Bush Signs Executive Order Barring Union Rights

[Shar]

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/109943/bush_signs_executive_order_barring_union_rights/

[IBEW]

Law Student Union Summer 2009 http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/lsus/

Law Student Union Summer (LSUS) is a unique and exciting 10-week internship for law students that combines front-line labor-related public interest legal work with grassroots organizing in real, ongoing campaigns by AFL-CIO affiliated unions in various regions of the country.

In addition to legal research and writing, LSUS interns are involved in community outreach, member mobilization, corporate and other non-legal research, legislative campaigns and general litigation. Responsibilities may include interviewing workers and drafting memorandum with factual and legal analysis in connection with presenting evidence to the National Labor Relations Board in unfair labor practice investigations and administrative hearings. Similar labor-related public interest work may be performed in connection with wage and hour violations, discrimination claims, immigration issues, environmental regulations, consumer protection, workers’ compensation and/or other issues that may arise during organizing or contract campaigns. Organizing activities, including canvassing, planning and implementing solidarity-building activities and participating in meetings and home visits, are another primary component of the program. Travel may be required; work will vary from placement to placement.

Interns work on-site, at locations throughout the country [NOT in Washington, D.C.]. The weekly stipend is $600 and transportation and housing are provided. Interns are supervised by attorneys and union organizers. The program starts on June 1, 2009, and runs through Aug. 7, 2009.

Applicants must have a demonstrated interest in the practice of labor-related public interest law and may be first or second year students; students who have taken one or more labor law courses and who have experience in organizing and/or community activism are preferred. (See eligibility requirements.)

Submit an application, cover letter [see application for requirements], résumé, writing sample, law school transcript and three references [include current contact information] to AFL-CIO Law Student Union Summer:
 

Online: www.aflcio.org/aboutus/lsus/app.cfm;
E-Mail: Lsus@aflcio.org;
Fax: 202-637-5323;
Mail: Nancy Schiffer, Associate General Counsel, AFL-CIO
815 16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006; Phone: 202-637-5336

Application deadline: Oct. 20, 2008, for 2Ls; Jan. 26, 2009, for 1Ls.

[destiny]

From what I am hearing Obama is not intending on coming in fighting for the unions.   

[Shar]

From what I am hearing Obama is not intending on coming in fighting for the unions.   

A lot depends on the new Sec. of  Labor Hilda Solis.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/19/new_labor_secretary_can_be_fac/

[IBEW]

American Rights at Work Statement on Secretary of Labor Nomination
http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/press-center/2008-press-releases/american-rights-at-work-statement-on-secretary-of-labor-nomination-20081217-691-347-347.html

Executive Director Mary Beth Maxwell and Chair David Bonior

(Washington, DC) – Following media reports that Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-CA) will be tapped by President-Elect Obama as our nation’s next Secretary of Labor, American Rights at Work Executive Director Mary Beth Maxwell and Chair David Bonior released the following statements:

Mary Beth Maxwell: "What a great choice! Rep. Solis brings the expertise and leadership required to a department in desperate need of reform and will champion common sense policies like the Employee Free Choice Act to restore balance and create an economy that works for everyone.

David Bonior: “I’ve worked with her for years in Congress and she sits on our Board of Directors – she is a terrific leader who I know first hand will work tirelessly on behalf of America’s working families.”

Congresswoman Hilda Solis is a member of American Rights at Work’s Board of Directors.

[IBEW]

Do you know something different than what I have been reading and hearing about Obama, destiny?

From what I am hearing Obama is not intending on coming in fighting for the unions.   

BARACK OBAMA WILL RESTORE WORKERS’ FREEDOM TO FORM UNIONS AND BARGAIN
http://www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/obama_wrights.cfm

Barack Obama is committed to ensuring that workers can choose to gain a union voice on the job and bargain with their employers for better wages, benefits and working conditions— without employer harassment or intimidation.

Obama Voted for Employee Free Choice Act. Obama co-sponsored and voted for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would restore workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions without employer harassment. (H.R. 800, Vote 227, 6/26/07)

Obama Promises to Sign the Employee Free Choice Act into Law. Obama says, “We will pass the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.” (Chicago Tribune, 3/4/07)

Obama: Employee Free Choice Act Gives Workers Majority Sign-Up. Obama said, “Th e Employee Free Choice Act will allow workers to form a union through majority sign-up and card-checks, and strengthen penalties for those employers who are in violation. The choice to organize should be left up to workers and workers alone. It should be their free choice.” (Obama Senate Press Release, 6/20/07)

Obama Says Choice to Form Unions Belongs to Workers. “Th e choice to organize should be left up to workers and workers alone. It should be their free choice.” At an AFSCME forum, Obama said, “In this country, we believe that if the majority of workers in a company want a union, they should get a union. We can do this.” (Take Back America Conference, 6/19/07; Obama Senate Press Release, 6/20/07)

Obama Says Workers Are Victimized by Current Law. Obama said workers are being victimized by current organizing laws. “The employers are abiding by the letter of the law...but it turns out we (still) have an overwhelming number of voters who would want to join a union....It would seem to me that we should change the law.” (Investor’s Business Daily, 3/30/07)

Obama Rallied With Resurrection Health Care Employees Promoting Passage of Employee Free Choice Act. Obama attended a rally of 2,000 hospital employees, union members and supporters promoting passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. “Keep marching for justice,” Obama told the Resurrection workers. “Where there is injustice anywhere, it suppresses justice everywhere. And organized labor has a history of bringing about justice.” The rally brought attention to the Resurrection workers’ campaign to form a union with AFSCME. (AFSCME 31, 3/5/07)

Obama Voted for Collective Bargaining Rights for Airport Screeners. Obama supported an amendment granting 43,000 airport screeners limited collective bargaining rights without the ability to strike or negotiate for higher pay. (S.Amdt. 316 to S.Amdt. 275 to S. 4, Vote 64, 3/7/07)

Obama Publicly Supports Workers Trying to Form Unions and Gain Contracts. In addition to his support for Resurrection staff , Obama has publicly supported workers in organizing and bargaining campaigns many times, from walking a picket line with Congress Hotel employees last year in Chicago to refusing to cross the picket line of striking television writers and urging the head of WMUR-TV in New Hampshire to negotiate a fair contract. (AFL-CIO Now blog, 11/26/07, 12/4/07, 12/28/07)

 

[destiny]

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1868355,00.html

basically what I am hearing is that if he does anything its not going to be for awhile, too much on his plate, too afraid to step on toes. etc. Hope I am wrong, unions are needed now more than ever. 

[westlib]

I am still smarting from Nevada - where the unions were promised to John and then switched to OB. Same story in California. He owes them this election, and they should a priority.

From what I see of current picks in education - Duncan and Bennett in CO. - these choices are not pro-union.