April 1, 2013
National/Politics
Martin Luther King Jr. and April 4
Thursday, March 28, 2013 12:17 pm. By Brandon A. Perry | Indianapolis Recorder
Few Americans have left a stronger legacy than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ... The year 2013 represents half a century since King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” message during the March on Washington for jobs and freedom in 1963. ... Next week, King will join Rev. Al Sharpton, AFSME President Lee Saunders and other leaders in that city to commemorate the strike and King’s Poor People’s Campaign, designed to bring low income people of all races together to speak out for economic equality.
Deal Reached on Key Immigration Hurdle
By SARA MURRAY, Wall Street Journal, March 30, 2013, 10:06 p.m. ET
A bipartisan group of senators could be a week away from a comprehensive immigration overhaul deal after top representatives from business and labor signed off on a guest worker plan Friday evening. Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), a member of the bipartisan group, spoke with both AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue Friday evening, according to someone familiar with the discussion. On a call, the trio confirmed that business and unions had reached a deal on a new visa program for future low-skilled immigrant workers, one of the most difficult issues that had been holding up an immigration deal.
U.S. public pension holdings highest since 2007 peak -U.S. Census
March 28 | Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:27pm EDT (Reuters)
U.S. public pensions reached a milestone in the fourth quarter of 2012 when assets in the 100 largest funds rose to their highest level since the year before the financial crisis, according to U.S. Census data released on Thursday. Assets, including cash and securities, rose to $2.84 trillion, up 1.7 percent from the preceding quarter and 8.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011.
Public pension funds face scrutiny from accounting updates
BY HAZEL BRADFORD | APRIL 1, 2013, Pensions & Investments
Public pension executives are facing a paperwork tsunami this year. Not only do new financial reporting rules from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board start going into effect this June, but Moody's Investors Service Inc. is implementing — starting this month — a new set of calculations that puts pension debt front and center in rating state and local governments.
State Economies Show Most Gains Since Before Recession
By Darrell Preston and Ilan Kolet - Mar 31, 2013, Bloomberg
The economic health of 44 U.S. states improved in the fourth quarter, the most in any period since 2006, as almost all benefited from growing employment and personal income. The gains matched the total in the second quarter of 2006, more than a year before the 18-month recession began, according to the Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States index.
Continuing Resolution, Continuing Struggle
Thursday, March 28, 2013 DC Labor, Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO
.... AFSCME Council 26 Executive Director Carl Goldman reports that AFSCME plans to mount a grassroots campaign to show the public how sequestration will impact millions of Americans. “An educated public will help as we continue to press Congress for the permanent repeal of sequestration,” says Goldman.
Beef with the sequester? At least one federal program was able to beat it.
By David A. Fahrenthold and Lisa Rein, Washington Post: March 31
The sequester was supposed to be something new in Washington: a budget cut you couldn’t beat. Once it hit, it hit. ... Then somebody beat it. Last week, President Obama signed a spending bill that gave the Agriculture Department’s food inspectors what everybody else wanted: a get-out-of-the-sequester card. Their program got $55 million in new money, which replaced almost all of what the sequester took. ... Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack insisted that the sequester would force him to shut down all U.S. meat production on at least 11 days. The inspectors union didn’t believe that. Neither did many in the powerful meat lobby. But they were too worried not to help Vilsack anyway. After an extensive campaign, the Senate gave Vilsack the money. So the sequester can be hacked. .... His strategy worked. The union — although still skeptical — began urging that the furloughs be prevented. The meat industry also began to worry. What if Vilsack really did pull the inspectors and shut the plants?
Newsmakers with Richard Trumka
CSPAN, March 31, 2013
The president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, talks about the immigration debate and what to do about low-income and high-income workers from other countries and how the wages they're paid affects American workers.
As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester
By IAN URBINA, New York Times, March 30, 2013
.... But the story of the rise of nPB and the decline of Ms. Farley’s health is much more than the tale of one company, or another chapter in the national debate over the need for more, or fewer, government regulations. Instead, it is a parable about the law of unintended consequences. It shows how an Environmental Protection Agency program meant to prevent the use of harmful chemicals fostered the proliferation of one, and how a hard-fought victory by OSHA in controlling one source of deadly fumes led workers to be exposed to something worse — a phenomenon familiar enough to be lamented in government parlance as “regrettable substitution.” ... And it highlights a startling fact: OSHA, the watchdog agency that many Americans love to hate and industry often faults as overzealous, has largely ignored long-term threats. Partly out of pragmatism, the agency created by President Richard M. Nixon to give greater attention to health issues has largely done the opposite.
Editorial - Social Security, Present and Future
New York Times, March 30, 2013
In the fight over the federal budget deficit, Social Security has so far been untouched. That may soon change. In last year’s “fiscal cliff” debate, President Obama offered to reduce the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for Social Security benefits, a spending cut favored by Republicans and scorned by Democrats. Republicans rejected the offer because Mr. Obama wanted tax increases in exchange, while Democrats said it would be too harmful. More recently, Senate Democrats did not include Social Security reforms in their budget and specifically rejected a COLA cut. The House Republican budget also steered clear of explicit cuts to Social Security, a move partly aimed at isolating Mr. Obama. The question now is whether Mr. Obama will again propose to cut the COLA when he unveils his budget next week.
So you want to privatize Medicaid? Has HHS got a guide for you.
By Sarah Kliff, Washington Post: March 29, 2013
States have lots of questions about whether they can use Medicaid expansion dollars to buy private insurance coverage, the so-called Arkansas option. Now, they have a few more answers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday issued a Q&A to address some of the questions posed by states. It’s not comprehensive—it includes three questions that span two pages—but it has a few new details that might help states make up their minds.
Editorial - Using Medicaid Dollars for Private Insurance
New York Times, March 31, 2013
The Obama administration and Republican officials in several states are exploring ways to redirect federal money intended to expand Medicaid, the main public insurance program for the poor, and use it instead to buy private health insurance for Medicaid recipients. The approach could have important benefits for beneficiaries and for the future of health care reform. But the idea also carries big risks. Federal officials will need to enforce strict conditions before agreeing to any redirection of Medicaid dollars that were originally intended to enlarge the Medicaid rolls.
McConnell: ObamaCare fails to keep promises
Mitch McConnell, USA Today, 3:14p.m. EDT March 31, 2013
The non-partisan Society of Actuaries last week said that because of Obamacare, insurers could pay an average of 32% more for medical claims. Those costs will be passed onto those who buy insurance on the individual market in the form of dramatically higher premiums. The new report is further proof that this law is failing to deliver on its promises --and that the opponents were right to be skeptical.
Hospitals Question Medicare Rules on Readmissions
By REED ABELSON, New York Times, March 29, 2013
It is no longer enough for hospitals to make patients healthy enough to leave. Now, as part of the Obama administration’s health care overhaul, they are spending millions of dollars to keep those patients from coming back, often acting like personal assistants to help them manage their post-hospital lives. While federal statistics show the effort is beginning to reduce costly and unnecessary readmissions, a growing chorus of critics is asking whether the government policy, which penalizes hospitals that have high readmission rates, is unfair. They are also questioning whether hospitals should be responsible for managing the personal lives of patients once they are released — or whether they should focus on other ways to improve care.
Obama Pushes Plan to Build Roads and Bridges
By PETER BAKER and JOHN SCHWARTZ, New York Times, March 29, 2013
President Obama came to the congested ocean port here on Friday to promote his plans to rebuild the nation’s “raggedy” roads, bridges, schools and other infrastructure with a marriage of public and private investment. ... Expanding on ideas from his first term and this year’s State of the Union address, Mr. Obama proposed a series of tax breaks and loans to stimulate private investment. Among other things, new “America Fast Forward Bonds” would help state and local governments borrow money for projects, while foreign pension and retirement funds would have a tax penalty eliminated so they could invest in infrastructure in the United States on a similar basis as American funds. Grant programs that were part of the president’s stimulus program would be expanded by $4 billion.
States vote yes to online registration
By: Kevin Robillard, Politico, April 1, 2013 06:22 AM EDT
... A wave of states in recent years have moved to allow residents to register online and the pace is quickening today as many more are debating the issue - a development that is swelling voting rolls, saving taxpayers’ money, and providing a welcome demilitarized zone in the raging partisan wars over ballot access. .... The system has some drawbacks. Most notably, in most states, if you don’t have a driver’s license or a state-issued ID, you can’t register online.
UAW says membership rose slightly in 2012
Thu Mar 28, 2013 7:24pm EDT (Reuters)
The United Auto Workers union said on Thursday it added members for the third straight year in 2012, as it organized workers from casinos as well as auto parts companies in Alabama and Kentucky, the union said on Thursday.
Labor Unions Urge Chapter 11 Reform
March 28, 2013 | CFO.com | US
When companies declare bankruptcy, increasingly it’s the unionized employees bearing the brunt of financial restructuring. At least that’s the view of union heads who spoke at the American Bankruptcy Institute’s latest field hearing on reforming Chapter 11 law. In recent years, they said, distressed businesses have rejected collective-bargaining agreements (CBAs) and terminated retiree health benefits and pension plans without seeking equal sacrifice from other stakeholders and creditors. ... Executives from the Air Line Pilots Association, the Association of Flight Attendants, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the Transport Workers Union said workers’ rights in all kinds of bankruptcy cases have been eroded.
Prince William loses job to privatization
March. 27, 2013 at 8:37 AMBy KRISTEN BUTLER, UPI.com
Prince William, heir to the British throne, could lose his job to privatization. British officials hailed the $2.4 billion deal with the Bristow Group as an example of how the private sector could better serve the public. The Royal Air Force and Royal Navy have handled search and rescue for 70 years, but rescue operations will be made four minutes faster with the American company's fleet of 22 new helicopters, according to officials.
State/Local
CA: UCSF initiates layoffs in wake of whistle-blower report
BY MIA SHAW | Daily Californian, April 1, 2013
UCSF Medical Center began the process of cutting 300 jobs last week through a combination of layoffs, transfers and elimination of currently unfilled positions. The controversial workforce reductions come in the wake of a recent whistle-blower report alleging that chronic understaffing at UC medical centers has undermined patient safety. The report, “A Question of Priorities: Profits, Short Staffing and the Shortchanging of Patient Care at UC Medical Centers,” was commissioned by AFSCME Local 3299, a union representing UC workers.
CA: Lawmakers push to unionize, regulate Medi-Cal interpreters
By Jim Sanders, Bee, Friday, Mar. 29, 2013
Thousands of Medi-Cal medical interpreters would have the right to join a public employees union and collectively bargain with the state under a legislative push to regulate that profession. .... The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is pushing Perez's bill and is jockeying for position to represent Medi-Cal interpreters if the measure becomes law. ... AFSCME won a similar campaign in 2010 to unionize about 1,600 interpreters in the state of Washington.
CA: Lessons From a Comeback
By PAUL KRUGMAN, New York Times, April 1, 2013
Modern movement conservatism, which transformed the G.O.P. from the moderate party of Dwight Eisenhower into the radical right-wing organization we see today, was largely born in California. ... A dozen years ago, the state was supposedly doomed by all its environmentalists. You see, the eco-freaks were blocking power plants, and the result was crippling blackouts and soaring power prices. ... But a funny thing happened on the road to collapse: it turned out that the main culprit in the electricity crisis was deregulation, which opened the door for ruthless market manipulation. When the market manipulation went away, so did the blackouts. Undeterred, a few years later conservatives found another line of attack. This time they said that liberal big spending and overpaid public employees were bringing on collapse. ... Again, however, reports of the state’s demise proved premature. Unemployment in California remains high, but it’s coming down — and there’s a projected budget surplus, in part because the implosion of the state’s Republican Party finally gave Democrats a big enough political advantage to push through some desperately needed tax increases. Far from presiding over a Greek-style crisis, Gov. Jerry Brown is proclaiming a comeback.
CA: Editorial - Resurrecting California’s Public Universities
New York Times, March 30, 2013
... Online classes are and will be part of the educational mix, in California and elsewhere. But they cannot be counted on to revive a beleaguered public system whose mission is to educate a great many freshmen who need close instruction and human contact to succeed. To broaden access and preserve what is left of the public university, California lawmakers will need to change budget priorities that have been moving in the wrong direction for a long time.
CT: Newtown cops still feel effects of 12/14
John Pirro, Newstimes, 10:57 pm, Saturday, March 30, 2013
.... A bill recently approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Dannell Malloy provides short-term financial relief to the affected police officers and other first responders who are unable to return to work. The Sandy Hook Workers Assistance Program will be privately funded and administered by the Office of Victim Services within the state's Judicial Branch, and pay them up to 70 percent of their salaries for 52 weeks, if they are unable to work. "They should start to process the applications as of April 1, and that's going to be helpful," said Eric Brown, attorney for Council 15 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which includes the Newtown Police Union.
DC: Group of D.C. government judges seeks to organize for first time
By Mike DeBonis, Washington Post: March 31
Some District judges have found themselves in the unusual position of envying the city’s teachers, firefighters and garbage collectors. Those jobs come with something not currently available to those who wear robes to work: the ability to join a union. Now a group of city administrative law judges is seeking to organize for the first time, and the months-long effort — taking place over the strenuous objections of the judges’ supervisor — has generated frustration among union advocates who think Mayor Vincent C. Gray has failed to match his pro-labor rhetoric with action. “We’re in Washington, D.C., and we’re seeing the kind of stuff that has gone on in Wisconsin, the kind of stuff that’s gone on in Michigan, the kind of stuff that’s gone on in Indiana,” said Paul Shearon, secretary-treasurer of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, the union that is helping the judges in the Office of Administrative Hearings organize.
FL: Proposal could increase pay for state employees in North Central Florida
WUFT, Charlene Ochogo on March 29th, 2013
A new proposal in the Florida House of Representatives and Senate may mean a pay raise for thousands of state employees in North Central Florida. ... The $1,400 pay raise proposed by the House would be the first of its kind in almost seven years. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), an organization that advocates for state employees throughout the country, has been pushing for the raise for years. Doug Martin, the legislative and communications director for AFSCME Florida Council 79, said the pay raise would mean a $10.4 million economic boost for about 7,500 state employees in Alachua, Marion, Union and Bradford counties.
FL: Two Major Florida Newspapers Ignore ALEC Connection In Pension Coverage
March 29, 2013 11:58 AM EDT, Media Matters
The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times failed to connect the American Legislative Exchange Council model legislation to the current efforts to change the pension plans of Floridians. .... The current situation in Florida isn't as dire as the bill's sponsor, House Speaker Will Weatherford, would like people to believe. Analysts have found that an 80 percent benchmark for a fund is considered a good threshold for a public pension fund, and in Florida's case, the shortfall would only be a problem if every pensioner wanted full payment all at once, which, as the Palm Beach Post reported, "analysts say would never happen."
IA: Branstad agrees: Union workers won't pay health care premiums
Mar 28, 2013 | Jason Clayworth, Des Moines Register
The state of Iowa will reject Peggy Christensen’s voluntary monthly contribution to her health care costs — about $200 a month —starting on Monday. And 12 other state union employees’ attempts to contribute to their health care costs will also be rejected. The reason? A recently negotiated verbal agreement between state officials and three unions prohibits the contributions.
IA: Correctional Officers Make Donation to Charity
KCRG, Mar 28, 2013 at 6:47 PM CDT
A group of local prison workers made a big donation to charity today. Correctional officers at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville donated nearly $1,500 in food to the hungry. This morning, they delivered the food to the Crisis Center of Johnson County. The correctional officers are part of the local AFSCME union. The AFSCME union backed the effort.
IL: Pontiac warden: No violence with ex-Tamms inmates
Associated Press, April 1, 2013
The warden at one of the state's toughest prisons said Friday his staff has absorbed highly volatile former Tamms Correctional Center inmates without violence or other trouble by explaining expectations and "giving them what they have coming — nothing more and nothing less." ..... Employees affiliated with the union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which fought Quinn's closures, bemoaned afterward that additional staff promised when Tamms closed came only at the expense of another penitentiary's closure. There are 49,100 inmates in a prison system designed for 32,100.
IN: An opponent of Obamacare, Gov. Pence pushes controversial plan to expand Medicaid
Mar 31, 2013 | Indianapolis News
Gov. Mike Pence and state lawmakers are moving forward with an unconventional — and controversial — plan to expand Medicaid, which would offer health insurance to about 400,000 more Hoosiers. The unconventional part: They want to do it through the state’s Healthy Indiana Plan. The controversial part: If Washington doesn’t agree to allow the state to alter Medicaid to fit the Healthy Indiana Plan — which could happen — Medicaid would not be expanded and the state would forgo $10.5 billion in federal aid through 2020, and more beyond.
KS: State employee compensation rank questioned
March 28, 2013 - 10:28am THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, is standing by an assertion that Kansas state employees are among the nation's most poorly compensated, despite federal data that slots Kansas in the middle range. During a recent floor debate on the state budget, Hensley lamented that the Senate's proposal did not fund the final year of five promised raises for underpaid state workers, adding that Kansas state employees rank 49th in the nation in average total compensation. ... An analysis of only state employees by the Kansas Department of Labor using the most recent federal data available, from 2011, places Kansas' average compensation per employee at 22nd nationally.
MI: Protesters of Detroit emergency manager law take fight to court, city hall
1:40 PM, March 28, 2013 | Free Press
Opponents of Michigan’s new emergency law took their protest inside Detroit city hall today, chanting and singing in front of security officers who would not let them further inside. The protesters, who earlier started their demonstration by marching from the offices of the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees on West Lafayette to the federal courthouse a few blocks away, agreed to leave about 1 p.m., about two hours after they first gathered outside city hall where they sang “We Shall Not Be Moved,’’ an American folk song often sung during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s. ... The suit, filed in the Eastern District of the U.S. District Court, lists Snyder and state Treasurer Andy Dillon as defendants. There are more than 20 plaintiffs, including .... Michigan AFSCME Council 25. Flint and Benton Harbor are among the cities that have had emergency managers after recording million-dollar deficits.
Michigan GOP explores further limits on unions
BY CHAD LIVENGOOD DETROIT NEWS LANSING, APRIL 1, 2013 AT 1:00 AM
against Michigan's 5-day-old right-to-work law are prompting conservative activists and Republican authors of the historic legislation to consider other ways to reduce the power of public-sector unions. The law that took effect Thursday makes financial support of a labor union optional in unionized workplaces. Democratic opponents say it will lead to "free riders" or "freeloaders" who enjoy the benefits of a collective bargaining agreement because most labor contracts have exclusive representation clauses requiring the union represent all employees, whether or not they pay dues. To counter this argument, some conservative activists are proposing an offspring of the right-to-work legislation. They are urging Republican lawmakers to ban exclusivity clauses for public-sector unions — the state's recognition that a union is the sole representative in bargaining for a particular group of workers.
MI: Law firm's role in Detroit's financial recovery questioned
BY JOEL KURTH AND DARREN A. NICHOLS THE DETROIT NEWS, MARCH 29, 2013 AT 3:02 PM
Global law firm Jones Day could have a crucial — and perhaps lucrative — role in the fight to save Detroit from insolvency, prompting concerns about possible conflicts in the emotional debate about the city's restructuring. ... Supporters of Orr call it an ideal pairing, adding familiarity and expertise to what could be make-or-break negotiations. Detractors fear it's a dangerous conflict because Jones Day also represents major banks and bondholders to whom Detroit could owe millions of dollars. "The question is: Who are they representing? Are they representing the interest of the city of Detroit, or are they just looking to get paid?" asked Ed McNeil, special assistant to the president of the city's largest union, AFSCME Council 25.
MI: Poll: Michigan evenly divided on right-to work law
The Associated Press , March 31, 2013 at 9:16 PM
Michigan residents are about evenly divided over whether their new right-to-work law will help or hurt the economy, according to a Michigan State University poll. Forty-three percent of those polled said the law will help Michigan's economy, while 41 percent said it will hurt, the university said. The difference is within the poll's 3 percentage point margin of sampling error.
MN: Unionization bill faces rocky road at Capitol
by Tim Pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio, March 29, 2013
Legislation allowing for unionization of two groups of state-subsidized workers -- child care providers and personal care assistants -- is taking a slow and sometimes bumpy journey this session through a Minnesota Legislature controlled by labor-friendly Democrats. ... The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5 is trying to organize in-home child care providers who work with low-income families in the state's Child Care Assistance Program.
NJ: Businesses Benefiting Under Christie
By HEATHER HADDON, Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2013, 9:20 p.m. ET
New Jersey's use of government incentives to help businesses has vastly expanded under Gov. Chris Christie, with a five-fold increase over average levels of the last decade, according to a new research report. The study of the state's subsidies, released Monday by the left-leaning New Jersey Policy Perspective, comes as lawmakers in Trenton are weighing an additional allotment of tax credits as part of legislation to revise the state's aid to businesses.
NM: Governor signs education pension overhaul
Friday, March 29, 2013 8:00 pm AP
Retired educators will receive smaller cost-of-living adjustments for the next 30 years under a measure approved by legislators and signed into law Friday by Gov. Susana Martinez.
NV: Reopened youth prison may house out-of-state inmates
Andrew Doughman, Las Vegas Sun, Friday, March 29, 2013
Delinquent children have a better shot at reform when they’re closer to their families, schools and communities, state officials say. But to be able to bring some of Clark County’s incarcerated youth closer to home, the state is considering a deal that would mean incarcerating children from outside Nevada — a somewhat ironic twist on the goal of rehabilitating youthful offenders. Under a plan proposed by Gov. Brian Sandoval, Nevada would reopen the Summit View Correctional Center with a private, nonprofit contractor. ... Critics, however, said it’s wrong to treat the youths as “commodities” that can be swapped between states for higher rates, said Keith Uriarte, who represents the Nevada chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
NY: State will audit Olympic authority (update)
March 28, 2013 Adirondack Daily Enterprise
The state Comptroller's Office will audit the state Olympic Regional Development Authority, which is reportedly dealing with persistent financial issues even as its venues rebound strongly from a lackluster 2011-12 winter season. .... As ORDA looks to address these financial challenges, approximately 150 union workers represented by the Civil Service Employees Association Local 059 are still waiting for a new contract.
NY: Albany passes third on-time budget
By Daniel Sabbatino, Legislative Gazette, March 29, 2013
.... Civil Service Employees Association President Danny Donohue said the budget turned out to be better than the governor's initial proposal, although there are still areas that need work. Donohue said Cuomo's priorities are misplaced, with a tax rebate check and luxury suite at the Buffalo Bills' stadium and a "sweetheart deal" that could be used to try to bring the Tonight Show back to New York.
NY: Public Nursing Home In Ontario Co. - What's Next?
Adam Chodak 13wham.com 3/29
Ontario County’s public nursing home is up for sale. The county recently put out a request for proposals in its quest to find potential buyers. ... “I’m hoping the community gets involved,” said Steve Healy, president of CSEA 7850, to which the nursing home’s workers belong.
OH: Downsizing plan for developmental centers draws union fire / Privately run sites would get center residents
Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch Saturday March 30, 2013
A union representing state employees is urging Ohio officials not to proceed with a plan to downsize developmental centers by creating small, privately operated facilities. The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association submitted a “Statement of Interest” yesterday in response to a request by the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities for proposals to create 20 six-bed community facilities that would accept “high-needs” residents from the state’s 10 development centers. The state received about 20 proposals by yesterday’s deadline.
OH: Cincinnati Parking Privatization Must Go to Vote
By Andrew Harris - Mar 28, 2013 5:17 PM ET, Bloomberg
A Cincinnati plan to privatize parking to close a municipal budget gap must be put to a public referendum, an Ohio state court judge ruled, blocking the initiative. The proposal calls for the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority to take charge of street spaces for 30 years and those off street for 50 years, with the ability to subcontract their management. In exchange, the authority would pay Cincinnati $92 million now and an estimated $3 million annually for 30 years. Six Cincinnati residents sued, challenging a city council decision earlier this month to confer “emergency” status on the enabling ordinance, which the lawmakers said exempted it from being put to a public vote.
OK: Students and professors met to discuss the possibility of OU becoming privatized
by Nadia Enchassi | March 28, 2013 | OU Daily
The possibility of OU becoming a private institution brought nearly 25 students and professors to a meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue. Currently, statistics show that OU is 17.5 percent funded by the state, as in by the public. That means the university is 17.5 percent away from continuing to be a public institution. Matt Jordan, a field organizer for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, was one of the two presenters at the meeting. Jordan discussed the cons of privatization, saying it’s of big concern to the city, county, state and essentially, this campus.
Oklahoma Lottery privatization proposal advances through House committee
By RANDY KREHBIEL World, 3/28/2013 5:15 AM
A proposal that could lead to privatization of the Oklahoma Lottery eased through a House committee on Wednesday despite reservations about its ultimate feasibility.
OR: Republicans’ proposal to reduce Money Match rate would cut pensions by a third
Statesman Journal, March 28, 2013
The Democrats' PERS bill moved on to the budget committee today, and it's receiving pressure from Republicans who want to amend the bill to create steeper cuts. Among other things, the Republicans want to reduce the earnings rate on Money Match accounts from 8 percent to 4 percent.
PA: Probing the constitutional crux of Corbett's pension plan: news & analysis
Donald Gilliland | pennlive.com April 01, 2013
From the moment Gov. Tom Corbett announced his proposed pension reform for teachers and state employees, his administration has acknowledged the measure would be heading straight to court if it passed the legislature. .... Both PSEA and Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have pledged to challenge the measure in court if it's passed.
PA: Non-union dining hall workers ask for job stability
By LALITA CLOZEL · March 27, 2013, 10:29 pm, Daily Pennsylvanian
An effort to push for better wages and benefits for non-unionized dining hall workers at Penn became public Monday morning. But those who help prepare students’ food were already complaining discreetly about inequities in their working conditions. At Penn, 109 full-time and more part-time food service workers are employed by the Bon Appétit Management Company and are not unionized. In contrast, the positions of 121 dining hall workers employed by Penn are covered by a collective bargaining agreement negotiated by a chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
PA: Former Hospital Workers Get Long-Awaited Pay Day
WNEP, March 28, 2013
It was a happy day for dozens of former hospital workers in Schuylkill County, who finally received paychecks after a year of waiting. Employees at the now closed Saint Catherine’s Hospital near Ashland were handed out their first round of checks Thursday evening. ... The hospital was forced into bankruptcy and people said they were left both out of work and without their final paychecks. “To work six weeks with no pay and then lose your job, today that`s devastating so this here, this is a great thing,” said Barry Spieles, the AFSCME union president.
PA: Murky Waters in Allentown
Huffington Post: 03/29/2013 9:18 pm
... Allentown, Pa., is a telling example of how privatization can restrict transparency. Mayor Ed Pawlowski is pursuing a 50-year concession of the city's water and sewer system, raising upfront cash that eases short-run budget choices but at the cost of much higher utility rates for five decades. The public learned about the plan last July when the city issued a formal request for qualifications from interested entities. That is, the public learned about the plan after the city had already committed financial resources to pursuing it.
PA: NLRB to oversee union-organizing vote at Philadelphia charter school
Martha Woodall, Inquirer, Monday, April 1, 2013
And, in what union officials said will be a first for a charter school in Pennsylvania, New Media's union election will be overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) instead of Pennsylvania's state labor board. At the request of the charter school, the national board took jurisdiction of New Media's election as a result of a recent NLRB decision that said the Chicago Mathematics & Science Academy Charter School was not a public school.
RI: Public hearing on state Cabinet pay raises draws little input
Mar 29, 2013 12:34 PM, Turn to 10
.... The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was the only group to speak during Friday's hearing. The union didn't speak against it, but made it clear if directors got raises they wanted their people to get them too. "We represent approximately 4,000 state employees who do the day-to-day work here in the state of Rhode Island," said Michael Downey, president of AFSCME Council 94.
RI: Bill would allow home-based childcare workers to unionize
Providence Journal, March 29, 2013
About 660 licensed home-based childcare providers throughout Rhode Island would be eligible to unionize like their colleagues in neighboring states under a bill introduced Wednesday in the General Assembly.
RI: Q&A: Dean Baker’s case for the RI pension fund earning 7.5%
March 29th, 2013 at 12:09 pm by Ted Nesi, WPRI
... Baker sat down with WPRI.com after the event for a wide-ranging interview about the economic issues facing Rhode Island. (A previous excerpt discussed the Superman building and vacant properties.) In this section, Baker discusses why he thinks Rhode Island’s pension return forecasts are reasonable.
TN: MED Reduces Some Employee Hours
By Jennifer Johnson Backer, Daily News, March 30, 2013
The Regional Medical Center at Memphis is reducing the hours of employees who work in transportation, telemetry and its call center to meet its 2013 budget goals. ... Chad Johnson, executive director of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 1733, the local chapter of the union that represents workers in the transportation and telemetry departments, said the union is also carefully monitoring a possible move to 12-hour shifts for housekeeping staff.
WA: Inslee's budget would boost public workers' pay
BRAD SHANNON; News Tribune, March 29, 2013
Public sector workers in state government agencies got a boost from Gov. Jay Inslee’s budget outline Thursday, which proposes to honor contracts with some two-dozen worker unions while also raising taxes to pump $1.2 billion in new spending into K-12 public schools. All told, Inslee’s outline supports an increase in employee compensation of more than $660 million, if pay for private home-care workers hired through the Medicaid program is included. .... The governor got a better reception from the Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents more than 40,000 state agency and college workers. Some are getting weary of the double-digit staffing cuts, rising health-care premiums, furloughs and no across-the-board pay hikes since 2008.
WA: Lakewood stares at $490,000 budget gap
Herald: March 31, 2013
Three months into the new year, the City of Lakewood is already grappling with a budget shortfall that could reach $490,000 and prompt officials to shed more jobs. .... Dan Penrose, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1938, the largest of the three unions, said it’s “not surprising” that a budget shortfall has materialized when the spending plan was based in part on a significant change to employee insurance coverage.
Wisconsin: Another proposal to screw the public servant
Daily Kos Labor, THU MAR 28, 2013 AT 04:00
State Representative Duey Strobel (R-Saukville) has heard stories of how public employees, during their last three years prior to retirement, are boosting their pensions by working overtime or getting promoted to a higher paying job as their pension is determined by their average salary in their last three years of employment. ... There have been no studies, no research, and no facts to back up this bill in search of a problem. What Strobel's bill would do is to average out the last five years of an employee's pay instead of using (as is currently done) the last three years of an employee's pay to figure out that employee's pension payments. ... The GOPs new motto should be, "Facts? We don't need no stinking facts!"
WI: Scott Walker blames political upheaval for slow job growth; others blame him
By Craig Gilbert and Rick Romell of the Journal Sentinel March 28, 2013
Asked Thursday about new numbers showing Wisconsin lagging in job growth, Gov. Scott Walker pointed to the uncertainty he said business owners felt because of the political tumult that rocked Wisconsin early in his term. ... "The first year we had a lot of protests in the state," Walker said, during an appearance in Milwaukee to promote business growth in the city. .... While Walker has cited circumstances ranging from the protests and recalls to broader historical factors, his critics blame the job numbers on his policies.
