Later today the House will vote on the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act (H.R.2018).  Watch the exciting parliamentary action here.  Here’s coverage from The Hill.

The NAM is key voting this measure, which would  strengthen states’ ability to set water quality standards.  The bill comes amid frustration with the Environmental Protection Agency, which expanded its authority over state water standards and delayed and even revoked Clean Water Act permits, putting billions in economic activity at risk.

UPDATE: The bill passed, 239 to 184.

Washington Examiner editorial, “It’s time for Labor Secretary Solis to go,” following her inflammatory remarks at last weekend’s meeting of the Democratic National Committee:

Nothing wrong with Solis speaking at the DNC, of course, as she is a former Democratic representative from a California district. The problem is that her DNC remarks made clear that Solis labors under the flawed assumption that she represents only the steadily dwindling sliver of the American work force that is still unionized. As a result, Solis is leaving the other 90 percent of American workers high and dry.

Here’s the key passage from Solis’ remarks at the DNC on public employee protests in Wisconsin and Ohio that points to her fractured understanding of whom she represents: “The fight is on. We work together. We help those embattled states right now where public employees are under assault.” She called members of the protesting public employee unions “our brothers and sisters” and pledged to help them against Republican Govs. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio. With those remarks, Solis effectively put the federal government in the de facto position of aiding protesters opposing governors doing what they were elected to do less than five months ago.

The Examiner also publishes a special report today with two commentaries on organized labor.

• David Freddoso, “Some Democrats joining GOP in fight against union privilege“
• Ron Arnold, “Meet the three most powerful Big Labor bosses you never heard of“

UPDATE (4:55 p.m.): More labor agitation from the Secretary, reported by The Examiner’s Byron York.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis took part in a Communications Workers of America conference call Wednesday night in which she expressed her strong support for unions fighting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget.  “Let’s keep fighting,” Solis told CWA president Larry Cohen and thousands of CWA shop stewards listening to the call…

On more than one occasion, Solis referred to herself as part of the pro-union, anti-Walker cause.  “I say let’s keep fighting,” Solis said, “let’s stand up for all workers, and let’s mobilize and do what we do best, and that is to make sure that the American public understands that union rights are no different from human rights.”

The audio is here, courtesy of the Communications Workers of America, which trumpeted the call here.

You can learn a lot about the U.S. labor movement by reading the Communists. The reporters for People’s World, which used to be the People’s Weekly World, which used to be The Daily Worker, are competent and, in reporting on speeches by labor officials, are not restrained by the same internal censors that govern the union-employed writers. If a union leader says something extreme or activists embrace the outlandish, the union writers will overlook the damaging comments. In contrast, writers for People’s World are likely to regard the remarks as virtuous and worth highlighting.

Case in point, the PW’s report on last week’s 72nd Convention of the Communications Workers of America, “CWA takes sober look at labor’s challenges.”

CWA took time out from politics and organizing to pass a resolution demanding withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors from both Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure, pushed by U.S. Labor Against War, won by a majority show of hands. But delegates spent the rest of their time on U.S. politics and CWA internal business…[snip]

The Iraq-Afghanistan withdrawal resolution linked the wars together and demanded redirection of money spent on them to domestic needs, including care for returning injured and wounded troops.

One delegate, an Air Force veteran who recently returned from Afghanistan, opposed it, and two other delegates spoke for it.

That’s sounds like a really interesting story, especially if you interviewed the war veteran and reported on the activities of U.S. Labor Against War. Alas, this is the only report we’ve found on CWA’s foreign policy as discussed at the convention in Washington. It’s not mentioned anywhere at the CWA website.

P.S. For that matter, we didn’t know that organized labor has gone on the offensive against the American Red Cross. The PW reported that the CWA:

Blasted the Red Cross’ anti-union stand. The non-profit demands pay and benefit cuts from its CWA, UFCW, OPEIU, AFSCME and SEIU member-workers. CWA asked its locals to contact United Way area affiliates, since the Red Cross is a big beneficiary of United Way funds, “and request they contact ARC to demand” it “respect the collective bargaining process, consistent with United Way policy.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) spoke to Communications Workers of America convention delegates yesterday. Her remarks to the union activists coincided with what House leaders have deemed “Making it in America” week, promoting a strong manufacturing economy and employment.

Yet the Speaker used this opportunity to reiterate her support for the anti-democratic Employee Free Choice Act, which would lead to the destruction of 600,000 American jobs in the first year after its enactment. As the economic analysis of the legislation by the nonpartisan LEGC shows that for every 3 percentage points gained in union membership through card checks and mandatory arbitration will result in a 1 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate the following year. The Speaker predicted that the legislation would soon be “the law of the land.” Unfortunate.

Meanwhile the head of the Communications Workers of America, Larry Cohen, said, “[When] a majority of the Senate wants to take action, they can.” He added: “There is no hope of any meaningful restoration of private sector bargaining rights as long as we have these Senate rules.”

Mr. Cohen asserts that the only thing stopping this legislation is procedural hurdles in the upper chamber of the U.S. Senate. We respectively disagree. The only thing stopping this legislation is the legislation itself. Countless members of Congress from both sides of the aisle are united in opposition because the bill wouldn’t restore “private sector bargaining rights,” but would instead promote forced unionization, exacerbate labor-management conflict, rob the U.S. labor market of its dynamism and kill hundreds of thousands of American jobs. It appears that union leaders not only want to change labor laws in their favor but also overhaul longstanding Senate rules to pass their priority.

Union leaders’ strategy here is clear. If you don’t have a popular proposal, change the rules of the game.

Just as Easter is about resurrection, we will resurrect a labor board that fights for workers. That will lead to renewal of workers rights.

That’s Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, quoted in a Wall Street Journal post about a recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board, “Labor Officials Confident Union Lawyer Will Take NLRB Seat.”

The hyperbole captures Big Labor’s delight over signals from Vice President Biden and Labor Secretary Solis that President Obama will make a recess appointment of Becker during the Passover/Easter recess of Congress in April.

Take note of Wednesday, March 3, 2010. That’s the day the Obama Administration embraced both reconciliation and recess appointments to accomplish its goals, a concession to its political limits.

Earlier posts on Becker.

And good for them.

From The Washington Post, “Union leaders step up fight against excise tax“:

Federal employee union leaders threw the second of a one-two punch at a Senate plan to tax health insurance premiums on Tuesday, saying it would mean significant benefit cuts and higher health costs for workers.

The presidents of the American Federation of Government Employees, the American Postal Workers Union and the National Association of Letter Carriers joined with the Communications Workers of America, which is leading organized labor’s effort to defeat the proposed excise tax on premiums.

Here’s the news release, “Federal Unions Release Two Reports on the Detrimental Impact of the Senate Excise Tax on FEHBP Health Plans“:

WASHINGTON – Two reports released today by federal unions found that the so-called “Cadillac” tax on higher-cost health plans contained in the U.S. Senate health care bill would actually affect average plans like those under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). The reports suggest that the excise tax would result in significant health benefit cuts and shifting of costs to employees, as plans try to avoid the tax.

Many manufacturing companies would also be affected.

And now, a word of praise for the labor unions…and G.E., of course.

From The New York Times, “G.E. to Add Two New U.S. Plants as Unions Agree on Cost Control,reporting on General Electric’s plans to expand domestic manufacturing operations:

G.E. is building a 350-employee plant in Schenectady, N.Y., to make high-density batteries that will turn many locomotives into diesel-electric hybrids. And in Louisville, Ky., it is adding a factory that will employ 420 workers to produce hybrid electric water heaters — heaters now made in China.

The two moves by G.E., often accused of being too quick to close plants and move operations overseas, came only after its unions agreed to keep costs down by swallowing painful concessions, including a two-tier wage structure.

Jeffrey R. Immelt, G.E.’s chief executive, said the two new operations are part of his campaign to get corporate America to strengthen and expand manufacturing in the United States.

Times reporter Steven Greenhouse interviews Immelt, who makes many compelling points, including: “Labor sees the need to be more competitive than in decades past. After everything that happened in Detroit, it points to more alignment between management and labor. My sense is this is a different day.”

Indeed, International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America voted to accept a two-year wage freeze and a lower wage tier for new employees, with G.E. agreeing to not to move operations for two years.

More…
Albany Business-Review, “Union vote, incentives bring battery plant to Schenectady”
Albany Times-Union, “Schenectady wins battery battle”
WTEN-10 News, “GE’s new battery plant coming to Schenectady”
WTEN-10 News, “A salt-powered battery — what’s that?”

We took note last week of Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks to the political and legislative conference of the Communications Workers of America, checking to see what he had to say about the Employee Free Choice Act. (Transcript.)

Amid the expected exhortation, one phrase jumped out when the Vice President attacked union opponents generally and the Bush-era National Labor Relations Board specifically for being biased against union organizers.

You know, the National Labor Relations Act says we should “encourage” – paraphrase – “encourage” unions, not mandate them, encourage them. Why? It’s good for the economy. It’s gotten lopsided, folks.

The guys who were supposed to be wearing striped shirts have been wearing black shirts the last eight years. We don’t have referees out there doing it the right way. We’re switching out the shirts, because we’re switching out the people wearing the shirts.

Black shirts? Black shirts? That’s the term used to describe the Italian paramilitary squads and bully boys who helped Mussolini’s rise to power after WWI. (Oswald Mosely’s fascists in England were also known by the term.) If you call someone a “black shirt” you’re calling him a fascist.

We chalked the use of the term up to rhetorical haste, a confusion of black hats — bad guys — and striped shirts — referees. True, you would think someone with vast foreign policy experience would be sensitive to a term like black shirt. Still, a mistake.

But the Vice President has used the term in other speeches to union groups. It’s obviously part of his stump union speech. At some point he or his speech writer said, “Yeah, black shirts. That’s good. Put that in.”

From Vice President Biden’s remarks to the 2009 Legislative Conference Of The American Federation Of State, County And Municipal Employees, May 12, 2009:

There has been a steady drumbeat. The guys wearing striped shirts were wearing black shirts, not striped shirts as referees. They’ve done anything administratively, legislatively and creatively for someone who wants to join a union to join a union.

Black shirts AND drumbeats.

(continue reading…)

Not seeing any coverage of Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks to the Communications Workers of America on Wednesday, we transcribed his remarks related to the Employee Free Choice Act.

The quotable parts:

You know, the National Labor Relations Act says we should “encourage” – paraphrase – “encourage” unions, not mandate them, encourage them. Why? It’s good for the economy. It’s gotten lopsided, folks.

The guys who were supposed to be wearing striped shirts have been wearing black shirts the last eight years. We don’t have referees out there doing it the right way. We’re switching out the shirts, because we’re switching out the people wearing the shirts.

Black shirts? As in Italian fascists? We assume that’s just a slip, a hasty conflation of black hats and striped shirts, but man…

And:

So if we were just able to get a fora [sic] in which we could debate this honestly and straight-forwardly, without all the baggage, without all the hyperbole, this is something I believe right-thinking, decent Americans, Democrat and Republican, if they hear it out, would be supportive of.

No hyperbole, but the Vice President believes “right-thinking, decent Americans” would support the Employee Free Choice Act. Elsewhere, he suggests that “the good guys in the business community” understand the need for card check, and it’s the “business elites” who oppose it. Isn’t there a possibility employers might oppose the EFCA as a matter of principle? Apparently not.

The Vice President’s premise is that the system is stacked against unions that are trying to organize workplaces. But unions won more than two-thirds of the representation elections in the first half of 2008. How is that stacked against them?

Here are the transcribed remarks from the Vice President’s appearance yesterday at the joint convention/legislative-political conference of the CWA.

Keith Smith below notes Sen. Tom Harkin’s remarks to the Communications Workers of America, it’s annual legislative and political conference in Washington. We were curious as to what Vice President Biden and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis had to say to the union members, as well.

We don’t find a transcript online, but the video of the Vice President’s remarks is posted at the CWA’s website here. In introductions the union president, Larry Cohen, hails Vice President Biden’s “perfect voting record” during his 36 years in the U.S. Senate.

“I can tell you personally, he’s working actively to help us get 60 votes to put the Employee Free Choice Act on the floor of the U.S. Senate,” Cohen avers.

We don’t find Secretary Solis’ remarks anywhere; the DOL speech section includes nothing new since April 28.

As for the Vice President, we wonder who the lucky winner was:

You Can Meet Vice President Biden

June 11, 2009

Vice President Joe Biden will address CWAers at the joint convention/legislative-political conference on June 24, and one lucky CWA member will be chosen to join the escort committee to make him feel right at home. Click here for your chance to meet Joe Biden.

The only requirements are that you are a CWA member and that you are an active contributor to CWA-COPE. If you are not currently contributing to CWA-COPE, you can sign up right here to become eligible.

Pay to play!