WSLC Reports Today
Updated DAILY... Almost Every Day™ by 9 a.m.

Links are functional at date of posting, but sometimes expire. Some links require free registration.  WSLC Reports Today links to stories of interest to organized labor; some positive, some negative.  The intention is to inform.

National news:
▪  In the PS Business Journal -- Debate must address costs of globalization for workers (editorial) --  The expiration of Fast Track negotiating authority is hugely symbolic. It shows the vast erosion in support for the aggressive, pro-trade agenda America has pursued for the past 14 years. 
▪  In today's Washington Post -- Job vacancies at Homeland Security said to hurt U.S. preparedness -- Says report: "One of the continuing problems appears to be the over politicization of the top rank of Department management. This could lead to heightened vulnerability to terrorist attack." The job vacancies are cited for weakened morale and reflect an over-reliance on contractors.
▪  In today's LA Times -- Healthcare to get front seat at Big Three talks -- U.S. automakers are expected to focus on cost cuts in union contract negotiations that start this month.
▪  From AP -- Orange County commuters face bus strike -- It's first bus strike in more than two decades disrupts thousands of commuters after 1,100 transportation workers walk off the job.
▪  From AP -- Pennsylvania awakes to partial state shutdown -- Its Democratic governor shut down the government late Sunday over a budget stalemate with the Republican State Senate.
▪  From AP -- Coal firm ordered 2 union members killed, civil suit says -- In a civil trial set to begin today before a federal jury in Birmingham, union lawyers have presented affidavits from two people who say that Drummond ordered the killings in Colombia, a charge the company denies.
▪  In Sunday's NY Times -- A profile in cowardice (Frank Rich op-ed) -- In pardoning Libby, Bush didn't care if he looked like an utter hypocrite, giving his crony a freer ride than Paris Hilton and violating the white-collar sentencing guidelines set by his own administration. He had to throw a bone to the last grumpy old white guys watching Bill O'Reilly in a bunker.

Last Throes update:
▪  In Sunday's NY Times -- The road home (editorial) -- It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have used demagoguery and fear to quell Americans’ demands for an end to this war. They say withdrawing will create bloodshed and chaos and encourage terrorists. Actually, all of that has already happened -- the result of this unnecessary invasion and the incompetent management of this war. This country faces a choice. We can go on allowing Mr. Bush to drag out this war without end or purpose. Or we can insist that American troops are withdrawn as quickly and safely as we can manage -- with as much effort as possible to stop the chaos from spreading.
▪  In Sunday's Washington Post -- Bleak assessment: Not one of the goals set for Iraq to be met 
▪  In today's NY Times -- White House debate rises on Iraq pullback -- Bush may try to prevent more defections from Senate Republicans by announcing his intention to begin a gradual withdrawal of American troops from the high-casualty neighborhoods of Baghdad and other cities.
▪  From In These Times -- Iraqi unions fight new oil law -- The proposed law, which would open up control of the country’s oilfields to multinational corporations, is one of Bush’s top political priorities. But union leaders say it could export much of the oil and profits from these fields.
▪  In today's LA Times -- U.S. seen as biggest threat to global stability -- In a Harris poll, 36% of Europeans in five countries name America as the No. 1 danger to world peace. (As the bumper sticker reads: "I love my country... but I think we should start seeing other people.") 
▪  Of the 3,606 U.S. troops killed in Iraq, 3,467 have died since President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" and an end to major combat operations in May 2003.
▪  The WSLC's affiliated unions have called for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

MONDAY, JULY 9, 2007
"You can have a clean environment and good jobs"

The following was posted at AFL-CIO Now over the weekend:

The United Steelworkers (USW) have been fighting for clean workplaces and communities since the 1960s. The union helped pass landmark U.S. legislation regulating air and water pollution and toxic waste, as well as “right-to-know” laws, which require companies to tell the public how much pollution they are releasing.

Now, the USW is taking the struggle to a new level. Writing for Sierra magazine, Joan Hamilton notes that USW President Leo Gerard joined last year with the Sierra Club to form the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership committed to mobilizing public support for policies that create good jobs, a cleaner environment and a safer world.

Says Gerard:

We need to put an end to the lies, the myths, the hysteria, that say you can have either a clean environment or good jobs. You can have both, or you have neither.

Last year, the alliance made the clear connection between global warming and the excesses of the global economy. Gerard said the union movement’s vision of addressing global warming is fundamentally at odds with global policies that allow corporations to make huge profits by buying and trading the rights to emit carbon without ever addressing the basic inequalities in our global economy.

We need to use regulation of global warming and trade to lift 2 billion people out of poverty around the world. To do that, we’ll need to regulate a lot of economic activity, from power plants to fuel efficiency to energy efficiency, and we’ll need to use this regulation as a powerful tool to improve workers’ lives, both here in North America and across the globe.

Gerard sees his alliance with the Sierra Club as a step toward a new political majority. He and Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope already have met with members of the new Congress to discuss ways to develop clean-energy alternatives.

With the backing of USW and the Sierra Club, states such as Minnesota and Pennsylvania have passed legislation this year to build wind-driven power to parts of the states and create new jobs in the process. As Gerard says:

We are not promoting some kind of fuzzy, left-wing, feel-good stuff that Rush Limbaugh will love to attack. This is sound social and economic policy. This gives my grandkids a shot.

Click here to read the entire article.

The USW also has joined with the AFL-CIO and affiliated unions to form the Apollo Alliance to create jobs with a public investment in sustainable energy such as hydrogen fuel systems and related transportation, construction and manufacturing.