I’m planning a trip for this April for my parents and for my kid who is graduating from High School. Ugh, I’m so old!! So, I open my e-mail and what do I see?
American Airlines
Winter Flight Deals!
Book now and save on travel into 2010! Great destinations like Chicago, Las Vegas, New Orleans and more are on sale with fares starting as low as $58* each way.
Hurry, purchase your tickets by November 23, 2009, for travel December 2, 2009, through March 10, 2010.
Most excellent except for one small tiny little itty bitty thing…
United Airlines flight attendant members of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA-CWA) will join members of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) at American Airlines on the picket line at airports around the country tomorrow. While American Flight Attendants conduct a mock strike and walk the picket line, United. Flight Attendants will join them in solidarity for a fair Contract and coordinated efforts to lift the standard for Flight Attendants across the industry.
Now, American Airlines, did you think you were going to get that one past me? Tease me with a great looking deal, only to piss on the workers who will be protecting my ass in the sky? Well, American Airlines, I think not!
So, get to the table and hammer out a fair deal. Psst, and a fair deal doesn’t look like the kind of crap the the likes of Dick E. Dauch pulled when he sank American Axle into a hole, took millions from the company in pay days, asked workers for 60% pay cuts and left them out their on the picket lines for 11 weeks. Fair pay for CEO’s should be measured based on what the lowest paid workers under you make.
So, for anyone taking a flight tomorrow on American, perhaps, you can reconsider. And thanks for the fabulous deals American, but no thanks. I don’t live in Wal-Merica, I live in the United States of America. So, take that deal… what, I have to paint you a picture?
Over the hot and steamy summer month of August, I was able to tour the most amazing factory, a Steel mill. Campaign for Ameirca’s Future and the Alliance for American Manufacturing arranged for this amazing tour of the Edgar Thomson mill (Mon Valley Works) US Steel mill.
I walked, coughing and wheezing, my way up what they said were 5 flights of stairs in about 50 lbs of safety gear but what really felt more like 10 stories. For some reason, being in Pittsburgh kicked in allergies I didn’t even know I had.
Walking through the mill reminded me of being a kid. My dad worked at a Steel Mill. I remember a really big bucket that poured this orange liquid into what looked like really big jello molds to me. I was a kid, so, they are kid memories. My dad worked in the Forge shop. He hammered out the pieces that were used in most of the American made convertibles up until about 1980. The company he once worked for still holds the patent even though the company no longer exists. But, I digress.
When I took the tour, I remembered the process, the liquid orange drink that went into the molds. It was a small operation in comparison to US Steel. What was most fascinating to me is how few people are needed now to do the same job performed by about (per the tour) 100 Chinese mill workers. The computers control and sense just about everything. The mill doesn’t pour the liquid orange drink anymore either, they have what looked like a lid on it. The liquid steel turned out the most beautiful looking bars of steel I’d ever seen. They looked so perfect. You could see them cooling from the bright deep orange to auburn to almost a red and then a brick red and gray/black. I could see the rising heat like I were staring at the pavement in summer as the water cooled it, sending steam and heat into the air. It was really more beautiful than anything I can remember seeing before.
I wish there were words for how I felt and what I saw. Amid the sneezes, coughing and sniffles I was thinking about how wonderful it was to see Americans manufacturing. I knew my dad did, but it had been a while since I saw real American manufacturing this close up and with this kind of efficiency. It was really just beautiful.
So, today, I was looking for pictures of the Edgar Thomson mill in Braddock when I got an e-mail from someone I know about a deal at the Container Store. Yeah, I know, it’s a girly thing.
I like the container store. I like organizing my apartment, but that’s because 1000 square feet with 2 bedrooms and a 16 year old needs some intense organizing to function.
I’ve bought from the container store and I knew they carried American made products because I’ve bought them there, but I had no idea that they actually allow you to browse by category for products and one of those categories is Made In The USA.
They have unique items like the Flip Fold and Flip Fold jr. When I worked in retail, we used these to fold shirts uniformly, oh and jeans too. Before these were available, we had to use a cutting board that we folded around. These cut our folding time in half.
I’m planning to buy these nifty power converters for my parents for an upcoming trip to Europe. My mother has never been and if you promise not to tell her, then I’ll share the surprise I’m hoping to give her. Okay, here it is, I’m hoping that when we arive in Barcelona, that we’ll be able to travel to where her father was born in Viitasaari, Finland. My mother has never been and I’d like her to see it at least once. I mean, come on, how can we go all that way and not actually make it to Finland? “Hyvää päivää!” to all my Finnish friends!!
My point here is that Americans make cool stuff. From pretty, hot, and orange planks of steel to the smallest of electrical converters. The way to pull ourselves out of the mess the banks and Wall-street have gotten us into is to re-invest in ourselves. And that means MANUFACTURING.
So, tell me what you made today. I’d love to know and I bet, so would everyone else.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 3017), introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), would prohibit employment discrimination, preferential treatment, and retaliation on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by employers with 15 or more employees. Currently, it is legal to discriminate in the workplace based on sexual orientation in 29 states and in 38 states based on gender identity.
And the place to start for me is with the testimony of William Eskridge, John A. Garver Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School, it’s short but very pointed.
And next up, another personal story, this one from Vandy Beth Glenn, where she was fired from her Georgia state legislative job
Normally, when I write these posts, I have loads to say, but I honestly couldn’t add analysis or even a thought when presented with the testimony of Vandy Beth Glenn and William Eskridge. Nothing I’ve experienced comes close to being fired from a job that you love and are good at because your boss has an issue with how your co-workers might feel. Feel? Seriously? WTF?
I think we as a society have a long way to go on the issue of equality. From women’s pay, to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, we have long walk ahead of us. Legislation like ENDA is a major step down that long road, and no one says it better than the men and women most affected by ENDA, like Helen C. Walther:
By Helen C. Walther on September 22, 2009 12:59 PM As a transsexual woman I can directly attest to the need of this legislation. I can directly relate to the fear of losing a job, or not even having a chance for one, because of my gender identity as well as the limiting nature of this fear on my current job search (I’ve been unemployed for 9 months).
ENDA needs to come to the floor and every member of Congress needs to vote for it.
I’ve been covering issues related to the production of chocolate through the use of child slave labor for a few years now. In all of that time, I didn’t really have a moment to really feel like anyone was listening inside the walls of Congress. Today, however, Congress doesn’t have to act on this, the Department of Labor has and the tone is set in the opening paragraph to their List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor report:
As a nation and as members of the global community, we reject the proposition that it is acceptable to pursue economic gain through the forced labor of other human beings or the exploitation of children in the workplace. However, we are aware that these problems remain widespread in today’s global economy. Indeed, we face these problems in our own country. The International Labor Organization estimates that over 12 million persons worldwide are working in some form of forced labor or bondage and that more than 200 million children are at work, many in hazardous forms of labor. The most vulnerable persons – including women, indigenous groups, and migrants – are the most likely to fall into these exploitive situations and the current global economic crisis has only exacerbated their vulnerability.
What’s hardest to conceive of in the issues surrounding child slave labor in chocolate production is really how easy it could be to fix. Let’s start with the world’s major producer, Côte d’Ivoire. Did you know that Cote d’Ivoire produces about 40% of the world supply of cocoa, and this cocoa comes from about 600,000 total farms in this very small West African country.
The 600,000 producers are often very small farms where children are forced to work to help their families or are sold to larger farms. From the New Internationalist
The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) has made many visits to Côte d’Ivoire and it has never met a single parent who would not have preferred their child to go to school, get an education, and have a better future. The problem is that many parents have no choice: there are simply no schools, no teachers and no books. Their children have to work because these cocoa farmers do not receive a fair price for their beans and as a result, live in poverty. And a recent study by the Payson Centre at Tulane University has shown that, despite millions of dollars and many years, the chocolate companies’ charitable efforts are not having a broad impact on improving the lives of children on cocoa farms.
The problem of child slavery in chocolate production comes from control of revenues, revenues which were used to fund a civil war. I’m sure everyone knows the “Golden Rule”, He who has the Gold makes the Rules?
The movie Norma Rae was based on the life of union activist Crystal Lee Sutton. She fought for the right to organize and she is now the victim not only of her own body but of this Health Care System.
Helping Norma Rae: Crystal Lee Sutton – the woman whom the movie “Norma Rae” was based on – is fighting for her life. Ill with meningioma (a brain tumor), her health insurance – which initially denied her coverage – covers so little that her husband must work two jobs to help pay her medical bills. “Crystal’s long been a heroine to many of us in the labor movement,” says Community Services Agency Executive Director Kathleen McKirchy, “CSA is proud to help coordinate metro-area support for the real ‘Norma Rae’” To contribute to the Crystal Lee Sutton Foundation, click here now and be sure to put “Norma Rae” under Designation.
So it is with a heavy heart that I read this message this morning:
Dear bendygirl, Crystal Sutton is now at the Hospice Home in Burlington, NC. She still holds the Union dear but will soon be advocating for justice on a higher plane. She would appreciate your prayers.
Please post a message in the comments section if you’d like to send her your thoughts or prayers. I will be keeping the family contact updated. If you’d rather send a personal message, you can also e-mail me directly at bendygirl@gmail.com and I will forward them for you.
I got the news about Toyota looking at its North American manufacturing structure. They’re thinking about when to open a plant in Mississippi (or, maybe, if?) and if they should keep a California operation running (yeah, that’s the one that is a UAW represented plant that was a joint venture with
GM). I think this is the money quote from the Detroit News:
“That put us in a very difficult position,” Inaba said. “We are carefully evaluating all the options.”
He didn’t commit to a timetable for a decision on Nummi, but said a decision would be made “quite soon.” He said Toyota hadn’t received an incentive package from California yet.
The hourly workers at Nummi are represented by the United Auto Workers, and the contract expires next month. Inaba said the UAW contract “is one consideration, but not the single deciding factor.”
Think about that for just a minute. Toyota is hurting. Sales are down 38% over a year ago, but then again, all vehicle sales are down 35%. With sales down, they’re not looking at reducing costs, being more efficient, maybe even rolling layoffs, nope, not Toyota, they are looking at closing one of the few union plants they have. That’s their bang for their buck.
But Toyota is not unusual. Even in the International labor market, they aren’t doing anything that the corporate big brothers do on a daily basis. Take Morocco, did you know there’s a pilot’s union? Or that they were on strike for 3 days last week? It’s true.
I suppose I should now hire myself out to the big box stores for the possibility of products to review or maybe even pay. Somehow, I think I might be too opinionated for most of them, and way too desirous of my own peace of mind then to ever agree to do it for the likes of them. But, I do have to admit, I found it interesting that they’re recruiting moms, like me, ones that run blogs. From Newsweek
Among the first big companies to work with this segment was Wal-Mart. Last year the retailer recruited a group of mom bloggers to provide feedback on programs, products, stores, and services and to help build a “money-saving community.” Most are as popular as Tara Kuczykowski of DealSeekingMom.com, a blog that focuses primarily on printable coupons, product samples, and giveaways. She has 25,000 subscribers and almost 7,000 followers on Twitter. This is an insta-audience for the mega-retailer, one that’s happy to hear what any mom in their blogging group has to say about their merchandise. To be clear, none of the mommy bloggers are paid by Wal-Mart, says Melissa O’Brien, senior manager of PR and brand reputation. Nor do they have to blog about anything that’s Wal-Mart-related, although Kuczykowski says many of them often do. That’s one of the benefits, she says. They get products they can review from vendors, plus extras to give away on their sites. “There have been a couple of situations where we’ve also been asked to do a video for a vendor and have gotten paid,” she says. “You’re giving your opinions on [a product], but they’re not paying you for a positive opinion.”
I love how the writer says: To be clear, none of the mommy bloggers are paid by Wal-Mart I think it’s missing a word, the word DIRECTLY. You see, Wal-Mart doesn’t DIRECTLY pay the mommy bloggers, they line them up with their suppliers. Isn’t that a nice distinction? Wal-Mart can tell their suppliers about the bloggers and just some how, out of the blue, products, coupons and other “incentives” will magically appear at a mommy bloggers doorstep, but it doesn’t influence you, and it’s not like you’re getting paid or anything. Seriously? How stupid does this writer think I am? Wait, how stupid does Wal-Mart think all of us are?
I suppose companies like Wal-Mart have thought of Americans as Sheeple. Like we run around, eating grass, shepherded by ad agencies from one commercial product to the next, never knowing or caring why. And mommy bloggers are the latest sheeple in the mix.
But I do have to wonder if these mommy bloggers who are enticed by the free products, incentives and coupons know what it’s like for the average warehouse worker. I know they meet the “associates” when they go to the stores, but do they know how or at what cost those cheap consumer products are brought to them? And if they knew, would they care? Does Tara think beyond her pocket book and the 25,000 subscribers she’s got?
On May 14, Wal-Mart released its first-quarter financials for 2009 and announced that despite the recession — or, perhaps, because of it — business was booming. Shoppers in search of cheaper products had been flocking to its stores: A full 17 percent of its customers during the quarter were first-timers. The company had been able to exploit the downturn by reducing its legendarily bare-bones distribution expenses by an additional 5 percent. In keeping with its practice of compelling its manufacturers, shippers, truckers, and warehouses to continually cut costs, Wal-Mart had been able to “sweat the assets” in its distribution network more than usual, said Eduardo Castro-Wright, head of the company’s U.S. division.
In the dining car, you can eat with the most interesting and random assortment of folks, at the same table. And, the food is good. You also eat with silverware.
I’ve eaten with a woman who can’t fly due to inner ear issues. I’ve eaten with students because Amtrak gives student discounts, so it makes sense for them. I’ve even eaten with folks from the First Class sleeper cars, now try and do that on a plane. But best of all, are the people who are taking their first ever trip. I love seeing the countryside through their eyes.
I’ve had mostly good experiences and occasionally, I’ve had amazing experiences.
I’ve taken the train to Orlando, Savannah, Cleveland, Chicago, New York and even a commuter train into New York (not Amtrak). I’m hoping to take the train to see friends in Fayetteville this winter and it’s really convenient for Fayetteville since they have a station there. If I wanted to get there faster and fly, I’d need to fly into Raleigh-Durham, about an hour away. I’m also likely to take the train to Pittsburgh for the blogging convention Netroots Nation in August. As you can see, I take the train.
Taking the train for me is cost effective, first and foremost. I rarely pay as much for the train as I would for a flight and then there’s the added bonus of not having to pay additional security taxes and fees. Of course, when your ticket has been issued, if you lose it, as my daughter did on our last trip, you will need to re-purchase that return trip ticket. That was a very expensive lesson to learn for the 15 year old. On the other hand, trust me, she’s never done that again.
Second, it’s safer than driving. Of course, there are those moments when car and train collide, and car always looses. I suppose the accident last week in Michigan is a reminder to all of us that, you can’t race a train:
Early last Thursday afternoon a passing Amtrak train pulverized a car full of young people when the driver decided to circumvent waiting cars at the crossing in an attempt to beat the train. The car occupants included four boys and a girl, ranging in age from 14 to 21.
The driver was 19 and operating the vehicle on a suspended license. It took a mile before the train came to a complete stop. When I saw the initial footage on TV taken by helicopter, I couldn’t tell where the car was.
SNIP
First of all, he should have known enough not to race an Amtrak train going 65 mph. He should have known if the gates were down, they were down for a reason and no emergency in the world would justify trying to go around them.
And my last reason for train travel:
It’s better for the environment. Train travel is mass transportation. By taking the train, there are fewer cars on the roads or planes in the air. Sure, walking is even better, but who has that kind of time?
I suppose it doesn’t get more personal than this one.
I went to the Doctor the other day. After the $30 copay, 3 new prescriptions and a Dr’s request that I head to Radiology and for blood work for two new tests, I decided that maybe I needed to re-think health care. Today was no better when I had to return for a new problem. $30 more dollars, breathing treatment, 3 new prescriptions, again.
I have good health insurance.
I pay way too much every two weeks, but there is just no choice for me and my family. I have to have insurance, even as inadequate as it is, and again, I mean it, I have good insurance.
Today, I’m thinking about the three phone calls from CVS for me to come by and pick up the new medications and now that I need to get three new scripts filled, well, I know, I just can’t do it.
It feels a little odd saying this out loud, or in writing. No matter how I say it or in what venue, it makes me feel like a failure. You see, I can’t afford the medication.
Can’t afford it.
The 5 medications I am currently on costs more than $200 a month. I see a Dr. for a chronic condition, monthly. That’s another $30. Each time I do see her, she gives me samples to help me make it through the month, but it doesn’t. It never stretches to the entire month, but hey, it could be worse, right?
The new medications, that I have not yet filled, were based on the older medicines not working for my body any longer. One new one is $68 for for the inhaler. I need 2 puffs a day. This new med, replaces a $20 medication and has no generic, Nice, right?
The other new one, is $76 and I need 2 pills a day. And the newest ones from today, well, I didn’t even have the guts to drop ‘em off. I know one will be only $5, but the other two, I have no idea. I can’t pick up the $76 one, what makes me think that I can pick up the new ones? At this point, even the $5 one is out of my price range.
All of this probably sounds pretty familiar to lots of you reading this. Cost for health care is just too high. I’m middle class. I have insurance. I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do, and yet, at the end of the day at only 39, I can’t afford the things that will simply help me breathe. And all of this comes when I have insurance. I even have “good” insurance, but that sure seems relative from my current position. I still have to make the choice between paying the electric bill or getting the new medication. Kind of sucks, doesn’t it?
With all the success I’ve had in my life, nothing really makes much difference at the end of the day when I can’t breathe. And, I’m not alone according to CNN, I’ve got lots of company:
By one estimate, 25 million Americans can’t afford to cover the gap between what their insurance covers and their medical bills demand.
25 million of us is an awful lot of Americans who have insurance coverage but still can’t afford health care.
I’m a single mom. And I’ve got lots on my mind, yeah, like many of you.
I seem to always be worrying about the future. You know like:
How do I make the mortgage this month?
Do I have to by generic or can I go for the brand name cereal?
Oh, no, not the Electric bill?
But now, I got this other thing on my mind, college.
My kid is looking at graduating. She attends a very small private school in DC on a scholarship (rock on my most amazing kid for getting a scholarship) and can graduate as early as this winter.
As proud as I am of this amazing kid, I’m like a lot of parents, I’m worried. I’m worried about how to put her through her top choices, and it appears, students are worried about the same thing according to MSNBC:
For many transfers, the financial burden dawned on them after several years. The poor economy and high tuition has already filtered down to high school seniors. A recent survey showed that many don’t want to make the same mistake as their old counterparts — they’re forgoing costly schools now.
I’d love for my daughter to go to her top choices, Stanford or Middlebury, but I can’t see how I’ll be able to afford more than Ohio State, if I can even do that. And this seems to be the real trend, rising costs for college, across the board.
As the economy worsened, less has been given to endowment funds, less to state run schools, even to the county schools. Take Winona State University in Minnesota:
Tuition at WSU has increased 85 percent since 2001, from $3,110 to $5,768 per year.
An 85% increase in 8 years?
How is that even possible? According to the Freakonomics blog,there’s a lot of factors, but they boil it down to staffing.
Support staff! SNIP
This explanation seems satisfying (intellectually, at least, if not emotionally). But it’s probably also important to consider how much money colleges have been putting into student amenities as well. When I visited my undergrad alma mater a few years ago, the chancellor pointed out that three buildings had gone up in the past decade or so that were each larger than any existing building on campus. There was a library, a convocation center (a multipurpose arena), and a huge student gym. The gym, he said, was a top priority because parents and prospective students increasingly think of themselves as customers, shopping for the most amenities for the best price, and the colleges that didn’t come to grips with this would soon see their customers going elsewhere.
I get the support staff increases. With new technologies, you do need new types of staff. When I went to college, we had 3 computer labs on campus and my Apple at each of them always seemed to freeze up everytime I tried to type a freakin’ paper, I hear Macs are much better than my old computer lab days, but, I digress. Today, how many kids still rely on the computer lab? How many professors are reading e-mailed papers or papers saved on google docs?
As we have moved into the age of technology, strains have been placed on our schools from the elementary level to the highest levels of graduate education. But what do we get from all of this? From the technology to the cost to the education?
What do we really get?
Indigestion seems to be the answer for me. Indigestion caused by worry.
As a single working mom, I don’t think I can afford either. Could somebody pass the Tums?
