Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Florida Morning: Hogan, Brown will face off for mayor; Haridopolos stalls state ethics legislation
Submitted by Abel Harding on March 23, 2011 - 7:49amFlorida Morning
@abelharding, abel.harding@jacksonville.com
HARIDOPOLOS STALLS ETHICS LEGISLATION - "The office of Senate President Mike Haridopolos has put the kibosh on a fellow Republican's ethics bill ‚ the same bill Haridopolos himself had co-sponsored last year," writes the Miami Herald's Marc Caputo. "The decision to stall the bill, which is designed to crackdown on legislative voting conflicts of interest, draws attention to the issue of ethics in a Legislature where lawmakers have run afoul of disclosure laws. Haridopolos, a candidate for U.S. Senate, was recently admonished by his rules chairman for "inadvertently" failing to detail his finances on Constitutionally mandated ethics forms. Also, Haridopolos often goes out of his way to say that all senators' bills are treated similarly in that they're each assigned three committee stops ‚ and it's up to the committee chairmen to put bill on the agenda. But when the legislation sponsored by Sen. Paula Dockery appeared on the proposed Wednesday agenda for the Government Oversight and Operations Committee, Haridopolos' office ordered it removed with no explanation.
Support Fair NMB Rules for Aviation and Rail Workers
Tue. March 22, 2011
The IAM is urging members and local leaders to contact their Representatives during this week’s Congressional recess to ask them to vote “YES” on an amendment to maintain fair National Mediation Board (NMB) union voting rules for aviation and railroad workers.
Hidden deep in the FAA Reauthorization bill (HR 658) is a provision that would overturn the NMB’s current rule which allows a majority of voting employees to choose whether they wish to vote for union representation, against union representation or not vote at all. If the rule is overturned the votes of those who do not vote, will be counted as “No” votes.
The process of voting under the Railway Labor Act was changed to ensure the voice of everyone who wishes to convey their viewpoint is heard and fairly counted.
“If we applied the old NMB voting threshold to those running for federal, state or local office, thousands of elected officials would never hold public office,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “We reject returning to a process in which the government imposes a viewpoint on its citizens. And we strongly encourage Congress to support the current process where each person has the opportunity to choose for themselves if they want to vote ‘yes’ or vote ‘no’ for a union, and those who abstain from voting for whatever reason do not influence the outcome of the election.”
Debate on the FAA Reauthorization bill is expected to begin the week of March 28 th.
Please contact your Representative at their district offices via phone or in person. The message is simple: Please vote "Yes" to the Amendment to strike Section 903 NMB repeal rule from the FAA Reauthorization bill (HR 658). For more information on the bill, click here. Talking points are available here.
Click here to find your Representative’s district office address and contact information.
2011 MNPL Planning Committee Meeting Underway
Tue. March 22, 2011
With the fallout from the 2010 midterm elections still poisoning the political landscape in more than a dozen states, members of the 2011 MNPL Planning Committee are meeting in Albuquerque, NM, to evaluate ongoing campaigns and to develop aggressive strategies for the months ahead.
“We cannot sit back, we have to fight back,” declared Headquarters GVP Rich Michalski in a review of efforts by anti-union forces to silence the voice of labor unions and working people. “From Wisconsin to Washington, DC, these radical ideologues are opposed to everything we stand for.”
Michalski singled out Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, not only for his highly publicized attempts to eliminate collective bargaining for that state’s public employees, but for his earlier refusal to accept nearly $1 billion in federal funds for the construction of a much-needed high-speed rail corridor in Wisconsin. “The same scenario is playing out from Ohio to Florida, where Republican governors are deliberately prolonging the recession as part of the GOP campaign to retake the White House in 2012.”
While the challenges facing MNPL delegates were given due attention, there were also significant accomplishments to celebrate, including innovative organizing campaigns, unique partnerships and the successful conclusion of the decade-long battle to secure the tanker refueling contract.
“This IAM never gave up on the tanker contract but we would not have prevailed without the efforts of the people in this room,” said Legislative and Political Action Director Matt McKinnon. “That’s what we do as a union and as a family; we don’t give up.”
The opening day agenda also included remarks by New Mexico State AFL-CIO President Christine Trujillo, who described the difficult economic times facing New Mexico residents, made worse by the loss of eight labor-friendly state representatives in the last election and the Walker-like policies of New Mexico’s Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.
Here’s What Happens When Manufacturing Disappears
Steve Cappozola of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), reports on what happens when manufacturing jobs disappear. This is a cross post from the AAM website.
Last week, Manufacture This published a chart showing how lost manufacturing jobs correspond with lower state revenues and higher state budget deficits.
We thought we’d amplify that point by citing a sad and disturbing New York Times article on the exodus of Detroit’s population. With Michigan hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs, Detroit’s population has fallen by 25 percent over the past decade. The result? 237,500 residents have left town.
Photos of Detroit show boarded-up and vacant homes. New York Times reporter Katharine Seelye describes this “as dramatic testimony to the crumbling industrial base of the Midwest.”
The U.S. Labor Department reports that Michigan lost more than 320,000 manufacturing jobs, just between 2001-2008. Little wonder then, that without job prospects, hundreds of thousands of residents have been forced to leave.
Seelye says the massive drop-off in population is “the largest percentage drop in history for any American city with more than 100,000 residents.” The only comparable flight would be the “unique situation of New Orleans,” where 29% of the city evacuated after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
What’s especially disheartening is knowing that Detroit’s exodus was preventable. Failed manufacturing in Michigan, which has left so many without work, is the result of failed U.S. trade policy and little effort by successive administrations to ramp up America’s industrial base in the face of changing global economic conditions.
Times are getting dire. What’s urgently needed is for the U.S. to implement a national manufacturing strategy to bring back good-paying jobs before it’s too late.
Tell Your Senators to Support the Social Security Protection Amendment
by Mike Hall, Mar 23, 2011
Next Wednesday, March 29, you can take action to strengthen Social Security by calling your U.S. Senators and urging them to support the Social Security Protection Amendment.
The amendment is part of a small business bill (S. 493) and it’s language is straightforward. It says:
Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries should not be cut and Social Security should not be privatized as part of any legislation to reduce the Federal deficit.
Congressional Republicans led by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) are demanding Social Security cuts as part of any deficit reduction legislation, even though Social Security has not contributed a penny to the deficit and has a $2.6 trillion surplus today.
Nearly two-thirds of older Americans who receive Social Security count on it for more than half of their income. Click here for more facts on Social Security.
Mark March 29 on your calendar and click here and our friends at the coalition Strengthen Social Security—Don’t Cut It—will send you a reminder to make the call.
Global Unions Condemn Proposed Anti-Worker Laws in Mexico
by James Parks, Mar 23, 2011
Unions across the United States and around the world are calling on the Mexican government to reject proposed draconian changes to Mexico’s labor laws that if enacted, would lower wages, destroy job security, increase poverty and violate workers’ and human rights.
The proposals, which are supported by Big Business and President Felipe Calderón’s administration, are similar to the anti-worker bills being pushed through state legislatures in the United States. In a statement, the Union Nacional de Trabajadores (UNT), the largest independent trade union confederation in Mexico, says the laws would be:
a regressive initiative that undermines fundamental rights of workers, and strengthens corporate control of labor. It follows the logic of those who think that the only viable offer to overcome the economic crisis is to transfer costs to workers, by reducing wages, lowering job security, and making workers a readily disposable resource for the benefit of capital.
The proposed legislation comes a month after a six-day global Mexico Days of Action, where workers around the world demanded that Mexico’s government allow its workers to enjoy the freedom to form a union, to create safe workplaces and bargain for family-supporting wages.
Report: Want Better Schools? Put a Higher Value on Teachers
by James Parks, Mar 23, 2011
Governors in cash strapped states and so-called education reformers who scapegoat teachers for schools’ failures are doing the exact opposite of what needs to be done to make our schools better, according to a new report.
In countries with successful public education systems, teaching is held in much higher esteem as a profession than in the United States. Becoming a teacher in these countries is difficult, and candidates are recruited from the top of their college and university classes, the report says. These countries also provide more resources for teacher training and they give teachers more responsibility for professional development and leading reform.
The report, “What the U.S. Can Learn from the World’s Most Successful Education Reform Efforts” by the McGraw-Hill Research Foundation, found three other major differences between the successful countries and the United States:
•The U.S. spends more money per pupil than almost all countries, but most of the resources end up in the richer schools. In high-performing nations, budgets are often much smaller and extra resources go to disadvantaged schools.
•High-performing nations establish rigorous achievement standards, based on the idea that “it is possible for all students to achieve at high levels and necessary that they do so,” according to the report.
•Class differences have a much more pronounced effect on educational achievement here than in high-performing nations.
Maine Republican Governor Erasing History of Working People
by Tula Connell, Mar 23, 2011
Once again, Republicans are trying to erase the history of America’s working people. In Maine, Republican Gov. Paul LePage has ordered the removal of a 36-foot mural depciting the state’s labor history from the Department of Labor. The 11-panel piece in part depicts a 1986 paper mill strike and “Rosie the Riveter” at Bath Iron Works. Judy Taylor, an artist based on Mount Desert, won a 2007 competition to create the mural to depict the “History of Labor in the State of Maine.”
Further, the names of conference rooms are being changed to make them more “business friendly.” One is called the “Perkins Room,” for Frances Perkins, the first female Secretary of Labor and promoter of New Deal policies that improved workers’ rights on the job. Perkins championed labor reforms after the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire that resulted in the deaths of 146 garment workers in New York City. This Friday is the 100th anniversary of that tragedy.
In a March 22 e-mail to staff, Maine’s acting commissioner of Labor Laura Boyett wrote:
We have received feedback that the administration building is not perceived as equally receptive to both businesses and workers – primarily because of the nature of the mural in the lobby and the names of our conference rooms.
Happy Birthday Health Care Reform–Don’t Let Republicans Spoil the Party
by Mike Hall, Mar 23, 2011
Today is the first anniversary of the landmark Affordable Care Act that has already helped tens of millions of Americans acquire or receive better health care and that has reined in health insurance companies’ most abusive practices.
Yet congressional Republicans keep trying to repeal health care reform. What are they against? Take a look at just some of the Affordable Care Act’s benefits repeal would destroy.
•Millions of seniors are receiving free preventive care, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, and relief from skyrocketing prescription drug prices–such as getting $250 if they reach the “donut hole” and a 50 percent discount on brand name drugs.
•For small businesses, job-creating tax credits are available to help cover their employees. More small businesses are now providing coverage.
•Adult children can stay on their parents’ health plans until they’re 26, which provides much needed access to care and peace of mind in this tough economy.
•The Affordable Care Act ends unconscionable abuses like dropping you because you fall ill or because you made a mistake in your paperwork. It bans the practice of denying your care or charging you more for having a pre-existing condition—about 129 million people. It also ends annual and lifetime caps on coverage.
•For the first time ever, the insurance companies are being held accountable, capping how much they can charge, limiting excessive profits and putting the brakes on bloated compensation for CEOs.
Walker Now After Senior, Low-Income Health Care
by Mike Hall, Mar 22, 2011
After lining up Wisconsin’s public employees and middle class jobs in his sights, Gov. Scott Walker (R) is shifting his aim to seniors and low-income families.
His proposed budget would make huge cuts in the state’s Senior Care prescription drug program, the BadgerCare health plan, and the Family Care’s support services for the elderly, as well as tax relief for low-income workers and property owners.
Yesterday, activists with the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans condemned Walker’s recent budget proposal. At their 4th biennial convention delegates representing the group’s more than 100,000 Wisconsin retirees unanimously approved a resolution strongly opposing the proposed cuts. They then marched to the state capitol, carrying “Don’t Walker on Me” signs and delivered the resolution to the governor’s office.
Wisconsin Alliance President Leon Burzynski says “Not only does Gov. Walker malign public workers, but he also cuts programs that are aimed at those most in need in our state.”
Neither public workers nor these vital programs are to blame for our state’s fiscal challenges, but Gov. Walker is wielding his budgetary ax in their direction instead of getting rid of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
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