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August 27, 2008Democratic National Convention – Wednesday schedule of eventsNational/PoliticalRace factor emerges at the convention In a vigorous, salty-tongued tirade, the leader of a powerful Democratic union acknowledged Tuesday that some of his own members might not vote for Barack Obama because he is black, a reflection of the role the issue is once again playing as Democrats fret that Obama's race is a significant barrier to his presidential aspirations. "You can't vote for Barack Obama because he's black?" Gerald McEntee, chief of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, demanded during a meeting of Illinois delegates to the Democratic convention. "That's his color, and that is bull . . . " The delegates leapt to their feet in a standing ovation. Can He Be a Working-Class Hero? .... The union leaders gathered here are painfully aware of the challenge they face in persuading their white members to vote for Obama. ... The unions will rely heavily on one-on-one meetings that shop stewards and local leaders hold with their members. "We'll have to fight with our own members on this," public employee union President Jerry McEntee, who also chairs the AFL-CIO's political committee, said at Sunday's rally. "We've got to say to our Appalachian members who say they can't vote for him, he's black -- we gotta tell them that's [expletive]!" Clearly, that's not quite the message we'll hear from Obama himself. Unionist: Some wary of black president / The AFSCME leader is warning Democrats not to take race for granted. The head of one of the country's most politically active unions acknowledged today that some of his rural members in key voting states fear casting a ballot for an African-American for president. Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, used colorful language to describe racist attitudes against Obama as well as where union workers would find themselves if they don't win in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan. "If we don't win those kinds of states, we're going to be in that--pardon my language, I know it's early--that proverbial s--t house for four more years. OK, sisters and brothers? That is where we will be," McEntee told members of Illinois' delegation to the Democratic National Convention at their morning breakfast meeting. Union leader: Racism keeps Obama from building lead A prominent union leader on Tuesday blamed racism for Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) failure to build a big lead over GOP rival Sen. John McCain. Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said many workers are considering voting for McCain (R-Ariz.) because of his military service and status as a hero of the Vietnam War. Related article from UPI: Union leader: Racism holding Obama back Daley, Union president strive to inspire Illinois delegation ... Meanwhile, Illinois Democrats are being urged to parachute into swing states as the presidential race heats up. Many fear the race is too close. "Too many of our blue-collar Americans, too many of our union members, they like this guy McCain. They like him," Jerry McEntee, president of the 1.4-million member AFSCME union, told Illinois delegates. "This race is too close... We should be so far out ahead, we should be able to take a breath. But I'm telling you we can't even breathe it is so close." Clinton Delivers Emphatic Plea for Unity With her husband looking on tenderly and her supporters watching with tears in their eyes, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton deferred her own dreams on Tuesday night and delivered an emphatic plea at the Democratic National Convention to unite behind her rival, Senator Barack Obama, no matter what ill will lingered. Hillary And Barack Part Two .. Down at floor level, Clinton delegate Marcia Knox of Ohio said her fellow Hillary supporters were getting behind Obama because they know how important this election is. "Barack's the guy, that's who we're going to put 100% behind," said the AFSCME union official from Dayton, Ohio. Convention Notebook: Mississippi delegate determined to cast vote for Clinton ... Memphis president of the local American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, Willie Ruth Davis, said Tuesday’s early-evening, non-prime time speeches about wage discrimination based on gender and fears of losing health insurance because of unemployment were a useful reminder of what real people are facing in the economic downturn. Unions prepared to be muscle for an Obama victory .... Unions have always been a major constituency in the Democratic Party, but unions claim to be especially mobilized this year. The total delegation to the Democratic National Convention here in Denver is about 25 percent union-affiliated, said Bill Burga, retired chief of the Ohio AFL-CIO. .. Sally Powless, regional director of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 8 based in Toledo, said unions nationwide have been losing membership. "Our members are hurting. Our numbers are down. We're organizing just to stay where we were," she said. "We want everyone to be able to organize." Women Dems Hope Equal Pay Issue Will Yield Obama Voters Three prominent Democratic congresswomen launched a convention day targeted at female voters with harsh criticisms of John McCain ’s record on women’s issues, especially economic topics. Speaking alongside former Goodyear Rubber & Tire Co. employee Lilly Ledbetter, who discovered after 19 years at the company that she was being paid less than her male colleagues of equal rank, Connecticut Democrat Rosa DeLauro and her colleagues assailed McCain for what they characterized as his opposition to equal pay legislation in the Senate. Ledbetter’s lawsuit against the tire company was dismissed by the Supreme Court for being filed too late. Republicans opposed a bill that would make it easier for women who are paid less than their male counterparts to bring suits against their employers and be compensated, calling it duplicative of existing anti-discrimination standards and fodder for frivolous lawsuits. Obama scores with rank-and-file workers / Can success with labor groups offset poor performance among older voters? ... For organized labor, the decisive demographic consists of rank-and-file workers — those who belong to a union or who labor leaders think ought to belong to a union. So far, Obama has not run a hard-edged, aggressively populist campaign to woo these voters. Nonetheless, a survey conducted by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake indicates that Obama has a huge 19-point lead over Sen. John McCain among such potential voters. Sweeney: ‘We Can Create a Better America’ AFL-CIO President John Sweeney gave a high-profile and impassioned speech tonight at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, focusing on a top issue in the election: turning around our struggling economy. A Decline in Uninsured Is Reported for 2007 After climbing steadily for six years, the number of Americans without health insurance dropped by more than a million in 2007, to 45.7 million, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. The drop was the result of growth in government-sponsored health insurance programs, officials said, most of them focused on children. At the same time, the number of people covered by private insurance continued to decline. Experts cautioned that the report, which also included data on income and poverty, did not take into account the economic downturn that began late last year, and therefore it probably presents a rosier picture than the current economic reality. Related articles:
Our Inequality of Outcomes Hey, good news on the income front: The Census Bureau reported yesterday that median earnings for full-time male workers rose by $1,653 last year, to $45,113, after adjusting for inflation. .. Truth is, despite the squishy nature of income data, things haven't been so great for the middle and working class for some time. Every now and again you get a good year like last year, when wages and household incomes increased. That's usually at the tail end of an economic expansion. But over the past 35 years, the typical American household has managed to eke out only a 15 percent increase in its pretax income. During that same period, the productivity of the American worker -- the value of the goods and services produced per hour worked -- has increased by 90 percent. So where did all that money go? To some degree, it went to the stock and bond holders who invested capital in the new equipment and technology that made those workers more productive. You'd expect that from a well-functioning capitalist economy. What you wouldn't expect is that the rest of the income gains would go disproportionately to the households at the top of the income scale. According to data compiled by the Congressional Budget Office, in recent decades the top 10 percent of households have taken an ever-increasing share of the national income, at the expense of everybody else. The Ranks of the Ultrawealthy Grow (no link) One of the most exclusive clubs in the U.S. has picked up more members. About 47,000 people had a net worth of $20 million or more in 2004, the latest available year, according to new estimates by the Internal Revenue Service. While that was up only slightly from 46,000 in 2001, it was up 62% from 29,000 in 1998. The IRS also reported increases in the number of people with a net worth between $10 million and $20 million: 79,000 people qualified for this group in 2004, up from 77,000 in 2001 and 51,000 in 1998. Running Out of Money, Cities Are Debating the Privatization of Public Infrastructure Cleaning up road kill and maintaining runways may not sound like cutting-edge investments. But banks and funds with big money seem to think so. Reeling from more exotic investments that imploded during the credit crisis, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the Carlyle Group, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse are among the investors who have amassed an estimated $250 billion war chest — much of it raised in the last two years — to finance a tidal wave of infrastructure projects in the United States and overseas. Their strategy is gaining steam in the United States as federal, state and local governments previously wary of private funds struggle under mounting deficits that have curbed their ability to improve crumbling roads, bridges and even airports with taxpayer money. A. Zahner, Kansas make group’s labor-partnerships list The American Rights at Work Education Fund named Kansas City-based architectural sheet metal company A. Zahner Co. and the State of Kansas in its annual “ Labor Day List: Partnerships that Work.” ... The State of Kansas was included on the list for strides taken to ensure economic opportunities and rights for its 11,478 union employees. The list credits Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for reaching out to the labor community and devising a new framework to organize the state’s bargaining units. The two unions representing Kansas state employees — the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — merged to create the Kansas Organization of State Employees. AFL-CIO head says wage inequality demands labor law reform AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the growing pay gap between CEOs and workers can be tied directly to the increasing difficulty in workers' ability to form unions. In an interview after delivering remarks at the Colorado Convention Center, Sweeney said his labor federation would again push for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would offer protections for U.S. workers who face employer intimidation or firing during union organizing campaigns. Legal challenge against governor's Medicaid plan intensifies Fourteen Senate Democrats have joined the legal challenge of Gov. Haley Barbour's latest plan to pay for Medicaid with a higher hospital tax and cut in provider payments. In court documents added Tuesday, they argue that only lawmakers can decide how state programs are funded. Nearly 600 Were Arrested in Factory Raid, Officials Say Federal officials on Tuesday revised upward to 595 the number of suspected illegal immigrants arrested this week in a raid on a Laurel, Miss., factory, making it the largest immigration crackdown on a United States workplace in recent years. On Monday, the day of the raid, officials said at least 350 people had been arrested. State/LocalJudge stops Carcieri from hiking health fees A judge today blocked Gov. Donald L. Carcieri from unilaterally imposing higher health care fees on Rhode Island Council 94 members working in the executive branch until the dispute has been heard by the R.I. Labor Relations Board. R.I. Superior Court Associate Justice Patricia A. Hurst ordered (.pdf) the Carcieri administration and Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, to appear before the Labor Relations Board immediately and report back to her every two weeks. Related document: 10 page clarification of ruling (.pdf) Related articles:
Group wants to stop Hillside sale Members of the Concerned Citizens of Trumbull County are considering seeking a court injunction to stop the sale of Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital if Forum Health puts the Howland facility on the block. ... The citizens group believes selling Hillside is unnecessary and could lead to closure of the hospital and, with it, the loss of comprehensive rehabilitation services for much of Northeast Ohio, said Deborah Bindas, a staff representative for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union. AFSCME represents most of the employees at Hillside, she said. Related articles
PARTA bus drivers strike; last-minute talks not successful After weekend negotiations with a federal mediator failed, the union bus drivers for the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority began a strike at 4 a.m. Aug. 25. Buses driven by PARTA management were on the road as Kent State University began its first day of classes. Student drivers who drive the campus routes are non-union. "Our talks broke down completely on Sunday," said Trina Molnar, union negotiator for the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 037. OAPSE represents roughly 65 bus drivers. Union purchases ad to protest layoffs of 6 Bound Brook public employees The Public Works Department's union is using an advertisement campaign to protest the Borough Council's decision to eliminate six employees through layoffs. The AFSCME Local 2168 published an advertisement in the Aug. 26 Courier News that states, "The public employees who keep your town clean and livable will be asked to perform the same services with half the staff. This will mean services will be delayed, reduced or cut completely." .. The union's advertisement directed residents to contact Borough Council members and Mayor Carey Pilato to ask how the layoffs will affect garbage and grass collection, ball field maintenance, street clean-up and flood clean-up. UW custodians hope new chancellor helps in dispute Some custodians who work on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus are upset with recent changes in the start time of their shift, and are hoping incoming Chancellor Carolyn "Biddy" Martin can do something about the situation. ... To make their point known to Martin, members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 171 will hand out leaflets Tuesday evening at a reception being hosted at Olin House, the official residence of Martin. The get-together is for those working in UW-Madison's Facilities Planning and Management department. IDOT lawsuit delayed until September / Attorney general’s office says it needs more time A court challenge to moving 150 state transportation jobs from Springfield to southern Illinois has been postponed. A hearing scheduled for this morning has been pushed back to Sept. 25 to give Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office, which represents state officials when they are sued, more time to review the case. .... Plaintiffs include Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield; Reps. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, and Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg; Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin; the Greater Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce; Teamsters Local 916; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31; the Capital Area Association of Realtors; and Downtown Springfield Inc. Youth facility staff fear for their safety / Unions allege policy changes at Tryon have led to increased violence The troubled Tryon Residential Center, where a teen died in 2006, is coming under renewed scrutiny, not for the treatment of youngsters but for the alleged abuse of staff members by the youths they are supposed to be watching. ... Bringing the debate to a head was an incident last month when a veteran aide, Charles Loftly, was assaulted by three teens with a 2x4 from a dismantled desk during what several insiders have said was an escape attempt. Loftly went out on workers' compensation. He suffered a stroke several days later, said Michael Geraghty Jr., the local union president for the Civil Service Employees Association -- one of the two major unions, along with the Public Employees Federation, representing workers at Tryon. Related article from the Daily Gazette: Tryon aide in coma Southampton police protest plan to fire six veteran cops About 100 police officers and their supporters gathered on the steps of Southampton Town Hall yesterday to protest a move by Supervisor Linda Kabot to terminate the jobs of six veteran police officers in the 92-member town police department. .. The controversy over the six officers also sets the stage for a possibly bitter negotiation between the town and its Civil Service Employees Association, whose contracts for both white-collar and blue-collar workers expire at year's end. "She's thrown a hand grenade. I don't know if it will explode or implode," said CSEA president Peter Collins. LaPorte County suit seeks to halt welfare privatization / FSSA privatization effort has led to many losing aid, plaintiffs allege Claiming Indiana's welfare privatization drive is hurting needy Hoosiers, eight LaPorte County residents who receive assistance through the Family and Social Services Administration are asking a judge to halt its rollout in their part of Northwest Indiana. Lake Station to widen garbage pickup when curbside service starts City crews will pick up garbage six days a week when Lake Station launches its curbside trash-collection program in October, Mayor Keith Soderquist said Tuesday. The mayor negotiated the extended work week after AFSCME Local 3379 -- the union that represents the public works department's 18 to 20 employees -- agreed to reopen the contract even though it does not expire until March. Baltimore Stadium Cleaners Organized by Workers Center Join AFSCME .. To ensure cleaners get regular schedules—and address the indignities and inconsistencies of working for rapidly changing subcontractors—the United Workers voted in July to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). But the decision wasn’t automatic. Gov to conduct removal hearing / Mayor may ask court to block Sept. 3 proceeding Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's tenuous grip on his fate slipped even further Tuesday when Gov. Jennifer Granholm authorized a historic Sept. 3 hearing on whether to bounce him from office. State makes it hard to monitor day-care providers So, you've just got to ask the question. For the folks assigned by our state government to the job of protecting kids in day-care operations across the state, what is their real goal: Protecting kids or protecting state employees' backsides? In July, the state auditor general's office released the results of an audit (.pdf) of the Department of Human Services in which it concluded that the department — assigned to the job of running criminal background checks on day-care providers — had put thousands of children at risk by authorizing 1,900 child abusers, sex offenders and other "unsuitable" day-care providers between 2003 and 2006. Editorial: Don't drug test state employees The Huntsman administration ought to give state employees the benefit of the doubt rather than inflicting the indignity of random drug tests. According to a recent announcement, many employees will be subject to the intrusive, embarrassing tests if they work with sensitive personal information. The move is supposed to prevent identity theft. But there's no evidence that drug-addicted employees are ransacking confidential information, except for one pending criminal case. With thousands of employees, there are going to be some bad apples. Random drug tests will only harrass innocent people and hurt the morale of all state employees, with little if any benefit. Georgia’s mental health services get own department Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to reorganize Georgia’s social services agencies, creating a separate department to oversee the perpetually troubled state psychiatric hospitals and other mental health services. In a news conference today, Perdue endorsed recommendations from a study group to create three new departments from the two that now provide social and health-care services: the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Community Health. Retiree Health Benefits- Changes To Come Currently, the state of Idaho has a retiree medical plan for those who are over 65-years old. If this new legislation passes, that plan would essentially go away. .. The truth is, the change is coming about because of two reasons, a depletion of the reserve fund, and the GASB 45. |
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