Blog

By Leo W. Gerard
International President

Rich get richer

After a year in which the majority of Americans suffered the effects of recession, including tens of thousands who lost jobs because of rising unemployment, hundreds of thousands who lost homes in the subprime mortgage crisis and millions who lost their shirts because of unrelenting gas price hikes, Merrill Lynch & Co. informed us last week that, by contrast, the rich still got richer.
Merrill found that the number of dollars in millionaires’ bank accounts grew faster than the number of millionaires did, a trend expected to continue. The average wealth of the world’s richest was more than $4 million, the highest it has ever been, according to Merrill. They’re an elite club — one-fifth of one percent of the globe’s 6.7 billion people. (more…)

By Tom Conway
International Vice President

Democrat Supports Union Choice, Health Care Reform

During 7 ½ years of the George W. Bush presidency, one out of every five workers in manufacturing – 3.5 million all together – lost their jobs and their ticket to the American dream.
In contrast, Democrat Sen. Barack Obama pledges to rebuild industry, and with it our struggling middle class, by pumping billions of dollars into clean energy technologies, innovation incentives and the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
Like John Edwards, our initial choice for president, Obama would make health care coverage more universal and strongly supports the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would free workers to choose a union without employer intimidation. (more…)

By Jim English
International Secretary-Treasurer

Marketing Myths vs. Hard Realities
The political hucksters who market presidential candidates are shameless about the myths they create.
Ronald Reagan was pitched as a former union president who understood working Americans. Instead, he fired striking air traffic controllers and ignited a quarter century of corporate union busting.
George Bush, Sr. was sold as “kindler” and “gentler,” but kept up the attack on union workers.
His son was marketed as a regular guy. Instead he’s regularly stuck it to labor unions while doing Wall Street’s bidding.
Now John McCain is being promoted as a super straight shooter with a record of distinguished service – everything that George Bush hasn’t been.
There’s no question that John McCain suffered as a prisoner of war. But there are plenty questions about just how straight he’s being about his record as a candidate for president. (more…)

By Ken Neumann
National Director for Canada
United Steelworkers

John McCain apparently thinks Canadians, and perhaps American voters, will be reassured as he brings his Republican presidential campaign north of the border this week and promises to defend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The truth, however, is different. Citizens in both countries, especially workers, could benefit greatly from a thorough rewrite of NAFTA to put their interests first, rather than the interests of corporate investors who alone have reaped the benefits in the 15 years since NAFTA was signed. (more…)

Sisters and brothers,

Live streaming video, daily news, photo slideshows, audio reports, updated blogging and a wealth of USW information right at your fingertips. This is what you’ll experience at the newly designed www.usw.org.

The revamped Web site catapults our union into the exciting world of Web 2.0.

The new usw.org gives you all the Steelworker information you’re used to in new ways – and more. There’s a special section just for members where members can update their personal information, stay informed about union issues, get in touch with union leaders and participate in the movement like never before by sharing information, photos, videos and more through social networking sites such as facebook and flickr. (more…)

Leo W. Gerard, USW International President

“The Toxic Trader,” a drama featuring an evil puppet, premiered last Tuesday in a special election-day staging outside U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith’s district office in Portland, Oregon.

Toxic Trader. Yes, the double entendre is deliberate. The street theater is intended to hold free traders like Smith and presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Sen. John McCain accountable for millions of U.S. jobs lost as multinationals move U.S. manufacturing overseas and for deadly imports – like faked Heparin medication and melamine-poisoned dog food — shipped into this country. (more…)