LETTER
Published By
AMERICAN INCOME LIFE & NATIONAL INCOME LIFE
LABOR ADVISORY BOARD
TERRY O'SULLIVAN, President - Laborers' International Union of North America, Chairman - AIL/NILICO Labor Advisory Board
VICTOR KAMBER, Vice President - American Income Life Insurance Company, Executive Director - AIL/NILICO Labor Advisory Board
ROGER SMITH, Chief Executive Ofcer - American Income Life Insurance Company, President - AIL/NILICO Labor Advisory Board
DENISE BOWYER, Vice President - American Income Life Insurance Company, Secretary - AIL/NILICO Labor Advisory Board
FEBRUARY 2016
Vol. 48 No. 1
NEWS FROM THE
AFL-CIO, CTW,
INTERNATIONAL &
NATIONAL UNIONS
Workers blocked bridges,
marched through terminals and protested
at nine airports during a day of civil dis-
obedience on Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day, January 18. ey included cleaners,
baggage handlers, fuelers, wheelchair at-
tendants and other low-wage workers de-
termined to bring the nation’s attention
to their demand for better wages, said the
Service Employees International Union.
e actions were the latest in the nation-
wide campaign in support of a $15 hourly
minimum wage. Demonstrations were or-
ganized at Reagan National Airport serv-
ing Washington, D.C., Boston, New York,
Newark, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago,
Portland and Seattle. “ese men and
women are calling for real change at all
these airports in the hopeful and vision-
ary spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King,”
said Jaime Contreras, head of 32BJ Service
Employees International Union for the
Washington area. “We are protesting what
we already know is a gross injustice and
humiliating working conditions.” Most of
the airport workers earn as little as $6.75
an hour and are forced to work two or
three jobs to sustain their families. ey
work for companies that are contracted by
the airlines and some workers alleged dis-
crimination, harassment and hostile work
environments in addition to low pay.
America’s unions intensied
opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership
trade deal now before Congress. On Janu-
ary 13, representatives from the AFL-CIO,
United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers
and International Association of Machin-
ists testified before a mandated-hearing
by the International Trade Commission
on the economic impact of the pact. “To
date, increased trade globalization of the
corporate model has led to increasing trade
deficits and a corresponding loss of jobs for
America’s workers,” said Celeste Drake, a
trade and globalization policy specialist for
the AFL-CIO. “Our manufacturing sector
has been hollowed out, losing about 5 mil-
lion jobs and 60,000 factories since 2000.”
USW President Leo Gerard echoed her
comments as he warned steel production
and auto manufacturing have moved over-
seas in part as a result of bad international
trade deals. “e TPP will be a nail in the
coffin for huge parts of the American in-
dustrial base,” he said. e proposed TPP
trade deal includes the U.S. and the nations
of Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada,
Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zea-
land, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
West Virginia Governor Earl
Ray Tomblin vetoed both the right to work
and prevailing wage bills passed earlier this
year. In a letter to Republican state Sen-
ate President Bill Cole, Tomblin expressed
his disapproval of the Workplace Freedom
Act (SB 1). “I do not believe West Virginia
Protesting the TPP. Flickr.com photo used under Creative Commons from cool revolution.
Pg 2 LABOR LETTER
launch a race to the bottom on wages and
benefits for U.S. workers, including union
construction workers. “e expansion of the
H-2B visa program is just the latest win for
America’s economic elite. And as is too of-
ten the case, middle-class workers will pay
the price for that victory,” he said.
INTERNATIONAL
LABOR NEWS
Some 3,000 Greek public and
private sector workers, pensioners and
students peacefully marched through the
streets of Athens in January to protest the
leftist-led government’s proposed pension
cuts demanded by the country’s interna-
tional creditors as part of its third bailout.
e demonstrators rallied outside parlia-
ment where they held banners proclaiming
“You cannot bargain with social security”
and chanted “Keep your hands off our pen-
sions!” “We will fight to protect our rights
and force the government to withdraw
this monstrous plan that it calls a reform,”
the secretary-general of the private sector
union GSEE, Nikos Kioutsoukis, told Re-
uters. Labor unions staged a 24-hour gen-
eral strike against the planned reform, the
third such walkout in three months. But
after five years of belt-tightening, turnout
in recent protests has been weak due to aus-
terity fatigue and resignation.
needs a right-to-work law, a law that would
lead to little if any economy growth and may
lower the wages of West Virginia workers,”
he wrote. Cole, in turn, issued a statement
saying he was “not surprised,” but “disap-
pointed” with Tomblin’s decision. Tomb-
lin also sent a letter to Republican House
Speaker Tim Armstead to veto the repeal
of prevailing wage (HB 4005), to which
Armstead replied that the governor’s deci-
sion wasn’t the response he had hoped for.
Both the house and the Senate are expected
to override both vetoes.
Congressional expansion of
the H-2B visa program is only the latest
example of America’s growing disdain for
blue-collar workers, declared Sean McGar-
vey, president of the AFL-CIO Building &
Construction Trades Department. McGar-
vey said the newly enacted federal budget
will allow four times as many foreign mi-
grant workers to get non-agricultural jobs
in industries like construction and manu-
facturing via temporary H-2B visas. He
pointed out that the U.S. job market, how-
ever, is so tight that a recent economic anal-
ysis reveals that six unemployed Americans
are competing for every single job opening
in construction. “ose foreign workers
will quickly crowd out U.S. ones and throw
even more Americans into the unemploy-
ment lines,” he charged. McGarvey warned
that expanding the H-2B visa program will
The number of strikes and
worker protests in China increased dra-
matically at the end of 2015 in response to
the nation’s economic slowdown, report-
ed China Labour Bulletin. According
to the human rights organization, there
were 2,774 incidents in 2015, double the
1,379 incidents for 2014. Manufacturing,
construction and mining all saw a mas-
sive upsurge in disputes. e number of
disputes heightened after the government
devalued the yuan on August 11 and the
subsequent stock market crash. But Chi-
na Labour Bulletin asserted the economic
downturn was only partially responsible
for the increase in labor turmoil. More
than two thirds of all the disputes record-
ed in 2015, for example, were related to
the non-payment of wages. “e funda-
mental cause has been systematic failure
of employers to respect the basic rights
of employees, such as being paid on time
and receiving their legally mandated ben-
efits, and the failure of local government
officials to enforce labor law,” it said.
IndustriALL Global Union
condemned the ai military govern-
ment for suppressing a peaceful protest
by union members in Bangkok January 6.
e union members held a rally outside
the Ministry of Labour in support of 500
locked-out workers at Japanese-owned
auto-part supplier Sanko Gosei. Invoking
new powers under the Public Assembly
Act 2015, police and military units used
force to break up the demonstrator, who
planned to spend the night in front of the
ministry. Two union leaders were later
detained, questioned and intimidated by
authorities. ey had participated earlier
in the day in mediation negotiations with
Sanko Gosei and the Ministry of Labour.
“We are gravely concerned that the gov-
ernment is using the Public Assembly Act
to curb the legitimate rights of workers
to gather peacefully,” said Jyrki Raina,
general secretary of IndustriALL. “is
goes against all norms and international
standards.” More than 600 Sanko Gosei
workers, who are all union members, were
locked out after negotiations broke down
over a new collective bargaining agree-
ment and bonuses.
Protest in Greece. Flickr.com photo used under Creative Commons from Des Byrne.
LABOR LETTER Pg 3
our results understate the impact of the
weakening labor movement on the hollow-
ing out of the U.S. middle class,” the study
said. e report cited a recent report by the
Pew Research Center which showed that
the share of adults in the middle class—de-
fined as those households earning between
67 percent and 200 percent of median U.S.
income—fell from 61 percent in 1971 to
just 50 percent in 2014. “Making America a
middle-class country once again will require
policies that raise median earnings and in-
comes and that bring more workers and
households into the middle class. Increas-
ing union coverage is important for both,
as well as for possibly increasing economic
mobility,” the study concluded.
At a time when workers are ex-
pected to fund more of their retirement,
only about half of full-time employees par-
ticipate in a workplace retirement plan, ac-
cording to a new report by the Pew Chari-
table Trusts. e study also found that re-
tirement benefits varied considerably by
state and industry. In 17 states, for example,
less than half of workers participate in a re-
tirement plan. ese states include Florida,
Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Cali-
fornia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia and
Mississippi. People who live in the Midwest
and New England have the most retire-
ment plans available. Minnesota and Wis-
consin are the two states with the highest
Canadian labour will be watch-
ing the new Liberal government closely to
see how it will implement commitments
around Employment Insurance, infrastruc-
ture and skills training, said the Canadian
Labour Congress (CLC). CLC President
Hassan Yussuff said the country needs a
“clear plan” that provides workers with the
skills and training to transition into the
sectors of the economy with growing jobs.
“We are playing catch-up but with a new
federal government, we can move quickly to
turn things around, diversify our economy
and ensure a just transition for workers into
good, green jobs,” Yussuff said. He noted
Statistics Canada’s December 2015 Labour
Force Survey results which pointed to a
rocky year for jobs in 2015 and trends in the
coming year which could get worse “with-
out government action.”
NATIONAL AND
POLITICAL EVENTS
The decline of labor unions
over the past 30 years accounts for 35 per-
cent of the falling share of middle-class
workers, said a new report issued by the
Center for American Progress. “To the ex-
tent that union-induced wage increases spill
over from union to nonunion workers and
that union advocacy produces economic and
social policies that benefit the middle class,
retirement benefit participation where 61
percent of workers have joined their work-
place retirement plans.
President Obama proposed a
new wage insurance plan to help temporar-
ily cushion the financial blow to displaced
middle-class workers, including those hurt
by free trade, globalization and technologi-
cal change. Under the plan, workers who
lose their jobs and take new ones at lower
salaries would receive supplemental pay-
ments. According to the administration, the
wage insurance plan would replace half of
a worker’s lost wages, up to $10,000 over
two years, for those earning up to $50,000
a year. “Displaced workers making less than
$50,000 who were with their prior employ-
er for at least three years would be able to le-
verage these resources to help them get back
on their feet and on the way to new careers,
the White House said in a statement. e
plan was included in the administration’s
budget proposal which is expected to be
rejected by the Republican-controlled Con-
gress. President Obama has proposed wage
insurance twice before, in a 2011 jobs bill
and in his 2012 State of the Union address.
REGIONAL &
LOCAL LABOR
NEWS
A nearly month old strike at
two Chicago area Coca-Cola production
plants ended last month when workers ap-
proved a new three-year contract that in-
cludes annual wage hikes and better health
benefits. e pact covers 319 production
and warehouse workers and transport driv-
ers at plants in Niles and Alsip who are
represented by Teamsters Local 727. “From
the very beginning, the hardworking men
and women at Coca-Cola Refreshments
wanted their voices heard, and by standing
together they’ve achieved a strong contract
that respects the work that they do,” John T.
Coli, secretary-treasurer of Local 727, said
in a news release. e workers walked off
their jobs December 3 in the first strike at
the plants since 1985 to protest the com-
pany’s unfair labor practices. e union had
earlier filed charges with the National La-
bor Relations Board charging the soft drink
CLC President Hassan Yussuff. Flickr.com photo used under Creative Commons from United Steelworkers.
Pg 4 LABOR LETTER
IN THE PUBLIC
SECTOR
Detroit teachers engaged in a
“sickout” last month to protest unsafe,
crumbling, vermin-infested and inade-
quately staffed buildings, and the failure of
state lawmakers to agree on a plan to rescue
a system teetering on the edge of insolvency.
e Detroit Federation of Teachers did not
authorize the action but leaders expressed
sympathy for the teachers’ action. “We
haven’t sanctioned the sickouts, but I want
everyone to understand the frustration,”
Ivy Bailey, interim president of the Detroit
Federation of Teachers, told the news me-
dia. “I don’t support the method,” but she
refused to condemn the teachers who had
taken part, saying she understood their an-
ger. “ere are rats, there’s rodents, there’s
dripping water, there’s holes,” she said.
“is is unacceptable. is is black mold.
Our children are in that building breathing
this day in and day out. is is third world.”
Gov. Rick Snyder and the Republican-led
legislature have been in talks for a year to
restructure the school system, but they have
been unable to reach agreement on a plan.
e school district is an independent entity
with an elected board and was not a part of
the city’s 2013-14 bankruptcy plan.
Public sector unions prepared
for the worse as the Supreme Court heard
oral arguments on “fair share” or “agency fee”
payments by non-union members under a
collective bargaining agreement. e case,
Friedrichs v. California Teachers Associa-
tion, hinges on whether agency fee dues are
a violation of workers’ freedom of speech.
A decision in favor of the plaintiffs would
overturn a 1977 Supreme Court ruling
(Abood v. Detroit Board of Education) that
unanimously protected the right of public
workers to form unions and required those
employees who refused to join the union
to pay a mandatory “fair share” of monthly
dues to cover the union’s cost of bargain-
ing on their behalf. “e court has already
ruled that unions have an obligation to rep-
resent non-members and that is not likely
to change. It also ruled that non-members
have an obligation to contribute to the
costs of representation and bargaining. If
giant was bargaining in bad faith. e new
contract is retroactive to May 1 and expires
April 30, 2018. Workers will receive a 3 per-
cent wage increase the first year and a 2.5
percent increase in the second and third
years. Coca-Cola also will establish a new
401(k) retirement plan and match 50 per-
cent of worker contributions, up to 10 per-
cent of their total income.
After 60 years in Brooklyn,
N.Y., Cumberland Packing Corp., the fam-
ily-owned company that created the sugar
substitute Sweet’N Low, recently informed
its 300 employees that manufacturing and
packing work would end over the coming
year. Work will be shifted to other parts
of the country and only the headquarters
would remain in the borough. Jahan Khan,
an employee on the United Food and Com-
mercial Workers Local 2013 bargaining
committee, which had been in contract ne-
gotiations for several months, reported the
closure was never mentioned “at any time
at all with us.” Workers and elected officials
protested the closing but the company cited
New York’s high costs of labor and real es-
tate for making the move. e union and
company are reportedly discussing ways to
help employees find new jobs. Some have
been with the firm for decades.
the court now rules in favor of the plaintiffs
in Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Asso-
ciation, the justices would be overturning a
nearly 40-year precedent,” said CTA Presi-
dent Joshua Pechthalt.
SIGNIFICANT
LEGAL AND NLRB
RULINGS
A U.S. appeals court recently
ruled that the owner of the Trump Taj
Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey,
may break its agreement with union work-
ers which potentially clears the way for the
company to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
(Republican presidential candidate Donald
Trump has said he no longer has a stake
in the company he founded and which still
bears his name.) e resort filed for bank-
ruptcy in 2014 and convinced a U.S. bank-
ruptcy judge that it needed to impose a
new cost-cutting concessionary contract on
unionized workers in order to secure a bail-
out deal with billionaire Carl Icahn. Unite
Here Local 54, which represents the work-
ers, filed an appeal. “e Taj Mahal will
never turn around and be successful with-
out the full participation and involvement
of its workers. at won’t happen while
people have to worry about their future,”
said Local 54 President Bob McDevitt.
He said the union would evaluate its op-
tions, including possible legal steps. At the
time of the bankruptcy, the resort employed
about 3,000 people when the casino group
filed for bankruptcy which includes 1,500
union workers
Protecting Working Families
www.ailife.com
LABOR LETTER
provided through
Flickr.com photo used under Creative Commons
from Bill & Vicki T.
AGENDA
FEBRUARY 2016
WHY THE
CADILLAC TAX
NEEDS TO GO
e Patient Protection and Afford-
able Care Act was a progressive step
forward for working families. anks to
the law, also known as Obamacare, more
than 16 million Americans now have
health coverage. And it includes desper-
ately needed reforms to the insurance in-
dustry, including one that prevents com-
panies from denying coverage to people
with pre-existing conditions.
at’s why the IBEW – and most of
the labor movement – supported the ACA
and continues to defend against efforts to
abolish it.
But there is a provision in the law
that could end up undermining the whole
purpose of the legislation. e so-called
“Cadillac tax” imposes a levy on what the
federal government deems are high-cost
plans; in other words, plans that provide
comprehensive medical coverage like
those that serve many union members
across the country.
As called for by ACA, an excise tax of
40 percent on health plans whose value is
more than $10,200 for individual coverage
and $27,500 for a family would go into ef-
fect in 2018.
In effect, the law punishes employers
that did the right thing by providing ex-
cellent medical benefits, while hurting em-
ployees, many of who had foregone wage
increases in lieu of better benefits.
Despite its name, the tax doesn’t just
effect high-quality plans. Because it’s in-
dexed to the consumer price index, an in-
creasing number of plans will be subject
to it year after year. In fact, more than 80
percent of plans will trigger the tax by 2023
according to a 2014 Towers Watson survey,
with the total tax liability for companies
reaching nearly $80 billion.
“is tax endangers and will dete-
riorate health benefits for American work-
ers and their families,” said Matt Man-
ders, President, U.S. Markets and Global
Health Care Operations for Cigna. “It will
hit a broad spectrum of plans, not just those
with very rich benefits.”
e last thing our economy needs is a
disincentive to private employers to provide
health coverage. e goal of the ACA was
to increase the number of Americans cov-
ered, not decrease it.
Supporters claim it will help fight
health-care inflation. But as any employer
or employee who sat at the bargaining table
in the last decade knows, containing health
costs has been an ongoing priority long be-
fore the ACA went into effect.
e tax essentially puts the full onus
for containing health spending on middle-
class families – most of whom have already
seen cutbacks to their benefits.
e American Health Policy Institute
estimated in a November 2014 study that
“employees could see up to a $6,150 reduc-
tion in their health care benefits and little
or no increase in their pay.”
While December’s Congressional
budget deal delayed full implementation
of the tax for an additional two years, al-
ready it’s causing bargaining headaches for
many unions, as employers are increasingly
demanding healthcare cutbacks in expecta-
tion of increased costs in the near future.
As U.S. News and World Report writ-
er Dean Clancy wrote over the summer:
“At first, most employers will shrink ben-
efits just enough to avoid the tax. But when
the tax becomes unavoidable, they’ll drop
benefits altogether.”
ere was no question that our health
care system was broken previous to the pas-
sage of the ACA. But at least in one part of
the economy, we had pioneered a private-
sector model that showed that both labor
and management could come together to
provide good coverage to all employees.
Now that model is in danger thanks to
one ill thought-out tax.
e good news is that a bipartisan co-
alition in Congress has come together to
call for its repeal.
More than 300 members of Congress
– Republicans and Democrats alike – have
called for eliminating the tax.
But there are still many holdouts – in-
cluding President Obama.
Taxing hard-earned health benefits
has always been a bad idea. It was bad
when then presidential candidate Barack
Obama denounced Sen. John McCain (R-
Ariz.) for supporting it back in 2008. At
the time, Obama denounced it as “radi-
cal” and “not a good deal for the American
people.” It remains a bad deal for working
families today as we’re learning at bargain-
ing tables across America.
While Congress’s two-year delay in
the tax’s implementation is a step forward,
what the American people really need is
full repeal.
Lonnie
Stephenson
International
President,
International
Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers
Pg 2 AGENDA
CLUW 19th Biennial Convention
AIL had a major presence at the CLUW’s 18th Biennial Convention held
recently in Sacramento, Calif. Susan Fuldauer, AIL VP of Public Relations
(left), joins the winner of the AIL $100 Visa Gift card, Isabel Figueroa of
AFSCME DC 37 Local 420 (center), along with Ruth Brantley, Secretary,
AFSCME DC 37 Local 957.
Teamsters National Hispanic Caucus Gala
The Teamsters National Hispanic Caucus recently held their 8th Annual
Gala in New Jersey. AIL PR Rep Brenda Di Somma attended the event
which honored Ron Herrera, Western Teamsters Reg. Int'l V.P. and
Treasurer/Principal Ofcer, Local 396 & Executive Director, Teamster
National Hispanic Caucus. Shown are (left to right) Herrera; Maria S. Perez,
President, Teamster Hispanic Caucus, New Jersey Chapter & Teamster
Local 97 Secretary-Treasurer; Di Somma; Alphonse Rispoli, Jr., Teamster
Joint Council 73 President & Teamster Local 863 Secretary-Treasurer.
Kansas AFL-CIO Convention
AIL PR Manager Cindy Cleary and PR Marketing Specialist Dee Hettinger
attended the recently held Kansas AFL-CIO convention. Shown are (left
to right) Cindy, Bruce Tunnell, Exec. Vice-President, Kansas AFL-CIO;
Dee Hettinger.
Food Delivery to Teamsters Local 59
Thirty-four members of Teamsters Local 59 in the New Bedford, MA area
recently lost their jobs when a plant closed. AIL PR Rep Robin Andrade reports
the Laura Fisher SGA ofce donated food and gift cards, and Francisco Perez
and Albert Serur SGA ofces donated food to assist the union families. Food
was delivered by Andrade, PR Manager Rosanna Gill, and the Fisher Agency’s
Ryan Hall and Brian Zuzick of the Fisher SGA ofce. In the photo are (left
to right) Hall, Zuzick, Local 59 Secy.-Treas. & Executive Ofcer George F.
Belanger, Andrade, and Local 59 ofce manager Donna Saunders.
AGENDA Pg 3
Syracuse Anti-TPP Rally
The Greater Syracuse Labor Council recently
held a rally to oppose the pending Trans-Pacic
Partnership trade pact, reports National Income
Life PR Marketing Specialist Dave Scalisi. He is
shown in the center holding the NILICO sign.
Lincolnshire IL.,
Anti-RTW Protest
AIL PR Rep Susan Gilbert meets with Citizens'
Action founder William McNary during a protest
against a proposed Right to Work ordinance in
Lincolnshire, IL
Galveston (Tex.) Central
Labor Council
PR Manager Christa Davis (L) and PR Marketing
Specialist Lacy Martin attended the Galveston
(TX) Central Labor Council Christmas party. AIL
was a sponsor for the event.
AIL’s Sanchez Serves as LCLAA Delegate
Representing OPEIU 277, AIL PR Marketing Specialist Steve Sanchez
served as a delegate to the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
regional conference held recently in Los Angeles. AIL was a supporter of the
event and sponsored a drawing for a gift card. In the photo, PR Manager
Carmella Swanson (left) and Sanchez (right) congratulate the rafe winner.
Fight for $15 in Tampa
Joining an estimated 270 cities across America, union workers and their
supporters recently held a major rally and march in Tampa in support of a
$15 minimum wage for low-wage workers. AIL’s PR Marketing Specialist Lisa
Guay joined the demonstrators to show the company’s support. In the photo,
Guay (center, standing) joins other marchers at the event.
Pg 4 AGENDA
YTD CONTRIBUTIONS
Listed below are some of the contributions made on behalf of AIL/NILICO, its State General Agents, and
directed by the Labor Advisory Board. 2015 YTD contributions totaled more than $1.9 million.
• AFL-CIO MLK Civil Rights Conference
• Alberta Federation of Labour Convention
• Alliance For Retired Americans
• American Friends of Yitzhak Rabin Center
• American Sustainable Business Council
• APALA
• Broadbent Institute
• Brother Rice High School - Bill Hite Scholarship
Fund
• Campaign For Migrant Worker Justice
• Canadian Federation of Nurses Union
• CBTU
• DC Labor FilmFest
• District 1199C Training and Upgrading Fund
• Economic Policy Institute
• Elderly Housing Development & Operations
Corporation
• Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
• Empire State College - Bahr Scholarship
• Gala Theatre
• Guide Dogs of America
• Interfaith Worker Justice
• IUPA
• James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund
• Jewish Labor Committee
• Jobs With Justice Education Fund
• John H. Lyons Sr. Scholarship Foundation
• LAANE
• Labor of Love
• LCLAA
• LIUNA Charitable Foundation
• Manitoba Federation of Labour
• Metal Trades Department
• Midwest Academy
• Museum of the Moving Image
• New England Center For Homeless Veterans
• Newfoundland & Labrador Federation of Labour
• Next Up Young Worker Summit
• North America's Building Trades Unions
• Ontario Federation of Labour
• OPCMIA Scholarship Foundation
• Partnership For Working Families
• PEI Federation of Labour
• SAG-AFTRA
• Saskatchewan Federation of Labour
• Seafarers El Faro Assistance Fund
• Sheet Metal Workers International Association
Scholarship Foundation
• Southwest Voter Registration Education Project
• The Edwin D. Hill Charitable Trust
• UFCW Leukemia
• UNIFOR Ontario Region Golf Classic
• Union Sportsmen's Alliance
• United Farm Workers
• Working America
• Workmen's Circle
AGENDA LAB
With their advice, American Income Life & National Income Life
Insurance Company provides substantial nancial assistance to
labor and labor-related causes, and develops programs to best
meet the needs of union members and their families.
Membership on the Labor Advisory Board constitutes neither an
endorsement of AIL/NILICO nor its products. The only obligation
of membership on the Board is to provide guidance on how
AIL/NILICO might best serve the interests of their respective
members and the labor movement.
Labor Advisory Board members recognize that AIL/NILICO is a fully
organized, 100 percent union company that offers supplemental
insurance plans primarily to union members. AIL is honored to
be among those “All-Union Wall-to-Wall” companies cited by the
AFL-CIO Union Label and Service Trades Department.
LABOR ADVISORY BOARD
These outstanding union leaders are members of American Income Life &
National Income Life Labor Advisory Board.
Denise Bowyer
Vice President
American Income Life
Secretary
Labor Advisory Board
Roger Smith
Chief Executive Ofcer
American Income Life
President
Labor Advisory Board
Terry O’Sullivan
President
Laborers’ International Union of
North America
Chairman
Labor Advisory Board
Victor Kamber
Vice President
American Income Life
Executive Director
Labor Advisory Board
Paul E. Almeida
President
Department for
Professional Employees,
AFL-CIO
Hon. David
Bonior
Former US
Congressman
Honorary Member
Labor Advisory Board
Dave Durkee
International
President
Bakery, Confectionery,
Tobacco Workers & Grain
Millers International Union
Stuart
Appelbaum
President
Retail, Wholesale &
Department Store Union,
UFCW
Clayola Brown
President
A. Philip Randolph Institute
Barbara
Easterling
President
Alliance for Retired
Americans
Ronald Ault
President
Metal Trades
Department, AFL-CIO
Samuel Cabral
President
International Union of
Police Associations
Patrick Finley
General President
Operative Plasterers’
& Cement Masons’
International Association
of the US & Canada
Morty Bahr
President Emeritus
Communications Workers
of America
Chairman Emeritus
Labor Advisory Board
James T.
Callahan
General President
International Union of
Operating Engineers
Tefere Gebre
Executive Vice
President
AFL-CIO
Dave Barrett
Former Premier
Province of British
Columbia
Honorary Member
Labor Advisory Board
Frank
Christensen
General President
International Union of
Elevator Constructors
Hon. Richard
Gephardt
Former US
Congressman
Honorary Member
Labor Advisory Board
James Boland
President
International Union of
Bricklayers &
Allied Craftworkers
Rose Ann
DeMoro
Executive Director
California Nurses
Association
Robert E.
Gleason
Former Secretary-
Treasurer
International
Longshoremen’s
Association
Raymond Hair
President
American Federation
of Musicians
Lorretta
Johnson
Secretary-Treasurer
American Federation
of Teachers
William Lucy
President Emeritus
Coalition of Black
Trade Unionists
Sara Nelson
International
President
Association of Flight
Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO
Paul Rinaldi
President
National Air Trafc
Controllers Association
Milton Rosado
President
Labor Council For Latin
American Advancement
Lonnie
Stephenson
International
President
International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers
Diann Woodard
President
American Federation of
School Administrators
Mary Kay Henry
President
Service Employees
International Union
Newton B. Jones
International
President
International Brotherhood
of Boilermakers, Iron Ship
Builders, Blacksmiths,
Forgers & Helpers
Hon. Ray
Marshall
Former US Secretary
of Labor
Honorary Member
Labor Advisory Board
Oscar Owens
International
Secretary-Treasurer
Amalgamated
Transit Union
Clyde Rivers
President Emeritus
California School
Employees Association
Michael Sacco
President
Seafarers International
Union & Maritime Trades
Department, AFL-CIO
John J.
Sweeney
President Emeritus
AFL-CIO
William Hite
President
United Association of
Journeymen & Apprentices
of the Plumbing & Pipe
Fitting Industry of US &
Canada
Greg Junemann
President
International Federation
of Professional &
Technical Engineers
Mary McColl
Executive Director
Actors’ Equity Association
Anthony “Marc”
Perrone
General President
United Food &
Commercial Workers
International Union
Robert Roach, Jr.
General Secretary-
Treasurer (retired)
International Association
of Machinists &
Aerospace Workers
Chris Shelton
President
Communications Workers
of America
George
Tedeschi
President
Graphic Communications
Conference/International
Brotherhood of Teamsters
James Hoffa
General President
International Brotherhood
of Teamsters
D. Michael
Langford
National President
Utility Workers Union
of America, AFL-CIO
James “Bud”
McCourt
General President
International Association
of Heat & Frost Insulators
& Allied Workers
W. D. “Dan”
Pickett
President
Brotherhood of
Railroad Signalmen
Cecil Roberts
President
United Mine Workers
of America
Elizabeth E.
Shuler
Secretary-Treasurer
AFL-CIO
Richard Trumka
President
AFL-CIO
Paul Hogrogian
National President
National Postal Mail
Handlers Union
Matthew Loeb
International
President
International Alliance of
Theatrical Stage Employees
Sean McGarvey
President
Building &
Construction Trades
Department, AFL-CIO
Laura Reyes
Secretary-Treasurer
American Federation of
State, County & Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
Kinsey
Robinson
International
President
United Union of
Roofers, Waterproofers
& Allied Workers
Bruce R. Smith
President
Glass, Molders, Pottery,
Plastics & Allied
Workers International
Baldemar
Velasquez
President
Farm Labor
Organizing Committee
Ken Howard
President
Screen Actors Guild
- American Federation of
Television & Radio Artists
Harry Lombardo
International
President
Transport Workers Union
of America, AFL-CIO
Terrence Melvin
President
Coalition of Black
Trade Unionists
Kenneth E.
Rigmaiden
General President
International Union of
Painters & Allied
Trades, AFL-CIO
Arturo
Rodriguez
President
United Farm Workers
of America
DeMaurice
Smith
Executive Director
National Football League
Players Association
James Williams
General President
Emeritus
International Union of
Painters & Allied Trades
Chairman Emeritus
Labor Advisory Board
AGENDA LAB
