August 22, 2007

Day

2007

Now…Labor Day Celebrations

· Clinton Labor Congress, Sunday 9/02, Picnic, Eagle Point Park, 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m., food provided.

· Des Moines / Henry County Labor Council, Monday 9/03, Picnic, 440 & 8 Park, 2712 Mt. Pleasant Street, Burlington.  4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Tickets: Single $5.00, Family $10.00.

· Hawkeye Labor Council, Monday 9/03, Picnic, Hawkeye Downs, 4400 6th Street SW, Cedar Rapids, 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., food provided.

· Iowa City Federation of Labor, Monday 9/03, Picnic, City Park, Shelter House Number 2, Iowa City, 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., food provided, plus potluck items to share.

· North Iowa Nine Labor Council, Monday 9/03, Picnic, East Park, Shelter House Number 2, Mason City, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., food provided.

· South Central Iowa Federation of Labor, Monday 9/03, Labor Day Fest, Parade 11:00 a.m. at State Capitol; Labor Fest 12:00 p.m. at 4-H Building at State Fair Grounds, Des Moines, food provided.

· Dubuque Federation of Labor, Monday 9/03,  Parade 9:30 a.m. at 15th and Main.

· Lee County Labor Council, Monday 9/03, Parade 11:00 a.m. at 19th and Main, Keokuk; Celebration 12:30 p.m. Labor Temple, 301 Blondeau.

· Northwest Iowa Labor Council, Monday 9/03, Picnic, 12:00 noon, Riverside Park, Sioux City, food provided.

· Quad City Federation of Labor, Monday 9/03, Parade 11:00 a.m. at Case New Holland Parking Lot, Picnic, 11:30 a.m. —3:30 p.m., Illiniwek Park, tickets $9, under 12, $4.

***For more detail on these Labor Day Festivities, check our website: http://www.iowaaflcio.org/

Then…Labor Day History
September 5,  1882: Thirty thousand workers marched in the first Labor Day parade in New York City.

June 28, 1894: The U.S.A. Congress passed an act making the first Monday of September of each year a legal holiday.  It was passed to appease angry workers and signed reluctantly by Grover Cleveland, just six days after his troops had broken the Pullman strike.

1898:  Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, called it "the day...that the workers of our day may not only lay down their

tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it."

August 31, 1947:  Presidents of the AFL and the CIO combined voices on this Labor Day to condemn the just-passed Taft-Hartley Act.  AFL President William Green called it “the most oppressive anti-labor law ever enacted by Congress.”  There is a fear throughout the world, said Phillip Murray, CIO President, “that our nation is turning its back on civil liberties, tolerance and progress.”   On Labor Day, he said, Americans “must demonstrate by deeds and not words, that we can make democracy function successfully….” NYT 9/1/47

AFL-CIO Top Leadership
Holds off Endorsing in Presidential Race

(Chicago, August 8) - - In by far the liveliest debate of the 2008 campaign so far, with 18,000 union members rocking Soldier Field with applause, laughter (and even some catcalls), 7 Democratic candidates vied mightily for union votes on a hot afternoon in Chicago. 

Following the Presidential Forum , the AFL-CIO Executive Council chose to hold off making an endorsement of a single candidate for President,

"Union members have told us all the candidates are
impressive and they are eager to support many of them."

Once a Year….

Support that Can Make the
Difference for Union Families in Need

Schedule of Governor’s Health Care Commission Hearings

Dear Union Member:

   When Iowa members need assistance with health, personal or family problems, human service agencies funded by their local United Way are there to help.

   When our communities suffer the impact of plant closings or the devastation of a natural disaster, United Way funded agencies are there to help.

   Once a year, union members are asked to be there for United Way during their annual campaign, to help make possible the good things United Way does in the communities where we work and raise our families.

   I urge all union members to generously support the 2007 United Way campaign.

   Our communities will be better places because we are there for United Way.

   Thank you for your support.

 In solidarity,

 Mark L. Smith, President,
Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

Public hearings have been scheduled at 3 locations around the state to give Iowans an opportunity to talk to members of Governor Culver’s new Health Care Commission.  The hearings will be conducted by former Iowa Governors Tom Vilsack and Terry Branstad.  Do you have solutions to any of these (or other) problems:

• Difficulties negotiating health benefits? 

• Denial of claims? 

• Higher co-pays and deductibles? 

•  Shifting costs to workers?

• Higher premiums? 

• Problems securing health care for retired or laid off workers?

To make a 3 minute presentation, register on site at 5:30 pm. (No early registration.)  Submit testimony via the Internet at  www.legis.state.ia.us and clicking on "Health Care Survey”  or by mail to Iowa Legislative Services Agency, Ground Floor, State Capitol Building, Des Moines, Iowa 50319, Attn:  Health Care Commission Public Hearings.

Hearings are scheduled for:

• Council Bluffs, September 4, 6-8 p.m. Iowa Western Community College, Looft Hall , 2700 College Road.

• Indianola, September 26, 6-8 p.m. Lekberg Hall, Amy Roberson Music Center, Simpson College, North Buxton St.

• Bettendorf, September 27, 6-8 p.m. , Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency, 729-- 21st St.  

Let politicians know that health care is a really big issue for all Iowans. 
Please plan to attend! 

Reforming our broken health care system is a must
ATTEND A LISTENING POST—and be listened to on this issue!

   The listening post is part of a series of forums intended to help local citizens and community leaders share their concerns and solutions about how to improve our ailing health care system in Iowa and nationally.  The events are being cosponsored by “Working Families Win,”  a national, non-partisan grassroots campaign of Americans for Democratic Action, and by “Iowa for Health Care.”  State and federal elected officials have been invited to participate and listen to concerns.

August 28, 2007
?Cedar Falls, 6:30 PM - Public Library, Meeting Room, 524 Main Street

August 29, 2007
?Washington, 10:00 AM - Public Library, 120 E. Main
?Fairfield, 1:30 PM - Public Library, Helen Wilson Gallery, 104 W. Adams

September 6, 2007
?LaPorte City, 10:00 AM - Community Room, 301 1st Street
?Jesup, 1:30 PM - Public Library, 791 6th St.

September 8, 2007

?Davenport - (See local paper for time and place.)

September 10, 2007

?Independence, 10:00 AM – Buchanan County Senior Center, 500 4^th NE

?Manchester, 1:00 PM -  Public Library, Community Room, 300 N. Franklin

September 17, 2007

?Strawberry Point, 10:00 AM – Civic Center, Senior Center Room, 401 Commercial

?Elkader, 1:00 PM – Central Community Hospital, Conference Room, 901 Davidson Street NW

?Monona, 2:30 PM –  Community Center, 104 Egbert, Street

 September 26, 2007

?Clinton, 10:00 AM –  City Hall, Council Chambers, 2^nd Floor, 611 S. Third

?Dewitt,  1:00 PM –  Public Library, 505 10^th Street

More listening post dates and times will be available soon.  Contact: Joe Bolkcom at joe@joebolkcom.org or 319-337-6280.

Supreme Court Fights Lilly Ledbetter!  
The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Fights Back!

Lilly Ledbetter worked at the Gadsden Goodyear tire plant for two decades.  All that time, Goodyear Tire intentionally shortchanged her pay.  Then, after she finally dared to file a lawsuit seeking to remedy this, the company not only fought her all the way to the Supreme Court.  They also billed her $3,165.20 for expenses they incurred because of the suit!

The Bush court (again) delivers the goods for its corporate masters.

So Lilly’s case made it to the Supreme Court!  But in the decision, Ledbetter v. Goodyear, the court ruled 5 to 4 for corporations — saying that workers who face wage discrimination have a mere 180 days to challenge the initial discrimination in court.

The court majority (Justices Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy) said if Ledbetter wanted to challenge the discrimination, she should have sued within 180 days of her first unfair paycheck — even though she continued to receive unfair paychecks for 20 years.

Outrageous?  Yes!  So in late July,  the House passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — a law that would make it clear that wage disparity based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability is not just a one-time occurrence.

The good news is the House passed the measure — though on a resoundingly partisan vote. (Iowa Democrats all voted for it; Iowa Republicans voted against it.)  The bad news is that Bush plans to veto it because it would "serve to impede justice."  Most states (but not Iowa) already allow for up to 300 days to file a lawsuit.  As workers and labor lawyers know, it’s hard to recognize and gain proof of pay disparities with any certainty in such a short period of time, and often the initial disparity is so small it sometimes takes several years to discover the full effect.

Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on House Passage of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007  (July 31, 2007)

“Working people in America are one step closer to having their civil rights restored thanks to the House of Representatives' passage of this important bill.

“Lily Ledbetter bravely stood up for herself and for all victims of discrimination in the workforce when she filed discrimination charges against the Goodyear Tire & Rubber for paying her substantially less than her male co-workers.

“In response to her fight for justice, the majority on the Supreme Court bent over backwards - ignoring both precedent and simple common sense - to rob her of her right to equal treatment in
the workplace.  “The legislation passed today remedies that inequity and once again makes it possible for victims of discrimination to take their cases to court and receive fair hearings and just compensation.

Organizer Training

Are you looking for member-organizers to help work on your organizing campaigns?  Here is your chance!

The AFL-CIO Organizing Institute will be holding a 2-day Organizer Training  in Kansas City, MO, October 6&7.  The training will focus on basic organizing skills for internal and external organizing.  All affiliated unions are invited to send members to this training. 

>When:  October 6—7, 2007.

>Where: Greater Kansas City
Building Trades, 400 S. Main Street, Independence.

>Registration: All participants must
be pre-registered for the training –
No walk-in registrations.

>Cost of meals and materials:  $75 per participant if pre-paid and $100 per participant if billed after the training.
   >Costs for hotel overnight stays, parking or travel are the responsibility of the sponsoring union.  There are no union hotels in the area.  A list of hotels near the training site is available.

>Questions?      Contact Carol Edelson at  202-320-1410 or via email at cedelson@aflcio.org.  Application forms:
 http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/oi/
 application_e.cfm   

"The boss don't listen when one guy squawks/ But he's gotta listen when the union talks."

Labor Center

in cooperation with the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO,  presents:
2007-08 Courses for Union Members

All courses are conducted in the Iowa City area.
Agendas can be viewed at http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr.

Contact the Labor Center at (319) 335-4144 or e-mail labor-center@uiowa.edu to register at least 30 days prior to the course.  Standard registration fees:  1-day schools=$100, 2-day schools=$150, 3-day schools=$200, 5-day schools=$300, and four part legal series rate=$300.  Note: English-Spanish interpretation available for all programs with advance notice.