E-Messenger 6-14-13 - Florida AFL-CIO

June 14, 2013
E-MESSENGER
The Electronic Newsle0er of the Florida AFL-­‐CIO
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Click on these links to skip to a specific section of the E-Messenger
Legislative Update Video!
Working Family Lobby Corps Video
Call to Action: Immigration
FIGHT FOR FLORIDA
NALC Food Drive
AFL-CIO Now Blog
Huffington Post
In These Times
Paul Krugman
Florida State News
Elections/Voting
Federal Government
Legislature/State Government
Rick Scott
Public Employees
Florida’s Economy and
Housing
Think Progress
Health Care
Salon
Growth Management/Environment
Alternet
Truthout
GO BACK
Energy
Education
Immigration
PAGE 2
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE!
WATCH FINAL EDITION OF SESSION Update video! CLICK HERE: http://bit.ly/ZNstH9
Stay tuned to our Youtube page every week putting you in the halls of capitol and
in the action this legislative session!
www.Youtube.com/FloridaAFLCIO
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YOU MAKE THE
DIFFERENCE:
YOU make the difference:
The affiliates of Florida AFL-CIO unanimously passed a
resolution at the 2012 Biennial Convention to adopt the
Working Families Lobby Corps program. Since its formation,
the Working Families Lobby Corps has represented Florida's
working middle class at the Capitol every day since the
beginning of the 2011 Legislative Session.
Click here to watch a video detailing the activities of the Working
Families Lobby Corps in Tallahassee.
Please share this video with Sisters and Brothers in your union so they
too can be a part of our grassroots legislative program. GO BACK
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CALL TO ACTION:
ROAD MAP TO CITIZENSHIP
We hold these truths to be self evident that all people have rights, no
matter what they look like or where they come from. We pledge to win
a roadmap to citizenship for 11 million new Americans who aspire to
become citizens. Click here to sign the pledge: act.aflcio.org
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Senator Marco Rubio’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill is a good
start and it’s made those of us who share his immigrant background proud.
But now extremist Washington politicians are attempting to change it to
make our journey even harder
Tell Senator Rubio to stand with us for fair
and compassionate immigration reform!
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Join us every week
as we highlight the
true, real and
personal stories of
your neighbors,
friends and
coworkers in the fight
for Comprehensive
Immigration Reform!
“I don’t remember much about my mother leaving. My twin brother and I
were only about two but I remember how it felt and imagine I must have
cried. I thought she would be coming right back but my abuela told me she
was going to the United States to make a better life for our family and that as
soon as she could, we would be joining her. I waited three long years while
she worked numerous jobs like babysitting, housecleaning and other odd
jobs until she had saved enough money for plane tickets. I was just a toddler
when she left. When I first saw her, I was a little scared. I knew she was my
mom because my abuela said she was but I didn’t have a clear memory of
her. I remember how excited she was to see us and how she had to coax
me to her for a hug at the airport. She had to make up for three years of
missed hugs and kisses and she only had six months to do it in. When the
six months was up, we did not understand why we had to go. In the end, we
simply couldn’t. We stayed although we knew it was forbidden. My mother
just couldn’t let us go again and we couldn’t leave her either.”
Nicolas is a half-Colombian, half-German, undocumented Dreamer. At 22, he has lived longer here than in
Colombia. He speaks English better than he speaks Spanish. He considers himself an American but
knows that he is not because until recently, he could not get a Driver’s License (a teenage rite of passage)
or a regular job because he lacked the proper documentation.
Due to President Obama’s executive order dubbed the Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, he applied for and received a Driver’s License, Social Security number and a work permit for
which he must re-apply every two years. He is one of the lucky ones.
He is studying Political Science and Economics and dreams of being a policy analyst in public affairs so that
he can help officials make better decisions to benefit all working families. This summer he is working as an
intern for the United Auto Workers so he can save enough money to pay for his classes in the fall. When in
school, he will work at FIU while going to school full-time. He is excited for his future but lives with the fear
of being separated from his mother again.
“I am a student and I am a Floridian. I am also an undocumented immigrant. Congress needs to come
together to create a common-sense roadmap to citizenship for people like me who aspire to be Americans.
After all, it’s not what you look like or where you were born that makes you an American – it’s how you live
your life and what you do that defines you here in this country.”
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More from the AFL-­‐CIO Now
From the blog at www.aflcio.org/blog.
Union-Made Father's
Day
06/11/2013
Jackie Tortora
Celebrate your dad in solidarity style this Father's Day by getting him a gift
that sports the union label. Check out some union-made Father's Day gift
ideas from our friends over at Labor 411, the union business directory
from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hugo Boss (UNITE HERE)
Jim Beam (UFCW)
Joseph Abboud clothing (UNITE HERE)
Klein Tools (Boilermakers [IBB])
Knob Creek whiskey (UFCW)
Louisville Slugger (UAW)
Naturalizer shoes (UFCW)
Old Spice (UFCW)
Pierre Cardin cologne (UFCW)
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• Red Wing Shoes (UFCW)
• Spalding basketball (Machinists [IAM])
• Stella Artois beer (IAM)
• Timex watches (IAM)
• The Union Boot Pro (UFCW)
If you're thinking of splurging, spring for some game-day tickets so you can
watch your favorite baseball players, who are members of the Major
League Baseball Players Association, and make sure dear old dad gets a
heaping cup of Budweiser beer, made by the Teamsters (IBT) and IAM.
NLRB Disarray
Undermines Panera
Workers' Fight for
Union Representation
This post originally appeared at the BCTGM website.
This is how hope turns into despair. More than a year since they voted to
form a union, Panera workers in Michigan are still waiting. The franchisee
that owns the Panera Bread stores in the region refused to recognize
the BCTGM as the official representative of the bakers and refused to
meet to bargain a first contract.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that Panera broke the
law by refusing to bargain, and ordered the company to bargain with the
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bakers. But the company appealed that ruling to the D.C. Circuit Court,
which has put the case on hold because of another ruling about President
Obama’s three recess appointments to the NLRB. So the workers are still
waiting for justice.
President Obama has made nominations of five people to the NLRB. The
five nominees—three Democrats and two Republicans — must be
confirmed by the full Senate and overcome a potential Republican filibuster
before August when the term of one of the current NLRB members ends
and the board will be without a quorum and unable to function.
The uncertainty of the NLRB adds to the difficulties of the Panera workers;
the company’s appeal of the NLRB’s ruling has thrown the case into limbo –
along with at least 200 other cases – after the D.C. Circuit Court ruling.
The Noel Canning decision has seriously undermined enforcement of the
law, creating chaos and uncertainty for workers who have turned to the
NLRB for protection of their rights. Employers are using the decision to
challenge the NLRB's rulings, like that of the Panera workers, and the D.C.
Circuit is putting these cases on hold, leaving workers without remedies
when they are illegally fired for union activity or when their employer
refuses to bargain with their representative.
One of the original Panera bakers, Kyle Schilling, has been fired by the
company for his union activity, with little hope of retribution because of the
radical decision by the D.C. court.
The Panera bakers trying to join the BCTGM come from six Panera Bread
franchises in Michigan: Kalamazoo, Portage, Battle Creek, Jackson and St.
Joseph. They were to first Panera workers in the U.S. to unionize. The
bakers continue to struggle to be part of the middle-class, making less than
$25,000 a year.
Other issues here: lack of affordable healthcare, no retirement, and lack of
dignity and respect.
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Working Family
Advocates Lobby
Congress for
Immigration Policy with
Road Map to
Citizenship
06/12/2013
Kenneth Quinnell
On the first full day of the immigration reform debate in the U.S. Senate,
more than 50 advocates and allies of working families flew to Washington,
D.C., to ask members of Congress to support a common sense immigration
process that respects workers' rights and includes a road map to
citizenship. Community leaders from nearly half the states in the union
were in Washington to act as citizen lobbyists. Meanwhile, labor activists in
numerous other states visited the offices of members of Congress in their
home district to rally support for the bill.
Ana Avendaño, AFL-CIO's director of immigration and community action,
said:
It was great to have so many different labor voices from across the
country using different words but all advocating for a bill that protects
workers' rights and offers a reliable road map to citizenship for aspiring
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Americans. Immigration in the details can be a complex issue, but it can
also be a simple one—families should stay united, workers should stand
together against abusive CEOs, and communities should stay intact. Our
elected officials heard that theme from working people today all across
Capitol Hill, and it resonated. We’re a big step closer to a victory in
2013 that will make it much, much harder for abusive employers to steal
their workers’ wages or pit workers against each other.
Senators also were asked to support the approval of five nominations the
president has made to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The
appointments are necessary to guarantee that the board can continue to
function in its vitally important role of protecting worker rights.
Working families advocates also called on their representatives to oppose
any benefit cuts to Social Security, including "Chained" CPI.
www.huffingtonpost.com
Mark Udall, Ron Wyden
Introduce Bill Limiting Federal
Government's Authority To
Collect Data
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WASHINGTON -- Sens. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Ron Wyden (DOre.) will introduce legislation to limit the federal government's
authority to collect data on Americans, their offices announced Friday.
The bill would require that data collection be preceded by a
"demonstrated link to terrorism or espionage." The senators will
formally file the legislation next week, a spokeswoman for Udall told
The Huffington Post.
"Although I strongly believe some authorities under the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act provide valuable information that helps
protect our national security, Americans with no link to terrorism or
espionage should not have to worry that their private information is
being swept up," Udall said in a statement. "This legislation strikes the
right balance in protecting our homeland while also respecting our
Constitution and Americans' widely cherished privacy rights."
Wyden said that disclosures about the National Security Agency's
phone records collection program and data-mining of electronic
communications overseas have "made clear to the American people
that the law is being interpreted in a way that damages their civil
liberties and that the system has been set up to keep Americans
unaware of the intrusion."
"When you combine this proposed bill with legislation introduced to
declassify FISA court rulings, we are well on our way to better
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protecting those liberties and promoting an informed public debate,"
he added.
Udall and Wyden, who serve on the Senate Intelligence Committee,
have hinted at the scale of the government's surveillance methods for
years. When The Guardian and The Washington Post reported on the
NSA programs last week, Udall said he acted "in every possible way
short of leaking classified information."
Their bill is the latest in a series of legislative responses to the
revelations surrounding the NSA programs. Earlier this week, Sens.
Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced legislation to
declassify the legal opinions used by the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court to justify the the NSA's surveillance programs. Both
Udall and Wyden have signed onto the Merkley-Lee bill, which Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he would "take a look at."
Another bill by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) would prevent the government
from seizing the phone records of Americans based on "probable
cause" without a warrant.
But despite the swift push by some lawmakers to make changes to the
NSA programs, the White House and congressional leaders have
shown little appetite for new legislation. President Barack Obama and
leaders of both parties in the House and the Senate staunchly
defended the surveillance as critical to national security. The president
told reporters last week that "every member of Congress" was briefed
on the programs, though many lawmakers, including Udall and
Wyden, have disputed that claim.
IMF Says Sequester Hurting
U.S. Economy, Delaying
Recovery
Posted: 06/14/2013 2:34 pm EDT | Updated: 06/14/2013 2:56 pm EDT
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As much as half of U.S. economic growth this year has been slashed
due to tax increases and indiscriminate federal spending cuts known
as sequestration, according to a sobering new forecast by the
International Monetary Fund, which urged lawmakers to repeal the
cuts.
Risks to U.S. growth are "modestly tilted to the downside," the IMF
said in its annual report on the nation's economy, as a reduction of
$85 billion in government expenditures this year due to sequestration
has dampened demand and investment, just as tax hikes have taken a
big bite out of U.S. paychecks and reduced household spending.
The IMF estimates growth of just 1.9 percent this year, as Managing
Director Christine Lagarde said "very significant" decreases in federal
spending and higher taxes may have reduced growth by up to 1.75
percentage points.
The meager recovery in turn may delay a rebound in the U.S. labor
market and reduce long-term growth, as unemployed workers lose
skills and become so discouraged they stop looking for work. About
one in seven American workers can't find full-time jobs, according to
the Labor Department.
"The sequester cuts not only reduced growth in the short term, but
they also hurt the most vulnerable and they produce very undesirable
effects in that regard," Lagarde said.
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The Obama administration and some in Congress have been trying to
replace sequestration, $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over the next
decade, with something more targeted and gradual. The IMF seemed
to endorse that approach.
“[T]he indiscriminate reductions in education, science, and
infrastructure spending could also reduce medium-term potential
growth,” the IMF warned. Instead, it called for policies such as
increased job training programs and closer ties between community
colleges and employers.
But the sudden reduction in the U.S. government's annual budget
deficit appears to have pleased many Washington policymakers, who
over the past few years have seemed to embrace austerity policies in
favor of initiatives to jumpstart growth and increase job creation.
The Congressional Budget Office said in May that the U.S. budget
deficit is forecast to fall this year to $642 billion, down from $1.1
trillion in 2012. The rapid decline surprised officials, especially as the
CBO forecast nearly a $850 billion deficit for 2013 in February.
The IMF said that deficit reduction this year has been “excessively
rapid and ill-designed.”
“A slower pace of deficit reduction would help the recovery,” the IMF
said, particularly considering that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive
efforts to jumpstart growth by reducing borrowing costs “has limited
room to support it further.”
The Fund appeared to endorse the White House’s budget proposal,
which calls for reductions in long-term entitlement spending and
more tax revenues. It said that healthcare costs and government
pension schemes such as Social Security are due to increase the federal
government’s expenditures in future years, so measures are needed
now to tame the expected rise in spending.
Separately, the IMF warned that the Fed’s extraordinary efforts may
lead to excessive risk-taking by financial institutions and investors,
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PAGE 16
who have been starved for high-yielding investments as interest rates
have hovered near record lows for nearly five years. The Fed and other
policymakers are already aware of this risk, and say they have
increased their surveillance of the financial system to guard against
destabilizing risk-taking.
Lagarde also said that as government fiscal policy hampers growth,
"the private sector is leading." Home prices have been rising,
construction is up, households have been repairing their balance
sheets and corporate profitability is near record highs.
The IMF said the U.S. government should further support the housing
market, despite recent improvements, by stimulating increased home
mortgage refinancings.
It suggested that a government refinance initiative, known as the
Home Affordable Refinance Program, be extended to non-government
backed loans. The Obama administration has been pushing a similar
proposal, though it has languished in Congress.
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How Granting Undocumented
Immigrants Citizenship Will Boost The
U.S. Economy (INFOGRAPHIC)
By Catherine Taibi
Posted: 06/14/2013 1:21 pm EDT | Updated: 06/14/2013 1:47 pm EDT
Critics of U.S. immigration policies have long described the system as
broken and flawed -- a structure that often forces the country's 11.1
million undocumented immigrants into secretive lives and dangerous,
underpaid work.
So with a potential reform bill on the table, it's worth pondering the
economic consequences of granting citizenship to the undocumented.
Luckily, the Center for American Progress has done just that. In a new
report, entitled "300 Million Engines of Growth," the left-leaning
think tank predicts that such a decision would increase the wages of
undocumented immigrants by some 15 percent.
That, in turn, would subsequently provide additional tax revenue at
the local, state and federal level. And that could help create American
jobs and boosts the country's gross domestic product. How exactly?
Here's a chart that lays it out quite simply:
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www.inthesetimes.com
The Axe Falls on 50 Chicago
Public Schools
BY DAVID MOBERG
Community members reasoned, raged and begged for mercy at a school board
meeting about the fate of 54 Chicago public schools. (Chicago Teachers Union)
At times, the meeting of the Board of Education of Chicago Public Schools
(CPS) on Wednesday took on the air of a mass mock trial; at others, it
seemed like a public execution. On the dock were 53 elementary schools
and one high school charged with underutilization of space and
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underperformance. The prosecutor—CPS superintendent Barbara ByrdBennett—charged that those crimes led to an even more grave offense:
unbalancing the budget. The proposed punishment? Off with their heads,
or rather, shut their doors and merge them with other schools in the largest
single closing of urban public schools in U.S. history.
As they had done in rounds of community public hearings leading up to this
hearing, parents, community leaders, city council members, teachers union
leaders and teachers decried the closures from nearly every angle. They
challenged the idea of the mass shutdown, saying the plan is unworkable at
the speed and scale CPS has proposed. They noted the closures are unlikely
to fulfill CPS’s stated goals of saving money or improving education. They
called the plan “racist” for concentrating 90 percent of the closures in
majority black neighborhoods. And they argued the closures would worsen
the lives of school children—especially the most vulnerable with learning
disorders or other disabilities—by disrupting them so abruptly.
And people also came to the podium to plead for their own beloved
individual schools. They tried rational arguments: Our test scores are better
than you think. They’re improving fast. And they’re better than our rival,
which is not closing. Or they claimed the school wasn’t underutilized: It just
has lots of disabled kids who by law need smaller classes.
They blamed the authorities, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his lackeys, for
causing the problem: for not pursuing new taxes, for continuing to divert
taxes from the schools into tax increment finance funds (which the city
refuses to use for the schools), for planning to spend money on future
mega-projects—a casino and sports arena—not education, for pursuing a
not-so-secret agenda of opening new, publicly funded charter schools at the
expense of neighborhood public schools (even though overall, charters
perform no better). They appealed for empathy: Our school is a community center, and if it
closes, people won’t want to move here, and blight will spread. Our kids will
be in danger, crossing gang lines, going through underpasses, traversing
busy thoroughfares.
They begged for mercy. They shouted and cursed. They chanted, “Whose
schools? Our schools.” They sat down in protest. They sang “We Shall Not
Be Moved” as guards dragged them away.
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They lambasted the hearings as a charade. They pointed to the
recommendation of a panel of retired judges to spare 13 schools. They
called upon history; the recently and resoundingly re-elected Chicago
Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis said to the judges, the Board
of Education, “You’re on the wrong side of history, and history will judge
you.”
They even called upon God, concluding the testimony with one mother’s
heartfelt prayer.
In the end, prosecutor Byrd-Bennett gave a last-minute reprieve to four
schools and postponed another school’s axing for a year. With the exception
of two “no” votes on a school closing that would deprive a largely Latino
neighborhood of all its public elementary schools—which still passed—the
judges’ verdict came unanimously on all of the other schools, 6-0, a swift if
bureaucratic execution.
“Today is a day of mourning for the children of Chicago. Their education
has been hijacked by an unrepresentative, unelected corporate school
board, acting at the behest of a mayor who has no vision for improving the
education of our children,” Lewis said in a statement. “Closing schools is
not an education plan. It is a scorched earth policy. Evidence shows that the
underutilization crisis has been manufactured. Their own evidence also
shows the school district will not garner any significant savings from
closing these schools.
“This is bad governance. CPS has consistently undermined school
communities and sabotaged teachers and parents. Their actions have had a
horrible domino effect. More than 40,000 students will lose at least three
to six months of learning because of the Board’s actions. … Who on the
Board will be held responsible? Who at City Hall will be held responsible?”
While Emanuel portrays himself as the adult making tough choices on
behalf of "the kids,” the education justice movement, which aims to
strengthen communities and to reduce inequality as steps towards better
education, sees him as captive of a corporate elite. That corporate elite
apparently wants the mayor to be even tougher. On Monday night in a
Chicago Economic Club address, billionaire hedge fund owner Ken Griffin—
a backer of a Republican gubernatorial bid by financier Bruce Rauner, a
charter school advocate and advisor to Emanuel—expressed second
thoughts about his support for Emanuel. The mayor failed to fight hard
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enough against the teachers’ strike last fall, he said, and should be closing
twice as many schools.
The condemned schools have not yet been formally executed. The CTU had
citizen lobbyists in Springfield today rounding up votes—when not getting
arrested for civil disobedience—for legislation imposing a moratorium on
school closings. On behalf of citizen plaintiffs and CTU, attorney Thomas
Geoghegan last week filed suits claiming that CPS was violating the
Americans with Disabilities Act and engaging in racial discrimination.
Tomorrow CTU will start training registrars to sign up voters, many of who
are not likely to vote for Emanuel in 2016.
The odds are long that these or any other actions will stay the closing of the
schools condemned today, but they indicate that the axe has not fallen on
the “education justice” movement in Chicago.
A mountain top stripped for coal mining in West Virginia. (Rachel Molenda /
Flickr / Creative Commons)
WEB ONLY// FEATURES » JUNE 11, 2013
Bankruptcy Scheme Shafts
Coal Miners
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Patriot Coal wins in bankruptcy court, reneges on retiree
benefits.
BY LEO GERARD, UNITED STEELWORKERS PRESIDENT
Five years after its creation, Patriot employs about 4,200 and
bears inherited responsibility for five times that many
retirees.
When a kid snatches an old lady’s purse, it’s punished as a crime. But when
a corporation manipulates bankruptcy law to deny thousands of retired coal
miners benefits they labored their entire lives to earn, it’s endorsed by
federal court.
Late last month, a bankruptcy judge sanctioned a scheme in which
corporations create shill companies with a dram of assets and a sea of
retiree responsibilities. Such a debt-burdened outfit quickly goes bust.
Bankruptcy court, the judge said, can’t consider the intent of a company’s
creation, but can approve a plan to reorganize it by betraying decades of
promises to retirees.
Corporations have reneged many times before on pledges for pensions and
retiree medical benefits. This, however, is a new twist on that old scam. It’s
alarming because what the bankruptcy court approved provides a template
for companies angling to reduce costs by abandoning their commitments to
retirees. It’s a swindle that must be stopped.
Of course, lots of people get hurt in bankruptcies, not just workers. All
kinds of creditors—from the local accounting firm to the big copy paper
provider—get stuck with cents on the dollar owed. But this case, the Patriot
Coal Corp. case, is different. That’s because Patriot’s bankruptcy was
deliberate. Peabody Energy kneecapped Patriot on purpose at the outset.
“There can be no Patriot Coal stock to dispute, or tonnage payments to
negotiate, or companies to reorganize, unless there are men and women
willing to bend their knees to excavate coal.”
So said Bankruptcy Judge Kathy A. Surratt-States in her decision. Peabody
and Patriot would not exist without those bended knees.
The judge also noted the suffering of workers, more than 900 of whom
wrote to her:
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Many discuss the horrendous conditions of the coal mines when those
individuals first began to work, and how hard it was to achieve the promises
made pursuant to both the previous and the current CBAs [collective
bargaining agreements]. Some discuss how physically, mentally and
emotionally grueling being a coal miner was, many of whom worked as coal
miners for over 30 years—a sacrifice made with due consideration of the
promised health care from cradle to grave. …
Many coal miners talk of six (6) and seven (7) day work-weeks, of over 12
hours a day. Some letters discuss various injuries sustained while working
in coal mines, limbs of self and relatives lost, and the lives lost of relatives
and friends … And, as counsel for the UMWA [United Mine Workers of
America] so eloquently stated, many current and retired coal miners do not
have cost spreading abilities, because, for many, cost spreading “means
cutting your pills in half. Cost spreading abilities for retirees means making
a choice today over medicine or food.”
And then she said none of it mattered. She contended she was forbidden
from considering that. She also insisted that under bankruptcy law she
couldn’t take into account whether Peabody, the world’s largest privatesector coal company, deliberately established Patriot in such a way that it
would fail so that it could receive sanction through bankruptcy to desert its
retiree health care obligations.
Peabody “spun off” Patriot coal in 2007 in what sounds like a pretty bad
deal for Patriot. Peabody gave Patriot 13.3 percent of Peabody’s coal
reserves and about 40 percent of Peabody’s health care liabilities.
Patriot showed a fondness for debt, however. In 2008, it bought Magnum
Coal Co., a similarly debt-hobbled firm. Arch Coal set up Magnum in 2005
by giving it 12.3 percent of Arch assets and 96.7 percent of Arch’s retiree
health care liabilities.
Five years after its creation, Patriot employs about 4,200 and bears
inherited responsibility for five times that many retirees.
It’s no wonder then, that by 2010, saddled with debt loaded on it by both
Peabody and Arch, Patriot began losing money. It filed for bankruptcy in
2012.
The bankruptcy judge explained it this way: “There are several events that
catalyzed Debtors’ [Patriot’s] bankruptcy filing. Above all other reasons
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however are the liabilities that Debtors [Patriot] inherited from Peabody
and Arch.”
Patriot’s obligations to retirees and their family members exceeded $1.6
billion. But more than 90 percent of the miners owed these benefits never
worked a day for Patriot. They were employed by Peabody, Arch and their
subsidiaries.
The bankruptcy judge approved a plan under which Patriot would replace
that obligation with a $300 million fund—a fund worth less than 19 percent
of what was promised the retirees. Also, Patriot would place in the fund
royalty payments that the bankrupt company contends could be worth
“tens of millions” of dollars. Finally, the UMWA would receive 35 percent
ownership of the bankrupt company—an “asset” the court contended could
be sold to help finance the retiree health care fund.
None of this gets close to covering $1.6 billion in obligations. Thousands of
miners and retirees have protested Patriot’s efforts to escape its
commitments, marching in the streets of St. Louis and Charleston, W.Va.
And the UMWA, which represents about 40 percent of Patriot’s hourly
workforce, has said it will appeal.
The judge noted that the bankruptcy code requires that the court treat all
parties fairly and equitably and that this standard was intended to disperse
the burden of saving a company and to ensure that debtors did not seek
reorganization on the backs of retirees.
Still, the judge allowed Patriot to reorganize on the backs of retirees. And
on the backs of current workers whose labor contract will be broken and
whose pay and benefits will be slashed.
When employers promise pensions or retiree health care, workers count on
it as deferred compensation. It is money earned now but received later.
When a bankruptcy judge approves rescinding those earned benefits, the
court grants the corporation authorization to take money out of workers’
wallets—permission to pickpocket. It’s a crime when committed on the
street. It’s a crime bankruptcy courts should forbid when it’s clear the failed
company was set up to go bust and rob retirees of earned benefits. If the
UMWA loses on appeal, Congress must change the federal bankruptcy code
to forbid this new method of mugging workers.
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Lawmakers in the Hawaii state legislature overwhelmingly passed the
Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights in April, guaranteeing protections for cooks,
nannies, and care providers. (billsoPHOTO / , Flickr / Creative Commons)
ACT LOCALLY » JUNE 7, 2013
Aloha, Workers’ Rights!
Hawaii is poised to become the second state in the nation
to protect the rights of domestic workers.
BY LUKE BRINKER
Labor activists rejoiced April 30 when both chambers of Hawaii’s state
legislature passed the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights. The law extends the
protections of Hawaii’s wage-and-hours law to cooks, nannies and care
providers, and protects them from discrimination based on race, gender
and sexual orientation. Advocates cheered the bill as further evidence of the
transformation occurring in a sector of the economy notorious for long
hours, low pay and few benefits.
A 2012 report released by the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)
underscored the dire conditions faced by domestic employees, many of
whom are women, immigrants and people of color. The NDWA surveyed
more than 2,000 domestic workers across 14 different metropolitan areas
and found that 23 percent earned less than their state’s minimum wage. For
workers who lived in their employers’ homes, that figure rose to 67 percent.
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Such conditions might seem ripe for mass complaints. But 91 percent of
respondents said they’d kept quiet out of fear of losing their jobs. For many
domestic workers, complaining could jeopardize far more than their jobs—
36 percent of respondents self-identified as unauthorized immigrants.
Thanks to the efforts of organizers like NDWA Director Ai-jen Poo,
however, domestic workers have found a voice. When Gov. Neil
Abercrombie (D) signs the bill, Hawaii will become the second state in
which the NDWA has successfully campaigned to have the rights of
domestic workers enshrined into law. In 2010, New York enacted a
Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights that protects against harassment,
guarantees overtime pay and mandates three days of paid vacation
annually.
In California, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a Domestic Workers Bill of rights
last year, casting the law as burdensome on employers, but Assemblyman
Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has reintroduced the bill, and advocates
are taking to the streets to pressure Brown to reverse his position on the
issue. InIllinois, state Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) introduced a
Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights in the Senate’s Labor and Commerce
Committee.
Activists in Hawaii are pleased with what they have achieved.
“Hawaii takes a big step forward for its lowest income workers,” Rev. Alan
Mark, a leading supporter of the law, said in an NDWA press release. “It
extends the social contract to people who have too long been marginalized
in our state.”
www.thinkprogress.org
Responding To Josh Barro: Why The U.S. Must Invest In Childhood EducaDon And Infrastructure
By Jennifer Erickson, Guest Blogger on Jun 14, 2013 at 3:29 pm
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Yesterday the Center for American Progress released a wide-­‐ranging, long-­‐
term plan to grow our economy by strengthening and growing America’s middle class. Josh Barro at Business Insider took issue with some of it.
Let’s start with where we agree. We’ve idenDfied some important structural problems holding back the economy: stagnant wage growth, inequality, etc. Barro doesn’t disagree with any of that. In housing, we call for just the soluDon he proposes: aggressive mortgage modificaDon programs, including reducing principal for underwater borrowers. He wants a more progressive tax system. Our plan has one. The report includes a reprise of the progressive, efficiency-­‐enhancing tax reform plan that we released last November with Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Roger Altman, Neera Tanden, John Podesta and others.
But there are some areas where we’ll have to agree to disagree, like on raising workplace standards. The United States is the only country in the developed world without paid sick days. That increases turnover, unemployment, and inequality, and has a disproporDonate effect on women in the workforce who can far too o_en be put in the posiDon of jeopardizing their job to care for a sick child or ailing parent. It’s also bad for business.
Barro disagrees with some of the investments we want to make. For example, he doesn’t like our call for expanding early childhood educaDon. He cites internaDonal data about U.S. spending in K-­‐12, but ignores the fact that when it comes to 4-­‐year-­‐old preschool enrollment, we rank 26th among developed countries. Human capital can account for up to two-­‐thirds of economic growth, and according to Nobel prizewinning economist James Heckman, investments in early childhood have the highest rates of return of any educaDonal spending. In an era of Dght budgets, the imperaDve is even GO BACK
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greater that government seeks the highest return on taxpayer dollars. StarDng with our next generaDon of workers makes good economic sense.
Barro objects to our plan for invesDng in infrastructure. But U.S. infrastructure gets a D+ grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers, and falling behind in infrastructure hurts producDvity and constrains growth. Not only that, as leading economist Laura Tyson and the president’s Jobs Council have pointed out, infrastructure represents a great “two-­‐fer” in which each dollar invested lays the groundwork for future growth as well increasing employment today – o_en good, middle-­‐class employment. Barro says that we should make sure that we aren’t paying too much for what we build. We agree: Investment and reform aren’t mutually exclusive; they go hand in hand.
The fact is that federal investments in future economic growth are currently on track to dwindle to the lowest share of our total economic output in 50 years. The government owes it to all of us to make smart public investment decisions. This is why we also seek investments with high rates of return and dovetails with efforts to support private sector job creaDon.
It’s hard to understand Barro’s objecDon to more streamlined government. Consider that a student applying to college can submit a single common applicaDon to universiDes around the country. But a business applying for government support has to file things many Dmes and in many places. Why not organize our business and trade agencies to be more efficient, improving the speed of decision-­‐making that he calls for?
We agree that the private sector is best placed to adapt to changing economic circumstances. We also agree that intervenDons can occasionally be jusDfied as Barro suggests – the auto rescue he cites is a good example. We favor the government being more transparent about when it is supporDng industries and how. Right now there are a host of ways government plays a role in supporDng the private sector – from procurement to tax law to convenings. It’s beler to be up front about what we’re doing and to let taxpayers know what’s happening. And at a Dme when we are facing increased compeDDon from around the world, having a clear strategy for which type of intervenDons are helpful and when makes good sense, rather than conDnuing with opaque, ad hoc intervenDons.
There are several other areas where Barro raises objecDons, but he is mostly alacking straw men. For example, nowhere in our report do we argue that GO BACK
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there is shame in renDng. We do think it’s a problem that 25 percent of renters pay more than half their income in rent, which is why we propose policies to make housing more affordable.
Despite these disagreements, we welcome the discussion. A_er three years where the predominant debate in Washington has been about deficits and cumng government, it’s important to have a conversaDon about jobs and growth. That’s the conversaDon America’s almost 12 million unemployed workers need us to have. That’s the conversaDon America’s businesses – large and small – need us to have. And that’s the conversaDon the Center for American Progress is determined to contribute to.
Senate GOP Puts Corporate Tax Loopholes Over Student Loans
By Alan Pyke on Jun 6, 2013 at 1:17 pm
A_er their own proposal on student loan interest rates failed Thursday morning, Republican senators blocked a DemocraDc proposal to forestall the doubling of rates for the poorest students for two years. Republicans object to the way Democrats would pay for the extension – by closing tax loopholes for oil companies, wealthy pensioners, and mulDnaDonal corporaDons.
The three loopholes the GOP voted to protect cost taxpayers $8.6 billion over ten years, according to Sens. Jack Reed (D-­‐RI) and Tom Harkin (D-­‐IA), who co-­‐sponsored the proposal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-­‐
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NV). The largest porDon of that comes from restricDng the ability of wealthy heirs to shelter inherited 401(K) accounts from taxaDon, but it’s the other two tax provisions that appear to be the crux of the dispute.
In a June 5 leler obtained by ThinkProgress, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged senators to oppose the Reed-­‐Harkin proposal, ciDng opposiDon to “increas[ing] taxes that are dedicated to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund” and further restricDons on mulDnaDonal companies’ ability to deduct interest payments to foreign subsidiaries from their U.S. tax bill. The leler does not outright defend the tax avoidance pracDces Reed and Harkin seek to restrict, instead declaring the idea “a poor subsDtute for the systemic reform” of corporate tax law. The leler does not yet appear in the “Lelers to Congress” secDon of the Chamber’s site.
The Chamber’s involvement carries weight. Aside from its massive lobbying expenditures – it’s $136 million in 2012 lobbying ranked first for the year according to the Center for Responsive PoliDcs – the Chamber entered the electoral adverDsing business in a major way last year, spending nearly $36 million to directly influence elecDons.
The last Dme the Senate was at an impasse with rate hikes looming for students, in the spring of 2012, Republican senators got a very different sort of message from an influenDal corner of their party. Mil Romney expressed unambiguous support for President Obama’s proposal for a temporary extension of the lower rates on the campaign trail, and a few weeks later, Republicans stopped blocking the bill.
DomesDc Violence Shelters Warn That SequestraDon Has Put Women’s Lives On The Line
By Bryce Covert on Jun 3, 2013 at 3:00 pm
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SequestraDon, the automaDc across-­‐the-­‐board spending cuts that went into effect in March, by design cuts a wide array of government-­‐funded programs. One of the areas is domesDc violence funding for programs on the state and local level. At the same Dme that sequestraDon is reducing those budgets, however, vicDms’ need for support has been steadily increasing.
Kim Gandy, CEO of the NaDonal Network to End DomesDc Violence, reports that nearly all state programs had already been experiencing reduced funding and increased demand. She told ThinkProgress that a survey her program did in the fall found that 69 percent of state programs reported funding decreases that they were unable to make up with private donaDons. Beyond cuts from the federal government, almost 80 percent reported cuts from state and local funding.
Meanwhile, 88 percent reported an increase in demand for their services. The network does a naDonal census on the same day in September from midnight to midnight to see how many people are served and found that 10,401 people reached out for help and were turned away for a lack of resources last year, similar to the number a year before.
Programs report that denying services or shulering doors is the ulDmate last resort. Yet many of the people on the ground who spoke with GO BACK
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ThinkProgress reported that programs have to consider such drasDc changes to grapple with yet another budget cut thanks to sequestraDon.
Rhode Island
DomesDc violence programs have already experienced a drop of about 70 percent in state funding over the past seven years, Deborah DeBare, execuDve director of the Rhode Island CoaliDon Against DomesDc Violence, told ThinkProgress. That has meant reducing the number of shelter beds available for the first Dme ever. One program used to serve 15 women and children per night and now can only take five.
The programs are now starDng to feel the impact of sequestraDon, with a cut to one federal grant so far and the rest beginning with the June 1 fiscal cycle. To deal with the coming cuts, as of June 1 the state will no longer have any advocates helping vicDms in court on Mondays. “This is the first Dme in the history of domesDc violence services in Rhode Island we’ve ever had to scale back in this dramaDc way,” she said. But the pain isn’t over, as the programs are expecDng more cut backs to court advocacy services and a potenDal reducDon in shelter beds depending on the size of the cuts.
She described the real life consequences of this reducDon in services for one vicDm of domesDc violence. All of the shelter beds were filled, so she went to a homeless shelter instead. But her abuser, who had been imprisoned for the past three years, had escaped. “There she was in a homeless shelter with a public address,” DeBare explained. She was in an unsecured facility with people who hadn’t been trained to deal with domesDc violence. Yet even the opDon of referring vicDms to homeless shelters is diminishing, as GO BACK
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sequestraDon is also reducing those programs’ budgets. “SomeDmes it’s very difficult to find a bed for somebody,” she concluded.
Kansas
While domesDc violence programs in Kansas haven’t been impacted by sequestraDon’s cuts yet, Joyce Grover, execuDve director of the Kansas CoaliDon Against Sexual and DomesDc Violence, told ThinkProgress they will hit within the next month as each source of federal funding takes a 5 to 6.5 percent cut. That comes on top of a 14 percent decline since 2010. “I don’t think we have a way to deal with the cuts,” she said. Staff has already been denied raises, and now many programs will have to consider laying people off. Many will instead turn to volunteers, a risky choice given the criDcal nature of the work.
“I really think that these kinds of funds need to be looked at at least as criDcally as the air traffic controllers,” she said, poinDng to the bill rushed through Congress to ease air travel delays. “This is a safety issue… There’s got to be a beler way to balance the budget than to put so many people’s lives at risk.”
California
At WEAVE, a dual service agency serving vicDms of domesDc violence and sexual assault in Sacramento, the budget woes started in 2009 as the county started “dramaDcally” cumng funding, ExecuDve Director Beth Hassel told ThinkProgress. To deal with those cuts, she limited mid-­‐level management and kept “boots on the ground.” The program also got rid of free counseling for anyone who is not a client in the shelter, which was a big shi_. “It’s too bad because some of that is really preventaDve work,” she said.
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The organizaDon is now expecDng anywhere from a 5 to 10 percent cut in funding for the coming year. It will likely have to lay off some people overseeing programs and ask higher level employees to keep tabs on a bigger porwolio, look at what fee for service arrangements it can implement on a sliding scale, and conDnue to reduce community outreach and outreach into high schools, both of which can help prevent future violence.
Meanwhile, the bad economy has meant that many vicDms are staying longer in violent situaDons, which increases their need for services. “By the Dme they get to us they’re very high-­‐need clients,” she said. “We’re seeing some people who have experienced tremendous trauma.” People also need longer stays in the organizaDon’s safe house, as the average stay has shot up from 11 days to 30.
“I think someDmes the fact that women are going to get killed is escaping people,” she said. “As [services] get cut and cut and cut we’re going to see more homicides.”
Washington
SequestraDon cuts won’t start unDl July, but state programs are expecDng reducDons of 5 to 7 percent depending on the grant program, said Grace Huang, the public policy program coordinator at the Washington State CoaliDon Against DomesDc Violence. Those cuts may mean having to lay off GO BACK
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staff and end services, including transportaDon, meaning “in rural communiDes they can’t go pick somebody up in the middle of the night,” she said.
The programs have already taken some dramaDc steps in reacDon to budget cuts. The state’s 24-­‐hour hotline is no longer operaDng for 24 hours – it’s gone to 12 hours a day. The coaliDon surveyed programs across the state and found that at least a third have laid off staff and many aren’t providing as many services. Some programs are no longer doing advocacy at courthouses, which means “those survivors are going in by themselves to ask for a [protecDon] order from the court with their abusers in the same room,” she said.
Texas
While programs in Texas haven’t experienced cuts yet, many are anDcipaDng an impact, said Angela Hale, spokesperson for the Texas Council on Family Violence. State funding has been kept steady over the past three legislaDve sessions, but demand has been increasing. The bad economy has led to an upDck in need, as has a booming populaDon in Texas. “When you have an increase in populaDon and you have staDc funding, then there’s a constant need to try to serve more vicDms,” she said. Some programs will likely turn to raising private money, but many have experienced difficulDes in fundraising thanks to the economy.
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www.salon.com
Immigration reform’s
worst possible defense
The legislation is long overdue for a variety of reasons, but not because
there's a shortage of low-wage workers
BY JARED BERNSTEIN
1 more
TOPICS: ON THE ECONOMY, IMMIGRATION REFORM, CENSUS BUREAU,
UNEMPLOYMENT, U.S. ECONOMY, BUSINESS NEWS, POLITICS NEWS
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A 2009 Chicago rally calling for the legalization of undocumented immigrant workers.
This originally appeared on Jared Bernstein's blog, On the Economy.
Readers know I’m a supporter of immigration reform for many reasons,
some of which go beyond economics into the realm of America as a
welcoming country for those seeking opportunities. There’s no doubt in
my mind that both my own life and that of our nation has been enriched
by those who have left their homes to come to America in search of a
better life.
But when we defend reform, I think we have a responsibility to stick to
the facts as best we can, and I thought this piece went far beyond that
threshold, particularly in claiming a shortage of low-wage workers (h/t:
KR in comments):
In 1950, according to the Census Bureau, 56% of U.S. workers were
high-school dropouts. Today, the figure is less than 5%.
The result is that the pool of people available to fill low-skilled jobs has
shrunk dramatically.
The argument that we have a shortage of high-skilled workers in this
country is dicey, but there’s a case to be made (a weak case, but that’s a
different discussion). But I know of no credible arguments that we have
a shortage of low-skilled workers (obviously, we’re not talking about
right now, when shortages are clearly on the demand side–not enough
job slots). If their wage and employment trends over the past thirty
years doesn’t convince you that there’s no supply shortage in the lowwage sector (here’s the wage evidence; for jobs evidence, see
the unemployment rates of the least skilled/educated—it’s consistently
way above the average), then you’re playing with a very different set of
cards than the rest of us.
These facts have led some to worry—reasonably—about the impact of
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That’s been carefully examined and here, in contrast the illogic of the
WSJ piece, is what the research shows:
–Most contemporary research finds that immigrants don’t place
significant downward pressure on the wages of domestic workers
because they’re more often complements than substitutes. But, and
here’s where the WSJ is especially off, when they are substitutes (i.e.,
domestic workers or recent immigrants with low skills) the wage effects
from immigrant competition are significant and negative.
–We have historically absorbed large immigrant flows in ways that have
been positive for them and for the economy. First, the flows are small
relative to the size of the overall labor market, and second, demand
curves also move out. IE, an exceptional period to the negative wage
trends for low-wage workers was the latter 1990s, when immigrant flows
were very strong (and welfare reform was also driving up the supply of
low-wage work), yet demand for low-wage work grew faster than
supply.
–Bringing undocumented workers who are already here “out of the
shadows” does not push out the labor supply curve–they’re already
here–and can only help dampen unfair competition.
In the end, as I stressed before on these pages, I think much of what’s in
the Senate plan on low-wage immigration makes sense (W-visas—see
previous link). The fact that this part of the bill is supported by folks
like EPI, an institution with tremendous credibility on these low-wage
issues, former Labor Sec’y Ray Marshall, who understands both the
research and the on-the-ground reality of low-wage competition, and the
AFL-CIO also should lead one to believe we’ve got the balance
generally right on this.
Of course, then there’s the House…
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www.alternet.org
Secret Trade Agreements Threaten to Undo
Our Last Shreds of Food Safety
You could soon be eating imported seafood, beef or chicken
products that don’t meet even basic U.S. food safety standards.
June 13, 2013 | If you think the U.S. government is doing a sub-par job of keeping your food safe,
brace yourself. You could soon be eating imported seafood, beef or chicken
products that don’t meet even basic U.S. food safety standards. Under two new
trade agreements, currently in negotiation, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) could be powerless to shut down imports of unsafe food or
food ingredients. And if it tries, multinational corporations will be able to sue the
U.S. government for the loss of anticipated future profits.
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More frightening? Negotiations for both agreements are taking place behind
closed doors, with input allowed almost exclusively from the corporations and
industry trade groups that stand to benefit the most. And the Obama
Administration intends to push the agreements through Congress without so
much as giving lawmakers access to draft texts, much less the opportunity for
debate.
Designed to grease the wheels of world commerce, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would
force the U.S. and other participating countries to “harmonize” food safety
standards. That means all countries that sign on to the agreement would be
required to abide by the lowest common denominator standards of all
participating governments. So for instance, say Vietnam allows higher residues
of veterinary antibiotics in seafood than the U.S. allows, and Vietnam and the
U.S. both sign on to the TPP. As a trade partner, the U.S. could be forced to
lower its standards to allow for imports of seafood from Vietnam – or face a
lawsuit by the seafood exporter for depriving the company of future sales of its
products in the U.S.
The U.S. has already had a taste of this type of policy under the North American
Free Trade Act (NAFTA). In 2005, the Canadian Cattlemen for Fair Trade sued
the U.S. government for banning imports of beef and live Canadian cattle after a
case of mad cow disease was discovered in Canada. In the end, the U.S.
prevailed, but not until it had spent millions to defend itself in court. Mexico
wasn’t so fortunate when three companies (Corn Products International, ADM/
Tate & Lyle and Cargill) sued the Mexican government for preventing imports of
high fructose corn syrup. Mexico lost all three cases, and was forced to pay out a
total of $169.18 million to the three firms.
Among the many gifts to Big Ag contained in the TTIP and TPP? Back-door
entry for their genetically modified seeds and crops. Countries, including those in
the European Union, could find it increasingly difficult to ban, or even require the
labeling of, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), if biotech companies
determine that those countries’ strict policies restrict fair trade and infringe on the
companies’ “rights” to profit.
The TTIP and the TPP are, individually and combined, two of the largest free
trade agreements in world history. According to the Citizens Trade Campaign
(CTC) the TPP alone covers 40 percent of the global economy. That percentage
will likely grow, because the agreement allows for other countries, besides the 12
currently involved, to “dock on” after the agreement is in place.
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Both the TTIP and TPP could have dangerous consequences for food safety in
the U.S., and around the world. But they’re not limited to food or agriculture
policy. Both also contain sweeping policies that could affect everything from the
environment and sustainability, to healthcare, Internet freedom and the financial
markets. Given the potential of these agreements to shape global policy on so
many fronts, it’s reasonable to assume that negotiators would actively solicit, and
take into careful consideration, input from the affected parties, including
consumers, farmers and governments. Instead they’ve taken the opposite
approach. From day one, negotiations for the TTIP and TPP have been shrouded
in secrecy. The public and participating governments, including the U.S.
Congress, have been shut out of the negotiating process, denied access to
everything from early proposals to final draft texts.
read more here: http://www.alternet.org/food/secret-trade-agreementsthreaten-food-safety
Why Elizabeth Warren’s Plan For Student
Debt is an Economic Breakthrough
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s “Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act”
has been denounced as populist demogoguery. Here's why it
isn't.
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Photo Credit: TWP/Wikimedia Commons
June 14, 2013 | On July 1, interest rates will double for millions of students – from 3.4% to 6.8% –
unless Congress acts; and the legislative fixes on the table are largely just
compromises. Only one proposal promises real relief – Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s
“Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act.” This bill has been dismissed out of hand
as “shameless populist demagoguery” and “a cheap political gimmick,” but is it?
Or could Warren’s outside-the-box bill represent the sort of game-changing
thinking sorely needed to turn the economy around?
Warren and her co-sponsor John Tierney propose that students be allowed to
borrow directly from the government at the same rate that banks get from the
Federal Reserve — 0.75 percent. They argue:
Some people say that we can’t afford low interest rates for students. But the
federal government offers far lower rates on loans every single day — they just
don’t do it for everyone. Right now, a bank can get a loan through the Federal
Reserve discount window at a rate of less than one percent. The same big banks
that destroyed millions of jobs and broke our economy can borrow at about 0.75
percent, while our students will be paying nine times as much as of July 1.
This is not fair. And it’s not necessary, either. The federal government makes 36
cents on every dollar it lends to students. Just last week, the Congressional
Budget Office announced that the government will make $51 billion on the
student loans it issued this year — more than the annual profit of any Fortune
500 company, and about five times Google’s yearly earnings. We should not be
profiting from students who are drowning in debt while we are giving great deals
to big banks.
The archly critical Brookings Institute says the bill “confuses market interest rates
on long-term loans (such as the 10-year Treasury rate) with the Federal
Reserve’s Discount Window (used to make short-term loans to banks), and does
not reflect the administrative costs and default risk that increase the costs of the
federal student loan program.”
Those criticisms would be valid if the provider of funds were either a private bank
or the American taxpayer; but in this case, it is the U.S. Federal Reserve.
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Warren and Tierney assert, “For one year, the Federal Reserve would make
funds available to the Department of Education to make these loans to our
students.” For the Fed, completely different banking rules apply. As “lender of last
resort,” it can expand its balance sheet by buying all the assets it likes. The Fed
bought over $1 trillion in “toxic” mortgage-backed securities in QE 1, and
reportedly turned a profit on them. It could just as easily buy $1 trillion in student
debt and refinance it at 0.75%.
Which is a Better Investment, Banks or Students?
Students are considered risky investments because they don’t own valuable
assets against which the debt can be collected. But this argument overlooks the
fact that these young trainees are assets themselves. They represent an
investment in “human capital” that can pay for itself many times over, if properly
supported and developed. This was demonstrated in the 1940s with the G.I. Bill,
which provided free technical training and educational support for nearly 16
million returning servicemen, along with government-subsidized loans and
unemployment benefits. The outlay not only paid for itself but returned a
substantial profit to the government and significant stimulus to the economy. It
made higher education accessible to all and created a nation of homeowners,
new technology, new products, and new companies, with the Veterans
Administration guaranteeing an estimated 53,000 business loans. Economists
have determined that for every 1944 dollar invested, the country received
approximately $7 in return, through increased economic productivity, consumer
spending, and tax revenues.
read more here: http://www.alternet.org/economy/elizabeth-warren-and-studentdebt
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The Most Dishonest Words in American
Politics: 'Right to Work'
Right-to-work measures appeal to freedom and choice, but
they're all about busting unions.
Photo Credit: Flickr (cc)
June 7, 2013 | “Right to work” is the most dishonest phrase in American political discourse. It
sounds like it’s defending people’s right to earn a living. But as used by its
supporters, it means making it impossible for workers to form an effective union,
couched in the language of “freedom” and “choice.”
Specifically, it means laws banning “union shops,” in which everyone in a
workplace has to join the union or pay a fee to cover the cost of union
representation. Twenty-four states have such laws. All were in the South and
West until last year, when Indiana and Michigan enacted them. Michigan’s law
was rammed through the Republican-dominated legislature in a lame-duck
session last December.
The Michigan law was “pretty devastating for the labor movement,” says Erin
Johansson of American Rights at Work. It came in the state where the United
Auto Workers’ six-week occupation of General Motors plants in Flint in 1937 won
the victory that opened the doors for unions throughout American industry, the
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state whose union labor defined the working-class prosperity of World War II to
the 1970s.
Both Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Dick DeVos, the heir to the multibilliondollar Amway fortune who bankrolled the campaign for the law, stuck to the party
line about “freedom.” Snyder said the law would give workers “the freedom to
choose” and unions “an opportunity to be more responsible to their workers,”
because instead of automatically collecting dues, they’d have to show workers “a
value proposition.”
“Absolute horsesh*t,” responds Ed Ott, former head of the New York City Central
Labor Council. “This is a total offensive against workers. They don’t want workers
to have any say. After workers vote for a union, they don’t want them to maintain
membership.”
This year, “right to work” measures were introduced in 17 states, according to
Peggy Shorey, director of state government relations at the AFL-CIO. Ten were
defeated, including those in Missouri, Kentucky, and New Hampshire, where Gov.
John Lynch vetoed one in 2011. Republicans in the Ohio legislature introduced
one in early May, but the state senate president said he didn’t want to give
Democrats an issue to raise funds on. (Ohio voters overwhelmingly overturned
draconian limits on unions in 2011.) Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced one in
January, but it hasn’t gotten a committee hearing.
“It’s striking that they were not successful in passing it in Missouri,” says Shorey.
The most significant measures still pending, she says, are in North Carolina and
Pennsylvania. In North Carolina, House Speaker Thom Tillis proposed making
the state’s “right to work” law and a ban on public-worker unions an amendment
to its constitution, after declaring that he wanted to keep North Carolina “the least
unionized state in the United States.” In Pennsylvania, the sponsor is Rep. Daryl
Metcalfe, chair of the State Government committee, who also sponsored the
state’s voter-ID law and fulminates against “illegal alien invaders.”
Neither measure has made it out of committee, but “after Michigan, anything
could happen,” warns Ott.
•••
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The Michigan and Indiana laws came as part of the 2011–'12 offensive against
worker rights in the upper Midwest, but the concept emerged after the great
union victories of the late 1930s. The phrase “right to work” was coined in 1941
by William B. Ruggles, an editorial writer at the Dallas Morning News who didn’t
want to join a union. His bosses feared that federal laws and regulations backing
union rights were forcing unions down the throats of employers and socializing
industry. Ruggles proposed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to
work with or without union membership.
read more here: http://www.alternet.org/labor/right-work-unions-collectivebargaining
ruthOut
www.truth-out.org
The Case for No GMO Patents
Friday, 14 June 2013 11:49
By Tony Pereira, Truthout | Op-Ed
(Photo: CT Senate Democrats / Flickr)
The June 13, 2013 Supreme Court decision that human genes
are not patentable should logically be the first step in
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reversing three decades of decisions that flouted the
previously general understanding that Section 101 of Title 35
U.S.C. prohibited patenting of living organisms.
In the case of genetically modified seeds, strands of DNA from
flowers, fish and animals and/or a virus are loaded into a gene
gun - sort of a specialized pellet gun - and literally shot into
the new seed to be modified in hopes that the inserted DNA
will be incorporated by it without further intervention, mix
with the seed and take hold, and the "new" plant that will
grow from this new seed will replicate and reproduce the new
DNA in the new seeds after harvesting.
Anything is fair game here; the possible combinations are
exponentially high, infinite. GMO patents that have been
granted for genetically modified (GM) corn, canola, cotton,
sugar beets and soy have their roots in a first case for a patent
application filed with the US Patent Office by General Electric
(GE), which developed a bacterium capable of breaking down
crude oil, to be used in treating oil spills. GE listed one of its
genetic engineers, Chakrabarty, as the inventor. [1]
The application was rejected by the patent examiner, Sidney
Diamond, because under patent law it was generally
understood that living things were not patentable subject
matter under Section 101 of Title 35 U.S.C.[2]
GE appealed to The Board of Patent Appeals and
Interferences, which agreed with the original decision. On a
subsequent appeal, the US Court of Customs and Patent
Appeals overturned the case in GE's and Chakrabarty's favor,
writing that "the fact that micro-organisms are alive is without
legal significance for purposes of the patent law," thus
blatantly disregarding Title 35. Sidney A. Diamond,
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commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, appealed to the
Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in the
Chakrabarty v. Diamond case, which was argued on March
17, 1980. A narrow 5-4 decision was issued on June 16, 1980.
The patent was granted by the USPTO on March 31, 1981. [3]
SCOTUS thereby handed corporations the right to patent life,
bacteria, seeds, plants, and animals in a misguided decision,
which again ignored Title 35's exclusion of all patents on life
and living organisms. While the manipulation process was
new, all of the original existing DNA and all receiving DNA
from whatever provenance are not.
Genetic material constitutes the inalienable property and
inheritance of all humankind, as it has evolved in a wondrous
process in nature that took billions of years, a process in
which corporations did not participate in the least - nor could
they have. Neither the receiving gene-spliced DNA, which
constitutes 99.999% of all the genetic material involved in the
process, nor the spliced infinitesimal amount of DNA used in
the process can be claimed as the inventor's property. In this
light, patents on life constitute the theft, in plain daylight, of
the natural patrimony and inheritance of the world, which
belongs to all of humanity, by and for the exclusive use and
profit of a very few. The words do exist in the vocabulary and
in the historical record for this type of action: dictatorial
fascism, the collusion of corporate interests with the
dictatorial coercive powers of the State. [4]
On June 13, 2013, the SCOTUS light bulbs suddenly went on,
and on a unanimous vote (9-0), the court rejected a patent
application for two cancer genes isolated by Myriad Genetics,
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Inc. In the court's opinion written by Justice Clarence
Thomas, Title 35 was repeatedly invoked as "...we hold that a
naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and
not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated..." This
is, finally, the right decision. [5]
GMOs are just the reverse of this case, i.e., DNA is combined
instead of being isolated, thus logically also not patentable
just because two or more DNA segments have been mixed
together.
The doors are now open to reverse all previous 30 years of
wrongdoings and false GMO patents and end the absurdity
that everything in life, the food that we eat, plants, microbes,
viruses, fish and animals can ultimately be patented and
owned by someone else. GMO patent insanity has already led
to crimes against humanity, and crimes against the planet.
The horrifying Frankensteinian effects of GMO foods on
animals and plants are now being discovered by Serallini,
Carman and other studies. The case is not over; it just started.
So let's get busy. Maybe this is a good time to be an attorney.
Life, nature, all living things, the human body, whole or in
parts are not patentable, ever.
Never were, never will be. May this be a lesson to all who
foolishly thought they could steal from the patrimony of life.
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Paul Krugman
Noble Laureate, Working Family Advocate and
America’s Smartest Economist
Sympathy for the Luddites
By PAUL KRUGMAN
In 1786, the cloth workers of Leeds, a wool-industry center in northern
England, issued a protest against the growing use of “scribbling”
machines, which were taking over a task formerly performed by skilled
labor. “How are those men, thus thrown out of employ to provide for
their families?” asked the petitioners. “And what are they to put their
children apprentice to?”
Those weren’t foolish questions. Mechanization eventually — that is,
after a couple of generations — led to a broad rise in British living
standards. But it’s far from clear whether typical workers reaped any
benefits during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution; many
workers were clearly hurt. And often the workers hurt most were those
who had, with effort, acquired valuable skills — only to find those
skills suddenly devalued.
So are we living in another such era? And, if we are, what are we going
to do about it?
Until recently, the conventional wisdom about the effects of
technology on workers was, in a way, comforting. Clearly, many
workers weren’t sharing fully — or, in many cases, at all — in the
benefits of rising productivity; instead, the bulk of the gains were
going to a minority of the work force. But this, the story went, was
because modern technology was raising the demand for highly
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educated workers while reducing the demand for less educated
workers. And the solution was more education.
Now, there were always problems with this story. Notably, while it
could account for a rising gap in wages between those with college
degrees and those without, it couldn’t explain why a small group — the
famous “one percent” — was experiencing much bigger gains than
highly educated workers in general. Still, there may have been
something to this story a decade ago.
Today, however, a much darker picture of the effects of technology on
labor is emerging. In this picture, highly educated workers are as likely
as less educated workers to find themselves displaced and devalued,
and pushing for more education may create as many problems as it
solves.
I’ve noted before that the nature of rising inequality in America
changed around 2000. Until then, it was all about worker versus
worker; the distribution of income between labor and capital —
between wages and profits, if you like — had been stable for decades.
Since then, however, labor’s share of the pie has fallen sharply. As it
turns out, this is not a uniquely American phenomenon. A new report
from the International Labor Organization points out that the same
thing has been happening in many other countries, which is what
you’d expect to see if global technological trends were turning against
workers.
And some of those turns may well be sudden. The McKinsey Global
Institute recently released a report on a dozen major new technologies
that it considers likely to be “disruptive,” upsetting existing market
and social arrangements. Even a quick scan of the report’s list suggests
that some of the victims of disruption will be workers who are
currently considered highly skilled, and who invested a lot of time and
money in acquiring those skills. For example, the report suggests that
we’re going to be seeing a lot of “automation of knowledge work,” with
software doing things that used to require college graduates. Advanced
robotics could further diminish employment in manufacturing, but it
could also replace some medical professionals.
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PAGE 53
So should workers simply be prepared to acquire new skills? The
woolworkers of 18th-century Leeds addressed this issue back in 1786:
“Who will maintain our families, whilst we undertake the arduous
task” of learning a new trade? Also, they asked, what will happen if the
new trade, in turn, gets devalued by further technological advance?
And the modern counterparts of those woolworkers might well ask
further, what will happen to us if, like so many students, we go deep
into debt to acquire the skills we’re told we need, only to learn that the
economy no longer wants those skills?
Education, then, is no longer the answer to rising inequality, if it ever
was (which I doubt).
So what is the answer? If the picture I’ve drawn is at all right, the only
way we could have anything resembling a middle-class society — a
society in which ordinary citizens have a reasonable assurance of
maintaining a decent life as long as they work hard and play by the
rules — would be by having a strong social safety net, one that
guarantees not just health care but a minimum income, too. And with
an ever-rising share of income going to capital rather than labor, that
safety net would have to be paid for to an important extent via taxes
on profits and/or investment income.
I can already hear conservatives shouting about the evils of
“redistribution.” But what, exactly, would they propose instead?
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STATE NEWS
Elections/Voting
5 reasons Democrats struggle to win Florida elections
By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun Sentinel
With new party leadership, an advantage in voter registration, and a vulnerable
Republican governor seeking re-election, Florida Democrats should be in a
strong position, but the outlook isn't all that dazzling.
Gov. Scott's proliferation of Great Floridians puzzles watchdog boss
By James L. Rosica
Tampa Tribune
Dan Krassner has an idea for some of the 23 people receiving the Great
Floridian honor this year.
Federal Government
Allen West Blames The Military’s Sexual Assault Crisis On Women Serving In
Combat Roles
By Kumar Ramanathan
Think Progress
On Michael Savage’s radio show Savage Nation on Thursday, Fox News host
and former Florida congressman Allen West blamed women being allowed in
combat roles in the military for the ongoing controversy over sexual assault in the
force, and alleged that “an assault against the United States military” is
underway.
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The Legislature/State Government
Rick Scott
Gov. Rick Scott plumbs the depths of insider dealing at the water management
district
By Gimleteye
Eye on Miami
What Rick Scott, the health care business tycoon, knew about Florida's
environment before buying his way to the governor's mansion boiled down to
what he could see from the window of his private jet.
Public Employees
Florida’s Economy/Housing
Fla. reverses course and reaches deal with Amazon
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Floridians will have to start paying sales taxes sometime next year on anything
they purchase through Internet retailer Amazon.com.
Gov. Rick Scott going to Paris, looking for jobs to bring back to Fla.
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott heads overseas again today, this time to Paris as the leader of a
trade mission aimed at bringing more aerospace jobs to Florida.
Foreclosure Law Creates Controversy
By Matt Horn
Capitol News Service
May numbers show Florida is first the nation in foreclosures.
Intricate family connections bind several of America's worst charities
By Kris Hundley and Kendall Taggart
Times/CIR Special Report
Carol Smith still gets angry when she remembers the box that arrived by mail for
her dying husband.
Tax scrutiny douses Village people's party
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
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Up in The Villages, the natives are restless
Education
Scott not changing mind on tuition
By James Call
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott stood firm Thursday in his opposition to a tuition increase for
state universities.
Proposed national science standards no better than Florida's current set, group
says
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
Florida Citizens for Science lately have promoted adoption of the national Next
Generation Science Standards in place of Florida's existing standards.
Health Care
Industry is the Big Loser in Florida’s Rejection of Medicaid Expansion
By Dennis Maley
Bradenton Times
It’s very hard to find a silver lining in Florida lawmakers' inability to pass a state
solution to the expansion of Medicaid.
Medicaid mulligan
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
The Florida Legislature might take a mulligan on Medicaid expansion.
PBSC cuts staff and faculty hours to avoid paying for health coverage
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Palm Beach State College is cutting the hours of more than 100 part-time
employees and hundreds more adjunct faculty to avoid having to provide health
care coverage required for workers under the federal health care law.
Governor Rick Scott Vetoes Mental Health Bill
By Nick Evans
WFSU Tallahassee
Florida Governor Rick Scott vetoed a bill Wednesday aimed at improving mental
health care in the judicial system.
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Release of prescription drug database records raises privacy concerns
By Tia Mitchell
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Criticism is mounting over Florida's fledgling prescription drug database since the
medication history for 3,300 people was released as part of a prescription fraud
investigation in Volusia County
Immigration
Poll: 71 percent of Fla. voters back immigration reform
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Related: Scott stays mum about his position on Congressional immigration
reform
More than 7 in 10 Florida voters favor the concept of the bipartisan immigration
reform plans proposed in Congress, according to a new survey that indicates the
issue might not be as politically polarizing as many say.
Rubio: If same-sex marriage provision is in Senate immigration bill, 'I'm gone'
By Daniel Strauss
The Hill
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he would walk away from pushing a bipartisan
immigration reform bill if a provision covering same-sex couples is added.
Jeb Bush highlights immigration battle of GOP establishment vs. newcomers
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
Former Govs. Haley Barbour and Jeb Bush, the folksy pol from Mississippi and
the policy wonk from Florida, sat next to each other Thursday pitching
immigration reform as vital for the economic future of an aging country.
Immigration Becomes A Political Tight Rope For Scott And Rubio
By Lynn Hatter
WFSU Tallahassee
The immigration reform debate is front and center in Florida as the U.S. Senate
discusses an immigration overhaul.
Growth Management/Environment/Energy
Deadline on key Everglades project looms
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
With a deadline to secure congressional authorization fast running out,
environmentalists on Thursday pressed water managers to endorse a $2.2 billion
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PAGE 58
suite of projects that is a key to finally restoring natural water flow through the
heart of the River of Grass.
Petition to stop plans for oil drilling near Golden Gate Estates gains support
By Mary Wozniak
Ft. Myers News-Press
A petition opposing proposed oil drilling near Golden Gate Estates and the
Florida Panther Wildlife Refuge is gaining ground on Change.org, with signatures
jumping from 250 to nearly 2,500 in one week.
Why Is the Sunshine State Slow to Adopt Solar Power?
By Robert Lorei
WMNF Tampa
With all that sunlight- what are we doing here in Florida to turn that into useable
energy?
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