MICHAEL BOLTON, Director Upcoming D2 Eventsimages.usw.org/d2/2014March.pdfMICHAEL BOLTON, Director...
2
is published by the United Steelworkers District 2 AFL-CIO·CLC MICHAEL BOLTON, Director 1244A Midway Rd., Menasha, WI 54952 (920) 722-7630 Contributors to this issue include: Jay McMurran, Tammy Duncan, Lori Gutekunst, Chris Haddock, Steve Doherty Articles and photos are welcome and should be sent to: Art Kroll, Editor, District 2 News 20600 Eureka Road, Suite 300, Taylor, MI 48180 [email protected] • 734-285-0367 MARCH 24, 2014, is the deadline for submissions for the next issue. • • that it will take a few years to elect a working class friendly majority. By that time, some pretty severe damage could be done to our movement. When we accept that Right to Work is the law that we now live under, we can recognize the real challenge we face, which is maintaining membership to ensure that we remain effective in representing our members. Until we regain a majority in Lansing – Staff, Local Union Executive Boards, committee members and the general membership should be working together to develop and implement plans to keep our Union strong. THAT MUST BE OUR PRIORITY. Finally, here’s an example of political denial coming from a different direction. This one involves losing heart before a fight has even begun. As most of you already know, the President and Congress are considering the passage of yet another jobs killing free trade agreement (FTA). This one, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), currently involves 12 countries; and, if passed, will be the largest trade agreement ever negotiated. It is being referred to as NAFTA on steroids. I think that a good number of our members feel betrayed by the President and they also believe that fighting TPP is an exercise in futility. Let’s face it. We haven’t been successful stopping these agreements in the past. And some spin masters are talking as if the agreement has already been approved by Congress. It has not and I think we have an excellent shot at stopping it. But we have to accept a few realities before we engage the fight. First, we are not going to change President Obama’s mind on his support for Fast Track and the TPP. As President, Obama has a big picture view of the world. In his view, free trade is likely seen to be inevitable, meaning the rest of the world is going to join into trade agreements whether the U.S. participates or not. So we might as well be at the negotiating table to represent U.S. interests abroad. Second, it isn’t likely we can stop TPP in the Senate either. Simply put, we don’t have the votes to defeat it. Sure Democrats have the majority, but when you factor in the number of “Blue Dog Democrats” (those from the south who have a more conservative view on economic issues), our ability to sustain a no vote isn’t there. That leaves us with the House, the branch of government elected to represent voters in each legislative district. Back in the real world, where House members are supposed to live, unemployment remains unacceptably high and most of the places that are hiring don’t pay good wages or benefits. As a result, most Americans are urging their representatives to pass legislation to create jobs, not pushing for another jobs killing trade deal. Therefore, members in districts that were safer for a yes vote on trade in the past may be more vulnerable this cycle. That means a greater potential for us to gain more support for a no vote. So, if we accept our political reality right now, we see that the obvious place to concentrate our efforts to stop TPP is the House of Representatives. But we also have to accept that defeat is not inevitable, it’s just going to take a little more work to win. In closing, an added benefit to reaching a point where a group of people agrees to accept something is that the group has to have an intelligent, rational conversation to reach the point of agreement. That is something that we, as leaders of our movement, need to do more of. USW International Paper Conference ● March 31 - April 3, 2014 Westin Hotel and Conference Center 1000 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA USW District 2 Council Conference ● April 10 - 13, 2014 - Women of Steel Meeting (April 9 - 10) - Health & Safety Training (April 9 - 10) - Next Generation Meeting (April 10) Radisson Plaza Hotel 100 W. Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI USW D2 Sub-District Local Union Leadership Training ● May 13, 2014 Financial Training - USW Local 12075 Hall 3510 James Savage Road • Midland, MI Continuous Bargaining - Great Hall & Convention Center 5121 Bay City Road • Midland, MI ● May 15, 2014 Comfort Inn & Village Conference Center 1645 Commerce Park Drive • Chelsea, MI ● May 20, 2014 Holiday Inn Neenah Riverwalk 123 E. Wisconsin Avenue • Neenah, WI ● May 22, 2014 Olympia Resort & Conference Center 1350 Royale Mile Road • Oconomowoc, WI USW D2 Presidents’ (9:00 a.m. to Noon) and Next Generation Meetings (1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.) ● June 10, 2014 Teamsters Local 7 Hall 3330 Miller Road • Kalamazoo, MI ● June 11, 2014 USW Local 12075 Hall 3510 James Savage Road • Midland, MI ● June 12, 2014 USW District 2 Southern MI Sub-District Office 20600 Eureka Rd., Suite 300 • Taylor, MI ● June 24, 2014 Cascades Tissue (room to be determined) 1200 Forest Street, Eau Claire, WI ● June 25, 2014 Ronn Hall/Local 4950 1206 Baldwin Avenue • Negaunee, MI ● June 26, 2014 Lucky Dogz 157 S. Green Bay Road • Neenah, WI ● June 27, 2014 Milwaukee Area Labor Council 633 S. Hawley Road • Milwaukee, WI USW D2/National Kidney Foundation Golf Day ● August 2, 2014 West Shore Golf & Country Club 22843 West River Road • Grosse Ile, MI USW International Convention ● August 11 - 14, 2014 Upcoming Upcoming Upcoming D2 Events D2 Events D2 Events MICHAEL BOLTON, Director I don’t know about you, but I am tired of all the negativity we see, hear, and read in our media. Everywhere we turn, pundits are telling us what’s wrong with America and the world. They are good at pointing out problems, but fall short of offering solutions. Turn on FOX News and you’ll hear how screwed up the Democrats are. Then switch over to MSNBC and they’ll complain about the plague that is the Republican Party. None seem to accept that the problems they are whining about are not Democrat or Republican issues. As Americans, they belong to all of us. Also, the talking heads never accept that the other side might not be the cause of the problem, nor do they accept the notion that as citizens of this country, they have an obligation to help correct the problem. Acceptance is the key word here. It’s like they say in the self-help programs, you can never address a problem until you accept the fact that you’ve got it. An excellent example of this “left versus right blame game” that accomplishes nothing is what a lot of folks refer to as “ObamaCare”, the President’s recently enacted health care law. It is getting trashed by both sides. In fact, Republicans in the House have taken 40 meaningless votes to repeal. Here’s some news, Congress: ObamaCare is now the law of the land. Accept it! Once it is finally accepted, they will be able to work with folks on both sides of the aisle to make it work for all Americans. They also need to acknowledge that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) does accomplish some historic goals. ● It extends affordable health insurance to all Americans. ● Working families cannot be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. ● Children can be kept on our policies until the age of 26. ● It eliminates lifetime maximums, which means no American with an approved health care plan will ever go bankrupt again because of medical expenses. ObamaCare has its shortcomings too. Unfortunately, rather than fixing those problems, the opposition is using its flaws for campaign material in the next election. That’s where we come in. We need to accept that this “Do Nothing Congress” isn’t going to do anything until we make them. It is up to us to educate our members, form coalitions with like-minded individuals and organizations, develop strategies and push for the change we want to see. Another example of legislative and political denial is Michigan’s Right to Work (RTW) law. To a lot of folks, the problem is our ability to repeal RTW. The reality is that before we can repeal the law, we have to change the legislature. When we look at the size of the Republican majorities in the Senate and House and the makeup of the current gerrymandered legislative districts, we realize A Message from Director Michael Bolton
Transcript of MICHAEL BOLTON, Director Upcoming D2 Eventsimages.usw.org/d2/2014March.pdfMICHAEL BOLTON, Director...
is published by the
United Steelworkers District 2 AFL-CIO·CLC
MICHAEL BOLTON, Director 1244A Midway Rd., Menasha, WI 54952
(920) 722-7630
Contributors to this issue include:
Jay McMurran, Tammy Duncan, Lori Gutekunst, Chris Haddock, Steve Doherty
Articles and photos are welcome and should be sent to:
Art Kroll, Editor, District 2 News 20600 Eureka Road, Suite 300, Taylor, MI 48180
[email protected] • 734-285-0367
MARCH 24, 2014, is the deadline for submissions for the next issue.
MARCH 10, 2014 MARCH 10, 2014 MARCH 10, 2014 MARCH 10, 2014 •••• VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 •••• PAGE 1PAGE 1PAGE 1PAGE 1 that it will take a few years to elect a working class friendly majority. By that time, some pretty severe damage could be done to our movement.
When we accept that Right to Work is the law that we now live under, we can recognize the real challenge we face, which is maintaining membership to ensure that we remain effective in representing our members. Until we regain a majority in Lansing – Staff, Local Union Executive Boards, committee members and the general membership should be working together to develop and implement plans to keep our Union strong. THAT MUST BE OUR PRIORITY.
Finally, here’s an example of political denial coming from a different direction. This one involves losing heart before a fight has even begun. As most of you already know, the President and Congress are considering the passage of yet another jobs killing free trade agreement (FTA). This one, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), currently involves 12 countries; and, if passed, will be the largest trade agreement ever negotiated. It is being referred to as NAFTA on steroids.
I think that a good number of our members feel betrayed by the President and they also believe that fighting TPP is an exercise in futility. Let’s face it. We haven’t been successful stopping these agreements in the past. And some spin masters are talking as if the agreement has already been approved by Congress. It has not and I think we have an excellent shot at stopping it. But we have to accept a few realities before we engage the fight.
First, we are not going to change President Obama’s mind on his support for Fast Track and the TPP. As President, Obama has a big picture view of the world. In his view, free trade is likely seen to be inevitable, meaning the rest of the world is going to join into trade agreements whether the U.S. participates or not. So we might as well be at the negotiating table to represent U.S. interests abroad.
Second, it isn’t likely we can stop TPP in the Senate either. Simply put, we don’t have the votes to defeat it. Sure Democrats have the majority, but when you factor in the number of “Blue Dog Democrats” (those from the south who have a more conservative view on economic issues), our ability to sustain a no vote isn’t there.
That leaves us with the House, the branch of government elected to represent voters in each legislative district. Back in the real world, where House members are supposed to live, unemployment remains unacceptably high and most of the places that are hiring don’t pay good wages or benefits. As a result, most Americans are urging their representatives to pass legislation to create jobs, not pushing for another jobs killing trade deal. Therefore, members in districts that were safer for a yes vote on trade in the past may be more vulnerable this cycle. That means a greater potential for us to gain more support for a no vote. So, if we accept our political reality right now, we see that the obvious place to concentrate our efforts to stop TPP is the House of Representatives. But we also have to accept that defeat is not inevitable, it’s just going to take a little more work to win.
In closing, an added benefit to reaching a point where a group of people agrees to accept something is that the group has to have an intelligent, rational conversation to reach the point of agreement. That is something that we, as leaders of our movement, need to do more of.
USW International Paper Conference ● March 31 - April 3, 2014
Westin Hotel and Conference Center 1000 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
USW District 2 Council Conference ● April 10 - 13, 2014 - Women of Steel Meeting (April 9 - 10) - Health & Safety Training (April 9 - 10) - Next Generation Meeting (April 10)
Radisson Plaza Hotel 100 W. Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI USW D2 Sub-District Local Union Leadership Training ● May 13, 2014
Financial Training - USW Local 12075 Hall 3510 James Savage Road • Midland, MI
Continuous Bargaining - Great Hall & Convention Center 5121 Bay City Road • Midland, MI
● May 15, 2014 Comfort Inn & Village Conference Center
1645 Commerce Park Drive • Chelsea, MI
● May 20, 2014 Holiday Inn Neenah Riverwalk
123 E. Wisconsin Avenue • Neenah, WI
● May 22, 2014 Olympia Resort & Conference Center
1350 Royale Mile Road • Oconomowoc, WI USW D2 Presidents’ (9:00 a.m. to Noon) and
Next Generation Meetings (1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.)
● June 10, 2014 Teamsters Local 7 Hall 3330 Miller Road • Kalamazoo, MI
● June 11, 2014 USW Local 12075 Hall 3510 James Savage Road • Midland, MI
● June 12, 2014 USW District 2 Southern MI Sub-District Office 20600 Eureka Rd., Suite 300 • Taylor, MI
● June 24, 2014 Cascades Tissue (room to be determined) 1200 Forest Street, Eau Claire, WI
● June 25, 2014 Ronn Hall/Local 4950 1206 Baldwin Avenue • Negaunee, MI
● June 26, 2014 Lucky Dogz 157 S. Green Bay Road • Neenah, WI
● June 27, 2014 Milwaukee Area Labor Council 633 S. Hawley Road • Milwaukee, WI
USW D2/National Kidney Foundation Golf Day ● August 2, 2014
West Shore Golf & Country Club 22843 West River Road • Grosse Ile, MI USW International Convention ● August 11 - 14, 2014
UpcomingUpcomingUpcoming D2 Events D2 Events D2 Events
MICHAEL BOLTON, Director
I don’t know about you, but I am tired of all the negativity we see, hear, and read in our media. Everywhere we turn, pundits are telling us what’s wrong with America and the world. They are good at pointing out problems, but fall short of offering solutions. Turn on FOX News and you’ll hear how screwed up the Democrats are. Then switch over to MSNBC and they’ll complain about the plague that is the Republican
Party. None seem to accept that the problems they are whining about are not Democrat or Republican issues. As Americans, they belong to all of us.
Also, the talking heads never accept that the other side might not be the cause of the problem, nor do they accept the notion that as citizens of this country, they have an obligation to help correct the problem.
Acceptance is the key word here. It’s like they say in the self-help programs, you can never address a problem until you accept the fact that you’ve got it.
An excellent example of this “left versus right blame game” that accomplishes nothing is what a lot of folks refer to as “ObamaCare”, the President’s recently enacted health care law. It is getting trashed by both sides. In fact, Republicans in the House have taken 40 meaningless votes to repeal.
Here’s some news, Congress: ObamaCare is now the law of the land. Accept it! Once it is finally accepted, they will be able to work with folks on both sides of the aisle to make it work for all Americans. They also need to acknowledge that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) does accomplish some historic goals.
● It extends affordable health insurance to all Americans.
● Working families cannot be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
● Children can be kept on our policies until the age of 26.
● It eliminates lifetime maximums, which means no American with an approved health care plan will ever go bankrupt again because of medical expenses.
ObamaCare has its shortcomings too. Unfortunately, rather than fixing those problems, the opposition is using its flaws for campaign material in the next election. That’s where we come in. We need to accept that this “Do Nothing Congress” isn’t going to do anything until we make them. It is up to us to educate our members, form coalitions with like-minded individuals and organizations, develop strategies and push for the change we want to see.
Another example of legislative and political denial is Michigan’s Right to Work (RTW) law. To a lot of folks, the problem is our ability to repeal RTW. The reality is that before we can repeal the law, we have to change the legislature. When we look at the size of the Republican majorities in the Senate and House and the makeup of the current gerrymandered legislative districts, we realize
A Message from Director Michael Bolton
MARCH 10, 2014 MARCH 10, 2014 MARCH 10, 2014 MARCH 10, 2014 •••• VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 •••• PAGE 2PAGE 2PAGE 2PAGE 2
is published by the
United Steelworkers District 2 AFL-CIO·CLC
MICHAEL BOLTON, Director 1244A Midway Rd., Menasha, WI 54952
(920) 722-7630
Did you know?Did you know?Did you know?
Have you been to District 2’s
Page on Facebook?
www.facebook.com/USWDistrict2
The District 2 Council By-Laws established a District 2 Council Steering Committee comprised of a rank and file structure. It was set up to assist in the following:
• Development of agenda for Council Conference.
• Planning of the District Council Conference Educational
Conferences.
• District 2 strategic planning.
• Determining and assessing educational needs within the
District.
• Generating and leading activism and other purposes
consistent with the mission and directives of District 2 and the USW.
The elected members of the Steering Committee are listed below by manufacturing sector. If you need to contact a Steering Committee Member, please do so by using the email
Name Local Sector Email Address
Marc Barragan 1299 Steel and Related
Todd Berg 42 Paper [email protected]
Kevin Bishop 1533 Amalgamated [email protected]
Al Calhoun 690L Automotive Related
Rick Christensen 1207
Chemical & Energy
Related [email protected]
Kent Holsing 12075 Health Care [email protected]
Mark Lewis 12934 Public [email protected]
Dave Page 1327 At Large [email protected]
Wes White 1327 At Large [email protected]
Jim Whitt 2-145 Allied
Industrial [email protected]
Recent Protest Signs
As reported last year in this Newsletter, USW Local Union 2-148 in Neenah, WI, decided not only do local charities need monetary donations, they need physical help too. “We were contacted by Beth Servais. She asked if we could to some ‘grunt work’. Our answer was yes, whatever you need, we will provide.” The Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley offers temporary housing. They also operate several apartments to those in transition. One of those apartments needed work and we were glad to lend a hand for a few hours to help.
USW District 2 Council Steering Committee
USW LU 2-148 Community Involvement USW District 2 Safety Goes Global 10 Days in Kurdistan, Iraq
The USW District 2 Kevin Wilson Initiative had the opportunity to represent the Steelworkers in the Kurdistan region of Iraq for 10 days in February. Steve Doherty from the District 2 Kevin Wilson Initiative CATS team worked in conjunction with the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center from Washington to deliver USW-USWTMC curriculum to workers and government leaders as they work to establish new OSH laws and global safety standards in the region.
Three day workshops in the cities of Erbil and Sulaimaniyah were conducted. In Erbil, classes on Day 1 taught Body Mapping and Hazard Mapping to the Ministry Inspectors (our OSHA or MSHA) to correlate injuries to hazards. Day 2 followed up our OSHA Construction training on the 16 most common construction hazards. Day 3 ended the workshop with the USW Union Approach to Health and Safety and an overview of current and pending OSH legislation in the country.
In Sulaimaniyah, workers from LaFarge Corp. cement plants were also trained to set up local safety committees, educated on the Women of Steel programs, the laws, along with Body and Hazard Mapping.
“The challenges the workers and inspectors in Kurdistan face are identical to what we face here in our states and facilities. Looking at safety in this ‘global’ view reinforces the importance of our activism here in District 2 in our own struggles with global companies and the politicians we elect.”
USW Installation of Officers
D2 Conference Reminder
The District 2 Conference is quickly approaching. The dates and registration deadlines are listed below.
WOS Meeting (April 9 - 10) - Registration deadline is March 18.
Health & Safety Training (April 9 - 10) - Registration deadline is March 18. Please note the OSHA 10-Hour Training is close to capacity.
Next Generation Meeting (April 10) - Registration deadline is March 18. No fee if registered in advance. Same day registrants will be charged a $10 fee.
Conference (April 11 - 13) - Registration deadline is March 22. Same day registrations will incur an additional $25 late walk-in fee.
Hotel Accommodations - The cut-off date to make hotel reservations at the $109 special rate is March 18. The Radisson’s phone number is 269-343-3333.
The Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley provides an important safety net for the community. Many of us cannot conceive of ever needing the services of an emergency shelter, but then many of those we serve thought the same thing. Given the right set of circumstances or misfortunes, the Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley may end up serving a neighbor, a relative, or an employee.
Many within the community aren't even aware that there are homeless families or individuals within the Fox Valley.
This perception is partially driven because the Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley provides a place for those in need to go, and because of their progressive programs that help those in need to develop skills to keep from becoming homeless in the future. “It was an honor to help and USW 2-148 will help again. After all, WE ARE STEELWORKERS!”
On March 1, 2014, about 1,000 United Steelworkers, family and friends gathered at the Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh to enjoy a respected group of guest speakers address the top international officers and district directors prior to their swearing-in ceremony. Master of Ceremonies for the event was former USW International Secretary-Treasurer James D. English.
Guest speakers included:
● Labor Chaplain, Allegheny County Labor Council, Father Jack O’Malley
● President of the Allegheny County Labor Council, Jack Shea
● Pittsburgh Mayor, William Peduto
● Allegheny County Executive, Rich Fitzgerald
● Ohio State Senator (D - District 25), Nina Turner
● President of the AFL-CIO, Rich Trumka
● Former Canadian Ambassador to United Nations, Stephen Lewis
● American television and radio host, Edward “Ed” Schultz
The USW is heir to the longest tradition of direct democracy in the North American labor movement, a democratic process that initiated in February 1945, when Philip Murray and other Steelworkers leaders were elected in the first secret-ballot referendum election held by any international union in the United States.
The democratic process guarantees every member an equal vote in choosing the union’s leaders, from local union and grievance committee members to district directors and international officers. This is spelled out in the constitution of our union.
The quadrennial process for the referendum elections of the international officers and district directors begins in June and ends in a November election on the Tuesday immediately preceding Thanksgiving.
USW Int’l. President Leo W. Gerard USW District 2 Director Michael H. Bolton
