Employees note paid as Company shuts their doors!

Brothers and Sister,
In Aliquippa PA, my home town, health care professionals have been short changed in their pay as the company closes it’s doors. The Union Edge Talk Radio Show is closely following their efforts for justice. On Face value, I can see many similarities between this issues and what happened to the United Electrical workers in Chicago.

I am asking you to help build strong worldwide support for the medical workers in Aliquippa PA. Please forward this message to your network, and ask them to follow the story and listen to the interviews at http://www.TheUnionEdge.com.
Nearly 200 employees of Commonwealth Medical Center (formerly Aliquippa Hospital) - members of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania - lost our jobs when our hospital declared bankruptcy and then abruptly closed last December 12th. We still haven't received the paychecks that were due to us before Christmas and New Years. The hospital's finance company and management agreed to pay hospital executives, but not the frontline staff!
Please join us for the following events on Mon/Tues next week in support of Aliquippa Hospital caregivers:
* Community Rally, Monday, Jan. 26th, 12 noon - In front of the hospital, 2500 Hospital Drive, Aliquippa
* Demonstration and Bankruptcy Hearing, Tuesday, Jan. 27th, 8:30 a.m. - In front of US Bankruptcy Court, US Steel Tower, 600 Grant Street, Downtown Pittsburgh
Join us as we stand up for fairness and respect for working families - not just for those at the top!

Podcasts of "The Union Edge Talk Radio Show"

You can now listen to Podcasts of "The Union Edge Talk Radio Show" via the Internet. Go to http://www.TheUnionEdge.com

Fan Club and Listener Base Update:

Our Facebook fanclub has over 2100 fans nationwide!
Our Mailing list is over 2500 members from all over the country!
Our Market Share in Pittsburgh is about 10,000 listeners in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia!

We have received web traffic from all fifty states! We are growing!

Please help me welcome Karen Newman, our music director! Karen is President of ATU Local 398 and a labor music Guru that is second to none!

Karen is making sure that we will be able to provide the very best in Labor Music, and remain in compliance with all copyright issues. (Not and easy task, trust me!) Thanks Karen!

This is your show, let me know who you want me to invite, and what topics you want to talk about. Your input is often requested and always welcome!

See our list of our previous & upcoming guest at http://www.TheUnionEdge.com

Jack Shea President of the Allegheny County Central Labor Council. www.pittsburghaflcio.org/

Bill George President of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO. http://www.PAAFLCIO.org

Brian Knavish Public Relations Manager for the American Red Cross SW Pennsylvania. http://swpa.redcross.org/ (nonprofit)

Joyce Rothermal Executive Director of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. http://www.pittsburghfoodbank.org/ (nonprofit)

Butch Santicola representative for the Pennsylvania State Education Association. http://www.PSEA.org

Jim Young, Business Agent for SEIU 668. http://www.seiu668.org/

Doug Cunningham of Worker Independent News. http://www.laborradio.org

Barbara Holmes Esq. of Blaufeld Schiller & Holmes, LLP. http://www.bshlaw.net/

Brendon Weber of Union Built PCs. http://www.unionbuiltpc.com

Rich Kline President of Union Label & Service Trades Department AFL-CIO. http://www.unionlabel.org

Dr. Walter Brasch of Bloomberg University. http://www.walterbrash.com

I also need to thank Steve and Staff at PrometheusLabor.com for all their help with the website, and support.

In Solidarity,
Charles

Guest line up for the Week of Dec. 8-12th

The Union Edge Talk Radio Show is now on the air. We are on KFB 770 in Pittsburgh. So far we have interviewed Jack Shea of the Allegheny Council Central labor Council, President Bill George Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and Professor Walter Brasch of Bloomberg University. The shows will be uploaded on to TheUnionEdge.com website shortly.

Again the show is live, so you can call 412 829-7100 to talk with me or our guests. If you have a suggestion or would like to be part of the show, please e-mail me at Charles@TheUnionEdge.com, and we will make arrangements.

We are also now including feeds from Laborradio.org and the Workers Independent News. I think you will enjoy listening to Doug Cunningham.
Doug is a highly experienced radio journalist who comes to WIN from a five-year stint as State Capitol Correspondent for The Wisconsin Radio Network in Madison. Doug has news director and reporter/anchor AP and UPI award-winning news experience for both commercial and NPR member stations in Michigan and Indiana. Doug will be coming on the show in the near future. I also want to thank Frank Emspak, of WIN, for all of his assistance.

Also please look forward to hearing Kay Tillow, a strong advocate for HR 676 and the "Single Payer Health System", and long time organizer. I have also asked Dr. Charles McCollester from IUP labor Studies Department to come one the show while he is here in Pittsburgh.

This is your radio show, so get involved, make suggestions and I will do eveything I can to keep it on track and keep you informed and entertained at the sametime.

As a Point of interest KFB 770 has for the first time made it into the "Arbitron Rating Book" according to news reports and has a listening base of about 10,000 people, before the start of The Union Edge. There are 120,000 labor families in the broad cast areas. The total listening audience potential is nearly 2 million people!

Lastly The Union Edge will be bring on line a Job Board and Resume Bank to help unions, nonprofits and trades recruit for open positions, and find new students for the trade apprentiship programs.

I'll keep you posted and I look forward to hearing from you when you call into the show! 412 829-7100 Monday-Friday Noon til One.


Here is the guest lineup for December 8-12th

Monday: December 8, 2008 Noon to One

Barbara Holme
Attorney
Blaufeld Schiller & Holmes LLP
810 Penn Avenue, Suite 600 Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Phone: (412)391-0775; Fax: (412)391-7194
Toll Free: 1-800-343-9384
http://www.bshlaw.net

Tuesday: December 9, 2008 Noon to One

Jim Young
Business Agent
SEIU 668
http://www.seiu668.org/
101 East Eighth Avenue, Suite 102
Conshohocken, PA 19428-1788
Phone: (610) 834-8301
Phone: (800) 368-0505
Fax: (610) 834-8273

Wednesday: December 10, 2008 Noon to One

Francis Santicola
Organizing Director (Pittsburgh)
Pennsylvania State Education Association
http://www.PSEA.org
10 SOUTH 19TH ST
PITTSBURGH, PA 15203
Phone: (412) 381-2400
Fax: (412) 432-2034
Office: 800-222-7732

Thursday: December 11, 2008 Noon to One

Richard Kline
President
Union label
http://www.unionlabel.org
Union Label & Service Trades Department, AFL-CIO
815 Sixteenth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
Phone: 202-508-3700
Fax: 202-508-3701


Nonprofit Friday
Labor Giving Back to Our Community

Friday: December 12, 2008 12:00 - 12:30

Brian Knavish
Communications Coordinator
+ American Red Cross
http://swpa.redcross.org/Southwestern Pennsylvania Chapter
225 Blvd of the Allies, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Office: 412-263-3158

Friday: December 12, 2008 12:30-1:00

Joyce Rothermal
Executive Director
Greater Pittsburgh Central Food Bank
http://www.pittsburghfoodbank.org
1 N Linden Street, Duquesne, PA 15110
412-460-FOOD (3663)

In Solidarity,

Charles Showalter
The Union Edge Talk Radio Show
770 KFB Pittsburgh
http://unionradioshow.blogspot.com
http://www.TheUnionEdge.com
412 855-6664

The Union Edge Talk Radio Show Goes Live

The exciting news everyone has been waiting for! Tell your friends to tune in and listen to the show!

The Union Edge Talk Radio Show goes live Wednesday December 3, 2008 at Noon till One on WKFB 770 AM Pittsburgh.

Jack Shea of the Allegheny County CLC will be our guest Wednesday.

Brandon Weber of UnionBuiltPC.com and Dr. Walter Brasch of Bloomsburg University will be on Thursday.
Bill George President of the PA AFL-CIO will be our guest Friday.
The studio's call in telephone number is 412 829-7100. I look forward to hearing from all of our friends in who waited for and supported The Union Edge Talk Radio Show.

The show will be recorded and uploaded on to www.TheUnionEdge.com as soon as possible. (We hope to have streaming radio shortly.)

If you would like to be a guest, please call me at 412 855-6664 or email me at the address below. Remember, with your support this will be the first of many radio stations carrying The Union Edge Talk Radio Show in your area!

In Solidarity,
Charles Showalter

The Union Edge Talk Radio Show
www.TheUnionEdge.com
Charles@TheUnionEdge.com

WKFB 770 AM Pittsburgh
Studio Telephone 412 829-7100
My Cellphone 412 855-6664

Interesting Article from Dr. Brasch Bloomsburg University

They Auto Know Better:

Fueling Anti-Union Fires

by Walter Brasch


My local newspaper editor, as he does regularly, once again attacked unions as the problem in America. This is the same editor who once said "all the laziest goof-offs and goldbricks in the newsroom" where he began his career were union officials—and that the unionized New York Times editorial writers are nothing more than "limousine liberals."

For this most recent attack, two days after Thanksgiving, he combined the economy with what he believes are greedy unions.

"[L]abor unions and their leaders are . . . distorting the truth about the American workplace," wrote the editor. First he set up Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, who said that "Tens of millions of Americans are working harder than ever just to stay afloat. The latest Census Bureau report shows that wages are dropping and more people lack health insurance . . . a greater percentage of the economy is going to profits than to wages."

Then, he cut apart Stern's statement by gleefully citing data from the pro-business pro-management U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber said that wages, adjusted for inflation, for workers rose 30 percent from 1967 to 2007. Now, 30 percent seems good—unless you do the math. That's about three-quarters of one percent per year, far less than any executive compensation. The editor then added in about 30 percent for benefits. Of course, these benefits also include federally-mandated deductions, like social security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes.

As an afterthought, the editor claimed the "poverty rate dropped from 22.4 percent in 1959 to 12.5 percent in 2007," mysteriously trying to connect a reduced poverty level with reduced union influence. What he didn't point out was that 1959 was a recession year, and that between 2000 and 2007, according to the Census Bureau, the poverty rate actually increased from 11.3 percent to 12.5 percent. About 37.3 million Americans are living below the federal poverty level; about 40 percent of all Americans fell beneath the poverty line at least once in the past decade.

Sounding the alarm, the editor tied together Democrats and unions. "[T]he plight of the American worker will grow more dire in the new year, as Democrats push to pass their legislation. . . . The danger is that their union-friendly legislation will hurt rather than help the American economy." To wrap everything up, the editor of a newspaper with the median circulation of all dailies in America concluded by asking his readers to "consider the current state of the once mighty American auto industry, and ask yourself: What role did the powerful United Auto Workers play in its downfall?"

It's the workers—and those pesky liberal Democrats—who the editor blames for America's economic crises. Unfortunately, this editor isn't alone in his contempt for the workers.

Dozens of columnists and TV pundits spread the myth that the average auto worker at General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler earns $70 an hour—about $146,000 a year. That figure, supplied by executives at the Big Three, reflects every cost associated with labor, including "legacy costs," which are are costs of pensions and health benefits for retired workers. Thus, the automakers added up every conceivable cost and divided it by hours worked (pensioners, of course, don't work) to get the inflated numbers. The reality is that the average UAW member earns about $28 an hour, about $58,000 a year, according to the impartial Center for Automotive Research. What the news media fail to report is that the UAW made significant concessions over the years, including wage cut-backs at Chrysler and a 2007 contract for all three auto makers that created a "second tier" wage level of $14.50–$16.23 per hour ($30,160–$33,758 per year, still below U.S. average wage of $40.405, according to the Census Bureau), reduced benefits, and a retirement plan now administered by the UAW not the Big Three.

Others who attack organized labor claim that UAW worker earn far more an hour than their counterparts at non-American non-unionized auto manufacturers in the U.S., and that's a reason why the Big Three are failing. However, the reality is that the average wage at the international automakers is estimated at $24–$25 an hour, less than a $3 differential an hour for UAW first tier workers, according to Jonathan Cohn in The New Republic. Even the most casual observer understands that it costs more to live in the Detroit area than the rural areas where foreign auto makers established their plants.

In contrast to the concessions given up by the workers, Big Three executives still earn multi-million dollar incomes. Alan Mulally at Ford earned $2 million last year, plus additional compensation totaling about $21.7 million, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ford lost $2.72 billion last year. At GM, Rick Wagoner earned $15.7 million last year, according to the Wall Street Journal, while his company lost $38.7 billion. Chrysler's Robert Nardelli earned $1 in salary last year, but has significant compensation package that is not publicly disclosed. Chrysler lost about $2.9 billion last year.

But, much of the media and the American public still blame workers and liberal Democrats who are favorable to the union movement for the economic crisis that led the Big Three to rev up their corporate jets and descend upon Congress to beg for a $25 billion taxpayer-funded bailout.

Are the workers and those liberal Democrats to blame for car sales being down 45 percent in October for GM, 35 percent for Chrysler, and 30 percent for Ford from a year ago?

Are they to blame for the auto industry going for the quick profit by pushing gas-guzzling minivans, SUVs, and trucks, while foreign automakers began looking at more energy-efficient cars?

Are they to blame that demand for autos has fallen off because Americans were unable to get financing in an economic crisis caused by greed of investment companies, banks, and almost every corporation that issues public stock?

Are they to blame for the auto industry executives opposing public transportation and alternative energy cars?

Are they to blame for auto executives being wrong about just about everything and for spending too much on everything from golf club memberships to private jets?

Are they to blame for the 100,000 factory layoffs in the past three years that also meant more work and no pay increases for every remaining factory worker?

Are they to blame for the auto industry outsourcing its work to countries where labor is paid pennies an hour—and then reaping huge profits by downsizing America's workforce?

Are the workers and liberals to blame for the auto industry cutting health care and retirement benefits in order to maximize profits?

Finally, are the workers and those liberal Democrats to blame because Big Three executives failed to understand that they needed to cut corporate costs when maximizing profits so they could reduce their losses during a Recession—or for when their own bad business judgments would cause a catastrophic melt-down?

It may be in the best self-interest of non-unionized media to perpetuate the myth that the economic problems of America are because of the worker. However, such sloppy and inaccurate reporting isn't in the best interest of the people.

[Dr. Brasch is the author of the recently-published Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush, available at amazon.com, bn.com, and numerous independent and chain stores. He is professor of journalism at Bloomsburg University. You may contact him through his website, www.walterbrasch.com or by e-mail at brasch@bloomu.edu]

Look Forward to hearing from Dr. Brasch on the The Union Edge Talk Radio Show soon.

The Union Edge Talk Radio Show Update

The Union Edge Talk Radio Show has won a grant from the prestigious Indiana University of Pennsylvania Labor Center. The grant was made possible by Dr. Charles McCollester, James J. Watta and Cynthia Spielman. I have to say, “Thanks folks! This is one heck of a vote of confidence in our program!”

I also want to thank the following people and organizations for supporting the program.

Steve and Meredith Merriner of the Brooke-Hancock Labor Council in West Virginia.
IBEW local 29 and Business Manager Jeff Davis.
AFGE local 1916 and President Ron Demicheli.
United Union of Roofers and Fred Pollzzon.

We are in the process of designing and building a professional job board and resume bank for union staffer jobs and apprenticeship positions. We expect to have the board up and running shortly and will keep you posted.

I have asked Steve of Prometheus Labor (www.Promethuslabor.com) to adjust the “Add a Link” function on our website so you can add your website’s link the way you want it. I will approve your link request as rapidly as I can.

The Union Edge Talk Radio Show is also still actively looking for interns and reporters, if you are interested please contact me at Charles@theunionedge.com.

We are actively looking for guests, topics and suggestions for the show. If you are interested, please contact me at 412 855-6664 to be scheduled. Book early, book often.

Subjects I would like to cover are:

In depth coverage on The Employee Free Choice Act and the “Talking Points”.
Working America
Labor History Local and national
H.R. 676 and Healthcare, Child Care and Elder Care issues.
The Big Three and the impact of failure.
Davis-Bacon act and prevailing wage and why it is important
Veterans and Civil Service issues
Ask a lawyer (a regular segment)
Environmental issues

I want to thank everyone for their continued support for the project!

In Solidarity,
Charles

The Employee Free Choice Act from the Trenches

My name is Meredith Merriner and I was working at a non-union plant in West Virginia. During the first interview I had with the local plant manager, she told me that a union was trying to come in here and we don’t need it. If the union is voted in, all of us new hires will loose our jobs. The company shut down production and forced all hourly employees into mandatory captive meetings while they had their representatives from the corporate offices tell us how unions are dying and that there is no need for a union here at our plant. Basically scaring us into thinking we would be loosing our jobs. While we were still in the organizing phase, we were threatened that management would “go postal on us if the union came in,” a male supervisor freely walked in unannounced into the women’s bathroom while I was in there, I was threatened personally with being fired by two supervisors because someone said that I was talking about the union on company time, I was being timed by management on my breaks and being harassed, while other non-union employees were treated special with long unsupervised breaks in the office while there line was down, having more time on the job than others and being forced to do jobs that should have gone to less senior people, etc.

I am tired of people in the media saying that unions are a thing of the past. There was a need for them back in the day but not now. They are not paying attention. We need the Unions more than ever! Without the Union anyone can be fired anytime for anything. My husband was fired by the Human Resources Manager, after we had union representation. I became pregnant and obtained a doctor’s note to be excused from work until our child was born because of the harmful chemicals in the plant. She made us literally jump through hoops to get the short-term disability and long –term disability I was entitled to under our contract. She even had me apply for Social Security! They refused to pay me for the third month in a row and we were having trouble making ends meet and we called her and told her we would meet with her and try to get this ironed out. My husband took our Local President in with him to meet her and she hit my husband in arm and then the next day, fired him. We had no income for about four months and were having a baby. All I can say was it was a long, hard and stressful road after that for a while. Thank God for our Union! We got both of our jobs back with back pay and a clean record! I will support Unions any time I can. We need someone on our side. The Employee Free Choice Act is so very important to us all because it I think it can help eliminate some of the tactics the companies choose to inflict on it’s employees while going through the organizing process. It is no secret who is for or against the union at any facility. There is not going to be “A loss of Democracy as we know it.” The choices are made by the company whether or not to have a secret ballot or not. Not the Union! The companies are the ones with all of the power and control. The thing that I see the Employee Free Choice Act doing will be to help those of us that want representation not have to go through the long process of waiting for a date for the election while the company intimidates it’s workers and tries to swing the vote. It is a good thing and I hope that the people drinking the kool-aid will wake up and support this because it is our future.

Meredith Merriner
Follansbee, WV