News Stories for July 28, 2011
The Hill
House Democrats pivoted off Republican criticism of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Tuesday to mount a full-throated defense of labor unions.
Senior House Democrats, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), rallied union members at a press conference where lawmakers and labor leaders blasted Republicans for attacking the labor board. The House is expected to vote this week on legislation that would limit the NLRB’s authority.
Pelosi and other Democrats said the GOP bill is evidence that Republicans want to marginalize the labor movement.“For months in Wisconsin, Ohio and states nationwide, Americans have watched Republican governors and legislatures attack workers. At every turn, leaders and middle-class Americans — teachers, firefighters, machinists and even non-union members — have fought back. What an inspiration you all are to us,” Pelosi said.
The minority leader declared that her party is ready for action now that the fight over unions has come to Washington.
“We will not stand idly by while workers’ rights are violated and the middle class is under attack,” Pelosi said.Read the source story here.
AFL-CIO Now Blog
So, even as there are still 4.7 workers for every one job, the jobs that are being created are primarily low-wage—and the wages in those jobs have fallen disproportionately, according to a new report by the National Employment Law Project (NELP).
From the first quarter of 2010 through the first quarter of 2011, the most recent data available, lower-wage occupations grew by 3.2 percent, with retail salespersons, office clerks, cashiers, food preparation workers and stock clerks topping the list. Mid-wage occupations, including paralegals, customer service representatives and machinists, grew by only 1.2 percent, while higher-wage occupations declined by 1.2 percent, which includes occupations like engineers, registered nurses and finance workers.While overall, wages have fallen 0.6 percent since the start of the recession, lower-wage jobs have declined by 2.3 percent since the start of the recession. In mid-range occupations, wages declined by -0.9 percent while wages in higher-wage jobs actually rose by 0.9 percent.
The trend toward low pay preceded the recession. As Holly Sklar points out:
Today’s retail clerks, health aides, child care workers, restaurant workers, security guards and other minimum wage workers have $6,500 less in annual buying power than their 1968 counterparts.Read the source story here.
Teamster.org
After a 6-month investigation into the tragic murder of Officer Jayme Biendl in the chapel of the Monroe Correctional Complex (MCC) on January 29, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries has cited the DOC for “serious” and “repeat serious” violations for its failure to provide line staff with adequate training, a failure to enforce policies with respect to post orders, and a failure to develop and implement policies designed to protect its employees.
L & I has issued a fine of $26,000 to the DOC for these violations and is requiring that the DOC implement changes to protect its employees by August 4.
L & I’s Citation and Notice following its investigation draws starkly different conclusions than the DOC’s own Critical Incident Review, which was released on July 22.Read the source story here.
Teamster Nation
Jackson Lewis
That may be a teensy bit simplistic, but you get the idea.
Jackson Lewis is helping BMW destroy 100 American jobs in Ontario, Calif., for no other reason than it can get away with it. Even after BMW got a low-interest loan of nearly $4 billion from the American-taxpayer-funded Federal Reserve Bank. BMW is basically firing longtime, loyal employees in order to hire workers at poverty wages.
Wrote Michael Hiltzik at the LA Times,
Every working American should be dismayed by — and afraid of — what BMW is doing.Teamsters Local 495 is fighting like hell to keep those jobs.
Read the source story here.
The New York Times
What has happened to the Federal Aviation Administration in the last few days should remind everyone of the costs of the Republicans’ obstructionism and their slash-and-burn budget games.
Taxes on airline tickets expired on Friday when the F.A.A. lost its operating authority, including the authority to collect taxes. Passengers are rightly furious at the nation’s airlines, many of which are pocketing the difference. But the masterminds of this fiasco are the House Republicans who let this happen.
The F.A.A. has also had to furlough some 4,000 workers. Needed airport construction projects — to maintain runways, build new traffic control towers and upgrade other facilities — have been halted across the country. The only good news is that the air traffic control system is still working because traffic controllers are paid from the Aviation Trust Fund, which still has a positive balance.
All of this happened after House Republicans inserted a new provision into a routine bill to temporarily extend the F.A.A.’s operational authority. The provision would end $16.5 million in federal subsidies to 13 airports in rural communities. The bill passed the House. But Senate Democrats balked, arguing that the right place for changing policy is in the regular F.A.A. reauthorization bill — noting that the temporary extension has passed 20 times since 2007 without any additional provisions.
“If we can’t put an end to these extravagant subsidies, then we will never be able to rein in spending where really hard decisions are necessary,” said Tom Petri, the chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, upon submitting the bill. Talk about pound foolish. When the F.A.A. lost operational authority, it lost its ability to collect $200 million in taxes a week. These taxes would have paid for the airport subsidies in about 14 hours. There is more going on here. As we have seen in many Republican-led states, an attack on “excessive” government spending is also often a bid to break labor unions.Read the source story here.
The Washington Post
So the debt limit debate has come to this: John McCain, who you may recall was the GOP's 2008 standard bearer, is now openly accusing conservatives of actively misleading America with their completely unrealistic demands, which he labeled "deceiving" and "bizarro." In a seminal moment in this debate, here's some video of McCain on the Senate floor today, unleashing an angry tirade at conservatives who are still holding out for a balanced budget amendment as part of any compromise on the debt ceiling. McCain accused them of "deceiving" America into believing such a thing can pass the Senate.
Read the source story here.
Think Progress
Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), who has been toying with running for the Republican presidential nomination, likes to brag about Texas’ job growth. But he’s made clear that he doesn’t consider public sector jobs (including his own) to be real jobs. “Government doesn’t create any jobs. They can actually run jobs away,” he told Glenn Beck.
However, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out today, public sector jobs (largely in education) have grown at a much higher rate under Perry’s watch than private sector jobs:
The Lone Star State gained more than a million jobs since the end of 2000, while the U.S. has lost almost 1.5 million, according data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Read the source story here.
About 300,000 of the new Texas jobs were in government. Well over half of them, fueled by the surging population, were at public schools. Employment in the state’s public sector has jumped 19% since 2000, compared with a 9% rise in the private sector.
Teamster Nation
[...] After the Republicans won control of the House in November, they passed an FAA spending bill that makes it harder for airline workers to form a union.
So then Rep. John Mica, the Florida Republican pictured above, changed the House version of the FAA extension to cut off funding for air service to small communities. He did it so Republican lawmakers could pretend that was the real reason they're forcing the partial FAA shutdown. (At least they're trying to hide their anti-worker agenda now).
Laura Clawson at Daily Kos explains:
Republicans are threatening these rural airports in order to get their way on the real issue: union rights for airline workers.Here's the IBT on the reason for the shutdown:
A dispute between the House and Senate over air service for small communities is masking the real reason lawmakers can’t agree on funding the FAA. Republicans want to repeal a commonsense change in the union election rule implemented by the National Mediation Board last year. The rule no longer counts absent voters as “no” votes. As a result, union elections are now just like every other election in a democracy. But because Republican leaders oppose workers’ rights, safety and modernization projects are halted and people are losing their jobs.Here's how nuts these anti-worker politicians are: Orlando International Airport has plans to rehabilitate a major taxiway. But those plans are on hold now because Mica prefers pleasing anti-union CEOs to keeping his constituents working.
Read the source story here.
Think Progress
Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), the congressman who proposed a preposterous bill to lower the debt ceiling, today trivialized enormous cuts to government services by comparing them to someone having to drop out of a country club because of the bad economy. Broun is opposing the deficit reduction plan put forward by Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) because he believes it doesn’t go far enough. When MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell confronted him on the absurdity of trying to lower the borrowing limit on money Congress has already spent, Broun insisted that government has to act like a person who is “overextended” would:
BROUN: The thing is, when someone is overextended and broke they don’t continue paying for expensive automobiles. They sell the expensive automobiles and buy a cheaper one. They don’t continue paying for country club dues, they drop out of the country club.Read the source story here.
Huffington Post
The first two battles have been waged in Wisconsin and, if the opening clashes are any indication, 'the people' are going to take back the Badger State.
Last Tuesday, the first recall election was held in Wisconsin's 30th District and Wisconsinites overwhelmingly reelected incumbent Dave Hansen over Republican challenger David Vanderleest.
Similarly, the week before, all six Democratic hopefuls won easy elections over faux-Democrat candidates in a forced primary election that will cost the taxpayers of Wisconsin nearly $500,000 dollars. Running fake candidates was a costly, and unethical, political ploy to give Republican candidates more time to raise money, campaign, and muddy the process in the upcoming recall elections in six Republican held districts.
Will this tactic backfire on the Republicans?
The answer is, yes! As August 9th looms large for the voters in six districts, battles waged in the cities of La Crosse, Menomonee Falls, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, and Green Bay could bring sweeping changes in Madison.Read the source story here.
Madison Cap Times
The recall primary and general election results have shaken the confidence of Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans — so much so that the governor was on right-wing talk radio last week decrying his critics as “almost anarchists.”
Is Walker losing it? Perhaps.
Is he right to be worried? Absolutely.Read the source story here.
AFL-CIO Now Blog
This spring, Indiana working families and their allies in the state legislature stood together and forced Republican lawmakers and Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) to back down on their plans to pass a so-called right to work bill.
But that fight was revived yesterday at a day-long General Assembly hearing on right to work for less legislation that its backers hope to introduce next year. Union workers filled the hearing room and some carried signs that read. ‘No More Race to the Bottom.”
A race to the bottom is just what a so-called right to work law would begin, said Gordon Lafer, a professor at University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center. Testifying at thearing, Lafer said workers in so-called right to work states earn about $1,500 a year less than workers in other states. They also are less likely to have employer-sponsored health insurance and employer-sponsored pensions.
Supporters claim companies routinely refuse to locate in states without a right to work law. But a pro-right to work corporate witness who claimed that has happened in Indiana, refused to name any companies.Read the source story here.
The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram
The issue: The possibility Gov. Scott Walker could be recalled from office.
Our view: Considering a recent poll, Walker only has a few months to fend off what could be a serious challenge.
While the eyes of Wisconsin are on the seven state Senate recall elections scheduled for next month, an even more important recall could be just around the corner, this one targeting Gov. Scott Walker.
The Senate recalls were driven by the furor that began when Walker introduced his budget repair bill in February, so it's highly likely that, beginning this fall, a strong recall drive will be aimed at the Republican governor himself.Read the source story here.
The Atlantic
It's this one, from yesterday's New York Times. Click for a more detailed view, though it's pretty clear as is.
IAM 751
Machinists Union District Lodge 751 promised to fight a sweeping request by the Boeing Co. to keep the public – including union members – from hearing important evidence in the National Labor Relations Board complaint regarding Boeing’s decision to transfer its second 787 assembly line.
Among the things Boeing doesn’t want the public to know are specifics about the tax incentive package it’s getting from South Carolina, and even some details from Project Olympus, the 2003 deal with Washington state that ensured the 787 would be built in Everett.
“We suspect the documents Boeing wants to keep secret prove that Boeing executives didn’t make a legitimate business decision to transfer work from Everett to Charleston, but instead broke the law by moving because of union activity here,” said District 751 spokeswoman Connie Kelliher. “It doesn’t surprise us that Boeing would want to keep any incriminating documents secret, but our laws don’t permit secret tribunals.”Read the source story here.
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