Romney Working To Eliminate The US Postal Service

Mitt Romney and his economic advisors like Kevin Hassett have a clear message in how a Romney administration would address the US Postal Service. It’s fairly simple they would eliminate it.

See Full Story  (New Hampshire Labor News)

Yet Another Appeasement in Store?

Another Perspective Donald L. Foley - NBA, retired

Not to state it over-broadly, but the fate of collective bargaining for postal employees and the fate of the Postal Service itself may well depend upon the decision of the National Mediation Board concerning employees of the Federal Aviation Administration. Altering a rule of some 75 years standing, last year the Board ruled that union certification votes in the aviation and railroad industries should be by ordinary rules for counting votes in a democratic election. That is to say, the Board revised the old rules in a manner that requires a union certification election to be controlled by the votes of only those who vote, not including votes of those who choose not to vote. Under the old rules, in a union certification election for a bargaining unit of 100 employees, if 75 employees cast ballots, the remaining 25 employees who chose not to vote were all counted as ‘nay’ votes – meaning in effective that, regardless how many employees voted, the only way to achieve an affirmative result would be to register a full majority of all 100 employees in the bargaining unit. In nearly all democratic election processes, a majority is of those who vote; it does not count those who fail to exercise the right to vote. So the National Mediation Board changed the rule – a majority vote would be of those who vote.

As one might imagine, this rule – making it easier to achieve a majority in favor of union certification – ran afoul of the agenda of most Republican Congress persons. And, because of this rule by the National Mediation Board, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives brought the operations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to a very near standstill earlier this year. The House refused to adopt the normally perfunctory funding bill for the FAA, causing the FAA to experience a circumstance not unlike the economic situation presently confronting the Postal Service. In short, the FAA did not have the money to operate all of its functions – contracted work was halted, inspections were delayed or terminated, nearly everything other than manning the control towers of our airports stopped. Finally, before Congress recessed, a very short term extension of funding the FAA was adopted – with a requirement to revisit the issue after the summer recess (stop-gap funding expires September 16).

When Congress gets back to work very soon, Postal employees would do well to pay very close attention to what happens with the FAA funding and the Federal Mediation Board rule. We ought not to simply sit on the sidelines, either.

It amazes me that so little has been said about this fight in labor or progressive media sources, though there does appear to be some appetite among some Democratic members of Congress to take on the fight – one of the few that may bear fruit for labor. Labor should get behind this issue in a big way. And I believe we would be right to fear that, at some point, President Obama will decide to exercise his unique “negotiation” skills to resolve the impasse over FAA funding. Should President Obama negotiate away the gain achieved through the National Mediation Board ruling – recognizing simple democratic voting principles – in order to appease the Republican radical right (once again) it would be a significant setback for labor. But even more important to Postal employees, it would signal to us that we cannot count on this administration to protect the collective bargaining rights of Postal employees. Where, supposedly, little is actually at stake – the FAA is not all that big a government agency, and no presently protected union employees’ jobs are threatened – one might easily see Obama cause the National Mediation Board ruling to be reversed to achieve ordinary financing of the FAA operations.

However, such a move by Obama – unfortunately typical appeasement of the radical right – would also signal that he will have no stomach for the support necessary to save the collective bargaining rights of Postal unions in the struggle to save the Postal Service. The stakes for the economy in the battle to save the Postal Service from itself and from Republican radicalism are so high that, I’m afraid, they will sway Obama in exactly the wrong direction. If Obama cannot muster the intestinal fortitude to protect future union recognition votes in the aviation and railroad industries, he will fold like a house of cards when confronted with the need to protect the Unions while preserving the Postal Service. My deepest hope is that Obama never becomes involved “resolving” this fight; my deepest fear is that he will.

While we wage our campaign to convince Congress to save the Postal Service and to save our jobs, we should also take the time to convince Congress to save the National Mediation Board ruling in favor of democratic union certification elections. Or ignore it at our peril.

30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died ...a letter from Michael Moore

Friday, August 5th, 2011

Friends,

From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.

Young people have heard of this mythical time -- but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, "When did this all end?", I say, "It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981."

Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to "go for it" -- to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves.

And they've succeeded.

On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.

It was a bold and brash move. No one had ever tried it. What made it even bolder was that PATCO was one of only three unions that had endorsed Reagan for president! It sent a shock wave through workers across the country. If he would do this to the people who were with him, what would he do to us?

Reagan had been backed by Wall Street in his run for the White House and they, along with right-wing Christians, wanted to restructure America and turn back the tide that President Franklin D. Roosevelt started -- a tide that was intended to make life better for the average working person. The rich hated paying better wages and providing benefits. They hated paying taxes even more. And they despised unions. The right-wing Christians hated anything that sounded like socialism or holding out a helping hand to minorities or women.

Reagan promised to end all that. So when the air traffic controllers went on strike, he seized the moment. In getting rid of every single last one of them and outlawing their union, he sent a clear and strong message: The days of everyone having a comfortable middle class life were over. America, from now on, would be run this way:

* The super-rich will make more, much much more, and the rest of you will scramble for the crumbs that are left.

* Everyone must work! Mom, Dad, the teenagers in the house! Dad, you work a second job! Kids, here's your latch-key! Your parents might be home in time to put you to bed.

* 50 million of you must go without health insurance! And health insurance companies: you go ahead and decide who you want to help -- or not.

* Unions are evil! You will not belong to a union! You do not need an advocate! Shut up and get back to work! No, you can't leave now, we're not done. Your kids can make their own dinner.

* You want to go to college? No problem -- just sign here and be in hock to a bank for the next 20 years!

* What's "a raise"? Get back to work and shut up!

And so it went. But Reagan could not have pulled this off by himself in 1981. He had some big help:

The AFL-CIO.

The biggest organization of unions in America told its members to cross the picket lines of the air traffic controllers and go to work. And that's just what these union members did. Union pilots, flight attendants, delivery truck drivers, baggage handlers -- they all crossed the line and helped to break the strike. And union members of all stripes crossed the picket lines and continued to fly.

Reagan and Wall Street could not believe their eyes! Hundreds of thousands of working people and union members endorsing the firing of fellow union members. It was Christmas in August for Corporate America.

And that was the beginning of the end. Reagan and the Republicans knew they could get away with anything -- and they did. They slashed taxes on the rich. They made it harder for you to start a union at your workplace. They eliminated safety regulations on the job. They ignored the monopoly laws and allowed thousands of companies to merge or be bought out and closed down. Corporations froze wages and threatened to move overseas if the workers didn't accept lower pay and less benefits. And when the workers agreed to work for less, they moved the jobs overseas anyway.

And at every step along the way, the majority of Americans went along with this. There was little opposition or fight-back. The "masses" did not rise up and protect their jobs, their homes, their schools (which used to be the best in the world). They just accepted their fate and took the beating.

I have often wondered what would have happened had we all just stopped flying, period, back in 1981. What if all the unions had said to Reagan, "Give those controllers their jobs back or we're shutting the country down!"? You know what would have happened. The corporate elite and their boy Reagan would have buckled.

But we didn't do it. And so, bit by bit, piece by piece, in the ensuing 30 years, those in power have destroyed the middle class of our country and, in turn, have wrecked the future for our young people. Wages have remained stagnant for 30 years. Take a look at the statistics and you can see that every decline we're now suffering with had its beginning in 1981 (here's a little scene to illustrate that from my last movie).

It all began on this day, 30 years ago. One of the darkest days in American history. And we let it happen to us. Yes, they had the money, and the media and the cops. But we had 200 million of us. Ever wonder what it would look like if 200 million got truly upset and wanted their country, their life, their job, their weekend, their time with their kids back?

Have we all just given up? What are we waiting for? Forget about the 20% who support the Tea Party -- we are the other 80%! This decline will only end when we demand it. And not through an online petition or a tweet. We are going to have to turn the TV and the computer and the video games off and get out in the streets (like they've done in Wisconsin). Some of you need to run for local office next year. We need to demand that the Democrats either get a spine and stop taking corporate money -- or step aside.

When is enough, enough? The middle class dream will not just magically reappear. Wall Street's plan is clear: America is to be a nation of Haves and Have Nothings. Is that OK for you?

Why not use today to pause and think about the little steps you can take to turn this around in your neighborhood, at your workplace, in your school? Is there any better day to start than today?

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Here are a few places you can connect with to get the ball rolling:

Showdown in America
Democracy Convention
Occupy Wall Street
October 2011
How to Join a Union, from the AFL-CIO (They've learned their lesson and have a good president now) or UE
Change to Win
MoveOn
High School Newspaper (Just because you're under 18 doesn't mean you can't do anything!)

APWU Supports Bargaining Rights of Wisconsin Workers

By: John E. Durben

The Headline above that the APWU supports  the rights of Wisconsin Workers is  only because the current turmoil between Republicans and Tea baggers vs. the “Middle Class” began here in Wisconsin because of our puppet Governor and the rest of his party. In reality, we support the rights of all workers across this great Country. Wisconsin just happens to be the first victim that fell between the crosshairs of Corporate America. Like a powerful predator, they have decided that they will crush their prey… the middle class (the Unions) and brainwash the poverty stricken working class. The ones who are working two or three jobs to survive.

Why don’t they strive to raise the wages of these poverty workers up to at least middle class and eliminate the lower class… instead of trying to divide us? It’s because of Corporate Greed and the legislators they have bought and put in their back pockets. Legislators who have become traitors to their constituents just to receive future funding to protect “their jobs”!

I took the photos below on March 2, when APWU organized the rally there.  We had about 300 APWU members from Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin show up. In addition we had several National Representatives in attendance like Vice-President Greg Bell, Director of Organization Martha Shunn-King and NBA Marty Mater (Past Madison Local President). If I forgot someone, I apologize.

  

  

  

There are over 500 photos from February 26 and March 2 on our Facebook page if you want to check them out. Look for the Facebook icon on this page.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Impressions from Madison

Dear Brothers & Sisters:

(Saturday, February 26) Despite a temperature of around 12 degrees and a steady snowfall, a crowd estimated at over 70,000 gathered around and inside the capital building in Madison, Wisconsin to protest Governor Walker’s plan to strip public workers of their right to collective bargaining. This was day twelve of demonstrations against the governor’s proposal, approved by the Republican-dominated State Assembly in a vote that was permitted to only last a few seconds at 1:00 a.m. on Friday, February 25. This measure remains stalled in the Republican controlled Senate due to that body’s inability to achieve a quorum, as the Senate’s 14 Democrats continue their support of public workers in Wisconsin by their holdout from an undisclosed location in Illinois.

Another reason for the Democrats’ actions are too slow down movement of the bill to allow Wisconsin residents to learn more about its contents. For example it has now become known that a provision in the bill empowers the governor to "sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids." This has lead to speculation these provisions were included for financial benefit of the multi-billionaire Koch Brothers, owners Koch Industries significant donors to the Walker for Governor campaign.

Claims by the governor that his proposal was necessary due to budget problems were shattered when public worker unions agreed to meet the governor’s demand for an increase in pension and health benefit contributions in exchange for dropping the union busting portion of the bill. The governor has continued his refusal to compromise. Besides ending collective bargaining, other provisions in this measure would end union dues deductions from payroll and require public sector unions to be re-certified by their members each year. When the governor took office in January, Wisconsin had a surplus that he quickly turned into a deficit by enacting tax breaks for companies at a cost of $117 million. 

Attendance at the daily protests in Wisconsin’s capital has continued to increase since they began on February 12. In my 34 years as a member and officer in the APWU, I have never witnessed such a harmonious and diverse gathering of not only union people but really a cross section of everyday Americans coming together for a common cause – to stop the assault on the middle class. Amid chants of “Tell me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!; I say recall…you say Walker! and many others, as well as labor songs filling the cold Wisconsin air, there were: teachers, librarians, firefighters, police officers, bricklayers, prison guards, municipal workers, university professors, postal workers, electricians, laborers, painters, communication workers, teamsters, theatrical workers, democrats, republicans, former republicans, nonunion workers, small business owners, religious groups, retiree organizations, students, and many others all marching together in solidarity.

Although some mainstream media outlets reported that the daily gathering in Madison is comprised of a bunch of “union thugs,” myself and my wife Cathy along with APWU of Wisconsin Editor John Durben and his wife Mona were unable to find any thugs during the four hours we participated in the demonstration. On the contrary, everyone, and I mean everyone we encountered was friendly and courteous. Overall, the atmosphere was rather festive. It was also remarkable at the number of children and infants in attendance.

One could also not help notice the large number of offices and restaurants around the capital that are displaying messages of support for public workers and unions in their windows. Late last week a Madison radio station reported that since the demonstrations began, individuals from all 50 states and 52 foreign countries (in a show of support) have phoned pizza establishments near the capital ordering pizzas for the demonstrators.

While it is uncertain how the standoff in Wisconsin will end, one residual result is that the pushback from this incident could trigger the rebirth of the Labor Movement in America. Aside from the continuing demonstration in Madison, protests also took place in all 50 states this past weekend with more planned. Please visit the APWU website (www.apwu.org) for a listing of upcoming demonstrations and for a message from APWU President Guffey about the importance of APWU members lending their support by participating in these gatherings.

I invite you to visit the PPA website ( www.apwupostalpress.org) for a slide show of Saturday’s gathering in Madison. An extensive collection of photos are also posted in the “Photo Gallery” that can be found in the upper left column on the site’s main page. Also on the main page is a video of the Madison protest produced by onewisconsinnow.org.

In solidarity,

Tony Carobine

President, National APWU Postal Press Association

Click on photo to enlarge (Note: Subjects in photo L-R : John Durben, APWU of WI State Editor, Mona Durben, Cathy Carobine, National PPA APWU Postal Press President Tony Carobine)

Wisconsin Labor Jams Capitol To Resist Governor’s Attacks

Howard Ryan |  February 16, 2011

Wisconsin’s new Republican governor inadvertently issued a wake-up call to the state’s labor movement by announcing legislation February 11 that would crush public employee unions.

Scott Walker made the proposals just two days after similar measures were unveiled in Ohio.

Wisconsin’s labor movement and allies mobilized three days of emergency rallies in Madison, the state capital, ahead of an expected vote in the legislature February 17. Thirty thousand drumming, chanting protesters descended on the Capitol February 16. Some made plans to camp out there that night.

Building trades members planned to set up a grilling operation to feed bratwurst to workers and students there.

Madison schools had closed that day when about half the teachers called in sick. About 800 Madison high school students walked out of class and marched to join protests. University of Wisconsin students, who had planned an action around university funding, turned instead to workers’ rights and brought an estimated 1,000 protesters to the Capitol.

A thousand teachers and supporters stopped traffic as they walked from Wisconsin AFL-CIO headquarters to Walker’s house near Milwaukee. Two hundred protesters turned out when the governor spoke in Eau Claire.

A massive phonebanking and door-knocking campaign urged voters to contact the more moderate Republicans in the state senate. In the face of such massive resistance, Republican legislators signaled a willingness to back off late Wednesday.

A PART OF HISTORY

Jim Cavanaugh, president of Madison’s 90,000-member South Central Federation of Labor, described an outpouring of solidarity. An AFL-CIO news conference brought private sector union leaders to declare their support for embattled public employee unions.

In an email, Dave Poklinkoski, president of a utility workers local, said, “The breadth and depth of the solidarity at these rallies is beyond anything witnessed in Madison in living memory.” He invited friends to come “be a part of history.”

Walker would eliminate collective bargaining for public employees on all matters except wages. Any wage increase surpassing the consumer price index would have to be approved by voters. His plan calls for state employees to contribute much more to their pensions and health insurance costs—the equivalent of an 8 percent pay cut.

For good measure, Walker added that he had briefed the National Guard, so it would be ready to address any potential disruption of services caused by union protests. A veterans group slammed the governor, asking if he understood the military is not a “personal intimidation force to be mobilized to quash political dissent.” A spokesman later said soldiers would only replace prison guards.

Police and firefighter unions would be exempt from the new law. Both of Milwaukee’s uniformed unions endorsed Walker’s gubernatorial bid last year, leaving other unionists in the state muttering about backroom deals. But firefighters, to great applause, joined the throngs descending on the Capitol.

‘BUDGET REPAIR’

Walker is selling his anti-bargaining proposal as part of a “Budget Repair Bill” aimed at addressing the state’s immediate $136 million deficit as well as a larger deficit of $3.6 billion projected for the next two-year budget cycle. He says his proposals on health and pension contributions would save $30 million and help avert wide layoffs of state employees.

But AFSCME Council 24 points out that state employees have already sacrificed for years, taking unpaid furlough days and heavier workloads. Late last year, they offered a contract containing $100 million in concessions—an offer legislators rejected and the governor ignores.

The Economic Policy Institute think-tank said Wisconsin public employees actually earn 5 percent less in wages and benefits than private-sector counterparts, when workers with similar experience and education levels are compared.

Much of the governor’s proposal does not concern the state budget at all, but serves to cripple public employee unions. It would prohibit collecting member dues through payroll deductions and end any requirement that employees pay union dues at all. It would require union bargaining units to hold an annual certification vote in order to maintain representation.

Cavanaugh believes Walker may have overreached politically and that, assuming the immediate threat can be turned back, the labor movement can reap benefits.

“We’re getting a lot of people off their butts, seeing what these right-wing fanatics are capable of,” he said. “We’re achieving more union solidarity than we’ve seen in a long time.”

SOURCE: LABORnotes

Message from Labor Cartoonist Mike Konopacki

"For the last week, working people in Wisconsin have staged a rebellion against a brutal attack on the rights of workers by a governor and legislature dominated by sociopathic Republicans. These plutocrats want to destroy collective bargaining for all public employees and turn Wisconsin into a right to work state for private employees.

Gary Huck and I both grew up in Wisconsin. Gary was raised in Racine and I grew up in Manitowoc. Both towns are on the shores of Lake Michigan and both towns were manufacturing centers. Racine and Manitowoc were devastated by the Reagan recession of the 1980s and are still part of the Rust Belt. 

I've lived in Madison since 1971 when I came here to finish college. Wisconsin was the birthplace of Fightin’ Bob LaFollette, the founder of the Wisconsin progressive movement. Progressivism merged into the New Deal and Wisconsin was influential in the creation of laws and culture that respected working people. This is from the Wisconsin Historical Society : “Wisconsin's workers and reformers made significant contributions to the history of labor in the United States, helping to enact legislation such as workers' compensation and unemployment insurance that served as models for similar laws in other states. The study of labor history itself also began in Wisconsin when University of Wisconsin economist John R. Commons set out to document the history of work and labor in America at the turn of the twentieth century. Commons and his associates also joined labor leaders, the business community, and politicians to bring about some of Wisconsin's groundbreaking social policies.”

Wisconsin was also the birthplace of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, formed in 1932. They created what would later become Wisconsin State Employees Union/Council 24. We are proud to say that Council 24 is one of our subscribers. The progressive pro-labor culture dominated the state until the dismal 1950s when Joe McCarthy was elected and launched the McCarthy era of brutal repression of working people.

We are now experiencing another period of repression. The workers of Wisconsin know their history and know what is at stake. Again, robber barons are trying to destroy our traditions and the history that our forbearers fought and died for. We are determined to preserve our proud history and fight against the forces of decay.

In the election of 2008 we thought that change was coming. But change never comes from the top down. It comes from the bottom up. Allow me to use a football metaphor. The Green Bay Packers won this year’s Super Bowl. The Packers, the smallest market city in the NFL, are named after a meat packing plant in Green Bay. They are not owned by a plutocrat, they are a non-profit owned by the community. To Wisconsin, Packer football is as much a part of our tradition as the labor movement.

In the Super Bowl the team, devastated by injuries all season, lost two of their top players to injury in the first half. The game went back and forth, and in the fourth quarter the Packers found themselves in trouble. Kevin Greene, outside linebackers coach, pulled linebacker Clay Matthews aside and told him that the time had come to take control of the game. “It is time!” He said. Matthews helped cause a fumble that lead to victory.

For those of us who believe in dignity of workers, and believe in fighting for the least among us, IT IS TIME. Wisconsin workers are up to the challenge."

Wisconsinites organize to block Gov. Walker's unionbusting

Wisconsin is the state to keep an eye on this week, as Republican Gov. Scott Walker has declared open war on his state's public workers' unions.  Last week, Walker even went so far as to alert the National Guard to be ready in case of mass protests. Calling him the "cheesehead Pharaoh," writer Harold Meyerson compares Walker to autocrats like Hosni Mubarak, and wonders how far his repression of workers will go.

The response from the people of Wisconsin has been unequivocal: show teachers and state social workers and administrative staffers some respect and stop threatening them with budget cuts and the National Guard.  Students, teachers, firefighters, private sector union workers, and thousands more showed up Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at the state capitol building in Madison to stop Walker in his tracks.

There's a roundup of Wisconsin rally schedules and news reports over at We Party Patriots. At least two separate campaigns span across labor and progressive groups, and each has a Facebook and Twitter presence: StopScottWalker and NotMyWisconsin.  Check them out, and see if you think Walker will be able to stay true to his threat not to bargain with unions.

The scene yesterday inside the state capitol, Madison, WI. Photo by @millbot via Twitter.

Source: ILCA Insider Newsletter

What I Saw Today

By: Mike Tate

Today, I went to our Capitol and saw something more magnificent than the gilded bronze or the carved marble there. I saw average Wisconsinites standing up. I saw the rebirth of a movement. Nurses from Burnett County. Snowplow drivers from Shawano. Ironworkers from Waukesha. Firefighters from Madison. Union and non-union alike, from big cities like Milwaukee and Appleton, and small cities like Siren and Belmont.

All of them unified with one voice against Scott Walker's big-government power grab that's going on right now that threatens not merely public employees, not only members of the union movement that have made Wisconsin great, but every single person in this state.

Today and tomorrow, individuals and groups from all around the state are converging on the Capitol in an awakening that has rarely been seen in our state as Walker's overreach is being ramrodded through a lockstep Legislature.

Walker has shown political cowardice by using a budget bill to make radical policy, in this case ending seven decades of collective bargaining by public employees and using a divisive campaign against the nurses and lunch ladies, teachers and corrections guards that are our friends and neighbors.

I believe that what I saw today is just the beginning of a movement that will help stop Scott Walker's extreme and partisan efforts to roll back protections for the middle class and to stunt Wisconsin's modern economy.

What I saw today gave me great hope, and it should give you great hope, too.