BUSH WATCH

 (The Administration's relationship with American Labor)

The House has passed a bill that bans the Mexican Truck pilot program by Sept. 6. It also prohibits the transportation secretary from granting authority to any Mexican trucks beyond the commercial zone, unless specifically authorized by Congress. The bill passed unanimously by a voice vote.  PR Newswire has the story.       However, acting on the first day of Congress' summer recess, the Bush administration has announced that it is extending the pilot program, infuriating Democrats.  This from the Washington Times.      These and other stories concerning the Bush administration's relationship with labor can be found on the Bush Watch page.  -   The Teamsters now have a website devoted to the campaign against Transportation Secretary Mary Peters:  FireMaryPeters.com.  -   The Teamsters have launched a nationwide grassroots campaign to get U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters removed from office because they allege that Peters “unlawfully” opened the border to unsafe trucks from Mexico.  An article from The Trucker explains.  The Detroit News carries a commentary from James Hoffa which presents his views on Peters.   ETrucker reports that a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesman dismissed the Teamsters’ campaign to oust  Mary Peters, while a federal court will consider a law that opponents say was designed to stop the project.  -     President Jim Hoffa lead a Teamsters rally in San Diego to show their opposition to letting unsafe trucks from Mexico drive on U.S. highways.  The IBT has the story and provides the YouTube video of this event.    -     The House of Representatives has passed a transportation spending bill that includes a ban on funding the Bush administration's cross-border truck program.  Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said he fully expected the funding ban to win final passage because of its overwhelming support from Congress and the public. PR Newswire has more.  -     The Senate, by a 74-24 vote, has approved a proposal by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D to ban Mexican trucks from U.S. roadways, rekindling a more than decade-old trade dispute with Mexico.  The Associated Press has the latest.

-     Mexican truckers can begin hauling goods over the border into the U.S. after a federal appeals court refused a request from the Teamsters union and others to block the vehicles.  Bloomburg News has this decision

-      The Teamsters have sought an emergency injunction to block the Bush administration from opening the U.S. border to unsafe Mexican trucks, three days before the pilot program is scheduled to begin.  PR Newswire updates.

-     Provisions to delay a White House plan, giving trucks from Mexico unrestricted access to U.S. highways, is in the $120 billion Iraq spending bill President Bush is expected to sign.  More from the Associated Press.

-     The House has voted overwhelmingly to delay a Bush administration plan to allow Mexican trucks full access to U.S. highways until they are declared safe first and Mexico would have to give U.S. truckers the same access south of the border.  The full story comes from the Associated Press.

-    The Transportation Department has bowed to congressional pressure saying it  would allow more public scrutiny of a proposed demonstration project that would permit Mexican-based trucking companies to operate throughout the United States.  The latest is from the Associated Press.

-     A report above from CNN with pointed comments from anchor Lou Dobbs provide an excellent analysis for the opposition to the Mexican trucks plan.

-     A Senate panel has voted to delay the Mexican trucks pilot plan by requiring the administration to publish details about it and giving the public time to comment on it. The action came as part of a supplemental spending bill to pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Associated Press has the update.

-     The video above is the testimony of Teamsters General President James Hoffa before the Senate Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development on  March 8, 2007 concerning the Mexican trucks pilot program.  The transcript of Hoffa's testimony can be found here.

-     Public Citizen is suing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on behalf of a highway safety organization to compel the agency to release information about the controversial program to allow Mexico-domiciled trucks on all U.S. highways

  -     A federal appeals court has struck down a Bush administration rule that loosened restrictions on the work hours of truck drivers after concluding that officials had failed to adequately justify the changes.  A New York Times report explains.  More details come from Public Citizen who filed the appeal and the IBT.      

 -      The news that the Bush administration will be allowing Mexican trucks to haul freight deeper into the United States has drawn an angry reaction from labor leaders, safety advocates and members of Congress.  The Associated Press has the story and Teamsters president James Hoffa's reaction can be found here.

 -      Pursuing his determination to create "free trade" pacts without worker rights, President George W. Bush has asked the Democratic-run Congress to renew his "fast track" Trade Promotion Authority.  Workday Minnesota carries this story.         

 -      Two recent editorials capture the Bush Administration's stance towards American labor.  They are aptly titled "Working class snookered by Bush" and "Bush's War on Unions". 

 -      Thousands of Teamsters rallied at 19 American ports, decrying the Bush Administration's decision to sell access to P&O Ports' U.S. terminal operations to Dubai Ports World. The Teamsters Union represents thousands of members who work in and around our nation's ports. PR Newswire has more on these protests.

 -      The federal government has stepped up enforcement of 46-year-old union-finance-reporting laws saying its heightened efforts are about increasing union financial accountability and transparency. Those in the labor movement say the extra cost in complying with the rules, coupled with increased scrutiny from the Labor Department, feels more like harassment. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on this issue.

 -      The Bush administration will reinstate rules, which it had previously rescinded, requiring that companies awarded federal contracts for Hurricane Katrina pay prevailing wages, usually an amount close to the pay scales in local union contracts.  The Associated Press covers this change of heart.

 -      The White House announced that President Bush does not plan to invoke his authority to temporarily block a work stoppage if Northwest Airlines mechanics walk out, according to media reports.  The Sacramento Business Journal covers this story.

 -      The Bush administration is rapidly expanding audits of the nation's labor unions, citing a need to ferret out and deter corruption. But union leaders assert that those increased efforts are nothing more than crude political retaliation.  This story is provided by the New York Times.

  -      U.S. labor union locals are being audited by teams of federal government inspectors in what officials say is part of a labor law enforcement campaign and union leaders charge is payback for opposing President Bush's reelection.  Reuters has more

-      American organized-labor officials have issued a veiled warning to companies that manage union pension investments: back President Bush's plan to create private Social Security accounts, and you may lose our business.  The New York Sun filed this report. 

-      Legislation proposed by the Bush administration would convert the current hours-of-service regulations into statutory law, a move that would keep the rule in effect despite a federal court’s action to overturn them. eTrucker provides details.

-    Flight attendants, pilots, maintenance workers and their supporters marched at the White House to protest the Bush administration, saying that it sides with airline managers in a long deterioration in working conditions, accelerated by efforts at airlines such as United and US Airways to use the bankruptcy process to cancel union contracts and impose deep pay cuts.  An article from the Associated Press is the source for this story.

-    In a 3 to 2 vote, the three members of the National Labor Relations Board appointed by President Bush have ruled that temporary workers will no longer be able to bargain for job benefits as part of a unit with permanent employees, reversing a Clinton-era precedent.  The Washington Post files this report

-    The Bush administration is likely to continue to push to loosen labor rules and regulations in its second term, policies likely to continue friction with organized labor.  This comes from the Linux Insider.

-     Union leaders are running a massive ground effort to defeat President Bush in battleground states - a push that could prove crucial as the race for the White House boils down to competing drives to turn out voters.  A reprinted Los Angeles Times article provides details.

 -      The House of Representatives voted to kill a key provision in the deal that would open the southern U.S. border to Mexican trucks, and added a measure that would require Mexican and Canadian trucks operating in the U.S. to meet all the same safety, certification, and labeling standards as domestic carriers.  Today's Trucking News files this report.

 -     Several hundred union members marched outside the Labor Department to protest new overtime pay regulations taking effect Monday, with two senators pledging to try to roll them back when Congress returns from recess.  This comes from the  Associated Press.

  -     The Supreme Court removed the last legal roadblock to Mexican trucks rolling across U.S. roadways, siding with the Bush administration Monday in a long-running dispute with labor union officials, environmentalists and consumer advocates. An Associated Press article covers this development.  The IBT has reaction in their own press release.

  -     The president of the nation's largest firefighters' union called President Bush a hypocrite during a speech in South Portland, ME, and said the president is bad for firefighters, bad for labor and bad for the nation.  The Maine Press Herald has details.

  -     Faced with questions about organized labor's relevance in politics and the workplace, union leaders are revving up for November's election in what many view as the fight of labor's life.  The Associated Press files this report.
        Continuing the theme of the state of unions today is an article by Counterpunch.

  -     A Bush administration proposal designed to bolster the struggling manufacturing sector has drawn sharp criticism from union leaders who called the plan "absurd election-year double talk."  The full story is from the Associated Press.

  -     The Labor Department is giving employers tips on how to avoid paying overtime to some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would become eligible under new rules expected to be finalized early this year.  The Associated Press has this story.
          Meanwhile, President Bush has proposed a significant immigration reform plan that would provide temporary legal status to millions of undocumented immigrant workers in the United States, saying "America is a stronger and better nation because of the hard work and the faith and the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants."  The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

   -     Foes of the Bush administration's proposed rules changing which workers would qualify for overtime pay have abandoned their fight in the face of unrelenting pressure from the White House and the House.  The Sacramento Bee provides details.

   -     The United Steel Workers of America (USWA) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) have filed suit against U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia. The unions are asking the court to order OSHA to issue standards reducing the permissible exposure to metalworking fluids in U.S. workplaces. Workday Minnesota is the source for this story.

   -     The Bush administration has issued new regulations requiring the nation's largest labor unions to disclose details of their finances, including how much they spend on politics and lobbying, gifts, overhead and management.  The rules will force national, regional and local unions with income of more than $250,000 to provide much more financial detail in the annual forms they are required to file with the Labor Department.  This story comes courtesy of the Associated Press. 

   -     The Bush administration did not give a promised video greeting to the Teamsters union for its 100th anniversary celebration after Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said the group was unlikely to endorse President Bush in 2004. According to a news exclusive in the Sept. 9 edition of The Hill, the snub signals a near total breakdown of relations between the union and the White House.   

   -    Fully three in four Americans (74 percent) oppose the Bush administration’s proposal to eliminate several million employees’ legal right to overtime pay, with just 14 percent in favor of the proposal, according to a new survey by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the AFL-CIO.  

   -    Air traffic controllers once again are fighting a bitter battle with a Republican administration, this time over a proposal to privatize some of their jobs. A Detroit News article has more.
   When the International Brotherhood of Teamsters endorsed Democrat Richard Gephardt August 9, did that mean years of courtship by Republicans were in vain?  President Bush's political operatives don't think so. Nor does Teamsters President James P. Hoffa's inner circle. The Creators Syndicate via CNN offers its perspective.

   -    The president of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney, has assailed the Bush administration as "the most anti-worker administration in the history of our country," and said the 2004 presidential election will be the most important in the history of the labor movement.  The San Francisco Chronicle provides coverage.

   -    As an encore to killing the ergonomics rule two years ago, the Bush administration is making it easy for employers to continue to grossly underreport the number of workers who suffer job-related musculoskeletal disorders, from carpal tunnel syndrome to neck and back injuries. This report is courtesy of the Communication Workers of America (CWA).   

   -   More than 8 million professionals would lose their overtime pay under a Bush administration proposal to change the types of jobs that must receive more money for extra work, says a study by a union-supported think tank.   The Charleston Post and Courier details this study. 

         The Bush administration is likely to continue to push to loosen labor rules and regulations in its second term, policies likely to continue friction with organized labor.  This comes from the Linux Insider.

 -     Union leaders are running a massive ground effort to defeat President Bush in battleground states - a push that could prove crucial as the race for the White House boils down to competing drives to turn out voters.  A reprinted Los Angeles Times article provides details.

 -      The House of Representatives voted to kill a key provision in the deal that would open the southern U.S. border to Mexican trucks, and added a measure that would require Mexican and Canadian trucks operating in the U.S. to meet all the same safety, certification, and labeling standards as domestic carriers.  Today's Trucking News files this report.

 -      Several hundred union members marched outside the Labor Department to protest new overtime pay regulations taking effect Monday, with two senators pledging to try to roll them back when Congress returns from recess.  This comes from the  Associated Press.

  -     The Supreme Court removed the last legal roadblock to Mexican trucks rolling across U.S. roadways, siding with the Bush administration Monday in a long-running dispute with labor union officials, environmentalists and consumer advocates. An Associated Press article covers this development.  The IBT has reaction in their own press release.

  -     The president of the nation's largest firefighters' union called President Bush a hypocrite during a speech in South Portland, ME, and said the president is bad for firefighters, bad for labor and bad for the nation.  The Maine Press Herald has details.

  -     Faced with questions about organized labor's relevance in politics and the workplace, union leaders are revving up for November's election in what many view as the fight of labor's life.  The Associated Press files this report.
        Continuing the theme of the state of unions today is an article by Counterpunch.

  -     A Bush administration proposal designed to bolster the struggling manufacturing sector has drawn sharp criticism from union leaders who called the plan "absurd election-year double talk."  The full story is from the Associated Press.

  -     The Labor Department is giving employers tips on how to avoid paying overtime to some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would become eligible under new rules expected to be finalized early this year.  The Associated Press has this story.
          Meanwhile, President Bush has proposed a significant immigration reform plan that would provide temporary legal status to millions of undocumented immigrant workers in the United States, saying "America is a stronger and better nation because of the hard work and the faith and the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants."  The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

   -     Foes of the Bush administration's proposed rules changing which workers would qualify for overtime pay have abandoned their fight in the face of unrelenting pressure from the White House and the House.  The Sacramento Bee provides details.

   -     The United Steel Workers of America (USWA) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) have filed suit against U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia. The unions are asking the court to order OSHA to issue standards reducing the permissible exposure to metalworking fluids in U.S. workplaces. Workday Minnesota is the source for this story.

   -     The Bush administration has issued new regulations requiring the nation's largest labor unions to disclose details of their finances, including how much they spend on politics and lobbying, gifts, overhead and management.  The rules will force national, regional and local unions with income of more than $250,000 to provide much more financial detail in the annual forms they are required to file with the Labor Department.  This story comes courtesy of the Associated Press. 

   -     The Bush administration did not give a promised video greeting to the Teamsters union for its 100th anniversary celebration after Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said the group was unlikely to endorse President Bush in 2004. According to a news exclusive in the Sept. 9 edition of The Hill, the snub signals a near total breakdown of relations between the union and the White House.   

   -    Fully three in four Americans (74 percent) oppose the Bush administration’s proposal to eliminate several million employees’ legal right to overtime pay, with just 14 percent in favor of the proposal, according to a new survey by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the AFL-CIO.  

   -    Air traffic controllers once again are fighting a bitter battle with a Republican administration, this time over a proposal to privatize some of their jobs. A Detroit News article has more.
   When the International Brotherhood of Teamsters endorsed Democrat Richard Gephardt August 9, did that mean years of courtship by Republicans were in vain?  President Bush's political operatives don't think so. Nor does Teamsters President James P. Hoffa's inner circle. The Creators Syndicate via CNN offers its perspective.

   -    The president of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney, has assailed the Bush administration as "the most anti-worker administration in the history of our country," and said the 2004 presidential election will be the most important in the history of the labor movement.  The San Francisco Chronicle provides coverage.

   -    As an encore to killing the ergonomics rule two years ago, the Bush administration is making it easy for employers to continue to grossly underreport the number of workers who suffer job-related musculoskeletal disorders, from carpal tunnel syndrome to neck and back injuries. This report is courtesy of the Communication Workers of America (CWA).   

   -   More than 8 million professionals would lose their overtime pay under a Bush administration proposal to change the types of jobs that must receive more money for extra work, says a study by a union-supported think tank.   The Charleston Post and Courier details this study. 

 -   Labor unions fighting legislation to loosen overtime pay requirements have won the support of a dozen or so moderate House Republicans, sending the GOP searching for Democratic votes to save the bill before a vote on 06/05/03.   More from the Detroit News. 

 -   President Bush’s top-priority effort to reform job training and benefit programs and offer workers protection is meeting stiff opposition from organized labor and mixed support from Congress, raising doubts about its prospects.  An article from The Hill fills in the blanks.   
     The war of words between the Bush administration and labor unions was ratcheted up with Labor Secretary Elaine Chao telling reporters that top union leadership is filled with vitriol and refuses to work with her.  So says the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

 -   The rule is familiar to every American worker: You work eight hours a day and 40 hours a week, and for any overtime you get premium pay at 1 1/2 times the hourly rate.  But that 50-year-old rule -- as well as another governing the use of what most workers call "comp time" -- may be about to change in the wake of proposed reforms by the Bush administration and some members of Congress.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this story.

-   A coalition made up of Teamsters, environmental and consumers groups has succeeded in temporarily blocking the Bush administration's efforts to open the U.S. highways to Mexican trucking companies.  The Oakland Press provides the details.

-    The relationship President Bush has tried to build with Teamsters Union President James P. Hoffa is showing cracks and any faint hopes that he may have harbored for healing the rift between himself and organized labor cannot have survived this week's meetings of the AFL-CIO executive council.  This according to the New York Times.

   -    President Bush, who has tried to woo organized labor into the Republicans' political camp has named Teamsters President James P. Hoffa to an administration advisory panel on trade.  The San Francisco Chronicle provides coverage.
       Crosswalk.com reports that facing a difficult confirmation battle in the Senate and the fierce opposition of union officials, Eugene Scalia has decided to leave his job as head of the legal team at the U.S. Department of Labor.

  -    Over the objections of union leaders who accused the government of colluding with employers to manufacture a crisis, President Bush won a federal court order to reopen the West Coast's ports, wielding the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act for the first time in a quarter century after a last-minute mediation effort failed to end the 11-day lockout.  The San Francisco Chronicle provides the details.

-    According to the San Francisco Chronicle, election-year politics are a chief reason for the Senate's impasse on creating a Homeland Security Department. Democrats are refusing to buck their allies in organized labor and give President Bush the broad power he demands to hire and fire agency workers.  

-    With the Bush administration firmly behind them, employers are aggressively moving to break the strength of some of the historically most powerful unions in the U.S.--on the West Coast docks, in the airlines, and beyond.  So states an in depth article from CounterPunch.

-   If President Bush's recent appearance with union members and at union functions is indicative of a pro-labor side to his "compassionate conservatism, Common Dreams begs to differ in a recent article.

 -  The Bush administration has announced that it would issue voluntary guidelines to reduce the risk of repetitive stress injuries on the job rather than force employers to take corrective action.   Teamsters President James Hoffa has issued a  highly critical statement in response to this development.

 -  An announcement yesterday by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson followed disclosure that the administration had backed away from plans that envisioned a category of public-service jobs for welfare recipients not subject to minimum-wage laws.  This comes from the San Francisco Chronicle.

-  The courtship between President Bush and Teamster president James Hoffa continued as Hoffa was invited to join Mrs. Bush in the presidential guest box to watch the State of the Union address.  The Detroit News  provides the follow-up.
    Meeting at Teamster headquarters, President Bush and labor leaders have found common ground on the administration's plan to drill for petroleum in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a project some unions back because it could create thousands of jobs.  The article is provided by the AP.