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Jones Act Lawyers
Jones Act Lawyers

St. Cloud Labor Home-1903 4th Street North-St. Cloud, MN 56303

Here is a letter I have sent to Senator Al Franken and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and the St. Cloud Times. If you have use for it in the Union Newsletter feel free to use it.



We Need GOOD Jobs in America

An Open Letter to Senator Al Franken and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

   We want and need good jobs now! Stop sending our jobs overseas at the expense of many and for the profit of a few. I am employed (thankfully), at the Electrolux plant here in St Cloud. I have seen first hand how our jobs are eliminated here and continue to be sent overseas. Recently we stopped making our own hinges for our freezer units and now import them from China. This eliminated at least 10 job positions per working shift.

   You may think that is a small number, but when I look everyday at all the boxes of product that we use everyday to assemble our “Made in America” freezers and see “Made in China” on 90% of them, from screws to copper products (China buys copper scrape from us) I think of all the American jobs we have lost that used to make it over here.

   “How do we overcome the fundamental disconnect between our system of scattered bureaucratic responsibilities and almost no national economic planning vs. China's top-down, disciplined and aggressive national economic development planning machine”, To take a quote from a May 19 2010 story in the Washington Post.

   For me and the rest of the many on the lower end of the financial scale the answer is simple Shop Locally! And I don’t mean go down to your local Wal-Mart, which by the way is about the fifth largest importer in the World of Chinese made products just ahead of Germany and Britain. It may cost you more to go to your local meat market or bakery or shop by looking at the label to see that it is made in the USA but that sends a signal that we want our jobs kept here!

   For our Officials in Elected Office the answer is to start working for what is best for the American People, Stop importing Cheap Labor and then see what the competition has done to Beat us and start Beating them back before we slide further down off our 2nd Place Tier. We are the biggest consumers, We have buying power. majeski@hotmail.com

Rick Majeski
 

Tanker Bid Tests Who U.S. Trade Policy Really Helps
by James Parks, Apr 22, 2010




   If the Obama administration is serious about rebuilding America’s manufacturing base, it should start by awarding the $35 billion Air Force tanker contract to the Boeing Co. and not to a European firm that has ignored trading rules in its bid, several experts say.

   The tanker contract was rebid this year after the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) upheld Boeing’s protest of the original decision to award the contract to French-based EADS/Airbus and Northrop Grumman. After EADS dropped out, leaving Boeing as the only bidder, the Air Force extended the deadline for bids by 60 days and EADS submitted a new solo bid.

   Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) pointed out the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in March that Airbus had received illegal subsidies to make the A330 aircraft, which EADS will use for the tanker competition.


   Holding this competition up to allow an illegally-subsidized foreign company to bid is bad for American workers, our men and women in uniform, taxpayers and our economy. It means we are bending over backwards to include a company that has broken the rules of fair play. A competition between companies on an equal playing field is one thing. A competition where American workers have to compete with the treasuries of European countries is another.

   The stakes are high. Granting the contract to Boeing would create at least 50,000 family-supporting jobs, save taxpayer dollars and protect fair trade laws.

   But if EADS wins the contract, most of the jobs would be in Europe. The few thousand jobs created here under an EADS contract would be low-paid assembly jobs with no union representation.

   Writing on hutchnews.com, Jack Otero, a former AFL-CIO vice president from the TCU/IAM, says the contract award will be a test of whether our trade policy is on the side of Americans:

   At a minimum, the huge advantage of these subsidies should be discounted in Airbus’ bid to stand up for American workers. That would be a welcome “change” that President Obama and Congress can deliver on a bipartisan basis.

   The government subsidies to EADS have already hurt the U.S. aviation industry, according to a new report by Loren Thompson of the nonpartisan Lexington Institute. In the report, “European Aircraft Subsidies, a Study of Unfair Trade Practices,” Thompson says European governments have given Airbus the equivalent of $200 billion to help capture the global aviation market. And it has worked. Two decades ago, U.S. aviation manufacturers like Boeing provided 85 percent of the market. Today, European companies control most of the market.

   Unless the United States aggressively addresses the government subsidies to Airbus, Thompson says, we could lose our ability to compete in the global commercial aviation market. And the best place to start is with the tanker contract:

  To contemplate making an award without compensating for the unfair advantage the Airbus plane has received would in effect reward bad behavior and penalize Boeing for not engaging in similar impropriety.


 

Machinists in Houston Rally to Save Space Program Jobs


   HOUSTON, April 25, 2010 - The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) held a rally today at the Hilton Americas-Houston Hotel and urged hundreds of supporters of the U.S. manned space program to send a message that could be heard all the way back in Washington, D.C.

   “It’s time to let Congress know that American astronauts deserve better than a heavily outsourced space program that relies on Russian, Japanese and even Chinese contractors to provide transportation to the International Space Station (ISS),” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger. “If NASA and the Obama administration have their way, American astronauts will be reduced to hitchhiking to the ISS.”

   Speaker after speaker called on President Obama to reconsider his plans to terminate the Constellation program and commercialize the shuttle program. More than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs in Texas, Florida and other states are associated with the two programs.

   While the president’s space budget allocates an extra $6 billion for NASA over the next six years, thousands of highly-skilled jobs would be eliminated as the agency turned to private contractors to develop launch rockets and crew capsules.

   “Do we really want to risk our astronauts’ safety on equipment and technology developed by for-profit companies with unproven track records in safety and reliability?” asked Buffenbarger. “The manned space program in the United States has been the pride of the nation and the envy of the world for more than 50 years. It has more than earned our continued support."
 

 


Light Up the Night Gala

   A benefit for people affected by seizures was Saturday, April 10 at:
Marriot City Center 
30 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402.
 



 

   The bench in the picture was made by Craig Schmitz, in memory of his daughter April Schmitz, who pass away on May 26 2007 from a seizure she had at night. The bench was auctioned off at the benefit.

 
 

   
  
I would like to ask you to please review this new website for the unemployed www.minnesotaunemployed.com and consider doing a feature on it and/or posting the link for your membership.

   The website – in addition to providing comprehensive listings of job search engines along with information about careers, education and training resources also provides valuable resource information about bargains, health care, money and legal, housing, faith-based resources as well.

   The site was designed so that users would not have to spend hours and hours going in and out of websites scouring for information and resources.
 
In the four months + months that the site has been active, there have been over 21,000 unique visitors who have made over 38,000 visits with over 2 million
hits.

   The state of Minnesota is the highest user – widely believed to be workforce centers. www.minnesotaunemployed.com was recently nominated for DOT.com award given annually by MCN.
 
   I hope that you will share this unique and innovative website with your constituencies.


Thank you.
Peggy Byrne
Community Building Inc.

 
  
   You lost your job. You're not alone. 31 million Americans face the same challenges. You want your job back. You want your life back. But you can't do it alone. Neither can anyone else. You all need each other.

   That's what UCubed is here to do: Help you and 31 million other Americans organize, work together and get back to work. Let UCubed help you connect. Form a cube, and multipy your political and economic power by 6. Then by 36. Eventually, by 31 million. Take Control.


Union of Unemployed Warns of Endless Recession
 

Democracy Comes From The Bottom, Not The Top!

09/19/2009 This legislation will level the playing field for all unorganized workers in this country by providing another option for employees to form a union at their place of work. more.....

District 165 & Local Lodge 623
Mission Statement:


   
Our mission is to create a powerful Union. Respected
for its diversity, integrity and accountability. Relentlessly organizing workers in order to improve the quality of life
and standard of living of all workers and to continue to contribute positively to society.


 


Greater New Haven Labor History Association
Your History At Work

Pass It On

www.LaborHistory.org
Email: Labor History@hotmail.com

Call: 203.777.2756 Ext. 2

 The Greater New Haven Labor History Association is united by the inspiration we draw from working people's struggles to better
our lives as we build our community. It is determined to learn and to build upon history's lessons so that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. Formed in  1988 by union activists, historians, and students of labor history.


Tell Us Your Own Ideas
Write To:
Greater New Haven Labor
History Association
267 Chapel Street
New Haven, CT 06513

 

  05-15-2006 I destroy homes, I tear families’ apart, take your children, and that’s just the start....more    

 


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     The billboard displayed, is one of the many ways to reach out to the unorganized workers all across our district in Minnesota. If anyone desires to meet with a union representative, we will gladly do so at their earliest convenience. All contacts will be held strictly confidential.
Please call the phone number listed on the billboard above for more information.
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