March 28, 2013
National/Politics
AFL-CIO’s Trumka looks to remake U.S. labor movement
By Peter Wallsten, Washington Post: March 27, 2013
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Wednesday he is crafting a new plan to remake the American labor movement, which is struggling to retain clout in Washington and state capitals amid a steep decline in membership. In an interview taped for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program, Trumka said he was seeking a more formal alliance with other key elements of the Democratic Party’s liberal base, including civil rights organizations and women’s rights groups. The hope, he said, is to then broaden union membership beyond the traditional realm of workplace-based organizing. ... The full interview is scheduled to air on C-SPAN Sunday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Activists Gather in Memphis to Commemorate Dr. King’s Life
BY KATE CHILDS GRAHAM | MARCH 27, 2013, AFSCME blog
... On April 3, the community will gather from 7-10 p.m. in the historic Mason Temple at 930 Mason St., Memphis, Tenn. Highlights include entertainment, a panel discussion on economic and racial justice and special remarks from civil rights leaders. ...The invitation from Martin Luther King III, AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders and Rev. Al Sharpton reads, “We look back this year and remember, because we know that the foundation laid in the most triumphant and tragic days of the civil rights movement – of our economic justice – must inspire and guide us in the struggles we now face.”
AFL-CIO official downplays tensions with Chamber in immigration talks
By Kevin Bogardus, The Hill, 03/27/13 05:09 PM ET
The AFL-CIO’s point person on immigration reform sounded a more hopeful note on Tuesday about the labor federation’s talks with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Labor and business have been meeting to help flesh out details for a new temporary worker program to be included in a comprehensive immigration reform bill. It’s a thorny issue that helped sink the last major push for immigration reform in 2007. The negotiations have hit a rough patch in recent weeks, with both sides airing grievances in the press. But Ana Avendaño, the AFL-CIO’s director of immigration and community action, downplayed the tensions as “miscommunication.”
Obama Trusts Immigration Gang to Produce Bill
By Humberto Sanchez, Roll Call, March 27, 2013, 8:36 p.m.
President Barack Obama told Spanish-language news that he has confidence in the ability of the bipartisan “gang of eight” to produce a bill by early April and that he’s counting on it being “before the Senate” next month.
Michigan braces for anti-union legislation
By Neil Munshi in Chicago, Financial Times, March 27, 2013 7:59 pm
.... Michigan will become the 24th state to enact so-called right-to-work laws, which keep workers from having to pay mandatory union dues in the public and private sector. Republican legislators in other states, including Pennsylvania and Missouri, have proposed similar acts. But Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said few were likely to succeed. ... The legislation is the subject of lawsuits, but unions’ best chance to repeal it may be next year’s election, when the Michigan chapter of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) has vowed to make it a campaign issue.
Obama's Labor Nominee Faces GOP Opposition Over His Role In A Supreme Court Case
by CARRIE JOHNSON, NPR, March 27, 2013 6:18 PM
Thomas Perez, the president's nominee to lead the Department of Labor and a high-profile Latino advocate for civil rights, is scheduled for a Senate confirmation hearing April 18. But behind-the-scenes wrangling over his nomination, and his controversial role in a Supreme Court case, is already well under way.
With Vouchers, States Shift Aid for Schools to Families
By FERNANDA SANTOS and MOTOKO RICH, New York Times, March 27, 2013
A growing number of lawmakers across the country are taking steps to redefine public education, shifting the debate from the classroom to the pocketbook. Instead of simply financing a traditional system of neighborhood schools, legislators and some governors are headed toward funneling public money directly to families, who would be free to choose the kind of schooling they believe is best for their children, be it public, charter, private, religious, online or at home. ... Currently, 17 states offer 33 programs that allow parents to use taxpayer money to send their children to private schools, according to the American Federation for Children, a nonprofit advocate for school vouchers and tax-credit scholarship programs that give individuals or corporations tax reductions if they donate to state-run scholarship funds.
Buzzkill? Cash-strapped states eye pot tax
By: Rachael Bade, Politico, March 28, 2013 04:43 AM EDT
.... Cash-starved legislators are seeing dollar signs in dime bags — with talk that a tax on marijuana could pump hundreds of millions or even billions into budgets still reeling from the recession. .... Miron estimates that a nationwide legalization that taxed marijuana like alcohol and tobacco would mean $6.4 billion in new tax revenue — $4.3 billion for Uncle Sam and $2.1 billion for the states.
Use of Food Stamps Swells Even as Economy Improves
By DAMIAN PALETTA and CAROLINE PORTER, Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2013, 10:32 p.m. ET
... Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as the modern-day food-stamp benefit is known, has soared 70% since 2008 to a record 47.8 million as of December 2012. Congressional budget analysts think participation will rise again this year and dip only slightly in coming years. The biggest factor behind the upward march of food stamps is a sluggish job market and a rising poverty rate. At the same time, many states have pushed to get more people to apply for SNAP, a program where the federal government picks up the tab. But there is another driver, which has its origins in President Bill Clinton's 1996 welfare overhaul. In recent years, the law has enabled states to ease asset and income tests for would-be participants, with the encouragement of the Obama administration, allowing into the program people with relatively higher incomes as well as savings.
Economy in U.S. Grew at Revised 0.4% Pace in Fourth Quarter
By Alex Kowalski - Mar 28, 2013, Bloomberg
The U.S. economy slowed less than previously estimated in the fourth quarter, reflecting a bigger gain in business spending and a smaller trade gap. Gross domestic product rose at a 0.4 percent annual rate, up from a 0.1 percent prior estimate and following a 3.1 percent pace in the third quarter, revised Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The fourth-quarter slowdown was due to the biggest slump in military spending since 1972 and a reduction in the rate of inventory building.
Jobless claims rise, labor market still healing
(Reuters) – March 28, 2013
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, but probably not enough to suggest the labor market recovery was taking a step back. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 357,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Still, they remained in the middle of their range for this year. .... Claims over the next several weeks will be watched closely for signs of layoffs related to $85 billion in government budget cuts known as the "sequester."
The Ballad of the Furloughed
Mike Causey, Federal News Radio, Wednesday - 3/27/2013, 2:00am EDT
Sick of reading, hearing and talking about sequestration? Tired of thinking about what furloughs will do to your paycheck. Maybe it's time to turn to song. ..... But the part about how we managed to get the fugitive out of his sanctuary seemed like a good way to introduce this lyrics-by-feds song aimed at helping feds endure the furloughs they are facing. The new words were written by members of the Library of Congress Professional Guild. Here, with apologies to Harry Belafonte, it is: Furlough Day To the tune of: "The Banana Boat Song."
Sequestration Seen Bullish for Prison Companies Amid Cuts
By Kathleen Miller - Mar 27, 2013, Bloomberg
Polk County, 1,100 square miles of eastern Texas prairie with 45,000 residents, made a bet seven years ago that a detention center for undocumented immigrants would create jobs and keep taxes low. ... Federal budget cuts have helped drive the prison’s population down to less than half its capacity, Thompson said, and now that income is threatened by further government spending reductions. ... Economic losses for rural communities that rely on prison revenue may turn out to be a gain for companies such as Corrections Corp. of America and Geo Group Inc (GEO)., which are positioned to help federal officials drive down incarceration costs, said Tobey Sommer, an Atlanta-based analyst with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc.
Exclusive: Wal-Mart may get customers to deliver packages to online buyers
By Alistair Barr and Jessica Wohl. (Reuters) March 28, 2013
Wal-Mart Stores Inc is considering a radical plan to have store customers deliver packages to online buyers, a new twist on speedier delivery services that the company hopes will enable it to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. ... Such an effort would, however, face numerous legal, regulatory and privacy obstacles, and Wal-Mart executives said it was at an early planning stage. ... Wal-Mart would offer a discount on the customers' shopping bill, effectively covering the cost of their gas in return for the delivery of packages, he added.
State/Local
AK: A New Day for City Labor Unions After AO-37 Passes
KTVA, Mar 27, 2013 at 6:47 PM
It was a heated debate right up until the end, but Tuesday night, the Anchorage Assembly passed the contentious AO-37—an ordinance that dramatically overhauls how the city negotiates with its unions—by a narrow six-to-five vote. The ordinance, first introduced February 12, went into effect Wednesday. The overhaul sets the stage for labor negations for three unions that will renegotiate their contracts with the city this year: Public Employees Local 71, Plumbers/Steamfitters Local 367, and Operating Engineers Local 302. The engineers union begins its negotiations Thursday. ... Union workers and representatives said today that the passage of AO-37 means uncertainty at the negotiation table. Alward said that, in the past, his union never consulted attorneys for contract negotiations, and that “rank-and-file” employees often sat at the negotiating table with the city.
AK: ACLU, Assembly chairman to address public hearing rules
ADN.com: March 27, 2013
The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska believes Tuesday night's Assembly vote on a rewrite of city labor law was improper due to the way public testimony was handled but will hold off on legal action, ACLU executive director Jeffrey Mittman said Wednesday.
CA: San Diego council race headed for runoff
By Craig Gustafson MARCH 27, 2013
Labor advocate Myrtle Cole and LGBT leader Dwayne Crenshaw are headed for a runoff for the vacant District 4 City Council seat after topping a crowded field in Tuesday’s special election. ... Cole dominated Tuesday results by more than doubling the vote total of her closest rival, Crenshaw, with most ballots tallied late Tuesday. .... Cole, 63, was the preferred choice of the local Democratic Party and received help from the influential San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, which raised and spent more than $82,000 on her behalf. The former police officer is currently on leave from her job as regional coordinator with the United Domestic Workers Local 3930, a home-care providers union, and has campaigned and worked for Democratic politicians over the past two decades.
California Seeks End to Federal Oversight in Its Prisons
By NORIMITSU ONISHI, New York times, March 27, 2013
Eighteen years after losing control over mental health care in its prisons, California argued in a federal court here on Wednesday that it had made enough improvements to regain oversight. ... Since January, Gov. Jerry Brown has been laying the groundwork for an attempt to regain greater control of California’s 33 adult prisons, the nation’s largest corrections system. Mr. Brown has argued that California is able to oversee its own prisons thanks to continuing improvements and that federal oversight imposes unnecessary financial burdens on the state.
CA: Judge: Ruling due next week in Stockton bankruptcy
By TRACIE CONE Associated Press, 03/27/2013 07:00:10 PM PDT
Stockton has cut libraries, afterschool programs, salaries and police and fire service and can't go any further without risking the health and safety of its citizens, attorneys argued in federal bankruptcy court Wednesday. .. The bankruptcy petition is opposed by creditors who hold and insure bonds the city used to pay a massive pension obligation. They want to keep Stockton out of bankruptcy, which would likely allow the city to avoid repaying debts in full.
CO: State workers expect pay raise as debate begins on next year’s budget
Eli Stokols, 06:06pm, March 25, 2013, KDVR
State workers are expecting to get their first pay raise in four years as part of the state budget for 2013-14, which will be officially introduced in the state Senate Monday afternoon. This legislative session’s budget battle isn’t likely to be as difficult or divisive as the last two years, when split control of the Capitol’s two chambers, coupled with a dreary revenue forecast, led to tough decisions and charged political battles about the state’s spending priorities. ... “How anyone could protest a 2% raise after four years of pay cuts is unimaginable,” said Scott Wasserman, the executive director of ColoradoWINS, the unions representing state workers.
Florida House pension limits rooted in controversial group
By John Kennedy, Palm Beach Post, 7:58 p.m. Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Florida House’s push to overhaul the $136 billion pension plan used by more than 600,000 teachers, police, firefighters and other government workers is headed toward tense, end-of-session deal-making with the Senate. But roots of the controversial reform effort are deep and stretch far from Florida’s Capitol. Critics trace the campaign back two years — to New Orleans, where dozens of Florida lawmakers gathered for a conference hosted by a controversial advocacy group that helps corporations and conservative interest groups write bills for legislatures across the country. Jonathan Williams, a policy director for the American Legislative Exchange Council, told The Palm Beach Post that the organization’s three days of meetings in August 2011 helped affirm the need among many legislators to take a hard look at public employee benefits.
FL: South Florida Workers Protest Possible Changes
WIOD, Tuesday, March 26, 2013
... Union members, workers, and faith leaders are protesting Gonzalez's recent vote for House Bill 655 which stops all current and future local living wage and responsible wage ordinances. Frost says the law would limit local governments from creating wage-theft ordinances, making it harder for unpaid workers to collect their money.
IA: Is penitentiary understaffed? Kearns would like to see Fort Madison prison's staff increased
4:16 pm, Wed Mar 27, 2013. By Joe Benedict MVM News Network, Daily Gate
AFSCME Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan said last week that prison understaffing is behind the contraband issue that led to the recent lockdown at Iowa State Penitentiary. Local legislators tend to agree. State Rep. Jerry Kearns, D-Keokuk, said Homan is the one who talks to union members and knows daily operations in Iowa prisons. “He is probably correct in his assumptions,” Kearns said.
IA: USA - No meat inspection 28 Mar 2013
Meat Trade News, March 28, 2013
Bootleg meat and black-market eggs could become a reality if automatic federal budget cuts take hold, according to a veteran meat inspector with 22 years on the job. That’s not hyperbole, said Trent Berhow, a union meat inspector who lives in Kiron, Iowa. ... Berhow hypothesized about under-the-counter chickens during a conference call that was put together by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 61 on the potential effects of the federal budget cuts known as sequestration that take effect over the next several years.
IN: Senate panel passes preschool, teacher union-dues bills
Mar 27, 2013 | Indianapolis Star
Two bills that have been at the center of debate passed the Indiana Senate Education Committee on Wednesday: .... House Bill 1334, which prohibits school districts from collecting money from teachers on behalf of their union if it is to be used for “political activity,” passed 7-3.
LA: Jindal tax plan shifts $500 million in costs to businesses, administration official says
By Jeff Adelson, The Times-Picayune, March 26, 2013 at 9:06 PM
Gov. Bobby Jindal's proposed tax swap would shift about $500 million in taxes from residents to businesses, the administration's point man on the tax proposal told a legislative committee Tuesday. .... Broadly speaking, Jindal's tax plan would eliminate the state's personal income and corporate taxes and replace them with a sales tax of 5.88 percent, an increase from the current 4 percent sales tax. That tax would be imposed on a series of new goods and services. The proposal also calls for higher tobacco taxes and a reduction in severance tax exemptions.
LA: LSU hospitals in north La. set for privatization
By MELINDA DESLATTE, Associated Press, 3:21 pm, Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The LSU Board of Supervisors agreed Wednesday to negotiate turning over the operations of university-run hospitals in Shreveport and Monroe to a nonprofit research foundation whose interim president sits on the LSU board. ... Employees of the university-run hospitals and affiliated clinics set for privatization will face layoffs and then have to reapply for their jobs with the new managers if they want to keep their positions.
MA: Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino plans to announce he will not seek sixth term
03/28/2013 1:17 AM By Andrew Ryan, Globe
Mayor Thomas M. Menino will announce at a Faneuil Hall event Thursday afternoon that he will not seek a sixth term in office, say officials familiar with his decision.
MA: City to purchase streetlights
BY DYKE HENDRICKSON, Newbury Port News, March 28, 2013
The City Council Tuesday night approved two financial measures, one designed to save money on the municipal lighting system and the other to pay for cost-of-living allowances for employee bargaining units. ... The following amounts were approved: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, 83 employees, $66,337; Teamster department heads, 14 employees, $20,121; Teamsters administrative assistants, 18 employees; police superiors, seven employees; firefighters, 33 employees; non-union, 20 employees.
MD: City pension system facing $681 million shortfall
By Luke Broadwater, The Baltimore Sun, 6:52 p.m. EDT, March 27, 2013
The pension system for most city workers has nearly $700 million in unfunded liabilities, according to an audit released Wednesday. In contrast, the smaller system for elected officials — who contribute to their pensions — is in strong financial shape, another audit shows.
Michigan right-to-work law won't instantly end union memberships
BY CHAD LIVENGOOD DETROIT NEWS, March 28, 2013
Right to work becomes law today, but workers in most Michigan unionized workplaces won't be able to renounce their union membership any time soon. Under labor laws and contract stipulations, employees have to keep paying mandatory union dues or agency fees until their collective bargaining agreement expires or until they reach an annual enrollment period for revoking paycheck deductions, labor and employment attorneys said. The new law allows employees not to pay unions for collectively bargained wages and benefits. ..... The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25 is using the law as an opportunity to re-educate members and the public about the benefits of unions — something AFSCME and other unions haven't done well enough, Secretary-Treasurer Larry Roehrig said. "Shame on us, but you know what comes out of a terrible situation there's a great opportunity," Roehrig said. "Tough times don't last. Tough people do, though."
MI: Federal suit challenges new EM law
BY CHRISTINE FERRETTI, JENNIFER CHAMBERS, LAUREN ABDEL-RAZZAQ AND DARREN A. NICHOLS THE DETROIT NEWS. MARCH 28, 2013 AT 1:00 AM
Opponents of Michigan's new emergency manager law, which goes into effect today, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Wednesday, saying the legislation deprives citizens of "constitutionally protected rights" and dilutes their vote. A news conference has been set for 10:30 a.m. today at AFSCME headquarters in downtown Detroit, said John Philo, interim executive director and legal director of the Sugar Law Center, a nonprofit social justice organization. Public Act 436 gives broader powers to emergency managers statewide, including the right to modify or throw out union contracts. Opponents say it too closely mirrors Public Act 4, the previous law voters repealed in November.
MI: Detroit Emergency Manager Says He’ll Haggle With Bondholders
By Chris Christoff & Darrell Preston - Mar 27, 2013 5:30 PM ET, Bloomberg
Kevyn Orr, Detroit’s emergency manager, said he’ll try to persuade the city’s bondholders to reduce a debt of about $8.6 billion. “Everybody knows we’ve got to address those obligations through negotiations,” he said in a telephone interview today. “And while they are significant, there are ways to do that.” Orr, a 54-year-old lawyer who specializes in restructuring, was appointed last week to help repair a city in a downward spiral of shrinking population and revenue, and whose municipal government opposed the takeover. Detroit’s deficit hit almost $327 million last year.
MI: 36 years later, lawsuit against Detroit water department finally comes to end
March 28, 2013 | By John Wisely and Megha Satyanarayana, Detroit Free Press
For more than 35 years, a federal judge has overseen the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, but with the end of a lawsuit Wednesday, that power now shifts to Detroit's emergency manager. U.S. District Judge Sean Cox closed out a pollution lawsuit filed in 1977, ruling that the department had mostly complied with federal pollution laws. The ruling means the department won't have to seek court permission for major decisions or spend millions on lawyers to keep the court apprised of its work. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality will regulate pollution discharges into the Detroit River. ...... Not everyone was pleased. "They passed it off from one dictator to another dictator," said Michael Mulholland, vice president of AFSCME 207, which represents about 900 water department workers. "He's done nothing to take the shackles off of us."
MN: Nursing homes need help, says bipartisan caucus
March 27, 2013, Echo Press
House and Senate members from both parties announced a bipartisan, bicameral Long Term Care Caucus and discussed their 2013 legislative agenda. They were joined by representatives from the Long-Term Care Imperative and SEIU Health Care Minnesota, UFCW, United Steelworkers, AFSCME Council 5 and the AARP to talk about the critical need for policymakers to prioritize funding for seniors and caregivers . This working group recently introduced legislation to increase funding to nursing homes and senior home care services.
MN: Technology stalls Minnesota's statewide mileage tax idea
PAT DOYLE , Star Tribune: March 27, 2013 - 11:46 PM
The idea intrigued Kathy Gillen: Pay highway taxes by the mile instead of the gallon. So the Otsego, Minn., resident signed on for one of the nation’s largest experiments to test how a state might keep track of miles a vehicle is driven. But the technology wasn’t quite up to the task. “It counted twice a couple of times, and didn’t count at all a bunch of times,” Gillen recalled.
MO: Labor unions rally for collective bargaining rights
MARSHALL GRIFFIN / KBIA News, March 27, 2013
A bill requiring voter ID at the polls caused heated debate at the Missouri House of Representatives Monday. Labor union members from across Missouri descended on the State Capitol today, hoping to convince lawmakers to defeat bills they say are anti-worker. The Missouri House and Senate have both passed so-called “paycheck protection” bills which are now awaiting further actions in each chamber. The measures would bar public employee unions from automatically deducting dues from workers’ paychecks without written consent.
MT: House advances pay raise for state employees
Associated Press, March 27, 2013
The Montana House advanced a pay raise for state employees and endorsed the governor’s proposed fix for the beleaguered pension systems as lawmakers eyeing compromise turned their attention to big pieces of legislation. The lawmakers, with a month left in the session, face deadlines this week and next week to advance bills that spend money or deal with tax revenue. And they continued a trend Wednesday of finding bipartisan support for potential compromises between the GOP-led Legislature and Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock.
NC: Employees group works to block changes to State Health Plan, retirement system
News Observer: March 26, 2013
The pressure building for weeks between the state treasurer’s office and the state employees association erupted at a legislative hearing Tuesday. It comes as the association zealously tries to protect nearly 700,000 current and retired state employees and teachers from significant changes to their health insurance coverage and pension system. The changes in benefits are being considered by Treasurer Janet Cowell and lawmakers. The employees’ complaints about a so-called “power grab,” largely confined to internal newsletters in recent weeks, landed in front of lawmakers as they considered a measure to make mostly technical changes to the $2.7 billion State Health Plan.
Neb. lawmakers to recommend $20 million for Nebraska's public retirement system
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 27, 2013 - 6:52 pm
A legislative committee will recommend that the retirement fund for Nebraska state employees get $20 million from the state budget this year — $54 million less than it had asked for. The Legislature's Retirement Systems Committee met Wednesday with the leaders from the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement System and the Nebraska Investment Council. The groups presented their annual reports, which included a deeper look at the current pension plans and return on investments.
OH: Fire station to remain open, but five firefighters face layoffs
March 27, 2013, Weirton Daily Times
... Council members rejected a suggestion to transfer money from the safety fund in order to open the Belleview Pool this summer but learned a fundraising campaign for pool operating expenses is in the works. ... And Davison said opening the pool and hiring seasonal employees would violate the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union contract.
Pennsylvania unions, state to battle over proposed pension changes
March 28, 2013 By Karen Langley / Post-Gazette
The changes Gov. Tom Corbett has proposed for the state pension systems are still in draft form, awaiting legislative sponsorship, debate and votes. But should the revisions to retirement benefits for school and state workers become law, the prospect of a court battle is so certain that the Corbett administration and labor unions already are discussing their cases. .... The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, has pointed to a pair of 1984 decisions by the state Supreme Court that it says safeguard the benefits of any worker already hired. Faced with a challenge to a law raising employee contribution rates, the court found the protection of contracts in the Pennsylvania Constitution does not allow the state to unilaterally devalue employee benefits.
PA: Warren County freeholders privatize some Warren Haven services; workers to be laid-off
Print By Andrew George | The Express-Times, March 27, 2013 at 10:26 PM
Warren County freeholders voted unanimously tonight to privatize laundry, housekeeping and dietary services at Warren Haven, a decision that effectively lays off 54 full-time, six part-time and three supervisory staff members. .... AFSCME Local 671 represents union employees at Warren Have.
PA: Dozens attend forum on future of Centre Crest as leaders eye shift to nonprofit status
March 28, 2013 By Matt Morgan —centredaily.com
.... He was one of many speakers that came before the Board of Commissioners at the final scheduled Centre Crest public hearing Wednesday, focusing on the potential change of the nursing home to a public nonprofit. The almost 75 attendees in the Courthouse Annex in Bellefonte represented far more than the previous four forums combined. ... AFSCME council representative Barry Pearce also spoke, saying he was there not as a union rep but a taxpayer. He told the board he is appalled they are thinking of going down this road.
PA: Dauphin County adult, juvenile probation departments merge
The Sentinel, March 28, 2013
Dauphin County Court officials Wednesday said they plan to merge the system’s adult and juvenile probation departments, a move expected to save taxpayers more than $200,000 a year. ... The county said some staff realignment will take place, though no layoffs will result from the merger. ... The county is working with unions that represent probation officers and support staff — Teamsters Local 776 and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 90, Local 2800. Including support staff, the court currently has 81 employees in the juvenile probation department and 87 in adult probation.
PA: Candidate Williams out of Controller's race
Wednesday, March 27, 2013, 4:45 PM, Inquirer
Michael Williams, an attorney and former minority-contracting official in the Street administration, pulled out of the race for city controller Wednesday and declared his support for incumbent Alan Butkovitz. ... Butkovitz has been a strident critic of the property tax reassessments mailed out last month by the Nutter administration and spoke in March at a labor rally where Mayor Nutter was excoriated for asking the state Supreme Court for permission to impose contract terms on 6,800 members of AFSCME District Council 33.
Tenn. Gov. Bill Haslam begs off Medicaid expansion for Tenn.
AP, Wednesday, March 27 2013 12:04 p.m
Gov. Bill Haslam announced Wednesday that a breakdown in negotiations with the federal government means that he won't expand the state's Medicaid program, a decision that will cost Tennessee billions of dollars in federal money and keep 140,000 uninsured Tennesseans from obtaining free coverage.
