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Tag(s): Economy-Economics- US; Employers; Labor Laws US; Labor-Unions; Lehigh Valley; Northampton; Pennsylvania; Trade; USA United States Of America; Work; (more...) Workplace; Workplace Safety-OSHA (less...)
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May 9, 2007 at 12:43:43

Organized Labor Is Alive and Well

by Stephen Crockett Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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Organized labor is alive and well in Pennsylvania! Despite much of the prevailing gloom about the future of the labor movement in media pundit circles, the hopeful future of organized labor was apparent during a recent visit by this writer to the Lehigh Valley region (Allentown, Bethlehem, Northampton) of eastern Pennsylvania.

Much of the doom and gloom over the future of unions in America comes from the decline in the percentage of American workers represented by unions. Some pundits see the decline as resulting from a lack of energy by the workers seeking to unionize their places of employment and the union leadership. Some of these pundits are intentionally seeking to malign the union movement by spreading corporate disinformation. Others are just poorly informed.

The decline in union numbers really has two mutually related roots. They are changes in laws, government regulations and government enforcement efforts that tilt the union election system heavily in favor of the companies fighting their workers. The second is unfair trade policies. The first issue can easily be corrected by passing the Employee Free Choice Act. The second issue will require extensive efforts to renegotiate or repeal all so-called free trade agreements passed since (and including) NAFTA.

My trip to the Lehigh Valley started with the annual Lehigh Valley Central Labor Council dinner in Northampton. Over 315 union activists, political figures and civic leaders attended the event. Among the union locals that were represented include; UFCW Local 1776, USW Local 2599 and 412, IBEW Local 375 and 1600, Laborers Local 1174, AIM Local 917, PSEA, AFSCME District Council 88, and Local 1435, Teamsters Local 773, Berks County Labor Council, Schuylkill County Labor Council, CWA District 13 and Local 13500, IAFF Local 735, SEIU/PSSu Local 668, USW District Council 1, APWU, IUPAT Local 1269, NALC, Allentown Firefighters, ATU and OPEIU 277. Elected officials attending included; Pennsylvania AFL-CIO president Bill George, Keynote speaker and Pennsylvania Representative Joseph Preston 24th District, Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and State Senator Lisa Boscola. Pennsylvania State Representatives, Jennifer Mann, Bob Freeman, Steve Samuelson and Joe Brennan were in attendance and recognized by all involved. Allentown City Councilman Mike D'Amore, Northampton Mayor Tom Neehock. Northampton and Lehigh County Democratic chairs, Joe Long and Rick Daugherty, Salisbury Township Treasurer Linda Minger , Lehigh County Commissioner Kurt Derr were among the local dignitaries at the CLC event. Northampton County Councilwoman Ann McHale, Northampton County Councilman Charles Dertinger, Northampton County Councilman Lamont Maclure, and Lehigh County Sheriff Ron Rossi were there and recognized from the podium. Mike D’Amore became on of my new political heroes when I learned that he is trying to get the Allentown City Council to pass a resolution supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. I hope his example of political courage is copied by local politicians from coast to coast! Other political figures in attendance included political candidates like Allentown City Council hopefuls Peter Schweyer, Mike Donovan and David Jones. Christine Donohue, candidate for superior court judge, attended. Siobhan "Sam" Bennett candidate for 15th Congressional district was working the crowd. IAFF member Rich Gawlik who is a candidate for Lehigh County Commissioner was well-received. Court of Common Pleas candidates, Michelle Varricchio, Tom Lonardo and Glenn Clark, Superior Court candidate Jim Lynn and Bethlehem City Council hopeful Willie Reynolds were campaigning vigorously during the event. No doubt this writer has unintentionally overlooked some of the notables who should have been mentioned. The large attendance proves that organized labor is not dormant in the Greater Lehigh Valley. The long list of political figures shows that organized labor is politically important in Pennsylvania. At the event, Ron Achey was presented with a lifetime achievement award for community service. Ron serves as the Labor AFL-CIO liaison for the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley. Dale Krasley of UAW Local 677/Mack Trucks was presented with the William Werkheiser Community Services award. It was obvious that he was a favorite of all the local unionists present. Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George gave an excellent, short speech that impressed the audience greatly. It was easy to tell that the crowd was very supportive of President George. George noted that Pennsylvania was having more Worker Memorial Day ceremonies that weekend than every other state in the nation. He was followed by Pennsylvania State Representative Joseph Preston, who drove in from the western part of the state (Pittsburgh area). Joseph Preston gave an amazing speech. He was able to speak from the heart and shared personal experiences as a union worker and son of a union worker in the steel industry. He talked about worker safety and those who had died on the job. Preston spoke eloquently about how financial decisions by large corporations often place profits over the safety and lives of American workers. He spoke against unfair trade practices and unfair tax structures. Preston brought the applauding crowd to their feet! It was a great night that spilled over into a very moving tribute to workers killed on the job in the Greater Lehigh Valley the next afternoon at the Lehigh Valley Workers Memorial. This was another Lehigh Valley Central Labor Council event. The Lehigh Valley Central Labor Council Executive Vice President John Werkheiser and Pete DePietro jointly serve as Chairmen of the Lehigh Valley Workers Memorial Board. Lehigh Valley CLC President Gregg Potter and Recording Secretary John Weiss serve on the board as well. The Workers Memorial Day ceremony was held at the Bethlehem park were the Lehigh Valley Workers Memorial is permanently on display. At the ceremony, Superior Court Judge Jack Panella was the keynote speaker. He gave a passionate and moving speech about his own family. He spoke about his late father who had a heart attack on the job and had great difficultly getting workers compensation. He passed away shortly after getting his first check. This writer cannot even begin to recount the tale like Judge Panella. I was so moved that I immediately called my co-host on Democratic Talk Radio, Al Lawrence. We scheduled an interview with Judge Jack Panella which will soon be available on our website at http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com . I would like to see Panella in the US Senate! After the speeches, many of those unionists and political figures present read the names of those who were killed on the job. John Weiss rang a bell after each name was read. He unfortunately rang the bell 784 times this past Sunday for workers who have died on the job in the Lehigh Valley. Each reader placed a flower on the Workers Memorial. It was a sad ceremony. It was a beautiful ceremony. I thought about all those hurting families there and the thousands more across our nation. I thanked God that we have a vibrant union movement fighting to reduce the number of families that have to feel such pain and loss. The union movement is alive and well in Pennsylvania. It is fighting vigorously for a better future for all working Americans!

www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com

Stephen Crockett is co-host of Democratic Talk Radio and author of the Democratic Voices opinion column.

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7 comments

I am a Vietnam Vet disabled by MS and other various diseases. On average I am a Moderate with slight Conservative leanings although it truly depends on what issue I am concerned with at the time.
Hayesml47I am a Vietnam Vet disabled by MS and other various diseases. On average I am a Moderate with slight Conservative leanings although it truly depends on what issue I am concerned with at the time.

Alive and vigorous

Labor may be alive but it is not well. This poorly named group is not really representative of American workers in the least. It is more in business to keep and maintain itself in money and wealth at the expense of the workers and the American public. There do need to be laws protecting the American employees from both their employers and the labor unions. Unfortunately our government is the only one who can make and enforce these laws and we all know what that means. Labor laws need to be very plain and simple in both wording and use. Workers should have the rights to expect a decent respectful workplace with pay and benefits being defined for everyone. If a worker works an hour they should be paid the agreed upon rate for it and not have any hidden or devious pay schemes at work. Any dispute or termination should be subject to legal or civil actions. At least enough to make employers think before they fire or layoff and allow employees to file greviences when needed. Benefits need to be regulated to the point that any and all employees qualify(temps also). If we had a decent understandable set of worker protection laws then labor unions would become a thing of the past and the expense we all pay because of them would disappear. At the very least the reduction of labor union costs should offset the increased costs of adequate federal laws. The chances of this coming to fruition are very slight due to labor unions very healthy lobby in DC.

by Hayesml47 (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 471 comments) on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 8:34:04 AM

Stephen Crockett is co-host of Democratic Talk Radio and author of the Democratic Voices opinion column.
Stephen CrockettStephen Crockett is co-host of Democratic Talk Radio and author of the Democratic Voices opinion column.

Anti-unionism is Stupid for workers

Only a poorly informed person would think that workers would get a fair shake without unions. Unions created the large middle class in America and the decline in union membership is largely responsible for the severe pressure being placed on the American middle class today.

This idea that unions do not care about individual members is just pure nonsense. The Republican Right and Big Business has been selling that snake oil BS for decades. I know nearly a thousand local, regional and national union leaders and all of them care deeply about average workers.

by Stephen Crockett (127 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 113 comments) on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 5:42:09 PM

Unions are big business!

The idea of a labor union is a good one that can very easily go wrong in the same way that capitalism can if uncontrolled. Having been a worker I fully understand the need to have rules/laws and venues for their implementation. Our rights and legal enforcement of them needs to be as simple and convenient as possible. The current existing laws are muddled and confusing with enforcement being quite difficult plus subject to varied interpretation. Labor unions essentially amount to a worker having 2 employers(bosses). Each employer/boss controls the worker from their perspective and the worker has very little control over either. Another problem unions have is the accumulation of large amounts of money, particularly in the case of huge unions covering multiple industries. It is well known that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This has been known to happen in several large labor unions and of course as those criminal labor union leaders get caught the ones who follow get smarter about committing their crimes. No, not all leaders are corrupt but just having the temptation makes unions an extra problem that would be best avoided. Another potential problem in this Bushian business climate is the possibility of employer union collaboration to bilk the employees even more. This is definitely not out of the realm of probability. Bushes atmosphere of corruption is permeating our culture with very nasty results and big business has immense disposable income with which to get its way. If and when we get control of our country back from the Bush administration we will need to drastically overhaul the laws controlling businesses and unions. One must always question authorities whether they be government, unions, employers, or other. If they are allowed to operate uncontrolled/monitored then anarchy is sure to follow.

by Hayesml47 (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 471 comments) on Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 2:54:29 PM

Nonsense- union leaders are elected by workers

Elected leaders are not bosses. The line of reasoning that union leaders are bosses over workers is pure BS being sold to the uninformed in order to weaken workplace democracy.

Unions are workplace democracy in action.

The critic sounds like an agent of corporate forces intentionally or unintentionally! Readers should ignore those kind of comments as business created propaganda.

by Stephen Crockett (127 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 113 comments) on Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 6:07:43 PM

Just like Bush is elected?

Bush was "elected" also. Elections have been known to be fixed as we all know. Workers have the same control the people of the United States have over the President. Like I said, it sounds great in theory but but seldom works out in actual function. I know unions are not going away but they do not need to be any stronger. What I feel we need is to take down the employers by enacting sound laws to give all workers more rights and better ways of enforcing them. Of course the unions will oppose this just like the bootleggers opposed ending prohibition. I know that most unionists do not want the government making the laws to promote workers rights citing how the government messes things up. It does not have to be this way and if the unions would get behind this it would be less likely to be so. To me it is a conflict of interest for unions to fight government employer laws but they still do.

by Hayesml47 (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 471 comments) on Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 8:40:12 PM

Bull@#!@

Your anti-unionism is not reality based. You seem to know absolutely nothing about unions, union elections or workplace democracy. Frankly, your opinions seem on this subject appear to be those of a Right Wing Republican.

This site attracts Republican operatives pretending to be progressives intent on dividing their opponents.

by Stephen Crockett (127 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 113 comments) on Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 10:00:54 PM

Bull What?

Your arguements are getting much weaker! I did not expect much from a union goon though! I at one time voted Republican but that was in the last century. At best I am a moderate with very slight conservative leanings. It really depends on which subject we are talking about as to where I stand. In other words I am a realatively intelligent open-minded human being. Unionist like yourself remind me of religious zealots. Too far gone to every even think openly about the pros and cons of your precious union. You sir are the one who needs to take a good whiff of Reality. At the very least try to open your mind to other thoughts. You would be suprised what is going on in this world!

by Hayesml47 (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 471 comments) on Friday, May 25, 2007 at 7:42:21 AM