Happy Labor Day 2015

It's Labor Day in the US and Canada, which happens to be the considered in the US the unofficial end of the summer season.

But the actual purpose of Labor Day is to celebrate workers and the labor movement.   The current 40 day work week, Saturdays and Sundays off (for some folks) , the minimum wage, overtime, OSHA workplace regulations, collective bargaining, sick leave, child labor laws, retirement security,  and other worker friendly policies that helped build the middle class.

But ever since Ronald Reagan came into office, unions have been demonized and attacked by the Republicans, with negative effects to the American middle class.

A strong labor movement translates into livable wages for you  along with a safer workplace and civil rights advancement.

So as you soak up the rays on the beach, chow down at that barbecue and return from wherever you traveled to on this long weekend. ponder the fact that many of the things we American workers take for granted were union made.

Happy Labor Day people!

Happy Labor (Labour) Day!

It's the first Monday in September, and besides the fact the 2012-13 edition of the Miss Continental Pageant is going on in Chicago and it's considered the last unofficial day of summer (can't tell that by the temps here in Houston), it is Labor Day weekend.  

If you're north of the 49th parallel as most of my Canadian TransGriot readers are, it's Labour Day weekend

However you spell it, find your friendly neighborhood union member, bow down and thank them profusely for this three day weekend the labor movement bought and paid for with blood, sweat and tears.

You can also thank a union member while you're at it for the following:

1. All breaks at work, including your lunch breaks
2. Paid vacation
3. Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
4. Sick leave
5. Social Security
6. Minimum wage
7. Civil Rights Act/Title VII - prohibits employer discrimination
8. 8-hour work day
9. Overtime pay
10. Child labor laws
11. Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
12. 40-hour work week
13. Workers’ compensation (workers’ comp)
14. Unemployment insurance
15. Pensions
16. Workplace safety standards and regulations
17. Employer health care insurance
18. Collective bargaining rights for employees
19. Wrongful termination laws
20. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
21. Whistleblower protection laws
22. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) - prohibits employers from using a lie detector test on an employee
23. Veteran's Employment and Training Services (VETS)
24. Compensation increases and evaluations (i.e. raises)
25. Sexual harassment laws
26. Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
27. Holiday pay
28. Employer dental, life, and vision insurance
29. Privacy rights
30. Pregnancy and parental leave
31. Military leave
32. The right to strike
33. Public education for children
34. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 - requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work
35. Laws ending sweatshops in the United States

The unions and the labor movement are one of our allies working with the trans community to get the Employment and Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed.

And with less than 70 days left until Election Day, this election is critical to us being able to keep all the precious things on that list that unions helped us get and the Republicans and US Chamber of Commerce wants to eliminate.  

So stop letting the GOP, Fox Noise and the conservafool movement bamboozle you into hatin' on unions and get busy not only supporting candidates that support the ability for people to organize to join a union, but support collective bargaining rights and all the other hard won workplace rights that are under attack. 

Happy Labour (Labor) Day!  

Ohio, Handle Your Electoral Business

While we get busy in Houston in a few hours electing our mayor and city council members, the folks in Ohio will be going to the polls to vote on whether to kill SB5, the Republican created bill that bans collective bargaining for public employees among it's other odious anti-worker provisions

In summary, here are the provisions of  SB 5:

• Bargaining: Expands the topics that management can refuse to negotiate with public employees. Those topics include: employee qualifications, work assignments and staffing levels. According to reports, public employees can still bargain for wages and hours.

• Strikes: Strikes would be banned, along with a deduction of "an amount equal to twice the employee's daily rate of pay" for each day an employee is considered to be on strike.

• Performance pay and sick/vacation leave: Currently, the minimum amount for a teacher to be paid is $17,300. This would be undone by the law, replacing this by implementing a pay by performance provision. Sick leave would be reduced from three weeks a year to two. Vacation leave would be capped to five weeks a year.

• Union fees: Public employees would not have to pay union fees if they do not want to be become a union member. This was a condition of employment before Senate Bill 5.

• Governing bodies and contract disputes: The governing body of a city, school, or township would have the final say on any contract disputes that initially become unresolved.

• Charter schools: Employees of charter schools would not be allowed to collectively bargain. The only exception, according to reports, would be conversion charter schools.

The bill was bumrushed through a Republican majority Ohio legislature not long after they regained control of it after the 2010 midterm elections.  SB 5 so angered people in the Buckeye State that 1,298,301 signatures were collected to place it on the ballot to be repealed when they were only required to collect 231,149 valid signatures

The repeal question is on the ballot as Ohio Question 2, and Ohio residents will have to vote NO to kill the odious SB 5.   In the last poll taken indications are that's probably going to happen by a 59%-36% double digit margin despite the late flurry of corporate money , right wing cash and Faux News appearances by former employee and current Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) to turn the tide for the Greed Is Good Forces.

But the coalition working to repeal SB5 is not taking anything for granted and are still working hard on their GOTV efforts and making sure the hard work they did this summer to collect those signatures isn't in vain.

Hoping we hear good news out of Ohio when the polls close later today.

NFL Lockout Over?

On Thursday the NFL owners voted 31-0 with the Oakland Raiders abstaining to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement that withh run until 2020.

Only problem is that the players hadn't signed off on it yet before the NFL owners conducted their quickie vote.and started crowing about  how great the new agreement is to the press.

Of course the players have every right to be wary about what the owners voted on, and it is wise that they are taking their time to go through it with an electron microscope if necessary.   It will probably take them longer than the Tuesday deadline the owners set to sort the legalese out and see if this is a good and fair deal for them.

Hey, as long as the 2011 NFL season kicks off in September on time, I'm all for it.

TransGriot Update: Not long after I posted this, the players voted to accept the CBA deal and the lockout was over