June 26, 2009
National/Political
Big Capitol Hill rally for health care
By: Alex Isenstadt
Politico
June 25, 2009 01:17 PM EST
Thousands of grassroots activists and labor workers from across the country flooded Capitol Hill Thursday for a high-volume rally for health care reform. The rally came as President Barack Obama’s plan encounters its toughest resistance on Capitol Hill yet. Republicans are mounting stiff opposition to a public option, and members of both parties have sticker shock over the projected costs of reform. Supporters vowed Thursday not to back down. … AFSCME President Gerry McEntee and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) urged supporters to lobby their members of Congress to support a reform bill – and told them not to let well-funded health industry opponents bring the effort to a halt. “Let it be known that our opposition will fight hard, they will fight dirty, they will outspend us,” said McEntee.
Health Care Advocates Rally on Capitol Hill
Melanie Trottman
Washington Wire
The Wall Street Journal
June 25, 2009, 4:59 PM ET
Thousands of union members and other advocates of overhauling the health care system rallied on Capitol Hill today to demand high quality, affordable health care for all — this year. From union officials and doctors to patients and Democratic lawmakers, dozens of people took to the stage one-by-one repeating the mantra, “We need health-care reform in 2009 and we can’t wait.” … The backdrop was the Capitol and a giant red, white and blue poster bearing the name Health Care for America Now!, the coalition group that sponsored the 90-minute rally and subsequent lobbying visits to members of Congress. The group’s steering committee includes Acorn, the AFL-CIO, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, Communications Workers of America, SEIU, and UAW and others.
Liberals Demand "Public Option" At Capitol Hill Rally
Posted by Stephanie Condon
Political Hotsheet
CBS News
June 25, 2009 3:34 PM
Health care reform advocates are taking direct aim at health insurance companies. In a rally on Capitol Hill today, some high profile politicians joined thousands of union workers, doctors and other health care reform supporters in a united front against the industry and demanded a government-sponsored health insurance option. "Harry's dead and Louise has got diabetes," Gerald McEntee, international president of the AFSCME, told the thousands at the rally, sponsored by the organization Health Care For America Now. He was referencing the infamous television commercial, funded by the Health Insurance Association of America, that had a hand in killing President Clinton's attempt at health care reform in the 1990's. "Rush Limbaugh, Rick Scott, the insurance companies," McEntee continued. "They don't want to fix health care, they want to scare people."
Union group: Tell Congress public health care option is critical
Florida News Connection
POSTED: June 25, 2009
As the debate in Congress heats up over health care reform, Floridians are joining people from across the nation in rallying in Washington D.C. today. Doug Martin, legislative and communications director for Florida AFSCME Council 79, is among those at the event. Even though most of his union members are insured, Martin says he is fighting for the nearly 2 million Floridians who have no medical insurance and/or no access to health care. A public insurance option is critical to their future care, he stresses. "When health care reform is done, we want affordable health care insurance. We want affordable health care for everyone. Ultimately, unless there is a strong public plan, we're not going to have health care reform."
Related articles:
Thousands Rally, Say We Can’t Wait for Health Care Reform, AFL-CIO Now Blog
Falco urges health care overhaul at Capitol rally, Associated Press
Thousands Turn Out for Health Care Reform, Huffington Post
Congress suspends health care debate as crowds rally for plan, Miami Herald (FL)
Health care reformists rally, Allentown Morning Call (PA)
Agreement Reportedly Near on Health Bill / Senators Report Reducing Overall Cost but Not Resolving Issue of 'Public Option'
By Shailagh Murray and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post
Friday, June 26, 2009
Senate health-care negotiators said yesterday they were closing in on a $1 trillion health-care bill that would be fully funded by tax increases, Medicare cuts and new penalties for employers who do not offer health insurance. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said members of the panel would consider a menu of policy and financing options over the Fourth of July recess, with the goal of producing a deficit-neutral 10-year bill shortly after Congress returns July 6. "We're getting a lot closer to an agreement," Baucus told reporters after the committee reviewed new Congressional Budget Office cost estimates yesterday.
The Work-Up / Obama and Congress Clash on How to Pay for Health Care
By JACKIE CALMES
New York Times
June 26, 2009
WASHINGTON — It has become the trillion-dollar question: can President Obama find that much in spending cuts and tax increases to keep his campaign promise to overhaul the health care system, without adding to already huge deficits? Mr. Obama and the Democrats running Congress are deeply split over the possibilities. House and Senate leaders do not like his ideas but cannot agree on alternatives. Other proposals that could reduce health care spending would take too long to show savings for purposes of Congress’s budget scorekeeping, and many would require big investments initially, such as for research into cost-effective treatments. Meanwhile, special interests like insurance companies, employers and even sugar beet and corn growers are on alert to oppose anything that could hurt them.
Advertising wars escalate in health care fight
By Richard Wolf
USA Today
June 26, 2009
WASHINGTON — The type of advertising war that helped doom the last effort to overhaul the nation's health care system is heating up. Business groups opposed to health care bills floated by House and Senate Democrats launched print ads this week. The Republican National Committee ran its own TV ad as well. Until now, ads for and against President Obama's proposed health care overhaul have been run by lesser-known groups. Interested groups are stepping up their efforts during Congress' July Fourth recess. "It's probably the starting gun," says Evan Tracey of Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising.
Op-Ed Columnist: Not Enough Audacity
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
June 26, 2009
When it comes to domestic policy, there are two Barack Obamas. On one side there’s Barack the Policy Wonk, whose command of the issues — and ability to explain those issues in plain English — is a joy to behold. But on the other side there’s Barack the Post-Partisan, who searches for common ground where none exists, and whose negotiations with himself lead to policies that are far too weak. Both Baracks were on display in the president’s press conference earlier this week. First, Mr. Obama offered a crystal-clear explanation of the case for health care reform, and especially of the case for a public option competing with private insurers. “If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care, if they tell us that they’re offering a good deal,” he asked, “then why is it that the government, which they say can’t run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That’s not logical.”
Health Care Faces the 'R' Word
By Michael Kinsley
Washington Post
Friday, June 26, 2009
Even though more and more Americans have no health insurance at all, Americans consider health care to be a right. Not just that: We consider the best possible health care to be a right. Few would find it acceptable for a poor person to die of a medically curable disease for lack of money. Even fewer would find it acceptable that they themselves should die because the system won't spend the money to cure them. This is all in theory, of course. In practice, people die all the time because some effective treatment is too expensive. But whenever an issue gets drawn into the political system and becomes explicit, it becomes harder. That is what health-care reform will do to the question of rationing.
A Grim Forecast on National Debt
By Jackie Calmes
The Caucus
New York Times
June 25, 2009, 8:16 pm
The country’s projected debt is growing so quickly that it would exceed the size of the economy in 2023, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported in its latest long-run economic outlook on Monday. That is seven years earlier than the office forecast in its previous such report 18 months ago. The culprit is not the huge sum of stimulus spending that President Obama and Congress have injected into the economy this year, the budget office said. Instead, rising health care costs and an aging population together continue to push government spending upward at an unsustainable pace, only faster than the budget office last estimated.
Close Win Predicted For Cap-and-Trade Bill / House Speaker Reports 'Progress'
By Paul Kane, Ben Pershing and David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post
Friday, June 26, 2009
The House could vote today on a measure to cap U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, with Democratic leaders predicting a tight victory for a behemoth bill that has grown more complex with each compromise. The heart of the bill, which now runs to 1,201 pages, is a plan to reduce emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. To do that, it would create a cap-and-trade system, in which polluters would be required to accrue buyable, sellable credits for all the greenhouse gases they produce. But the bill also contains a system of caveats, safety valves and rule changes meant to satisfy unhappy Democrats. The result is legislation that could transform the U.S. energy industry -- and allow both Wall Street and the Corn Belt to build a side business in carbon. Yesterday, Democratic leaders said they had gathered enough votes to win passage of the bill, which could be voted on today or tomorrow.
White House Says Transportation System Overhaul Must Wait
By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post
Friday, June 26, 2009
After rejecting criticism that it is taking on too much, the Obama administration has identified one area where ambitious reforms will have to wait: overhauling the nation's aging, congested and carbon-emitting transportation system. The current six-year, $286 billion transportation spending plan expires in October, and House members have worked for months to produce a 775-page, $500 billion bill that would create a new fund for road repairs, increase funding for rail and public transit and include reforms meant to wean the country from fossil fuels. But it became clear at a contentious Senate hearing yesterday that the half-trillion-dollar question is how to pay for the bill. The 18.4-cent federal gas tax has not been raised since 1993, and revenue from it falls increasingly short every year because of inflation and the shift to more fuel-efficient cars.
All States Beat a Deadline on Transportation Spending
By MICHAEL COOPER
New York Times
June 26, 2009
They are using it, so they won’t lose it. The federal stimulus law required the states to reach agreements by June 29 on how to spend at least half of the main pot of transportation money or risk losing some of it, and federal officials announced Thursday that all 50 states had beaten the deadline. The Federal Highway Administration has signed off on $15.8 billion for some 4,800 projects, officials said. Work has started on only about 1,900 of those projects, though, meaning that states are actually paying workers on less than half of the approved projects. As of June 19, the federal government reported that it had paid out $192 million to reimburse states for highway and bridge work that had already been completed. “Our No. 1 priority with the Recovery Act is getting folks back to work,” Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said in a statement, “and there is no better way to do that in these early days than by putting shovels in the ground and jump-starting projects like these that create jobs and boost local communities.”
Despite 'ramp up' call, stimulus spending slows
By Brad Heath
USA Today
June 26, 2009
Federal spending meant to jump-start the economy slowed last week, two weeks after President Obama vowed to "ramp up" the pace of that aid. Last week, federal agencies allocated about $5.2billion in new stimulus aid for projects across the country, according to disclosure reports the agencies released Thursday. That's less than at any point in the previous month and less than the roughly $8.6 billion the government has spent, on average, in every previous week since Obama signed the massive spending and tax relief package in February.
Weekly wrap: Feds release long-awaited stimulus job guidelines
By Stephen C. Fehr
Stateline.org
June 26, 2009
From the minute President Obama declared that the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package would save or create 3.5 million jobs, state officials have been confused about how to count those jobs. Now, four months later, the White House has offered states guidance. The advice includes a description of the programs subject to the job-reporting requirements.
Review & Outlook: The Albany-Trenton-Sacramento Disease / How three liberal states got into deep trouble with 'progressive' ideas.
The Wall Street Journal
June 26, 2009
President Obama has bet the economy on his program to grow the government and finance it with a more progressive tax system. It's hard to miss the irony that he's pitching this change in Washington even as the same governance model is imploding in three of the largest American states where it has been dominant for years -- California, New Jersey and New York. A decade ago all three states were among America's most prosperous. California was the unrivaled technology center of the globe. New York was its financial capital. New Jersey is the third wealthiest state in the nation after Connecticut and Massachusetts. All three are now suffering from devastating budget deficits as the bills for years of tax-and-spend governance come due. These states have been models of "progressive" policies that are supposed to create wealth: high tax rates on the rich, lots of government "investments," heavy unionization and a large government role in health care.
As Plants Close, Teenagers Focus More on College
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
New York Times
June 26, 2009
WEST CARROLLTON, Ohio — In the tight-knit, middle-class communities surrounding Dayton, many members of the class of ’09 knew exactly what they would do when they grew up. They would get a good-paying job at the General Motors factory or at one of the Delphi auto parts plants, get married and start families. But the deep recession and the downsizing of American manufacturing have bulldozed those plans, leaving many of these young people confused and rudderless, with some contemplating a path that might be new to their families: college. “It used to be kids would say, ‘I don’t need to go to college. I can go to work with my dad at G.M. and have a good life,’ ” said Carol Romie, the chief guidance counselor at West Carrollton High School in this blue-collar Dayton suburb. “With G.M. closed, that’s not an option nowadays.”
Republicans Focus on Guest Workers in Immigration Debate
By JEFF ZELENY and GINGER THOMPSON
New York Times
June 26, 2009
WASHINGTON — President Obama told a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Thursday that Congress should begin debating a comprehensive immigration plan by year’s end or early next year, but Republicans said they would support a measure only if it included an expansion of guest worker programs. Leading the call for that provision was Senator John McCain of Arizona, who told Mr. Obama he would have to take his “political lumps” and stand up to labor unions that oppose the idea. The president praised Mr. McCain for paying “a significant political cost for doing the right thing.”
Senate panel OKs funds for jailing illegal immigrants / Compensation for state and local governments may be continued, despite Obama's call to end such payments. California could receive less money than last year.
By Richard Simon
Los Angeles Times
10:41 PM PDT, June 25, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- Congress appeared poised Thursday to continue compensating state and local governments for incarcerating illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, ignoring President Obama's call to eliminate such payments. That would spare strapped California from another hit on its budget. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to provide $228 million nationwide next year, acting a week after the House voted to allocate $400 million, the same as this year.
Group to use Internet to mobilize shareholders
By Barry B. Burr
Pensions & Investments
June 25, 2009, 3:35 PM ET
A new organization wants to create an online investor social networking site for U.S. shareholders to help drive financial market regulatory and corporate governance reforms. Investors are invited to join the organization, ShareOwners.org, which started today and hopes “to stimulate investor activity by giving investors the education they need,” Richard Ferlauto, chairman of ShareOwners.org and director of pension and benefit policy at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Washington, said in a webcast today. The $860 million AFSCME Pension Plan is an activist shareholder.
Supervalu investors to have a say on pay / Directors say firm will be at a disadvantage
By Tom Webb
Pioneer Press (MN)
Updated: 06/25/2009 09:46:28 PM CDT
Against the board's wishes, Supervalu shareholders approved a "say on pay" resolution Thursday that gives shareholders an advisory vote on executive pay. Eden Prairie-based Supervalu, the nation's No. 3 grocer, becomes the first major Minnesota company to be forced by its shareholders into giving them a voice — but not a veto — on executive compensation. It probably won't be the last. After years of losing proxy fights, say-on-pay resolutions have won approval at a record 19 corporations so far this year, including at Apple, Honeywell, Dow Chemical and Pfizer. "Between last year and this year, we had the collapse of the financial markets, and many people have begun to understand that (due to) the perverse incentives of pay ... there needs to be some kind of mediation," said Rich Ferlauto, director of corporate governance for AFSCME, the public employees union, which is advocating say-on-pay resolutions nationally.
U.S. swine flu cases may have hit 1 million
ATLANTA (AP)
USA Today
June 26, 2009
Health officials estimate that as many as 1 million Americans now have the new swine flu. Lyn Finelli, a flu surveillance official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, voiced the estimate at a vaccine advisory meeting Thursday in Atlanta. The estimate is based on mathematical modeling. Nearly 28,000 U.S. cases have been reported to the CDC, accounting for roughly half the world's cases. The U.S. count includes 3,065 hospitalizations and 127 deaths.
Pay-for-Performance System Under Heavy Fire
By Joe Davidson
Washington Post
Friday, June 26, 2009
On the surface, at least, the hearing by the Defense Business Board may have seemed as dull as the nondescript hotel conference room where it was held. The meeting had the feel of a cut-rate congressional hearing -- groups of experts read their written statements to a panel of wise men in suits sitting behind microphones on a dais. But unlike a Capitol Hill hearing, this session had no grandstanding politicians playing to voters back home, no elaborate symbols of power and no huge portraits of committee chairmen adding a sense of grandeur to the occasion. Yet what flowed from yesterday's meeting ultimately could have a major impact on the 2 million people in the federal workforce. A "task group" of the board held its first public meeting on the future of the National Security Personnel System at a Hyatt hotel in Arlington. NSPS is the pay-for-performance operation for about 211,000 Defense Department civilians. The NSPS has many vigorous critics among federal workers and few strong defenders.
UNITE HERE Split Gets Even Messier
By Paul Abowd
Labor Notes
July 2009
It’s been three months since UNITE split from HERE, morphing into Workers United (WU) and affiliating with the Service Employees (SEIU). The battle, primarily over money and members, rages on after settlement talks fizzled in May and International President Bruce Raynor resigned from UNITE HERE. Three days later he took the top post at WU as the breakaway union fights for viability in court and in the shops. UNITE HERE, now controlled by hospitality president John Wilhelm, rejected a settlement proposal from WU and SEIU President Andy Stern. They offered $45 million to UNITE HERE over the next five years, in exchange for the right to organize hotel and gaming workers.
State/Local
Mediator attempts to avert BART strike
Rachel Gordon
San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Friday, June 26, 2009
A state mediator is scheduled to sit down with BART labor and management negotiating teams for the first time today to try to resolve a contract dispute and avoid a strike. The lead mediator, Paul Roose, manager of mediation services for the California Department of Industrial Relations, was at the table four years ago during the last round of contract negotiations at BART, said department spokesman Dean Fryer. The unions requested mediation Wednesday and the district's negotiators agreed. The current contracts for the five BART employee unions expire at midnight Tuesday. Members of BART's largest union, Service Employees International Union, Local 1021, voted overwhelmingly Thursday to authorize its leadership to call a strike if deemed necessary. Members of two other big unions, Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1555, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 3993, voted earlier this week in favor of strike authorization.
City's Payroll Costs Down 2.5 Percent
10NEWS.com (CA)
POSTED: 4:14 pm PDT June 25, 2009
SAN DIEGO -- The city of San Diego's payroll costs were down 2.5 percent this fiscal year, or about $18 million from fiscal year 2008, Mayor Jerry Sanders announced Thursday. The city spent $694.5 million on payroll in fiscal year 2009, which ends on Wednesday, compared to $712.5 million the previous fiscal year. Payroll costs in fiscal year 2008 were 7.13 percent, or about $47.5 million, higher than in fiscal year 2007. In fiscal year 2007, the city's payroll was $665 million, compared to $702 million in 2006 and $699 million in 2005. Sanders touted the recent payroll savings as evidence of the "significant progress" he has made in getting San Diego's finances "under control" since taking office in 2006. … Three of the city's labor unions recently agreed to a 6 percent pay and benefits decrease. Two others -- the San Diego Police Officers Association and AFSCME Local 127 -- had the cuts imposed on them.
New UC Chancellor Unfit to Serve
By Lakesha Harrison
President
AFSCME Local 3299
California Progress Report (CA)
June 2009
It would require the willing suspension of disbelief to buy the account offered by newly appointed University of California (UC) Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi that she was unaware of the admissions scandal that is now engulfing her current employer, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne (UIUC).For weeks now, the Chicago Tribune has detailed the well established and entrenched practice of circumventing the normal admissions process for the sons and daughters of the wealthy and powerful.
Ritter: Sales-tax exemptions off the table
by Ed Sealover
Denver Business Journal (CO)
June 26, 2009
Colorado will not consider eliminating sales-tax exemptions as it figures out how to take care of a $384 million budget shortfall in the coming weeks, Gov. Bill Ritter said Thursday. Instead, the Democratic governor has asked department heads to give him suggestions by July 20 on how to cut 10 percent of each of their budgets. Ritter acknowledged that those cuts may include layoffs, a step he has tried to avoid since the economy began heading south last fall. Colorado Wins, the union of state government employees, told members of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee Monday that they should consider eliminating some of the $1.6 billion in state sales tax exemptions in order to increase health care and pay for workers. JBC members said compensation increases are next to impossible, and the request stirred angry reactions from Republicans like House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, who said the Legislature must focus on reigning in expenses.
Naples nears final offer to city workers
By JENNA BUZZACCO-FOERSTER
Naples News (FL)
6:41 p.m., Thursday, June 25, 2009
It’s not the final offer, but it’s pretty darn close. That’s the message Naples officials sent to members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees negotiating team Thursday. The city’s negotiating team rolled out its latest offer, one which Assistant City Manager and chief negotiator Roger Reinke said is very close to the bottom line. Reinke said the proposal — which has changes to holiday pay, insurance and wages — has some wiggle room if union officials could find savings elsewhere. “This is pretty close to our bottom line,” Reinke said. “The only thing we can do is move things away and try to save money. We don’t have anywhere to go, these are our marching orders.” One of the major cost-savings techniques would be suspending holiday pay. Union officials said that while they understand the city needs to reduce labor costs, they were not willing to make wage concessions.
Mayor Calls For Tax Hike, Budget Cuts / Peyton: 'We Have To Do What Is Difficult To Do What Is Right'
News4JAX.com (FL)
UPDATED: 10:29 pm EDT June 25, 2009
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Two days after privately briefing business and community leaders about plans to address a city funding crisis with a plan that includes a 14 percent property tax hike, Mayor John Peyton made the plan public on Thursday. Peyton unveiled a three-part "Fix It Now" proposal than includes a 1.2-mil property tax hike, additional budget cuts and the revision of pension plans to address what could be a $65 million shortfall in next year's funding. The tax increase -- from 8.4 to 9.6 mils would cost homeowners $120 for each $100,000 of appraised value. Acknowledging that the tax hike will be unpopular, Peyton said it is necessary and will return to the rate of taxation of two years ago -- before lawmakers in Tallahassee "began meddling with tax reform."
Quinn: 2,200 layoffs may be part of cutting budget
By DEANNA BELLANDI
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
State Journal-Register (IL)
Last update Jun 25, 2009 @ 11:39 PM
CHICAGO — Gov. Pat Quinn announced Thursday that 2,200 state employees could lose their jobs as he attempts to cut an additional $1 billion in state spending amid continued uncertainty about the Illinois budget. Quinn also wants state employees to take 12 unpaid furlough days and have their wages frozen. “We have to cut costs, cut costs and cut costs,” Quinn told business leaders at a gathering of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce at a downtown Chicago hotel. The state’s largest employee union, which would have to agree to furlough days and other concessions, said it had already dismissed the idea in an earlier meeting with Quinn administration officials. “We made very clear that we don’t believe it would make a significant difference toward balancing the budget,” said Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Town bails on civil service hiring system
By Andreae Downs
Boston Globe (MA)
June 25, 2009
Amid arguments that the current system is cumbersome and unfair, favoring those “in the know’’ and discouraging diversity, 144 Town Meeting members voted last month to exempt from civil service all town jobs except police officers and firefighters. The move would affect everything from urban planners and school food-service workers to payroll clerks and building inspectors. Current employees would be grandfathered into the civil service system, which was created in the late 1800s in an effort to prevent patronage hires and insulate public employees from political pressures. The Brookline vote occurred over the protests of labor leaders, who admitted that the state system was slow and ineffective. But, they said, the system was improving, with the time required for hearings shrinking. “We know there are problems with the system, but that’s no excuse to scrap it entirely,’’ said James Durkin, with AFSCME Council 93, the union that represents many town and school workers. “It’s dispiriting to see this coming out of a progressive town like Brookline.’’
SEA, state have days to bargain / Union leaders: No contract in sight
By LAUREN R. DORGAN
Concord Monitor (NH)
June 26, 2009 - 12:00 am
Now is an uncertain time to be an employee of the state of New Hampshire. Less than a week before the term is up for the State Employees' Association contract, there is no new one to replace it, and negotiators haven't struck a tentative deal, according to union leaders. Meanwhile, the Legislature this week approved a budget that, according to Gov. John Lynch, will require laying off at least 200 state employees. The final tally could be much higher, depending on how Lynch, who has said he will sign the budget, meets legislators' mandate to cut an additional $25 million in personnel expenses. Lawmakers said they hoped the governor would negotiate unpaid furloughs with state unions. How - and whether - that will work is likely to be settled in talks with the SEA, the largest state union, on a contract that's supposed to start July 1. If a new contract isn't negotiated by then, the current contract will be extended. That, some fear, could increase pressure for layoffs, since the state would not receive cost savings toward the personnel cut through negotiated means.
New Jersey Passes Budget Fueled by $1 Billion in Tax Increases
By DAVID W. CHEN
New York Times
June 26, 2009
TRENTON — New Jersey lawmakers passed a $29 billion budget largely along partisan lines on Thursday night that will increase taxes by almost $1 billion, eliminate property-tax deductions for the wealthiest residents and pare billions from health care, higher education and other programs. The bulk of the new revenue in the budget, which is $4 billion less than the current budget, will come from a one-year increase in the income tax on people making more than $400,000 a year, or roughly 61,000 residents. Taxes will go up by 12.5 cents per pack on cigarettes, and 25 percent on hard liquor and wine. People who win $10,000 or more in the lottery will see their good fortune taxed as well.
Ohio workers pension fund may sue if contributions cut
By Laura Bischoff
Dayton Daily News (OH)
Thursday, June 25, 2009, 09:18 AM
The Ohio Public Employee Retirement System would likely sue the state if it reduces state workers pension contributions to help balance the budget, the pension system director told lawmakers. … Similar lawsuits in other states, such as California and North Carolina, were won by the pension systems when the courts found the state was obligated to pay and make up for lost investment income, according to OPERS.
City has approved local union contract
By Robert Barron, Staff Writer
Enid News (OK)
June 25, 2009 11:54 pm
Enid City Commission approved a two-year contract with American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees Local 1136 during a special meeting Thursday. In general, the contract calls for an annual 3.5 percent salary increase for the next two years for all employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement. Also provided is a performance pay incentive for each year. AFSCME members approved the contract Wednesday evening.
Agencies, workers brace for July 1 with no budget
MARK SCOLFORO and MARC LEVY
The Associated Press
Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
June 25, 2009
HARRISBURG, Pa. - People who work for Pennsylvania's state government or do business with it are getting ready for the impact if the state's new fiscal year starts on Wednesday without a budget in place. There was little sign of progress Thursday, with Republicans pushing a spending plan without any tax increases while Democratic leaders were lined up behind Gov. Ed Rendell's mixture of cuts and tax hikes. State workers will have to stay on the job, but they won't be paid for work after July 1 until the deadlock is resolved.
Union unit votes down wage deal with county
By Steve Sharp
Watertown Daily Times (WI)
Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:56 PM CDT
JEFFERSON - Members of the Jefferson County Highway Union AFSCME Local 655, voted this week to reject a tentative agreement reached between the AFSCME Locals Bargaining Coalition and Jefferson County over wages for 2010. Regarding the tentative agreement, AFSCME required ratification by all its Locals for the agreement to be considered ratified. “Based on the vote, we have no agreement,” Bill Moberly, staff representative of AFSCME Wisconsin District Council 40, said. “I am meeting with the courthouse unit and will begin discussions on how and if to move forward without the highway local. Also, I have notified each of the other four AFSCME units of the highway department's vote and I will be having discussions with them yet this week.” Moberly said it may be necessary for the five other AFSCME units to meet with the county as early as next week. Last week, four of the AFSCME bargaining units representing employees of financially strapped Jefferson County voted to forgo a previously negotiated 2010 wage increase.