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September 17, 2010
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Obama offers $50B infrastructure lifeline to U.S. construction President Barack Obama on Labor Day sent a strong signal that he’s listening to calls for more government investment in the nation’s crumbling infrastructure – which, as importantly, would put thousands of construction workers back to work. Speaking to union workers in Milwaukee, Obama called for the spending of more than $50 billion to help rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges, airports and railways. “It doesn’t do anybody any good when so many hard working Americans have been idled, yet so much of America needs rebuilding,” Obama said. “That’s why I am announcing a new plan for rebuilding and modernizing America’s roads and rails and runways for the long term.” Obama said the plan would build on the $787 billion federal stimulus program he initiated shortly after taking office. A substantial portion of that money went to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. Several construction association leaders credited the stimulus with saving tens of thousands of building jobs – and helping to not make the moribund industry worse. “Over the next six years we are going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads – enough to circle the world six times. We’re going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways – enough to stretch coast to coast. We’re going to restore 150 miles of runways and advance a next-generation air-traffic control system to reduce flight-times and delays for American travelers,” Obama said. “We used to have the best infrastructure in the world. We can have it again. We're going to make it happen. This will create jobs and make our economy run better over the long haul.” The spending of $50 billion on infrastructure is only a small down payment on the kind of infrastructure investment this nation needs – but has never had the political will to spend. Obama Administration officials said unlike the stimulus money, this infrastructure spending is aimed at long-term growth, as part of a six-year plan to significantly increase spending on transportation repair work. Republican leaders, predictably, assailed Obama’s plan as ineffective, saying it would add to the federal deficit, although the president vowed to work with Congress to offset the spending. His initial plans call for eliminating tax breaks for gas and oil companies. “We don't need more government stimulus spending,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). “We need to end Washington Democrats' out-of-control spending spree, stop their tax hikes, and create jobs by eliminating the job-killing uncertainty that is hampering our small businesses.” With Republican opposition, Obama’s plan likely isn’t going anywhere any time soon. It’s an election year, and Congress only has a few weeks of work planned this fall before members go home to campaign. The Associated General Contractors hailed the president’s proposal. "The president clearly appreciates that the infrastructure-focused portions of the stimulus were effective in boosting employment and helping rebuild America's aging infrastructure,” said Associated General Contractors CEO Stephen Sandherr. “And while the most effective sequel to the stimulus is passing a fully funded six-year surface transportation bill, countless thousands of construction workers will have a better chance of retaining their jobs thanks to this proposal than they otherwise would once the stimulus runs its course. "Like others, we are anxious to learn more details about the President's proposal, and hope that this proposal receives the bipartisan consideration and support investing in our country's economic infrastructure ought to merit. After all, the American people are counting on both parties to begin tackling the nation's $2.2 trillion infrastructure deficit.” |
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Obama: ‘The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label’ President Barack Obama has only occasionally mentioned unions during his term of office, but his speech to Milwaukee unionists on Labor Day was filled with references to labor and working people. Many in the labor movement would like to hear more from him on the importance of labor in America, but more importantly, to actually push for legislation that would help unions to widen their influence, like the Employee Free Choice Act. Following are excerpts of his speech. “The problems facing working families, they’re nothing new. But they are more serious than ever. And that makes our cause more urgent than ever. For generations, it was the great American working class, the great American middle class that made our economy the envy of the world. It’s got to be that way again. “It was working men and women who made the 20th century the American century. It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of middle-class security all bear the union label. “Eight million Americans lost their jobs in this recession. And even though we’ve had eight straight months of private sector job growth, the new jobs haven’t been coming fast enough. Now, here’s the honest truth, the plain truth. There’s no silver bullet. There’s no quick fix to these problems. I knew when I was running for office, and I certainly knew by the time I was sworn in, I knew it would take time to reverse the damage of a decade worth of policies that saw too few people being able to climb into the middle class, too many people falling behind. “We all knew that it would take more time than any of us want to dig ourselves out of this hole created by this economic crisis. But on this Labor Day, there are two things I want you to know. Number one: I am going to keep fighting every single day, every single hour, every single minute, to turn this economy around and put people back to work and renew the American Dream, not just for your family, not just for all our families, but for future generations. That I can guarantee you. “Number two – I believe this with every fiber of my being: America cannot have a strong, growing economy without a strong, growing middle class, and the chance for everybody, no matter how humble their beginnings, to join that middle class – a middle class built on the idea that if you work hard, if you live up to your responsibilities, then you can get ahead; that you can enjoy some basic guarantees in life. A good job that pays a good wage. Health care that will be there when you get sick. A secure retirement even if you’re not rich. An education that will give your children a better life than we had. These are simple ideas. These are American ideas. These are union ideas. That’s what we’re fighting for “Now, anybody who thinks that we can move this economy forward with just a few folks at the top doing well, hoping that it’s going to trickle down to working people who are running faster and faster just to keep up, you’ll never see it. If that’s what you’re waiting for, you should stop waiting, because it’s never happened in our history. That’s not how America was built. It wasn’t built with a bunch of folks at the top doing well and everybody else scrambling. We didn’t become the most prosperous country in the world just by rewarding greed and recklessness. We didn’t come this far by letting the special interests run wild. We didn’t do it just by gambling and chasing paper profits on Wall Street. We built this country by making things, by producing goods we could sell. We did it with sweat and effort and innovation. We did it on the assembly line and at the construction site. “We did it by investing in the people who built this country from the ground up – the workers, middle-class families, small business owners. We out-worked folks and we out-educated folks and we out-competed everybody else. That’s how we built America. And, Milwaukee, that’s what we’re going to do again. That’s been at the heart what we’ve been doing over these last 20 months: building our economy on a new foundation so that our middle class doesn’t just survive this crisis – I want it to thrive. I want it to be stronger than it was before. And over the last two years, that’s meant taking on some powerful interests – some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time. And they’re not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. That’s not in my prepared remarks, but it’s true. There are no better workers than American workers. I’ll put my money on you any day of the week. And when the naysayers said, well, you can’t save the auto industry, just go ahead and let hundreds of thousands of jobs vanish, we said we’re going to stand by those workers. If the management is willing to make tough choices, if everybody is willing to come together, I’m confident that the American auto industry can compete once again – and today, that industry is on the way back. They said no, we said yes to the American worker. They’re coming back. Now, let me tell you, another thing we’ve done is to make long-overdue investments in upgrading our outdated, our inefficient national infrastructure. We’re talking roads. We’re talking bridges. We’re talking dams, levees. But we’re also talking a smart electric grid that can bring clean energy to new areas. We’re talking about broadband Internet so that everybody is plugged in. We’re talking about high-speed rail lines required to compete in a 21st century economy. We’re talking investments in tomorrow that are creating hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs right now. Because of these investments, and the tens of thousands of projects they spurred all across the country, the battered construction sector actually grew last month for the first time in a very long time. But, you know, the folks here in the trades know what I’m talking about – nearly one in five construction workers are unemployed. One in five. Nobody has been hit harder than construction workers. And a lot of those folks, they had lost their jobs in manufacturing and went into construction; now they’ve lost their jobs again. It doesn’t do anybody any good when so many hardworking Americans have been idled for months, even years, at a time when there is so much of America that needs rebuilding. So, that’s why, Milwaukee, today, I am announcing a new plan for rebuilding and modernizing America’s roads and rails and runways for the long term. I want America to have the best infrastructure in the world. We used to have the best infrastructure in the world. We can have it again. We are going to make it happen. Look, the bottom line is this: These guys, (Republicans) they just don’t want to give up on that economic philosophy that they have been peddling for most of the last decade. You know that philosophy – you cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires; you cut all the rules and regulations for special interests; and then you just cut working folks loose – you cut them loose to fend for themselves. You remember they called it the ownership society, but what it really boiled down to was, if you couldn’t find a job, you couldn’t afford college, you were born poor, your insurance company dropped you even though your kid was sick, that you were on your own. Well, you know what, that philosophy didn’t work out so well for middle-class families all across America. It didn’t work out so well for our country. All it did was rack up record deficits and result in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I mean, think about it, we have tried what they’re peddling. We did it for 10 years. We ended up with the worst economy since the 1930s and record deficits to boot. It’s not like we haven’t tried what they’re trying to sell us. Now, I’m bringing this up not because I’m trying to re-litigate the past; I’m bringing it up because I don’t want to re-live the past.”
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Labor Day in Michigan ONE OF THE MEN credited with the founding of Labor Day in 1894, carpenter Peter McGuire, suggested “setting aside one day in the year to be designated as ‘Labor Day,’ and to be established as a general holiday for the laboring classes.” The day, he said, “should first be celebrated by a street parade, which would publicly show the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations. Next the parade should be followed by a picnic or a festival in some grove....” Union members in several Michigan communities did their part to celebrate Labor Day this year.
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Some workers are mad as hell…at the wrong people Editor’s note: The following was published as an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sept. 5. We thought it’s worth reprinting, and we’re doing so, with permission. A plutocracy is defined as a “government by the wealthy,” or “a controlling class of rich men.” America should just go ahead and cancel Labor Day. Really. Other than as an excuse for a picnic, what’s the point? Three hundred and sixty-four days a year, we honor plutocrats, and one Monday holiday in September is going to make up for it? Organized labor no doubt would object. Big deal. One worker in eight belongs to a labor union. And last year, for the first time in history, more public-sector workers (500,000 more) belonged to a union than did private-sector workers. Oh, the irony. For the second year in a row, Americans “celebrate” Labor Day with unemployment at 9.6 percent or higher. Corporate profits are 5.7 higher now than then they were in the fourth quarter of 2007, when the recession began. The number of jobs is 5.9 percent lower. Labor – by which we mean not only organized labor but the entire working class – should just give it up. Roll over. Turn turtle. Admit it: The class war is over, and you lost. You not only lost, you collaborated. Organized labor still may be fighting the good fight. But a lot of the working class is out there marching in the streets on behalf of the monied class, puppets of the plutocrats, angry as hell at all of the wrong people. Oh, it wasn’t always like this. Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 because President Grover Cleveland and Congress were frightened of labor’s power. This was after Eugene V. Debs of the Railroad Workers Union had brought the country to its knees over the Pullman car strike. Cleveland had put the strike down with the Army, probably illegally, killing 13 people in the process. At one point Debs had 250,000 workers off the job. Labor Day, which was rushed through Congress in six days flat, became a way to pacify them. Labor Day signaled the beginning of the end of what Mark Twain called the “Gilded Age,” when there was more disparity between rich and poor than at any time in the nation’s history, except maybe this one. More important were the real gains that labor achieved in the next few decades: higher wages, shorter work weeks, the progressive income tax and acceptance of the fundamental concept that labor was as important as capital in the production of goods and the provision of services. That concept is all but gone today, a victim not only of industrialization, the technological revolution and globalization, but also of shrewd, cynical and effective politics. Working-class America got distracted by its own success. It had houses in the suburbs, 500 TV channels and cheap credit so it could go to Wal-Mart and buy all the foreign-made toys it wanted. In the 1970s, conservative billionaires began funding think tanks to attack the forces of progressivism. The Reagan Revolution co-opted a lot of labor votes with jingoism. The late Lee Atwater perfected the use of “wedge issues” – God, guns, gays and abortion – to distract the working class from economic issues. In the 1990s, Roger Ailes, an old Nixon and Reagan hand, helped launch the career of Rush Limbaugh and turned Fox News into an advocacy platform for the political goals of America’s billionaires. Working-class America was so busy applauding that it didn’t notice that its pockets were being picked. Banks and big business bought control of Congress, which passed a series of tax and banking laws that fostered the largest transfer of wealth in America’s history. The money went not from the rich to poor — that would be socialistic “income redistribution.” No, it went from the working class to the rich. Today, the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan arm of the Brookings Institution, projects that in 2011 that the top 1 percent of all wage earners will take home 18 percent of all income. The top tenth of that 1 percent will take home 8.2 percent all by itself. Between 1979 and 2007 (before the Big Recession) the average after-tax income of the top 1 percent of the population nearly quadrupled, from $347,000 to over $1.3 million. Things aren’t so rosy for the middle class. Median household income dropped 2.5 percent between 1999 and 2009 in inflation-adjusted terms, the Census Bureau reports. Here’s one our favorite class warfare facts, from this year’s “Executive Excess” study by the Institute for Policy Studies: “American workers ... are taking home less in real weekly wages than they took home in the 1970s. Back in those years, precious few top executives made over 30 times what their workers made. In 2009, we calculate ... CEOs of major U.S. corporations averaged 263 times the average compensation of American workers.” Layoffs pay. The study found that the chief executive officers of the 50 firms that laid off the most workers during the recession took home an average of nearly $12 million last year – 42 percent more than the average pay of all the CEOs at S&P 500 firms. No wonder workers are angry. No wonder they’re massing in large protest rallies. No, wait. Those are the Tea Partiers and the Becksters. They’re angry at federal health care reform, even though it will save them money and reduce the deficit. They’re angry about the Wall Street bailout. Except for the fact that it was absolutely necessary because the titans of Wall Street had a gun at the head of the world economy, they should be angry. They’re angry about the $787 billion in stimulus spending, even though it returned a fat tax break to them, saved the jobs of cops and teachers and state employees and paid unemployment compensation to the victims of the Wall Street manipulators. Workers need to be angry, but at the right people – the ones who for 30 years have been steering ever more of the wealth of this nation into fewer and fewer hands. Ironically, it is those plutocrats – oil and insurance company executives, big bankers and other Wall Street tycoons – who are orchestrating many of these protest rallies. This is where labor is most effectively organized on Labor Day Weekend 2010: against the interests of working America.
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Trades mourn loss of two past leaders Donald McNamara Don McNamara, a Pipe Fitters Local 636 member for more than 60 years who attained the position of Assistant General President of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters, died Sept. 11, 2010. He was 79. Mr. McNamara became a business agent with Detroit Local 636 in 1958. In 1969 he was elected Assistant Business Manager/Financial Secretary of the local, and 10 years later, he became Business Manager. In 1980, Don served as United Association Vice President in addition to his duties as Business Manager, then took on the position of President of the Greater Detroit Building Trades Council. In 1988 he was appointed UA Special Representative, then a short time later he was assigned to the UA General Office as an International Representative. In 1991 Don became Assistant General President of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters. He retired in 1995. Mr. McNamara’s boss, the late International President Marvin Boede, said at his retirement party, “Don’s a man with the highest integrity, and his loyalty to the UA is beyond measure. A man in Don’s position must be able to see the big picture, and he was never one who placed himself above his union. I know Don is respected by all who work with him because they know he’s a fair, honest, dedicated union man.'” Don is survived by is wife of 59 years, Patricia. He is also survived by children Peggy Susie (Bob Louzon); Tom (Cindy); Bill; Colleen (Joe Davignon); Geri (Brian) Finn; Michael and Kevin (Janice). He was grandfather of 18 and great-grandfather of three. Don’s son, International Rep. Tom McNamara, said at his dad’s retirement, “He taught us to respect, honor, care, and share. That’s the kind of guy our dad is, our coach and our friend. Our dad was always there for us and always offered encouragement. We also realized how important our dad felt the labor movement was, and how important he is to the labor movement.'”
Ray Poupore Ray Poupore, a past Business Manager of Operating Engineers Local 324 and past chairman of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Commission, passed away Sept. 12, 2010 at age 82. “I considered him a personal friend and mentor,” said Local 324 Business Manager/International Vice President John Hamilton. “He was Business Manager during the 1980s, which in terms of the poor economy, has a lot of similarities to what’s happening today. Ray was a respected leader, a great union supporter, and a nice man. He will be missed.” Mr. Poupore worked as a Local 324 Business Agent, then served as Business Manager from 1980 to 1988. After he retired, he worked as a consultant for both Millgard and Roncelli, primarily doing labor relations work. His son, Ray Poupore Jr., is a 39-year member of Local 324, and is Executive Vice President of the National Construction Alliance. “My dad was always a strong advocate for the building trades, and he had a heart of gold,” he said. “He lived modestly, but he always kind and generous. He was the greatest union leader that I’ve ever met.” Ray Jr. said his dad suffered from bladder cancer and had a stroke about a year ago. He was a 60-year member of Local 324. Mr. Poupore’s wife Blanche died in 2006. He is survived by Ray, Jr., and daughters Susan Dine and Becky Courtois. “Ray Poupore was a gentleman in every sense of the word,” said Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Devlin. “He was a person whose word you could always trust, and he had a tremendous knowledge about the state’s construction industry. We’re going to miss him.” A memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 18 at Faith Lutheran Church, 37635 Dequindre Rd. in Troy.
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Helping Humanity: two IBEW Local 275 members receive service award Coopersville – In June 2008 the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 275 lost a great friend and advocate for working people when Pat Kramer passed due to complications from surgery. Pat was a lifelong sufferer of juvenile diabetes, which ultimately shortened his life. In the wake of this tragedy the local union established an annual award in his name and honor to be given to the member who most exemplified the attributes of volunteerism, participation, and leadership with the local union, labor movement, and community, as Pat exhibited throughout his life. The award is to be given in August of each year to coincide with Pat’s birthday as a celebration of his life. Local 275 is proud to announce that the recipients of this award are John Nowakowski and Dennis Axdorff. John and Dennis have worked diligently over the years to promote the local union through community involvement and volunteerism. This year the two were able to connect with Habitat for Humanity and coordinate the volunteer labor of several members in rehabbing a home in Grand Rapids. At this time, we are preparing to begin a second home. This connection has brought great pride to our members and great respect from our community. The value of these services is tremendous, and this greatly helps the families that will be occupying these homes. On behalf of the members of IBEW 275 I would like to thank John and Dennis for their wonderful commitment to the members, and look forward to their continued work in the future. In addition to the award the local union will make a $250 contribution to the American Diabetes Association to support research and education on this difficult disease.
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NEWS BRIEFS Trades mourn death of Local 333’s Tim Haggart Condolences are extended to the family and friends of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 333 Business Manager Tim Haggart, who died Sept. 5, 2010 after a motorcycle accident. Tim was 51. A 32-year member of Local 333, Tim had been business manager of Local 333 since 2007. Mr. Haggart served on the Michigan Pipe Trades Executive Board, the City of Lansing Plumbing Board, the Executive Board of the Michigan AfL-CIO and the Lansing Community College Foundation Board. “I always enjoyed dealing with Tim,” said Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Devlin. “He was just a nice, decent, dependable guy who served his members well. He was also a great resource for all of us, he was always willing to provide a helping hand when it came to solving issues for all of the building trades. It’s very sad to lose him.” Tim is survived by children Eric and Sarah, his parents Lawrence and Joan Haggart, and former wife Nancy. He was preceded in death by his brother Chris Haggart in 1999. A memorial service was held at the Local 333 hall in Lansing.
Construction jobless rate grows in August The U.S. construction industry added 19,000 jobs in August, but the sector’s 17 percent unemployment rate was the highest August rate ever, according to a new analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of federal employment data released Sept. 3. The industry’s 17.0 percent rate was higher even than the 16.5 percent rate a year earlier. “Construction began losing jobs four years ago, more than a year before the rest of the private sector, and the industry remains stuck in neutral at best, nine months after other industries started adding jobs consistently,” said AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson.
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