|
One Voice - June 2006 Archive
Current One Voice issues --- Archive index
VOL III, Issue 239 -- June 30, 2006
________________________________
The Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS)
Mourns Loss of a Founder and Former President
Mike Fanfalone was a leader, friend and mentor
The Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS) lost a great leader this week with the passing of Mike Fanfalone, a man who dedicated his life’s work to improving the working conditions of FAA employees throughout the country, including systems specialists, flight inspection pilots and aviation safety inspectors. He was one of the union’s founders and served as national president of the organization for two three-year terms starting in 1997.
“His leadership and guidance have helped many of us over the years, and I can say with certainty that I am a better person and better union official for having known and worked with Mike,” said Tom Brantley, current national president of PASS.
Fanfalone began his career with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1975 as a radar specialist in Saginaw, Michigan. From 1977 to 1979, Fanfalone served as a radar display technician at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He moved to Maryland in 1979 to become a radar specialist at the Baltimore/Washington International Airport’s control tower. Before becoming PASS president, Fanfalone was the PASS national Employee Involvement Program coordinator for eight years.
During the past 30 years, Fanfalone either volunteered for or was elected to serve in just about every union representative position from the local to the national level. He was a member of every bargaining team for Airway Facilities, and served as the chief negotiator for the union’s current collective bargaining agreement. Under Fanfalone’s leadership, PASS successfully negotiated a new approach for training the FAA technical workforce designed to significantly improve productivity, propel modernization of the National Airspace System (NAS), and provide meaningful job security for PASS members.
“Mike was a leader and a great inspiration for the working men and women represented by PASS. He will be missed but never forgotten,” said Brantley.
Services for Mike Fanfalone will be held on Monday, July 3, 10:00 a.m. at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, 1800 Seton Drive, Crofton, Maryland 21114. Interment will follow immediately after Monday's funeral mass at Crownsville Veterans Cemetery, 1122 Sunrise Beach Road, Crownsville, Maryland 21032.
###
PASS represents more than 11,000 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense who install, maintain, support and certify air traffic control and national defense equipment, inspect and oversee the commercial and general aviation industries, develop flight procedures and perform quality analyses of the aviation systems. For more information, visit the PASS website at www.passnational.org.
VOL III, Issue 237 -- June 29, 2006
COPE ENDORSEMENTS
The West Virginia AFL-CIO State COPE Committee has endorsed the following
Congressional Candidates for the November 7, 2006 General Election.
U.S. SENATE
Robert C. Byrd
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st District Alan B. Mollohan
2nd District Michael O. Callaghan
3rd District Nick Joe Rahall, II
VOL III, Issue 236 -- June 28, 2006
"Labor Night" at the WV Power Baseball Park
On August 26, 2006 join the Kanawha Valley Labor Council and the West Virginia AFL-CIO as they host , "Labor Night" at the WV Power Baseball Park.
At 4 p.m., (prior to the event) the WV AFL-CIO and Coalition Groups will unite at the parking lot of the WV AFL-CIO for a Political/Issue Rally. Those attending the rally will then march two blocks to the ball park for an evening of fun and fellowship.
The price of the event is $18.00 per person and this includes a buffet style picnic and a box seat. There are other seats available without the picnic. Please contact Kanawha Valley Labor Council President, Mike Matthews today for additional information concerning the purchase of your tickets at (304) 343-6952 or mikematthews@cbtwv.org.
Directions: I-64 (I-77) exit 100, towards Leon Sullivan Way/Capitol Street. Bear right onto Capitol Street. Turn Left onto Shrewsbury Street then immediately turn left onto Lewis Street. In the event that you would require lodging, there are two hotels conveniently located one block from the West Virginia AFL-CIO. The Fairfield Inn (304) 343-4661 or The Super 8 Motel (304) 345-977
VOL III, Issue 236 -- June 16, 2006
United Mine Workers of America
RALLY
"The Fight Starts NOW!"
When: Thursday, June 22, 2006
Where: Bradley Field, Wharton, WV
Time: 12:00 Noon
Everyone Welcome!
Directions
From Beckley, WV
Take Rt. 3 West to WV-99/BOLT Continue to follow WV-99 ... Turn right on WV-85
End at Wharton, WV
(Approximately 40 miles)
From Charleston, WV
Take US-119 South to WV-85
Turn left on WV-85/Madison Ave., Continue on WV-85 ... Turn right to stay on WV-85
End at Wharton, WV
(Approximately 50 miles)
From South of Madison, WV
Take US-119 North ...Turn left on WV-85 ...Turn left on WV-85/MADISON AVENUE
Turn right to stay on WV-85
End at Wharton, WV
Questions --- Call the UMWA District 17 office @ 346-034
VOL III, Issue 235 -- June 15, 2006
Vote "Yes" for the Fire Fighters!
Carl states "The Herald-Dispatch has once again missed the intent of a meeting. They now have on their site a pole that states, “Do you think refinancing debt will help the city pension problems?"
Carl emphasizes "There is no refinancing of Debt only a change in the payment schedule. By using a new amortization schedule of payments over 30 years."
VOL III, Issue 234 -- June 14, 2006
Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
On Richard Stickler’s Nomination To MSHA
June 13, 2006
Today’s decision by the U.S. Senate to suspend efforts to ramrod through former mining executive Richard Stickler’s nomination to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is an encouraging victory for coalminers and their families who have asked Congress to ensure safety comes first at MSHA.
The AFL-CIO calls on President Bush to immediately withdraw Stickler’s nomination and move toward returning MSHA to its core mission – protecting the health and safety of our nation’s miners so that tragedies like Sago can be avoided in the future.
Stickler’s troubling history as a coal mining executive more interested in company profits than the safety of workers is more than just cause to demand his nomination be withdrawn.
While today’s developments are promising, it’s up to President Bush to honor the 33 miners who have given their lives on the job this year by appointing an advocate to MSHA who will fight for miners and their families.
VOL III, Issue 233 -- June 9, 2006
West Virginians United Thanks Sen. Byrd for voting “No” on Repealing of the Estate Tax
West Virginians United releases report that only 105 West Virginians paid any estate tax in 2003 and that repealing estate tax would cost US $1 trillion in just ten years
West Virginians United, the states largest coalition of labor, faith-based organizations and consumer advocates, joins with the national Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities to thank Senator Byrd who voted against the estate tax repeal today. This misguided effort would have benefited a few multimillionaires and left working and middleclass West Virginians to foot the bill.
Both Rockefeller and Byrd voted against repealing the estate tax in 2000. Rockefeller, still recovering from back problems did not vote today.
‘This was by far the most important tax issue this year,” said Ted Boettner, Federal Issues Coordinator for West Virginia Citizen Action Group. “Repealing the estate tax would have cost $1 trillion over the next 10 years — exploding the federal deficit (currently $500 billion) and putting government services and charities at risk.”
For almost 90 years, the estate tax has helped the United States build schools, fight crime, care for the sick, and fund programs that elevate standards of living for all people nationwide.
“The estate tax was created for a purpose. It is one way very wealthy people pay society back for the benefits of the economic, judicial, educational and transportation systems that help them create their wealth,” said Susan Sobkoviak, Government Relations Specialist for WV- National Association of Social Workers.
It’s for reasons like these that Republican President Theodore Roosevelt said in 1906 "The man of great wealth owes a particular obligation to the State because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government."
“Repealing the estate tax would have benefited a tiny number of West Virginia multimillionaires and the rest of us will have to make up that revenue for education, clean and safe water, highway maintenance, police protection, veterans benefits, homeland security, and deficit reduction,” said Sobkoviak.
Majority Leader Frist has promised to bring a compromise back before the Senate this session. Some Senators have expressed interest in a proposal offered by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) to lower the estate tax rate to the capital gains rate and raise the exemption to $5 million. This proposal is no compromise; if passed, it would cost 84 percent of the revenue brought in from the tax..
According to a new report by US Action Education Fund and Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities, “the costs of full repeal and the Kyl proposal are nearly identical. In each case, a tiny number of West Virginians would benefit while hundreds of thousands of West Virginians could lose access to key service.”
“One of the primary purposes of taxation is for the government to be able to provide the basic goods of this life to all citizens,” said Carol Warren, Director of the Justice & Life Office, Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. “And as a country claiming to have Christian values, we should remember that Jesus tells us we will be judged by the way we treat those who have been least fortunate. When considering policy, its effect on them should be given priority consideration.”
“Repealing the tax on those who inherit vast sums of wealth is a bad idea for both financial reasons and moral reasons,” said Rick Wilson, Program Director of the AFSC West Virginia Economic Justice Program. ‘This is a shortsighted step toward oligarchy and aristocracy, two very un-American ideas.”
“The Bush administration is rubbing salt in the wounds of working West Virginia families by seeking further tax cuts for the wealthy while the needs of workers and their families living in poverty are increasing,” said Larry Matheney, Secretary- Treasurer of WV AFL-CIO, “Repeal of the estate tax, on the heels of a $70 BILLION tax cut for the wealthy with social program funding already reduced by $40 BILLION, sounds like a corporate America decision not a decision by representatives of Americans.” The choice for West Virginia was clear: Preserve the estate tax and protect our communities.
###
The rationale for estate tax repeal is that if you give billionaires even more tax breaks, they will invest and create jobs. "One cartoonist illustrates this in the following manner . . . a politician speaking at a banquet, bragging that his 'administration had created millions of new jobs.' The waiter at the banquet observes, 'Yes I know, I have three of them.' "
###
Las Vegas Medco Workers Ratify New Three-Year Contract
Employees return to work after 49-day illegal lockout
Local 675 members of the United Steelworkers union (USW) overwhelmingly ratified a new three-year contract with Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MHS) late Tuesday afternoon and are returning to their jobs after being illegally locked out for 49 days.
The ratification comes after approximately 580 pharmacy technicians and support staff were illegally locked out by Medco on April 5, 2006. Workers had refused to give up their right to bargain over benefits.
The new contract provides for a medical and dental plan that cannot be altered or changed during the life of the contract. Other benefits like life insurance, accidental dismemberment/disability insurance and the 401(k) plan are restored. Any changes in these other benefits have to be negotiated between the union and management.
Two top-level committees were created under the agreement. One will be co-chaired by USW International Vice President Fred Redmond and a representative of Medco. The other is an executive committee composed of USW International President Leo W. Gerard and Medco CEO David B. Snow, Jr. Both committees will address such topics as attracting business for Medco, legislation affecting the pharmaceutical industry, productivity, quality of work life, and neutrality and card check recognition at all Medco facilities.
The three-year contract runs from Sept. 1, 2005 through Sept. 1, 2008. Workers will receive a lump sum of $2,100 upon ratification, an immediate wage increase of 3.5 percent, another 3.5 percent wage increase this September, and a final 3.5 percent in September 2007. In 2007 and 2008, workers also will get $850 lump sum bonuses.
“Medco’s illegal lockout of our members brought the labor movement together and that pressure helped us reach an agreement,” said USW International Vice President Fred Redmond. “We urge Medco to come to a fair agreement with the Columbus, Ohio, and Tampa, Fla., facilities.”
Negotiations have begun for approximately 800 members at Medco’s mail-order pharmacy in Columbus and for approximately 300 call center workers in Tampa. The Tampa contract expired on May 20, and the union and management have agreed to a 45-day contract extension. The Columbus contract expired May 31.
The USW represents over 5,100 workers at Medco facilities in Las Vegas, Nev., Tampa, Fla., Willingboro, N.J., Columbus, Ohio, North Versailles, Pa., Fort Worth and Irving, Texas, and Liberty Lake (Spokane) Washington.
VOL III, Issue 232 -- June 6, 2006
Air Traffic Controllers Need Our Help NOW!
On Wednesday, June 7th the United States House of Representatives will be voting on HR 5449 which would restore fair bargaining to the FAA. This legislation would simply direct the FAA to use the Federal Services Impasse Panel to resolve the dispute. The same entity used by other federal employees and their employer.
As you know the air traffic controllers that guide you home each day are a dedicated, highly-skilled group of professionals that always put safety first.
By next year, the FAA’s plan could compel 1 in 4 controllers to retire in order to preserve their annuity rather than continuing to perform their critical jobs.
Support the ones that guide you home! Please call your Congressman or Congresswoman today and ask for a yes vote on HR 5449. (Most offices have voice mail, so calls outside of business hours are acceptable)
Call Congress NOW at 1-877-FAIR-FAA
VOL III, Issue 231 -- June 6, 2006
The below news article was taken from The Charleston Gazette, Thursday, June 1, 2006.
Groups want drug plan reform
Area seniors urged to demand changes to Medicare Part D benefit
By Paul J. Nyden pjnyden@wvgazette.com
Larry Matheny, vice president of the West Virginia AFL-CIO, opened a meeting at Cross Lanes Unity Apartments Wednesday afternoon by urging senior citizens to actively oppose the new Medicare Part D prescription drug program.
"The system in place, favored by the Bush administration, benefits the richest Americans, especially the pharmaceutical companies," Matheny said.
West Virginians United, the group sponsoring the program, is a coalition of the AFL-CIO, West Virginia Health Right, Alliance for Retired Americans, the state chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and the West Virginia Citizen Action Group.
Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne, who chairs the House's Health and Human Services Committee, expressed concerns about the "doughnut hole" in the new Medicare drug plans.
In addition to monthly Medicare premiums ranging from $25 to $34, seniors must pay all of their prescription drug costs up to $250, then 25 percent of all costs between $251 and $2,250.
But then seniors get hit with 100 percent of all drug costs between $2,251 and $5,100 - known as the "doughnut hole."
Only when senior citizens' annual drug costs exceed $5,100 does their share drop to 5 percent.
Perdue, a pharmacist himself, believes many West Virginia seniors "will hit that doughnut hole in late September or October."
Perdue also told seniors gathered at the apartment complex in Cross Lanes that "health care is not a free-market system in the United States."
"It is not a free market when someone can put a gun to your head and say, `Your money or your life.' And it is not a free market when consumers cannot interact with the [drug] providers," Perdue said.
Perdue said the average cost of a prescription purchased at his pharmaceutical counters is $65.
"We cannot win this politically behind closed doors," Perdue added. "People have to go to the streets, talk to politicians and get people to vote."
Ted Boettner, who represented the West Virginia-Citizen Action Group at the meeting, criticized exclusive federal patents.
"Nearly half of the money for pharmaceutical research, which is about $27 billion a year, comes from the federal government. Then drug companies get patents to keep a monopoly over the sale of those drugs for years after
they are developed," Boettner said.
West Virginians United backs three changes in the current Medicare law:
- Provide pharmaceutical coverage for seniors directly through Medicare, not through private companies.
- Eliminate the current ban prohibiting the government from bargaining on drug prices.
- Use savings from those negotiations to eliminate the "doughnut hole" facing millions of seniors.
Through meetings, leaflets and e-mails, West Virginians United urges seniors to ask their legislators to reform Part D and make the Medicare program "simple, affordable and guaranteed" for seniors and people with disabilities.
To contact Charleston Gazette staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail pjnyden@wvgazette.com or call 348-5164. |
