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is published by the
United Steelworkers District 2 AFL-CIO·CLC
MICHAEL BOLTON, Director 1244A Midway Rd., Menasha, WI 54952
(920) 722-7630
Contributors to this issue include:
Jay McMurran, Tammy Duncan, Lori Gutekunst, Kelly Caldera, Steve Benoit, Cindy Odden,
Tom McDonald, Isaiah J. Poole
Articles and photos are welcome and should be sent to:
Art Kroll, Editor, District 2 News 20600 Eureka Road, Suite 300, Taylor, MI 48180
[email protected] • 734-285-0367
JAN 27, 2014, is the deadline for submissions for the next issue.
JANUARY 9, 2014 JANUARY 9, 2014 JANUARY 9, 2014 JANUARY 9, 2014 •••• VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 •••• PAGE 1PAGE 1PAGE 1PAGE 1 the hearing was held on Thursday. The legislature adjourned and didn’t return until the following Tuesday, at which time they voted the law in as their first order of business that morning. Working families never had a fair opportunity to give their side of the argument.
To counter that, we need an effective way to communicate with our members. Therefore, Rapid Response is currently holding an action to gather contact information on as many members as possible. E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other forms of social media are the fastest way to get information out. By expanding our database, we can ensure that workers have a voice in every piece of legislation that affects them.
Each Local Union President should have received a packet about the Action, which includes details of a raffle that is part of the effort. Rapid Response will be awarding two trips for two to Las Vegas during the 2014 USW Convention. Another 50 members will receive a USW fleece sweatshirt. If your Local has not received its packet, please contact Jay McMurran at 313-505-7846.
We are also forming our Local Union Political Teams to ensure they are in place and functional for this Fall’s general election. A lot is at stake this time and it is going to take a full-court press to change the make-up of our federal and state legislatures. Please contact Denny Lauer at 920-722-7630 for information on forming your team.
USW District 2 Women of Steel Meetings ● January 10, 2014
USW District 2 Southern Michigan Sub-Office 20600 Eureka Road, Suite 300, Taylor, MI
● January 17, 2014 Kent Ionia Labor Hall 918 Benjamin Avenue NE, Grand Rapids, MI
● January 24, 2014 USW Local 12075 Hall 3510 James Savage Road, Midland, MI
USW Rapid Response & Legislative Conference ● February 10 - 12, 2014
Washington Hilton 1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference ● February 10 - 11, 2014
Washington Hilton 1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
LM, 990 and 990-EZ REVIEW FOR FIN OFFICERS ● February 10, 2014
USW Local 2-21 Hall 1201 Sheridan Road, Escanaba, MI
● February 11, 2014 Rothschild Village Hall
211 Grand Avenue, Rothschild, WI
● February 12, 2014 Lucky Dog’z Labor Temple 157 S. Green Bay Road, Neenah, WI
● February 13, 2014 Milwaukee Labor Council Building 633 S. Hawley Road, Milwaukee, WI
● March 4, 2014 USW Local 12075 Hall 3510 James Savage Road, Midland, MI
● March 5, 2014 Civic Club 183 Ninth Street, Manistee, MI
● March 6, 2014 Teamster Local 7 Hall 3330 Miller Road, Kalamazoo, MI
● March 7, 2014 USW District 2 Southern Michigan Sub-Office 20600 Eureka Road, Suite 300, Taylor, MI
USW International Paper Conference ● March 31 - April 4, 2014
Pittsburgh, PA
USW District 2 Conference ● April 10 - 13, 2014
Radisson Plaza Hotel 100 W Michigan Ave, Kalamazoo, MI
USW International Convention ● August 11 - 14, 2014
Las Vegas, NV
UpcomingUpcomingUpcoming D2 Events D2 Events D2 Events
MICHAEL BOLTON, Director
A Message from Director Michael Bolton
I’m going to forego the usual holiday greeting that I would normally extend to you during this time of year. It just doesn’t seem appropriate right now because it happened again. Within a space of ten days, it happened twice as a matter of fact. This time, it was 61-year old Gary Hytinen of USW Local 4950, in Negaunee, MI; and Antonino Palazzolo, 31 years of age, from Local 1299 in Ecorse, MI. Both men lost their lives
to workplace accidents. NO family should ever have to spend a Christmas dealing with that reality.
It’s an ordeal that played out 4,383 times in fiscal year 2013 (OSHA statistics are collected on a fiscal year basis, which begins October 1 and ends September 30). That number represents an average of 84 deaths per week or 12 each day. Sadly, because most worksite accidents are preventable, those deaths should never have occurred.
That’s why I want to, again, urge you to dedicate yourselves as Steelworker activists to ensure that 2014 is our safest year ever. The Steelworkers has received a federal grant to provide our members and their employers comprehensive Safety and Health training in hazard recognition. Currently, a large number of employers subscribe to Behavior Based (also known as blame the worker) programs - those which tend to penalize the injured member and their co-workers while doing nothing to prevent future accidents.
Hazard Recognition calls for charting of the workplace through each step of the process to identify potential risks and take steps to correct them before an accident occurs. Paul Footit, District 2 Staff Representative, is assigned to head up the training effort. If you have any questions about the program, which in many cases can be offered without cost to our Locals or their companies, call Paul at 920-722-7630.
Those 4,383 deaths that occurred on the job last year are another 4,383 reasons why I talk about politics and why you should too. For the past 30 years, OSHA, the Department of Labor and other federal agencies that deal with workplace rights and safety have been steadily defunded to the point they are no longer effective in the work they were created to do.
At the same time, in the name of “deficit reduction” and balancing their budgets, state legislators are also gutting or eliminating programs that benefit workers.
The fact is if we do not get involved in politics and the legislative process, more workers are going to die on the job and we will be failing the members we have sworn to serve. That is why I am again asking you to urge Steelworkers in your Locals to get involved in our 2014 Political and Rapid Response programs.
Lawmakers on the extreme right are using legislative rules to shut out the voices of working families. For example, the hearing on Michigan’s Right to Work legislation was called with just a 24-hour notice. To meet the rule that a bill cannot be voted on until 72 hours after a committee takes it up,
You probably don’t pay much attention to stories about companies doing “stock buybacks” – that’s when a company decides to buy shares of its own stock, taking them off the market with the hope that the remaining shares will increase in price. But if you haven’t been able to get a raise in your low-wage job, or if you’ve had a hard time getting a job at all, those stock buybacks could be a major reason why.
The Washington Post today reported the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones industrial average have authorized $211 billion in stock buybacks this year. That’s nearly three times the amount of money these firms are spending on research and development according to the paper, citing S&P Capital IQ.
Why would a company do this? It’s no mystery. When the number of outstanding shares falls, the value of each one goes up, instantly rewarding shareholders.
The repurchase also lifts earnings per share, an important number closely watched by investors — and by corporate boards in determining executive pay. Of the 30 companies making up the Dow index, all but four list earnings per share in their public documents as a metric used to determine executive pay.
It’s also no mystery what happens to the Main Street economy. Stock buybacks siphon money to Wall Street that could be used by companies to create jobs or do research on next-generation products and services. Ultimately, stock buybacks are one of the culprits in the country’s rapidly increasing income inequality. Stockholders get richer, at the expense of workers.
One September 2013 study by a team of three economics professors at the University of Illinois found that “spending $1 million in repurchases is associated with a $44,000 decrease in capital expenditures, a $36,000 decrease in R&D spending, and a reduction of 91 employees.”
Those Stock Buybacks are Costing Us Jobs
— continued on page 2
JANUARY 9, 2014 JANUARY 9, 2014 JANUARY 9, 2014 JANUARY 9, 2014 •••• VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 •••• PAGE 2PAGE 2PAGE 2PAGE 2
is published by the
United Steelworkers District 2 AFL-CIO·CLC
MICHAEL BOLTON, Director 1244A Midway Rd., Menasha, WI 54952
(920) 722-7630
Did you know?Did you know?Did you know?
Have you been to District 2’s
Page on Facebook?
www.facebook.com/USWDistrict2
The District 2 Council By-Laws established a District 2 Council Steering Committee comprised of a rank and file structure. It was set up to assist in the following:
• Development of agenda for Council Conference.
• Planning of the District Council Conference Educational
Conferences.
• District 2 strategic planning.
• Determining and assessing educational needs within the
District.
• Generating and leading activism and other purposes
consistent with the mission and directives of District 2 and the USW.
The elected members of the Steering Committee are listed below by manufacturing sector. If you need to contact a Steering Committee Member, please do so by using the email provided.
Name Local Sector Email Address
Marc Barragan 1299 Steel and Related
Todd Berg 42 Paper [email protected]
Kevin Bishop 1533 Amalgamated [email protected]
Al Calhoun 690L Automotive Related
Rick Christensen 1207
Chemical & Energy
Related [email protected]
Kent Holsing 12075 Health Care [email protected]
Mark Lewis 12934 Public [email protected]
Dave Page 1327 At Large [email protected]
Wes White 1327 At Large [email protected]
Jim Whitt 2-145 Allied
Industrial [email protected]
Southern Michigan Sub-District Office has Moved to a New Location:
20600 Eureka Road, Suite 300, Taylor, MI 48180 Phone: 734-285-0367 • Fax: 734-285-2070
Coat Drive at Local 904L, Sun Prairie, WI
Magnify that even conservatively to the Post’s figure of $211 billion in stock buybacks and it is clear this practice means millions of jobs could be created if the capital was plowed back into businesses rather than used to inflate stock prices and executive pay.
One company, Walmart, has authorized $15 billion in stock buybacks this year, roughly equal to its 2012 net income and more than twice what the company did in buybacks in 2012. Demos did an analysis of Walmart’s 2012 buybacks and concluded that if it instead invested that money in its workforce, “these funds could be used to give Walmart’s low-paid workers a raise of $5.83 an hour, more than enough to ensure that all Walmart workers are paid a wage equivalent to at least $25,000 a year for full-time work.”
The added bonus: The workers would get that raise without Walmart having to increase the prices of its goods a single dime.
Using profits to improve wages and benefits for workers, Demos argued in its report, would have done more in the long term to improve Walmart’s profitability than the sugar high of a stock buyback. And even stock analysts who don’t side with Demos’ view of what’s best for workers question whether the prevalence of stock buybacks on Wall Street is healthy for Wall Street.
But stock buybacks are not happening in a vacuum. One reason they happen is that companies perceive stock buybacks to be a better way to squeeze profit out of a company than actually investing to grow the company. In other words, if companies don’t have faith that there is sufficient demand for what they’re selling, they will take their excess capital and spread it upward to shareholders rather than to the rest of us.
It takes a change in our economic policies to change that equation. That’s why we need Congress to enact policies that will increase demand by creating more jobs in such areas as public infrastructure, and increasing the minimum wage so low-income workers will have more money to circulate into local economies. Unfortunately, the budget deal that the House has approved and the Senate is about to enact this week does not take us boldly in that direction. That’s why we will have to continue pointing out the folly of austerity economics and eventually move out of the way its die-hard adherents.
USW Local 182 Collect Toys for Charity
USW Local 2-21 Next Generation Committee has been working on ways to support the community by participating in local events, supporting its citizens and educating them - things unions have done for all workers. The group decided that entering a float into the Escanaba, Michigan, area Christmas parade would do just that. The Next Generation Committee knew that by participating in the parade and entering a float they would be supporting the community, educating others by showing the solidarity and commitment of its members, and supporting the citizens by handing out flyers for the local’s upcoming “Strike for Hunger” in January.
Local 2-21 was proud to win 3rd place with their float. They plan to purchase products to be delivered to an area food pantry with the monetary award.
Pictured in the photo (no particular order): Ken Curtis, Chuck Way, Art Caron and Wife, Adrienne St. Vincent, Daryl St. Vincent, Kelby Reese, Cole Reese, Toni Schram, McKenzie Schram, Theresa Rogers, Brian Douville, Kristy Benoit, Steve Benoit, Lily Benoit, Thomas Benoit, Rob Mitchell, Karen Mitchell, Lacy Mitchell, Heidi Mitchell, Justin Zirkle, Joe Curran and Brooke Detiege.
USW Local 2-21 Next Generation Committee Wins Christmas Parade Award
Local 182, in cooperation with Carmeuse Lime and Stone in Cedarville, MI, collected new toys and non-perishable food items to give to a local charity where they will be dispersed to less fortunate families during the Holiday Season. The local has been doing this for the last eight years with great success. They also participate in a Thanksgiving food drive that provides meals to the elderly and disadvantaged families in their communities.
Watch Your Mail for 2014 District 2 Conference Call Letter!
This year's conference will be held April 11 to April 13 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Kalamazoo, Michigan. A Women of Steel District Meeting as well as Health & Safety Training are are scheduled for April 9 and April 10.
You should expect to receive the call letters for these events by the end of January.
USW District 2 Council Steering Committee
Cindy Odden, LU 904LCindy Odden, LU 904L
The topic of “coat drives” was brought up during a WOS meeting. It was explained that each Local could have a coat drive with donations going to the Salvation Army. Tonya DeVore, District 2 WOS Coordinator, provided us with a poster and a phone number in our area to call and set up a time to drop items off. The donated coats, mittens, hats and scarves go directly to people in need. Every year, for the past five years, Local 904L has participated in the coat drive.
Leah Weber, Salvation ArmyLeah Weber, Salvation Army
The float did not take much time to build with the help of union members and their families. The members’ children colored bells to fit the float’s theme, “Jingle Bell Rock”. Others came up with ideas like wrapping boxes to look like presents. Lights and bows were donated and an amazing float came together. The night of the parade was bitterly cold, 11 degrees (below 0 with the wind chill), but a large group of Local 2-21 members came out to show their support. Candy was passed out on the parade route and fun was had by all.
To get started, we first update and copy the poster. Then we get a big box for the donations. The box and poster are placed where everyone can see as they the plant. We then spread the word, on what we are doing. Our members fill the box so fast that we have to empty it every day or so! All items were stored until November 27th, when they were taken to the Salvation Army. Many thanks to the members of Local 904L for helping make this another successful year!
Pictured in the Photo (R-L); Tom McDonald, LU 882 President; Sarah Barr, Human Resources; and Mark Lamb, LU 182 Vice President.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The above article was written by Isaiah J. Poole, who worked for 25 years in mainstream media, most recently at Congressional Quarterly. Most of his journalism experience has been in Washington as both a reporter and an editor on topics ranging from presidential politics to pop culture.
2014 LM, 990 and 990-EZ Review
for Financial Officers
To All USW District 2 Local Union Presidents, Financial Secretaries, Treasurers, and Recording Secretaries.
USW District 2 is pleased to announce the scheduling of the 2014 LM, 990 and 990-EZ Review for Financial Officers of Local Unions in Wisconsin and Michigan as follows:
February 10, 2014 USW Local 2-21 Hall 1201 Sheridan Road, Escanaba, MI
February 11, 2014 Rothschild Village Hall 211 Grand Avenue, Rothschild, WI
February 12, 2014 Lucky Dog’z Labor Temple 157 S. Green Bay Road, Neenah, WI
February 13, 2014 Milwaukee Labor Council Bld. 633 S. Hawley Road, Milwaukee, WI
March 4, 2014 USW Local 12075 Hall 3510 James Savage Road, Midland, MI
March 5, 2014 Civic Club 183 Ninth Street, Manistee, MI
March 6, 2014 Teamster Local 7 Hall 3330 Miller Road, Kalamazoo, MI
March 7, 2014 USW District 2 Southern MI Sub-Office 20600 Eureka Road, Suite 300, Taylor, MI
— continued from page 1
