Keyword: union
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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's top court weighed the budget repercussions of ruling on a pension dispute between Gov. Chris Christie and public workers' unions on Wednesday while one justice wondered if the state had engaged in a "bait and switch." The state Supreme Court probed whether the state has a contractual obligation to pay what it agreed to in a 2011 pension overhaul law and tried to get lawyers from both sides to explore whether such a finding would represent an overstepping of the courts' role and put it in the middle of the state budget process every...
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Gov. Scott Walker wants to make the most public fight of his administration a national issue should he run for president. In an interview with Radio Iowa, the Wisconsin Republican made the case for a national “right to work” law: “As much as I think the federal government should get out of most of what it’s in right now, I think establishing fundamental freedoms for the American people is a legitimate thing and that would be something that would provide that opportunity in the other half of America to people who don’t have those opportunities today.”Currently, twenty-five states have right-to-work...
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Two months ago, Michigan Capitol Confidential broke the story that the Lansing School District had allowed the president of the state's largest teachers union to remain on its payroll for years as part of a “pension spiking” scheme. Last week legislation was introduced in the state Senate to prohibit such schemes. As reported by Michigan Capitol Confidential, under an arrangement with the Michigan Education Association, the Lansing School District contributed $51,976 annually to the state-run school pension system on behalf of union president Steve Cook, and was then reimbursed by the MEA. The deal will let Cook collect a much...
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Fire Chief Deleted a Comment on a Scott Walker Pic But Forgot One Key Thing: The Internet is Forever This week, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin attended a ground-breaking ceremony for Werner Electric, a company that will bring nearly 100 jobs to the Badger state’s Grand Chute area. Walker commemorated the event with a Facebook post: Groundbreaking for 250,000 sq. ft. building at Werner Electric in Grand Chute. Expansion will create 97 new jobs. Image: Facebook Many comments in response to the post were positive:.... .....But not everyone was pleased: .....Perhaps the most intense criticism, however, came from another of...
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Imagine what would happen if we passed a law that required every elected representative in the U.S. to take a phone call from a minimum of 10 constituents a day (and I mean individual constituents, not lobbyists and interest groups). Under this law, representatives would also be evaluated by Likert scale surveys on how well they meet the needs of their constituent callers. Anytime survey scores slip below a certain numerical threshold of acceptability, the elected official is fired from office, regardless of the results of democratic election or the prescriptions of the state or federal constitutions. By such standards...
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AFL-CIO President Karla Swift told a group in Lansing on Tuesday that belonging to unions is the way women could get equal pay. One news site headline read: “Swift: Want Pay Equity Working Women? Join A Union!” Except, that’s not accurate, according to figures compiled by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Or at least not accurate in the literal sense that Swift and other speakers at the event have themselves used to frame the issue. When the different skill and experience levels of different workers and the jobs they do are considered it may be that Swift is...
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Wal-Mart faces a potential labor injunction from a union group asking the company to rehire all 2,200 employees affected by the abrupt temporary closing of five stores a week ago. One affected store, in Pico Rivera, California, has been a hotbed for worker protests against Wal-Mart. A union is asking labor regulators to go to court to force Wal-Mart to rehire all 2,200 employees affected by the abrupt temporary closing of five stores a week ago. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union filed the charge on behalf of OUR Walmart with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday,...
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A Democratic district attorney who has pursued Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker over alleged campaign finance violations told a fellow prosecutor that his crying wife, a union official, drove him to hunt the governor and his conservative allies because of his anti-union laws feared by organized labor. The explosive revelation came Tuesday as lawyers for Milwaukee DA John Chisholm began two days of oral arguments in a Chicago courtroom over earlier rulings that effectively ended his wide-ranging investigation. The investigation aimed to show that conservative groups were illegally working hand-in-hand with Walker's office when they ran 'issue ads' pressing the...
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Someone was pounding at her front door. It was early in the morning — very early — and it was the kind of heavy pounding that meant someone was either fleeing from — or bringing — trouble. “It was so hard. I’d never heard anything like it. I thought someone was dying outside.” She ran to the door, opened it, and then chaos. “People came pouring in. For a second I thought it was a home invasion. It was terrifying. They were yelling and running, into every room in the house. One of the men was in my face, yelling...
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In April of 2012, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) condemned laws requiring an individual to have a photo identification to vote in local, state and federal elections. “Eleven percent, or over 21 million, of American citizens do not possess a government-issued photo ID,” an IBEW article stated when discussing the argument that photo ID laws suppress voting. The union pointed the finger at “the ultraright” for pushing for photo identification as a requirement to vote. However, the same union has no problem demanding a photo ID for something as simple as a member wanting to leave it. Ryan...
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The union said its organizers encountered a “toxic environment” in South Carolina. Two organizers were threatened at gunpoint during home visits to gauge support and urge votes for unionization, and others reported “near-violent confrontations,” it said
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A community group aligned with Democrats is spearheading a rally near Gov. Scott Walker's home in Wauwatosa Monday afternoon to protest the goveror's proposed cuts to education budgets. The rally is planned for 4:30 p.m. at the Juneau Park Play Field, 6500 W. Mount Vernon Ave., with a "possible march to Governor Walker's Wauwatosa home," according to a news release from Wisconsin Jobs Now, which is part of the Schools & Communities United coalition.
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The AFL-CIO is ramping up its efforts this week to convince Congress to oppose giving the White House fast-track authority on trade. The labor group is holding events across the country as part of a “week of action” on trade. “The week of action will increase the political momentum and grassroots opposition to fast track the same week Congress is expected to begin consideration of a trade promotion authority bill,” the AFL-CIO said in a statement. Lawmakers, labor union leaders and their members will hold a rally Wednesday on Capitol Hill and follow that up with 50 grassroots events around...
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Unions continue their struggle to attract new members, according to a recent review by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nationally, membership in 2014 was down to only 11.1 percent of workers, while Michigan saw a 7.6 percent decline in membership. Why have unions been in decline and why are they not growing along with the rest of the economy? It may be because they are no longer offering services in a model that workers want. It could also be that the services they do offer are forced upon both employers and employees. As modern unions evolve away from compulsion, they...
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- South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley considers the bid to unionize workers at Boeing Co's North Charleston plant a threat to one of her state's corporate crown jewels, and she is turning to radio, speeches and social media to denounce the campaign. "We don't need their bully middleman tactics between our associates and their employer," she wrote on Twitter last month. It was a message in keeping with Haley's previous declarations that she is a "union buster" who wears high heels to kick out organized labor "thugs" seeking to gain a foothold in the state. The April 22 union vote...
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In one of the biggest cheating scandals of its kind in the U.S., 11 former Atlanta public school educators were convicted Wednesday of racketeering for their role in a scheme to inflate students' scores on standardized exams.The defendants - including teachers, a principal and other administrators - were accused of falsifying test results to collect bonuses or keep their jobs in the 50,000-student Atlanta school system.The educators fed answers to students or erased and changed the answers on tests after they were turned in to secure promotions or up to $5,000 each in bonuses, the court was told.However the person...
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UNITED FEDERATION OF HUMANITY LOCAL 15120 OFFICIAL GRIEVANCE FORM Grievance filed against: Steel Valley Education Association Grievance alleged: The union representing Park Elementary School teachers filed a cruel, insensitive, unnecessary and ultimately impotent grievance against Steel Valley School District. Said grievance involving a special needs student violates the compassion, decency and concern for others clauses of its collective bargaining agreement with the UFH, hereafter referred to as “humanity.” The grievance was incalculably unintelligent and an enormous public relations gaffe that casts Park teachers as complete cads. Those aren't explicit violations of the CBA but should be noted for the record....
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This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments re Texas’s refusal to allow Confederate flags to be stamped on license plates as part of a “Sons of Confederate Veterans” design. I wouldn’t ask sons of Confederate veterans to disown their ancestry; in fact, my mother’s mother’s family was Southern, and four of my great-great-grandfathers fought in the Confederate army. And I know that lots of Americans sincerely see the Confederate flag as a symbol of states’ rights — particularly because virtually no Confederate soldiers actually owned slaves. But, personally, I see the Confederate flag as the symbol of men who, as...
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After months of legal wrangling, the votes are in. Secretaries at Grand Rapids Community College have chosen to decertify the Michigan Education Association local and form their own union. Out of 95 members, 40 voted in favor of the new union, the Alliance of Professional Support Staff, while 28 voted to stay with the MEA and 3 chose no union. “We are free,” said election organizer, Penni Weniger. This is the second time in 15 months that a group of employees at a state college or university has broken ranks with the MEA. The first defection involved over 300 technology...
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When the current president of the state's largest teachers union worked for the Lansing School District more than 20 year ago, his job title was “paraprofessional.” That's a position that pays between $7.69 and $16.52 an hour, according to a recent union contract. But thanks to a special deal approved by the Lansing district in 1993 and allowed by a state law, Michigan Education Association President Steve Cook could retire and collect a government pension of up to $105,000 a year. That pension would come from the underfunded school employee retirement system, which is run by the state. That's because...
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