An Injury to One is an Injury to All! VOL. 122 NO. 4 AUGUST 5, 2015 WEDNESDAY (ISSN 0023-6667) See Working Parents...page 7 Rep. Paul Thissen, Eric Goerdt, Mary Tennis, and Rep. Jennifer Schultz spoke July 23 about the need for work- place policies that support employees and their families. Much to celebrate on Medicare and Medicaid’s 50th birthday (Washington, DC) -- Recognizing the essential role that Medicare has played in helping older Americans live healthier, longer and more financially secure lives, members of the Alliance for Retired Americans pulled out all the stops to host nearly 120 events to celebrate and educate the public about the importance and necessity of the program on its 50th birthday on July 30. ARA was joined by the AFL-CIO, National Nurses United, and Physicians for a National Health Plan in celebrating. “Fourteen percent of Americans are over the age of 65. Thanks to Medicare, they have a high quality of life in retirement without sacrificing their standard of living or burdening their loved ones with medical bills,” said Richard Fiesta, ARA execu- tive director. “Medicare is a success story. It’s improved and strengthened families, the U.S. health care system and the lives of older Americans and the disabled. We’re encouraging our retiree members to speak out to make sure that it is preserved for future generations.” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stated, “Medicare is the nation’s largest and most successful health insurance program, providing quality healthcare and financial security to 50 million Americans in 2014. It is also the most financially efficient health care system in the United States with administrative costs aver- aging only 2 percent of program outlays. Baby boomers depend on the continuation and improvement of Medicare and are over- whelmingly opposed to dismantling this program. However, that is exactly what Republicans in Congress want to do. “The House and Senate budget resolutions both propose beginning a privatization process. They would turn Medicare into a voucher program, raising costs for seniors and funneling billions of dollars into the coffers of insurance companies and hospital chains. Paul Ryan’s proposal to raise the Medicare eli- gibility age to 67 is waiting in the wings. Raising the eligibility age would cost state and local governments billions of dollars and would bankrupt many Taft-Hartley healthcare trust funds.” Leading Republican presidential candidates have all signaled that they want to cut and/or change the fundamental nature of this earned benefit. The NNU Registered Nurses celebrated Medicare’s 50th with a DC rally featuring Senator Bernie Sanders, who like NNU, is an outspoken advocate for a Medicare for All single payer gov- ernment health plan, like the one in bill HR676, that he and Rep. John Conyers of Michigan have been pushing for years. Physicians for a National Health Program held a national call- in day on July 30 to urge lawmakers to become co-sponsors of HR 676. You can call your representative at the Capitol Switchboard number, 202-224-3121. AFL-CIO gives nod to single-payer health care in its “Raising Wages” campaign Working Parents Act can improve workplace labor organizations have endorsed that bill and single payer. Minnesota Congressmen Rick Nolan and Keith Ellison are co-sponsors. In Wisconsin Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan are co-sponsors. Visit http://unionsforsinglepayer.org Sanders inserted an ACA provision letting states try sin- gle-payer – though not by that name – as long as benefits equal those ACA mandated insurers provided. The current GOP-run Congress is even less likely to enact full single-payer than the then-Democratic-run Congress did in 2010. In one House com- mittee during deliberations then, then-Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, inserted sin- gle-payer in one version of the ACA, but his colleagues later quickly dropped it. movement,” National Nurses United Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro told reporters afterwards. “We asked candidates about single- payer, but Bernie taught us about it.” The nurses say the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act leaves one major hole in health care: Controlling costs. That lets insurers, hospi- tals and big drug companies impose skyrocketing price hikes, leaving even ACA clients unable to pay for health care, NNU says. Besides Sanders, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is lead sponsor of HR676, the single- payer health care bill there. The Duluth AFL-CIO Cen- tral Labor Body was one of the first labor bodies in the U.S. to endorse HR676. To date 620 (PAI)—The AFL-CIO is adding government-run single- payer health care coverage – a key plank of one Democratic presidential hopeful and a top cause of at least two outspoken unions – to its “Raising Wages” campaign. The July 29 decision, by voice vote at the federation’s Executive Council meeting in Silver Spring, Md., is impor- tant: Support for the Raising Wages campaign – a compre- hensive platform of how to restore the incomes and stan- dards of living of workers and the middle class – is a key cri- terion the federation and its unions will use in political endorsements in 2016. National Nurses United has long pushed single-payer, as have the Steelworkers, among others. Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, a native Canadian, is familiar with single-payer, which Canada has. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is it’s longtime spon- sor. “The AFL-CIO has taken the position that single-payer is a bedrock issue for the labor Even with Republicans now in control of the Minnesota House of Representatives, DFL members are looking to build on their successes of raising the minimum wage and passing the Women’s Economic Secur- ity Act when they were in power in 2013 and 2014. On July 23 DFL House Leader Rep. Paul Thissen of Minneapolis was in Duluth to push the Working Parents Act, legislation that would strength- en Minnesota’s workplace poli- cies, such as earned sick and safe time. He was joined by Rep. Jennifer Schultz at Nor- thern Waters Smokehaus because owner Eric Goerdt already uses family-friendly workplace policies that benefit his employees, his business, and his customers. “We need workplaces that reflect that our economy has changed,” said Thissen. “I think it was Joe Biden who said we need an economy that puts food on the table, but also one that allows a family to be around that table together.” Goerdt said raising the min- imum wage doesn’t hurt busi- ness, it helps them. He employs 40 people at his Canal Park business. Many have been with him a long time because he has created a good work environ- ment. He said his long time customers know his employees well and want to see them be able to own their own homes and participate in the economy. “If you value your employ- ees you create a good team,” Goerdt said. “It makes my life easier.” His policies like sick time and profit sharing make sense in the food industry he said. No one working in it should have to go to work sick because they can’t afford to lose a day’s wages. He has stat- ed that the last thing a customer at a restaurant needs is some- one ill waiting on them. That’s bad for business. “No one has ever used all their sick time,” Goerdt said. Mary Tennis has been his manager for 14 years. “Eric has always included us in his business plan,” Tennis said. “And he’s not taking a huge piece of the pie.” Goerdt said his business is doing so well that he’ll open a second Smokehaus in the fall in the Mt. Royal Shopping Center. He’s not worried about hiring new employees because many people know how he treats the ones he has. “We get tons of applications from people who want to work here,” Goerdt said. Schultz said other area busi- nesses like Frost River and Duluth Grill, also have policies that are good for their employ- ees and their families. While the Minnesota Legis- lative session doesn’t reopen until March 8 Schultz says its never to early to start working on policy or bills. “I’ve received no negative feedback on raising the mini- mum wage or the Women’s Economic Security Act,” said Schultz. “On a average it takes about eight years to get a bill passed and its easier to push an agenda like this when the econ- omy’s good.” Thissen said hearings on the Working Parents Act were held in this year’s legislative ses- sion.
Transcript
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!VOL. 122
NO. 4AUGUST 5, 2015WEDNESDAY
(ISSN 0023-6667)
See Working Parents...page 7
Rep. Paul Thissen, Eric Goerdt, Mary Tennis, and Rep.Jennifer Schultz spoke July 23 about the need for work-place policies that support employees and their families.
Much to celebrate on Medicareand Medicaid’s 50th birthday(Washington, DC) -- Recognizing the essential role that
Medicare has played in helping older Americans live healthier,longer and more financially secure lives, members of theAlliance for Retired Americans pulled out all the stops to hostnearly 120 events to celebrate and educate the public about theimportance and necessity of the program on its 50th birthday onJuly 30. ARA was joined by the AFL-CIO, National NursesUnited, and Physicians for a National Health Plan in celebrating.
“Fourteen percent of Americans are over the age of 65.Thanks to Medicare, they have a high quality of life in retirementwithout sacrificing their standard of living or burdening theirloved ones with medical bills,” said Richard Fiesta, ARA execu-tive director. “Medicare is a success story. It’s improved andstrengthened families, the U.S. health care system and the livesof older Americans and the disabled. We’re encouraging ourretiree members to speak out to make sure that it is preserved forfuture generations.”
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stated, “Medicare is thenation’s largest and most successful health insurance program,providing quality healthcare and financial security to 50 millionAmericans in 2014. It is also the most financially efficient healthcare system in the United States with administrative costs aver-aging only 2 percent of program outlays. Baby boomers dependon the continuation and improvement of Medicare and are over-whelmingly opposed to dismantling this program. However,that is exactly what Republicans in Congress want to do.
“The House and Senate budget resolutions both proposebeginning a privatization process. They would turn Medicareinto a voucher program, raising costs for seniors and funnelingbillions of dollars into the coffers of insurance companies andhospital chains. Paul Ryan’s proposal to raise the Medicare eli-gibility age to 67 is waiting in the wings. Raising the eligibilityage would cost state and local governments billions of dollarsand would bankrupt many Taft-Hartley healthcare trust funds.”
Leading Republican presidential candidates have all signaledthat they want to cut and/or change the fundamental nature ofthis earned benefit.
The NNU Registered Nurses celebrated Medicare’s 50th witha DC rally featuring Senator Bernie Sanders, who like NNU, isan outspoken advocate for a Medicare for All single payer gov-ernment health plan, like the one in bill HR676, that he and Rep.John Conyers of Michigan have been pushing for years.
Physicians for a National Health Program held a national call-in day on July 30 to urge lawmakers to become co-sponsors ofHR 676. You can call your representative at the CapitolSwitchboard number, 202-224-3121.
AFL-CIO gives nod to single-payer healthcare in its “Raising Wages” campaign
Working Parents Act can improve workplace
labor organizations haveendorsed that bill and singlepayer. Minnesota CongressmenRick Nolan and Keith Ellisonare co-sponsors. In WisconsinGwen Moore and Mark Pocanare co-sponsors. Visithttp://unionsforsinglepayer.org
Sanders inserted an ACAprovision letting states try sin-gle-payer – though not by thatname – as long as benefitsequal those ACA mandatedinsurers provided.
The current GOP-runCongress is even less likely toenact full single-payer than thethen-Democratic-run Congressdid in 2010. In one House com-mittee during deliberationsthen, then-Rep. DennisKucinich, D-Ohio, inserted sin-gle-payer in one version of theACA, but his colleagues laterquickly dropped it.
movement,” National NursesUnited Executive DirectorRoseAnn DeMoro toldreporters afterwards. “Weasked candidates about single-payer, but Bernie taught usabout it.”
The nurses say the Obamaadministration’s AffordableCare Act leaves one major holein health care: Controllingcosts. That lets insurers, hospi-tals and big drug companiesimpose skyrocketing pricehikes, leaving even ACAclients unable to pay for healthcare, NNU says.
Besides Sanders, Rep. JohnConyers, D-Mich., is leadsponsor of HR676, the single-payer health care bill there.
The Duluth AFL-CIO Cen-tral Labor Body was one of thefirst labor bodies in the U.S. toendorse HR676. To date 620
(PAI)—The AFL-CIO isadding government-run single-payer health care coverage – akey plank of one Democraticpresidential hopeful and a topcause of at least two outspokenunions – to its “Raising Wages”campaign.
The July 29 decision, byvoice vote at the federation’sExecutive Council meeting inSilver Spring, Md., is impor-tant: Support for the RaisingWages campaign – a compre-hensive platform of how torestore the incomes and stan-dards of living of workers andthe middle class – is a key cri-terion the federation and itsunions will use in politicalendorsements in 2016.
National Nurses United haslong pushed single-payer, ashave the Steelworkers, amongothers. Steelworkers PresidentLeo Gerard, a native Canadian,is familiar with single-payer,which Canada has. Democraticpresidential hopeful BernieSanders is it’s longtime spon-sor.
“The AFL-CIO has takenthe position that single-payer isa bedrock issue for the labor
Even with Republicans nowin control of the MinnesotaHouse of Representatives, DFLmembers are looking to buildon their successes of raising theminimum wage and passingthe Women’s Economic Secur-ity Act when they were inpower in 2013 and 2014.
On July 23 DFL HouseLeader Rep. Paul Thissen ofMinneapolis was in Duluth topush the Working Parents Act,legislation that would strength-en Minnesota’s workplace poli-cies, such as earned sick andsafe time. He was joined byRep. Jennifer Schultz at Nor-thern Waters Smokehausbecause owner Eric Goerdtalready uses family-friendlyworkplace policies that benefithis employees, his business,
and his customers.“We need workplaces that
reflect that our economy haschanged,” said Thissen. “Ithink it was Joe Biden who saidwe need an economy that putsfood on the table, but also onethat allows a family to bearound that table together.”
Goerdt said raising the min-imum wage doesn’t hurt busi-ness, it helps them. He employs40 people at his Canal Parkbusiness. Many have been withhim a long time because he hascreated a good work environ-ment. He said his long timecustomers know his employeeswell and want to see them beable to own their own homesand participate in the economy.
“If you value your employ-ees you create a good team,”Goerdt said. “It makes my lifeeasier.” His policies like sicktime and profit sharing makesense in the food industry hesaid. No one working in itshould have to go to work sickbecause they can’t afford tolose a day’s wages. He has stat-ed that the last thing a customerat a restaurant needs is some-one ill waiting on them. That’sbad for business.
“No one has ever used alltheir sick time,” Goerdt said.
Mary Tennis has been hismanager for 14 years.
“Eric has always includedus in his business plan,” Tennissaid. “And he’s not taking ahuge piece of the pie.”
Goerdt said his business isdoing so well that he’ll open asecond Smokehaus in the fallin the Mt. Royal ShoppingCenter. He’s not worried abouthiring new employees becausemany people know how hetreats the ones he has.
“We get tons of applicationsfrom people who want to workhere,” Goerdt said.
Schultz said other area busi-nesses like Frost River andDuluth Grill, also have policiesthat are good for their employ-ees and their families.
While the Minnesota Legis-lative session doesn’t reopenuntil March 8 Schultz says itsnever to early to start workingon policy or bills.
“I’ve received no negativefeedback on raising the mini-mum wage or the Women’sEconomic Security Act,” saidSchultz. “On a average it takesabout eight years to get a billpassed and its easier to push anagenda like this when the econ-omy’s good.”
Thissen said hearings on theWorking Parents Act were heldin this year’s legislative ses-sion.
Central Body screenings Thurs., August 13 should be long, interesting
State workshop to address open shop laws
Well, at least the screeningfor City Council District 2looks easy. Labor endorsedincumbent Joel Sipress isunopposed to fill out the lasttwo years of his term, which hewon in a special election.
Other than that one bringsome refreshment to attend theDuluth AFL-CIO CentralLabor Body screenings of can-didates for this fall’s local elec-tions Thursday, Aug. 13 inWellstone Hall of the DuluthLabor Temple, 2002 LondonRoad starting at 5:30 P.M.
Filings are closed with lotsof candidates for the Duluthelections to be contested:• Mayor’s race has 8;
The Minnesota AFL-CIOhas scheduled a two day con-ference to prepare unions forany possible open shop envi-ronment they may encounter inthe future. They don’t have tolook far for an example withWisconsin their neighbor to theeast, where all unions are in thecrosshairs.
Right to work laws targetprivate sector unions and are
being pushed in all states,including at the city and countygovernment levels in some.
Public sector unions arewaiting to see how the U.S.Supreme Court views a chal-lenge on their collective bar-gaining rights in Friedrichs v.California Teachers Associa-tion. That case seeks to over-turn Abood v. Detroit Board ofEducation which allows public
unions to collect fair share feesfrom non-members to covercosts for representing them.
The workshop will teachpractices of successful open-shop/right to work unions, andprovide tools to prepare localunion’s next steps in the battlesthat are sure to come.
The workshop is Thursdayand Friday, Sept. 10-11, at theMinnesota Nurses Association,345 Randolph Ave., #200, St.Paul. Cost is $125/attendee.For more information contactTodd Dahlstrom [email protected] or 800-652-9004 or 651-227-0013.
Freedom of Information workshopPublic Record Media (PRM) will host a Freedom of
Information (FOI) workshop at the Duluth Public Library, 520W. Superior Street, Monday, August 17 from 6:30 pm–8:00 pm.
FOI laws make government data - including city budgets,arrest information, and more - available to anyone. PRM's work-shop will explain how people can use FOI – including theMinnesota Government Data Practices Act - to obtain govern-ment records. Rich Neumeister, a long-time public recordrequester and open government advocate, will present the work-shop. Duluth resident Ann Redelfs will also discuss her ownexperiences obtaining government data, using techniqueslearned at a previous PRM workshop. The event is free.
PRM is a Minnesota-based non-profit organization that con-ducts public record-centered publication, legal work, and educa-tion. More information is at www.publicrecordmedia.org.
Marsnik presents Iron Rangelabor history Aug. 20 at Depot
In the last issue of Labor World an article by EducationMinnesota’s Kieren Steinhoff addressed Biwabik native MeganMarsnik’s debut novel “Under Ground,” which the Star Tribunehas been serializing. The novel is about the Iron Range andunion organizing in the mines.
Marsnik will be the presenter at the St. Louis County Histori-cal Society’s “Lunch with the History People” on Thursday,August 20, noon – 1 PM, in the Underground on the first floorof the Depot, 506 West Michigan Street, Duluth.
Her lecture, “Immigrant Labor Uprisings in NorthernMinnesota,” is derived from research for her novel “UnderGround” and the 1916 miners’ strike on the Iron Range. Her talkwill review the role women played in the labor movement.Marsnik frequently presents on the significance of women inlocal and national labor history. She will also read passages fromher book and highlight actual events and people who providedinspiration for her writing.
There will be limited theater-style seating (no tables), but feelfree to bring your own bag lunch. Seating is first-come, first-served (no reservations). Admittance to this event is free to thepublic. ARCO coffee is provided.
United Taconite next to lay offMinnesota’s Iron Range ore mining and the American steel
industry will absorb another hit as Cliffs Natural Resourcesannounced July 29 that it will lay-off about 420 workers, mostmembers of the United Steelworkers, at its United Taconite oper-ations in Eveleth and Forbes. The company has more taconiteiron ore pellets than demand for them as subsidized steel fromforeign governments continues to control the American market.
U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan is pressing White House officials forassurances the Obama Administration will speed TradeAdjustment Assistance (TAA) to the workers. TAA is designedto provide funds and resources to workers who lose their jobs asa result of unfair foreign competition. Nolan has been a long andinsistent critic of trade agreements and policies that have allowedmillions of tons of low-grade, foreign government subsidizedsteel to be dumped into domestic markets – undercutting pricesand leading to thousands of layoffs in mines and steel manufac-turing operations throughout the nation.
“Our first concern is for the workers and their families – andfor businesses across Minnesota’s Iron Range that will be mostdirectly affected,” Nolan said. “First and foremost, we mustassure that workers and their families promptly receive all avail-able federal and state help to get through these layoffs.”
Nolan continues to point out that “At the heart of the matteris that the process of enforcing our trade policies and agreementsagainst the illegal dumping of foreign steel into our marketplaceis broken. It’s ineffective. It takes too long. It’s full of loopholesthat allow horrific damage to be done before any action can betaken. What’s more, there are no effective tariffs on foreign steel.As a result, our jobs, our economy and our national security arebeing put at enormous risk.”
“Over the long term, we need to do more than get throughthis. We need to put a stop to unworkable trade agreements andavoid more of these devastating layoffs from happening in thefuture.”
• City Council At Large 4 for 2 open seats;
• City Council Dist. 5 has 4;• School Board At Large 3• School Board Dist. 2 has 3.
That means all those raceswill be involved in Tuesday,Sept. 15’s Primary Election.
And then you still haveSipress’ District 2, CouncilDistrict 1 and 3 with two candi-dates each for open seats, andSchool Board District 2 withtwo candidates for an openseat.
That’s nine contests withonly two of them having theincumbent running. There willbe a lot of candidates trying toimpress labor delegates at the
screening. Many of the openseats are being vacated byincumbents who carried theLabor Endorsement so the citycouncil and school board elec-tions will be very important forworking families.
All affiliated local unions’members are invited to COPE(Committee On PoliticalEducation) candidate screen-ings. COPE recommendationsfor endorsements will be con-sidered by Duluth CentralLabor Body delegates only atthe monthly meeting immedi-ately following the screenings.It takes a two-thirds vote ofdelegates present for a candi-date to gain an endorsement.
The Primary Election willbe held on Tuesday, Sept. 15where one is needed.
The General Election isTuesday, Nov. 3.
Oh, and don’t forget there isalways a chance for a concert-ed write-in candidate inSipress’ District 2 race so vote!
PAGE 2 LABOR WORLD NEWS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015
Ironworker RetireesMonthly BreakfastThursday, Aug. 20
9:00 a.m.Bridgeman’s (Mall)Mt. Shadow Drive
I.U.O.E. Local 70Monthly Arrowhead Regional Meeting
Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015, 5:00 P.M. Duluth Labor Center, Hall B
Dave Monsour, Business Manager, (651) 646-4566
Thanks to Robert Reich & Evergreen Digest
NY fast food workers expected to get $15/hr
Doesn’t it make your heartsing to know that minimumwage workers in Minnesota gotan automatic raise lastSaturday? Well, most of themdid except for those workingfor small companies or theteenagers that are working. Formost of them that got a payraise it must feel like mannafrom heaven, something theymay have gone a long timewithout receiving. Many maybe surprised to see the increasewhen they get their next paycheck. Hope someone tellsthem to thank the DFL Partymembers in the MinnesotaHouse because the boss won’t.
It’s good to be on this islandcalled Minnesota in theMidcoast. Cities and states onAmerica’s east and west coastsare doing well for minimumwage workers but the GopherState is the only one in theHeartland that seems to care.Well, at least we did before welet Republicans control thestate House. Forward thinkingin 2013/14 put up a good fire-wall for minimum wage work-ers by guaranteeing their law
into the future.Rep. Eric Simonson said a
good thing about all that at theMN Building Trades Conven-tion Thursday in Duluth. Hesaid when he became Presidentof his union in Duluth, FireFighters Local 101, theychanged their rhetoric from“what can you do for us” to“what can we do for all of us.”Gotta like that and it shows itworks to improve our society.
There’s a lot of improve-ment work left to do, here andnationwide. And before we gettoo proud of ourselves let’s notforget how bad Minnesota wason the minimum wage beforethe law was passed. We wereamong the nation’s worst. Yup,the worst.
You have to like the contin-ued efforts to raise the federalminimum wage. It’ll take awhile with Guardians ofPrivilege in charge of Con-gress. There’s a big push nowfor a $15 minimum wage andI’m all for it. But reality sets inquickly and I’m thinking thatthe push for a $12 minimumwage seems much more doableand an effort better spent. Butyou $15ers keep on pushing.Minneapolis CongressmanKeith Ellison is one of them.
“You can’t tell me that’s toomuch when the CEO ofMcDonald’s makes $9,000 anhour,” Ellison says. “You can’ttell me that’s too much whenwe spend billions on wars. Youcan’t tell me that’s too muchwhen we’re giving away mil-lions to ExxonMobil andChevron. You can’t tell methat’s too much when compa-nies like GE don’t pay anytaxes at all.”
Here’s what our guySenator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)(let’s see if I can drop his namein every column until Christ-mas of 2016) says: “If youwork 40 hours a week, youshould not be living in poverty.We’re saying loud and clearthat $7.25 is a poverty wage –
and that we have to close thatoutrageous loophole of the$2.13. Today we say loud andclear that all our workers, coastto coast, need $15 an hour anda union.”
Go get ’em boys and girls.The frustrations with gov-
ernment and society, that stuckin the status quo thing, can bedepressing. It’s wonderfulwhen good things happen tothose being left out of the gainsthat are being made.
That $1 an hour bump min-imum wage workers gotSaturday in Minnesota, maybe250,000 of them, is a big dealand something to cheer about.Next year they’ll go up to$9.50 an hour on August 1.Many of them will still be intheir same jobs going to workfull time or hours near that.And think that they were onlygetting $6.15 an hour for goingto those same jobs just a coupleof years ago.
Makes me feel like I got araise Saturday too. I think it’llhelp me even though I didn’t. Iusually get mine April 1stthanks to my union contract.Makes waiting worth it.
By Kenneth Quinnell,AFL-CIO Blog
A national movement for ahigher minimum wage,increased dignity, and a betterquality of life looks like it’sgoing to pay off for the NewYork fast-food workers wholaunched the whole thing.
Momentum has grown inrecent years for not onlyincreasing the minimum wage,but for making the wage closerto one that workers can supporttheir families on, and the stateof New York is set to join thewave. Gov. Andrew Cuomo(D) directed the state’s actingcommissioner of labor toappoint a panel to consider theissue, and the panel has recom-mended that the state raise the
wage for fast-food workers to$15 per hour in chains thathave more than 30 outlets. Theacting commissioner still mustapprove the changes, but he iswidely expected to do so.When he does, 70% of NewYorkers who currently workfor the minimum wage will seea raise.
Bill Lipton, state directorfor the Working Families Party,applauded the change, one he’schampioned for many years:“There’s clearly a new stan-dard for the minimum wage,and it’s actually a living wagefor the first time in many,many decades.”
New York joins a chorus ofstate and local voices that havedecided to act on raising the
minimum wage, while nationalRepublicans continue toobstruct improvements.
New York will join citieslike Los Angeles, Seattle, SanFrancisco and Washington,D.C., as having passed or pro-posed a $15 per hour minimumwage. More than one dozencities have raised their mini-mum wage higher than thenational law in recent years.
New York State AFL-CIOPresident Mario Cilento saidthe change can be a spring-board to broader changes:“This is just the beginning. Thelabor movement remains com-mitted to making sure today’saction sets the stage for allother low-wage workers mov-ing forward.”
LABOR WORLD NEWS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015 PAGE 3
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9 reasons to celebrate $9/hrBy Ben Horowitz, Minnesota Budget Project Minnesota’s minimum wage increased to $9.00 Saturday
(August 1) for large employers (and $7.25 for youths and smallemployers) thanks to legislation passed in April 2014. Next year,the wage will increase again, to $9.50 for large employers and$7.75 for small employers and youth. This eventual climb up to$9.50 is predicted to cause roughly 325,000 Minnesotans to seetheir income improve. It’s good news for everyone else, too,because it will also strengthen our economy. We came up with areason to celebrate the minimum wage increase for every dollar.
1) A minimum wage increase is important for theMinnesotans who are more likely to be paid at or near the mini-mum wage, like women…2)…people of color…3)…peoplewith disabilities…4)… and Greater Minnesotans. Raising theminimum wage will help address the fact that employers likelypay less for the jobs disproportionately filled by women, peopleof color, adults with disabilities and in Greater Minnesota.
5) A higher minimum wage is linked to higher earnings. Thissounds redundant, but is worth pointing out. Low-income work-ers in states with minimum wage increases saw their earningsgrow by 1.6 percent in 2014, compared to just 0.3 percent instates that did not increase their minimum wage.
6) The minimum wage needs to increase to ensure that morefamilies can make ends meet. Minnesota’s Department ofEmployment and Economic Development studies the cost of abasic needs budget in every county in Minnesota(http://mn.gov/deed/data/data-tools/col/). Depending on theirage and where they live, a single adult working full time with nochildren would need to earn between $9.56 (Pennington County)and $13.07 (Isanti County) ($10.43 for St. Louis County) just toput a roof over their head and food in their fridge. This increasebrings us one step closer to ensuring that a full day’s work at thevery least covers a full day’s needs.
7) The increase will help wages catch up with inflation.Because of increases in the cost of living, the federal minimumwage currently buys less than it did in 1968.
8) The increase will help lots of children, too. According to areport by the JOBS NOW Coalition, roughly one out of every tenchildren in Minnesota had a parent who would be helped by theminimum wage increase.
9) Minnesotans earning higher wages will spend more in ourlocal economies. The JOBS NOW study also estimated that asimilar minimum wage proposal to the one that passed wouldgenerate a $472 million increase in Minnesotans’ spendingpower.
Beginning in 2018, the minimum wage will be automaticallyincreased to keep up with inflation. Combined with the increas-es from last year, this year, and next year, our higher minimumwage will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands ofMinnesotans who struggle to meet their basic needs despiteworking.
~NOTICE~Labor World 2015 issues:Aug. 26 Labor Day issue;Sept. 16, 30; Oct. 14, 28;
State Building Trades convention hears of region’s great partnershipsThe Minnesota State Build-
ing Trades Council’s 69th An-nual Convention was held inDuluth July 30, 31 and therewas much area trades’ unionscould tout about how and whynortheast Minnesota is doingso well in union construction.
Members of the Duluth andIron Range Building TradesCouncils were joined in pro-moting the region by manyelected officials that addressedover 200 delegates and over 70guests.
Craig Olson, Duluth TradesCouncil President and Secre-tary-Treasurer of the Minne-sota Trades Council, calledcity, county, and state electedofficials to the podium and theyall spoke of their strong part-nership.
Mayor Don Ness was pre-sented a plaque by Olsonthanking him for his manyyears of support to the BuildingTrades first as an aide toCongressman Jim Oberstar,then as a city councilor, andnow as Duluth mayor.
Ness, who has five monthsleft before he retires as mayor,said, “The cranes in the airshow a level of construction inthe city we’ve not seen foryears.” He said the partnershipbetween the trades unions and“our great elected leaders” likestate Reps. Eric Simonson andMike Sundin are putting peopleto work and a “virtuous cycleof wages is revolving in thecommunity.”
“We’re not like Wisconsin,”Ness said. “We build strengthin our community by investingin working men and women.We need to tell the nation tolook at what we’re doing inMinnesota.”
St. Louis County Commis-sioner Pete Stauber said thehalf cent sales tax dedicated tofund road and bridge work “isgenerating even more revenuethan what we thought and ourprojects will all have ProjectLabor Agreements.” That
brought cheers from delegates.Commissioner Keith Nel-
son said about $200 millionwill be spent by the county onPLA projects. He says he does-n’t hear a bad word in the cof-fee shops about the half centsales tax.
“I hear ‘thank youse’because the projects are help-ing communities,” Nelson said.He said every nickel of the halfcent tax, about $13 million ayear, will go for road andbridge work.
“With the leadership wehave in the Building Trades inour county it makes our jobpretty easy,” Nelson said.
Commissioner Tom Ruka-vina spoke to the Polymet proj-ect as “the largest recyclingproject in America” because itis using the infrastructure froma mid-1950s taconite plant.
“And it will add two millionmanhours in construction,”Rukavina said. “And we knowhow to do mining right inMinnesota – we’ve been doingit for 132 years, including inthe Superior National Forestsince Teddy Roosevelt.”
State Rep. Eric Simonsonsaid when he became President
of Duluth’s Fire Fighters Local101, he immediately went towork to re-establish good rela-tions with other local unionsand the Building Trades.
“To succeed it couldn’t be‘what can you do for us’ any-more. It had to be ‘Now whatcan we do for all of us,’”Simonson said. Workingtogether brought working forcandidates that will work forlabor and in 2012 it resulted inhim getting elected to the stateHouse of Representatives,something he didn’t thinkwould happen.
Mike Sundin, a member ofPainters & Allied Trades Local106, was also elected to theHouse that year.
“We stand together in thisarea and that’s why we’re oneof the strongest union areas inthe nation,” Sundin told his fel-low delegates. Showing hisunion card he said, “I got elect-ed because of this.”
Sundin and Simonson wentfrom being elected when theirDFL controlled every facet ofstate government, to being inthe minority in the House intwo years.
“We need to get the labor
influence back in the legisla-ture,” Sundin said. “I wouldn’tmove to Wisconsin but we alsocan’t allow the Wisconsininfluence to move intoMinnesota.”
Olson told delegates to con-tinue to recruit members to runfor office.
He said the partnershipbetween the Building Tradesand elected officials has anoth-er great ally in DuluthChamber of Commerce Presi-dent David Ross, who he hasworked with for 20 years.
“When we stand togetherwith the Chamber we don’tlose,” said Olson.
Ross told delegates he andhis siblings were raised onunion wages.
“I’m the proud son of a cardcarrying union Bricklayer whoserved 29 years as businessmanager of his union,” Rosssaid of his father, Jim.
Ross said many people weresurprised when CNBC recentlyrated Minnesota as the beststate for business because it hassuch a strong history of being alabor and union friendly state.
“Those people don’t realizewhat can happen when busi-ness and labor works together,”Ross said. “We can show thenation.” One of the first thingshe would point to is $2.2 bil-lion of construction in Duluthin the past ten years.
Simonson told delegates
later, “The Duluth Chamber ofCommerce is not the Minne-sota Chamber of Commerce.”
Statewide, some 130,000people are employed on $6.7billion worth of constructionprojects, reported Commis-sioner Ken Peterson of theDept. of Labor and Industry.Employment in constructionhas increased by 42,000 sinceGovernor Mark Dayton tookoffice in 2011, he noted.
Assistant CommissionerJessica Looman said, “We nowhave 10,000 apprentices in thestate of Minnesota. We’re backwhere we were pre-recession.”Of those, 19.3% are women orpeople of color, she said.
The Building Trades facethe challenge of a wave ofretirements by skilled tradesworkers, of whom the vastmajority are white men.
State Building TradesPresident Harry Melander saidthe future construction work-force will depend heavily on“new Americans and women.”The trades council is expand-ing its outreach to these work-ers, he said, adding “We need afull throttle effort in recruit-ment to begin to build a newgeneration of union members.”
He said he is “cautiouslyoptimistic” about passage of a$1 billion bonding bill in the2016 legislative session.
Workday Minnesota’s BarbKucera contributed to this story.
PAGE 4 LABOR WORLD NEWS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015
Minnesota State Building Trades President HarryMelander, left, and retiring Duluth Mayor Don Ness listenas Craig Olson, State Trades Secretary-Treasurer, reads aplaque he presented to Ness for his years of support.
All work and no play makes jack, but that’s no fun. These wives, staff members, andfriends are some of the group the Minnesota State Building Trades Council treated to aVista Queen charter ride July 30 during the council’s convention in Duluth.
Judge upholds NLRB union election rules
Racial, economic justice commission created
By Mark GruenbergPAI Staff WriterA federal district judge in
D.C. has upheld the NationalLabor Relations Board’s newunion election rules, tossingout big business lobbies’ chal-lenges. So has another in WestTexas, dismissing a complaintfrom the Associated Buildersand Contractors, another anti-worker lobby.
In her July 30 decision, U.S.District Judge Amy BermanJackson dismissed and denoun-ced the U.S. Chamber of Com-merce’s case against NLRB.Chamber allies included theNational Association ofManufacturers, and theNational Retail Federation –whose members employ mil-lions of the most-exploitedworkers in the U.S.
Judge Jackson said theChamber and its acolytes usedselective quotes for their com-plaint, and that it didn’t addconstitutionally.
AFL-CIO Counsel LynnRhinehart cheered the ruling.When the board issued the
Last week the AFL-CIOCommission on Racial andEconomic Justice held its firstmeeting. It was an opportunityto gather the diverse group oflabor leaders of the AFL-CIOExecutive Council as well asacademic advisors together to
map out a plan for a series ofinternal conversations aroundthe role of race in unions,workplaces and broader com-munities and economic lives.In addition, the recent activismof the Black Lives Mattermovement has created a
national and global conversa-tion about the insidious rolethat racism plays in the lives ofblack people.
Since the death of TrayvonMartin the AFL-CIO hasworked to open a constructivedialogue around the role ofrace. This has included aspeech by AFL-CIO PresidentTrumka in Ferguson (youtube.com/watch?v=ny8loBhqmhc)and a discussion among locallabor leaders in the wake ofMichael Brown’s death.
In addition the AFL-CIO isworking with affiliates, con-stituency groups and commu-nity partners to educate work-ers and analyze the way racismweakens the collective powerof all working people andharms both people of color andwhite workers.
Over the next months theAFL-CIO will identify prac-tices within local labor bodiesthat build solidarity amongwhite members and membersof color, and expose practicesthat undermine or obstruct sol-idarity and constructive rela-tionships. The commissionhopes to expand AFL-CIOwork to address the challengesfaced by all communities ofcolor including new immi-grants who face discriminationand hate on the job, and arealso more likely to get trappedin the criminal justice system.
IBEW bambi rescue successfulNearly everyone knows you should leave fawns alone
because their mother is nearby hoping you do just that. But inearly July two International Brotherhood of Electrical WorkersLocal 242 members had to engage in an “Operation BambiRescue” to save a fawn on a construction site near Duluth’s Fonddu Lac neighborhood.
“I received a call from one of our guys requesting assistancenear a material staging area,” said Adam Helberg. “When Ipulled up, I could see a small fawn laying down in an old cutdown plastic drum partially filled with water.”
Helberg said the drum was about a foot high but the fawnmust have gotten into it off a pallet laying on the ground next toit. But once inside the drum the fawn’s hoofs slid out on the slip-pery bottom and it was unable to stand back up.
By looking at the photo of the fawn in the drum it appears thatthe IBEW 242 members found it just in time. It was barely ableto keep its head above the water.
“The mom was about 30 yards away keeping a close eye onthe situation,” said Helberg. “I put on a clean pair of gloves andpicked it up and set it aside in the dry warm grass. We vacatedthe area to give mom a chance to take care of her baby. I checkedback a few hours later and both the fawn and doe were gone.”
Operation Bambi Rescue: Just another case of IBEW mem-bers bringing power to those who need it.
Falsani in Super Lawyers Top 100Bob Falsani has been included in the list
of The Top 100 Minnesota Super Lawyersfor 2015 by the Minnesota Journal of Law &Politics. Drawn from seventy different areasof practice, The Top 100 are selected by astatewide peer review process. Significantlyless than one percent of Minnesota lawyersreceive such an honor.
Falsani has published over 60 articles onworkers’ compensation and personal injurylitigation and lectures extensively on the twosubjects. He is certified as a Civil Trial spe-cialist by the National Board of TrialAttorneys.
The only lawyer in the State of Minnesota peer-selected as amember of the American Board of Trial Advocacy (civil juryexpertise), he is also a fellow in the College of Workers’Compensation Lawyers.
In 2009 Falsani received the Minnesota Association forJustice’s highest honor: The Lifetime Achievement Award.
This is the twenty third year that Falsani has been named aMinnesota Super Lawyer.
Founded in 1975, Falsani, Balmer, Peterson, Quinn & Beyerhas an extensive practice in personal injury, workers’ comp andSocial Security disability in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Thefirm has received the Volunteer Law Firm of the Year awardfrom the Northeastern Minnesota Volunteer Attorney Programfour times in the past eight years.
And the firm will once again buy, and serve, the hot butteredcorn on the cob at the Duluth AFL-CIO Central Labor BodyLabor Day Picnic this year!
rules late last year, over busi-ness screams, federationPresident Richard Trumkaapplauded them, even thoughthey do not eliminate all thedelays, denials and labor law-breaking business engages induring organizing drives.
But the rules helped reducethe time available to businessesand their right wing allies andunion-busting “consultants”and law firms to illegally intim-idate, spy on, harass and fireworkers for exercising theirrights. The rules also consoli-dated all challenges to votersand election units into onepost-election hearing, whenneeded.
“So far every judge to con-sider a challenge to the ruleshas rejected the challenge andfound the rules are legal andwithin the NLRB’s authority,”Rhinehart stated. “We thinkthis shows the rules are reason-able, well-supported, and wellwithin the NLRB’s authority.There have been hundreds ofpetitions processed under thenew rules. From what we hear,
the process has gone smoothlyand the rules have helpedreduce unnecessary litigationand delay. We hope the courtswill continue to reject legalchallenges to the rules so theycan remain in effect.”
The chamber and its allies“mount a broad attack on therule as a whole, claiming it‘makes sweeping changes tothe election process’ and that it‘sharply curtails’ employers’statutory, due process, and con-stitutional rights,” JudgeJackson wrote. “But these dra-matic pronouncements arepredicated on mischaracteriza-tions of what the final ruleactually provides and the disre-gard of provisions that contra-dict plaintiffs’ (the Chamber’s)narrative. Claims that the regu-lation contravenes” labor law“are largely based upon statuto-ry language or legislative histo-ry that has been excerpted orparaphrased in a misleadingfashion. Ultimately, the statuto-ry and constitutional chal-lenges do not withstand closeinspection.”
LABOR WORLD NEWS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015 PAGE 5
Bob Falsani
IBEW Local 242 Journeyman Electrician Adam Helbergcradles a fawn he saved from drowning on a constructionsite in July. (Photos by IBEW 242’s Ian Kidd)
Need more on income inequality? Here are 35 soul-crushing factsBy Larry SchwartzAlterNet, July 15, 2015 While Hillary Clinton occa-
sionally gives some lip serviceto the problem of extremeinequality, Bernie Sanders isthe only candidate really ham-mering away at it. He has evenblasted the orthodoxy of eco-nomic growth for its own sake,saying according to (July 13’s)Washington Post that unlesseconomic spoils can be redis-tributed to make moreAmericans’ lives better, all thegrowth will go to the top 1%anyway, so who needs it?Sanders might know his histo-ry, but the rest of the candidatescould use a little primer.
The United States was notalways the most powerfulnation on Earth. It was onlywith the end of World War II,with the rest of the developedworld in smoldering ruins, thatAmerica emerged as the freeworld’s leader. This coincidedwith the expansion of the U.S.middle class. With the otherwar combatants trying torecover from the destruction ofthe war, America became thesupermarket, hardware storeand auto dealership to theworld. Markets for Americanproducts abounded and oppor-tunity was everywhere forAmerican workers of all eco-nomic means to get ahead.America had a virtual monop-oly on rebuilding the world.Combined with the G.I. Bill of1944, which provided moneyfor returning veterans to go tocollege, and government loansto buy houses and start busi-nesses, the middle class inAmerica boomed, as didAmerican power, wealth andprestige. Between 1946 and1973, productivity in Americagrew by 104 percent.
Unions led the way in assur-ing wages for workers grew byan equal amount.
The 1970s, however,brought a screeching halt to theexpansion of the Americanmiddle class. The Arab oilembargo in 1973 marked theend of cheap oil and the begin-ning of the middle-classdecline. The Iranian Revolu-tion in 1979, with more result-ant oil instability, combinedwith the rise of RonaldReagan’s conservative revolu-tion at home, accelerated thelong and painful contraction ofthe middle class. Cuts in corpo-rate taxes, stagnant workerwage growth, the right-wingwar on unions, and corporateoutsourcing of work overseas
greased the wheels of the mid-dle-class decline and the upper-class elevation. Cuts in taxeson the wealthy, under the guiseof trickle-down economics,have resulted in lower govern-ment revenue and cuts to allkinds of services. All of whichhas led to today, an era ofnational and internationalinequality unparalleled sincethe days of the Roaring ’20s.
Here are 35 astoundingfacts about inequality thatwill fry your brain.
1. In 81 percent ofAmerican counties, the medianincome, about $52,000, is lessthan it was 15 years ago. This isdespite the fact that the econo-my has grown 83 percent in thepast quarter-century and corpo-rate profits have doubled.American workers producetwice the amount of goods andservices as 25 years ago, butget less of the pie.
2. The amount of moneythat was given out in bonuseson Wall Street last year is twicethe amount all minimum-wageworkers earned in the countrycombined.
3. The wealthiest 85 peopleon the planet have more moneythat the poorest 3.5 billion peo-ple combined.
4. The average wealth of anAmerican adult is in the rangeof $250,000-$300,000. But thataverage number includesincomprehensibly wealthypeople like Bill Gates. Imagine10 people in a bar. When BillGates walks in, the averagewealth in the bar increasesunbelievably, but that numberdoesn’t make the other 10 peo-ple in the bar richer. The medi-an per adult number is onlyabout $39,000, placing the U.S.about 27th among the world’snations, behind Australia, mostof Europe and even smallcountries like New Zealand,Ireland and Kuwait.
5. Italians, Belgians andJapanese citizens are wealthierthan Americans.
6. The poorest half of theEarth’s population owns 1% ofthe Earth’s wealth. The richest1% of the Earth’s populationowns 46% of the Earth’swealth.
7. More locally, the pooresthalf of the US owns 2.5% ofthe country’s wealth. The top1% owns 35% of it.
8. Inequality is a worldwideproblem. In the UK, doctors nolonger occupy a place in the top1% of income earners, Londonplays host to the largest congre-gation of Russian millionaires
outside of Moscow, and alsohouses more ultra-rich people(defined as owning more than$30 million in assets outside oftheir home) than anywhere elseon Earth.
9. The slice of the nationalincome pie going to the wealth-iest 1% of Americans has dou-bled since 1979.
10. The 1% also takes home20% of the income. This figureis the most since the 1920s eraof laissez faire government(under Republicans WarrenHarding, Calvin Coolidge andHerbert Hoover).
11. The super rich .01% ofAmerica, such as JamieDimon, CEO of JP Morgan,take home a whopping 6% ofthe national income, earningaround $23 million a year.Compare that to the average$30,000 a year earned by thebottom 90 percent of America.
12. The top 1% of Americaowns 50% of investment assets(stocks, bonds, mutual funds).The poorest half of Americaowns just .5% of the invest-ments.
13. The poorest Americansdo come out ahead in one sta-tistic: the bottom 90% of
America owns 73% of the debt.14. Tax rates for the middle
class have remained essentiallyunchanged since 1960. Taxrates on the highest earningAmericans have plunged froman almost 70% tax rate in 1945down to around 35% today.Corporate tax rates havedropped from 30 percent in the1950s to under 10 percenttoday.
15. Since 1990, CEO com-pensation has increased by300%. Corporate profits havedoubled. The average worker’ssalary has increased 4%.Adjusted for inflation, the min-imum wage has actuallydecreased.
16. CEOs in 1965 earnedabout 24 times the amount ofthe average worker. In 1980they earned 42 times as much.Today, CEOs earn 325 timesthe average worker.
17. Wages, as a percent ofthe overall economy, havedropped to an historic low.
18. In a study of 34 devel-oped countries, the UnitedStates had the second highestlevel of income inequality,ahead of only Chile.
19. Young people in theU.S. are getting poorer. Themedian wealth of people under35 has dropped 68% since1984. The median wealth ofolder Americans has increased42%.
20. The average whiteAmerican’s median wealth is
20 times higher ($113,000)than the average AfricanAmerican ($5,600) and 18times the Hispanic American($6,300).
21. America’s highestincome inequality is located inthe states surrounding WallStreet (New York City) and theoil-rich states.
22. Since 1979, high schooldropouts have seen medianweekly income drop by 22 per-cent. Ethnically, the highestdropout rates are amongHispanic and AfricanAmerican children.
23. In 1970, a womanearned about 60% of theamount a man earned. In 2005a woman earned about 80% ofwhat a man earned. Since2005, there has been no changein that figure. African-American women earn just64% of what a white maleearns, and Hispanic womenjust 56%.
24. Over 20 percent of allAmerican children live belowthe poverty line. This rate ishigher than almost all otherdeveloped countries.
25. Union membership inthe US is at an all-time low,about 11% of the workforce. In1978, 40 percent of blue-collarworkers were unionized. Withthat declining influence hascome a concurrent decline inthe real value of the minimumwage.
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PAGE 6 LABOR WORLD NEWS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015
“The money given outin Wall Street bonuseslast year was twice theamount all minimum-wage workers earnedcombined.”
See Income inequality...page 7
43% of Minnesota workers cannot earn even one paid sick dayA National Partnership for
Women & Families fact sheeton Minnesota’s workforceexplores the impact of morethan 947,000 workers notbeing able to earn a single paidsick day. It focuses on the indi-viduals and industries mostaffected, including children,restaurant workers and low-
Working Parents Act: Restoringbalance, providing security
Earned Sick & Safe Time– About a million Minnesotanslack access to these benefits facing the impossible choice of tak-ing care of themselves (or a sick loved one) or losing wages. TheWorking Parents Act would guarantee workers have access toearned sick and safe time to care for themselves, a sick child, ora loved one, or to seek services for domestic violence, stalking,or sexual assault.
Tip Fairness for Servers– Many Minnesota servers losewages they’ve earned when credit card processing fees arededucted from their tips. The Working Parents Act would pro-hibit businesses from deducting credit card processing fees fromtips that are earned by servers and make sure that tips given by acustomer go into the pockets of hardworking Minnesotans.
Putting a Stop to Wage Theft– Wage theft is a real problemfor many workers who are denied overtime pay, refused pay forhours worked, or paid less than the minimum wage. Accordingto an Economic Policy Institute Report, wage theft costsAmerican workers more than $30 billion dollars per year. TheWorking Parents Act would crack down on wage theft byincreasing penalties for it, extending the statute of limitations onall wage theft to 6 years, and protecting workers from retaliation.
Scheduling Fairness and Flexibility– Many Minnesotaworkers lack a predictable work schedule which can affect eco-nomic security and stability for Researchers from the Universityof Chicago recently found that 41% of hourly workers learn theirschedules less than a week in advance and half of hourly work-ers have no control over their schedules. The Working ParentsAct would ensure more predictability in scheduling for workers,limit last-minute or on-call shifts, and protect workers fromemployer retaliation.
Paid Family Leave– The number of dual-income familiesand single working parents has grown significantly yet work-place policies haven’t kept up. Only 13% of Minnesotans haveaccess to paid family leave, meaning workers are often forced tochoose between families and jobs. The Working Parents Actwould create an insurance program to provide all Minnesotaemployees with a percentage of their wages for up to 6 weeks sothey can afford to take time off to bond with a new child, care foran elder or seriously-ill family member, or deal with pregnancy-related health concerns.
Income inequality facts...from page 626. Four hundred Americans have more wealth, $2 trillion,
than half of all Americans combined. That is approximately theGDP of Russia.
27. In 1946, a child born into poverty had about a 50 percentchance of scaling the income ladder into the middle class. In1980, the chances were 40 percent. A child born today has abouta 33 percent chance.
28. Despite massive tax cuts, corporations have not creatednew jobs in America. The job creators have been small new busi-nesses that have not enjoyed the same huge tax breaks.
29. More than half of the members of the United StatesCongress, where laws are passed deciding how millionaires aretaxed, are millionaires.
30. Twenty five of the largest corporations in America in2010 paid their CEOs more money than they paid in taxes thatyear.
31. In the first decade of the 21st century, the U.S. borrowed$1 trillion in order to give tax cuts to households earning over$250,000.
32. In 1970, there were five registered lobbyists working onbehalf of wealthy corporations for every one of the 535 membersof Congress. Today there are 22 lobbyists per congressperson.
33. In 1962, the 1% household median wealth was 125 timesthe average median wealth. In 2010 the divide was 288 times.
34. During the Great Recession, the average wealth of the 1%dropped about 16 percent. Meanwhile the wealth of the 99%dropped 47 percent.
35. Between 1979 and 2007, the wages of the top 1% rose 10times more than the bottom 90 percent.
wage workers.“Our nation’s failure to
establish a paid sick days stan-dard is harming people inMinnesota and across the coun-try,” said Debra L. Ness, presi-dent of the Partnership. “It isabsolutely unacceptable that somany hardworking people andtheir families risk grave finan-cial hardship if they get the flu,
strep throat or another commonillness be-cause they cannotearn basic paid sick days, evenafter years at their jobs.”
24 jurisdictions in the U.S.have, or will soon have, lawsthat guarantee workers theright to earn paid sick time.Minnesota is not one of thembut a campaign has started. St.Louis County and the Dulutharea have among the lowestpercentage of workers withpaid sick time in Minnesota.
Fact sheets for states can befound at nationalpartnership.org/issues/work-family/paid-sick-days-map.html
According to the new factsheet:
• Nearly 190,000 people inMinnesota work in restaurants– an industry in which, nation-ally, 90 percent of workers can-not earn paid sick days;
• The largest industry inMinnesota is health care andsocial assistance. Nationally,more than one-quarter of work-ers in that industry cannot earnpaid sick time;
• Overall, 22.2 percent ofMinnesota jobs are consideredlow wage, and few low-wagejobs allow workers to earn paidsick days; and
• Nearly 950,000 children inMinnesota live in families inwhich all parents work, butparents with paid sick daysoften cannot use them to carefor children.
Nationally, more than 43million private sector workers– nearly 40% of the workforce– cannot earn paid sick days.The number is largelyunchanged in recent years,despite a growing body of evi-dence that shows paid sickdays benefit families, business-es and economies; and 85% ofvoters saying they wantemployers to provide paid sicktime. The fact sheet concludesthat the Healthy Families Act,which would establish a
national paid sick days stan-dard of seven paid sick daysper year, should be a high pri-ority for Congress.
“Access to paid sick daysshould not depend on wheresomeone lives or what job theyhold. The Healthy Families Actis a common sense proposalthat has been tested in statesand cities across the country. Itis long past time for Congressto make its passage a priority.”
More information can befound at PaidSickDays.org.
LABOR WORLD NEWS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015 PAGE 7
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Over 70 turnout for Bernie Sanders presidential campaign at ReefThe 2016 presidential elec-
tion is 16 months in the futurebut supporters of VermontSenator Bernie Sanders aren’twaiting to build momentum.They started work in ernestJuly 29 with an estimated100,000 supporters attendedmore than 3,500 organizingmeetings in all fifty statesacross the U.S.
There were eight of thosemeetings in northeast Minne-sota. One at the Reef Bar in theDuluth Labor Temple organ-ized by retired OperatingEngineer Local 49’s MikeKuitu had over 70 people inattendance.
“It’s about time we have apresident that listens to justregular folks like a retiredheavy equipment operator,”Kuitu told the gathering.
Rep. Mike Sundin toldeveryone to turn off the theirTVs and quit waiting for CNNto tell them who to support.
“Start reading about BernieSanders,” Sundin said.
There were plenty of print-outs of Sanders’ “Why I amrunning” speech at the meeting.
City Councilor SharlaGardner said Sanders’ honestyand message are always thesame no matter where he is.
“He lives on his senatesalary and Social Security,”Gardner said. “He can’t bebought. He’s one of us.” She
takes exception to the mediaportrayal of his message asbeing “radical.”
“It’s simple basic truthswith social and economic jus-tice,” she told the gathering.
City Councilor Joel Sipresswas impressed with the numberof savvy political veterans inthe room “who know how towin campaigns.” He said nextMarch 1 Minnesota will haveprecinct caucuses and everyoneneeds to drag a friend and fam-ily member to them to supportSanders so he can winMinnesota.
“He’s a truth teller, he’sclear on the issues, he can’t bebought or co-opted, and he stillhas the skill to get thingsdone,” Sipress said. “That’sjust like Paul Wellstone.”
Sipress said many of hisopponents have tried to say thatSanders is “just a talker.”
“Bernie Sanders has donemore for working people thanall the other candidates com-bined,” Sipress said.
At about 6:30 Sandersaddressed all those meetings ina livestream and made quickwork of stating why he’s run-ning. His basic message was“This country belongs to all ofus, not just a few billionaires.”
He said a President BernieSanders can’t solve the prob-lems in America by himself.
The only way to take on the
Koch brothers is with a stronggrassroots political revolutionby millions because the Kochscontrol the media Sanders said.
His revolution got jump-started July 29 with the meet-ings. In the Reef volunteersign-up forms were handed outand being filled out.
Kuitu told everyone to talkup Sanders with everyone theycan and urge them to look forduluthforbernie and duluths t a n d s f o r b e r n i e s a n d e r sFacebook pages and join therevolution.
Sanders campaign says hehas already received a half mil-lion donations from individu-als, which far outdistances anyother presidential candidate.
On July 30, the 50thanniversary of Medicare andMedicaid, National NursesUnited had Sanders as their
featured speaker at theirWashington DC rally. Sandersand NNU, the union of
Registered Nurses, are both fora single payer Medicare for allnational health care program.
“A few years ago in a motorcycleaccident case, I represented a real toughguy, who had suffered a horrible fractureof his lower leg, which resulted in terrible
scarring.After he took the stand, I planned to
conclude his testimony with adramatic flourish, so I asked, 'Now, Sir,will you show your scar to the jury?'
The tough guy said, 'NO!'I had to quickly change my strategy and
argue that he refusedbecause he found it too embarrassing.The jury understood.
I've been doing this for forty years.The surprises never end.”
PAGE 8 LABOR WORLD NEWS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015
Retired Operating Engineer Mike Kuitu, left, waits in thewings as he hosts a “house party” at the Reef Bar forSenator Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. Rep.Mike Sundin, right, addresses over 70 people who showedup to hear the message and volunteer. City councilors JoelSipress and Sharla Gardner wait for their turn to speak.
Carpenters Local 361 apprentices and volunteers are build-ing the Dairyland Outdoor Veterans Retreat 35 miles southof Superior. They hung the sign from trees at the jobsite.They will return this month to finish the first 30 x 74 footbuilding along with Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 mem-bers. The building committee is looking for more volunteerswith many other skills. You can find out more includinghow to get involved at www.dovr.org (Submitted photos byStephanie Askin and 361 Apprentice Coordinator Matt Campanario)
