January 28, 2013

National/Politics

Collective Bargaining Likely to be a Big Issue in Legislatures
STATELINE | JANUARY 28, 2013 By Melissa Maynard

….This year’s legislative battles over collective bargaining rights are likely to be more subtle, but the legislation put forward would still have a significant impact on employer-labor relationships, if passed. The AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions, expects 20 states to consider some type of restriction on payroll deductions of union dues by public employers. Some of the measures in question would restrict the ways that payroll deductions could be used by unions -- barring political activities -- while others would prohibit public employers from participating in the process of dues-collection at all. The AFL-CIO also expects 22 states to consider restrictions to the bargaining process, such as preventing particular types of government employees from joining bargaining units. …. The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 61, which represents about 20,000 state workers, has seen its membership reach an all-time high despite the state’s status as a long-time right-to-work state.

More Than 300 Labor Board Decisions Could Be Nullified
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE, New York Times,  Jan 25, 2012

The National Labor Relations Board has been thrown into a strange legal limbo — with the possibility that more than 300 of its decisions over the last year could be nullified — as a result of a federal appeals court ruling
on Friday that President Obama’s recess appointments to the board were invalid. By ruling that Mr. Obama’s three recess appointments last January were illegal, the federal appeals court ruling, if upheld, would leave the board with just one member, short of the quorum needed to issue any rulings. The Obama administration could appeal the court ruling, but no announcement was made on Friday. If the Supreme Court were to uphold Friday’s ruling, issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, it would mean that the labor board did not have a quorum since last January and that all its rulings since then should be nullified. Related
Roll Call: Republicans Call for NLRB to Shut Down After Court Ruling on Obama Appointees
Washington Post: Obama’s labor board has been ruled unconstitutional. Here’s why that matters.
AFL-CIO blog: Trumka Calls Court Ruling on NLRB Appointments 'Radical and Unprecedented'
Washington Post: What’s next for the National Labor Relations Board?

The Hill: Corker: Court ruling could invalidate recent NLRB, consumer bureau actions

John Fund at National Review: The Decline of Unions  / The NLRB recess-appointment decision is only the latest blow.

Union membership decline and its impact on Obama's agenda
By John Alan James, Lubin School of Business, Pace University, New York City, The Hill,  01/25/13 03:00 PM ET
 
…. Organized labor can take as much credit for the major electoral victory in November as any single group. Even the Republicans have praised the efficiency and effectiveness that union households played in getting loyal voters to register, to the polls and volunteering throughout the campaign. However, a new report this week from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows union membership continues to decline in the United States.
Labor’s Predictable Decline
by Randy Shaw‚ Beyond Chron, Jan. 28‚ 2013
 
…. But unionization’s decline is no mystery. After struggling for forty years with labor laws that deny fair elections and reward endless employer delays, unions invested $200 million in Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign to secure support for labor law reforms enabling union growth. Labor leaders knew that such reforms were essential, but allowed the Democratic-controlled Congress in 2009 to avoid action. Activists in all fields should learn from this mistake .

MSNBC Krystal Ball’s Timely Rant On Union Membership – Americans, Wake the “F” up!
January 24, 2013 by Burnt Orange Report

Krystal Ball gave an impassionate and prescient rant on unions on MSNBC’s, The Cycle. In her rant she urged citizens not to bask in the aspiration of President Obama’s speech. While the speech was a very progressive speech, she states that there is one issue that went unmentioned, the decline of the American union membership.

Grappling with 2012 losses, GOP points to governors as a way forward
KEN THOMAS and STEVE PEOPLES , Associated Press: January 25, 2013 - 1:20 PM

Looking for a new direction, many Republicans are turning to the states for an antidote to their 2012 election drubbing. Republicans are praising the tax and economic growth policies put forward by several GOP governors as a way the party can appeal to the pocketbook needs of voters and avoid the perils of divisive social issues that they believe undermined Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. With governors in 30 states, Republicans say they may be able to pave a path to power from outside Washington.

Cities Ask Tax-Exempt Nonprofits to Pay for Services
BY: McClatchy News | January 28, 2013 By Jean Hopfensperger

From storefront charities to sprawling medical centers, nonprofit groups are discovering that their property-tax-exempt status no longer shields them from cities casting for cash to make ends meet. City officials across the nation are rethinking the sacred covenant between governments and nonprofits that historically have escaped property taxes because of the contributions they make to their communities.

Report: Economic War Among the States Costs Billions
01/25/2013 Kenneth Quinnell, Good Jobs First

States are engaged in economic warfare on each other and it's costing taxpayers billions of dollars.  That's the message of a new report from Good Jobs First titled The Job-Creation Shell Game. Every year states and localities give billions of dollars to corporations to get those companies to relocate jobs to their state. According to the study, many companies do move, eliminating jobs in the old state and wasting money in the new state, since these moves have little impact on the new state's economy.

Washington and business brace for an Obama wave of regulations
By Ben Goad  - 01/28/13, The Hill

…. Advocacy groups and liberal lawmakers are drawing up wish lists of new regulations that would cover everything from air pollution to vehicle safety to labor protections.

The quiet liberal plans for entitlement reform
By: David Nather, Politico
January 27, 2013 07:11 PM EST

Ask liberals about GOP demands to rein in Social Security and Medicare spending, and many say this: no way.But the truth is, there are a number of ideas to do just that already sitting on the shelves of influential liberal think tanks around Washington.  …...Here are the highlights of the Democratic entitlement reform menu: Social Security: 'Chained CPI' Savings: $112 billion Makers, Takers, Fakers
By PAUL KRUGMAN, New York Times, January 27, 2013

…. Well, I don’t have a full answer, but I think it’s important to understand the extent to which leading Republicans live in an intellectual bubble. They get their news from Fox and other captive media, they get their policy analysis from billionaire-financed right-wing think tanks, and they’re often blissfully unaware both of contrary evidence and of how their positions sound to outsiders. So when Mr. Romney made his infamous “47 percent” remarks, he wasn’t, in his own mind, saying anything outrageous or even controversial. He was just repeating a view that has become increasingly dominant inside the right-wing bubble, namely that a large and ever-growing proportion of Americans won’t take responsibility for their own lives and are mooching off the hard-working wealthy.  … And given that worldview, Republicans see it as entirely appropriate to cut taxes on the rich while making everyone else pay more.

GOP digital divide may take years to bridge
By: Steve Friess, Politico, January 27, 2013 07:03 AM EST

Republicans are running a 1.0 digital ground game operation in a 3.0 world — and they know it. … Simply put, the Democratic National Committee has nearly a decade’s jump — and counting — thanks to innovative software for gathering detailed voter information that includes input from Democratic campaigns at every level of the ballot. While Priebus and others repeatedly cite the technological superiority of the president’s campaign in particular, it’s unclear whether they realize the DNC itself has been building that information backbone prior to Obama’s first run.

Millennials Want to Protect Social Security and Medicare
BY KATE CHILDS GRAHAM | AFSCME blog, JANUARY 25, 2013

The Millennial Generation – those aged 18 to 29 – have never had to live without a social safety net. Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs have been around their whole lives. So it shouldn’t be surprising that young adults favor preserving programs like Social Security and Medicare over cutting the deficit. In fact they do so 48 to 41, according to a poll recently conducted by Pew Research Center.

The quiet liberal plans for entitlement reform
By: David Nather, Politico
January 27, 2013 07:11 PM EST

Ask liberals about GOP demands to rein in Social Security and Medicare spending, and many say this: no way.But the truth is, there are a number of ideas to do just that already sitting on the shelves of influential liberal think tanks around Washington.  …...Here are the highlights of the Democratic entitlement reform menu: Social Security: 'Chained CPI' Savings: $112 billion

Firing employees who don’t get flu shots: what risks do hospitals face?
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Mark D. Nelson, Lexology, January 24 2013

As hospitals continue to see an onslaught of flu patients, they also face challenges to flu vaccination policies designed to reduce the spread of flu to patients and fellow employees.  Hospitals are understandably concerned with protecting patients, visitors and employees from contracting the flu and the potentially serious consequences to the health of elderly and infant patients. However, protecting patients against flu can create legal liability when employees are disciplined, discharged or suffer other adverse action because they do not get a flu shot. JPMorgan Chase Rejects Shareholder Breakup Proposal
American Banker, Jan 28, 2013

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is pushing back against a shareholder proposal to let investors vote on whether the bank should consider taking itself apart. The nation's biggest bank by assets has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to withhold a proposal by the AFL-CIO's Reserve Fund from proxy materials the company will send to shareholders this spring. The labor union wants the bank's board to form a committee to explore "an extraordinary transaction resulting in the separation of one or more of JPMorgan's businesses." Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Morgan Stanley (MS) have received similar proposals from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and Trillium Asset Management, which represents the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, a religious order in Atchison, Kan.

Judge Orders HCA to Pay $162 Million to Foundation
By JULIE CRESWELL, New York Times, January 24, 2013

HCA, the nation’s largest profit-making hospital chain, was ordered on Thursday to pay $162 million after a judge in Missouri ruledthat it had failed to abide by an agreement to make improvements to dilapidated hospitals that it bought in the Kansas City area several years ago. The judge also ordered a court-appointed accountant to determine whether HCA had actually provided the levels of charitable care that it agreed to at the time. .. The dispute in Kansas City is the second time in recent years that HCA has come under legal fire from officials in communities that sold troubled nonprofit community hospitals to HCA.

State/Local

AZ: Police-union policy isn't meant to rob taxpayers
E. J. Montini, columnist - Jan. 26, 2013 10:31 PM, The Republic

The Goldwater Institute seems determined to portray Phoenix cops as robbers. Last week, the high-priced suits at the institute sent out a news release letting everyone know about their lawsuit against the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association and the city of Phoenix. It is aimed at putting a stop to what is called "release time." … If the Goldwater folks win, it could put an end to the practice of allowing PLEA officers to perform union work while collecting their salaries.

CA: Dan Walters: California pension funds still face huge liabilities
By Dan Walters, sacbee.com, Jan. 28, 2013

…. CalPERS and its smaller cousins – especially the California State Teachers' Retirement System – still have multibillion-dollar unfunded liabilities, plus many billions more in retiree health care commitments that have remained unfunded. The Legislature's budget analyst, Mac Taylor, pointed out in his overview of Brown's latest state budget that under Brown's multiyear budget plan, the state "would not have begun the process of addressing huge unfunded liabilities associated with the teachers' retirement system and state retiree health benefits," adding, "As such, the state faces daunting budget choices in a much-improved fiscal environment."

Connecticut work force declines by 51,130 from 2011 to 2012
Saturday, January 26, 2013 By Luther Turmelle, nhregister.com

…. Between December 2011 and last month, Connecticut’s labor force declined by 51,130 workers, according to the analysis done by Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist at DataCore Partners in New Haven. ….. “The premise of the argument is that you need to make workers poorer in the process,” said Larry Dorman, a spokesman for Council 4 of AFSCME. “It’s flawed policy that goes back to when Lowell Weicker was governor and has continued ever since. If you are really serious about making progress with Connecticut’s economy, you’ve got to talk about creating jobs and growing the middle class, not cutting jobs and services.”

CT: Malloy May Face Tough Re-election Fight in Conn.
By Scott Conroy - January 28, 2013, Real Clear Politics

A one-two punch of recent disasters, coming on the heels of a difficult first two years in office, has made all of the previous challenges facing Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy seem almost quaint in comparison. First came the once-in-a-generation Hurricane Sandy .. Then in December, a quiet morning for the governor filled with budget talks and holiday planning turned into indescribable horror when 20 young children and six adults were massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

FL: ’99-percenters’ not the problem in public pension costs
XAVIER SUAREZ, Miami Herald, Friday, 01.25.13

…. Obviously no system, private or public, can absorb such generous benefits. But it should be kept in mind, as we reform excesses in the bureaucracy, that the lower ranks of the civil service are filled with teachers, nurses and nurses’ assistants, rescue technicians, parks, transit, solid waste and public works employees and others whose salaries often never exceed $50,000 and whose pensions usually do not exceed one-third of that, or about $15,000/year even after 20 years of service. … Those are the “99 percenters,” and they are not the problem. …. Miami-Dade County has a manager-to-employee ratio (called "span-of-control") of 1-5. This ratio is in stark contrast to the private sector, where a typical span-of-control ratio is eight to 10 employees for each supervisor.

FL: Fraud claims, voter suppression, Sandusky and a 'Bitches' sign. Yup, FL Dem chair race finishing mean
Miami Herald, Jan 25, 2013

The Florida Democratic Party picks its new chair tomorrow in Lake Mary -- and perhaps not a day too soon. The race between Allison Tant and Alan Clendenin has become quite a nasty affair. Some of Clendenin's supporters say some of Tant's have engaged in fraud and shouldn't be allowed to vote. At least one challenge was filed Friday night by AFSCME union member David Jacobsen. A Tant supporter, Susannah Randolph, issued a swift rebuke and noted AFSCME contributed money to a Republican committee that sent out a mailer suggesting a Democratic state House candidate wanted to protect pedophiles like Jerry Sandusky.

IA: Our View: No need to put 'Right to Work' in state constitution
Jan. 27, 2013 9:54 PM,  |   Press-Citizen Editorial Board

It looks like the Iowa Legislature might be gearing up for yet another overheated, rhetorical battle over the state’s “Right to Work” law. House Joint Resolution 1 — which is sponsored by all 53 Republican members of the House — would ask Iowa voters to inscribe the 66-year-old state law into the state constitution. The legislation is likely to go nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate — other than to allow many Democratic lawmakers to pay lip service to their loyalty to labor. This all seems much ado about nothing.
IA: Branstad CCU proposal surprises area legislators
January 25, 2013 2:29 pm | Joe Benedict, MVM News Network

Local legislators don’t agree with Gov. Terry Branstad’s budget item that will close the Iowa State Penitentiary’s Clinical Care Unit when the new state prison opens in Fort Madison. State Rep. Jerry Kearns, D-Keokuk, said he didn’t learn about the proposal until it was pointed out Wednesday in the governor’s budget proposal in the Des Moines Register. ….Kearns is on the Labor Committee and said while he can see why Danny Homan, president of the AFSCME Iowa Council 61, could think the change is about creating fewer union-represented state employees, Kearns said he didn’t have enough information to say that for sure.
IA: Branstad, locals differ on pension woes
January 27, 2013 9:00 am  •  By JON ERICSON, wcfcourier.com

Cities like Waterloo and Cedar Falls struggled to hold property taxes down in recent years because of rising costs of funding pensions for police and firefighters. In an interview with The Courier's editorial board Thursday, Gov. Terry Branstad said he could lend assistance to changing the pension formula, but thinks cities need to be willing to take on the unions to get them to pitch in a bigger share.
IL: Lawsuits over retiree health premiums headed for court
DOUG FINKE, The State Journal-Register, Jan 26, 2013 @ 10:00 PM

The battle over whether retired public employees should be required to pay health insurance premiums may finally be headed to a Springfield courtroom.Four lawsuits challenging the legality of such premiums are scheduled for a hearing Feb. 20 before Judge Steven Nardulli. All four have been consolidated into one case.….The premiums are the subject of contract negotiations between the state and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees that have dragged on for more than a year. The next bargaining session is scheduled for Feb. 6.
IL: Editorial - Rahm's ObamaCare Brainstorm / Chicago may dump its retiree health costs on federal taxpayers.
Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2013, 7:05 p.m. ET

Rahm Emanuel's parting gift to national taxpayers upon leaving Washington two years ago was a $1 trillion bill for ObamaCare. Now the Chicago Mayor may add billions more to the tab by dumping his city's retirees on the federally subsidized state health exchange.  …. The four-member panel issued a report this month suggesting that dumping pre-Medicare retirees onto the state's ObamaCare exchange in 2014 could be fab for retirees and city taxpayers. Nearly 60% of retirees and 94% of those who receive subsidies would pay less for their health care on the exchange. Married retirees with dependents would save an average of $4,300.

Kentucky lawmakers seek progress on fixing state pension system
Jan 27, 2013   The Courier-Journal

Overhauling the troubled state pension system is a complex task mired for years in partisan fights over funding and policies. But with the system in financial meltdown, many lawmakers at least hope to have a framework for reform by the end of the 30-day session that resumes Feb. 5. … At issue is the future of Kentucky Retirement Systems, which faces more than $18 billion in unfunded liabilities. The system covers close to 325,000 members and has grown increasingly unstable over the past decade thanks largely to underfunding by state government, investment losses in the sour economy and repeated benefit enhancements. …. But while public unions and retiree groups strongly support a full-funding approach, they oppose closing the state’s defined-benefit plan to new employees and repealing the cost-of-living increases.

Related Lexington Herald: Ky. Voices: Legislature must act on pension liability (Paul R. Guffey, president of Kentucky Public Retirees)

LA: LASERS board boosts contributions
BY MARSHA SHULER, Advocate, January 27, 2013

The Jindal administration’s planned pension system for future state employees will be more costly than originally thought under a valuation approved by the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System on Friday. The LASERS board — over the objections of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s aides — voted to recommend a revised employer contribution rate upward to the Public Retirement Systems Actuarial Committee, which adopts official valuations of each state and statewide system each year.

LA: Jindal achievements overturned in court
Jan. 27, 2013 11:00 PM,  |  AP

Gov. Bobby Jindal's chief education and retirement successes from the 2012 legislative session are being dismantled by state district judges, who have ruled in three separate cases that the Jindal administration didn't follow the proper process for legislative passage. … In the most recent ruling, Judge William Morvant ruled Jindal's plan to shift future rank-and-file state workers to a 401(k)-style retirement plan was unconstitutional because it didn't receive enough support from lawmakers.

MI: Detroit City Council OKs another 10% pay cut for nonunion workers
January 26, 2013 |   By Joe Guillen, Detroit Free Press

Detroit city workers, many already coping with a 10% pay cut imposed last summer, are bracing for more cuts as the City Council approved on Friday another 10% wage reduction for nonunion workers that Mayor Dave Bing's administration wants to apply to union employees as well. The 10% pay cut approved Friday comes only eight days after the council passed a one-year pension freeze and an increase in health care benefit costs for the city's nonunion workers, about 1,250 staffers in the city's legislative and executive branches. The repeated cuts to pay and benefits are pushing city workers into poverty, said Ed McNeil, special assistant to the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25.

MI: Lansing City employee benefit cuts possible
Jan 27, 2013  |  Lansing State Journal

The independent team formed to review the city of Lansing’s finances could recommend privatizing services and cutting employee benefits when it issues a report to Mayor Virg Bernero in March. The team, led by former Mayor David Hollister and consisting of members of the public and private sectors, will hold a public hearing this week to get input from city residents.

MI: Right-to-work proposals gaining steam across Great Lakes region
By SVEN GUSTAFSON AnnArbor.com, Jan 27, 2013 : 3:54 p.m.

The passage of contentious right-to-work legislation in Lansing last month surprised many observers who doubted the law could gain traction in Michigan, a traditional union stronghold, and set off furious protests at the state Capitol. Now, pressure to enact right-to-work laws is mounting in nearly every Great Lakes state and even neighboring Ontario, business columnist Rick Haglund writes Sunday on MLive.com.

MT: COLUMN: Legislators may want to alter state employees' pay plan
January 26, 2013 9:27 pm  •  CHARLES S. JOHNSON Missoulian

…. Some Republicans on the GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee said they believe the 2013 Legislature will approve a raise in state employees’ base pay for the first time since the 2007 session passed one. ….. If the House killed HB13, Feaver said, that would prompt union leaders to demand that the collective bargaining process start anew, this time with Gov. Steve Bullock. Perhaps it would lead to the same outcome with Bullock or maybe a different one, Feaver said.

ND: An Oil Boom Takes a Toll on Health Care
By JOHN ELIGON, New York Times, January 27, 2013

…. The furious pace of oil exploration that has made North Dakota one of the healthiest economies in the country has had the opposite effect on the region’s health care providers. Swamped by uninsured laborers flocking to dangerous jobs, medical facilities in the area are sinking under skyrocketing debt, a flood of gruesome injuries and bloated business costs from the inflated economy. … In nearby Williston, considered the heart of the oil boom, the population, including temporary workers, has swelled to 25,000 to 33,000 from fewer than 15,000 in 2010, according to a study by North Dakota State University. … The cramped housing camps where many oil workers live can add to health issues.

NJ: Codey says he won't run for NJ governor
GEOFF MULVIHILL , The Associated Press,  Friday, January 25, 2013, 11:35 AM

Another of New Jersey's best-known Democratic politicians announced Friday that he had decided not to run for governor against popular Republican incumbent Chris Christie. State Sen. Richard Codey's decision leaves just one prominent Democrat in the race, state Sen. Barbara Buono. With the election now just over nine months away, time is dwindling for another major challenger to get in the race.

NM: Arbitrator Dismisses Christus St. Vincent Complaint Against Union
By Jackie Jadrnak / Journal North Reporter on Fri, Jan 25, 2013: 5:53 pm

An arbitrator Friday dismissed a complaint that Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center brought against its health care employees union, bringing a sigh of relief from union members who feared possible penalties of up to $75 per day.“We are pleased with the decision today as it reflects what we have believed all along,” said Fonda Osborn, president of District 1199NM of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, in a written statement.

NY: Manor plan hinges on tax hike, union

By JOE MAHONEY, The Daily Star, January 26, 2013

A new proposal to stave off privatization of the 174-bed Otsego Manor hinges on persuading unionized workers to accept significant contractual givebacks and building public support for an increase in Otsego County’s share of the sales tax........But before the sales-tax effort could be undertaken, the county would have to persuade the Civil Service Employees Association — a union representing more than 200 Manor workers — to make contractual concessions, Kosmer suggested.

NY: CSEA reaffirms push to control costs at County Home

January 26, 2013 OBSERVER

CSEA is reaffirming its commitment to negotiate separately for nursing home workers following the County Legislature's vote this week not to sell the County Home. "Legislators did the right thing Wednesday night when they voted not to sell the safety net Chautauqua County Home to Avi Rothner and Altitude Care," said CSEA Chautauqua County Unit President David Fagerstrom. "It is important now for measures recommended by the Legislature's Ad Hoc Committee on the County Home and the Center for Governmental Research to be implemented."

New York Scraps Privatizing Parking Meters

By CAROLINE PORTER and TED MANN, Wall Street Journal,  Jan 26, 2013

New York City is scrapping plans to privatize management of its street-parking system, the latest sign of growing wariness in U.S. cities of initiatives to address budget woes by selling off the rights to run meters and lots. The decision by the nation's largest city comes amid a backlash in Chicago, whose 2008 deal to lease rights on 36,000 parking meters to private investors for 75 years for about $1.2 billion was the first parking privatization by a major U.S. city. Chicago residents and policy makers—including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose predecessor presided over the deal—have criticized it for selling the rights too cheaply and for including clauses that have ended up costing the city additional funds. Pittsburgh and Los Angeles also have put privatization plans on ice. NY: Still on Strike, a Bus Union Sees a Threat to Its Culture
By AL BAKER, New York Times, January 27, 2013

….. Each profession has its own customs and quirks, but the culture of the New York City school bus driver is certainly one of the more unusual, one built on odd daily and annual schedules, decades of accumulated work rules and above all a deference to seniority. And it is now facing upheaval, with the city moving to end some seniority-based job guarantees, which led most of the city’s drivers to walk out on Jan. 16. The strike, which has shut down roughly 5,000 of the city’s 7,700 school bus routes, is expected to continue this week, though the drivers’ union and the school bus companies had agreed to sit down at Gracie Mansion with a mediator on Monday.

NY: Wall St.’ flees NY for tax-free Fla.
By JOSH MARGOLIN, NY Post, January 28, 2013

The city’s hedge-fund executives are flying south — and it’s not for vacation. An increasing number of financial firms, especially private equity and hedge funds, are fed up with New York’s sky-high city and state tax rates and are relocating to the business-friendly climate in Florida’s Palm Beach County.

OH: Report: Increase in violence against Ohio prison staff
Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch Friday January 25, 2013 1:32 PM

Overall violence in Ohio prisons is down, but serious assaults on prison staff are up, a new Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction report shows. …. The Ohio Civil Service Employee Association, the union representing prison staff, called the report “disturbing.”  “Our members knew from first-hand experience that the reality on the ground was different from what DR&C was reporting,” said Jimmy Adkins
, head of the union’s corrections section. “We think this report is a wake-up call to the Kasich administration that they need to take a serious look at some of the recommendations this union has made, including an increase in correction officers and other correction employees.”
OH: No state standard to deal with Internet postings
Catherine Candisky THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH, Sunday January 27, 2013 11:36 AM

Just because you can say something, like citing Adolf Hitler on your Facebook page, doesn’t mean you should......Officials with the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, the largest union representing state employees, are incensed at what they call an inequitable treatment meted to a prison employee who was fired a year ago for a Facebook posting that appeared to be a threat against Gov. John Kasich.
OH: Nurses picket outside Affinity Medical Center
Jan 28, 2013 @ 08:58 AM, cantonrep.com

Despite rain and cold temperatures, roughly 20 Affinity Medical Center nurses picketed this morning outside the hospital’s Eighth Street NE entrance to protest unfair labor practices and administrative policies that they say discourage nurses from reporting unsafe working conditions, such as inadequate staffing. The nurses, who voted last summer to join the National Nurses Organizing Committee-Ohio, an affiliate of National Nurses United, were joined by members of other local unions, including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, International Brotherhood of Electrical

OR: Editorial - Another idea to reform PERS
Argus Observer: Saturday, January 26, 2013 11:00 pm

The union that represents about 25,000 state, county and municipal employees in Oregon is floating an idea to help reform the Public Employee Retirement System that we think is worth considering. Representatives of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees visited the Argus Observer editorial board last week to share their thoughts on PERS. … To AFSCME’s credit, they have come up with a potential solution of their own that doesn’t even require legislative approval. AFSCME recommends that the PERS Board extend the normal 20-year amortization rate for the 2008 PERS Unfunded Actuarial Liability to 25 or 30 years.

OR: EDITORIAL: No PERS blackout / Reject bill to keep pension amounts secret
Register Guard, Jan. 27

Gov. John Kitzhaber is pushing for modest changes to the Public Employees Retirement System for two reasons. First, he wants to reduce the pension program’s cost to state and local governments, freeing funds for other uses. Second, the governor wants to detoxify PERS as a political issue to improve his chances of reforming Oregon’s tax system. Neither aim would be served by a legislative proposal to exempt retirees’ pension records from public disclosure.
OR: Despite their clout, Oregon's public-sector unions face tough fights in 2013 Legislature
By Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian, January 26, 2013

….  But as the unions, which cover roughly 140,000 public employees, head into the upcoming legislative session, they still find themselves on the defensive.….And the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees became a powerful force as it organized workers in cities and counties, as well as state government. Things got tougher in the 1990s after voters approved caps on property taxes sponsored by conservative activists Don McIntire and Bill Sizemore.

PA: Amid state, teacher pension fights, municipalities are third - and largely forgotten - rail
By Nick Malawskey |  Patriot News, January 27, 2013

PA: Gov. Tom Corbett is gearing up for a fight to reform state employee and teacher pensions. … What hasn’t been talked about, however, is the third prong of the public retirement system — municipal pensions. Municipal pensions are not as high profile as the state and teachers’ systems, but in the background have been quietly draining local government coffers.

PA: State pension board made expensive bet on hedge funds
January 27, 2013|By Joseph N. DiStefano, Inquirer

It was an expensive throw of the dice: Back in 2006, the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) and its board, headed by ex-state Rep. Nicholas Maiale (D., Phila.), gave more than $3 billion to six private investment firms so they could use it to buy high-priced hedge fund investments, in hopes of fat profits. The goal was to beat the sluggish stock and bond markets and ease the system's deficit, which had been growing since Gov. Tom Ridge boosted pensions in 2001 but failed to pay for the increase.

Pennsylvanians' Right to Work
By STEPHEN MOORE, Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2013, 12:13 p.m. ET

On Michigan's heels, Pennsylvania may become the 25th state in the nation to adopt a right to work law. This week a group of Republican lawmakers, led by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, introduced legislation that would end compulsory unionism. Republicans are touting the growth of jobs in right to work states, which are mostly located in the South and West. A study by the American Legislative Exchange Council finds that new factories and facilities are much more likely to open in states without forced unionism. … Labor bosses are threatening to wage political war against Republicans who vote for the measure. And some GOP lawmakers took union campaign contributions, which could make right to work a tough vote.

Wisconsin Court Battle
By COLLIN LEVY, Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2013, 12:12 p.m. ET

Round five (or is it seven?) of the Unions vs. Scott Walker battle is heating up in Wisconsin, this time over the future of the state Supreme Court. With one of the state's conservative justices up for re-election this spring, many on the left are hoping to flip the court and challenge Governor Walker's agenda. …. This time they'll pin their hopes on an unlikely gaggle of challengers for the seat of incumbent Justice Pat Roggensack, who has served on the court since 2003. Marquette University law professor Ed Fallone, Milwaukee lemon lawyer Vince Megma and Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi are expected to be among the challengers.

WI: Gov. Walker: Conservatism thriving in states
Seth McLaughlin - The Washington Times January 26, 2013, 02:46PM

Despite taking their lumps in the November election, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Saturday that Republicans should be "optimistic" about the future because the conservative movement is thriving on the state level. Mr. Walker told the crowd gathered here for a National Review Institute summit in Washington that Republicans now control the governorships in 30 of the 50 states and nearly half of the state legislatures — putting them in a position to make "bold" moves on tax, entitlement and education policy.

WI: Crowds rallies to oppose new mining bill
By Alice Coyne, THE BADGER HERALD Jan 28, 2013 7

Dozens of citizens and 21 environmental groups from across the state rallied at the Capitol Saturday at noon, voicing opposition to the recent mining legislation that would allow mining in northern Wisconsin.  … “Not on our land, not in our lifetime” became the catch phrase of the rally as the crowd chanted in response to speaker Andy Heidt of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.