Labor/Employment

The head of the nation’s largest labor federation blasted GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for pandering to coal country, saying President Obama would better support miners’ rights and jobs.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said Romney’s coal country plaudits are a farce. He pointed to Romney’s time at the helm of Bain Capital, which he said led to outsourcing that trampled middle-class jobs. At the same time, Trumka said, Romney in 2003 had opposed coal as governor of Massachusetts.

“Those EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] regulations were ordered by the Supreme Court as a result of a lawsuit by Mitt Romney’s state when he was governor,” Trumka said. “If there is a war on coal, it starts and ends with Mitt Romney.”

Negotiators in a protracted labor dispute between workers and management at sea ports along the East Coast are "making good progress," the mediator that is overseeing the talks is reporting.

A potential shut down of several ports along the Atlantic coast on Oct. 1 was narrowly avoided when the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) and the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) agreed to extend their negotiations after they stalled in August.

Retail groups had warned that a shut down of the East Coast ports would have ripple effects across the entire U.S. economy as goods are being shipped into the country for the holiday season.

The AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department is crediting President Obama for gains in transportation employment in the latest jobs report.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday that the transportation sector had 17,000 jobs as part of an overall increase of 114,000 jobs in September. The hiring boost brought the national unemployment rate down to 7.8 percent, the first dip below 8 percent since Obama took office.

AFL-CIO TTD President Ed Wytkind said Friday afternoon that Obama's policies were responsible for the uptick in transportation employment.

“Transportation workers are seeing their ranks grow steadily under job-creating policies put forth by President Obama," Wytkind said in a statement, citing the 17 percent increase in transportation jobs from August. “President Obama’s efforts to steadily improve the economy and create jobs are coming to fruition."

Employment in the transportation sector increased by 17,000 jobs in September as the U.S. unemployment rate ticked below 8 percent for the first time since 2009.

Statistics released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed an increase of 114,000 jobs in September, bringing the national unemployment rate down to 7.8 percent from an 8.1 percent mark last month.

The BLS report showed employment in the transportation sector increased from 4,391,000 in August to 4,408,100 last month.

Senate Republicans joined a lawsuit on Wednesday that opposes controversial recess appointments President Obama made to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) earlier this year.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he and 41 other GOP senators are filing an amicus brief to show that Obama acted outside the Constitution when he appointed three members to the labor board in January.

“The president’s decision to circumvent the American people by installing his appointees at a powerful federal agency while the Senate was continuing to hold sessions, and without obtaining the advice and consent of the Senate, is an unprecedented power grab,” McConnell said in a statement. “We will demonstrate to the court how the president’s unconstitutional actions fundamentally endanger the Congress’s role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch.”

The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is hoping to turn its members' passengers into voters in the upcoming presidential and congressional elections.

ATU International President Larry Hanley said the union, which represents public transit employees, would be launching voter-mobilization efforts in Cleveland and Denver beginning at the end of the month.

The cities are two of the largest metropolitan areas in Ohio and Colorado, which are among the most hotly contested states in the race between President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. 

The transportation sector added 5,700 jobs in August as the U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to 8.1 percent.

Statistics released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed an increase of 96,000 jobs in August. The report followed a speech from President Obama accepting the Democratic nomination for reelection in which he pledged to “put more people back to work rebuilding roads and bridges and schools and runways.”

The BLS report showed employment in the transportation sector increased from 4,379,700 in July to 4,385,400 last month.

Negotiations over a new labor agreement for workers at ports on the East Coast will resume this month, the group that is mediating the contentious discussions said Thursday.

Talks between the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) and the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) had stalled last month after months of negotiations.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) said Thursday that the two sides have agreed to return to the negotiating table on Sept. 17, however.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) touted a “victory” over the National Labor Relations Board in her address Tuesday to the Republican National Convention. 

Haley was referring to the NLRB's lawsuit against airplane manufacturer Boeing, which had sought to open a plant in Haley's state. 

Haley said the lawsuit, which was dropped by the NLRB earlier this year, was an example of government overreach under President Obama. 

“Boeing started a new line for their 787 Dreamliner, creating 1,000 new jobs in South Carolina, giving our state a shot in the arm when we truly needed it,” Haley said of the decision that launched the months-long NLRB lawsuit.

“At the same time, they expanded their job numbers in Washington state by 2,000,” Haley continued, according to prepared remarks released by the Republican National Committee. “Not a single person was hurt by their decision. Not one. And what did President Obama and his National Labor Relations Board do? They sued this iconic American company. It was shameful. And not worthy of the promise of America.”

Democratic and Republican lawmakers filed arguments on Monday about the rules for union votes after airline mergers with the National Mediation Board.

The rules at issue were included in the $63 billion appropriations bill that was passed by lawmakers earlier this year. The bill included a compromise between Democrats and Republicans that increased the percentage of a company’s workforce that would have to be in favor of holding a vote on unionization from 35 percent to 50 percent.

But the NMB has said the legislation did not stipulate what the rules would be when a unionized airline merges with an non-unionized company.

The panel asked lawmakers to comment on their intent, and a group of key leaders in each party obliged on Monday.