News Clips

• Feb 01 Americans are willing to pay more for Social Security Mark Miller, Reuters Very large majorities across every age group, political affiliation and income group said they would be willing to pay more to maintain current benefits.
• Jan 28 Long-Term Care Ombudsmen Face Challenges To Independence Kaiser Health News/ USAToday Elderly living in nursing homes or assisted living centers might not know it, but they’ve got an advocate …
• Jan 25 Six in ten Americans oppose any cuts to Medicare and Social Security Kaiser Family Foundation/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health New poll finds most Americans would not be willing to see any reductions in Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.
• Jan 18 Drawing Inspiration from Lincoln, King on the Eve of President Obama's Second Inauguration Lee Saunders, Huffington Post It is time for all of us to pull together and fight for the enduring ideals of justice, equality and the rights of working men and women.
• Jan 15 Massive Cuts are Coming Unless We Work Together Lee Saunders, Huffington Post It’s time to pull together to prepare America for the future. Together, we must be part of the fight to make that happen.
• Dec 10 Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age Would Harm Seniors Maura Calsyn and Lindsay Rosenthal, Center for American Progress We estimate that in a single year, almost 435,000 seniors would be at risk of becoming uninsured.
• Nov 30 The Road to Jobs and Economic Growth Lee Saunders, Huffington Post One of the great lies of our time is that raising taxes on the wealthy hurts job creation and undermines economic growth.
• Nov 12 America’s Working Families Won Lee Saunders, Huffington Post Election Day 2012 brought very good news for the working middle class, the Main Street movement and the American Dream. The American people sent a clear message that we will stand with a President who stands with all Americans.
• Nov 15 The role of nursing in delivery of primary care Health Affairs Policy Brief Nurse practitioners could fill the growing primary care shortage . . .
• Nov 03 Time to Vote Lee Saunders, Huffington Post If we do all we can, we will win on Tuesday, a victory that will help build a better future for every American family.
• Oct 16 Romney and Ryan and Respect for Workers Lee Saunders, Huffington Post In Mitt Romney’s America, the men and women who collect trash, plow streets, guard prisoners, care for children and heal the sick should simply do as they’re told.
• Oct 16 The Truth About Medicare Nancy Pelosi Special to CNN The Affordable Care Act does not cut a single benefit or add a single penny to the cost of insurance for any Medicare beneficiary.
• Oct 01 Meet Richard Hayes: He Collects Mitt Romney's Trash Lee Saunders, Huffington Post Videos spotlight public service workers, underscore Romney’s arrogant dismissal of nearly half of all Americans.
• Sep 17 Do Your Part: Vote! Laura Reyes, Labor Press Registering to vote is the first step to raising our voice.
• Sep 12 New Report on Harm to Medicare by Repealing Obamacare Repeal of the ACA would make Medicare's trust fund insolvent in 2016, and increase costs for many Medicare beneficiaries.
• Sep 14 Fewer Uninsured People New York Times Repealing health care reform or shrinking Medicaid, as many Republicans want to do, would be disastrous moves.
• Sep 10 California nabs federal funding for home- and community-based program McKnight’s California will get an additional $573 million in federal Medicaid funds for personal attendant services.
• Sep 07 Home Care Consumers Want Better Pay and Benefits for their Workers Consumer Voice Increased funding for in-home services and better pay and benefits for workers are vital to quality home care.
• Sep 03 Workers struggle to find voice Dan D'Ambrosio, Burlington Free Press Vermont home care workers are organizing and hope forming a union will help improve conditions.
• Aug 31 Labor Day and the Future of America Lee Saunders, Huffington Post We must do more to insure that future Americans live in a country where their voices can be heard and their freedom is secure. This Labor Day, and throughout the crucial next two months, we must show that we are equal to the task.
• Aug 28 Voucherizing Medicare Paul Krugman, New York Times The draft Republican platform says of Medicare and Medicaid….
• Aug 27 Preserving and Strengthening Medicare White House President Obama speaks about the critical need to strengthen and preserve Medicare for our seniors and future generations.
• Aug 24 How Much More Will the Romney-Ryan Medicare Plan Cost You? Center for American Progress Romney and Ryan claim that no one over 55 will be affected by their plan. This claim is false.
• Aug 23 School nurses' duties wide ranging Lisa Larson, The Spectrum Nurses deal with everything from students with diabetes to paralysis…
• Aug 23 Health Law Gives Medicare Fraud Fighters New Weapons Sarah Varney, NPR Fraud squads that look for Medicare scams have new weapons from Affordable Care Act.
• Aug 23 Patients Would Pay More if Romney Restores Medicare Savings, Analysts Say Jackie Calmes, New York Times Restoring the $716 billion in Medicare savings would increase premiums and co-payments for beneficiaries by $342 a year.
• Aug 14 The Romney-Ryan Medicare shuffle Bill Hammond, NY Daily News If political double-talk were an Olympic event, Mitt Romney would have scored a perfect 10 in…
• Aug 13 Paul Ryan isn’t a deficit hawk. He’s a conservative reformer. Ezra Klein, The Washington Post Take Ryan’s budget. It’s most famous for cutting entitlement programs, particularly Medicare.
• Aug 06 New ad hits GOP over tax cuts Ashley Killough, CNN PoliticalTicker Americans United for Change teamed up with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees labor union to release a new television ad Monday, attacking Republicans for opposing tax increases on the very wealthy.
• Aug 03 Let's pay home-care providers fairly The Tennessean Home care is a civil right….
• Aug 31 Poll: More Americans Favor Medicaid Expansion Than Oppose It Dylan Scott, Governing Americans slightly favor states' volutarily expanding their Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
• Jul 27 Taxes, Offshore Accounts and Corruption Lee Saunders, Huffington Post As Romney pushes a plan full of budget-breaking tax cuts for the very rich, serious questions remain about his own tax returns and use of offshore accounts.
• Jul 27 Want to Protect Medicare? Reduce Deficits in a Balanced Way Paul N. Van de Water, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Reducing deficits almost entirely by cutting programs, with little or no new revenues, would likely require deep cuts in Medicare…
• Jul 26 Medicaid Expansion May Lower Death Rates, Study Says NEW YORK TIMES A new study found when states expanded their Medicaid programs fewer people died.
• Jul 25 Doughnut hole drug savings hit $687M in 1st half Kelly Kennedy, USA TODAY In the first six months of this year, more than 1 million seniors and people with disabilities saved $687 million on prescription drugs...
• Jul 23 Working poor stand at center of Medicaid debate BUSINESSWEEK Without a Medicaid expansion, the state's working poor will continue relying on emergency rooms — the most costly treatment option…
• Jul 20 Ending Bush tax cuts for rich would save about $80 billion in 2013, analysts say Washington Post A Republican proposal to preserve tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest households next year…
• Jul 20 Hospital's heavy lifting lightens load on nurses USA TODAY Nurses, nursing aides and orderlies have borne the weight of the nation's obesity epidemic and suffered the consequences.
• Jul 24 Medicare Works The Commonwealth Fund Medicare does better than private coverage when it comes to fulfilling the main purposes of health insurance—providing access to care and adequate financial protection…
• Jul 20 Your Guide to "Ending Medicare As We Know It" Paul Waldman, The American Prospect If the Ryan plan were enacted, there would likely be many seniors who would have no health coverage.
• Jul 20 In Florida, Obama Presents Romney as Bad Choice for Seniors Peter Baker, New York Times Mr. Obama assailed Republican plans to transform Medicare into a voucher program.
• Jul 17 States saying no to ‘Obamacare’ could see downside Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press States that reject the law's Medicaid expansion risk leaving behind many of their low-income residents.
• Jul 17 Health Insurance Prices For Women Set To Drop Shots – Health Blog, NPR Under the health care overhaul, insurers can’t charge women higher premiums than men.
• Jul 12 Romney: “I believe in America,” but bank in Switzerland Lee Saunders, Huffington Post Why would a man who says he believes in America need a Swiss bank account?
• Jul 13 Settlement for New York Home Care Workers Highlights Injustice in Labor Law In These Times The mistreatment of these home care workers sheds light on a national problem…
• Jul 12 Health care repeal effort: Worth the time? (Video) CBS The Republican repeal effort has taken up at least 80 hours on the House floor, costing taxpayers around $50 million...
• Jul 12 The Road to More Jobs New York Times The Republicans’ relentless opposition to constructive policies has kept unemployment high…
• Jul 10 Over 16 million people on Medicare get free preventive services Department of Health and Human Services The new health care law means over 16 million people with original Medicare got services at no cost …
• Jul 10 Obamacare Is Good for Medicare Center for American Progress Obamacare actually improves the program for Medicare beneficiaries.
• Jul 10 The Affordable Care Act has made the U.S. health-care system stronger Washington Post The Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act was a turning point in the health-care debate…
• Jul 09 Mitt Romney’s “Fake-Facts” Lee Saunders, Huffington Post The Romney campaign is attempting to distort the real impact of the Affordable Care Act.
• Jul 08 Newsmakers with Lee Saunders C-SPAN AFSCME’s president discusses his plans for the union, the upcoming presidential election and related issues.
• Jul 06 Opinion: Give protections to homecare workers NH Sentinel Shameful, substandard working conditions aren’t good for home-care employees, they aren’t good for your loved ones and they aren’t good for society.
• Jul 06 When It’s the Nurse Who Needs Looking After New York Times Blog Recent research reveals that when nurses suffer, so do their patients…
• Jul 06 Medicare Premiums: the Rumors Return Wall Street Journal Blog The Supreme Court’s decision upholding much of the Affordable Care Act last week breathed new life into an unfounded rumor…
• Jul 03 Economic Pressures On Local Governments Diane Rehm Show, NPR Kerry Korpi discusses economic pressures on local governments and the push to privatize public services.
• Jun 28 Medicare helps Beneficiaries Save $3.7 billion on Rx Thanks to health care reform 5.2 million people on Medicare saved $3.5 billion on their prescription drugs.
• May 08 Social Security: It’s for young people, too National Academy of Social Insurance The truth is that we can be confident in Social Security’s future.
• May 14 Presidential Proclamation -- Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week President Barack Obama, White House
• May 03 Medicare disruptions seen if health law is struck Associated Press Tossing out President Barack Obama's health care law would have major unintended consequences for Medicare's payment systems.
• Apr 23 A nugget of good Medicare news Sarah Kliff, Washington Post Medicare trustees' report shows trust fund will be able to cover its bills through 2024
• Apr 11 Broccoli and Bad Faith Paul Krugman, New York Times
• Apr 09 USA Today Editorial: Medicare Cost Panel is Common Sense USA Today The Medicare board seems like a common-sense mechanism. The reason it engenders such heated opposition is that like the "death panels," it's a convenient vehicle for scaring people into opposing health reform — facts to the contrary.
• Apr 05 Calls for Action at King Vigil The Root Speakers reflected on the legacy of King, also stressed the need to reaffirm and commit to justice and peace.
• Apr 04 They stood their ground for respect Local 1733 Exec. Dir. Chad Johnson, Sec.-Treas. Lee Saunders, Commercial Appeal The Memphis sanitation workers' strike and its aftermath continue to inspire AFSCME today.
• Mar 20 Eighty Seven Groups Urge “Be Fair to Those Who Care” by providing Home Care Workers with federal wage and hour protections
• Mar 06 Op-Ed: Home care workers deserve fair wages S.E. Watts, Newsday “This isn't just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing.”
• Mar 02 New Mexico’s Workers Join Main Street Movement The Light of New Mexico Our Main Street movement echoes New Mexico’s motto: “It grows as it goes.”
• Feb 29 Working Families Targeted in Michigan Huffington Post Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is using the economic mess Wall Street created as a smokescreen to dismantle public services and destroy workers' rights.
• Feb 28 $350 Million Home Health Care Scam Busted Sari Horwitz, Washington Post Texas doctor arrested for allegedly preying on the elderly and disadvantaged to bilk Medicare.
• Feb 16 Home health industry fights minimum wage rule Kelly Kennedy, USA Today Highly profitable home care industry fights proposal to grant minimum wage and overtime to workers.
• Feb 03 Latinos in the Direct-Care Workforce NCLR, National Council of La Raza Revenues in the for-profit home care industry have doubled in the last 30 years, but wages for personal-care aide and home care aides have remained stagnant.
• Feb 01 Florida Prisons Bill Would Expand Private Management, Netting A Big Win For Political Contributors Chris Kirkham, Huffington Post State could hand over a major slice of its prison system to private, for-profit businesses.
• Jan 27 Mitt Romney and the 1% Gerald W. McEntee, Huffington Post If they have their way, Mitt Romney and the wealthiest people in America won't have to release their tax returns. They won't even have to file.
• Jan 27 Liberal Union Joins Attack on Romney in Florida FactCheck.org The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees is running a TV ad in Florida slamming Mitt Romney for profiting personally from a company later convicted of Medicare fraud while he was a director.
• Jan 26 Liberal groups join in Fla. ad war against Mitt Romney Dan Eggen, Washington Post Several liberal groups are funding new ad campaigns in the Sunshine State targeting the vulnerable GOP presidential candidate.
• Jan 16 Martin Luther King Jr., the labor movement and the American dream Lee A. Saunders, The Grio Dr. King often spoke of the links between the struggle for workers' rights and the cause of civil rights.
• Jan 16 Economic Justice Key Part of Dream Lee A. Saunders , Albuquerque Journal Dr. King recognized that civil rights and workers’ rights are intertwined.
• Jan 13 Killing Pensions to Benefit the 1 Percent Lee A. Saunders, Huffington Post The Wall Street Journal continues its push to gut the retirement security of millions of middle class workers across the country while enriching Wall Street.
• Jan 12 AFSCME Launches 'Political Match Game', Highlighting Anti-Worker Positions of GOP Presidential Candidates Kenneth Quinnell, Crooks & Liars The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union launched a fun interactive game Monday test people's knowledge of the anti-worker sentiments of the top Republican presidential contenders.
• Jan 02 California pension system not in crisis San Francisco Chronicle Despite those who claim otherwise, the sky is not falling on the California pension system.
• Dec 25 Fairness for Home Care Aides Editorial, New York Times Proposed changes to Labor Department rules grant home care workers needed protections.
• Dec 14 Don't blame government workers' pensions Gerald W. McEntee, USA Today The big players on Wall Street have devastated our economy and our retirement savings.
• Dec 12 Sharpton's Jobs March Hits 25 Cities on Same Day Claudio E. Cabrera, The Root Sharpton and his organization, the National Action Network, along with partners such as AFSCME, held a 25-city rally on Friday to expose the issues affecting African Americans and other minority groups in this country.
• Dec 08 Obama Gains Major Union Endorsement And, Potentially, $100 Million War Chest Sam Stein, Huffington Post The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees formally endorsed President Barack Obama's reelection on Tuesday, beginning an extensive and expensive process to, in part, shore up the president's support among white working class voters.
• Dec 06 Public workers union endorses Obama as ‘only choice for the 99 percent’ Kevin Bogardus, The Hill The largest public employee union in the country endorsed President Obama for a second term on Tuesday.
• Dec 06 AFSCME votes to endorse Obama for reelection Peter Wallsten, 44 blog at Washington Post The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees voted Tuesday to officially endorse President Obama in the 2012 election.
• Dec 08 His Love of Labor Won’t Fade Away Lara Seligman, National Journal Gerald McEntee won't let retirement slow him down in his fight for America's working class.
• Dec 02 Did Gingrich insult America's children? PoliticsNation, MSNBC Rev. Al Sharpton and panel talk about Newt Gingrich's comments on children, labor laws and poverty.
• Nov 18 How Progressives Won the Labor Rights Showdown in Ohio Amy Dean, Truthout To understand how progressives pulled off this remarkable win, I spoke with Paul Booth, one of the chief strategists behind the campaign to repeal SB5.
• Nov 15 Labor's turning point? Glenn Thrush, Politico Ohio victory has revived labor movement to level not seen in years.
• Nov 15 The Lessons of Issue 2′s Defeat in Ohio Alex Altman, Swampland blog at Time The vote "delivered a clear message to corporate-backed politicians across the country that we will no longer stay silent as Wall Street tries to steal the American Dream. This was a brazen attempt to silence the voice of the 99%.”
• Nov 14 Public Service Workers Are Helping to Cut Taxpayer Costs Gerald W. McEntee, Wall Street Journal Union members are pulling together to find real solutions to our economic problems.
• Nov 11 What the Ohio vote means Gerald W. McEntee, Reuters Voters will not tolerate unnecessary cuts to vital programs and attacks on working families.
• Nov 08 Ohio Vote: We Won't Be Misled, Fooled or Led Astray Lee A. Saunders, The Root Senate Bill 5 is the right wing's attack on public-sector workers and public services.
• Nov 07 Ohio's Issue 2 hurts African-Americans most Lee A. Saunders, theGrio In Ohio and around the country, one-fifth of all public-sector employees are African-American.
• Oct 06 Why the GOP Won’t Vote on the American Jobs Act Gerald W. McEntee, Daily Kos Putting more people to work is the last thing House Republicans want to accomplish.
• Sep 27 State Worker Benefits Threatened as U.S. Supercommittee Considers Cuts Jennifer Oldham and Holly Rosenkrantz , Bloomberg A congressional supercommittee is seeking another $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, which may cut deeply into federal aid to states and cities amid an already slowing economy.
• Sep 08 Remembering the `invisible workers’ of 9/11 Greg Sargent, Washington Post On AFSCME's video remembrance of the workers who rose to the call of duty that day.
• Aug 25 19 of 50 slain police killed in ambushes Kevin Johnson, USA Today Nearly 40% of police officers fatally shot this year have been slain in ambush-style attacks.
• Aug 03 Dems say Congress could reopen FAA during recess Suzanne Kennedy, WJLA ABC-7 The Obama administration urged Congress Wednesday to end the partial shutdown of the FAA.
• Aug 03 The ALEC Cabal: How Influence Peddlers Undermine Democracy Gerald W. McEntee, Firedoglake Corporate lobbyists work secretly with right-wing state legislators to draft far-reaching legislation.
• Aug 03 Labor Steamed at Debt Deal, But Do They Blame Obama? Shushannah Walshe , ABC News President Obama met for more than hour with the executive committee of the AFL-CIO Tuesday morning, the same day he would sign the deal raising the debt ceiling, averting disaster, but angering the labor movement—a core Democratic constituency.
• Aug 02 Fewer cops, more potholes: How debt deal could hit states hardest Patrick Wall, Christian Science Monitor The debt-and-deficit bill will slash aid to states already reeling from the recession.
• Aug 02 Stalemate in Senate Leaves 4,000 Out of Work at F.A.A. Edward Wyatt, New York Times Senate negotiators tried and failed on Tuesday to end a stalemate over temporary financing for the Federal Aviation Administration.
• Jul 29 Unions Launch Debt Ceiling Ad War on GOP Danny Yadron, Wall Street Journal Three major labor unions and a pro-labor outside group will run attack ads this weekend on Republican House members for blocking a deal to raise the debt ceiling.
• Jul 22 Unions Go After Gang Of Six Deficit-Cutting Plan: 'It Would Kill Jobs' Michael McAuliff & Elise Foley, Huffington Post Unions are coming down hard on the so-called "Gang of Six" deficit-cutting plan, blasting the bipartisan proposal with a harsh ad set to come out Friday in Capitol-focused publications.
• Jul 14 Why Unemployment Makes the Tea Party Happy Gerald W. McEntee, Firedoglake Tea party Republicans see political benefit from increasing unemployment with Pres. Obama at the helm.
• Jul 13 Debt Ceiling Medicaid Cuts: Union Lobbies Democratic Senators For Help Samuel Haass, Huffington Post AFSCME urges moderate Senate Democrats to reject debt ceiling proposals that would cut Medicaid funding.
• Jul 10 Idled Minn. public employees holding on -- for now Associated Press Nation’s longest state government shutdown in a decade poses challenges for 22,000 public workers.
• Jul 10 Labor angered by Obama's willingness to cut Social Security in debt ceiling deal Kevin Bogardus, The Hill “I think this is a huge political mistake,” said AFSCME legislative director Chuck Loveless.
• Jul 09 Opponents of GA immigration law rally at Capitol Associated Press Several hundred people rallied at the Capitol against the state's new law targeting illegal immigrants.
• Jul 08 Two Firms Defy Investor Views on Pay Vote Frequency Ted Allen, RiskMetrics “It’s a bad precedent to ignore a majority of shareholders,” noted AFSCME’s Lisa Lindsley.
• Jun 25 With each UC cut, low-wage workers pushed closer to margins Tovin Lapan, San Jose Mercury News The University of California's lowest paid workers have taken the brunt of cuts.
• Jun 24 Report: Private Prisons Love Mass Incarceration, And Want Politicians To Love It Too Ryan J. Reilly, Talking Points Memo Major private prison companies have an incentive to encourage policies which increase populations.
• Jun 24 Austerity Is Already Here, and It's Killing the Recovery Daniel Indiviglio, The Atlantic State and local government spending has already declined, dampening growth and hiring.
• Jun 22 Memphis saves jobs of union championed by King Associated Press Sanitation workers score a victory as city council passes budget without privatizing solid waste collection.
• Jun 22 Medicare trustees criticize Ryan plan Sam Baker, The Hill Criticism targets two key components of Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) plan to overhaul the program.
• Jun 21 Scott Walker finds making bumper stickers is easier than creating jobs Dana Milbank, Washington Post Where are the jobs, Gov. Walker? He hasn't created many.
• Jun 21 Rules would speed up union elections Sam Hananel, Associated Press NLRB rules drop roadblocks to organizing new members, cut time for anti-union campaigns.
• Jun 21 Budget cuts force libraries to re-examine roles Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press Some forced to charge for premium services, sell passport photos and offer commercial movie-rental boxes.
• Jun 20 Financial Manager Repeal Effort Begins in Michigan FOX 2 Detroit Opponents of law giving financial managers broad powers over local governments step up efforts to get repeal on the ballot.
• Jun 18 Cuomo and Pensions: A View From a Union Leader Gerald W. McEntee, New York Times Pension costs grew due to the financial crisis, not because benefit levels are too high.
• Jun 17 Anti-union Republicans seize their moment Melissa Maynard, Stateline The pace and magnitude of change for the state’s public employees have been startling.
• Jun 17 Privatization At The Heart Of Divisive Battles In Wisconsin Amanda Terkel, Huffington Post Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders: what Walker is doing is "a power play, pure and simple."
• Jun 17 SB5 repeal effort exceeds 700,000 signatures Jim Siegel, Columbus Dispatch We Are Ohio has collected triple the number needed to get on the November ballot.
• Jun 15 LEAKED: Secret Report on Jindal's Privatization Plan Eric Lach, Talking Points Memo Louisiana effort to privatize health insurance would increase premiums according to confidential report.
• Jun 06 Gov. Jindal's plan to sell state prisons is killed by House committee Jan Moller, Times-Picayune Louisiana House deals governor a tough loss on a top priority for his administration.
• Jun 03 Ordinary workers took extraordinary stand, made history Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of Labor, Memphis Commercial Appeal Memphis sanitation strike an important turning point in the fight for civil rights, workplace equality
• May 31 Government regulations save lives on the job Ross Eisenbrey, Economic Policy Institute Every occupational sector now operates more safely than it did 20 years ago, including mining.
• May 31 The short-sighted attack on collective bargaining David Weil, Boston Globe Attacks on collective bargaining and workers rights are likely to backfire in the long run, by making relations with public employees less predictable - and more costly.
• May 31 Private prisons see opposition Jessica Cuffman, Marion Star A proposal to privatize six prisons in Ohio faces opposition from a coalition of non-profit groups.
• May 31 Everyone out of the pool: Cities close public swimming pools, say they're budget-busters Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press Public pools across the country are being closed permanently thanks to revenue and budget problems.
• May 26 Judge strikes down Walker's collective bargaining law Mary Spicuzza, Wisconsin State Journal A judge has struck down Gov. Scott Walker's controversial new collective bargaining law.
• May 25 Unions File Unfair Labor Practice Against Montana Legislature Kacey Drescher, KFBB News Channel 5 Legislature rejected a deal with state employee unions already negotiated with Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
• May 25 Election officials wary as Walker signs voter ID bill into law Clay Barbour, Wisconsin State Journal Controversial Wisconsin law includes a measure requiring voters to use photo IDs.
• May 23 Historical civil rights figures weigh in on pension debate Karina Rusk, ABC-7 News Video: Participants in the Memphis sanitation strike speak out in San Jose, Calif.
• May 23 Middle class jobs focus of event in Kent Kyle McDonald, Record Courier Small business owners, public and private employees united to show support for the middle-class workforce.
• May 20 GOP Govs' Popularity Plummets John Avlon, The Daily Beast Over-reach by Republican governors leads to voter backlash from Ohio to Florida to Wisconsin.
• May 19 Private Prisons Found to Offer Little in Savings Richard A. Oppel Jr., New York Times Data from Arizona suggests privately operated prisons can cost more to operate than state-run prisons.
• May 18 Unions to lawmakers: Take away corporate tax expenditures to pay down deficit Bernie Becker, The Hill Organized labor and other groups are pushing Congress to eliminate corporate tax breaks and use the extra revenue to pay down the deficit.
• May 18 Stop Enabling Crazy CEO Pay Alyce Lomax, The Motley Fool AFSCME recently blamed the largest mutual funds for doing the least to rein in CEO compensation.
• May 18 California Protesters Refuse to Become 'Wisconsin of the West' Allison Kilkenny, The Nation Hundreds of San Jose city workers gathered at City Hall to oppose proposed budget cuts.
• May 18 Poll shows Ohio Senate Bill 5 will be repealed Darrel Rowland, Columbus Dispatch Senate Bill 5 would easily be repealed by voters if the referendum were held now, a new poll today shows.
• May 17 Scott Walker Quietly Consolidating Power In Wisconsin Amanda Terkel, Huffington Post Secretary of State Doug La Follette: "It's a power grab. He wants to control everything."
• May 15 Federal worker pensions emerge as target in debt-reduction talks Lori Montgomery, Washington Post Republicans have proposed saving more than $120 billion over the next decade by requiring the civilian workforce to contribute more toward retirement.
• May 13 Connecticut Unions Agree to $1.6 Billion in Givebacks Peter Applebome, New York Times Representatives for 45,000 unionized state employees agreed Friday to $1.6 billion in concessions over two years to help balance the budget.
• May 13 Medicare Trust Fund Boosted By Health Care Reform: Report Ryan Grim, Huffington Post The Medicare trust fund will last eight years longer than it would have without the passage of last year's health care law, the program’s trustees announced Friday.
• May 11 NYC Parents Rally For Child Care NY1 News Thousands rallied outside of City Hall Wednesday in support of child care for working families.
• May 09 Efforts by GOP lawmakers to curtail private-union powers faltering in most state capitols Associated Press Of the 14 states where 'right-to-work' bills were considered, only NH has passed the legislation.
• May 05 Unions refocus political activity Fredreka Schouten, USA Today Larry Scanlon, AFSCME's political director, said, "People have woken up to the fact that they have to be more aggressive in electoral politics in the states."
• Apr 24 Former AIG exec Kevin Fitzpatrick sues for $822M AARON ELSTEIN, Crain’s New York Business “Working families keep seeing huge payouts for the Wall Street executives who drove our economy into the ditch and are apparently living high on the hog with taxpayer money,” said Lee Saunders, the union's international secretary-treasurer.
• Apr 13 AFSCME decries big pay at Pfizer Lee Howard, The Day One of the nation's leading labor unions is pushing Pfizer Inc. investors to lodge a protest against what it sees as lavish executive pay at the world's leading pharmaceutical firm.
• Mar 11 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signs anti-union bill -- but Democrats say they're the political victors Stephanie Condon, CBS News Political Hotsheet Lee A. Saunders, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told the Washington Post that it's no coincidence Republicans are pushing anti-union measures in states that will be key in the 2012 elections.
• May 03 Threat to Blacks in the Public Sector Lee A. Saunders, The Root Radical conservative politicians want to slash city, county and state jobs — and undercut economic security.
• Apr 20 Poll shows Americans oppose entitlement cuts to deal with debt problem Jon Cohen and Dan Balz, The Washington Post Despite growing concerns about the country’s long-term fiscal problems and an intensifying debate in Washington about how to deal with them, Americans strongly oppose some of the major remedies under consideration, according to a recent poll.
• Apr 15 California in-home services escape ax Kevin Yamamura, Sacramento Bee As they reduced the budget deficit, Democrats repeatedly emphasized the ideological sacrifices they'd made.
• Apr 15 ACLU warns against plan to sell state prisons Alan Johnson, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Privatizing Ohio prisons won't save money, will undermine sentencing reform and will post a security risk.
• Apr 14 Thousands rally at Capitol against Michigan budget, cuts to education, pension taxes Lansing State Journal Thousands of protesters angry at Gov. Rick Snyder's proposed budget converged on the state Capitol lawn Wednesday to send a message to legislators.
• Apr 12 Countering the Siege New York Times AFSCME President McEntee on how attacks on public service workers have energized union members and our allies in a growing battle over workers’ rights.
• Apr 01 GOP senators all back Toomey balanced-budget bill Thomas Fitzgerald, Philadelphia Inquirer In just three months, freshman Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania has emerged as the deficit hawk's deficit hawk, and on Thursday all 47 of his GOP colleagues joined him in sponsoring a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution…
• Apr 06 Sharpton: “Convention Is About Action, Not Speeches” Claudio E. Cabrera, News One With Black unemployment currently at 15 percent and rising, the long lines at job fairs were what affected Lee A. Saunders, treasurer of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.
• Apr 05 In history's footsteps: Memphis rally in King's memory follows historic trail The Commercial Appeal "Isn't it ironic that on April 4, 2011, we are fighting the same fight they were on April 4, 1968?" asked Lee Saunders, national secretary-treasurer of AFSCME, referring to the original march.
• Apr 04 Union workers march on King death anniversary CNN Wire Staff, CNN
• Apr 03 Editorial: Dump the prison privatization plan Miami Herald Florida Senate proposal would cause massive disruption
• Mar 31 Md. firm to take over 3 Calif. libraries as debate grows over privatization Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post “Privatization often sticks the community with the risk while privatizing the profits,” said Lee Saunders, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees.
• Mar 31 Ohio Lawmakers Pass Anti-Union Bill STEVEN GREENHOUSE, New York Times This bill is a reprehensible attack on the middle class and the rights of Ohio’s workers,” said Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
• Mar 23 Unions look to weaken support for Brown Matt Viser, Globe (MA)
• Mar 17 Obama pep talk to donors Peter H. Stone, Center for Public Integrity
• Mar 17 A Spoonful of Sugar Tim Fernholz, National Journal In contrast with their Republican counterparts, Democratic governors are trying negotiation, not confrontation, with public employees.
• Jan 10 Do Roads Pay for Themselves? Ryan Holeywell, Governing.com A new study seeks to dispel the oft-repeated claim of highway advocates that roads pay for themselves due to gas taxes and other user fees assessed on motorists.
• Jan 04 The Plan to Blame Unions For Everything Hamilton Nolan, Gawker Why is our economy in the predicament that it's in today? High unemployment, sluggish growth...who's to blame? The unions, of course.