On 100th Anniversary of Worker Compensation Law, Wis.’s Progressive History Is Remembered

This is a cross-post from the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO by Karen Hickey in AFL-CIO Field Communications.

One hundred years ago today Wisconsin’s Republican governor put aside partisan politics to sign a law protecting workers. On May 3, 1911, Wisconsin Republican Gov. Francis McGovern signed the nation’s first constitutionally upheld workers’ compensation law.

The law, which helps workers who have been hurt or injured on the job, was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both the state Senate and Assembly, reminding us that Wisconsin has a progressive history of coming together to protect the working people of the state. This law also was passed because workers and their unions organized, fought and demanded action from employers and their government.

“In a drastic turn of events, 100 years after the legislature put aside party politics to ensure fair treatment of workers, we are seeing severe political attacks on Wisconsin’s working families,” explained Phil Neuenfeldt, Wisconsin State AFL-CIO president.

Instead of working together to ensure the safety of all workers in our state, our current governor is pushing through a partisan agenda, which punishes workers in order to pay back corporations and political allies.

“What we are seeing in our current administration is shameful,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

Wisconsin has a progressive history where our elected leaders put aside party differences for the good of the state. On this day, the 100th anniversary of the passage of the nation’s first workers’ compensation law, we commit to fight the assault on workers’ rights to bargain for fairer workplaces, safer workplaces and a better life and a brighter future for all.

For more information on workers’ compensation, visit the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development by clicking here.

Senators reject Rick Scott’s pitch to fight unions

The governor makes last-ditch appeal to rescue bill to target union dues but measure appears dead for session.


By Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
April 28, 2011

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott paid a rare, personal visit to the offices of four Republican senators Wednesday in a last-minute attempt to rescue an anti-union bill that appeared destined for defeat.

The governor asked the same question to Miami Sen’s. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, Rene Garcia, Anitere Flores and Inverness Sen. Charlie Dean. And he got the same answer: No.

Scott’s intervention was the “Hail Mary” pass of Sen. John Thrasher, the Jacksonville lawyer and former Republican Party of Florida chairman whose top priority was passage of the bill to ban public employee unions from using automatic payroll deduction to collect dues. But by the end of the day, Thrasher had all but conceded defeat.

“If it isn’t right and we can’t get the votes to get where we need to get to, we’ll come back and fight another day,’’ he said.

Scott’s failure to change the minds of fellow Republicans underscored the lack of popularity of the bill and of the freshman governor — who adopted the talking points of the nationally-watched issue but lacked the political juice to get it.

The governor is getting used to the rejection. In recent weeks, Scott has threatened to veto the budget if it didn’t include some of his $2.4 billion in cuts to corporate income taxes and fees, urged legislators to pass an Arizona-style immigration bill and has lobbied lawmakers to end the state’s traditional defined contribution pension plan and replace it with a 401(k)-style retirement plan. Each has been scuttled by lawmakers, raising doubts about the success of the governor’s session agenda.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos on Wednesday painted a more positive portrait.

“We’ll have a balanced budget without raising taxes, without raising fees and we’ll have some tax decreases and some fee decreases,’’ Haridopolos said. “One thing the governor’s really added to this discussion is everyone knew he would not support a tax increase…I consider that to be a success for the governor and the entire state of Florida.”

Although Scott never campaigned on the union dues issue, and never mentioned it as a session priority, he started to push the issue as it became a talking point of Republicans in other states.

Unemployment comp passes Senate

From the Orlando Sentinel
Uncategorized — posted by khaughney on May, 3 2011 5:06 PM

The Senate passed a major rewrite of the state’s unemployment compensation law Tuesday by a 29-10 vote, but the measure doesn’t go along with a House-passed measure that would restrict state-paid benefits to 20 weeks.

The Senate-passed measure maintains the current maximum of 26 weeks of benefits, if the state’s unemployment rate equals or exceeds 12 percent. State benefits would drop to just 12 weeks when the rate drops to 5 percent or lower.

The Senate bill also requires that people collecting unemployment have a skills review and show proof they’re looking for work. It prohibits people who are in jail from collecting unemployment.

“It cleans up a lot of things that shouldn’t have crawled in there in the first place,” said Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, who sponsored the bill. But Detert rejected the 20-week limit, which was a major priority of Florida’s business lobby.

Democrats largely objected to the bill.

“Times are bad,” said Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa. “The Medicaid rolls are full. The food stamp lines are long. And people are standing on corners saying ‘please.’”

In shot at Romney, Florida Dems to host Deval Patrick

By WILLIAM MARCH | The Tampa Tribune
Published: May 03, 2011
Updated: May 03, 2011 - 12:01 PM

The keynote speaker at the Florida Democrats' annual fundraising gala June 11 will be Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who has functioned recently as a Democratic point man on potential GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

In interviews recently, Patrick, who succeeded Romney as governor of Massachusetts in 2006, has repeatedly praised Romney for something the former governor doesn't want to be praised for—passing a universal health care plan for Massachusetts that Democrats note is very similar to the plan passed by the Obama administration.

That record is probably Romney's biggest headache in seeking the GOP presidential nomination. Patrick's administration is currently implementing the plan.

"One of the best things he did was to be the co-author of our health care reform which has been a model for national health care reform," Patrick said of Romney in an ABC news interview in February. "We have 98 percent of our residents insured today. ... On that one issue, I think he deserves a lot of credit."

AFL-CIO Blog Archives for April 2011

Read all of the AFL-CIO blogs for April 2011 here.

Only Known Video/Audio of Mother Jones

by Tula Connell, May 3, 2011

Wow. I’m blown away. The only-known video and audio recording of Mary Harris ”Mother” Jones is in the clip at left. Recorded in 1930 on what possibly was her 100th birthday (historians aren’t sure of her year of birth), it shows even at an advanced age, she hadn’t lost any of the spark that fueled her life-long activism on behalf of improving the lot of workers.

After much personal tragedy, Mother Jones went on to become a union organizer, and was so effective, the Mine Workers sent her into the coalfields to sign up miners. She was banished from more towns and was held incommunicado in more jails in more states than any other union leader of the time. In 1912, she was even charged with a capital offense by a military tribunal in West Virginia and held under house arrest for weeks until popular outrage and national attention forced the governor to release her.

Mother Jones also was very concerned about child workers. During a silk strike in Philadelphia, 100,000 workers—including 16,000 children—left their jobs over a demand that their workweek be cut from 60 to 55 hours. To attract attention to the cause of abolishing child labor, in 1903, she led a children’s march of 100 children from the textile mills of Philadelphia to New York City “to show the New York millionaires our grievances.” She led the children all the way to President Theodore Roosevelt’s Long Island home.

Mother Jones still inspires: A student writes on the Youtube page with her video:
•AMEN i didnt even know she exsisted until mr. williams made us do an essay on someone and dress up like them … she has really inspired me to make a difference

H/t to the Wisconsin Labor History Society for pointing out the video, and D.C.’s own labor activist, Concarbon, for uploading it.

Communicator's comment: Watch the video here.

Help Stamp Out Hunger May 14

by James Parks, May 3, 2011

The Letter Carriers’ (NALC) annual national food drive this month comes at a time when millions of Americans are still struggling to put food on the table. More than 50 million people—including 17.2 million children—live in households that are hungry or at risk of hunger, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s a 30 percent increase in one year and represents more than one in seven households in the country (14.6 percent).

You can help “Stamp Out Hunger” by collecting canned goods and dry food, such as tuna, canned meat, soups, pasta, rice and cereal, and leaving them in a bag or box by your mailbox on Saturday, May 14. Your letter carrier will pick them up as they deliver your mail. NALC members will deliver the goods to local food banks, pantries and shelters to help needy families in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.

Last year, the Letter Carriers collected a record 77.1 million pounds of non-perishable food.

NALC President Fredric Rolando says the union members will ratchet up efforts this year.

Letter Carriers have never backed away from a challenge. Millions of Americans depend on the food we collect to help carry them through the summer months. We cannot—we must not—let them down.

Rolando noted that donations are particularly critical at this time since most school lunch programs are suspended during the summer months and millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition.

This is NALC’s 19th annual food drive, which is held on the second Saturday in May in more than 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Postal employees and rural letter carriers are assisting in the effort, as are members of other unions and thousands of volunteers. More information about the drive is available at helpstampouthunger.com. In addition to “liking” the Facebook page, you can also follow StampOutHunger on Twitter.

College Grads Face Worst Job Market in Years

by James Parks, May 3, 2011

Students graduating from college this spring will face the worst job market for graduates since the Great Depression, a new report says. “The Class of 2011: Young Workers Face a Dire Labor Market Without a Safety Net,” by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), found that unemployment among workers between the ages of 16 and 24 is more than double the national average. In 2010, young workers averaged 18.4 percent unemployment, compared with 9.6 percent overall.

The news is worst for young blacks and Hispanics, who are suffering disproportionately. The unemployment rate for black high school graduates under age 25 and not enrolled in school was 31.8 percent last year and stands at 22.8 percent for Hispanic high school graduates and 20.3 percent for white high school graduates. The unemployment rate for young black college graduates was 19 percent compared with 13.8 percent for young Hispanic graduates and 8.4 percent for young white graduates.

Younger high school graduates also are not keeping pace with their older peers. Their 22.5 percent unemployment rate in 2010 is more than double the 10.3 percent rate among high school graduates age 25 and older.

The authors of the study, economists Heidi Shierholz and Kathryn Anne Edwards, say there is a persistent high unemployment rate among graduates who have entered the job market since late 2008. There is now a backlog of unemployed or underemployed graduates from the past two years that leaves the current graduating class at a significant disadvantage.

Shierholz says the federal government should step in with relief.

The best thing we can do is to generate a faster a recovery in the overall labor market that will move the dial for [graduates] and unemployed workers in general. There is a clear lever we can push to make that happen but decisions are being made [by Congress] based on items outside of economics.

Report: NAFTA Has Cost 683,000 Jobs—and Counting

by James Parks, May 3, 2011

To date, 682,900 U.S. jobs have been lost or displaced since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect in 1994, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study finds. The main reason for the job loss is a $97.2 billion trade deficit with Mexico. In 1993, one year before NAFTA was implemented, the United States had a $1.6 billion trade surplus with Mexico that supported nearly 30,000 U.S. jobs.

All 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have seen jobs lost or displaced to Mexico in the past 17 years, says Robert Scott, EPI’s senior international economist and author of “Heading South: U.S.-Mexico trade and job displacement after NAFTA.”

During a phone conference today, Scott said NAFTA supporters argued the pact would create jobs in the United States. Backers of proposed trade deals with South Korea and Colombia are making similar claims, he said. But his research has shown that each trade agreement would cost thousands of U.S. jobs. In the first eight years, the current deal with Korea could cost 159,000 jobs, he said, and Colombia could swallow up 60,000 U.S. jobs.

Scott found the five states that experienced the largest percentage of local jobs displaced by trade with Mexico since NAFTA began are Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. The five that have the largest actual number of jobs displaced due to Mexico trade deficits are California, Texas, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. (Check out the map above.)

NAFTA made outsourcing to Mexico much more attractive for U.S. companies, Scott said. Mexico eliminated a wide range of longstanding that companies claimed were expensive, he added.

Most of the jobs displaced by trade with Mexico—415,000 jobs, or 60.8 percent of the total—have been in manufacturing. The hardest hit manufacturers have been in computer and electronic parts (150,300 jobs lost or displaced, or 22 percent of the total number of jobs) and motor vehicles and parts (108,000 jobs, 15.8 percent). There has been a huge surge in motor vehicles and auto parts in the last three years that cost 30,000 U.S. jobs, Scott said.

UCubed Calls for ‘Taxi of Tomorrow’ to be U.S. Made

Tue. May 03, 2011

Ur Union of Unemployed is calling on New York City and state officials to oppose a plan by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to flood the New York streets with thousands of foreign-built taxicabs.

Bloomberg is expected to embrace a proposal by Nissan to build the so-called ‘Taxi of Tomorrow’ in Mexico, rather than a proposal from Ford to manufacture the eco-friendly cab fleet in Kansas. Bloomberg is also expected to reject a proposal from the Turkish auto company Karsan, which would build the taxis in Brooklyn.

“This is an initial one-billion-dollar program, with three bidders; two of which are committed to ‘made in the USA’ and one of which is absolutely not,” said Union of Unemployed Executive Director Rick Sloan. “With over 28 million Americans unemployed – and over 869,000 ‘officially’ unemployed in New York and Kansas – this is a travesty. Can’t even one politician figure out how to create AMERICAN JOBS?”