Good early news for union show
Dozens of contracts have been signed for exhibit space at the 2008 America-at-Work Union Industries Show, an encouraging sign for the show, scheduled May 16-18 at Detroit's Cobo Center.

"We have had terrific meetings with the Detroit Central Labor Council and the Michigan Federation of Labor as well as with the United Auto Workers for the preliminary planning sessions for the show, said Union Label and Service Trades President Charlie Mercer. "Everyone who has participated in these planning sessions has been upbeat and optimistic that this could be our biggest and best show ever."

Exhibitors will be permitted to make sales on the show floor for the first time in the 70-year history of the show. Mercer said auto dealers are especially interested in that opportunity and that other producers also view that change enthusiastically.

The show has only visited Detroit on two occasions - in 1961 and 1995.

State pushes construction work
LANSING - The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced Feb. 27 that 34 road projects across Michigan will be accelerated from the 2009 construction season to 2008.

MDOT is accelerating almost $150 million in road and bridge projects, creating approximately 2,100 jobs in planning, engineering, and construction. The projects will extend the life of bridges or roadways by at least 10 years and will bring much needed road improvements and safety projects to roadways across the state.

"By accelerating these projects into 2008, we are creating jobs today for our Michigan workers," Granholm said. "In addition to creating new jobs, we are also improving Michigan's infrastructure and stimulating economic growth by making travel easier and more efficient for commuters and visitors who are traveling throughout our great state."

The 34 accelerated "economic stimulus" projects are located in communities throughout the state and were selected because they could be accelerated into the current year. Funding for the projects will be provided by bonding, taking advantage of current low interest rates, and by refinancing some existing bonds.

Free Choice Act to take back seat in '08
WASHINGTON (PAI) - A strongly pro-worker senator from one of the nation's most-unionized states and the chair of Change to Win agree the Employee Free Choice Act will not be brought up again in this Congress, but it will come up in 2009.

Replying to questions after a speech to the Economic Policy Institute on Feb. 13, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said "one of our top two or three priorities is the Employee Free Choice Act, once a new president comes in in 2009."

And last month, in an interview with reporters, Change to Win Chair Anna Burger said after a Senate GOP filibuster defeated it last year, "We're building for 2009 and the 60 votes we need" to overcome such a talkathon.

The Employee Free Choice Act would help level the playing field between workers and bosses in union organizing and in bargaining first contracts. Besides simplifying union organizing votes with simpler card-check rules, the act also will make it easier to get court orders against labor law-breakers and it will increase fines for labor law-breaking.