Canada is formally demanding, in talks on a new NAFTA agreement, that any such pact force the U.S. to eliminate so-called right-to-work laws.
During the 2016 U.S. campaign, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump labeled NAFTA “the worst trade pact ever signed” and vowed to dump it. That promise helped him gain a 50-50 split among unionists and their families in key Great Lakes industrial states. By narrowly carrying Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Trump wound up in the White House.
But once there, he decided to renegotiate, not dump, NAFTA, with what he says is the objective to help U.S. workers. The current NAFTA hasn’t. U.S. unions say Trump has adopted only a few pro-worker NAFTA negotiating goals, out of a 47-page detailed list presented during pre-talks hearings.
Instead of Trump, Canadian negotiators have begun pushing hard to eliminate U.S. based right to work laws which have served to deteriorate wage rates and living standards for workers in the United States. This has in turn harmed workers in Canada as well, along with those in the free to bargain states, where employers have used the existence of lower right to work labor standards to drive down wages and benefits for working families.
Author: paul
A Gallup Poll released on Labor Day weekend found that 61% of American adults approve of organized labor — the highest percentage since 2003, when approval was at 65%.
The 2017 approval rate is up 5 percentage points from last year and 13 points above the all-time low of 48% in 2009.
Americans have normally shown significant support for unions throughout most of the 20th and 21st centuries, regardless of what prevailing ideologies existed at the time.
The approval rating was 71% in 1930, and it peaked in the 1950s at 75%.
Among political parties, 81% of Democrats now approve of unions with 42% of Republicans in agreement
More Americans, 39%, want unions to have greater influence nationally, the poll found. That’s the highest figure recorded in the past two decades.
A new Labor Day report unveiled today by the AFL-CIO shows that working people are working more and taking less time with their families. The report is based on findings from a national survey conducted for the AFL-CIO by the polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, and was produced in collaboration with the Economic Policy Institute and the Labor Project for Working Families.
More than half of Americans surveyed said they were working more holidays and weekends than ever, and 43% said they brought work home at least one night a week. Union members are more likely to receive Labor Day off and overtime pay compared with their nonunion counterparts. Sixty-six percent of union members receive overtime pay on Labor Day, compared with 38% of nonunion members. Women, often the primary caregivers in their families, are less likely than men to report access to paid time off—68% vs. 74%.
The majority of American workers credit labor unions for many of the benefits they receive.
Additionally, 72% of those surveyed said they thought unions were either very or somewhat responsible for working people having paid time off on Labor Day and other holidays.
Fifty-four percent of workers would join a union tomorrow if given the option. This includes 41% of Republicans surveyed. Respondents also expressed major concern that weakening unions could hurt workers’ benefits in the future.
Click here for a link to the report.
Last week, the Alliance for Industrial Efficiency published a profile of a sheet metal journeyman from Local 12 in Pittsburgh who now works for Ductmate Industries. You can view the profile here: http://alliance4industrialefficiency.org/energy-efficiency-lifechanging-career-move/
Business Manager Warren Faust of SMART Sheet Metal Local 44 gave United States Senator Bob Casey a demonstration on the SMART, Label It, Scan It, Report It App during a recent visit to the Local 44 union hall in Scranton, PA. Senator Casey inquired on the difference between the yellow and blue label and was impressed by the app and how it affords our members a tool to insure our products are built by our Brother and Sister members as well as wage equalized.
Thanks to Marx Sheet Metal for fabricating the yellow labeled items as well as Arrow United for fabricating the blue labeled items. After the demonstration a round table discussion was held on how trade deals impact labor unions and American jobs / workers. SMART Local 44 hosted this event with various labor unions and their representatives participating.
There’s not just one best practice where market recovery and expansion are concerned. To And the right answer takes someone who has worked in the local marketplace and is skilled at creating solutions tailored to special needs. It takes someone who has talked with a multitude of business managers, contractors, and chapter executives across the country and who understands what has worked and what hasn’t.
Michael E. Gaffney, who taught at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, is that person. He will share his insights and strategies on expanding your market during the keynote opening session at the 2018 Partners in Progress Conference, February 13-14, 2018, in Orlando, Fla. After more than a year of working on the SMACNA/SMART Workforce Development Project, Mr. Gaffney is ready to share his insights and strategies on sustaining and expanding your market.
In addition to the general session, he will teach a special track of breakout sessions isolating special best practices designed to be responsive to a changed market environment. For over two decades, Mr. Gaffney has teamed with SMACNA and SMART to work with local parties in developing meaningful labor relations and improved bargaining relationships. For the last 18 months, SMART and SMACNA commissioned him to assist pilot labor/management groups in the Washington, D.C., Houston, Texas, and Atlanta areas to create market solutions tailored to addressing their special needs for maintaining and expanding market share.
Earlier this year, Mr. Gaffney also moderated a workshop where more than 14 different areas of the country discussed and learned from each other how to approach market recovery efforts. Whether it be creating a separate workforce or using the existing one, Mr. Gaffney fleshed out what groundwork, structure, and follow-through labor and management must engage in to be
successful in keeping markets that may be threatened by non-union competition and how to recover those that have been lost.
Now he brings it all together at the upcoming Partners in Progress Conference where he will share industry ideas and best practices for market share advancement. To hear Michael Gaffney
and other great speakers address our industry’s needs, plan to attend the Partners in Progress Conference, Feb. 13-14, 2018, in Orlando, Fla.
The conference takes place at the recently renovated Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace and will focus on communication, commitment, and deliverables. Contractors, chapter executives, and
future leaders will all and something valuable in this two-day program. With a streamlined format, the conference promises to be even better than in the past.
Registration opens Sept. 5, 2017. For more information and to register, visit www.pinp.org/pinp18/ #pinp18
SMOHIT (the Sheet Metal Occupational Safety and Health Institute) has developed content for a new workshop called SMART PREVENT, designed to complement the Union’s Member Assistance Program (SMART MAP).
PREVENT is combination of SMOHIT’s “Fit for Life” initiative and content originally developed by the U.S. Navy. The workshop is designed to teach fundamental skills for sheet metal workers that will improve quality of life—with a special emphasis on depression, and preventing both substance abuse and suicide.
Interaction, strategies for behavior change
PREVENT uses an interactive class designed to enhance participants’ understanding of personal responsibilities in all aspects of their lives.
PREVENT is built on an understanding that knowledge alone is seldom sufficient to produce change or modify behavior; knowledge must be supplemented by behavior change strategies to produce the desired effect.
The workshop is designed particularly for younger members (roughly 18-30 years old), but may also be of value to other members. The goal is moving individuals through the process of personal health enhancement and risk reduction. In addition, the participatory nature of the workshop could benefit from the more experienced perspective some older students might bring to it.
Targeting newest members of our high-risk industries
Substance abuse in the construction industry is high, estimated at more than 16 percent for heavy alcohol use and more than 11 percent for illicit drugs.
Heavy use takes its toll in the workplace, with high rates of absenteeism and frequent employee turnover. Outside of the workplace, there are health implications as well as financial implications.
PREVENT hopes to teach young workers how to live better to avoid pitfalls from these negative behaviors. The workshop, along with the SMART MAP program, is meant to amplify the effects of existing employee assistance programs and available community resources.
This is a foundational training that will provide younger members the tools to enhance their overall quality of life, build stronger coping and leadership skills, and deal with some of the contemporary issues of the younger generation, including suicide, alcohol and drug abuse.
The course objectives are listed in the box on this page.
“Sheet metal work is a high-hazard job,” said Randall Krocka, SMOHIT’s administrator. “Combine that with unsafe lifestyle choices, and people get hurt. We don’t want that. We urge all our sheet metal members to take part in this program.”
Atop a list no one even wants to be part of, construction is the “top” industry for total number of suicides and the second-worst industry in suicide rates (percentage of workers).
As such, it is imperative to shatter the mental health stigma and develop a caring culture within our workforce and our companies.
On March 31, SM Local 28, together with the JAC and SMART MAP, hosted a workshop in New York City on identifying the warning signs of mental health problems leading to self-destructive behaviors, alcohol/substance abuse and suicide.
Chris Carlough, SMART Education Director, opened the day by speaking on the new treatments and new attitudes toward substance abuse and its many impacts on our members.
Sally Spencer Thomas, co-founder and CEO of the Carson J Spencer Foundation and an international authority on suicide prevention, then led a detailed and pragmatic session that covered identifying signs and symptoms in possible candidates for suicide as well as what we can do as friends, coworkers and family members.
Our often physically challenging work makes employees prone to injuries and fatigue, which can cause chronic pain and in turn lead to physical strain, distress, and addiction to pain medications. There also is potential for post-traumatic stress and psychological injury caused by witnessing traumatic life-threatening events.
Just closing our eyes and hoping it goes away does not work. When it comes to suicide, ignorance is not bliss–it is fatal. It’s time to deal with this health issue head-on.
The devastating truth is that all too often, people who experience mental health conditions–which can lead to suicidal despair–suffer in silence. Despite dramatic advances in awareness, prevention, intervention, and treatment, mental health issues and suicide prevention are still taboo as topics of conversation.
Construction industry leaders can change this perception. Improving mental health promotion and preventing suicide must become priorities within the overall health and safety initiatives of our employers’ companies, and our Union as well.
This is a Union—a Brother- and Sisterhood. We’ve got to start the conversation.
If you or someone you know is suffering and you don’t know what to do, now you have a friend who does. Contact a Union official or instructor. Or call the suicide hotline at 800 273 TALK (8255).
Nevada Democrats honored SM Local 88 organizer Alfonso Lopez for his years of tireless political activism—all on top of his staff duties. In 2016, he helped Nevada stand out as one of the few states that refused to send anti-union candidates to an open Senate seat and to the White House.
Here are Brother Lopez’ own words on reasons for the award—and note how he describes his own efforts in terms of larger goals and other people. That is true Union spirit.
Supporting the troops: “I’ve put in well over 10 years of cooking ‘sheet metal hamburgers’ (as volunteers refer to them), hotdogs, chicken and Carne Asada for candidates and for charities like St. Jude’s Ranch for abused children. Local 88 retirees deserve recognition for the fine craftsmanship it took to build our beast of a BBQ. (photo).
Hammering on the issues: “I pounded rebar and installed signs for nine different Assemblymen and State Senators during the 2017 campaign. It was critical we get back what was lost during the 2015 Legislative Session. Prevailing wage thresholds went from $100,00 to $250,000, wages were paid at 90% for work on university or school district job sites, and PLAs were cut from convention center work.“
“Fortunately, we are now in the majority in both the Assembly and the State Senate.
Hospitality for visitors: “I also took helped to feed workers in the state AFL‐CIO campaign. W had Labor people from all entities. Many came from California and lived here to help us turn Nevada blue, including the weeks that Northern California Local 104 sent organizers to help the campaign—which was greatly appreciated.”
The Letter Carriers’ 25th annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive, the largest one-day annual food drive in the U.S., collected 71.1 million pounds of food, the third-highest total ever. NALC, its members, its union allies including SMART and its customers, contributed the food, which was immediately distributed to local religious institutions, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, pantries and other enterprises that feed the hungry, the union pointed out.
“At least six days a week, Letter Carriers see firsthand the needs of the communities they work in, and we’re privileged to be able to help those in need while leading an effort that brings out the best in so many Americans,” Rolando said.
Both Letter Carriers and recipient institutions noticed the impact. Asheboro, N.C., Branch 2560 carrier Wyatt Thompson reminded The Courier-Tribune that carriers collected the food that Saturday even as they also delivered mail and packages.
“Letter Carriers witness daily the desperation of patrons who are suffering and they always respond. It is definitely the most demanding day of the year for all carriers,” he wrote.