Tag Archives: Unions

Posted on by

United Steel Workers union and International Paper Ratify New Contract

MEMPHIS, TN — The United Steelworkers (USW) and International Paper announced today that they have ratified a four-year Master Agreement contract that covers some 6,000 workers.

“The USW is extremely proud of the progress made by our members in the paper sector,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “Strong leadership and solidarity at each of the locations was vital to reaching this agreement at IP. The success of our local unions here sets a precedent for bargaining in rest of the industry.”

Posted on by

U.S. Chamber Expresses Grave Concern Over NLRB’s Complaint Against Boeing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President for Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits, Randy Johnson, issued the following statement today expressing grave concern over a recent complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against The Boeing Company based on a decision to build a new airplane manufacturing plant in Charleston, South Carolina. Boeing’s plant is nearing completion and will create thousands of new American jobs. Existing construction alone has already created more than 1,000 jobs in South Carolina. The NLRB has alleged that Boeing violated the National Labor Relations Act in discriminating against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers by not instituting this new manufacturing in Puget Sound, Washington, and has demanded that the work that is, and will be done in Charleston, be ended.

Posted on by

U.S. Chamber’s Lisa Rickard to Lead Workforce Freedom Initiative

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced today that Lisa Rickard, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber and president of the Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), will lead the Chamber’s Workforce Freedom Initiative (WFI), a multimillion-dollar grassroots mobilization and advocacy campaign to preserve democracy in the American workplace, restrain abusive union pension fund activism, and block the anti-competitive agenda advocated by many labor unions.  Steven Law, who has served as chief legal officer and general counsel of the U.S. Chamber for the last three years, is leaving to become President & CEO of American Crossroads, a new political organization.

Posted on by

Poll: Unions remain unpopular among North Carolina voters

RALEIGH, NC — While unions have played an increasingly prominent role in recent political campaigns in North Carolina, including what Public Policy Polling (PPP) describes as an “unprecedented” role in 2008, they remain unpopular with the state’s voters.

The Raleigh-based polling firm released a poll last week which showed union support as being potentially harmful for candidates running in North Carolina.  Fifty percent (50%) of respondents said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who was endorsed by a union. According to an e-mail from PPP, that compared unfavorably to other groups with “sometimes controversial agendas,” including what the firm described as “right wing religious organizations” (43%), Realtors (39%), the Sierra Club (37%) and Planned Parenthood (36%).