David Shepardson

— Vice President Joe Biden defended the role of organized labor, saying opponents are mounting a long-term war to attack unions.

“These guys on the right — they know without you there — they call every shot,” Biden told more than 1,000 UAW members and retirees on the final day on its four-day annual political conference here. “You guys are the only guys keeping the barbarians at the gate.”

He criticized right-to-work laws approved in Michigan and Indiana. “Did you ever think you would see a day when right to work would pass in Michigan?” Biden said. “It’s not a right to work.”

He held up a chart that said the fall in unionization had been a factor in the decline in wages.

“You built the middle class. Labor built the middle class,” Biden said. “You never leave anybody behind — even when it costs you politically and when it doesn’t benefit you directly.”

The vice president said widening disparity between the wealthy and those who earn less was hurting the country. “We are stronger when we grow from the middle out,” Biden said. If Americans “don’t believe it’s going to be OK, then we have a problem,” he said.

Biden said if people can’t join a union, people won’t get fair wages.

“That’s the moment when it’s over,” Biden said. “we have to be vigilant and unrelenting in our fight to protect and expand collective bargaining.”

But the Obama administration failed early in its term to win a new law backed by unions to make it easier for workers to join unions. With Republicans in charge of the House, it has made no effort to win approval in recent years.

Biden suggested that President Barack Obama had bet his presidency and the economy in 2009 on the $85 billion auto bailout to “save an iconic industry.”

Biden visited the North American International Auto Show and D.C. auto show in recent weeks — and now is talking to autoworkers. He is mulling a run for president in 2016 — and his courting of autoworkers could be a key factor.

Biden credits the UAW’s endorsement as a key factor in his upset victory for the U.S. Senate in 1972 in Delaware. The UAW “took a bet on me,” Biden said.

UAW President Bob King noted Biden was a strong advocate of the auto bailout in 2009. He is one of “strongest advocates, allies and friends the UAW has ever had… who stood up for us in every single fight we’ve been in.”

Biden said in the 1970s, states were ending right-to-work policies — which he said were really a right “to pay lower wages.”

“They waged a war on war on labor’s house. This is a concerted, full-throated, well-organized, well-financed, well-thought-out effort waging war on labor’s house,” Biden said.

Biden said he wouldn’t weigh in on the upcoming vote of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., on whether to form a German-style works council and be represented by the UAW.

Biden joked the “one overwhelming reason” not to run for president in 2016 is so he can buy a Z06 and drive it after leaving office. He ticked off the high performance standards of the new Corvette including the speedy 0-60 acceleration time. “Not that I like speed,” he said.

Biden said he chatted with GM CEO Mary Barra at the North American International Auto Show about driving the new Corvette. He said the drive could happen at a Secret Service facility. “I may ask,” he said.

Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140205/AUTO01/302050081/Biden-Unions-only-guys-keeping-barbarians-gate-

By JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press

– Vice President Joe Biden says a concerted war on labor threatens to drastically weaken the bargaining power of American unions.

Biden spoke Wednesday to an annual conference of the United Automobile Workers. He says the Chamber of Commerce and right-to-work committees are leading parts of the American business to wage a concerted war on collective bargaining. He says unions, quote, “are the only guys keeping the barbarians at the gate.”

Biden is pointing to right-to-work legislation that some states have enacted. He says things look dim for unions now but will get better.

The vice president is also praising trial lawyers. He says they’re the only people taking on major corporations. Biden says people call them “bottom-feeders” but that they’re responsible for protections such as product safety standards.

Source: http://www.timesunion.com/news/politics/article/Biden-warns-of-war-on-labor-says-outlook-is-dim-5207552.php

CONGRATS To President Pat Eiding and the entire Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO for Another Successful Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO Leadership Conference in the books.

Leaders representing Philadelphia area unions participated in the 11th Annual Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO Leadership Conference in Atlantic city this Past Sun, Mon and Tues and met on a variety of topics ranging from communications, politics and legislation to the 2014 electoral landscape in PA and worker’s rights etc all for the purpose of moving our Philadelphia area union community successfully into the future!

The conference was well attended by union officials from all across Philadelphia and vicinity further demonstrating why the Philadelphia area union community remains the premier union region in the America!

Kudos to all who organized and participated!

Philly Labor

By Richard Kline, President, Union Label and Service Trades Department (AFL-CIO)

– The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) threatens more than American jobs, its full impact could undermine the quality of life for all Americans.

This free trade agreement, if signed by the US, will undermine food safety, Wall Street regulation, Buy American requirements for government spending, and give corporations equal rights with the sovereignty of nations under the emerging “investor state” doctrine. TPP is comprised of 29 chapters covering the environment, food and drug safety, intellectual property, financial regulation, telecommunications and much more. Yet, details are sketchy, dependent upon Wikileaks and whistleblowers. If any national laws among any of the participating nations is challenged by one or more corporations under the investor state doctrine, corporate interests could prevail. No wonder this massive deal is a big secret, kept from the hundreds of millions of people it will affect.

Which countries are negotiating this Free Trade Agreement? Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam are at the table and China is reputed to be interested in joining them.

Perhaps it is a mistake to say that the countries are negotiating. The negotiations are in secret, open only to corporations, their lobbyists and agents, who are officially called “trade advisors.”‘

Civic groups, unions, common citizens are excluded, as are members of Congress.

We only know what they tell us. And we are only told that a lot of jobs and good fortune will flow from this massive agreement. Just like NAFTA.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama threw in one subtle but major demand: a renewed request for Fast Track Authority on the Trans Pacific Partnership. In other words, a demand for an up or down vote with no amendments admissible in Congress, which one recalls is a legislative body of some prominence and power. Congress can and should refuse to restore fast track authority which officially expired in 1997.

President Obama could have opened up about the TPP and told the American public what was at stake. Vague assurances and vapid promises from the White House or the US Trade Representative are unpersuasive. If corporations are going to be elevated to the status of sovereign nations workers and their unions need to be on an equal footing with corporations.

If the Obama administration were really concerned about the middle class, American jobs and American manufacturing, it would look elsewhere than race-to-the-bottom trade agreements.

Here’s an idea for the administration. Resurrect the Employee Free Choice Act to which it gave lip service some years back. A fight to make unionizing fairer for workers might give some relevance to an administration entering lame duck status ahead of schedule.

Source: http://www.unionlabel.org/index.cfm?zone=%2Funionactive%2Fview_blog_post.cfm&blogID=1183&postID=57790#.UvEx3ACVWTM.facebook

By Pat Loeb

– PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Philadelphia firefighters’ union is asking district attorney Seth Williams to reconsider his decision not to pursue criminal charges in relation to the fire that caused the death of two firemen in 2012 (see related story).

The union wants the building owners prosecuted.

Local 22 president Joe Schulle says the families of firefighters Robert Neary and Daniel Sweeney were devastated by the DA’s announcement yesterday that no charges would be filed in connection with the fire at the former Buck Hosiery Co. warehouse, in Kensington, where the two men died.

The families have filed a civil suit against the owners — Yechiel Lichtenstein (who also goes by Michael) and his father, Nahman, both of Brooklyn, NY — but Schulle says that is not justice for the victims.

“It’s just a huge injustice to our membership that the people that caused this tragedy to occur are just allowed to walk around like nothing happened. They actually put in a claim to collect on the million-dollar insurance policy on the building, so they are trying to benefit from this occurring,” Schulle said.

The building was deteriorated, unsealed, and tax delinquent when it caught fire (see related stories). DA Williams based his decision on a grand jury report that said the exact cause of the fire could not be determined.

Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/02/04/phila-firefighters-union-demands-prosecution-of-building-owners-in-deadly-2012-fire/