Today's Teamster News 06.22.11

Republicans in Legislature may try to make recalls harder  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...Gov. Scott Walker - speaking with reporters in Washington - called the recalls a "distraction" for most Wisconsin residents...
Extension of aid to jobless goes unused  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...The change to state law would not touch the state's struggling unemployment insurance trust fund and would provide 13 more weeks of benefits to workers who have been without employment for roughly a year and a half...
State Budget Director John Nixon says Michigan government built 'on a house of cards'  mlive.com   ...“We could have balanced the budget without taxing pensions,” Nixon said...
Poor targeted in Pa. budget  Philly.com   ...The cuts would amount to ending Medicaid coverage for 100,000 Pennsylvanians, says Sharon Ward,...
Benefit cuts not appealing as fix for deficit  The Tennessean   ...nearly 58 percent of respondents believe people with household incomes of at least $250,000 should pay higher taxes to help balance the next federal budget...
President Clinton, The Economy Started Losing Manufacturing Jobs While You Were in Office  cepr.net   ... not only were we losing manufacturing jobs during his last three years in office, but the trade deficit was soaring...
 

Today's Teamster News 05.14.11

Could Scott Walker’s overreach cost GOP a Senate seat they might have won?  Wshington  Post   ...One key takeaway from the news that Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl is set to retire is that the national Republican Party could end up coming to regret Governor Scott Walker’s overreach in a major way...
Live-blogging the 'We Are Wisconsin' rally at the Capitol on May 14  Isthmus   ...Join us here starting early Saturday afternoon for the "We Are Wisconsin" rally on the Capitol Square, marking the 90th day since protests started in downtown Madison over Gov. Scott Walker's agenda for the state...
Connecticut Unions Agree to $1.6 Billion in Givebacks  New York Times   ...
Threatened with nearly 5,000 layoffs, representatives for 45,000 unionized state employees agreed Friday to $1.6 billion in concessions over two years to help balance a budget that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says includes pain for everyone: record tax increases, substantial program cuts and worker givebacks in health care, pension benefits and wages...
Ohio: A New Kind of Battleground  The Nation   ...Although more and better jobs are what Ohio most needs, in mid-March Governor John Kasich introduced a budget that is sure to lead to dramatic job losses, with tens of thousands of public employees set to be laid off...
The Myth of Moderate Mitch  The New Republic   ...Elected with the help of donations from the Koch brothers, (Daniels) signed bills that abolished the right of teachers to bargain for anything other than wages and wage-related benefits and initiated the largest private-school voucher program in the country... he’s also privatized a state highway ... he supports Paul Ryan’s plan to cut taxes for the rich while starving Medicare...
Bill Nemitz: Dill's win unmistakably a message to Augusta  Portland Press-Herald   ..."I have not heard a single person raise any substantive issue other than Governor LePage and the crisis of leadership in Augusta," Dill said. "I mean, not a single person!"...
TN bill to curb teacher bargaining rights advances  Business Week   ...A proposal to curb Tennessee teachers' collective bargaining rights is once again advancing in the House after an amendment was withdrawn Tuesday to do away with negotiations altogether...  

Today's Teamster News 05.05.11

Unions refocus political activity  USA Today   ...Feeling under siege in more than a dozen states, some of the nation's largest labor groups are focusing their political activity to challenge state laws that sharply curb union rights or to oust the legislators who crafted them...
AFL-CIO to withdraw funds from M&I Bank  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO announced Wednesday that it would withdraw more than $105,000 from M&I Bank as part of its "Move Your Money" campaign...
After sit-ins, meetings and arrests on Capitol Hill, disabled Wisconsinites say they'll keep protesting Ryan budget  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...A group of Wisconsinites with disabilities vowed Wednesday to keep protesting the Ryan budget after many of them were arrested this week demonstrating in congressional office buildings...
Florida legislature agrees to privatize prisons  Florida Independent   ...Budget negotiators from the Florida House and Senate agreed to a plan that would privatize state prisons in an 18-county region that includes the southern part of the state — the entire area below a line from Manatee County in the west to Indian River County in the east...
Vote on right-to-work not veto proof  Nashua Telegraph   ...The state Legislature moved to make New Hampshire the 23rd state and only one north of Virginia to keep nonunion members from having to financially support one...
Christie pushes for stricter rule for white-collar workers to qualify for overtime in N.J.  NorthJersey.com    ...the state Labor Department wants to eliminate a provision that requires private employers to pay employees overtime if they spend less than 80 percent of their time on administrative work...
Collective bargaining bill for Tennessee teachers stalls  The Commercial Appeal   ...The bill to end collective bargaining by Tennessee teachers suffered a setback Tuesday, and the top House Republican leader said it may be difficult to pass this year...

9 states in WOW would violate international law

Fast approaching is a national day of action for unions and their supporters: April 4, the anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination during the Memphis sanitation workers' strike. It's a good time to remind your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers that workers' rights are human rights. Amnesty International is helping spread that word.


Amnesty International, the human rights watchdog, is urging nine U.S. states to abandon legislation that would harm workers' lives. Here’s a firm statement from Shane Enright, Amnesty's trade union adviser:

State governors must withdraw support for these measures which, if adopted, would violate international law…We are seeing communities insisting on social justice, economic rights and personal liberties against powerful vested interests. Fundamental human rights are at stake, and we stand in solidarity with the US labour movement in this struggle.

On its website, Amnesty mentions several states where corporate-backed politicians are attacking worker rights: Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and of course, Wisconsin.

Under international law, all workers have a human right to organize and bargain collectively. This is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and in conventions adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

WOW rally recap: Almost too many to keep track of

If it hasn’t come to your state, it is going to be coming to your state real soon. You need to stand proud. You need to stand strong. There are a lot of Governor Walkers out there. There’s probably one in your state right now.

Those are the words of Sen. Jon Erpenbach, one of the 14 Wisconsin Democratic state senators who left the state in an attempt to block Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker’s bill. He was speaking to the IAFF legislative conference on Monday, according to The Hill.

It has come to Tennessee, where people protested the Legislature's attempt to strip teachers of their collective bargaining rights.

Troopers forcibly carried out seven union supporters from the Tennessee's legislative office complex on Tuesday after their protest disrupted a Senate committee hearing

The disruption occurred after hundreds of labor supporters gathered for a midday protest near the Capitol to denounce a bill to strip teachers of their collective bargaining rights. The seven arrested were among those who stood up during the hearing and began chants about "union busting" by the Legislature.

Most demonstrators left the hearing room after a half-hour, but a small group tried to lock arms to keep from being removed.

Rally Girl tells us where else it has arrived:

In Eugene, Ore. on Friday, hundreds of residents took to the streets in the name of justice. Protesting against corporate greed, both public and private sector employees marched in solidarity with Wisconsin.

Two thousand miles away in Medina, Ohio, more than 500 people gathered to protest Senate Bill 5, which, if passed, would rewrite collective bargaining laws for public employees.

U.S. Rep. (and Teamster good friend) Betty Sutton, (D-Copley Township), spoke to attendees, calling the bill an attack on workers and the middle class.

It is the middle class that makes this country strong. We have to say "enough is enough."

In New Haven, Conn., Al Sharpton greeted protestors rallying against Mayor John DeStefano, who, in the name of budget cuts laid off dozens of city employees including 16 police officers.

And Democracy Now has more:

In South Carolina, thousands of teachers, religious leaders and state workers gathered at the capitol building on Sunday in opposition to cuts targeted at education, healthcare and other state services. In Austin, Texas, more than 10,000 protesters swarmed the grounds of the capitol Saturday to denounce Gov. Rick Perry’s proposal to fire educators, increase class sizes and cut programs. On Friday, protesters in Maine filled the capitol building to take a stand against Gov. Paul LePage’s plan to strip $18 million from the state’s Fund for a Healthy Maine. Also on Friday, concerned parents and citizens in Maryland’s Prince George’s County gathered at a local school to protest budget cuts that could leave hundreds of low-income, magnet high school students without school buses. Meanwhile, protests in response to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan to tax the public and private pensions of senior citizens are scheduled for Tuesday in Lansing.