Volume 1, Issue 216
Take Action to Stop the Attacks on the U.S. Postal Service
The U.S. Senate could be voting as soon as next week on a new bill, S. 1789, which would dismantle the U.S. Postal Service as we know it. The bill seeks to eliminate Saturday mail delivery and phase out door-to-door mail service, while at the same time slashing postal workers’ retirement and gutting their collective bargaining rights.
Take action to defend the Post Office and its workers by calling Senator Feinstein at (202) 224-3841 & Senator Boxer at (202) 224-3553, and urge them to oppose S. 1789.
Help Expose the Corporate-Backed Trans-Pacific Trade Deal
Trade negotiators from throughout the Pacific Rim are gathering in southern California next week to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement. Out of the public eye, trade ministers and corporate lobbyists (over 600 of whom have certified "corporate adviser" status) are pressing for a NAFTA-style deal that encourages offshoring, expands downward corporate pressure on labor and environmental standards, raises drug prices, and bans "Make it in America," among other problems.
The only way to ensure this deal doesn't become another anti-worker “NAFTA of the Pacific” is to bring it out of the shadows. Take action to demand a “Fair Deal or No Deal” by joining an informative teach-in on Monday at 6PM at USC University Club, or by coming out to a noontime rally at the Sofitel Los Angeles on Wednesday and at UCSD on Friday (both sites of the trade negotiations).
Learn more and find event details.
Building Workforce Partnerships Conference: March 13th-15th
Registration is now open for the 2012 Building Workforce Partnerships Conference, sponsored by the California Labor Federation’s Workforce & Economic Development Program. The two-day intensive training event, themed “Unemployed in America: Causes, Consequences, Solutions”, will focus on policies, programs, and strategies that proactively and effectively address the worst employment crisis since the Great Depression.
Building Workforce Partnerships 2012 will feature a wealth of new workshops and engaging speakers, including Jared Bernstein, former chief economic advisor to Vice President Biden. And for the first time, Building Workforce Partnerships attendees will also receive free admission to the Blue-Green Alliance’s “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” conference on March 15th and 16th.
Tell Toll Group: Treat LA Port Truck Drivers With Respect
When truck drivers at the Port of LA who are employed by Australian shipping giant Toll Group began organizing a union last fall, the company promptly fired a third of them. The workers have successfully pressured the company to rehire 15 of the 26 fired drivers, but they are still subject to harrassment and third-world working conditions, and the 11 remaining pink-slipped drivers will be out of work for good if they are not called back in the next week.
Show your support for the truck drivers who are fighting for their jobs and decent working conditions by sending a message to the executives at Toll Group today, urging them to treat their American workers as fairly as they treat their workers in Australia (where 12,000 Toll Group workers are already in unions).
This Week on “Labor’s Edge”
Stan Sorscher of SPEEA/IFPTE local 2001 proposed drastically reforming U.S. trade policy to cut the deficit and improve our standard of living.
Eric Tate of Teamsters local 848 put out a call to action to stop sweatshop conditions and restore jobs for Toll Group truck drivers at the Port of LA.
Labor Federation leader Art Pulaski detailed the numerous shortcomings and inadequacies in the proposed multi-state mortgage settlement with the Big Banks.
John Beaumont of the National Association of Letter Carriers detailed the perils of a new bill that would gut the Postal Service.
Greg Good of the LA Alliance for a New Economy exposed the dangerous, and sometimes fatal, working conditions at some waste and recycling facilities in LA.
Send blog submissions to info@calaborfed.org.
Subscribe to the blog via RSS.
This year, the California State Legislature will be considering whether to pass the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights (AB 889), which would extend basic labor standards to domestic workers. The second measure of its kind in the country, the Bill of Rights will protect a vital workforce that has labored in the shadows for too long. 
ctober of last year, Schneider Logistics, which operates one of the biggest Walmart-contracted distribution centers in the country, was cited for more than $1 million for rampant wage theft and other labor law violations at their Inland Empire facility. The workers at the warehouse also filed a complaint in federal court, detailing the 16-hour shifts they were forced to work without breaks or overtime, and the retaliation and firing they faced if they asked to receive their full wages. 
The NFL Players Association, AFL-CIO has announced it will be hosting its first college football all-star game in LA, and for ev ery ticket sold, the players union will be donating $1 to the LA Labor and Community Services Food Bank. 
This week, 4,000 registered nurses joined a one-day strike at eight Sutter hospitals throughout the Bay Area, to protest some 150 sweeping concessions in patient care protections and RN standards that the management has been pushing for. One of the richest hospital systems in the state, Sutter has amassed over $3.7 billion in profits since 2005, pays over $1 million to each of 20 top corporate executives, and increased their CEO Pat Fry’s salary by 20% to $4.7 million last year. 
xtending UI through next year would provide much-needed assistance to these families, while at the same time creating $70 billion in economic activity and a 0.4% increase in GDP, but Republican in Congress continue to 
Yesterday, dozens rallied in support of employees at Calpine’s power plants in northern Caslifornia as they turned in their authorization cards to the National Labor Relations board in San Francisco and officially filed for a union election. This is a major step in the workers’ ongoing campaign to gain union representation with IBEW 1245 in the face of a hostile, union-busting employer.
The recent raids and attacks on Occupy encampments in Oakland and around the country have only made the movement stronger and more committed than ever before. Solidarity and justice for the 99% bind us together in our fight for a fair economy, quality education, workers’ rights and the end Wall Street greed.
In a landmark victory for working families in Ohio and across the country, Ohioans voted by a margin of nearly 2-to-1 to do away with SB 5, the right-wing union-stripping bill that would eliminate collective bargaining rights for public sector workers. This victory for workers’ rights is a likely indicator of more pro-union electoral victories in 2012.