All posts by carldavidson

Community, labor

Pittsburgh Rallies for Jobs, and Against Corbett ‘States Rights’ Law Suit

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Rallies Feature

Fight for Jobs,

Defense of Health Care


By Carl Davidson

Beaver County Blue

“Soooouuuuweee! Yipyipyip!” is not a usual sound you’d expect to hear bouncing of the granite walls of downtown Pittsburgh’s financial district. Farm folks, however, would recognize it immediately as a way to get the hogs scrambling over to the trough to feed.

But that was the point of the April 1 rally called by the area’s AFL-CIO leaders demanding a massive jobs program. They were trying to focus the attention of political leaders on Wall Street and the need to tax its billions, especially given the huge public bailout, to finance a new green manufacturing and clean energy industrial expansion.

“Labor creates all their wealth to begin with,” declared Rev. Ken Love, a Presbyterian minister, to the crowd of about 50 at the City-County Building. He pointed to a large chart showing the billions in profits and bonuses, along with the billions in bailout money, gathered by the largest Wall St investment banks over the past year. “All that wealth came from us, but it’s not being used it our interest. Now’s the time to use it to create new jobs.”

Continue reading Pittsburgh Rallies for Jobs, and Against Corbett ‘States Rights’ Law Suit →

Economy, labor

Steelworkers Elaborate on Worker-Ownership Jobs Effort

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Photo: Worker-Owner at MCC Coop

The Mondragon Alliance:

The Goal Is to Create Jobs

By Putting People First

By Rob Witherell

United Steel Workers

Keynote Speech at Western Mass.
Jobs with Justice Conference
March 6, 2010
—  An official unemployment rate of 10%
—  A real rate of unemployment and underemployment of 17%
—  Millions of good paying jobs lost, including 2 million manufacturing jobs in the past year alone
—  Stagnating wages
—  Frozen pensions and inadequate 401(k) plans
—  Sky rocketing health insurance costs
—  Millions of people without health insurance
—  Millions of people falling into poverty
—  Millions of people receiving food stamps to feed their families
—  Millions of people homeless and millions more struggling to stay in the homes they have

In the middle of the worst recession we’ve seen in the past 70 years, conservative politicians in Washington, DC are defiantly putting the purity of their ideals before the reality of the painful consequences.  Congress is not a high school debate club.  People need help, not talking points.

Wall Street executives, who were part of creating this crisis, were the first ones with their hands out, asking for help from Main Street taxpayers.  We gave them billions and billions of dollars.  As panic began to recede, they gave some of those billions back rather than have to live with the few strings attached.  These fat cat executives are trying to avoid accountability and transparency, regardless of the cost.  The millions of dollars in bonuses being paid again to executives, while insulting to the rest of us, are less harmful to our economy and our communities than the fact that little has changed in how Wall Street works.  Years of increasing deregulation have left us with a Wild West of finance where anything goes. Continue reading Steelworkers Elaborate on Worker-Ownership Jobs Effort →

health care, labor

Beaver County Adds Its Voices on Insurance Reform

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Street Heat in Aliquippa:

Congressman Altmire

Pushed to Change Stand,

Abandon Insurance Bigwigs

By Carl Davidson

Beaver County Blue

McLean Street in Aliquippa got plenty of heat of the sunny afternoon of March 16, as opposing rallies on the issue of health care gathered out the office of Jason Altmire, the 4th CD’s Democratic ‘Blue Dog’ representative in Congress.

Photo: Steve Kislock

The first rally was at noon, when a crowd of 120 people, organized largely by trade unions, retiree groups and health care workers and activists made a last-ditch effort to get a ‘Yes’ vote on the current insurance reform proposal. But at 4pm, a crowd of more than 300 GOP, Tea Party and anti-reform forces showed up demanding a ‘No’ vote. Earlier, the anti-reformers had tried to disrupt the progressive rally with a horn-blasting truck behind the speakers stand, but they were shooed away. “Remember to turn in your Medicare card,” shouted one of the rally attendees to the departing horn blasters. Both efforts got wide coverage in regional media.

Altmire wasn’t present.  But if he is at all astute and his staff took careful notes, one critical political fact will stand out: those calling for a ‘Yes’ vote were the hard core of his most active supporters in the past, while those calling for a ‘No’ vote are largely unlikely to vote for him over a Republican no matter what his vote is on this issue.

Continue reading Beaver County Adds Its Voices on Insurance Reform →

elections

Steal This Idea for Western PA: Green Jobs, Union Apprentices

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Indiana Apprenticeship Program

Graduates Its First Green Technicians

March 11, 2010
By Andrea Buffa
Apollo News Service

This Monday, the Apollo Alliance was proud to co-sponsor an event honoring the first “Green Technician” graduates of an Indianapolis training program run by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 481 and the National Electrical Contractors Association of Central Indiana. After receiving their certifications, the newly minted Green Technicians displayed an array of solar panels and a wind turbine they recently installed at the Electrical Training Institute, where they received their instruction.

“Each graduate of the Green Technician program will be an Industry Certified Technician, ready to work on anything from windmills to retrofits of existing buildings that need to become more energy efficient. We are incredibly proud of their achievement,” said Jim Patterson, director of the Electrical Training Institute.

U.S. Representative Andre Carson, D-Ind., and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler were on hand to honor the graduates. “It’s important that American workers stay at the cutting edge of green technology so they can access the high-quality jobs that are being created in the global clean energy economy,” Shuler said. “The race is on to build a 21st century clean energy infrastructure, and the AFL-CIO continues to push for it to be nurtured here in the U.S. and built by American workers.” Continue reading Steal This Idea for Western PA: Green Jobs, Union Apprentices →

elections

Steelworkers Have Bus Seats for DC Antiwar Demo March 20

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Labor Unions Speak Out:

‘Why We’re Marching on March 20’

By Bill Hackwell
March 13, 2010

The statement below was released by the ANSWER Coalition:

Labor organizations and unions are joining with thousands of others who will be marching on Washington, D.C., on Saturday, March 20.

Among the over 1,500 endorsers of the National March on Washington are U.S. Labor Against the War, New York City Labor Against the War, North Carolina Labor Against the War and New Jersey Labor Against War.

The United Steelworkers (USW) are sponsoring a bus to D.C. leaving from their headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh.

Dan Kovalik, the senior associate general counsel for USW, said:

“The USW will be sending a bus of protesters from its headquarters in Pittsburgh to the March 20 demonstration for peace. The time is long overdue that our nation’s resources be spent on real health care reform, a social safety net and job creation rather than on weapons of mass destruction and senseless wars. We march for that change in our government’s set of priorities.”

United University Professions (UUP)—the union representing more than 34,000 academic and professional faculty on 29 State University of New York campuses and several other New York State schools—passed a resolution at its 2010 Winter Delegate Assembly calling on UUP leaders, chapters and members to build UUP participation in the March 20 demonstration in D.C. as part of the labor contingent. Continue reading Steelworkers Have Bus Seats for DC Antiwar Demo March 20 →

elections

Christiana Wants No Fed Oversight on Drilling

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Gas Drilling Rig with Holding Tank for ‘Fracturing’ Sludge

GOP Whitewashes
Marcellus Shale Dangers
In Western Pennsylvania

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

If you’re looking for a full-throttled booster of the natural gas industry to be your representative in the Pennsylvania legislature, then Jim Christiana’s clearly your man.

But if you’re looking for a representative that puts the general public of Beaver County’s largely working-class 15th District in first place, and then brings local business into line with their common interests, you’ll be happy there’s an election this year.

That’s the main conclusion I drew from Christiana’s ‘Informational Event’ on the Marcellus Shale and the natural gas industry held at the Shadow Lakes County Club in Aliquippa, PA, at 8am in the morning, Friday, March 5, 2010. Continue reading Christiana Wants No Fed Oversight on Drilling →

Economy, labor

We Know This Story: Cleveland Clothing Workers Getting the Shaft

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What the Labor Battle

at Hugo Boss Means for

Our Economic Future

By Robert Creamer
The Huffington Post

Feb. 8, 2010 – It’s the red carpet season in Hollywood. That means high-end apparel companies like Hugo Boss are promoting iconic celebrities to wear their clothing line at the Oscars and other award ceremonies.

But for the workers who make these suits in Cleveland, Ohio, it’s a season of a different shade — that of the pink slip. And the result is an iconic labor battle that is emblematic of many of the most important issues facing our economy.

Just after Christmas, Germany-based Hugo Boss messengered pink slips to the 400 employees at its Cleveland, Ohio manufacturing facility. The employees were told that they were being laid off and the plant was being closed.

Hugo Boss was not closing the facility because it was losing money — or, for that matter, because the company was in bad financial condition. Quite the contrary. Continue reading We Know This Story: Cleveland Clothing Workers Getting the Shaft →

Environment, Infrastructure

Green Jobs – Invest Where We Need It Most

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Why Green Power Jobs

Are Important For Ohio

–and Western PA as Well

By:’Irishbobcat’
OhioLeft Yahoo Group

Feb 5, 2010 – The green-collar jobs movement just got another major boost: a groundbreaking new report underscores how the growing green economy can provide high quality jobs for those who need them most. The author, Professor Raquel Rivera Pinderhughes of San Francisco State University, is a leading national expert on green-collar jobs.

This report deepens our understanding of how to harness green business growth to build pathways out of poverty. Prof. Pinderhughes’ research provides us with critical guidance as we develop the Oakland Green Jobs Corps, the nation’s first attempt to carry out the model that Professor Pinderhughes describes in her report. Continue reading Green Jobs – Invest Where We Need It Most →

elections

Local Solidarity with People of Haiti

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Beaver County

Area doctors plan

Haiti mission

By: Bob Bauder
Beaver County Times

Times photo by SALLY MAXSON

Jan 21, 2010 – Dr. Raniah Khairy, left, of Tri-State OB/GYN in Beaver goes through supplies with office manager Kelly LeFebvre. Khairy will take the supplies with her when she leaves for Haiti Sunday as part of a medical relief mission with other Heritage Valley personnel.

Some of the same local organizers of a relief mission to rescue orphans from Haiti are organizing a second trip scheduled for departure on Sunday to deliver medical personnel and supplies to the earthquake ravaged nation.

The plan is to help staff and supply three hospitals in the Port-Au-Prince area, including one set up with the assistance of Dr. Chip Lambert of Sewickley, who specializes in emergency medicine and disaster relief. Continue reading Local Solidarity with People of Haiti →

antiwar, elections

Senator Specter Emerges as Peace Candidate

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Photo: Specter vs. Sestak

Can Arlen Specter

End the War

in Afghanistan?

By Robert Naiman
Huffington Post

Who knew Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter would emerge as one of the most vocal opponents in the Senate of the President’s military escalation in Afghanistan?

But so it is. In an op-ed this week in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Specter not only challenges the “surge”; he also challenges fundamental premises of the war. Specter writes:

I’m opposed to sending 30,000 more American troops to Afghanistan because I don’t believe they are indispensable in our fight against al Qaeda. […] But if al Qaeda can organize and operate out of Yemen, Somalia or elsewhere, then why fight in Afghanistan, which has made a history of resisting would-be conquerors – from Alexander the Great in the 3rd century BC, to Great Britain in the 19th and early 20th centuries, to the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s? Continue reading Senator Specter Emerges as Peace Candidate →