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• Working Women "Stir The Pot" On Political Issues In AFL-CIO Voter Mobilization
• Voters In Six States Will Decide Minimum Wage Increases
• AMFA Reaches Tentative Settlement In 14 Month Northwest Airlines Strike
• NW Pilots: Poor Managerial Decisions Create Staffing Issues

By Jesse Russell

The union representing Northwest Airlines pilots claims the airline is facing staffing issues. The Air Line Pilots Association said that poor managerial decisions have contributed to the shortage resulting in a number of flight cancellations. In a message to members the union said the company has less flexibility in scheduling pilots. The union called on the airline to quickly remedy the situation.

By Doug Cunningham

After a nearly 14 month strike, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) says it’s reached a strike settlement agreement with Northwest Airlines. The tentative agreement will go to the union membership for a ratification vote. The strike started when Northwest tried to slash the number of AMFA jobs and force a 25 percent pay cut on the workers. If this agreement is approved AMFA members will have recall rights. The strikers status will change to being on layoff. Strikers who decide to resign from Northwest Airlines will get up to 10 weeks of severance pay.

Six states have minimum wage increases set for the November ballot. Jesse Russell reports that Arizona is looking at one of the bigger wage increases:

By Jesse Russell

If voters pass the Arizona wage increase on November 7, minimum wage workers in that state will see an increase from the federal minimum of $5.15 per hour to $6.75 per hour - a healthy raise of $1.60 per hour. For the average fulltime worker that would be more than $3300 in extra income each year. When adjusted for inflation, the federal minimum, which has not been increased in nine years, should be $6.54 per hour. Only eighteen states have a minimum wage higher then the federal. Five other states are also putting the issue to voters this year: Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio.

By Doug Cunningham

Working women coast to coast today will be “stirring the pot” on vital political issues like health care and retirement security in a massive AFL-CIO sponsored all-women voter mobilization. Meagan Jeronimo of Houston is co-chair of the event.

[Meagan Jeronimo]: "We thought if we got women together to hear what each other had to say it would energize them and motivate them to go to the polls and let our legislators know that these are the issues that matter to us. We want all women to come out and talk about the issues that impact them. And I think the majority of women that are participating will not be union members."

• Still no resolution for Delphi
• Bombardier strike enters second week
• Despite martial law, Thailand workers plan to picket U.S. embassy
• Minimum wage becomes issue in Alabama gubernatorial race
• Economic Report: Thanks to outsourcing, India to add 10 million new jobs over next five years

Economic Report:

Global outsourcing has been a boom for India with that country looking at the potential creation of 10 million new jobs over five years. That's according to words from India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last Thursday. Currently half of the $40 billion in work that is offshored by companies - primarily U.S. - goes to India.

By Jesse Russell

Another state has made minimum wage an election issue. Alabama’s Democratic Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley is running for governor and has pledged that if elected she will push the state legislature to raise the state minimum from $5.15 per hour to $6.15 per hour. If she succeeds, then Alabama could be the 24 the state to require a minimum higher then the federal. Six other states are putting the issue of raising their minimum wages to voters on November 7.

By Jesse Russell

Even with martial law imposed in Thailand placing a ban on public gatherings, more than 1,000 Thai lingerie workers are planning a protest outside of the U.S. embassy. The workers were laid-off from Gina Form Bra when it was announced work would be moving to Chain. The workers are demanding severance pay that would amount to roughly 2.6 million U.S. dollars. The company makes high end lingerie for such companies as Calvin Klein and Victoria's Secrets. The workers hope the new government, which took power in a bloodless coup on September 19, will understand why they need to protest.

By Doug Cunningham

The International Association of Machinists strike at Bombardier Aerospace in Wichita is an effort by the union to draw the line over concessions. The workers have endured three years of concessions including wage freezes. The company offered a wage increase this time around, but it was so small that it didn’t even meet the cost of increased health insurance costs. Union leadership recommended the contract be accepted. But the workers rejected it and the strike is now in its second week. Striking workers say it’s not just wages at issue. They are sick of working weekends with no contract protection for days off and they want to reverse the trend of givebacks when new contracts are negotiated.

By Doug Cunningham

Lede: There’s still no final resolution on wages and benefits for Delphi’s union workers. As Doug Cunningham reports , a bankruptcy court hearing on Delphi’s union contracts has been postponed yet again.

Delphi is still trying to get the UAW and the IUE-CWA to agree to wage and benefit concessions for the workers who are left after massive buyouts
of its workforce. Delphi has moved in bankruptcy court for permission to scrap its union contracts and impose its terms on the workers. That hearing has been repeatedly delayed and it’s been delayed again – this time to November 30th. The UAW says it will strike if its contracts are destroyed by Delphi and the court.

• On The Goodyear Picket Line: Keep Jobs In The U.S. And The Plants Open!
• Comair Workers Say Concession Terms Must Be Fair And Consensual
• French CGT Supporting Striking Pennsylvania Teamsters
• Economic Report: Jobless Claims Drop, Retail Sales Up

Economic Report:

By Jesse Russell

Jobless claims dropped to their lowest point in 10 weeks last week. The Labor Department said 17,000 less unemployment claims were filed last week then the previous week. Economists are still skeptical as there is little to show that would suggest a trend. Claims are expected to grow in the final months of the year. Also clocking in with a positive note was sales at major retailers. With gasoline prices falling, shoppers have been hitting the stores.

By Doug Cunningham

France’s Trade Union Congress – the CGT labor federation – is supporting 45 Teamsters on strike against Paris-based Arkema in Pennsylvania. The CGT vows to stand with the Teamsters in a struggle against pay cut demands, health care concessions and retirement benefits cuts. The Teamster Arkema strike is in its eighth week. The CGT says French workers know that the company is trying to divide workers by national borders in an effort to drive down wages, benefits and retirement security for its employees worldwide. Arkema makes resins used by Harley-Davidson and Nike among others. In 2004 it had global sales of $6 billion dollars.

Workers at Comair are calling into question the airlines bargaining tactics. Jesse Russell has more:

By Jesse Russell

The pilots and flight attendants have once again told the airline that while they are willing to make concessions, terms of those concessions must be "fair and consensual." In a joint statement Connie Slayback, president of the flight attendants union, said "We all want to help our airline emerge from bankruptcy and return to profitability but we have to be able to reach a deal that both the flight attendants and management can agree to." The unions have been under pressure in recent weeks to accept the concessions from the company in order to make bidding on the bankrupt airline more attractive. Comair has said that if it can’t win the bidding process the airline will most likely see large cuts.

By Doug Cunningham

On the picket line at one of the 16 North American Goodyear plants hit by a United Steelworkers strike, workers holding strike signs shouted as passing vehicles honked their support. Greg Lueptow, Vice President of USW Local 904 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin says this strike is about keeping good middle class jobs in the USA. Lueptow says Goodyear workers in 2003 sacrificed with concessions to help Goodyear get past some financial problems and now that Goodyear has rebounded it just wants to close more plants and export American jobs.

[Greg Lueptow 1]: “They want to close down three more union plants and we want to keep the jobs in the United States. We don’t want to ship ‘em over to China, we don’t want to ship ‘em down to Mexico. So they weren’t budging off the main topic so we had no choice but to walk.”

• United Steelworkers Strike Goodyear In Fight To Prevent Plant Closings
• AFL-CIO Unions Boost Annual Organizing by $150 Million
• NLRB "Supervisor" Issue Has Long History

By Doug Cunningham

The United Steelworkers (USW) are on strike against Goodyear Tire. The strike started today, Thursday October 5 at 1 pm. EDT. The USW says Goodyear left the union with no option but to strike. USW Executive Vice-President Ron Hoover said in a steelworkers press release that the union “cannot allow additional plant closures after the sacrifices we made three years ago to help this company survive.”

The steelworkers agreed in 2003 to the closure of the Huntsville, Alabama Goodyear plant and also agreed to some concessions on wages, pensions and health care. The union says it worked very hard with the company to help Goodyear through a difficult situation, but Goodyear has rebounded and the USW says the company seems to only want to take away more from its workers.

• Steelworkers Goodyear Deadline May Mean A Strike
• AFL-CIO Unions Boost Annual Organizing by $150 Million
• NLRB "Supervisor" Issue Has Long History

As organized labor gears up to the appeal the recent National Labor Relations Board ruling that broaden the definition of supervisor, Jesse Russell takes a look at the historical timeline leading up to the decision:

By Jesse Russell

When the Taft Hartley Act was adopted by Congress in 1947 it included a provision that protected lead workers from being classified as supervisors. Nearly 50 years later that long standing definition, upheld by courts and previous incarnations of the board has been over turned. In the past decade the NLRB has attempted to classify the workers twice, but both times the Supreme Court has rejected that definition. Fred Feinstein, counsel to the NLRB for the Clinton administration explains: