By Doug Cunningham

Even though most workers dying in construction accidents are on low-rise non-union worksites, New York City Buildings Department is still focusing more enforcement on union high-rise jobs. Lou Coletti is President of the Building Trades Employers Association. Coletti says on average over the years OSHA records show union high-rise jobs are far safer than non-union.

[Coletti]: “Seventy-five percent of the fatalities are on non-union jobs below ten stories.”   

 By Doug Cunningham

AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Bill Lucy says labor is frustrated with the lack of enough real progress for working families so far in the Obama administration. He says here’s what needs to happen to realize real progress.

[Lucy]: ““There’s gotta be a clear identification with the needs of workers by this administration  that we are on your side as we try to solve these problems. I think we’ve just simply gotta stake out a position and go out and fight for it. Those folks who are our friends will line up, those folks who are not, they will be identified.”

 By Doug Cunningham

From the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council meeting in Florida International Union of Painters and Allied Trades President Jimmy Williams says labor leaders are having good open discussions about strategies to help working people recover from the worst economy since the Great Depression.

[Williams]: “This was the most open forum of discussion back and forth that we’ve had in eight years.”

 By Doug Cunningham

Flight attendants are not covered by OSHA safety and health regulations, so the Association of Flight Attendants –CWA is pushing Congress to pass the FAA Re-authorization bill that includes protections for flight attendants hurt on the job. AFA-CWA’s Bill McGlashen.

[Bill McGlashen]: “We have high injury rates that rank up there with coal miners and other at-risk workers. And yet we don’t enjoy the benefits of OSHA or OSHA-like protections. We have flight attendants who are injured because of repetitive injuries, shoulder and neck injuries, back injuries. 

 By Doug Cunningham

Millions of workers in America are misclassified by their employers as independent contractors. Employers can avoid social security, workers comp and other payroll taxes when they do that. Chris Sloan is government affairs director for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

[Chris Sloan]: “In construction, over 20 percent of the construction workforce was being mis-classified. It's a huge problem in terms of how workers are being treated on the job site, whether they are able to provide for their families.”

 By Doug Cunningham

[Robin DeHaven]: “You didn’t know if the building was going to collapse, there was going to be explosions, fire, or what. And I just saw the smoke, saw the people and knew they needed help. They were trapped up there. One guy was yelling  ‘Somebody help us!’”

Painter’s union member Robin DeHaven saved six lives with his ladder when that suicide plane crashed into the Austin Texas office building.  The Iraq vet got his job through the Helmets To Hardhats program and knew how to stay calm in a crisis.

[DeHaven 2]: “So when I jumped out of the truck I was sayin’, you know, I’m comin’, I’m comin’. I’ve got the ladder, I’m comin’ over there.”

 By Doug Cunningham

The Association of Minor League Umpires has voted to affiliate with the Office and Professional Employees International Union and will be based in New York City. OPEIU’s Michael Goodwin.

[Goodwin]: “These umpires are very, very low paid. The salary ranges anywhere from $9,000 a season to $15,000 a season. They came to OPEIU because we offer expertise in bargaining. We can help them in collective bargaining in a renewal of their contract so they can get a better contract.”

Ninety percent of restaurant workers are not offered health insurance or sick days. That’s according to restaurant worker advocacy organization Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. In 2008 the average earnings for workers in the industry were less than $13,000. Two thousand five hundred workers were surveyed in five cities and 38 percent said they are forced to work off the clock.  The federal minimum wage for wait staff has remained at $2.13 per hour since 1991. 

 By Doug Cunningham

 Staten Island tugboat strikers say the Kosnac company’s demand for fewer men on the boats isn’t safe. ILA Local 333 President Bill Harrigan says a worker was killed on a tugboat in December.

 [Harrigan]: “He got caught between the capstan and the rope and he crushed himself to death. You really need two people, but he was workin’ by himself.”

 Striker James Beatty.

[Beatty]: “It’s not something I wanna do, it’s tough, But it’s better than goin’ on a boat workin’ with four guys and takin’ a chance of losin’ my life, so.”

 By Doug Cunningham

Mark Ayers, President of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, is joining a presidential  Blue Ribbon Commission to develop a safe, long-term solution to managing used nuclear fuel and waste. Ayers says he’s honored and pleased that the Obama administration recognizes that America’s building trades unions have considerable knowledge and expertise to offer when it comes to making sure that nuclear energy provides clean, safe, affordable and reliable power.