By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
Correspondent Michael Ruhl reports on the recent release of the unemployment statistics for March.
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Long Segment [01:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Short Segment [00:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadBy Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Keith Hall testifies before Congress on the nation’s unemployment numbers from March 2009, and how the recession has affected employment.
Hall said that unemployment numbers have climbed from 8.1 percent to 8.5 percent, and that the industries hardest hit are manufacturing, construction, and temporary services.
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By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
A day after President Barack Obama’s budget was passed by a Congress boiling with partisanship, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report showing unemployment at its highest since 1983. There are now 13.2 million Americans out of work.
The pouring rain in Washington mirrored the sobered mood in the room, as the Joint Economic Committee heard the testimony of Keith Hall, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
March was one of the worst Months on record for unemployment, and when asked outright, Hall told the committee that there were no “bright spots” in the report.
National unemployment climbed to 8.5 percent in March, rising from the level of 8.1 percent in February and 7.6 percent in January.
Hall said that two-thirds of the job loss has happened in the past 5 months. Every state is in recession for the first time in 30 years, according to Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).
Official unemployment numbers do not encompass underemployed Americans or those who have officially left the workforce. It is reported that 16 percent of the country is out of work or underemployed. One in four of those unemployed have been out of work for more than six months, and of those, half have been looking for work for over a year, Hall said.
Maloney highlighted that last month, 8,000 jobs were lost in the news publishing industry. Those losses total 70,000 job cuts since Dec. 2007, Hall said, adding that most job losses have been see in the manufacturing, construction, and temporary services industries. The only area to see any growth in March was the Healthcare industry, Hall said.
Ranking Committee member Senator Sam Brownback (R-KA) noted that the impact of the ongoing recession was not severe for almost a year after it began in December 2007. Brownback attributed recent dramatic jumps in job losses over the past five months to the lockup in the credit markets and the government bailouts that followed.
The Federal Reserve believes that unemployment will peak at 8.8 percent this year, but Ranking House Committee Member Kevin Brady (R-TX) said that the unemployment rate is already higher than what the administration anticipated for 2009. Brady said that the Obama Administration’s “optimistic assumptions” would not get the country out of its current mess.
President Obama’s Economic Stimulus package was passed by Congress earlier this year, and saw an unprecedented amount of money placed into public works meant to put people back to work. Obama has pledged the legislation will save or create three to four million jobs over the next two years.
Read the report here: Bureau of Labor Statistics Report
By Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
At an event to unveil the “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act” campaign, actor Bradley Whitford said that, as the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act enters the legislative, the ugly legislative process, we must never forget the workers. This issue boils down to a simple fact. It is a fundamental right in this country for workers to be able to join unions and to bargain collectively,” said Whitford.
Addressing those who believe the act denies workers their right to a secret ballot, Whitford stated that “The Employee Free Choice Act does nothing of the kind.”
Whitford said that “without the protections provided by the Employee Free Choice Act, workers looking to join unions are subject to harassment, disinformation, and dismissal, because of a system that is exploited by, and stacked in favor of management.” He went on to say that we must not allow lawmakers to put their own job protection ahead of the protection of their working constituents.
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) stated that “we’re losing the middle class, and when we lose the middle class, we lose America.” The facts are on our side and “if you want to save the middle class, if you want a prosperous America, then you should support the Employee Free Choice Act,” said Boxer.
Congressman Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) said that the difference now is that when a majority of employees sign up for a union, the employer gets to veto that choice. “We are saying the choice belongs not to the employer but to the employee.”
Actor Martin Sheen said that the Employee Free Choice Act will give American workers a fair and direct path to form unions through majority sign up. “It’s no secret that all too often workers are poorly treated when they try to gain a voice in the work place.”
Sheen told a story about a man who was asked to show his scars at the gates of heaven. Unable to reveal any, the man was asked, “was there nothing worth fighting for”? “That’s what this is all about,” said Sheen.
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
While speaking before an eager crowd at the International Association of Fire Fighters Union Conference, Vice President Joe Biden said that the Obama Administration is committed to helping public safety officials do their jobs more safely. Biden says that he understands that an inherently dangerous profession such as fire fighting can never be made completely safe, but we can make it “safer than it is today.” Biden quoted a study from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, saying “the lack of staffing is the key cause of fire fighter fatality” and that to help make the first responder’s jobs easier and safer, they must be provided with better equipment, more fire fighters, and better training.
The Vice President said to rousing applause that The Public Safety Employee Cooperation Act, which was “blocked” by former President George W. Bush, will be signed into law by President Obama, and will “institutionalize that respect” which the public holds for them. He said that it is in “our nation’s own naked self interest” to take care of those that defend us and that when the fire fighting community is stronger, the rest of the community is safer.
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
Today Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) addressed the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Legislative Conference about the importance of collective bargaining. Pelosi awed at “what a difference an election makes” in addressing workers’ rights as well as their right to organize. Union representatives said that the Obama Administration is much friendlier to unions than the Bush Administration was, and is looking forward to the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Pelosi hammered home her commitment to that bill, and highlighted how the Economic Recovery Package provided billions of dollars to help prevent job loss in the public safety sector.
Also speaking at the event was Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), who showcased his support for the Fire Fighter Fatality Reduction Act. The proposed law would set national requirements at fire stations for staffing, training, and equipment, moves that Lieberman believes will save lives. Additionally, Lieberman said he supports a national credentialing program for fire fighters, to make sure those responding to emergencies are properly trained to meet the national requirements he hopes are created.
Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) talked to the crowd about the Federal Firefighter Fairness Act, which would create a “rebuttable presumption” that certain diseases contracted by fire fighters are “job related”, and thus subject to compensation programs. Collins said that this would apply to federal fire fighters, because it was “fundamentally unfair” that federal fire fighters would not be able to receive the same health protection as those on the state and local level.
Both Collins and Lieberman spoke in support the right of workers to bargain collectively.
Vice President Joseph Biden is scheduled to speaker later today at the event.
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC, Michael Ruhl sat down with Ernest Istook, Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Istook spoke on the threat to the secret ballot in union elections, which he said would be a product of the Employee Free Choice Act, currently under consideration by Congress. The secret ballot is where a voter’s choice is kept confidential. He said that “once you put a chink in the protection of the secret ballot election, who knows what’s going to be next”, saying that in the future public office elections could be threatened in the same way. Istook called it a “power grab for labor unions”. (05:44)
At CPAC 2009, Bob Ney spoke with Johnathan Johnson of SaveOurSecretBallot.org. Johnson was advocating the preservation of Secret Ballot elections in Unions organizing. (02:54)
In an Interview, Art Pulaski of the California Federation of Labor called for more regulation of the Financial Sector in the Obama Administration. Taken from the California Inaugural Gala, January 18th, 2009.
Obama explains the simplicity of pronouncing the word “union” and talks about how important it is to support it. (0:37)
