Labor & Employment Law

Maddow: Half of Wisconsin Voters Want to Recall Walker

Posted on March 02, 2011
       Nearly half of Wisconsin?s voters want to recall Gov. Scott Walker after he launched attacks on public employees, workers, children, seniors and poor people.   Writing on Americablog, Gaius Publius discusses a segment on ?The Rachel Maddow Show? about Walker and the Republican attempt to re-brand their attacks on workers...

Killing Workplace Rights: ?Un-American?

Posted on March 02, 2011
  Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) gave a powerful statement this morning on the House floor in which he described the real agenda of anti-worker governors, state lawmakers and Republicans in Congress who are targeting America’s working families through the guise of budget-cutting...

Breaking: Ohio Senate Committee Approves Anti-Worker Bill

Posted on March 02, 2011
Breaking: An Ohio Senate committee voted 7-5 this morning to send Gov. John Kasich’s anti-collective bargaining bill, Senate Bill 5, to the full Senate for a likely vote this afternoon. Sen. Jim Hughes, a  Republican from Columbus, joined the four Democrats on the committee in voting against the bill...

Walker?s Budget Extends Attacks to Seniors, Children and the Poor

Posted on March 02, 2011
If you’re working for a living, going to public school, are a senior, need help with medical bills or are poor in Wisconsin, then Gov. Scott Walker has one word for you: Tough. But if you’re rich, his new state budget doesn’t ask you to sacrifice anything...

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Attacks on Workers in States Have Energized Working People

Posted on March 01, 2011
The attacks on public employees has energized working people across the country, motivating them and helping them to believe they are going to win their struggle to keep bargaining rights in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and  Indiana, says Katie Kistner, vice president of AFSCME Council 40 in Wisconsin...

Shook and Wise Named to Executive Council

Posted on March 01, 2011
    Veda Shook          The AFL-CIO Executive Council welcomed Veda Shook and Walter Wise as new members today. Shook took office Jan. 1 as president of the Flight Attendants-CWA, succeeding Patricia Friend, who retired, and also resigned from the Executive Council...

Wis. Sheriff: Deputies Are Not Palace Guards

Posted on March 01, 2011
Said at a press conference today by Dane County (Wis.) Sheriff David Mahoney, whose district includes the state Capitol:  he pulled his officers from a duty to guard the state Capitol building’s entrances yesterday after state officials closed the building to the public...

More Than 20,000 Rally in Ohio for Public Employees

Posted on March 01, 2011
    Thousands show up at the Ohio state Capitol for a committee hearing on Gov. John Kasich?s anti-worker bill.         More than 20,000 people turned out for a rally outside the state Capitol in Columbus, Ohio, today as the state legislature began hearings on Gov...

In Michigan, Attack on Workers and on Democracy

Posted on March 01, 2011
Jesse Sipe, Michigan State AFL-CIO field communications representative, sends us this report. While people around the world have been fighting for freedom and democracy, the Michigan legislature has recently taken a step in the opposite direction. The Michigan House of Representatives passed legislation that will greatly extend the powers of emergency financial managers (EFMs)...

So-Called Right to Work Laws Don?t Boost Jobs

Posted on March 01, 2011
Opponents of working families and their unions have been trying to ram so-called right to work laws through state legislatures. Such laws make it illegal for a group of unionized workers to negotiate a contract that requires each employee who enjoys the benefit of the contract to pay his or her share of the costs of negotiating and policing it...

Update: Judge to Hold Hearing on Capitol Closing

Posted on March 01, 2011
Here?s an update to the temporary restraining order this morning opening the Wisconsin state Capitol. Eddie Vale, the AFL-CIO?s political communications director on the ground in Madison, reports that the judge will hold a hearing this afternoon to hear arguments on the case...

Judge Orders Wis. Capitol Opened

Posted on March 01, 2011
This just in from Eddie Vale, AFL-CIO political communications director, on the ground in Madison, Wis.:   Chalk up another win for working families in Wisconsin as a judge just issued a temporary restraining order opening the Capitol building back up and ruling against Gov...

20,000 Expected at Ohio Statehouse to Rally for the Middle Class

Posted on March 01, 2011
Andy Richards, AFL-CIO field communications director in Ohio, sends us this report. More than 20,000 Ohio working families are expected to converge on the Statehouse in Columbus at 10 a.m. Tuesday for a ?Rally to Save Ohio?s Middle Class.? The massive rally, organized by middle-class Ohioans from all across the state, comes in response to the recently proposed Senate Bill 5, a blatant assault on middle-class working families?one in a series of attacks on the middle class across the country...

Check Out Live Stream of Ohio Rally NOW

Posted on March 01, 2011
Thousands of Ohio working families are at the Statehouse in Columbus for a “Rally to Save Ohio?s Middle Class.” Check out the live stream of the rally here.   The massive rally, organized by middle-class Ohioans from all across the state, comes in response to the recently proposed Senate Bill 5, a blatant assault on middle-class working families?one in a series of attacks on the middle class across the country.

Labor Secretary Solis: Time to Work Together to Solve State Budget Crises

Posted on March 01, 2011
Public employees, from nurses to teachers to firefighters and police officers, have made and will continue to make sacrifices to help close budget gaps. But some state leaders have gone too far, says U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. Budget sacrifices are one thing; demanding that workers give up their rights as union members?to take away their voice?is another, she says...

Walker?s Bill Killing Bargaining Rights ?Unconstitutional?

Posted on March 01, 2011
Milwaukee City Attorney Grant Langley says Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s bill, which includes taking away public employees’ bargaining rights, is unconstitutional because it would interfer with local autonomy. This from the Milwaukee BizTimes: In a letter to Milwaukee Alderman Joseph Dudzik, Langley stated, ?? in our judgment, the courts would find the statue unconstitutional on three grounds: first, that it unconstitutionally interferes with and intrudes upon the city?s home-rule authority over its pension plan; second, that given certain vested rights or benefits that have accrued to employees currently in the plan, the statute would constitute an unconstitutional impairment of contract rights under the state and federal constitutions; and third, given these same vested rights or benefits, the proposed statute would violate the due process clauses of the state and federal constitutions because it would abrogate the terms and conditions of the Global Pension Settlement.

New Poll: U.S. Public Opposes Weakening Bargaining Rights

Posted on February 28, 2011
The American public opposes weakening the bargaining rights of public employee unions by a margin of nearly two to one: 60 percent to 33 percent, according to a New York Times/CBS poll.  Those surveyed said they opposed, 56 percent to 37 percent, cutting the pay or benefits of public employees to reduce deficits...

Kasich Bill Would Hurt Ohio Communities

Posted on February 28, 2011
In a letter to Marietta (Ohio) Times, Willa O’Neill, assembly president of AFSCME Local 11, points out that Gov. John Kasich?s plan to eliminate the right of public servants to bargain for a decent life will hurt communities. O?Neill says public employees have been willing to make sacrifices...

If Voters Went to Polls Today, Walker Would Get Trounced

Posted on February 28, 2011
If Wisconsin voters could vote over today they’d support defeated Democratic nominee Tom Barrett over Scott Walker by a 52-45 margin, according to new poll to be released tomorrow.  The poll by Public Policy Polling shows the difference between how folks would vote now and how they voted in November...

Massey Security Chief Arrested, Indicted

Posted on February 28, 2011
The chief of security for the Upper Big Branch Mine has been arrested and charged with two felonies for allegedly lying to the FBI and obstructing justice in the investigation of the West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 29 miners last April. The Charleston Gazette reports that Hughie Elbert Stover was charged last week by a grand jury in an indictment that was unsealed today...

Union Solidarity at the Oscars

Posted on February 28, 2011
?The King?s Speech? may have ruled the Oscars last night, but union solidarity had a starring role in the remarks of several winners. According to the Associated Press, two awards recipients thanked their union crew ? shots at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker,  who wants to take away public employees? freedom to bargain...

Walker Welding Capitol Windows NOW to Keep Workers from Passing Food to Those Inside

Posted on February 28, 2011
This from AFL-CIO Political Communications Director Eddie Vale who’s on the ground in Madison, Wis. As we speak, Gov. Scott Walker & the Senate R?s are literally having the windows of the capital welded shut to keep people from passing food into the building to the people inside...

Washington Wrecks the Economy: More Evidence

Posted on February 28, 2011
This a cross-post from TPM by Dean Baker, economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. We now have even more evidence that inept policies from Washington are causing enormous suffering across the country. It is not quite the line that the right-wingers are pushing...

Danny Glover: This Is Organized Attack on the Middle Class

Posted on February 28, 2011
Actor and activist Danny Glover addressed a rally at the Indiana State Capitol today. Here?s some of what was said: It’s not simply your battle, it’s a battle that’s happening across the country. Workers across the country are being attacked, and we have to put an end to it...

AFSCME Members File Unfair Labor Practice Complaint Against Walker

Posted on February 28, 2011
Wisconsin public employees who are members of AFSCME Council 24 have  filed an unfair labor practice complaint with  the state labor board against Gov. Scott Walker.  The complaint alleges that since he took office, Walker has violated his legal duty to bargain in good faith...

Protesters Take Battle for Workers? Rights to Governors

Posted on February 28, 2011
  Governors from across the country got a clear message of worker solidarity Sunday morning as more than 1,000 working people and activists demonstrated their support for Wisconsin workers outside the annual conference of the National Governors Association in downtown Washington, D...

Kasich?s Plan Based on Faulty Math and Bad Economics

Posted on February 28, 2011
Ohio Gov. John Kasich released a “secret analysis” of his anti-worker bill to The Columbus Dispatch over the weekend. Writing on Plunderbund.com, Modernesquire writes that Kasich’s analysis is based on faulty math and bad economics. Read Modernesquire’s analysis here.

More Than 270 Lawmakers Oppose Taking Away Public Employee Bargaining Rights

Posted on February 28, 2011
    Members of the Alliance for Retired Americans rallied this week in Nevada to support public employee bargaining rights.          UPDATE: As of this morning, 284 state lawmakers have signed on in support of Wisconsin Senators, according to Progressive States Network...

Obama: Public Employees Should Not Be Vilified

Posted on February 28, 2011
This just in: President Barack Obama says public employees should not have their rights infringed upon as states look for ways to cut spending.  Speaking to the nation’s governors, Obama says he understands the fiscal challenges facing cash-strapped states and says everyone should be prepared “to give something up...

Officials Block Wisconsin State Capitol

Posted on February 28, 2011
This just in from Madison?check out the tweets below and follow the action in Wisconsin at the hashtags #wiunion, #notmywi and #wearewi. @EVale72: R’s are refusing to let anyone into the public, state capitol building. We’re looking into legal options/remedies...

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