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Saturday, February 26, 2011 5:17 PM Hundreds of cops have just marched into the Wisconsin state capitol building to protest the anti-Union bill, to massive applause. NOTICE THE STEELWORKER BANNER IN THE BACKGROUND.  Rapid Response Rapid Response Conference 2011 This years conference was, as usual, both informative and inspiring. Blending national political issues with environmental concerns, makes for great activism opportunities. The conference began on Tuesday with the Good jobs Green jobs plenary session where we heard from David Foster, Director of the BlueGreen Alliance, Leo Gerard USW International President and others including Frances Beinecke President of the Natural Resources Defense Counsel, Nancy Stutely Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and Lisa P. Jackson of the EPA to name just a few. The theme was Clean Energy Economy and echoed President Obama's State of the Union address when he called for innovation in creating clean energy jobs. The clean energy agenda this year was to "harness the creative drive in the U.S. economy and channel it to revitalize the American middle class with the creation of good jobs and a more prosperous, vibrant and sustainable future." Also on Tuesday, I met with Roy Houseman from the legislative department of the USW and discussed with him the Rand Paul amendment to the OSHA bill. Senator Rand doesn't believe that flight attendants( or passengers) should be afforded safety in their work place- the cabin of an airplane. Roy was hoping for my participation in a Utube video about this issue, but I was not able to make it to DC in time. However the video turned out great and is currently on Utube. I sent the link to Meridith Ruther to post on the website. I hope you will take the opportunity to view it. USW is dedicated to working on this issue which I began discussing over a year ago with our Rapid Response Director Kim Miller, and which Ken Ratliff and Shirley McKinney have worked on with the Flight Attendant Coalition. So look for more information and progress on that to come. On Wednesday we began the Rapid Response plenary session with remarks from our President Leo Gerard and Secretary Stan Johnson. Then Our Legislative Director Holly Hart and an Economic/Manufacturing Panel spoke. Again clean energy jobs was a prevalent theme. Also Trade, the Economy, Healthcare, and Manufacturing along with Workplace Health and Safety were hot topics. I learned that USW is the only organization that is filing trade cases against China for their trade violations. Case #421 is about flooding our tire markets and case #201 is about steel, we are winning every case against them. On to manufacturing. The U.S. is the leading buyer of technology, is creating more jobs and 70% of research and development investments are here at home. New "green" jobs would mean growth in clean energy manufacturing, more jobs and maintaining the American middle class. Workplace health and safety is a big concern for USW as every ten days there is a Steelworker fatality. USW has devoted a lot of time and effort into workplace health and safety and will continue to support our efforts with the OSHA bill. This year our main issues we were bringing to Capitol Hill are as follows: 1. Fairness in the Global Economy-China's currency manipulation 2. Trade and Globalization-Why the USW opposes the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement 3. Budget Deficit Battles Ahead-Social Security None of the above mentioned issues are one dimensional by any means and touch on more than just what the title implies. China's currency manipulation for example, undercuts it's competitors because of cheap labor and products. China's currency is valued at about 40% less than it should be which is like a 40% discount for them while the U.S. pays full price for their products-great profit for China! It costs jobs in the U.S. as companies here can't compete-by some estimates it costs the U.S. 500,000 to 1.5 million jobs. So if it were to end, that's 500,000 to 1.5 million jobs back in the U.S. that would cost the treasury zero! Congress must pass The Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (H.R. 2378) which would " allow our government to impose anti-subsidy tariffs to offset the amount foreign currency is undervalued when imports cause harm to U.S. industry and it's workers." Trade and Globalization touches on the Korea Free Trade Agreement. The current administration made some improvement to the agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in the auto assembly sector. Korean auto makers are only required to use 35% of domestically -produced parts which would then mean that the other parts like steel, tires and glass could come from other countries like China. In turn, that means that U.S. parts producers and their employees are at an extreme disadvantage competitively. USW also opposes the Colombia Free Trade Agreement due to the violence against union members in Colombia. Last year 47 trade unionists were killed just for trying to stand up for their rights and those are just the ones that were public knowledge. Colombia is "the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists." That quote was from a survey done by the International Trade Union Confederation. Since 1986 2,800 unionists have been killed and the Colombian government does very little about it, not even initiating investigations for two-thirds of these violent crimes. Budget Deficit Battles ahead tackles the issues of Social Security, Benefit cuts, Investments, Clean Energy and New Technologies. Essentially what this country needs is to stop outsourcing our jobs, manufacture products in this country again, and develop new technology to stay competitive in a global market. We need to do all this and not cut middle class worker's benefits, or raise the costs of health care so high that many can't afford coverage. A great quote from the conference "We need to invest in our country and our people". It doesn't get any more simple yet true than that. Last but certainly not least, is my favorite part of every conference, the remarks from a man named Charlie Kernaghan. He is the Executive Director, Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights an organization formerly known as the National Labor Committee. I challenge anyone who listens to Charlie's presentations to do so without being brought to tears. Charlie is a man who has devoted his life to searching for and righting the wrongs done to workers around the world. He has told stories of women in Jordan being beaten, raped, and left for dead by their male managers on dark paths leading to the outhouse outside their factories where they make the NFL jerseys we so carelessly buy here in America. Or of teenagers in China who work 14 plus hour days seven days a week at a Microsoft factory, where they get no breaks, sleep on cement floors in huge dormitories with only one bathroom, and are fed only rice gruel and never see their families. This years story was about a beautiful young girl in Indonesia who was happy to find a job so she could send money home to help support her parents and save some money to hopefully get married one day. She ended up being raped by her bosses so brutally that she had bite marks on her entire body. In her culture, a woman's virginity is valued above all else and as a result of the rape, she is no longer eligible to marry and is now relegated to a life of poverty. Charlie got a legal team together and is in the process of suing her employers for over $1 million in damages that will sustain her and her family for the rest of their lives. Charlie does absolutely amazing work and has many stories about helping workers around the world fight atrocities in the workplace and for their basic dignities. It really puts into perspective how little we have to complain about. We have a strong union that is there to provide support for us and fight for our rights whenever we need them. Our petty differences hardly matter when you think of working people around the world that just want to provide for their families and carve out a decent life, that are beaten and starved and subjected to all manner of indignities and have no one to speak for them when they can't speak for themselves. Well, Charlie and his team aim to fix that! In closing, I would like to once again thank the members for voting for me to attend this years Rapid Response Conference. We have the opportunity to be part of something bigger than our selves and to unite together to support labor across this great nation. Some of what I learned at the conference will resonate with you and some won't, but as always we support our brothers and sisters in every industry. In solidarity, Kaela Berg Rapid Response Coordinator Local 772-9 　 What is Rapid Response or what it means to be a steelworker ? | Return Home | Trip Trade Board | Useful Links | Events Schedule | Mailing List | Union Reps | Union News | For Sale | Hotel Comments | Rapid Response | |
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