January 24, 2013

National/Politics

Austerity bites for unions
Jim Tankersley, Washington Post, January 23, 2013 at 11:19 am
 
Old story, new twist: The Labor Department is out this morning with its annual report on union membership in America, and once again, it shows a year-over-year drop in how many workers belong to labor unions. .…. I asked several union officials to react to a preliminary estimate of these figures this month. Roundly, the officials said the drop in membership rates reflected a concerted attack on organized labor and an austerity hit to the economy that affects everyone, not just folks with a union card. They also struck some optimism about their efforts to reverse the trend, including moves to organize Latinos and other fast-growing demographic groups. “The economic crisis – and the politicians who took advantage of it for their own anti-worker purposes – had a negative impact,” said Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “But, we’ve pulled together to focus sharply on organizing new workers – AFSCME organized 50,000 new workers during the past two years.”

The Real Reason for the Decline of American Unions
By Kris Warner Jan 23, 2013 11:43 AM ET, Bloomberg

….. Canada has gone through many of the same economic and social changes as the U.S. since the middle of the 20th century, yet it hasn’t seen the same precipitous decline in unionization.  …… Differences in labor law and public policy are at the root of this disparity. … First, Canadian law is simply far more hospitable to unions.  …. A second distinction is the manner in which Canada enables unions to be formed. In the U.S., most private-sector workers who wish to unionize must sign authorization cards, petition the National Labor Relations Board and then vote in an election. The time between the petition and the election often stretches to months, and sometimes for longer than a year. In Canada, the process is relatively quick. … Finally, Canada has a process called first-contract arbitration. This provides a means to resolve a bargaining impasse between unions and employers during initial contract negotiations after a union has been formed.

Labor Remembers Martin Luther King
JANUARY 23, 2013BY: JAMES D'ANGELO, Harrisburg Labor and Union Examiner

Many people forget that Martin Luther King was in Memphis, Tennessee to support a strike. On Saturday, Jaunary 19, Rev. Al Sharpton joined American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, American Federation of State. County, and Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders and Philadelphia area labor leaders for a rally at Independence Hall as part of the AFL-CIO's annual observance.

Obama’s Progressive Agenda: Missing a Main Ingredient / Stonewall, Selma and Seneca Falls got inaugural shout-outs–but one movement went unsung.
BY JAMES THINDWA, In These Times, JANUARY 23, 2013

…. The president has shown no interest in seriously defending organized labor and union rights, even as Michigan, the “cradle of the labor movement” was instantaneously flipped into a “right-to-work” state. And this followed brazen attacks on workers in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana by GOP governors in the service of corporate elites seeking a return to unfettered capitalism and unbridled exploitation of workers. … Then there is the admirable enthusiasm President Obama showed in his inaugural speech for other important cornerstones of a progressive infrastructure.  …  But why can’t the president muster that kind of enthusiasm for union rights?

Unemployment claims drop to 5-year low
Christopher S. Rugaber, Associated Press 9:08a.m. EST January 24, 2013

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in five years. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly unemployment benefit applications dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 330,000. That's the fewest since January 2008.

House passes short-term debt-limit extension
Susan Davis, USA TODAY 6:19p.m. EST January 23, 2013

The U.S. House approved, 285-144, a bill to suspend the nation's $16.4 trillion debt ceiling through May 18 to avert a U.S. default on its legal obligations and buy Washington more time to negotiate budget priorities.

Democrats launch plan to turn Texas blue
By: Alexander Burns, Politico, January 24, 2013

National Democrats are taking steps to create a large-scale independent group aimed at turning traditionally conservative Texas into a prime electoral battleground, crafting a new initiative to identify and mobilize progressive voters in the rapidly-changing state, strategists familiar with the plans told POLITICO. The organization, dubbed “Battleground Texas,” plans to engage the state’s rapidly growing Latino population, as well as African-American voters and other Democratic-leaning constituencies that have been underrepresented at the ballot box in recent cycles. … Be One Texas will follow the “roundtable” model adopted successfully by Democrats in states such as Colorado and Minnesota, where collaboration between big donors, labor groups, women’s groups and other core Democratic constituencies have powered major gains.

Earnings of the top 1.0 percent rebound strongly in the recovery
By Lawrence Mishel and Nicholas Finio | EPI, January 23, 2013

…. Key findings include: Those at the top are seeing their wages rebound quite strongly in the recovery. Following a 15.6 percent decline from 2007 to 2009, real annual wages of the top 1.0 percent of earners grew 8.2 percent from 2009 to 2011. The real annual wages of the bottom 90 percent have continued to decline in the recovery, eroding by 1.2 percent between 2009 and 2011. Wage inequality grew substantially over 1979–2007, lessened in the 2007–2009 downturn, and began expanding again in the 2009–2011 recovery.

How Rare Are Municipal Bankruptcies?
MIKE MACIAG | Governing.com JANUARY 24, 2013

….In actuality, though, Chapter 9 filings have been few and far between. In all, only 13 localities sought bankruptcy protection over the past five years. A far greater number of sanitation authorities and other lesser-known special districts also filed, but the totals remain low given the number of municipalities across the country.

States hustle to modernize Medicaid
By: Jason Millman and Kathryn Smith, Politico, January 24, 2013 04:43 AM EST

… And as of Jan. 1, 47 states had grabbed or requested bonus federal dollars to upgrade their aging Medicaid enrollment systems, according to a state survey released Wednesday from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. States have to modernize Medicaid in order to roll out smooth enrollment systems for Medicaid and the new health insurance exchanges. All states will have exchanges, no matter what they decide about the expansion, which the Supreme Court made optional.

Are private toll roads a losing idea?
By Cate Long JANUARY 19, 2013, Reuters

…. An academic paper “Is there ‘value for money’ in transportation PPP’s?” looked at the efforts of the Australia infrastructure firm, Macquarie, in building private toll roads in the United States. The paper, published in 2007, included this table of Macquarie’s U.S. projects. The record for these projects is abysmal. Two of the projects declared bankruptcy. The assets of one, Pocahontas, were written down to zero by its new owner, and two were bought by the government jurisdictions where they were located. Another is in negotiations to be bought by the state of Virginia. None of these projects fulfilled their initial plans to operate successfully as profitable, private companies.

Wal-Mart Favored Over Hospitals in Nonprofit Pinch: Taxes
By Romy Varghese - (Bloomberg)

Pittsburgh’s biggest nonprofit hospitals and universities, whose jobs helped revive the Steel City economy, may have to shoulder some of its tax burden too. ….The move falls in line with similar efforts across the U.S. to impose payments such as municipal user fees on nonprofit organizations, said David L. Thompson, vice president of public policy at the National Council of Nonprofits in Washington. He said these steps have been taken with increasing frequency as local governments cope with the lingering effects of recession. …. Since 2000, at least 218 jurisdictions in 28 states have collected payments in lieu of taxes from nonprofit organizations, whose charitable status exempts them from most taxes, according to a report from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. More than 90 percent of so- called PILOTs came from schools and hospitals.

Small businesses uneasy about bills to force collection of out-of-state sales tax
Associated Press,: January 23

Small business owners may be closer to losing an advantage they’ve enjoyed during the e-commerce boom — being exempt from collecting sales tax in states where they’re not located. And they’re worried they will have to spend more money in the process. Under federal law, a state or local government cannot force a company to collect sales tax on a purchase unless the business has a physical presence in that state. The physical presence could range from an actual store to an office, warehouse or distribution center. The sale could be conducted online, over the phone or through mail-order.

Goldman Fights Shareholder Proposal for Independent Chairman
By LIZ MOYER, Wall Street Journal, Updated January 23, 2013, 2:10 p.m. ET

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is trying to block a shareholder proposal for an independent chairman of its board from appearing on the proxy ballot, one year after fighting back against a similar proposal by another activist group that resulted in it naming a lead outside director. CtW Investment Group, which works with pensions sponsored by a group of unions with 5.5 million members and $200 billion in assets, sent a letter to Goldman on Dec. 13 detailing its proposal, which calls on the board to adopt an independent chairman who hasn't been an executive officer of Goldman and hasn't had other affiliations or connections with the bank. … During last year's proxy season, Goldman negotiated behind the scenes with the pension plan for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees over its proposal for an independent chairman. Afscme's Employee Pension Plan, which has $850 million of assets, ultimately withdrew its proposal after Goldman agreed to appoint a lead outside director.

An Outrageous Form of Corporate Waste
By Alyce Lomax | Motley Fool, January 23, 2013

…. Corporate political spending has increasingly reached the limelight ever since the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling.…. According to Proxy Monitor's scorecard, which tracks votes on shareholder proposals at the top 200 American public companies, shareholder resolutions related to corporate political spending at some major companies received significant numbers of votes in 2012. …. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, garnered some major support in favor of lobbying disclosure, with 28.51% approval from shareholders at Verizon and 32.35% approval at Abbott Laboratories.

Time to Retire ‘Scabby the Rat’, Says Top AFL-CIO Official
BY MIKE ELK, In These Times, JAN 23, 2013 6:45 PM

Go to any labor rally and you are likely to see a towering symbol of union pride: a 16–foot-tall, inflatable plastic rodent known as “Scabby the Rat …. However, Scabby may be harder to find at rallies if one union leader gets his way. Today, Sean McGarvey, president of the 2-million-strong AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department, tweeted, “Meeting with our Presidents and state councils. Issued a call to retire the inflatable rat. It does not reflect our new value proposition.”

Public Universities to Offer Free Online Classes for Credit
By TAMAR LEWIN, New  York Times, January 23, 2013

In an unusual arrangement with a commercial company, dozens of public universities plan to offer an introductory online course free and for credit to anyone worldwide, in the hope that those who pass will pay tuition to complete a degree program. The universities — including Arizona State, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Arkansas system — will choose which of their existing online courses to convert to a massive open online course, or MOOC, in the new program, called MOOC2Degree.

State/Local

Colorado right to work bill gets quick axing
Denver Business Journal, Jan 23, 2013, 2:44pm MST

Right-to-work laws have engulfed some Midwestern states in months of controversy, causing massive protests as they were debated and leading to threats of recall elections after they passed. On Wednesday, however, it took just 21 minutes for a Senate committee to dismiss a freshman senator’s effort to turn Colorado into the 25th right-to-work state, dismissing it with nary a word.

CT: State grapples with budget
BY JACOB WOLF-SOROKIN, Yale Daily News, Thursday, January 24, 2013

Two reports released in the past two weeks by the state Office of Policy and Management detailed the grim fiscal picture for Connecticut. …. Larry Dorman, the spokesman for Council 4 AFSCME, which represents over 30,000 state and municipal employees in Connecticut, said that workers made immense sacrifices in salaries and health care and pension benefits in 2011, when they agreed to a concession package negotiated with the state. He said that the focus of budgetary decisions should be on reaching comprehensive solutions like raising revenue. “The last time I checked, keeping middle-class workers employed is good for the economy, not bad,” Dorman said.

FL: State worker raises plan still in limbo
Tallahassee.com, Jan 24, 2013  

On the same day Gov. Rick Scott proposed an across-the-board $2,500 pay raise for the state’s public school classroom teachers, the outlook for a salary increase for state workers seemed dim. State Senate Appropriations Chair Joe Negron said his focus will be more narrow, aimed at inequities among particular state agencies and departments. State employees have gone six years without a general pay raise.

FL: Local Educators Skeptical of Gov. Scott's Pay Proposal for Teachers
By Merissa Green, THE LEDGER,Thursday, January 24, 2013

Gov. Rick Scott's proposal to give every Florida teacher a $2,500 pay raise in the 2013-14 budget is receiving skeptical responses from local educators. …. Larry Milhorn, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2227, said the custodians, bus drivers and food service workers his union represents deserve their salaries adjusted, too. "I know the teachers are underpaid in this state but I believe all people in public service are underpaid," he said.

FL: Library wrapping up ties to private firm
Jan. 23, 2013 11:07 PM,  |  Jacksonsun.com

Finalizing the integrated library system purchase from Polaris on Tuesday signaled one of several tasks Jackson-Madison County Library Board members plan to accomplish before the March 7 transition date from Library Systems and Services. … Jerry Bastin, Jackson-Madison County Library Board treasurer, said the county will soon take control of the library’s budget as it severs ties with private management company LSSI.

Kansas’ Governor and G.O.P. Seek to End Income Tax
By JOHN ELIGON, New York Times, January 23, 2013

…. On Wednesday, lawmakers received a bill to inch the state closer to eliminating income taxes, a centerpiece of a broad legislative vision that many in the Republican Party here hope will serve as a model of conservative governance for other states, if not the nation, to follow. While Republican principles of small government and low taxes have holds on large swaths of the country, Kansas provides perhaps the starkest view of the crimson ideology that could challenge Mr. Obama’s Inauguration Day rallying cry. …. Mr. Brownback has already slashed the state’s welfare roll and its work force. He has merged government agencies and is proposing further consolidation. He is pushing for pension changes, to change the way judges are selected and for altering education financing formulas.

HI: State to pay $100M for unfunded liabilities
Jan 23, 2013 4:30 AM EST By Rick Daysog, Hawaii News Now

Gov. Neil Abercrombie today unveiled a plan to spend $100 million dollars next year to pay down future obligations to state workers and retirees. The problem is, the state's unfunded liabilities for state workers pensions and healthcare now stands at about $20 billion and is projected to top $37 billion over the next 12 years. … But Abercrombie says the payment will send a signal that Hawaii is serious about avoiding the kind of fiscal crisis that forced some Mainland cities to slashed benefits to retirees and forced several into bankruptcy.

IA: GOP wants to make Iowa's "right to work" part of the Constitution
Rod Boshart, Muscatine Journal, Jan 24, 2013

Republicans seeking to amend Iowa’s Constitution with right-to-work protection weathered a storm subcommittee meeting Wednesday by steering through strong union opposition hoping to run the issue aground. House Joint Resolution 1, which advanced on a 2-1 subcommittee vote, would ask Iowa voters to inscribe current right-to-work language in the Iowa Code into the state constitution. The 1947 provision spells out that Iowans cannot be denied a job because they choose not to join a union and forbids union membership as a condition of employment, as well as barring fees or other charges to non-union members. …. Watts asked opponents “why do you feel so frightened by this?” but Marcia Nichols of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) said it is Republicans who are scared by turning to myriad of constitutional protections.

IA: Built just 10 years ago, mental health facility at prison to close
AP, 23 January 2013 | 7:06 pm

State Corrections Director John Baldwin said prisoners at the penitentiary’s Clinical Care Unit will be transferred beginning this spring as part of an efficiency and security initiative. The prison will gradually shut down after a new prison opens about a mile away, the Des Moines Register reported Wednesday. …. Others believe the move is not suitable for prisoners’ treatment. Danny Homan, president of Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, called it a “terrible idea.” The union represents Fort Madison correctional officers.

IL: Local Kiwanis club benefits from treasurer's unclaimed property program
BERNARD SCHOENBURG, The State Journal-Register, Posted Jan 23, 2013 @ 10:00 PM

….. Meanwhile, Rutherford said he thinks means testing should be part of a new law that requires some state retirees to pay health insurance premiums for the first time. … Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said later that the bill did not specify a sliding scale of premium payments and that the premium structure is subject to collective bargaining.

KS: Business, labor clash over bill aimed at restricting union politicking
By Scott Rothschild, Journal World, January 23, 2013

Business interests on Wednesday called for the eradication of public employee unions as they pushed for passage of a bill that unions said would limit their ability to participate in politics. … But representatives of the Kansas National Education Association and other employee groups said their ability to collect funds on a voluntary basis to participate in the political process was a constitutional right. … Testimony on the measure indicated it was primarily aimed at the KNEA and Kansas Organization of State Employees, but Committee Chairman Marvin Kleeb, R-Overland Park, said it would apply to all public employee unions. … Stafford said that union leaders protected their self interests instead of the interests of the union members. But Mike Marvin, executive director of KOSE, said the public employee unions “are the epitome of democracy.”

LA: Lawsuit challenging Gov. Jindal's pension plan for new state workers heads to trial Thursday
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, January 24, 2013 - 6:26 am EST

A Baton Rouge judge is hearing arguments in a lawsuit challenging Gov. Bobby Jindal's 401(k)-style retirement plan for future rank-and-file state workers. The Retired State Employees Association of Louisiana claims the law is unconstitutional because it didn't get a two-thirds vote in the state House of Representatives. The trial before Judge William Morvant is Thursday.

LA: Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration reverses planned elimination of Medicaid hospice program
By Associated Press, January 23

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration scrapped plans Wednesday to shutter Louisiana’s Medicaid hospice program in February, meaning the state will continue to provide end-of-life care to people on their death beds who can’t afford private insurance. … Oklahoma is the only state that doesn’t offer hospice care to adults through Medicaid, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

MA: Patrick proposes $34.8b budget
By Michael Levenson and Noah Bierman |  Boston Globe,  JANUARY 23, 2013

Claiming a full-throated liberal mandate for the final years of his tenure, Governor Deval Patrick ­unveiled a $34.8 billion budget proposal Wednesday that reveals even more tax hikes than he proposed last week, increases spending across state government, and ­includes no significant cuts. Patrick’s annual blueprint represents his most aggressive attempt yet to shift the tax burden to middle and upper-income earners and pour money into the types of programs that first stirred him to seek the corner office in 2006.

MD: State leaders hope legislation will spur public-works projects, jobs
January 18, 2013|By Candy Thomson, The Baltimore Sun

The state has a long list of public-works projects but little money. The private sector is willing to invest but has been starved for work. From that simple equation comes a business model called public-private partnerships — or P3s — that Maryland hopes will help alleviate its backlog of transportation and other infrastructure needs. The O'Malley administration is expected to unveil legislation this week that would offer a channel for tapping into a reservoir of corporate money and expertise.

MI: Court records show how union's fight against privatization at Grand Rapids veterans home failed
By Zane McMillin | mlive.com, January 23, 2013 at 8:27 PM

More than 140 unionized caregivers at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans were given layoff notices this week, the culmination of a months-long battle against a plan by the state to privatize the jobs. Suzanne Thelen, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Veterans Affairs, said 144 caregivers represented by AFSCME Local 261 were notified of the layoffs on Tuesday, Jan. 22.  ….. The ultimate undoing of the union's fight against privatization are spelled out in state court documents, which show a legal challenge brought by veterans home resident Anthony Spallone was dropped in December 2012.  ….. Spallone sought to demonstrate the alleged diminished quality of care by contracted caregivers, records show. The three-judge panel ruled Spallone had failed to illustrate his claim.

MI: Viewpoint: Protect Michigan's unions
IAN ROBINSON AND BONNIE HALLORAN, Michigan Daily,  January 23, 2013

As the University community commemorates the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. this week, we should remember his opposition to right-to-work laws, such as the one rushed through the lame-duck session of the Michigan legislature in Dec. 2012.  …. On the Ann Arbor campus, seven of these unions have a direct impact on students: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, ….

MI: State changing the hiring rules for Michigan's emergency financial managers
By STEVE CARMODY, Michigan Radio, Jan 24, 2013

The state Treasury Department is changing the rules for people hired by emergency financial managers. Barnett Jones was hired last year as Flint’s Public Safety Administrator by the city’s emergency manager.  He resigned earlier this month after it was discovered he had a second full time job as the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department security director. To avoid having that happen again, the state Treasury Department is inserting language in future contracts that says emergency financial manager appointees can not engage in other employment, unless approved by the EFM.

MN: Union membership falls to 1930s levels
Duluth News Tribune and Associated Press, January 24, 2013, 12:00 AM

….. “Over the past few years there has been incredibly restrictive public budgets,” said Eric Lehto, chief of staff of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 5, which has about 40,000 members statewide, including employees with the city of Duluth, St. Louis County, Duluth and Proctor school districts and other state and local agencies. … AFSCME lost 50 to 60 members in Northeastern Minnesota last year, Lehto said, mainly through attrition as people retired or quit and were not replaced.  … Statewide, AFSCME bucked the trend by increasing membership by perhaps 300 members, Lehto said, mainly through organizing new units in the Twin Cities.

MN: Cass feels the effect of low interest rates
Brainerd Dispatch: January 23, 2013 - 9:16pm

…. The board Tuesday approved an agreement with the courthouse unit of employees that American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union represents. Employees who have worked for the county at least 10 years will have their accumulated vacation and sick leave, which otherwise would be paid as severance pay, placed into the Minnesota state Retirement System Health Care Savings Plan, effective Dec. 1, 2012.

NH: Unions pan NH proposal as management power grab
Norma Love, Associated Press | Jan 23, 2013 

New Hampshire's labor unions are criticizing legislation that would give public employers more control in the collective bargaining process as a power grab. Senate President Peter Bragdon, a Milford Republican, told the Senate Executive Departments and Administration Committee on Wednesday that his bill was not intended to do the dire things the unions fear. He proposes giving public employers the right to determine standards for evaluation, selection, layoff and retention, discipline, assignment and transfer. ….. Harriet Spencer, New Hampshire coordinator for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said agreements will be difficult to negotiate if management can dictate the standards without any give-and-take with unions.

NH: Demonizing people who work hard has no place N.H.
Diana Lacey, President State Employees’ Association, Foster’s, Thursday, January 24, 2013

… In Foster’s recent editorial attacking state employees, and throwing around my name like I was public enemy number one, they have revived an attack strategy that has no place here in New Hampshire. Their attempt to demonize more than 10,000 workers was not only unwarranted, it was without fact and was made in bad faith. No interviews were asked for, no first person accounts were given, no facts obtained. It seems the editorial was written based on other news stories, with an assumption that what was printed represented all of the facts. That was not the case.

NJ: LAWRENCE: Town hires private dispatchers
Wednesday, January 23, 2013 4:35 PM EST, CentralJersey.com

 Despite a last-ditch effort by the Lawrence Township Police Department’s 911 dispatchers to save their jobs, Township Council awarded a bid to a Cranbury based company to privatize police dispatching services that takes effect April 1. ….  Frank Herrick, who is a staff representative for American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 73 which represents the dispatchers, told the council that he believed there were some “very productive meetings” between the administration and the dispatchers.

NY: Lansing among four juvenile centers to close in NY
6:40 PM, Jan 23, 2013  |   Jessica Bakeman, Ithaca Journal

Plans to shutter four juvenile detention facilities, including the one in Lansing, were included in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal Tuesday, saving the state $7 million over two years and causing concern over job losses in the affected communities. …. The Civil Service Employees Association, the state’s largest public-employee union, said Cuomo was “too quick to gloss over” cuts to state programs. “Dedicated CSEA members deliver those services every day, but they have been reduced to political bargaining chips in the governor’s budget,” President Danny Donohue said in a statement

NY: Home Security / Vote To Sell County Home Fails By One Vote, 16-9; Legislature To Continue With Marketing
January 24, 2013 By Liz Skoczylas, The Post-Journal

The Chautauqua County Nursing Home is still in the county's hands. Legislators voted Wednesday night not to sell the home, which County Executive Greg Edwards said loses $9,000 per day, to potential purchaser William (Avi) Rothner of Altitude Health Services. Although 16 legislators voted to sell the home to Rothner, it was not enough for the supermajority vote.

NY: Pension option raises questions
By Rick Karlin, Times Union, 9:53 pm, Wednesday, January 23, 2013

 Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposal to allow localities to smooth out their pension costs over time is either a money-saver or a risky gimmick, depending on whom you ask. Either way, the "stable contribution option" for public employee pensions could turn out to be one of the broadest-reaching proposals in Cuomo's 2013-14 budget, released Tuesday. …. CSEA spokesman Stephen Madarasz also wonders if it provides an opening for pension reductions for future employees, especially if a shortfall comes up.

OH: High court to decide group's right to sue JobsOhio
By JULIE CARR SMYTH, AP, 9:47 am, Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Ohio's high court has agreed to settle a key legal question regarding the new private economic development entity created by Republican Gov. John Kasich (KAY'-sik): Do opponents have grounds to sue? So far, lower courts have rejected a legal challenge to JobsOhio brought by a liberal policy group and two Democratic state lawmakers.

OH: Ashtabula City Council plans special meeting to discuss layoffs
By SHELLEY TERRY -  Star Beacon, January 24, 2013

Early retirements, combining two departments and new legislation — it’s all on tap for a special City Council meeting set for 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall. … City Manager Jim Timonere has said the lost positions will come from the sanitation department — all members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 1197.

OK: Surprise! Oklahoma is using Obamacare to improve Medicaid
By Sarah Kliff , Washington Post: January 23, 2013

Oklahoma has made no secret of its opposition to Obamacare.  …. More quietly though, Oklahoma has accepted an influx of Obamacare dollars to digitize SoonerCare, the state’s Medicaid program. That means, even without expanding Medicaid, Oklahoma is using health reform funds to hugely overhaul how it serves the state’s lowest-income patients.

Oregon’s union-employed workforce shrank last year
Statesman Journal, Jan 23, 2013

….In 2011, Oregon had 286,000 people represented by a union, or about 18 percent of the total workforce. Last year, that number dropped to 250,000, about 16 percent of all workers. Numbers dropped nationwide as well. Most public sector employees in Oregon are represented by a union. The largest are Service Employees International Union Local 503, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 75 and the Oregon Education Association. Union membership is much less common in the private sector.

PA: Thousands in Philly Demand Fairness from Mayor Nutter
BY ERICK SANCHEZ | AFSCME blog,  JANUARY 24, 2013

AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders, District Council 33 Pres. Pete Matthews and District Council 47 Pres. Cathy Scott were joined on Saturday by other labor leaders to fire up thousands of city workers in Independence Park, calling on Mayor Michael Nutter to respect workers’ rights and think about working families, not corporate profits. This was one day after 500 protested Nutter’s harmful policies outside of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, DC, where Nutter was chairing the meeting.

PA: Politically Uncorrected | Pension fund investment is a better bet
Centre Daily Times: January 24, 2013  By G. Terry Madonna and Michael Young

…. The Corbett administration intends to turn management of the Pennsylvania lottery over to the British firm Camelot Global Services. “Privatization” of the operation of the state lottery is about to become a fact, subject to legal reviews by the attorney general, the state treasurer and a court challenge by AFSCME, the union representing lottery employees. …. Pennsylvania sends lottery profits to a British company, one owned by a Canadian pension fund, and we lose some unknown number of Pennsylvania jobs in the process.  …. With respect to the Pennsylvania lottery and our aspirations to increase its revenue, a simple expedient might enable our two embattled pension funds (SERS and PSERS) to play the same role as the Ontario pension fund.

PA: Corbett says funding for education will depend on fate of public-employee pension costs
Angela Couloumbis, Inquirer, Thursday, January 24, 2013, 7:16 AM

Gov. Corbett said Wednesday that he would not slash funding in his forthcoming budget for basic education or the four state-related universities, although he cautioned that could change if there was no legislative giveback on one of his priorities: reining in public-employee pension costs. …. He and Zogby said they were considering changing how the basic pension formula is calculated, which could have a big impact on what current employees receive when they retire. That is widely expected to be a key area on which the pension battle will be waged with the unions.

PA: Letter: The New Castle youth center closing must be explained
January 24, 2013, Post Gazette, DAVID MILLER, President, AFSCME Local 2353

On Jan. 15, the Governor's Office made official the permanent closing of the New Castle Youth Development Center. Various requests were made by local politicians and union leaders to seek out viable alternatives in order to preserve hundreds of jobs in a struggling economy.

WA: Deputies’ union files action against KCSO
January 23, 2013 | Goldendale Sentinel

On Dec. 27, 2012, Eddie Allen, the Klickitat County Sheriffs Office (KCSO) deputy’s union representative for Washington State Council of County and City Employee (AFSCME), submitted a request to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to overturn the reduction in hours implemented by Sheriff Rick McComas on Nov. 1 of last year. The AFSCME claims that Sheriff McComas did not follow the guidelines stated in RCW 2.10 and 2.10.01. The RCW states that the Sheriff shall immediately report to the Commission in a detailed letter every appointment, transfer, promotion, reduction, layoff, reinstatement, suspension, or change of title or compensation.

WI: Act 10: Federal Appeals Court Rules on Budget Repair Bill, Downs Challenge by Unions
By Joe Forward, State Bar of Wisconsin Jan. 23, 2013

Seven public sector unions recently lost a challenge to 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, the controversial “budget repair bill” that curtailed the collective bargaining rights of public employees, as a federal appeals court recently upheld the law “in its entirety.”…… Judge David Hamilton wrote separately and concurred that rational basis review required the panel to uphold Act 10 against the unions’ equal protection challenges. But he also dissented, arguing that Act 10’s selective prohibition on payroll deductions violates free speech rights.

Wisconsin union membership declines, following national trend
The Business Journal, Jan 23, 2013, 5:37pm CST

…. Wisconsin union membership declined in 2012 to 11.2 percent of total employees in the state, down from 13.3 percent in 2011, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Wednesday. Wisconsin was lower than the national average of 11.3 percent, which was down from 11.8 percent the previous year. The figures include both public and private union members.

WI: Wider audit ordered of UW System payroll, benefits
Thursday, January 24, 2013 12:45  Associated Press

Citing a lack of oversight and a pattern of mismanagement, state legislators have ordered a broader audit of UW System payroll and benefits processing. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee ordered an audit by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau. A recent routine audit by the state found the UW System made $33 million in overpayments for health insurance premiums and pension contributions over the past two years.

WV Supreme Court case addresses union contract, unemployment
State Journal,  Updated: Jan 23, 2013 3:49 PM

Can a person's unemployment benefits be governed under a collective bargaining agreement if she leaves her job, or are benefits set forth under different standards? This is one of the questions brought forth in a West Virginia Supreme Court oral argument hearing in a case where a former Verizon Services Corp. employee left her job because she could not get child care after the company switched her shift from day to evening.