NC turns against GOP as Moral Monday protests continue

Police arrested 101 demonstrators last night during the 11th Moral Monday protest in Raleigh, N.C., one of the biggest yet. More than 800 people have been arrested during the rallies at the Statehouse since they began in late April to bring attention to the anti-worker policies of the Republican-led state government.

Last night's protest focused on women's issues, and more than two-thirds of those arrested were women. Organizers said the protest drew 5,000 people. They're traveling from all around North Carolina to raise awareness about the Legislature's cut to unemployment and health benefits, its push to disenfranchise women and minorities and its attempt to raise taxes on the working class while lowering them for corporations.

Crowd gathers in N.C. Statehouse yesterday.

Grace Stitt, 65, traveled more than eight hours on a bus to attend and said regular people need to be heard:

I felt like I needed to do something more than write an e-mail to a senator or representative because I'm not sure those are ever read. I guess I felt like I haven't spoken up enough and it's time to make my statement.

Others took to social media to declare the movement's continued success. Twitter user @TheMountain_Goats tweeted:

Moral Monday is powerful. THIS is North Carolina.

There are signs that the continued rallies are taking a toll on Gov. Pat McCrory's popularity. The governor has largely dismissed the demonstrators as out-of-state rabble-rousers, even though arrest records show more than 98 percent of those taken into custody are from North Carolina. But a new  Public Policy Polling survey shows he is the one with a negative approval rating:

For the first time since taking office we find that McCrory has a negative approval rating this month. Only 40% of voters are happy with the job he's doing to 49% who disapprove. That's down a net 15 points from June when he was at a 45/39 spread. While McCrory's numbers are pretty steady with Republicans, he continues to lose ground with Democrats (down a net 17 points from -36 at 24/60 last month to now -53 at 17/70) and independents (down a net 20 points from +12 at 46/34 last month to -8 at 41/49 now). Only 68% of people who voted for McCrory last fall continue to approve of his job performance.

McCrory is paying the price for following the ALEC-inspired agenda of his puppetmaster, greedy billionaire and state budget director Art Pope. Pope, a friend of the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers, is directing the government takeover by corporations and billionaires.

North Carolinians also have an increasingly negative view of their state Republican lawmakers overall, with only 35 percent approving of the job they are doing. The survey also finds that 55 percent of voters are unhappy with legislation that resulted in 700,000 residents losing their unemployment benefits earlier this month.

Voters by a 47 percent to 41 percent margin also state they have a higher opinion of the protesters than the Legislature, and by a 46 percent to 36 percent count believe the Legislature is a "national embarrassment."

We agree.

Today's Teamster News 09.21.12

Republican Party ‘Cranks’ Threatening Growth, Swan Says  Bloomberg   ...Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said “cranks and crazies” in the U.S. Republican Party are threatening economic growth as Congress remains deadlocked on tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect in January...
Fiscal cliff talks heat up  Politico   ...The fiscal cliff is really the only legislative issue that’s even registering a blip on the radar of the government and corporate Washington right now. With an election seven weeks away, serious legislating has completely stopped...
JPMorgan Power-Trading Business Faces Suspension, FERC Says  Bloomberg   ...The agency is investigating JPMorgan’s power trading in California and the Midwest. That investigation came to light when FERC went to court seeking internal e-mails from JPMorgan, saying the bids from the company might have resulted in at least $73 million in improper payments to generators...
Nichols, Teamsters reach tentative pact  Quad Cities Online   ...Teamsters Local 371 and Nichols Aluminum reached a tentative agreement with the aid of a federal mediator Tuesday....
Some American Airlines mechanics shopping for a union  Tulsa World   ...Both AMFA and the Teamsters are holding recruiting/informational events in the next few weeks...
Casting directors, AMPTP ink tentative deal: Three-year pact covers about 500 members in Hollywood, New York  Variety   ...The New York casting directors will meet Thursday to ratify the successor pact, followed by the Hollywood casting directors on Monday, according to Teamsters Local 399 business rep Steve Dayan...

Today's Teamster News 10.26.11

Top Earners Doubled Share of Nation’s Income, Study Finds  New York Times   ...government policy has become less redistributive since the late 1970s, doing less to reduce the concentration of income...
U.S. Expected to Charge Executive Tied to Galleon Case  New York Times   ...Federal prosecutors are expected to file criminal charges on Wednesday against Rajat K. Gupta, the most prominent business executive ensnared in an aggressive insider trading investigation...
Televangelist Pat Robertson Calls GOP Field Too ‘Extreme’ To Win General Election  ThinkProgress   ... You know you’ve hit rock bottom when one of the most radical, hate-spewing figures in America calls you “extreme.”...
EU rescue plans hostage to raw politics  The Telegraph   ...Europe's debt crisis has taken a deeply political turn as parliamentary battles rock Italy and Greece and once again cause simmering dissent in Germany, vastly complicating the search for a workable solution...
Romney supported Kasich laws in June  Politico   ...In a visit to Ohio today, Mitt Romney declined to state on his position on a high-profile referendum there on the new state law that curtails the bargaining rights of public employee unions. But earlier this year, Romney indicated support for the reforms signed by Gov. John Kasich...
Wis. Dems Kicking Off Rallies And Training For Recall-Walker Effort  Talking Points Memo   ...Wisconsin Democrats are gearing up for their petition drive to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker, in the wake of his anti-public employee union legislation, with a series of public rallies and closed volunteer-training sessions...
Judge Blocks Florida's New Welfare Drug Testing Law  Associated Press   ...A federal judge temporarily blocked Florida's new law that requires welfare applicants to pass a drug test before receiving benefits on Monday, saying it may violate the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures...

Links 09/02/10

Factory Growth Buoys Markets Wall Street Journal ...Growth in manufacturing activity accelerated last month in both the U.S. and China.

Parsing an Ascendant GOP's Economic Prescriptions Wall Street Journal ...The closest Republicans come to a public economic agenda are speeches by their House leader, John Boehner, who promises more detail later.

The Real Say on Pay (editorial) New York Times ...the new financial reform law ... requires companies to disclose the ratio between a chief executive’s pay package and that of a typical employee.

Schwarzenegger, union argue furlough case next week The State Worker ...the California Supreme Court will hear debate next week over whether the governor has illegally forced state workers to take unpaid days off from work.

Unions Spurn Democrats Seen as Turncoats on Health, Organizing Bloomberg News ...organized labor helped Democrats win ... two years ago, only to find some candidates they supported didn’t return the favor.

More people living paycheck to paycheck Kansas City Star ...A survey ... this summer, found that nearly eight out of ten workers said they are living paycheck to paycheck.

American Workers Believe Economic Conditions Will be Same or Worse Next Year Industry Week ...American workers are deeply pessimistic about prospects for economic recovery...