|
Press Room | ||
November 17, 2009National/PoliticalBusiness foes of health care revamp ramp up effort Business foes of health care overhaul legislation are outspending supporters at a rate of 2-to-1 for TV ads as they grow increasingly nervous over a final bill. ... Other liberal and labor groups that have run recent ads include Moveon.org, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and Americans United for Change. Left turns on defecting Democrats ... Rep. Harry Teague, New Mexico Democrat, also came under attack from the state's American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union. "We think the health care plan that passed the House is the minimum that we can do," said Carter Bundy, AFSCME's legislative director in New Mexico. Deep divisions linger on health care .. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Americans deeply divided over the proposals under consideration and majorities predicting higher costs ahead. ... As in previous polls, a majority supports a government-sponsored heath insurance plan to compete with private insurers, although the percentage supporting the general idea has slipped slightly over the past month to 53 percent. Support for the scheme jumps to 72 percent when the public plan is limited to those who lack access to coverage through an employer or the Medicare or Medicaid systems. AP Poll: Americans support taxing upper-income people to pay for health care overhaul When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich. That finding from a new Associated Press poll will be welcome news for House Democrats, who proposed doing just that in their sweeping remake of the U.S. medical system, which passed earlier this month and would extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. Frank talk about an earlier Chamber of Commerce study When The Washington Post obtained an e-mail from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce soliciting donations to fund a health care reform study with seemingly foreordained results, Chamber officials denied that they were seeking findings that were anything less than objective. .. But earlier this year, Johnson was far more candid about the nature of the studies commissioned by business groups to buttress their side in legislative battles. At a breakfast meeting at Chamber headquarters, Johnson urged the business people to tout the findings of a report that had been released just the week before by the Alliance to Save Main Street Jobs, a business coalition. .. The earlier study appears to have helped the Chamber stall card-check legislation. Whether the health care study does the trick as well remains to be seen. Related from The Hill: Chamber draws fire for proposed health study Liberals Press Reid on Public Option (no link) A clutch of Senate liberals pressed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to stand firm behind a public insurance option Monday afternoon in the face of filibuster threats from Republicans and Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.). Relate from The Hill: Reid, liberals huddle on healthcare AFL-CIO’s Trumka Urges Spending Up to $3 Trillion to Spur Jobs AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka proposed that the government spend as much as $3 trillion on schools and highway repairs to help create jobs, and said the U.S. should start a Troubled Asset Relief Program for small and medium-sized businesses. .. “We need jobs now,” Trumka said in the prepared text of speech to be given today on a plan the AFL-CIO will bring to a White House jobs conference summit next month. Related
Hunger in U.S. at a 14-Year High The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls “food insecurity” 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday. The increase, of 13 million Americans, was much larger than even the most pessimistic observers of hunger trends had expected and cast an alarming light on the daily hardships caused by the recession’s punishing effect on jobs and wages. Budget insiders see worse ahead in Calif., Mich. Two of the states hit hardest by the Great Recession—California and Michigan—are bracing for an even tougher time making ends meet next year, putting big spending cuts or outright elimination of some services on the table, top budget officials from both states said Friday (Nov. 13). Report: Companies not reporting all injuries Some employers are pressuring workers not to report illnesses and injuries, just one problem that has led to widespread underreporting of workplace safety issues, according to congressional investigators. Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors often didn't interview workers to verify what employers claim when keeping tabs on accident and illness rates, the Government Accountability Office report released Monday states. AFSCME Opposes Plan to Sell Thomson Prison The union that represents most Illinois prison workers is speaking out against a proposal to sell a state correctional center. Governor Pat Quinn, (D)-Illinois, and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, (D)-Illinois, propose using the Thomson Correctional Center in Carroll County to house Guantanamo Bay detainees, but that's not why AFSCME is objecting. Union leaders are concerned it would make other Illinois prisons unsafe. Related: MyStateline.com: Illinois' Prison Union Opposed To Terror Prisoner Plan State/LocalAP: Pa. state workers' union braces for layoffs The head of Pennsylvania's largest state employees' union says it is bracing for layoffs in advance of an annoucement by the Rendell administration. David Fillman, executive director of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said Monday he has reason to believe there will be layoffs. Related:
Uncertain Future For Many State Workers The future remains uncertain for several state workers because of the latest round of layoffs, but that uncertainty is not confined to just those who received pink slips. Union members who receive those pink slips can pass them on to workers of lower seniority. Mary Schwanger of AFSCME District Council 90 says so-called "bumping rights" differ from union to union. She explained how they would apply to AFSCME state workers. Unions blast furlough order Lawyers representing state worker unions and a few government agencies pounded away at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furloughs for the better part of three hours this morning in Alameda Superior Court, arguing that the policy is illegally harming the government, an overreach, a violation of minimum wage laws and outrageously irrational. And that was in just two cases brought by California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment and California Correctional Peace Officers Association to Judge Frank Roesch's Oakland courtroom. SEIU Local 1000 and Union of American Physicians and Dentists will argue their cases this afternoon. 55 state workers to be laid off after negotiations fail Approximately 55 state workers will be laid off after a union representing state employees failed to come to an agreement with Gov. Chet Culver, his spokeswoman said Monday. Iowa United Professionals chose not to work with the governor's office to help save jobs, said Culver spokeswoman Erin Seidler. ... Last week, AFSCME leaders announced they had struck a deal to avoid layoffs of its members. That agreement, which still faces a vote among the union membership, is expected to save nearly 500 jobs. DC 37 to Protest Paterson's Budget Proposal As New York State lawmakers return for another extraordinary session on the state budget, angry union members from New York City plan to be there. WNYC's Amy Eddings has more. REPORTER: District Council 37, the city's largest municipal employees' union, is still smarting from the layoffs last week of 530 school aides. Unions say “no deal” to Sullivan County givebacks Sullivan County Manager David Fanslau’s proposed $191.1 million budget for 2010 includes a five percent property tax increase and the elimination of 49 occupied positions and 54 vacant ones. ... The CSEA represents about 110 employees and spokeswoman Jessica Ladlee said they won’t consider it. The CSEA workers are employed at the county jail and she said they have been working without a contract for two years. Spano Proposes Austerity Budget For 2010 Responding to the continuing plummet of county revenues and unrelenting increases in mandated costs, County Executive Andy Spano proposed a budget for 2010 that maintains essential county services but cuts 37 county jobs (34 of which are vacant), gives only one-month funding to 14 senior-level positions, requires most employees to take an unpaid week furlough and discontinues subsidies to the Westchester Medical Center. ... Spano said that the budget is not without pain and not without needed sacrifice. He called on members of the CSEA, Teamsters and other county unions to go along with the five-day unpaid furlough so that severe layoffs can be avoided. “The last thing we want to do is lay people off in this economy,” Spano said. Teacher furlough fix may require change in law / Statute says 'rainy day' fund can't go toward wages in a union contract The state House and Senate may have to amend the law to use the "rainy day" fund to reduce teacher furloughs because money from the fund cannot cover wages for state workers. ... Others, including the HSTA and the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, also are reluctant to comment until receiving a formal proposal from the state. ... It remains unclear how school administrators and other support staff represented by the HGEA and the United Public Workers are included in this plan. Letter: HGEA favors mix toward solution, not tax hike alone As one of the major Honolulu daily newspapers, you are truly doing a disservice to your readers by misleading them with inaccurate information ("Leave tax policy alone," Star-Bulletin, Editorial, Nov. 10). HGEA has always recognized that the state has a large budget deficit; however, we also realized that our state has a revenue problem. City council cuts could close Muncie animal shelter The future of the city's animal shelter is uncertain as budget cuts and a clause in a union contract might decimate the staff for next year, the mayor said. ... According to McShurley, before a union employee can be laid off within a certain department, all part-time workers within the same department must also be laid off.The rule, McShurley said, comes as a clause in the collective bargaining agreement with American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 3656. Our Opinion: The FSSA deals At the end of 2006, when Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a $1.16 billion, 10-year contract with an IBM-led consortium that aimed to take over the delivery of welfare services, the General Assembly let the governor do it his way. Lawmakers had every reason to keep an eye on the process. Instead, a colossal experiment with the lives of a million needy Hoosiers lumbered forth without them. We hope the General Assembly will not make that mistake again. Fight for one facility becomes a battle over Illinois' quality of care for disabled adults The long-running fight to close the troubled Howe Developmental Center in Tinley Park has become the battleground for a larger debate about the quality of care for disabled adults in Illinois. ... Several Howe employees and families of Howe residents shared stories of disabled adults who've already moved out of Howe clashing with staff and neighbors in their new settings, receiving shoddy medical care, coping with feelings of despair and loneliness, factors that have led to death in at least seven cases, said Anne Irving, director of public policy for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. Budget talks delay City Council meeting A City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday has been canceled, allowing more time for the city to get information from two unions before the 2010 budget can be completed. Mayor Jim Ardis said Monday the cancellation gives the city's administrative staff more time to negotiate with the Peoria Police Benevolent and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3464 for wage concessions. City & Firefighters Union Accord to be Voted on Tonight Dane Bragg says aldermen will vote on a contract with the city's Firefighters Union Local 555 that calls for pay raises of 3.25% per year for three years, but individual firefighters will have to, for the first time, pay for part of their health insurance. .. "These are the same topics we'll be discussing, or are discussing, with the AFSCME and the police-represented employees, and, obviously, our exempt group of employees as well," Bragg said. "So, we are looking at making an overall strategic change in our benefits package." AFSCME Contract Fact Finding Postponed: City of Detroit Isn't Ready! Albert Garrett, President of Michigan Council 25 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, issued the following statement: "Fact Finding in the contract negotiations between AFSCME and the City of Detroit was scheduled to begin on November 16, 2009," stated Garrett. "The fact finding hearings did not in fact begin yesterday because the City of Detroit is not prepared to present their case. 19 citizens’ goal: What should Nevada be in 20 years? .. The legislative committee had the most difficult time selecting the three people to make recommendations for infrastructure in the future. Twice the committee deadlocked 4-4 with Northern Nevada lawmakers wanting one slate and Southern Nevada legislators favoring another group. On the recommendation of Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, the deadlock was broken and the committee selected Thomas Perrigo of the department of planning and development for Las Vegas; Robert Lee Potter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Carson City and Terry Reynolds of the Reynolds Company in Sparks. State predicts $219 million shortfall for fiscal year Rhode Island government is on pace to end the current fiscal year $219.8 million in the red. The deficit projection, released by the governor’s budget office Monday afternoon, is based on revenue and spending levels across state government through the first three months of the budget year. The first-quarter report confirms dismal estimates outlined last week as part of the annual November Revenue Estimating Conference. New report seeks to quantify state jobs, says Louisiana ranks 13th in the country The legislative auditor's office released an evaluation of state government employment practices Monday, recommending that agencies improve their performance in evaluating employees and develop a better system for justifying staff levels ... Louisiana ranks 13th in the United States for having the most state employees per capita, the report said. .. The statewide average salary was $43,670 for full-time classified employees, $52,626 for full-time unclassified employees |
 |
||
.gif)
