On Labor Day, despite all the focus on Jimmy Hoffa's comments, it was actually Vice President Joe Biden whose speech was the most important one of the day. He gave the type of speech that labor supporters have long wanted to hear from the White House. The speech was fiery and was an accurate portrayal of the struggle that labor faces in the United States. The problem is we should've heard this speech from the president and it should've been given years ago and been matched with significant action. If the vice president finds him self unemployed in January 2013, this failure might be a key reason as to why.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is very active in advance of the Labor Day holiday. In addition to releasing the video above (and another video, see below), the organization released it's "America Wants To Work Action Plan." The plan (which can be read in detail here) includes six planks:
1. Rebuild America’s schools and transportation and energy systems: The plan argues that reinvesting in this critical, but crumbling, infrastructure will create millions of new jobs.
2. Revive U.S. manufacturing and stop exporting good jobs overseas: A number of policy proposals are included in this section, including strong opposition to free trade deals.
3. Put people to work doing work that needs to be done: This one is largely a repeat of No. 1 above, but also includes other policy options proposed by progressive members of Congress.
4. Help federal, state, and local governments avoid more layoffs and cutbacks of public services: This is an important focus -- the bipartisan assault on government workers at all levels is a big problem with the current failure in boosting the job market.
5. Help fill the massive shortfall of consumer demand by extending unemployment benefits and keeping homeowners in their homes: These moves are so obvious, it's a crime that they haven't been done yet.
6. Reform Wall Street so that it helps Main Street create jobs: Wall Street used to help Main Street, but they've moved away from that. Maybe we should do something about that.
The organization also launched a "Who Do You Heart" campaign for Twitter and Facebook, asking everyone to let everyone know what group(s) of workers they are thankful for this Labor Day. Anyone can post to Facebook or Twitter via a web interface for the campaign.
Meet Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Company. Blankenship is also on the Board of Directors of the US Chamber of Commerce. In this speech above, he denies climate change, derisively refers to Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, and others as "greeniacs", and calls them all crazy. Watch the speech, you'll see. In his mind, "the greeniacs are taking over the world."
Massey Energy Company, Blankenship's highly successful strip-mining and mountaintop removal operation is the parent company of Performance Coal Co, where a tragic explosion occurred on April 5th. As of this writing, 25 miners have died and 4 more are still missing. Twenty-five families are without a loved one. Four more may discover they have lost someone they love too. 29 families in all, forever changed by one single, violent event in a coal mine. One single violent event in a coal mine run by a company so obsessed with profit it runs roughshod over employees' and neighbors' health and safety.
Here's something else about Don Blankenship and Massey Energy Company: Blankenship spent over $1 million dollars along with other US Chamber buddies like Verizon to sponsor last year's Labor Day Tea Party, also known as the "Friends of America Rally." Here's Massey's pitch. Note how he makes it sound like he isn't one of the corporate enemies of America.
The Friends of America Rally featured such notables as Sean Hannity, Ted Nugent, and Hank Williams, Jr., and was graced by Blankenship himself going off on a diatribe that seemed strange at the time, but has come to be commonplace these days. It concerned President Obama, Democrats, and any one who doesn't salute God, coal, and apple pie. Oh, and we're also going to 'steal their jobs,' if Hannity is to be believed.
Blankenship and Massey Energy spend millions to defend unsafe workplaces
Even while coal dust settles on nearby schoolchildren, there are lessons to learn from this disaster about Massey Energy in general, and Don Blankenship in particular.
Massey ranks among the nation’s top five coal producers and is among the industry’s most profitable. It has a spotty safety record.
The federal mine safety administration fined Massey a then-record $1.5 million for 25 violations that inspectors concluded contributed to the deaths of two miners trapped in a fire in January 2006. The company later settled a lawsuit naming it, several subsidiaries and Chief Executive Don Blankenship as defendants. Aracoma Coal Co. later paid $2.5 million in fines after the company pleaded guilty to 10 criminal charges in the fire.
The Manville Trust filed the case in July 2007 against company Chairman, CEO, and President Don Blankenship and certain other current and former officers and directors. The plaintiff sought several corporate governance reforms, specifically regarding environmental compliance and worker safety. Citing several incidents involving Massey Energy, including a major federal water pollution lawsuit, penalties for two coal miners' tragic deaths and other safety and environmental compliance problems, the lawsuit claimed that a "conscious failure" by the defendants to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations and other legal obligations posed a "substantial threat of monetary liability for violations."
In the United States, Philadelphia carpenters went on strike in 1791 for the ten-hour day. By the 1830s, this had become a general demand. In 1835, workers in Philadelphia organized a general strike, led by Irish coal heavers. Their banners read, From 6 to 6, ten hours work and two hours for meals. Labor movement publications called for an eight-hour day as early as 1836. Boston ship carpenters, although not unionized, achieved an eight-hour day in 1842.
In 1864, the eight-hour day quickly became a central demand of the Chicago labor movement. The Illinois legislature passed a law in early 1867 granting an eight-hour day but had so many loopholes that it was largely ineffective. A city-wide strike that began on May 1, 1867 shut down the city's economy for a week before collapsing. In 1868, Congress passed an eight-hour law for federal employees, which was also of limited effectiveness.
In August 1866 the National Labor Union at Baltimore passed a resolution that said, "The first and great necessity of the present to free labour of this country from capitalist slavery, is the passing of a law by which eight hours shall be the normal working day in all States of the American Union. We are resolved to put forth all our strength until this glorious result is achieved."
The United States is the only advanced economy that does not guarantee its workers any paid vacation time, according to a report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. As a result, 1 in 4 private-sector workers in the U.S. do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays.
The report, No-Vacation Nation, by Rebecca Ray and John Schmitt, finds that European workers are legally guaranteed at least 20 paid vacation days per year, with 25 and even 30 or more days common in some countries.
The gap between paid time off in the United States and the rest of the world is even larger when legal holidays are included. The United States does not guarantee any paid holidays, but most rich countries provide between 5 and 13 per year, in addition to paid vacation days.
“Relying on businesses to voluntarily provide paid leave just hasn't worked,” said John Schmitt, senior economist and co-author of the report. “It's a national embarrassment that 28 million Americans don't get any paid vacation or paid holidays.”
Remember, this is not the time to be grateful for what little you have. This is the time to fight.
Our Future: How to celebrate Labor Day? Support the Empoyee Free Choice Act
about.com: How GM derailed public transportation to sell more cars
The Brad Blog: Over 16,000 votes "unaccounted for" in Palm Beach county primary election 'recount'. "Severe repercussions, dire consequences for Novemeber elections and all elections" says Broward County election supervisor candidate.
The Opinion Mill's Sunday Bookchat: Harold Moore and Joe Galloway return to Vietnam to lay old ghosts to rest -- and deplore the creation of new ones in Iraq. Sidney Blumenthal on the self-destruction of the GOP. Plus: How American workers are getting squeezed, how a unique ecosystem is being threatened, and how publishing thinks small.
BAGnewsNotes: Mature adults in decision-making positions sometimes have second thoughts. It's what thinking people are supposed to do. Yesterday's NYT profile of Icon Condi emphasizes that the Secretary -- as is consistent with Dubya and the rest of the cabal -- does not reflect.
Empire Burlesque: Whatever dream you had about what America is, it isn't that anymore. It's gone. The Republic you wanted -- and at one time might have had the power to take back -- is finished. You no longer have the power to keep it; it's not there.
The Quaker Agitator: Most of our warshave been fought for reasons of "empire." But empire and democracycannot coexist. Do we want to be an "empire" and NOT a democracy?
The Washington Note: The Bush administration keeps trying to convince Americans that what most observers see happening in Iraq is not actually happening and that conversely, things are improving -- with no evidence.
Corrente: Last Labor Day post. "If I'm so f**king productive, where's my cut?"
Secrecy News: The controversial amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that were enacted under intense Administration pressure earlier this month are reviewed section-by-section in a new report from the Congressional Research Service.
