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July 1, 2009National/PoliticalCuts, tax hikes, stimulus help most states avert 'doomsday' crises States start their new budget year Wednesday, reeling from the recession but sparing most citizens from painful cuts in education and health care. Arizona, California, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are among states still struggling to approve budgets for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins Wednesday in 46 states. Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Wisconsin were among states adopting budgets shortly before the deadline. Big tax hikes were approved in some states, including Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey and Oregon. Many other tax proposals, though, died in budget negotiations, says Pete Sepp, vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, an anti-tax group. Related:
21 states force unpaid days off on workers Officials in at least 21 states across the United States report more than 728,500 state employees have been, or will be, forced to take unpaid days off. With state governments collectively facing a $121 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year, more have turned to their workforce to capture the savings, Stateline.org reported. Some Hard-Hit States Get Less Stimulus Some of the states worst hit by the recession are getting far less federal economic-stimulus money per person than states faring better. Nevada, where unemployment stood at about 10% when the plan was passed, is getting $541 for each resident from the stimulus money allocated so far, a Wall Street Journal analysis found. Wyoming, where the 3.9% jobless rate was the lowest in the country in February, is getting $1,074 per person. ... The Wall Street Journal looked at $167 billion that has been divided among the states to spend themselves, as well as another $31 billion of federal department spending for which locations have already been decided. Another vote for card-check bill Sixty senators will now caucus with the Dems in the upper chamber. That is a much larger majority than when the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) first moved in June 2007 and failed to earn cloture, grabbing 51 votes out of the 60 needed. “Franken’s victory certainly helps our chances of passing EFCA, but there is still plenty of work to be done,” said Thea Lee, policy director for the AFL-CIO. Franken’s Win Won’t Let Democrats Dominate Senate Democrat Al Franken’s victory in the Minnesota Senate race will give his party an edge in congressional battles that still may fall short of total control. Related:
Kennedy Seeks Public Health-Care Plan That Finances Itself Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s committee will propose creating a government-backed alternative to private insurance designed to pay for itself after getting federal start-up money. A summary of the provision written by the Massachusetts Democrat’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee describes a public insurance plan that could be quickly available around the U.S. with payment rates set by the Health and Human Services Department. The summary was provided by a person close to the committee. ... “We’re very pleased with it,” Richard Kirsch, the national campaign director of Health Care for America Now, a Washington-based coalition of more than 1,000 groups advocating government-backed insurance, said in a telephone interview. Wal-Mart Backs Drive to Make Companies Pay for Health Coverage In a major break with most other large companies, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Tuesday told the White House that it supports requiring employers to provide health insurance to workers, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's effort to provide near-universal coverage to Americans. Obama Spreads Risk On Reform Push / Rumors Of The Administration's Demise Should Health Legislation Fail Have Been Greatly Exaggerated ... If Obama and congressional Democrats end up settling for a plan that doesn't include a public option, a compromise bill could still set up future reforms by showcasing the savings produced by innovations like electronic medical records, bundling and medical homes.... "I think the lesson from 1994 is not to craft a bill in secret that affects one-sixth of the economy and dump it on Congress," said David Mermin, a partner at Lake Research who has done polling for Health Care For America Now. Insured, but Bankrupted by Health Crises Health insurance is supposed to offer protection — both medically and financially. But as it turns out, an estimated three-quarters of people who are pushed into personal bankruptcy by medical problems actually had insurance when they got sick or were injured. And so, even as Washington tries to cover the tens of millions of Americans without medical insurance, many health policy experts say simply giving everyone an insurance card will not be enough to fix what is wrong with the system. Too many other people already have coverage so meager that a medical crisis means financial calamity. PhRMA, Families USA launch ad blitz The pharmaceutical industry and one of the country’s leading consumer health care groups on Tuesday launched a multimillion-dollar national television advertising campaign to urge lawmakers to pass quality, affordable health care reform. National Labor College graduates more than 100 / Keynote speaker U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis recognizes hard work, sacrifices of students ... Keynote speaker U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis congratulated the graduates and encouraged them to put their degrees in labor studies disciplines to work, noting that the Department of Labor would be adding nearly 670 investigators, inspectors and other program staff to carry out the mission of the department... The only accredited college that focuses exclusively on educating union leaders, members and activists, the National Labor College was established in 1969 by the AFL-CIO, an organization that regulates, represents and establishes unions from the federal level down. It became a degree-granting college in 1997. Online Tool Will Track U.S. Tech Spending The Obama administration introduced online tools on Tuesday that will track and analyze the more than $70 billion a year that the federal government spends on information technology. The new Web tools, called IT Dashboard, are part of a Web site set up to monitor government spending, USASpending.gov. State/LocalThousands rally against Hawaii furlough plan Thousands of state employees rallied at the state Capitol Tuesday afternoon to denounce Gov. Linda Lingle's plans to force them and their co-workers to take three unpaid days off each month. ... Randy Perreira, executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, said his members know the state's economy is in a difficult spot. ... Three of the unions in Hawaii — HGEA, HSTA and United Public Workers — are pursuing a court injunction to block the plan. A hearing is set for Thursday on their requests. The first furlough day is scheduled for July 6, according to the governor's office. Related:
Savings plan hinges on more long-term beds at Kula Hospital The release of a $5 million appropriation to establish new long-term care beds at Kula Hospital could help to avoid furloughs and layoffs at Maui Memorial Medical Center, hospital officials said Tuesday. ... For immediate cost savings, hospital officials are reviewing various options, but those hinge on the outcome of contract negotiations with the hospital employee unions - the Hawaii Government Employees Association and the United Public Workers. Chancellors Say Cuts Will Impact Learning University of Hawaii chancellors delivered sobering news to House and Senate lawmakers Tuesday, describing how another round of budget restrictions will impact the system’s ten campuses statewide. ... UHPA’s contract expires June 30, along with three other public worker unions - HGEA, UPW and HSTA. All four unions are currently in negotiations with the state, with potential furloughs and layoffs a central theme in the talks. State budget cuts start hitting Wednesday ... Workers represented by AFSCME Council 5 and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees will see their wages frozen at current levels through June 2011. Related from Star Tribune: It's D-Day for state budget woes, as in definitely real Bruininks pledges to donate salary increases University of Minnesota President Bob Bruininks plans to give all of his salary increases during his time as president back to the University — an action he says will total more than the 10 percent cut some are asking him and other administrators to take. ... The AFSCME Local 3800 union has said the freeze is not enough and is asking the 254 University employees paid over $200,000 to take a 5 percent pay cut. “The fact that he gives money is all well and good, but he makes $750,000 year,” Chief Steward of AFSCME Local 3800 Cherrene Horazuk said. “It just doesn’t wash for me.” State budget year begins with 3,200 jobs on the block Many state agencies are keeping employees on the payroll a bit longer as Washington’s government starts a new budget year today with 3,200 jobs on the chopping block. ... Greg Devereux, executive director of the 40,000-member Washington Federation of State Employees, said he is pleased by efforts to preserve jobs where appropriate. “I think they are doing a very good job of trying to scrub the budgets and protect line workers,’’ he said. Doyle's veto hasn't solved UW union controversy Gov. Jim Doyle used his veto pen this week to weigh in on a dispute over whether some University of Wisconsin System staff can be absorbed - without an opportunity to vote - into existing labor unions. But on Tuesday it appeared the issue may not be decided until it is sorted out before a state regulatory panel and, possibly, in the courts. Under a provision inserted into the budget, roughly 4,000 currently unrepresented academic staffers at UW campuses could have been reassigned into the unions without a vote on the matter, state officials said last week. Doyle struck that provision Monday in his budget vetoes. Related from AFL-CIO blog: 20,000 University of Wisconsin Faculty Gain Bargaining Rights State union gripes about inmate employees Although inmates have been a part of the workforce at Mayville Engineering Company in Mayville for at least five years, the Wisconsin State Employees Union AFSCME Council 24 claims that the jobs should be saved for unemployed citizens instead. "MEC has been a part of the work release program with the state for over five years," Bob Kamphuis, chairman, president and CEO of MEC, said. "They're helping us and we're helping them. It allows the inmates to learn the trade and build their resume. It helps them to keep from going back to criminal activity after they're released." Uncertainty as Nevada state worker furloughs begin today Many state agencies are still unsure how furloughs mandated by the Nevada Legislature will affect residents or even how they will be implemented, officials said this week. .. Employees favored the furloughs because they felt the cuts would be easier to get back when the economy recovers, said Dennis Mallory, chief of staff of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in the state. Daley's Furlough Plan Approved Thousands of city of Chicago workers will now have to take three weeks of unpaid time off. The cuts apply to non-union city employees making more than $35,000 a year. Pat Dowell was one of six aldermen to oppose the measure, because she says it would hardly make a dent in the budget deficit. .. The fate of union workers remains up in the air. The mayor says more than 1,500 will be laid off in the middle of the month, unless labor unions agree to contract concessions. Quinn wants tax hike -- even if it takes months State government limped into a new budget year Wednesday without a solid spending plan and rookie Gov. Pat Quinn threatened to drag the fight out all summer until he gets an income tax increase. For the third year in a row, Democrats who control Springfield failed to reach agreement on time, once again creating uncertainty for social service providers, public employees and others who count on the state paying its bills. Schwarzenegger Threatens to Shut Down the State With California just a few days away from having to issue IOUs to pay its bills, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to shut down the state rather than agree to $2 billion worth of new taxes on cigarettes and alcohol and oil companies that Democrats have proposed to help close the Golden State's $24 billion budget deficit. Related from Sacramento Bee: UC employees grappling with furloughs 11th-hour votes on state budget fail With a day to go until a cash crisis would force the state to stop paying its bills, lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked into the night Tuesday but failed to reach a budget agreement. Carcieri OKs $7.8-billion R.I. budget Governor Carcieri on Tuesday reluctantly signed into law a $7.8-billion budget package that raises Rhode Island’s gas tax by 2 cents per gallon, cuts millions of dollars from cities and towns, and trims pension benefits for thousands of state workers and teachers. ... On pensions, despite threats of lawsuits by public employees unions, the budget adopts age 62 as the new “target” age for retirement for state workers and teachers. It is a hugely complicated formula, but simply put: the farther away from retirement the employee is, the higher the age requirement. State worker pay-furlough discussions proceed A plan to give state employees five extra days off in exchange for a 2.5 percent pay reduction is taking shape in Legislative Hall. The draft language from the Grant-in-Aid bill says state employees will still have their salaries reduced by 2.5 percent effective July 1, but a plan will be developed to give employees days off that equal their pay reductions. Related from AP: Delaware Governor Signs $3 Billion Budget Bill Seven state employee positions eliminated State agencies have eliminated seven employee positions, the state personnel director said Tuesday. .. Two positions were eliminated from the Game and Parks Commission, two from the Department of Agriculture and three from the Historical Society. .. Julie Dake Abel, executive director of the NAPE/AFSCME, Local 61, AFL-CIO, said the union was hoping for a low number of layoffs at state agencies. Workers OK wage freeze About 1,000 workers employed at the state prison and the state's two psychiatric hospitals have agreed to a new contract that provides for no wage increases, the state Bureau of Human Resources director said Tuesday. The workers, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, ratified the contract Monday night, said Alicia Kellogg, state human resources director. New London Sends Out Layoff Slips After Talks With Union Break Down The city sent out layoff notices to all the members of the public works union Monday after talks for worker concessions broke down. Bernadette Welch, personnel coordinator for the city, said the notices were sent out to all of the nearly 90 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1378, to comply with the contract, which requires the city to give a 30-day notice of any layoffs. .. Union leadership called the move a “scare tactic” after the city and union leaders failed to agree on concessions and after members voted down a package that included give-backs to meet a request from the city to cut costs. Pennsylvania Begins New Fiscal Year Without Budget ... The main obstacle is a 3-year, 16 percent income tax increase proposed by Gov. Ed Rendell. Republicans oppose the increase, and are in favor of cutting spending. Talks continue on expiring Philly labor contracts Philadelphia's 20,000 union workers are continuing on the job as contract expirations loom. The labor agreements expire at midnight Tuesday but unions for the city's white collar and blue collar employees aren't calling for strike authorization votes. DPW workers express frustration at City Center rally Thunderstorms and pouring rain may have kept city unions from inflating a giant rat outside the City Center on Tuesday afternoon, but it did not stop the DayGlo-clad city workers from picketing outside the New York Conference of Mayors annual meeting. "This is about families and the professionals that provide services to the city," said Joe O’Neil, president of CSEA-DPW unit, which represents about 95 city employees and is its largest labor union. He said Tuesday’s protest intended to remind taxpayers of all the work DPW employees do. Related article: Inflatable rat pulls out of CSEA rally Nassau deal to defer month's pay for correction officers Nassau County correction officers will defer a month's pay over the next 18 months as part of a tentative new labor contract, officials said Tuesday. County workers in other unions have agreed to defer only two weeks' pay this year, but the correction officers agreed to two weeks this year and two weeks next year in return for other concessions, according to Dan McCray, the county's chief negotiator. McCray said correction officers, who are members of the Sheriff Officers Association, will get their annual raises as they come due, while workers in Local 830 of the Civil Service Employees Association, the main civilian union, will defer their annual raises for the first seven months of both 2010 and 2011. GOP's Imperato, Lindberg to battle for seat John Imperato, president of CSEA Local 8100, is challenging Rep. Donald Lindberg for the District 6 seat on the Otsego County Board of Representatives. ... In a telephone interview Tuesday, he said the county's standoff with the CSEA, now 21/2 years long, ``may have pushed me into the race, but I'm running to represent everyone in the district.'' County discusses concessions with unions QUEENSBURY -- Warren County supervisors and the unions that represent county workers are discussing labor contract concessions that would include salary givebacks, early retirement incentives and "termination" incentives. .. Tuesday’s meeting ended with County Attorney Paul Dusek planning to meet in the coming days to discuss proposed givebacks with heads of the three union locals that represent county workers -- the Civil Service Employees Association, Warren County Police Benevolent Association and Warren County Sheriff’s Employees Alliance. Pay rates frozen for some city employees COSHOCTON — With income tax revenue rapidly approaching 2006 figures, city legislators decided it would be a good time not to give raises to some employees. .. Many, like those who work in the water, street or fire departments, are represented by unions, either the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local No. 2551 or the International Association of Fire Fighters Local No. 216. Contracts with those unions expired today, which was another reason to hold the special meeting. An ordinance was passed by council to extend the contracts until they are settled. Decision made on food services BEVERLY-The Fort Frye Local Board of Education voted to contract out management of its food services Tuesday after an eight-hour meeting filled with mostly opposition from those in the district. .. The district had originally considered a complete contracting out of its food services but after receiving bids found they couldn't legally pursue that option and could only contract out management. "Under our (Ohio Association of Public School Employees) labor agreement that option is not a viable option this year, according to our attorneys," said board member David Vandenberg. "There's one year left in that contract. Anything could be negotiated in a new contract." ... Hiring Chartwells to manage food services will mean gaining managerial expertise, software, food discounts and that all employees except the manager will remain employees of the Fort Frye district, board members said. Arizona Legislature misses deadline, but passes budget State lawmakers finally approved a $8.4 billion budget early Wednesday morning — three hours after their midnight deadline and without the sales tax ballot referral Gov. Jan Brewer wants. Merit, step raises to add $121 million to state wages Merit raises and other perks will pump up Iowa's state employee salaries by an average of 4.3 percent in the fiscal year that begins today, despite the largest unions agreeing to a 0 percent across-the-board salary increase. ... The president of the state's largest union invited the Hiawatha representative and his Republican peers to guard dangerous criminals while "having (urine) thrown at them" from insane inmates at the state penitentiary before they complain about the step increases for state workers. "All some do is try to drag down state employees," said Danny Homan, president of Iowa Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "State employees stepped up to the plate and took a wage freeze. What more do you want us to do? Commit hari-kari?" Springfield asking two unions for concessions The contracts for two of Springfield’s four unions expired Tuesday, but city officials and union leaders said they hope they will reach an agreement soon. The Oregon Public Employees Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represent about 40 percent of the city’s 442 full-time employees, are being asked to forgo cost-of-living increases. Battle rages over budget / Union, governor spar over wage freezes and furloughs Legislators attempted in their final budget to define the boundaries of what unionized state workers will have to sacrifice in contract talks this year to help address Oregon's fiscal crisis. Unfortunately, they don't appear to have been clear enough. Union officials and Gov. Ted Kulongoski are butting heads about how much money the Legislature intended to save through unpaid furlough days and wage freezes on state workers. New Retirement Plan on Agenda Newly hired state employees in West Virginia would have to pay the entire cost for their health insurance after retirement under a current proposal by the state Retiree Health Benefit Trust and Public Employees Insurance Association Finance Board. |
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