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September 3, 2008National/PoliticalLetters: Labor Day's Roots Regarding the Sept. 1 editorial, "Labor Day": Labor Day began in New York City in the late 19th century in large part as a protest against low wages, poor working conditions and the suppression of union rights. But The Post's Labor Day editorial ignored this history and focused instead on the virtues and rewards of hard work. As former AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland once remarked, "If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves." Obama hits 50% mark in Gallup poll Barack Obama met the 50 percent threshold for the first time Tuesday in the Gallup daily tracking poll, a symbolic hurdle that until now had eluded the Democratic nominee. The Gallup daily tracking poll has found that since the conclusion of the Democratic convention, Obama has risen 5 percentage points in the polls and now leads John McCain 50 percent to 42 percent. Palin courting organized labor Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin appears to be courting organized labor. Her husband may be a steelworker, but Palin will have a very tough time winning over unions, especially in Mid-Michigan. At her introductory speech in Ohio Friday, Palin drew attention to her blue-collar roots. "My mom and dad both worked at the local elementary school. And my husband and I, we both grew up working with our hands," she said. Mayor Palin: A Rough Record ..... But in the first major race of her career — the 1996 campaign for mayor of her hometown of Wasilla — Palin was a far more conventional politician. In fact, according to some who were involved in that fight, Palin was a highly polarizing political figure who brought partisan politics and hot-button social issues like abortion and gun control into a mayoral race that had traditionally been contested like a friendly intramural contest among neighbors. .... Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." Palin’s Start in Alaska: Not Politics as Usual The world arrived here more than a century ago with the gold rush and later the railroad. Yet one aspect of American life did not come to town until 1996, the year Sarah Palin ran for mayor and Wasilla got its first local lesson in wedge politics. The traditional turning points that had decided municipal elections in this town of less than 7,000 people — Should we pave the dirt roads? Put in sewers? Which candidate is your hunting buddy? — seemed all but obsolete the year Ms. Palin, then 32, challenged the three-term incumbent, John C. Stein. Anti-abortion fliers circulated. Ms. Palin played up her church work and her membership in the National Rifle Association. The state Republican Party, never involved before because city elections are nonpartisan, ran advertisements on Ms. Palin’s behalf. .. “Sarah comes in with all this ideological stuff, and I was like, ‘Whoa,’ ” said Mr. Stein, who lost the election. “But that got her elected: abortion, gun rights, term limits and the religious born-again thing. I’m not a churchgoing guy, and that was another issue: ‘We will have our first Christian mayor.’ ” ... Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question. ... The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article. Alaska's 'First Dude' Keeps Things Low-Key (no link) With all the controversies swirling around the meteoric rise of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, there has been one constant by her side: her unassuming husband. .. In Alaska, Gov. Palin, 44 years old, jokingly refers to the 43-year-old Mr. Palin as the "first dude." But his role is anything but frivolous. Around the Statehouse in Juneau, some critics dub him the "shadow governor." He is copied on some of Gov. Palin's official correspondence, and allegedly was involved in an effort to get a state trooper fired after the trooper reportedly threatened Gov. Palin's family. ... Frequently, Mr. Palin appears at public events with his wife. On June 18, the couple drove from Wasilla to Kenai, about 200 miles away, so the governor could sign a tourism bill. After a brief ceremony in a converted fish cannery, Ms. Palin met with a local resident, Taryn Armstrong, who told her about the problem of contractors having to import labor from the lower 48 states. The governor pointed toward her husband, who was holding Trig, and said, "Talk to Todd about that," a nod to his interest in getting more native Alaskans trained for that work. Palin's husband was member of third party Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband, Todd, twice registered as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a fierce states' rights group that wants to turn all federal lands in Alaska back to the state. Sarah Palin herself was never a member of the party, according to state officials. Thompson wages ‘culture war’ George W. Bush and Joe Lieberman were billed as the headline acts on the first full night of the Republican national convention. But the real star of the show was Fred Thompson. Mr Thompson, the former senator-turned-actor best known for his role in Law & Order, the TV drama, was ostensibly brought in as a character witness for John McCain, his friend and former Senate colleague. Study: U.S. Union Membership Rose in 2008 Buoyed by a rising tide in California in general and Southern California in particular, U.S. unionization levels rose this year, defying a decades-long trend of decline, according to a report by UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. "The State of the Unions in 2008: A Profile of Union Membership in Los Angeles, California and the Nation" shows unionization rates nationwide rising half a percentage point over the 2007 level, to 12.6 percent of all U.S. civilian workers in 2008. The rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point between 2006 and 2007. Prior to that, the last time U.S. unionization rates registered an increase was in 1979. .. According to the report, in the first half of 2008, the number of U.S. workers on the membership rolls of labor unions increased by 583,300 over the 2007 average. .. While the public sector continues to account for the largest share of unionized workers overall, the study found an unexpected uptick in private-sector unionization in all three geographical jurisdictions. Happy Labor Day. Drop Dead. ... Take, for instance, the venomous backlash against the Employee Free Choice Act, a bit of union-backed legislation that might allow labor to start reversing decades of decline. Almost wherever there is a close race for a Senate seat, you can see TV commercials assailing the initiative in the most strident terms. Currently, employees at a given workplace can form a union after a majority of them choose to do so in an election. The new legislation would allow them to do it after a majority of them sign cards. This "card check" system would surely make it easier to start unions, and naturally it is heavily opposed by the business community, which -- get this -- doesn't much like organized labor. .. The business community has opportunities every day to stand up for a "democratic workplace." Why don't the Chamber's member companies just let their workers vote whenever management wants to increase the deductible on their health insurance? .. The answer, of course, is that most workplaces aren't democracies at all. They are dictatorships, of varying degrees of benevolence. ... The corporate fight against card check annoys me in the same way that it annoys me to hear someone claim that France bailed America out during two world wars: It gets reality precisely, deliberately, diametrically wrong. But it's more than the hypocrisy that should concern us, and it's even more than the ongoing violation of people's rights, human or civil. The destruction of the labor movement by tactics like these is a big part of the reason why wage-earners no longer rise as the economy grows, and why some day soon we will speak of the great middle-class nation in the past tense. Labor makes push, but business groups look to check card-check legislation Several groups attending the Republican National Convention this week have serious concerns about elections—but not the presidential kind. The groups are worried about the controversial card-check legislation pending in Congress. The proposal would give unions the ability to organize at a company simply by having workers sign a card, rather than voting in a secret ballot. Many Republican leaders worry that a Barack Obama victory in November would lead to the passage of the bill, which is currently stalled in Congress. Mr. Obama supports the bill; his opponent, Republican John McCain, does not. .. One thing’s for sure: this election cycle is turning into a battle royal between business interests and unions. Study: US workers can expect skimpy base salary raises next year; bigger bumps in merit pay U.S. workers can expect skimpy raises in their base salaries next year, but top performers may still fatten their paychecks with merit compensation. A study released Tuesday by Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting firm, found base pay will rise by 3.8 percent in 2009, marking the seventh consecutive year of flat growth. State of Working America: Workers Produce More, Get Less In Return America’s workers know that although our economy may have grown since the recession ended in 2001, the average worker is in worse shape now than when the recovery began. Workers’ finances are stretched to the limit as the price of gas, food, clothing and other necessities rises and their paychecks remain stagnant. According to The State of Working America 2008/2009 by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), healthy growth in the gross domestic product and historically high productivity growth since 2000 should have raised paychecks up and down the income ladder. Instead, the benefits of that growth have bypassed most of the people who made it possible. Report Describes Careless Handling of U.S. Secrets / Gonzales Says He Does Not Recall Former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales told investigators that he could not recall whether he took home notes regarding the government's most sensitive national security program and that he did not know they contained classified information, despite his own markings that they were "top secret -- eyes only," according to a Justice Department report released yesterday (.pdf). Gonzales improperly carried notes about the warrantless wiretapping program in an unlocked briefcase and failed to keep them in a safe at his Northern Virginia home three years ago because he "could not remember the combination," the department's inspector general reported. DOL extends time to comment on proposed FLSA revisions In the Federal Register of July 28, 2008, the Department of Labor published a notice of proposed rulemaking requesting public comments on proposed revisions to update existing outdated regulatory provisions under the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Portal Act. The proposed revisions are intended to conform the regulations to FLSA amendments passed in 1974, 1977, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2007, a Portal Act amendment passed in 1996, and to several authoritative federal appellate court rulings that have invalidated portions of the existing regulations. Interested parties were requested to submit comments on or before September 11, 2008. The Department has received requests to extend the period for filing public comments from representatives of the following organizations: ....American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO; ... Because of the interest that has been expressed in this matter, the Department has decided to extend the period for submitting public comments for 15 additional days, to September 26, 2008. 14,000 Steelworkers Accept Tentative Contract and More Bargaining News .. AFSCME, Portage Area Regional Transit Authority: In Ohio, bus drivers who work for the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority and service the area around Kent State University are on strike now that last-ditch negotiations have failed. The workers are represented by Ohio Association of Public School Employees-AFSCME (OAPSE-AFSCME) Local 37. .. AFSCME, Rhode Island: In Rhode Island, Superior Court Judge Patricia Hurst blocked Gov. Donald Carcieri from unilaterally imposing higher health care fees on AFSCME Council 94 members working in the executive branch, at least until the dispute has been heard by the Rhode Island Labor Relations Board. State/LocalMayor says city of Duluth layoffs will proceed as planned Whether a judge grants a restraining order or not, the city of Duluth will lay off 21 full-time workers. Mayor Don Ness said Tuesday that a union attempt to block layoffs in court won’t affect the city’s plans to attack the budget shortfall by trimming employees. ... AFSCME, the city’s largest labor union, asked that Duluth be restrained from laying off any permanent employees — arguing that, under the contract, the city must cut the 13½-hour-a-week workers first. ... During the court hearing Tuesday, AFSCME’s attorney, Gregg Corwin, argued that both employees and citizens would be irreparably harmed if a restraining order isn’t issued. At the same time, he said, taxpayers have to “pay the price” for the city’s legal battle with the union. Related articles:
Ind. agency wants to move lawsuit to federal court Indiana's human services agency is seeking to move to federal court a lawsuit that would block the state from extending changes in welfare eligibility screening to 13 northern counties. The Family and Social Services Administration filed the motion Tuesday in U.S. District Court in South Bend, agency spokeswoman Lauren Auld said. The agency did not yet know if its motion had been granted. .. The suit contends that FSSA has not adequately told welfare clients that they still have a right to face-to-face interviews with state case workers despite the addition of telephone call centers, Web interfaces and other automation in seeking and recertifying eligibility for benefits. Heath firefighters contract might wait until '09 / City legal fees could double bargaining projections "You could give everybody a $2,000 bonus and save money. This kind of insanity is beyond me. We could get $200,000 here and set it on fire." Unions representing the city's police officers, dispatchers and non-uniformed personnel have ratified contracts, although the agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has not yet been signed, Waugh said. AFSCME Ohio Council 8, AFL-CIO, agreed to wage increases of 3.2 percent this year retroactive to Jan. 1, followed by 3.2 percent in 2009 and 3.35 percent in 2010. Ohio city sues CH2M Hill over ‘sweetheart deal’ The corporation that Bonita Springs has contracted with to provide its community development services has been sued in an Ohio court for an alleged sweetheart deal it had with a city on Lake Erie. The city of East Cleveland has filed a $14 million lawsuit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court against the local and global offices of CH2M Hill as well as the city’s former mayor and a local businessman over a contract to provide utility services. Bonita Springs, which contracts out most of its governmental services, in a controversial move switched its community development contract from Lee County to CH2M Hill on June 30. ... In the East Cleveland lawsuit, the city is suing because the mayor urged its City Council to sign a contract that eventually paid CH2M Hill $3.9 million to provide Water Department services that the city provided for $1.4 million. Ridgeville teachers get 3-year pact More than 400 teachers and support staff are probably entering the new school year feeling pretty good. They’re back in class armed with a three-year contract that will raise their pay 10 percent between now and the summer of 2011. ... Known as Interest-Based Bargaining, the process was overseen by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which trained negotiating teams for teachers, support staff, and the school board at no charge. .... “It called for a real leap of faith on the part of our NREA (North Ridgeville Education Association) and OAPSE (Ohio Association of Public School Employees) negotiating teams,” added Phillips, who termed the new bargaining system one designed to lessen the confrontational nature of many negotiations. “More districts are moving to this process.” Commission approves Southern renewal levy .. The classified contract between the Board and the local Ohio Association of Public School Employees union members. Treasurer Roy Johnson and Superintendent Tony Deem told Commission members the contract contained a two-percent raise for OAPSE members over the next two years which could annually cost the district $8,000. Deem reported also contained in the new OAPSE contract was a $2 raise per hour for bus drivers driving extra bus trips, going from $10 to $12 per hour but those trips are capped at four hours. Deem and Johnson guessed this would cost the district less than $5,000 a year. Clovis police give on wages / 'Givebacks' program is designed to help reduce city budget gap. The Clovis police officers' union is giving back wages and benefits this year as a way to trim the city's budget gap. ... Employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Clovis Public Works Employees Association are being asked to make $404,000 in concessions. Finance Director Robert Woolley said he does not know if or when the two remaining unions will support the "givebacks." Sermon of the Week: Labor on the Bimah As we resume laboring today, the Seeker's Sermon of the Week features just one of the many messages delivered across the Chicago area this past weekend. ... Last week, my colleague Margaret Ramirez wrote about how labor leaders and union members preached about the connection between religious communities and the labor movement. About 100 local congregations invited labor activists to speak from their pulpits. Many of them focused on a recent raid at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa that has ignited heated discussions within the Jewish community about kosher laws and workers’ rights. Read Margaret's story here. Larry Spivack addressed about 80 congregants during the 6:15 p.m. Friday service at Temple Sholom; 3480 N. Lake Shore Dr., on August 29. Spivack, a secular Jew who serves as president of the Illinois Labor History Society, said labor activists could boil their mission down to a bumper sticker: "God, Moses and the Labor Movement: Folks who brought you the weekend." Spivack also works as regional director for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. Labor Day March for Jobs Union workers march in Rockford's annual Labor Day parade to show their support for change. .. "Children and family services are gonna be laying people off and they're short right now, your parks.. they've cut the parks so drastically that there's only a few employees left at each park.. so the unemployment issue is very big in this area," said Council 31 Staff Representative Jay Ferraro. Federation still working on pay raises The Washington Federation of State Employees hopes to buck history by winning a higher pay raise than other government unions in this round of bargaining. What's the hope based on? It's the biggest of the bunch, for one. The 1.6-, 1.7-percent raises agreed to by the Washington Public Employees Association give you a pretty good idea of where Gov. Chris Gregoire’s negotiators are coming from. Past rounds of bargaining indicate everybody will get the same deal. .. And, perhaps more concretely, there’s the matter of indexes. Welch says the governor's team is working off the implicit price deflator, while the union can point to the Seattle cost of living index, which is used to update teachers’ pay by law. "The Seattle CPI is probably close to the real world than is the implicit price deflator. . The IPD is almost always lower when I look at it, and that’s usually what they try to settle on," he said. Worth noting is a mystery at Western State Hospital, which is ground zero for the Washington Federation of State Employees. A DSHS institution, it's a place where conditions are tough and assaults on employees are relatively frequent, leading to union activism. 2 unions reach agreement with Pittsburgh Public Schools Two local unions representing hundreds of cafeteria workers, custodians and secretaries announced yesterday evening that they had reached tentative agreements with the Pittsburgh Public Schools. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Locals No. 297 and 2924 authorized a strike on Aug. 23, but that never happened. In a joint release, the AFSCME bargaining units said they believed the new agreements will be good for all parties involved. Key contractors for the Oregon State Hospital replacement project State officials have hired widely known firms to design and build two "world-class" psychiatric facilities to replace the 125-year-old Oregon State Hospital. Here's a look at the key contractors and their respective roles in the largest-ever expansion of Oregon's psychiatric-hospital system: Port Jervis again considers option to privatize school transport The newly elected Board of Education has reopened the option of privatizing the school district's transportation system. The board has gotten bids for an attorney who could advise the district on labor issues that surround privatization. ... Of concern are the jobs of roughly 250 CSEA union members who work for the district, the majority of them bus drivers, said Betty Kranz, a union representative and district bus driver. New state law requires more notice for layoffs State lawmakers have strengthened a federal law that urges companies to notify its workers about pending closures and layoffs. Beginning Feb. 1, some employers will face fines if they don’t give workers 90 days notice when a layoff is imminent. Court Backs Paterson Regarding Gay Unions Gov. David A. Paterson was acting within his powers when he issued an executive order requiring government agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the state, a court ruled on Tuesday. People wait for spots at Detroit mayor hearing More than a dozen people gathered at sunrise for a chance to watch Gov. Jennifer Granholm hold an extraordinary public hearing could cost Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick his job. There is room for 25 members of the public in the hearing room in a state office building in Detroit where Granholm was expected begin hearing evidence Wednesday morning. A lottery for seats was to be held if necessary. Two men from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207 brought a stack of anti-Kilpatrick signs. But most say they came for the chance to watch history unfold. Related article from the Detroit News: Mayor's removal hearings begin Labor Day festivities in Ishpeming / Unions celebrate workers. ISHPEMING -- There were a lot of smiling faces at this year's Labor Day Festival in Ishpeming..... But this year, the timely contract agreement, though tentative, between the United Steel Workers Union and CCI added to the spirit of the day. "It's a parternship that does not happen easily and it certainly demands hard work on both sides, and on behalf of the rest of the labor move, we applaud both of those parties for finding a way to make this the most special Labor Day in the U.P.," said Lawrence Roehrig of AFSCME Council 25. Two more measures added to state ballot Two more measures made the Colorado ballot on Friday, one to require employers to provide safe working environments, and the other to eliminate a tax credit for oil and gas drillers. Amendment 57 was the final of four pro-worker initiatives that place new mandates on employers. 5 cities allowed to keep fire departments A plan by some Miami-Dade commissioners to call a November referendum to abolish all municipal fire departments was withdrawn Tuesday, as critics stood poised to challenge it. Adopted in its place: a new plan that would allow Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Key Biscayne and Coral Gables to retain their departments, but stop other cities from ever leaving the county. |
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