This entry by AFSCME President Gerald McEntee was originally posted on The Huffington Post.

President John F. Kennedy called Inauguration Day “a celebration of freedom — symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning — signifying renewal, as well as change.” This year, that is dramatically true. President-elect Barack Obama will place his hand on the same Bible President Abraham Lincoln used to take the oath of office. When he does so, at noon on Tuesday, Americans of every party will celebrate both renewal and a long-needed change.

When Obama spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church last year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, he told how the walls of Jericho were too strong and too high for the Israelites to pass through. But the Israelites were inspired by God to cry out together. Through the power of unity, the walls came tumbling down.

Our 44th President told the gathering that on the eve of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired people not with anger, but with a “fierce urgency” to come together. Dr. King said, “Unity is the great need of this hour. Unity is how we shall overcome.”

As we celebrate Dr. King’s birthday and the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, Dr. King’s words remind us of how this nation will overcome the multitude of problems we now face. The straightforward truth is: We must face them together. We must be bold. And we must act now.

No campaign for social or economic change has ever succeeded in our nation without unity and urgency. In 1968, the sanitation workers of AFSCME Local 1733 united and stood up to the political leaders of Memphis and demanded to be treated with respect and dignity. Their cause was righteous. Their demands were just. And when Dr. King joined their cause, he spoke for an entire movement of people committed to fairness and equality. He insisted on “the fierce urgency of now.”

Today’s challenges demand no less of us. Think of the extraordinary circumstances that face us today – two wars that are costing lives, damaging our reputation and draining our treasury of needed resources here at home; an economy that threatens the fundamental existence of the middle class at risk; an unsustainable health care system that wreaks havoc on families, overwhelms government budgets and makes businesses uncompetitive; and a state and local fiscal crisis that could cripple the ability of government to meet the ever-increasing demand for vital services.

As AFSCME stood with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we are now standing with President-elect Barack Obama, calling for unity and urgency to deal with our current crisis. He will need our help to repair the damage that has been done during the past eight years. He will need our hearts, our minds and our spirit. That is why AFSCME has launched the “Make America Happen” campaign, to create jobs and jump start our economy, secure health care for all and protect our beleaguered middle class. As we celebrate Dr. King’s legacy and Barack Obama’s inauguration, you can join us as well. Just click here.

This entry by AFSCME President Gerald McEntee was originally posted on The Huffington Post.

Not since the darkest days of the Great Depression has an American President taken office with so many challenges awaiting him. But here’s the good news: America has overcome similar challenges before. And we can do it again.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt took the oath of office, he promised the nation bold and dynamic leadership and proved that government can be a partner with the American people to see us through dark times. Through robust public investment, FDR created jobs, provided relief and guaranteed a more secure retirement for working men and women. Today, the challenges awaiting President-elect Obama are different, but the solutions are similar: we need to reinvest in the long term stability and prosperity of our communities.

This week, AFSCME launched a new campaign, “Make America Happen,” to support President-elect Obama’s efforts to revitalize our economy, provide health care for all and strengthen the middle class. We’ve created a new video as part of our campaign, highlighting the lessons to be learned from FDR’s response to the Great Depression. You can see the video and sign up for the campaign to “Make America Happen” at: www.MakeAmericaHappen.com.

President-elect Barack Obama’s call for bold action and civic engagement in response to our present crisis echoes FDR’s inspiring call to pull the nation out of the Great Depression and forge the New Deal. The video shows how our nation triumphed over economic crisis once before and can do so again by reinvesting in public service, providing health care for all Americans and growing the middle class.

In the weeks and months ahead, the “Make America Happen” campaign will build the grassroots support needed to overcome resistance and enact the kind of bold programs that are needed to address the national crisis we face today. With Barack Obama in the White House and a new Congress in place, working families have never had more public support nor had such a historic chance to affect a major shift in American politics. It’s up to each of us right now to make the most of this critical time.

You can be a part of this historic effort. Sign our petition to advance three legislative priorities of the Make America Happen” campaign:

• Jumpstart the Economy: America needs a comprehensive economic recovery package that provides aid to ailing state and local governments and maintains vital public services and the jobs of the dedicated employees who provide them.
• Make Health Care Affordable: Our broken health care system must be reformed and the skyrocketing costs of coverage must be controlled. Guaranteed quality, affordable health care everyone can count on is key to economic recovery.
• Rebuild the Middle Class: Workers should be free to join unions and bargain for better wages and benefits. Unions are a ticket to the middle class and they raise the standard of living for all. We can accomplish this by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

FDR’s leadership inspired a generation and helped America’s economy get back on track. Barack Obama offers bold leadership and new solutions to address the crises we currently face. Now, we need to be involved. Already, prominent Republicans in Congress have signaled strong opposition to much of the President-elect’s agenda, including his call to give states and local governments the support they need to continue providing the services that the public needs during a difficult recession. We cannot allow them to scuttle critically important proposals that will turn our economy around and build a better future for our country.

Take a look at AFSCME’s video and sign the petition urging quick action on an agenda to create jobs and protect vital services, provide health care for all and strengthen America’s middle class. Working together we can “Make America Happen.” Again.

New opinion research shows that 78 percent of Americans favor legislation to make it easier for workers to form unions and bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions – and 73 percent specifically support the Employee Free Choice Act.

The survey, conducted for the AFL-CIO by Hart Research Associates Dec. 4-10, shows broad support for the Employee Free Choice Act across political party and state lines:

Three-quarters of moderate Republicans, 87 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of Independents support the legislation. Opposition is confined to 36 percent of Republicans who identify themselves as conservatives.

The broadest public support is for the majority sign-up provision, which puts the choice of how to form a union in the hands of workers, not employers. 75 percent of those surveyed favor allowing employees to have a union once a majority of employees in a workplace say they want one.

Strong majorities also support other provisions of the bill: 64 percent are in favor of strengthening penalties for companies that illegally intimidate or fire employees who try to organize unions, and 61 percent favor establishing third-party binding arbitration to ensure that workers who choose to form a union can get a contract.

For more information about this survey, read the post on the AFL-CIO Now blog and coverage from the Huffington Post.

As American workers face the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, support is growing for the Employee Free Choice Act. Americans understand now more than ever that the Employee Free Choice Act must be a component of any long-term recovery for our economy, because it will give workers more freedom to organize and bargain collectively.

Recently, Pride at Work, the AFL-CIO’s LGBT constituency group, announced that a broad coalition of national lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender organizations have announced their support for the Employee Free Choice Act. Among the groups supporting the bill are the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), National Stonewall Democrats and the National Youth Advocacy Coalition.

Jeremy Bishop, Executive Director of Pride at Work notes that:

“America’s workers, who are already suffering badly from growing income inequality and declining benefits, badly need legislation that will ensure their right to organize by protecting them from bullying and intimidation by unscrupulous employers. Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is vital if we are to rebuild middle-class living standards for working people in this country, and LGBT labor is committed to making that happen.”

Jon Hoadley, Executive Director of Stonewall Democrats, makes the point that working men and women and their unions have made a real difference in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans:

“Because of the efforts of unions, millions of Americans enjoy non-discrimination policies and equitable same-sex benefits at work. Even when our federal and state governments have been slow to act, workers organized through unions have proactively secured equal workplace protections through negotiating efforts.”

The New York Times editorial board makes a strong, clearly argued and unambiguous case that President-elect Obama must make “a forceful labor agenda” a top priority of his new administration. His first order of business should be to give his Labor Secretary-designate, Rep. Hilda Solis, the power she needs to protect working families – including a push for quick passage of the Employee Free Choice Act:

“Only the president can give the new labor secretary the clout she will need to do well at a job that has been done so badly for so long, at such great cost to the quality of Americans’ lives.”

Read more at the AFL-CIO Now Blog.

In the same issue of the Times, Nobel Laureate Economist Paul Krugman calls on the country’s governors to avoid repeating, at the state level, the “fiscal mistake of 1932, in which the federal government tried to balance its budget in the face of a severe recession.”

Writes Krugman:

“But even as Washington tries to rescue the economy, the nation will be reeling from the actions of 50 Herbert Hoovers — state governors who are slashing spending in a time of recession, often at the expense both of their most vulnerable constituents and of the nation’s economic future. These state-level cutbacks range from small acts of cruelty to giant acts of panic — from cuts in South Carolina’s juvenile justice program, which will force young offenders out of group homes and into prison, to the decision by a committee that manages California state spending to halt all construction outlays for six months. … But let’s step back for a moment and contemplate just how crazy it is, from a national point of view, to be cutting public services and public investment right now.”

We do indeed know how crazy such cuts are. AFSCME members are on the frontlines of this crisis, trying to serve more people in need and doing so with less resources.

Rep. Hilda Solis has been selected as Secretary of Labor

AFSCME International President Gerald W. McEntee expressed strong support for the selection of Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis as U.S. Secretary of Labor, calling the pick “great news for working families who have been hit so hard by the economic catastrophe of the Bush years.”

Solis, a member of Congress since 2001, is a strong supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act.

In a statement released earlier today, President McEntee praised her strong record as a leader and advocate for working families:

“Congresswoman Solis has long been a champion for America’s working men and women. She has fought for workers’ rights and for workplace safety, and she’s been a leader in helping to support the innovative green jobs that are going to help make our country energy independent. Congresswoman Solis understands that America’s economy needs to work for everybody, not just the captains of industry. She’s a terrific choice and we look forward to working with her and the team she assembles at the Department of Labor.”

Council 31 Regional Director Larry Spivack speaks at a rally to support the striking workers at Republic Windows and Doors.

Congratulations to workers at Republic Windows & Doors who made justice happen. After a six-day sit-in at the plant, workers at Republic Windows & Doors in Chicago voted to accept a settlement late last night.

During the strike, a delegation from AFSCME Council 31 went to the plant gates to support the workers’ action.

This from the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) site, via Jobs with Justice:

The settlement totals $1.75 million. It will provide the workers with:

• Eight weeks of pay they are owed under the federal WARN Act;
• Two months of continued health coverage; and
• Pay for all accrued and unused vacation.

JPMorgan Chase will provide $400,000 of the settlement, with the balance coming from Bank of America. Although the money will be provided as a loan to Republic Windows and Doors, it will go directly into a third-party fund whose sole purpose is to pay the workers what is owed them. In addition, the UE has started the “Window of Opportunity Fund” dedicated to re-opening the plant.

As the UE Local 1110 leaders characterized the settlement, “We fought to make them pay what they owe us, and we won.”

More from AFL-CIO Now Blog.

Workers at Chicago’s Republic Windows and Doors were recently laid off with a mere three days notice. Instead of taking it lying down, they staged a sit-in protest to demand their vacation and severance pay that their contract required. Their struggle has become a national example for workers’ dignity, securing the support of numerous authorities, including President-elect Barack Obama.

The nearly 250 employees – members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) – are clearly not alone in this battle. As the AP reports, unions such as AFSCME are standing firmly behind them:

Larry Spivack, regional director for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, said the peaceful action will add to Chicago’s rich history in the labor movement, which includes the 1886 Haymarket affair (…)

“The history of workers is built on issues like this here today,” Spivack said.

“This is why organized labor still matters,” says columnist Katie Allison Granju from the Knoxville News Sentinel:

“[I]f these workers had just quietly walked away from the injustice done to them by their employer, this company and its financiers would have gotten away with it, too.

But instead the workers did the right thing. They organized, and they refused to be silent. They staged a peaceful, very public sit-in. They did exactly what the American labor movement has empowered them to do, and as a direct result, even the President Elect of the United States has taken notice.”

As you can see in this video, the fight at Republic Windows and Doors continues. Regardless of the resolution of this conflict, one thing is clear: Only organized workers can make their voice heard and have their rights respected.

Contributing editor Trapper John had a great entry on Daily Kos earlier this week titled “How We Got Knocked Down, and How Employee Free Choice Can Get Us Back on Our Feet.”

Citing “the most coherent and cogent explanation I’ve seen of the financial crisis,” the post includes some choice excerpts from a speech from AFL-CIO Associate General Counsel Damon Silvers, including the following:

For thirty years, America’s economic elites and their political allies have pursued a combination of economic and social policies designed to produce a low wage economy. These policies—our labor laws and our broader system of labor market regulation, our tax policies and our approach to globalization, have yielded decades of stagnant wages and rising economic inequality.

But at the same time, policymakers of both parties have sought, with some success, to maintain high levels of consumer spending. The pursuit of the contradiction of a low wage, high spending economy has systematically destroyed the various ways we individually and collectively save and invest. Instead of an income driven economy, we have become an economy driven by asset bubbles fueled by cheap debt. The ultimate unsustainability of this strategy has brought us to our current economic crisis.

Adds Trapper John: “Without a real opportunity to join unions and build bargaining power, American workers will continue to experience stagnant wages. The Employee Free Choice Act isn’t just about fairness in the workplace — it’s a tool for engineering stimulus. And it won’t cost the government a dime.”

Read the full post.

American Rights at Work just released two new fact sheets to showcase more failures of our current labor law system in protecting workers. The first, “The Inadequate Costs of Labor Law Violations,” exposes the inadequate penalties employers face for violating the National Labor Relations Act — particularly in comparison with the penalties that employers face for breaking other types of employment law.

The second, “The Haves and the Have Nots: How American Labor Law Denies a Quarter of the Workforce Collective Bargaining Rights,” exposes how outdated labor law system denies millions of Americans the opportunity to join unions and thus bargain collectively with their employers. Appallingly, 33.5 million, or 23.8% of the civilian workforce, have no collective bargaining rights under the NLRA or other labor law.