Senate to take up fair wage bill

From the AFT e-Activist Network:

Next week, the Senate will debate and consider legislation (H.R. 2831) to overturn and correct the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.

Lilly Ledbetter worked at Goodyear for nearly 20 years before she discovered that men in the same job were being paid more. The Supreme Court ruled that wage discrimination complaints must be filed within 180 days of the initial discriminatory salary decision, even if the victim is unaware of the discrimination until much later. This 5-4 decision by the Bush Supreme Court reversed decades of precedent on wage discrimination cases decided under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

The House already has passed the Fair Pay Restoration Act. The Senate will debate and vote on the bill next week—so there is not a moment left to lose!

It is now critical that the Senate take immediate action to reverse the Supreme Court’s assault on women’s right to sue by passing the Fair Pay Restoration Act. Urge your senators to support the Fair Pay Restoration Act (H.R. 2831)

Thank you for your advocacy on this important issue. Celebrate Equal Pay Day, April 22nd, by contacting your senators today!

McCain’s gas tax plan a holiday from common sense

A commentary by Jim Anderson:

John McCain has suggested a suspension of the Federal gasoline tax this summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  Tim Curry in an article over at MSNBC comments that “you may have heard the Republican presidential nominee propose something similar before — 12 years ago when the GOP nominee’s name was Dole, not McCain.” Curry also notes that “more recently, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, running for election in 2006, proposed the ‘The Menendez Federal Gas Tax Holiday Amendment . . . .’” 

Currently the Federal gas tax is 18.4 cents a gallon.  When gas is selling for about $3.50 a gallon, as it was around here today, that is about five percent of the cost.  The higher the price of a gallon goes, the smaller a percentage the fixed tax represents. If gas sells for $4.00 a gallon this summer, the Federal gas tax as a percentage will drop to 4.6 %.  The states also impose gas taxes, and generally all of the taxes go to support road construction and repair. So it is a user-fee; the more you drive, the more you pay.

McCain rightly describes the gas tax as “regressive.” The poor have to pay it to get to work, and it amounts to a higher percentage of their income than it would for the wealthy or middle-class. Normally, I am against regressive taxation, but I am willing to make an exception in the case of the gas tax.  First, high gas taxes (which the Fed tax is not) discourage gas consumption, and that is a good thing to do.  Second, gas taxes help support the transportation system. With an even higher Federal gasoline tax, we could even finance a decent mass transit system for the United States and its cities.  Then the poor could ride a less expensive train or bus to work.  So, instead of pandering to voters with his lame and recylced gas tax holiday idea, McCain ought to do the right thing and proposed a hike in the tax to the levels in Europe.  But he won’t because he is just another in a line of “cut taxes and keep on spending” Republicans.

 

Are we bitter?

A commentary by Jim Anderson:

Barack Obama has caused a political dust-up with a remark he made last week at a closed-door fundraiser in San Francisco. Speaking of working class Americans, he said: “And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

The pundits and Obama’spolitical opponents are citing the remark as evidence of his elitism. I agree that he is elitist, but do not see it as a big deal. FDR was an elitist, but got himself elected to the presidency four times, on a populist platform. Of course, that was in the days when the mass media consisted of newspapers and radio. So voters could not actually see FDR’s pince-nez, but they could hear it in his voice and that didn’t stop him. (Or was it Teddy Roosevelt who wore a pince-nez? Well, they were cousins, weren’t they? Close enough. I’m not going to cut a good line on account of historical fact.)

Anyway, that some people are calling a Harvard grad and law professor “elitist” does not strike me as interesting. It’s the “bitter” part of Obama’s remark that I want to focus on.

Are we bitter? Yes, we. I am including myself in the working class. It’s a little stretch, maybe, but I am the son of a working class family. I have lived most of my life in and around a prime example of an American working class city — Flint, Michigan. True, I am now a sort of academic, but at the same time a half-baked labor leader. I go to hockey games. My wife bowls. In my youth, I owned a gun — a beautiful Remington pump-action shotgun, which I used to blast ducks and geese from the sky, or tried to. In truth, I was not much of a wing-shot, and I have long since passed the gun onto a nephew.

Why did I hunt? Why did I own a gun? Because I had friends who did. Were we bitter? We were frustrated? It could be, but I don’t think our gun ownership was a response to anything other than it is hard to kill water fowl with your bare hands.

As for clinging to religion, I never did much. My people were not religious, except at the high moments like weddings and funerals. I married a Catholic, and I consented to having whatever children came out of the deal raised as Catholics, but I have never converted to Catholicism from the vague form of Christianity that I was born into. The Catholics are sticklers on believing in God. And not just any god, either. You either believe in their god or forget about it.

OK. On reflection, I am not the sort of working class person Mr. Obama was referring to. But I think I know lots of such people, and better than he does. I don’t think their gun ownership or their belief in God is a reaction to bitterness and frustration. However, their supposed “antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment,” to the extent that it exists, probably is an emotional response to the changing circumstances of their lives. I can agree with Obama on that.

The working class see their jobs and livelihoods going overseas, cities like Flint becoming ghost towns, and they wonder who or what is to blame.

If not bitter, we’re at least pissed off.

Links:

Obama: “I didn’t say it as well as I should have” CNN

“Obama tries to temper ‘bitter’ comment” Washington Post

Trickle down

Artist: Mike Konopacki

 Source: AFT

Turn Around America

From the Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO:

The AFL-CIO is launching the Turn Around America Online Video Competition to engage and inspire people like you from across the country to tell us how they’d turn our country around.

Click here to submit your short video today!

Click here for official Turn Around America Online Video Competition rules and guidelines:

Most winners will receive cash prizes and selected videos will be featured in television ads.

Our panel of celebrity judges will pick several of the winners, while visitors to the website will choose the recipient of the “Our America” award.

Lobby Day

AFT-Michigan is sponsoring its annual Lobby Day on Tuesday, April 22nd at the Lansing Center in Lansing. The day begins with a briefing at 10:30 am, followed by lunch and the opportunity to meet with members of the state House and Senate. This is an excellent opportunity to discuss various education issues with our elected representatives. Please contact Carol Hogan (clhogan@umd.umich.edu) if you would like more information on this event, or would like to participate in this or other issues-based activities.

AFT urges members to oppose Columbia FTA

From the AFT e-Activist Network:

Over the objections of the House and Senate leadership, the president has submitted the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to Congress for its consideration.

The AFT strongly opposes moving forward on the Colombia FTA, based on our deep concern about the plight of trade unionists in that country. In 2007 alone, 39 Colombian trade unionists were murdered. The Colombian government continues to systematically undermine union members’ rights. These trade unionists operate in a climate of constant fear and intimidation. A recent AFL-CIO report shows the combination of ongoing assassinations, death threats and violence against union members and their families creates an environment for trade unionists that makes it impossible for them to fully and confidently exercise their freedom to form unions, bargain collectively, go on strike or criticize the government.

Recession: the rich get richer

Artist: Mike Konopacki
Source: AFT

AFL-CIO says “Stop the Columbia FTA”

From the Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO:

With the U.S. economy in near free fall, President Bush has sent the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to Capitol Hill–Bush wants to force a vote before he leaves office next January.

The all-out, nationwide mobilization to let members of Congress know that working Americans oppose [has begun.]

As the fight gears up, we need to know whose side your members of Congress are on.

Call your senators and representative today to ask if they will side with workers and oppose the Colombia FTA. The call is toll free:

1-866-338-5720

We need you to report back to us–click here to let us know how your lawmakers will vote:

http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/d1qz8261cqPB/

The deal is wrong for workers in both countries.

Bush has made passing this agreement a priority, even though it will do next to nothing for the failing U.S. economy.

The Colombia FTA represents a continuation of the Bush administration’s failed trade policies, an agenda that has contributed to the loss of more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2000, skyrocketing trade deficits and shrinking paychecks.

Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for union members–39 trade unionists were murdered in 2007 and another 17 to date in 2008. Of the more than 2,500 murders of trade unionists since 1986, only some 70 cases–about 3 percent–have resulted in convictions.

Balanced trade agreements must guarantee the right to organize, lift the lives of workers in both countries and prevent exploitation. But this can’t happen in a country where workers who try to organize are killed.

Colombia’s government has thwarted workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively–by weakening labor protections, refusing to register legitimate unions and failing to enforce the law against anti-union discrimination.

Remember to call your representative and senators today. Tell them to oppose the Colombia FTA: 1-866-338-5720.

In solidarity . . .