Labor Union Blog

While unemployment insurance (UI) is running out for nearly 13 million unemployed workers, congressional Republicans have spent their time pushing a UI  extension that included harsh and punitive requirements for jobless workers such as requiring unemployed workers to pay for reemployment services, acquire a high school degree, undergo drug testing and more. They also called for cutting 40 weeks of benefits from the unemployed.

Congress has reached a tentative deal extending UI–reportedly through the end of the year–that drops the most egregious proposals, yet caps at 73 the number of weeks for jobless benefits, down from the current 99.  And in exchange for extending the desperately needed UI program for the nation’s nearly 13 million workers and maintaining the payroll tax cut, Republicans also insisted on forcing cuts on federal workers’ pensions to pay for jobless benefits.

AFGE President John Gage says the cuts to federal workers retirement “is simply wrong headed.”  He told reporters this afternoon that two successive federal pay freezes have cost workers some $60 billion.

Here we have workers being asked to pay for something that they didn’t cause or have any part in, yet the tax on millionaires, elimination of tax subsidies to big businesses, agriculture subsidies—none of this comes into play to pay for this UI extension. But one party has insisted it come out federal employee retirements from people making 30 to 40,000 actually having to pay for UI.

This latest partisan Republican game-playing follows moves by congressional Republicans to block the UI program several times last year.

Tune in Tuesday, Feb. 21, for the televised National Teach-In to Take Back the American Dream. Broadcast on Free Speech TV at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST, the teach-in will outline the facts on who broke the economy for the 99 percent and what needs to be done to fix it.

You can find Free Speech TV on DirecTV channel 348 and DishTV channel 9415, RT TV and online at FreeSpeech.org and OurFuture.org.

On the “National Teach-In to Take Back the American Dream” you’ll hear the real story about the economic crisis:

• What corporations broke the law in their reckless pursuit of greed.
• What policies made it legal for banks to gamble with the stability of the global economy.
• Why so many millions were thrown out of their homes or left to drown in underwater mortgages.
• Why our government won’t act to create jobs, even though the economists who saw the crisis coming know exactly what we need to do.

The teach-in is a joint effort of The Campaign for America’s Future (CAF), with Free Speech TV, Rebuild the Dream and Thom Hartmann’s “The Big Picture.”  It will feature Thom Hartmann; Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor; Heather McGhee of Demos; Leo Hindrey, businessman and “Patriotic Millionaire”; Natalie Foster, co-founder, Rebuild the Dream; and CAF’s Robert Borosage.

Click here for more information, including how to host your own teach-in that night.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker knew better than to run his gubernatorial campaign on a platform based on decimiating jobs in Wisconsin. But just one year into his term, he’s already become Job Killer in Chief, according to a new report by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

“Losses to Working Families Under Gov. Walker” highlights the effects of Walker’s actions, including large-scale job loss, attacks worker’s fundamental freedoms, loss of employment protections and benefits, the transfer of wealth to the 1 percent, loss of quality public education, increased taxes on low-income Wisconsinites, loss of health care coverage, loss of citizen access to the courts and the loss of honest, clean and open government. Here are a few of Walker’s “accomplishments.”

Loss of Freedom to Bargain Collectively. As of June 29, 2011, it is illegal for approximately 175,000 Wisconsin public employees to engage in real collective bargaining with their employers on wages, benefits and working conditions.

Barriers to Voting. Wisconsin has enacted some of the toughest barriers to voting in the nation.

Job Loss Continues. Data shows Wiscosnin has lost jobs for six months in a row–from July to December 2011–for a total of 35,600 jobs lost in the second half of the year. This stands in contrast to consistent job growth at the national level.

Private-Sector Jobs Lost from Attack on Unions and Cuts to State Budget. The ripple effects on private-sector jobs from the policies of Walker include a projected full-time job loss in the private sector at 5,400 jobs from budget cuts to state and local services, 1,200 jobs from cuts directed at individuals; 6,900 jobs from cuts in public employee compensation; and about 4,700 jobs from the various forms of federal aid rejected by Walker.

Eliminating Support for Jobs Related to Energy Conservation. The state’s Green to Gold Fund was eliminated, which offered $100 million in lower cost state loans to manufacturers to retool and expand production related to clean energy. It required specific wage standards as a condition of the loan to help create better paying jobs.

Apprenticeship Opportunities Limited. Walker rescinded an order signed by te previous governor requiring employment of more young apprentices on state-funded construction projects.

Walker Supports Job-Killing International Trade Agreements. Walker signed a letter to Congress urging approval of trade agreements between the United States and Colombia, Panama and South Korea and urged Congress restore fast-track authority for all future agreements, which would prohibit amendments such as those to project workers’ rights.

Denying Workers Paid Sick Days. It is now illegal for a local government to pass an ordinance that requires employers in its jurisdiction to provide better leave benefits than the state Family and Medical Leave Act.

A scheme to privatize Florida’s prisons failed (19-21) in the state Senate yesterday after a huge public outcry led by Florida working families, community and civil rights groups. The plan was backed by extremist Gov. Rick Scott (R), private prison companies and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), one of the key players in the drive to privatize prisons throughout the nation.

The corporate takeover would have cost 3,800 workers their jobs, and Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams says it would have “devastated small communities, working families’ economic stability and safety.”

The privatization bill was one of the largest efforts so far to give private corporations control of a state’s prison system. It would have turned over control of 27 state prisons and work camps in 18 south Florida counties to the GEO Group—formerly Wackenhut Corrections.

GEO is a major sponsor of ALEC, The Nation reported in August. ALEC has led the charge to privatize prisons by writing model legislation for its right-wing state legislature members to push in their states.

ALEC has also worked to pass state laws to create private for-profit prisons, a boon to two of its major corporate sponsors: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group, the largest private prison firms in the country. An In These Times investigation last summer revealed that ALEC arranged secret meetings between Arizona’s state legislators and CCA to draft what became S.B. 1070, Arizona’s notorious immigration law, to keep CCA prisons flush with immigrant detainees. ALEC has proven expertly capable of devising endless ways to help private corporations benefit from the country’s massive prison population.

Click here for the full report.

St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken J. Mascara says prison privatization puts the public’s safety at risk. In a letter to state Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R), he writes:

In the continued race to the bottom, private prison contractors reduce pay, benefits and quality of personnel in the interest of slashing budgets; but as in most other areas of life, you get what you pay for. I know when protecting our families from the most heinous individuals in our society, I don’t want the guard who will work for the least pay—I want a professional who receives proper training, a reasonable wage and benefits and the security of knowing that the people of Florida, and its elected leaders, appreciate the value of the often thankless job they do.