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Biden, Harris Take Office, Lay Out a New Path and Act Quickly |
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The new day arrived and it was beautiful, even without giant crowds, traditional pageantry and the promise of ballroom dancing.
Two weeks after an angry mob invaded the Capitol, the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — after each walked up the same steps as insurrectionists — reestablished norms.
Biden’s plain-spoken yet far-reaching inaugural speech marked a path to a better way. Executive orders signed even as this is written focus on fighting the pandemic, repairing immigration rules, reestablishing a consistent foreign policy and laying markers for new priorities.
Here is our statement on the historic day:
“The world has changed for the better for working families in Texas. We believe the new day at the White House — the product of the will of the American people expressed at the polls — offers an unprecedented opportunity to set aside division, reach out and do what is right for our nation. We also join in a special cause for celebration: the shattering of barriers by Vice President Harris that also mark a huge, if belated, step forward for women and people of color.”
“The problems working families face are grave. President Biden is correctly leading with the fight to end the pandemic, which touches everything in our lives. Millions of working people remain unemployed and millions more face enhanced dangers on their jobs. The pandemic has only highlighted weaknesses in our laws and practices on racial justice, voting rights, immigration policy, workers’ voices on the job, and other matters that have been ignored or shortchanged for too long.”
“For our part, the Texas AFL-CIO has always observed the separation between campaigning and advocacy in governing. We believe a broad consensus can be reached to address our problems, capitalize on our strengths and resiliency, and move forward. Congratulations to President Biden and Vice President Harris. The sea change has begun.”
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IBEW Business Manager in El Paso Making Her Mark |
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Add to this week's list of news we love this article in The Electrical Worker about Letty Marcum, Business Manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 583 and President of the El Paso Building Trades Council.
Sister Marcum started as a part-time assistant to the office manager, and everyone in the El Paso labor movement saw something special in her.
The article notes the rise of women in powerful IBEW positions and quotes Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy:
Letty Marcum just needed work when she interviewed at El Paso Local 583 in 2007 to be a part-time assistant to the office manager. She had been a homemaker for 15 years on the East Coast and now she was back in her hometown, a single mom with no job and a high school diploma.
Thirteen years later, she is the twice-elected business manager of Local 583 and the president of the El Paso Building Trades Council.
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Texas AFL-CIO to Host Roundtable/News Conference On Worker Advocacy at Texas Legislature in Pandemic |
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The Texas AFL-CIO will host an online roundtable in which working people affected by COVID-19 discuss the state labor federation’s legislative Fair Shot Agenda in light of their experience in the pandemic.
After the webinar-style conversation, panelists will be available for media questions or interviews.
Moderators are Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy and Secretary-Treasurer Montserrat Garibay. Confirmed participants include Leonard Aguilar, political director of the Southwest Pipe Trades Association; Marilyn Davis of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 126; Claudia Golinelli of the Workers Defense Project; Rena Honea, President of the Dallas Alliance, American Federation of Teachers; Judy Lugo, President of the Texas State Employees Union/Communications Workers of America; and Petty Padilla, member of UNITE HERE Local 23 and hotel employee.
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Austin CLC Opposes ‘Strong Mayor’ and Other Items Proposed for Ballot, Saying It Would Concentrate Political Power in Fewer Hands |
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The Austin Central Labor Council today announced opposition to four propositions likely to appear on the local May ballot that would centralize power in fewer leaders and, in the view of the CLC, threaten a broad voting consensus that has advanced the cause of working families.
The City of Austin currently has a City Manager form of government. The election of 10 council members in single districts and the mayor city-wide is a relatively recent development that, accompanied by city-wide trends in voting, has produced progressive City Councils. Having lived in Austin for the last 37-plus years, I would argue that no City Council has done more to provide ordinary working people a fair shot to get ahead than this one.
The proposals would: substitute a strong-mayor form of government for the City Manager-led system, empowering the mayor to veto City Council actions in the process; move mayoral elections to presidential years; institute ranked-choice voting for city elections, something currently prohibited by state law; and distribute so-called “Democracy Dollars,” a form of public financing that would give voters $25 to support their favored candidate and, in the process, require some major bureaucracy.
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Biden First-Day Orders Point to Justice for Texas Workers On Immigration, Workers First Agenda |
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The Texas AFL-CIO commended President Joe Biden today for Executive Orders and other actions that lay out a better path for the United States, including justice for millions of immigrants in Texas and the nation.
Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy and Secretary-Treasurer Montserrat Garibay issued this statement:
“For four years, immigrant workers have faced not just bad policy from the White House — including heartless family separations — but slurs, denunciations and scapegoating by the departed President. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are laying out a course for immigrant workers toward justice and a fair shot.”
“The White House actions include a clear path to citizenship for Dreamers and refugees who struggle under a shadow of potential deportation. They are also a clarion call for larger reforms, including a path to citizenship under which immigrants already making a positive contribution to our economy would have meaningful notice of requirements in an above-board process. Texas would enjoy outsized benefits from comprehensive immigration reform. Congress should set partisanship aside and move quickly to build a better immigration system that conquers fear.”
“Immigration is part of labor’s national Workers First Agenda that includes raising wages, expanding health care, demanding racial justice and civil rights for all, making workplaces safer, making retirement more secure, providing workers a stronger voice on the job, and doing all this while taking dead aim at defeating a pandemic that has cost our nation 400,000 lives and counting.”
“It’s a new day. Almost immediately, the White House’s actions are a good start.”
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Instacart is Firing Every Employee Who Voted to Unionize |
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Instacart is laying off every employee who voted to unionize, Motherboard reports. The news comes as the company shuts down in-store operations at some grocery stores amid the coronavirus pandemic and doubles down on curbside pickups.
The layoffs impact 10 unionized workers at a grocery store called Mariano’s, in addition to other Instacart employees. The group in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, voted to unionize last year with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546 (UFCW). It was a landmark victory for gig workers and represented “the first time employees of tech companies that rely predominantly on contract labor have formed a union to collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions,” according to my colleague Nick Statt.
Employees were in the process of negotiating their first contract when news of the layoffs hit. “These layoffs are totally discouraging for any gig workers who are trying to do something to make these jobs better,” one unionized worker told Motherboard. They said they were fighting for health insurance and vacation time in their initial contract. |
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President Biden Picks Former United Steelworkers Safety Official to Lead OSHA |
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President Joe Biden has tapped James S. Frederick, a Pittsburgh-area workplace safety advocate who worked for the United Steelworkers for more than two decades, to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, signaling tougher federal enforcement on employers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The nomination of Mr. Frederick, 53, to the federal workplace safety agency was announced Wednesday in a union news release a few hours before Mr. Biden took the oath of office at the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Frederick spent 25 years in the Downtown-based union’s health, safety and environment department before departing in 2019. As of September 2019, he was a part-time consultant for ORC HSE Strategies, a Washington-based firm advising companies in safety compliance.
Mr. Biden intends to lean on OSHA, an arm of the U.S. Department of Labor, as he navigates a global pandemic that has killed 400,000 Americans and continues to spread rapidly. |
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Song of the Week - "Wake Up Everybody" by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (featuring Teddy Pendergrass) |
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Have a great weekend...After all, we fought for it. |
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