Edwards to get huge endorsements?

While Hillary got Transportation workers and Machinists, and Dodd the Firefighters, all good pickups, it looks like John Edwards is about to pick up a few of the major union endorsements that were seen as potentially reticent to endorse him given Clinton's poll dominance.

Today, word is the Carpenters endorsed Edwards:

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America endorsed Democratic candidate John Edwards for President at a closed door executive board meeting this week. With over 500,000 carpenters and tradespeople, the union is a huge pick-up for Edwards - especially in light of the Fire Fighters endorsement for Dodd and the UTU endorsement of Clinton. The union's public announcement will likely come the first week of September at an event in New Hampshire according to a source who read an internal memo announcing the decision.

And the Wall Street Journal says more are coming soon:

Bruce Raynor, president of Unite Here, which represents 450,000 hotel and apparel workers, said yesterday he favors former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and expects an endorsement soon. "The presidential process is moving more rapidly than ever before. If you want to influence the choice for the Democratic candidate, you've got to move sooner rather than later."

Mr. Edwards also has strong support from the Service Employees International Union and the United Steelworkers.

Steelworkers would be helpful in Michigan, who are trying to move up its primary to early January. UAW is the big prize there. UNITE HERE is a powerhouse in Nevada, representing all the hotel and culinary workers in Las Vegas and Reno. And the SEIU is constantly growing in influence everywhere.

Let the games begin.

Endorsements trickling in

The International Association of Fire Fighters on Tuesday endorsed Chris Dodd for President:

Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, has a new way of going for the gut.

His 281,000-member union will promote U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd by bringing him to as many firehouses as possible - and that means "we're going to bring the candidate to the chili feeds," Schaitberger said.

Let the voters come - "we're gonna feed 'em," he said.

He recalled Dodd's legislative history - the senator has led the fight for major bills to help firefighters win more funding - and said members value Dodd's experience.

Now, Dodd and Schaitberger will travel to key electoral states and see how much voters value the firefighters' method of wooing them.

They plan to start at Firehouse 3 in Iowa City today, followed by stops in Des Moines and Council Bluffs. Friday, they move on to New Hampshire, and then head for Nevada Saturday.

It's certainly not the biggest union, nor perhaps the most prominent, but the IAFF is a politically powerful organization. They were the one union that endorsed John Kerry before his Iowa win, and they were with him at all times throughout the campaign, in as many campaign photos and events as possible.

Now, that may have been a unique time for firefighters, given the prominence they played and the unbelievable bravery they showed on and after 9/11. That's still politically viable, but given the unfortunate political exhaustion of 9/11, the endorsement may not be as potent. Still, a surprise coup for Dodd.

Next came United Transportation Workers for Hillary:

The United Transportation Union, representing 125,000 active and retired bus and railroad workers, gave Clinton its support, the first of 55 AFL-CIO affiliates to announce its 2008 choice.

"The UTU has a long history of picking winners early," said its president, Paul Thompson, in a statement e-mailed by Clinton's campaign. "Time and again, as a United States senator, she has stood with us."

Just minutes ago, another endorsement for Hillary:

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro: Clinton, per her campaign, has just picked up her second labor union endorsement this week -- from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

IAMAW is a 700,000 person union that, for the first time, is also endorsing a Republican, since a much higher percentage of their workers vote for the GOP (100,000+ members). The only Republican to accept their invitation, they also endorsed Huckabee today.

Cause and Effect

Today provided a nice little double dip of corporate-waged class warfare news, even including a neat little cause and effect example.

First, Cause:

The Teamsters said the union had been told by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that the agency intends to begin a pilot program Saturday that will allow thousands of long-haul trucks from Mexico to roll beyond a designated zone in Texas and other border states to cities throughout the country.

"What a slap in the face to American workers – opening the highways to dangerous trucks on Labor Day weekend, one of the busiest driving weekends of the year," said Jim Hoffa, general president of the Teamsters....

... The one-year pilot program is part of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

It would allow 100 U.S. companies to send their trucks into Mexico and 100 Mexican carriers to dispatch trucks on U.S. highways. Critics contend that it is unsafe because Mexican trucks and drivers do not meet U.S. standards.

A Transportation Department report released this month questioned whether Mexican vehicles would be inspected every time they crossed the border and whether drug testing was adequate on Mexican drivers.

"Congress has repeatedly and overwhelmingly set stringent safety conditions for the cross-border trucking program to meet before our borders are thrown open," said Mr. Hoffa. He said the recent report "made it clear that these conditions have not been met."

Actually, this is a true two-for-one bonus: eliminating American jobs for cheaper foreign labor, while creating potential danger for drivers all over the country. Oh, and shirking inspections on products like food that enter the country from abroad. So make that three. At least manufacturers and shippers save some dime, though.

And now, the ultimate effect of policies like these:

The average CEO of a large U.S. company made roughly $10.8 million last year, or 364 times that of U.S. full-time and part-time workers, who made an average of $29,544, according to a joint analysis released Wednesday by the liberal Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.

And while this number is actually down from previous years, that's just a technicality:

The pay gap numbers don't include the value of the many perks CEOs receive, which averaged $438,342, according to the report. Nor do they include the pension benefits CEOs receive.

And those pension benefits ain't too shabby, as we've seen recently:

Under his employment agreement, Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli is guaranteed defined-benefit pension equal to 50 percent of his salary and bonus at age 62. Even if Nardelli’s performance does not entitle him to a bonus, his pension benefit will be calculated as if he had earned a $4.5 million bonus.

Lastly, should Nardelli be terminated without cause or in the event of a change in control, his employment agreement promises him immediate full vesting of his pension benefits. Other notable features of Nardelli’s golden parachute include $20 million in cash, immediate vesting of stock options and restricted stock, forgiveness of a $10 million loan, a tax gross-up and three years of benefits.

Oh, and just by the way, this might inch up that number a little bit:

But even including all that, CEO pay can look like chump change next to private equity and hedge fund managers' pay. Those managers made an average of $657.5 million in 2006 - more than 16,000 times what the average full-time worker makes, and roughly 61 times that of the average CEO.

I wanted to make one point about the first story. A lot of times, workers and labor advocates seem to be mislabeled as xenophobic, because of the outrage over outsourcing jobs overseas and the use of cheap foreign labor within the United States, both keeping wages depressed. But here's the thing. Those foreign workers, both here and abroad, are getting abused, as well. No one wins. It becomes a race to the bottom. And sure, while those low, low paying jobs are slowly lifting people in China and India, when costs get too high, manufacturers and other companies just move out and go to the next third world country to take advantage of the vulnerable in those places.

All we're asking for is fairness for American workers, and if jobs go overseas anyways, just pay for foreign workers. It's why the AFL-CIO is pro a path to citizenship, but against the temporary worker visas that create a permanent underclass of workers. It's why Andy Stern has been in China, working with unions there. It's why so many unions have so many immigrant members. So any accusations to the contrary, just don't fly.

I'm back and other goings on

After a few weeks of moving and being in transit, I'm back to blogging. The story still dominating the labor headlines is the Crandall mine collapse, with owner Bob Murray seeming more and more bizarre every day. Thankfully, though the Mine Health and Safety Department is still run by a corporate goon thanks to a Bush administration recess appointment, Dems in Congress are stepping up on investigating this mess:

Chairman Miller Requests Information from Labor Department & Murray Energy on Crandall Canyon Mine

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today sent requests for documents, communications, and other information from the U.S. Department of Labor and Murray Energy Corporation related to the operation and stewardship of the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah.

“Gathering this information is the first step in an investigative effort to learn what went wrong at the Crandall Canyon Mine and what we must do to prevent such tragedies in the future,” said Miller, whose committee has jurisdiction over worker safety issues. “The families of the miners, the public, and miners who still work underground every day deserve a full accounting of the events that led up to and followed the collapse at Crandall Canyon Mine.”

Miller announced last week that the Education and Labor Committee will convene a hearing into the mine collapse during the first week in October.

As awful a tragedy this specific mine collapse was, I've got a feeling the investigation won't be, in the end, so much focused on Crandall itself, as it will be a test case for exposing the blatant disregard for worker safety and the buddy buddy relationship between mine owners and their former colleagues that now run the "oversight and regulation" department, making clear to the nation how neutered and corrupted the very institutions that are meant to protect American citizens have become.

The other big story would have to be the continuing recall of Chinese made products, which plays into the larger, building tussle with China. Between lead and other poison-filled products, massive worker rights abuses and manipulation of the Yuan, along with Chinese ownership of so much of our national debt, shit is looking to be headed on a collision course with the proverbial fan.

In this case, though, it's not a clear cut "blame China" situation. In a way, Mattell is getting what it paid (very little) for. So, it's shame on China for having virtually no oversight and clearly willingly skirting rules to do things more cheaply; and shame on Mattell for entering into a situation where the risks were clear.

In an attempt to calm nerves and save some lives, the Senate is calling for action on inspection of toys:

Unwilling to wait for the Chinese to deal with their manufacturing issues, Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn) have urged the CPSC to launch an inspection program against dangerous toys in time for the holiday shopping season. At a news conference yesterday, Senator Durbin said such a program would help restore the confidence of American parents that toys are safe. “A family going inside a toy store shouldn’t have to play Chinese roulette to try to guess what toys are safe for their kids,” Durbin insisted.

The recent parade of toy recalls has brought calls for more inspections from several members of congress. Many have expressed concern that the CPSC does not have the resources to police the toy industry. In the last two decades, the CPSC staff has dwindled from 900 to 400, and its budget stands at only $62 million annually. Durbin, who chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, said that congress could take legislative action to strengthen the CPSC. He said congress would soon discuss increasing the Commission’s budget and mandating comprehensive toy inspections.

Here's my question: why not address the root of the problem, the unfair trade deals that allow corporations to profit big time on cheap labor and business expenses, made possible by the poverty and lack of oversight in China? We will be spending money hand over fist to try and catch their errors, which generally will cost them much less than the reward of overseas production, while they sit back and continue to fuel the root problem. Genius.

At least it's cheap

Another recall.

Toy-making giant Mattel Inc. issued recalls Tuesday for about 9 million
Chinese-made toys that contain magnets that can be swallowed by children or
could have lead paint.

The recalls includes 7.3 million play sets, including Polly Pocket dolls
and Batman action figures, and 253,000 die cast cars that contain lead paint.
The action was announced on the company's Web site and at a news conference here
by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Nancy A. Nord, acting CPSC chairman, said no injuries had been reported
with any of the products involved in the new recall. Several injuries had been
reported in an earlier Polly Pocket recall last November.

It was the latest blow to the toy industry, which has had a string of
recalled products from China. With more than 80 percent of toys sold worldwide
made in China, toy sellers are nervous that shoppers will shy away from their
products.

The recall involving lead paint was Mattel's second in two weeks.
Earlier this month, consumers were warned about 1.5 million Chinese-made toys
that contain lead paint.

Free trade: do it for the kids.

Dick Stickler

Mine Health and Safety Administration head Richard Stickler is now at the collapsed Utah mine, talking grimly about the accident and oh, god bless the family, how tragic this event was. And as head of the MHSA, one would think he was pretty qualified to say this:

Stickler said the Crandall mine is in compliance with the federal Mine Health and Safety Act, and had the oxygen and other provisions throughout the mine as required in its emergency plan filed with the agency in June.

Of course, like I pointed out in my last post, there was no shortage of life-threatening violations. But we should trust him, right? After all, he was vetted and approved by the Senate, right?

Coal miners have seen 33 of their colleagues killed on the job this year, and they have watched the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) become a second home for coal industry executives—instead of a strong voice for miner safety.

Today, miners and their families won a major victory when they helped derail the Bush administration’s attempt to salt MSHA with yet another industry insider.

Senate Republican leaders, knowing they didn’t have the votes to win, pulled back a scheduled vote to confirm Richard Stickler, a coal industry executive, as head of MSHA where he would be in charge of mine safety.

During his confirmation hearings in January, Stickler said he believed current mine safety laws were adequate. At the time, 15 miners had been killed in explosions and fires, and since then another 18 have died on the job—the highest number of mine deaths in any full year since 2001.

The nomination drew fierce opposition from safety advocates, the Mine Workers, families of miners killed and others.

Sounds qualified to fill a job that literally overseas life and death matters. Heckuva job, Stickler.

Mine Collapse as embodiment of a bigger problem

I want to talk about my impressions from the AFL-CIO Presidential forum last night, but right now I'm going to talk about an event that is a clear and perfect example of the importance of electing a real pro-union President and Congress.

The Utah mine tragedy has captivated the nation, with near-constant mainstream media coverage. And they've been eating up the bizarre, gruff speeches of the President and CEO of Murray Energy, Bob Murray. While some of his mines are unionized, this one wasn't. And that definitely wasn't because his workers didn't want representation, it would seem:

He called Sen. Hillary Clinton "anti-American" in an interview with Fox News' Neil Cavuto after the senator said America needs a president who will defend workers' rights.

And he bashed politicians who, after mine disasters in West Virginia last year, called for new safety measures.

"I resent these politicians playing politics with my employees' safety," he said in an article in the Columbus Dispatch. "I resent them because I take the safety of my miners to bed with me every night."

But safety at some of his mines was suspect. Only a few months' data is available for the Crandall Canyon mine under his ownership, but at several other mines owned by Murray, the accident rate was well above the national average, in some years several times the rate for comparable mines.

And in 2003, KenAmerican Resources, a company owned by Murray, was convicted of violating mine safety laws at a Kentucky mine and the company was fined $306,000.

It's simple. Unionized mine workers fight for top worker safety conditions in one of the most dangerous professions in America. Workers who don't have the right to organize and bargain -- well, they're left at the whim of their employer. And the employer's bottom line doesn't often jibe with ensuring worker safety. No coincidence, the Sago mine in WV, site of last year's mine disaster, was also not unionized.

But it goes deeper than that. Even non-unionized mines have to pass safety inspections, or face fines. Kind of.

The bituminous coal mine ran up a record of more than 300 safety violations, of which 118 were considered to be serious enough to cause injury or death, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration.

But apparently, the Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration didn't think that was too big a deal.

The mine has been inspected six times this year. The latest inspection, which took place July 5, is still open. During that episode, inspectors cited the mine for 11 violations for various safety infractions. A subsequent administration report showed 12 citations were later issued, of which six were considered serious enough to cause injury or death.

One violation was for failing to adequately provide at least two escape routes inside the sprawling mine. No details were provided, but government inspectors did not think the violation was serious enough to recommend a fine.

Three of the serious violations were for failing to dispose or store flammable materials. Again, no fine was recommended.

Honestly, who needs escape routes? I mean, when would those ever be useful? Seriously, they'd be totally useless, especially in a mine that operates like this:

The mining technique used in Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah, where six miners are trapped, involved collapsing the roof of the mine -- a method that dislodges such tremendous volume of earth with such force that it causes quake activity.

"It's the most dangerous type of mining that there is," said Tony Oppegard, a mining lawyer and former federal mine safety official.

In June, U.S. regulators approved a roof control plan for the "room and pillar" technique, also known as retreat mining, at Crandall Canyon.

It's a delicate endeavor: Columns of coal are left in place to hold up the roof of the mine while the vein is tapped. Once the reserves have been extracted, the miners harvest the last of the coal on the way out, cutting carefully into the pillars and scrambling out of the way as the roof caves in.

The final column to be slashed is known among miners as the "suicide pillar."

But once again, there was the Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration, given the lethal combo a thumbs up. What could possibly motivate them?

Murray backs his political beliefs with his pocketbook. He contributed more than $213,000 to Republican candidates over the last decade. Three political action committees tied to Murray's businesses have given $724,500 to Republican candidates and causes, including $4,000 to Rep. Chris Cannon.

He made use of his political ties to Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is married to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and oversees MSHA, to get back at a safety regulator who had crossed him, according to the Lexington Herald-Journal. In the meeting, Murray shouted that "Mitch McConnell calls me one of the five finest men in America, and last I checked, he was sleeping with your boss."

Murray denied he referred to McConnell and Chao sleeping together. Tim Thompson, the MSHA manager who was the target of Murray's wrath, was reassigned and later retired.

The level of incestuous collusion between big business (and this is the 12th biggest coal company in the US) and government, especially the Department of Labor, is beyond disgusting. The Department of Labor, created to protect worker, has become the number one pawn of a pure ideological hatred towards workers. It's not the laws of the Congress, or the agenda set forth by the President that do the most damage; that would be too obvious. So this under the radar bureaucracy, headed by a Presidential Cabinet appointee, does the dirty work.

And this is why last night's debate was so unbelievably important. The President appoints the Secretary of Labor. Appoints the NLRB, another under the radar bureaucracy that literally holds the fate of tens of millions of workers who want to organize, who want fair treatment, who want what was agreed to in their contracts.

When you have people like the pure evil ones you have in office now, who turn a blind eye to union busting and safety infractions, this is the end result. Much like how we are paying the horrible cost for ignoring our crumbling infrastructure for years and years, we are suffering from years of a wink wink blind eye, or oftentimes blatantly anti-work aggressive, political infrastructure that doesn't give two gold cuff links about the hard workers they are supposed to protect and guarantee fairness.

So, we can have political leaders issue condolences and platitudes about feeling for the families of the trapped workers and bridge collapse victims, about how we must get to them ASAP, but it's all absolutely meaningless when the next day those leaders go to Washington and approve of a crooked Labor Secretary, vote down funding for the DOL, vote against funding infrastructure, and vote against the Employee Free Choice Act and other worker protections. Otherwise, it's just politicians being politicians, and working Americans (and, as we saw from the bridge collapse) and oftentimes every single American, suffers.