2014: The year the states began to de-privatize

In 2014, taxpayers began to halt runaway privatization of government services. Maryland's Legislature passed a law banning private contractors from contracting with the state if they broke the law. In Oregon, Nebraska and Connecticut, legislatures passed laws requiring more supervision of private contracts.

Today, dozens of cities, counties and school districts are set to impose more control over private contractors, according to a new report by In The Public Interest.  And a total of 19 states had legislation introduced that would let taxpayers reclaim control of public services.

The rush to privatize government services began in the 1970s with claims the private sector could do it 'better, faster and cheaper,' than the government. But by now citizens are finding out 'privatization' often means private contractors looting the public treasury.

In, Chicago, residents rebelled against the privatization of the city's 36,000 parking meters. According to the Atlantic Monthly,

Parking-meter rates had suddenly gone up as much as fourfold. Some meters jammed and overflowed when they couldn't hold enough change for the new prices. In other areas, new electronic meters had been installed, but many of them didn't give receipts or failed to work entirely. And free parking on Sundays was a thing of the past. 

The new meter regime sparked mass outrage. People held protests and threatened to boycott. But there was little recourse: The city had leased its 36,000 meters to a private Morgan Stanley-led consortium in exchange for $1.2 billion in up-front revenue. The length of the lease: 75 years.

It got worse: an inspector general's report found the city's taxpayers overpaid the Morgan Stanley consortium by $974 million.

Here's another example: 65 percent of state contracts with private prison company CCA guarantee 90 percent of the prison beds will be filled, or the state will pay CCA for the difference.

Teamsters have successfully fought privatization of public services when it will replace Teamsters with low-paid, poorly trained contract workers and higher costs to taxpayers. The Teamsters represent several hundred thousand public sector workers.

The In the Public Interest report describes some sensible proposals to let taxpayers take more control of government spending on private contracts:

• In California, a resolution passed the Assembly that said lawmakers opposed any outsourcing of public services and assets that did not meet standards of transparency, accountability, shared prosperity and competition. 
• In Georgia, a bill was introduced requiring contracts to demonstrate a 10 percent cost savings to taxpayers. Minnesota lawmakers considered a bill to require a 15 percent savings from a private contractor.
• A Tennessee proposal would ban contract language that guarantees corporate profits at taxpayers' expense, including 'lockup quotas.'
• A Vermont will would make it easier for taxpayers to cancel a contract if the company doesn't deliver quality services and cost savings. 
• A West Virginia lawmaker proposed a bill that would ban companies that evade taxes or broke the law from receiving state contracts. It would also require fair pay and reasonable benefits. 

Today's Teamster News 04.19.14

Trade
One-Fifth of China’s Farmland Is Polluted, State Study Finds  New York Times   ...The Chinese government released a report on Thursday that said nearly one-fifth of its arable land was polluted, a finding certain to raise questions about the toxic results of China’s rapid industrialization, its lack of regulations over commercial interests and the consequences for the national food chain...
Progress but no deal in US-Japan TPP trade talks  Agence France-Press   ...The United States said Friday there had been progress but no final deal in talks with Japan that are crucial to advancing the ambitious 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal...
State Battles
Nebraska Joins States Banning Employers from Asking Job Applicants About Criminal History  Alternet   ...Gov. Dave Heineman  signed a bill Wednesday making Nebraska the 11th state that bars employers from asking prospective employees if they have a criminal record. The prohibition is a provision in a law designed to reduce prison overcrowding...
War on Workers
The tea party radio network  Politico   ...conservative groups spent nearly $22 million to broker and pay for involved advertising relationships known as sponsorships with a handful of influential talkers including Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh between the first talk radio deals in 2008 and the end of 2012...
Inmates to strike in Alabama, declare prison is “running a slave empire”  Salon   ...Inmates at an Alabama prison plan to stage a work stoppage this weekend and hope to spur an escalating strike wave...
Judge says American can't end retiree benefits yet  Associated Press   ...A federal judge has rejected an attempt by American Airlines to quickly cut off benefits for many of its retirees...
Job Loss Would Quickly Lead to Hardship for Many in U.S.  Gallup   ...A substantial minority of U.S. workers say they could go just one week (14%) or one month (29%) before experiencing significant financial hardship if they lost their job...
Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy  Talking Points Memo   ...Asking "[w]ho really rules?" researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argue that over the past few decades America's political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power...
Big banks lend to corporations over consumers  CNN Money   ...Lending was up in the first quarter, but that jump has hidden the fact that individuals are still having a tough time getting loans...
As we sweat government surveillance, companies like Google collect our data  Guardian   ...Google confirmed this week what many people had assumed: even if you're not a Gmail user, your email to someone who does use their services will be scanned by the all-seeing search and the advertising company's increasingly smart machines...
Miscellaneous
Keystone decision delayed yet again  Politico Pro   ...The State Department declined to specify how long the delay will last, saying only that it needs to extend its review because of an ongoing dispute in front of the Nebraska Supreme Court that could affect the project’s route inside the state...

Expose ALEC! Take the pledge today!

Our brothers and sisters in Oklahoma are spreading the word about the nefarious ALEC as the group heads toward Oklahoma City for an annual confab. Teamsters Local 886 is working hard to shine a bright light on ALEC's misdeeds during its stay in Oklahoma City on May 2-3. ALEC "delegates" will be treated to a boisterous march for the middle class (we're getting visuals of Teamsters trucks here) and a rally at a yet-to-be-disclosed location.

If you're new to ALEC, it's the corporate dating service for lobbyists and state lawmakers. Funded by the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers, it's a major tentacle in the vast right-wing conspiracy. ALEC is responsible for many state laws that are helping to make your lives miserable. No Rights At Work legislation is straight out of ALEC. So are most bills that punish workers and empower billionaires.

Here's a short list of giant corporations that benefit from ALEC's meddling in your state Legislature:

• Altria/Philip Morris USA benefits from ALEC’s tax break for moist tobacco that would make fruit flavored tobacco products cheaper and more attractive to youngsters.
• Health insurance companies such as Humana and Golden Rule Insurance (United Healthcare), benefit directly from ALEC model bills, such as the Health Savings Account bill that just passed in Wisconsin.
• Tobacco firms such as Reynolds and pharmaceutical firms such as Bayer benefit directly from ALEC tort reform measures that make it harder for Americans to sue when injured by dangerous products.
• Private prison firm Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) benefits directly from anti-immigrant legislation that requires expanded incarceration and housing of immigrants, along with other bills from ALEC’s crime task force.
• K-12 Inc., a large online education corporation, benefits from ALEC measures to eradicate public education and promote private on-line schools.

ALEC is also responsible for tax proposals so extreme that even Republicans oppose them. Huffington Post reports:

Governors who proposed major radical and unsound tax proposals this year, including Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Ohio’s John Kasich, Oklahoma’s Mary Fallin, and Nebraska’s Dave Heineman, are running into significant resistance from some surprising sources: their own states’ business communities and Republican legislative leadership. 

These governors produced proposals straight out of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) fiscal policy playbook. In slightly different ways, all four governors sought to provide huge boons to upper-income taxpayers and profitable corporations, and they (wrongly) touted their proposals as surefire paths to economic growth.

No state is immune from ALEC. So help your brothers and sisters in Oklahoma -- and help yourself by taking the pledge to tell your union brothers and sisters, your family, your friends and your neighbors about ALEC.

There's Plenty of information has recently been brought to light about ALEC at the www.alecexposed.org website.

You can find a list of ALEC politicians in your state here and here.

You can find a list of ALEC stink think tanks (which pretend to be non partisan) in your state here.

You can find a list of ALEC scholars here (you'll also see them on Fox News).

So please take the pledge and sign this petition here.

The GOP is raising your taxes all over the US

In the up-is-down propaganda of greedy billionaires, Hitler was a union supporter, right-to-work empowers employees, privatization saves taxpayers' money and tax hikes are tax cuts.

The latest round of billionaire-backed assaults on working people includes tax hikes for nearly everyone except -- you guessed it -- the very wealthy. Billionaires' manservants -- aka "Republican governors" -- are trying to raise taxes on the working class in Ohio, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas. Only they're calling it the opposite of what it actually is. So when you hear a Republican governor use the words "tax reform," be very afraid.

In Ohio, Republican Gov. John Kasich is trying to raise taxes on practically everything: real estate rents, credit processing fees, trademarks, franchises, licenses, stocks, bonds, money market funds, funerals, courier services, dry cleaning, haircuts, cable tv and advertising. To name a few.

Why? Because Kasich wants to cut taxes for the very wealthy by more than $10,000 a year. Policy Matters Ohio reports:

The proposal would provide a $10,369 annual tax cut on average to taxpayers in the top 1 percent of the income spectrum, who made more than $335,000 in 2012. The bottom fifth of taxpayers, making less than $18,000 a year, would see an average increase of $63. 

In Louisiana, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal wants to raise taxes on the bottom 80 percent of people in the state. Why? Because he wants to pay for tax cuts for the top 1 percent. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports Jindal's proposal would raise taxes on the poorest Louisianans by an average of $395 and cut taxes for the very wealthy by an average of $25,423.

In Kansas, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback wants to make permanent a "temporary" sales tax increase of a penny. You know why. The poorest Kansans would pay an average of $22 more a year, and the richest 1 percent would pay $28,000 less, according to Citizens for Tax Justice.

In Michigan, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder's $1.4 billion tax increase of 2011 is just now hitting working families -- hard. The Associated Press reports that half of all Michigan taxpayers will pay considerably more this year: 

Homeowners and renters used to qualify for a credit if their household income was no more than $82,650 a year. Now they don’t get it unless their total household resources are $50,000 or less and their home’s taxable value (roughly half the market value) is no more than $135,000. 

That will affect about 400,000 returns. 

The child deduction is gone. So are special exemptions for seniors and those getting at least half their income from unemployment checks. 

A refundable credit for low-income workers was reduced, impacting about 783,000 returns. Eliminated are state credits for city income taxes, college tuition, adoptions and donations to universities, public radio and TV stations, food banks and homeless shelters.

We feel safe in assuming the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is behind the tax hikes. Whenever you see state legislation that will empower corporations, enrich billionaires and wipe out the middle class, you can bet that ALEC is behind it. ALEC, the dating service for corporations and state lawmakers, peddles its copycat bills in every state capital in the country.

ALEC's devastating agenda is supported by an interlocking network of foundations and think tanks funded by billionaires. They call themselves "charities." When needed, they trot out Arthur Laffer to testify in statehouses on their behalf. They call him an "economist."

Never forget, up is down in the propaganda world created by greedy billionaires.