulbs to Buy

The next time you're shopping for environmentally friendly light bulbs, the United Steelworkers would like you to take a look at Sylvania Super Saver halogen bulbs. Union workers make them in the USA at a Pennsylvania plant. They're available at Lowe's, Menard's, online through Sylvania and at many BJ Wholesale Club stores in the Midwest. These bulbs are very important to the USW and are a mercury-free alternative to compact fluorescent bulbs made in China.

Thanks.

Congratulations to Georgia Pacific Workers

Today, the workers at the Georgia Pacific Gypsum plant in Wheatfield, Indiana won their election to be members of the United Steelworkers Union.

We need the Employee Free Choice Act so workers won't ever have to go through what this stinking company has put them through for the last three years.

Federal Mogul rally video

Retirees Wanted at Federal Mogul Demonstration

Come and help the retirees at Federal Mogul Corporation located in Logansport, Indiana.

They will demonstrate in front of this company at 3pm EDT, Wednesday, October 28.

This renegade company is trying to eliminate health insurance for their retirees. People who gave up wages throughout the years so they could have health insurance when they retire, and now the company wants to dump them.

If we keep letting this happen, none of us will be secure in our retirement years.

You can find out the particulars by clicking here.

Thanks.

We Were There

Who can ever doubt the importance and contribution of women to the Labor Movement in the United States. We all owe women a debt of gratitude.

Drive Union

Click on the photo above to enlarge it