Protests Against GOP Plot to

Crush Unions Mount Nationwide

IN OHIO: Thousands Gather to Protest Bill

(Reuters) - Thousands of people picketed the state Capitol on Tuesday to protest a bill to cut collective bargaining rights for state workers.

In a local repeat of an issue that has roiled Wisconsin over the last two weeks, state Republican leaders say the bill is necessary to address the state's budget problems, while union leaders say it is designed to hurt unions.

"The intent is to give taxpayers a seat at the negotiating table," said Jason Mauk, spokesman for Ohio Senate Republicans.

Introduced in late January, the bill was scheduled for a state Senate Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Ohio's bill goes farther than Wisconsin's in some ways, Mauk said. While Wisconsin's bill allows collective bargaining on wages, up to the rate of inflation, for state workers, the Ohio bill prohibits collective bargaining for 42,000 state workers in addition to 19,500 workers in the state's university and college system.

This would end a right established in 1983 for Ohio's public-sector workers.

For local governments that bargain with unions representing some 300,000 workers including police, firefighters, and public school teachers, the bill removes health care and some other benefits from the negotiating process.

Like Wisconsin, Ohio has a new Republican governor and Republican majorities in both legislative houses.

"What's happening in Ohio is similar to what's happening in Wisconsin," said Joseph Slater, professor of law at the University of Toledo College of Law.

Slater said there is no correlation between whether a state gives collective bargaining rights to workers and whether they have a deficit. (Read rest of article)

IN WISCONSIN: A Summary

The Huffington Post's Lila Shapiro has put together a great report that summarizes the Wisconsin situation so far and highlights many of the issues involved:

MADISON, WI -- On Friday, February 11th, at the same hour that the world watched the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resign his post, the newly appointed Republican Governor of Wisconsin quietly launched a ferocious attack on public sector unions -- and the very notion of organized labor in America.

For nearly fifty years unions have sought to safeguard and advance their rights through a process known as collective bargaining, which is the the most powerful tool labor has for peacefully resolving disputes and ensuring workers a voice in negotiations on everything from fair wages to safety conditions and sick leave.

The bill championed by Wisconsin's governor takes dead aim at this process by stripping most state workers of many of their collective bargaining rights. Union leaders have responded uproariously, claiming that the bill effectively guts public unions of their most critical asset in a state that pioneered many of the fundamental fights for worker's rights. Political chaos has ensued on both sides. State Democrats fled the state last week to prevent a vote on the legislature, while many Republican governors -- some who already have similar bills on the table -- watch carefully to see, if the bill succeeds, how they might pass anti-union legislature in their own states. Read full story

IN INDIANA: Indiana Workers Protest Labor Bill

(WSJ) INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—The fight over limiting organizing and bargaining of public-sector workers spread from Wisconsin, where a week long battle remains unresolved, to Indianapolis Monday where thousands of steelworkers, auto workers and others surrounded the state capital to protest a right-to-work labor bill that passed a committee of the Republican-controlled House, prompting discussion of a walkout by Democrats.

The Indiana bill, which would change state law so that private-sector workers no longer are required to pay dues or belong to a union that bargains on their behalf, now goes to the full House, which would need two-thirds or 67 of the 100 House members present to vote.

Republicans hold a 60-40 lead in the Indiana House and need a two-thirds quorum to vote on legislation.

Democratic Rep. David L. Niezgodski said that leaving to stymie a quorum "is absolutely an option we have."

About 22 states, mostly across the South, have such laws. In Indiana currently, if a union bargains for a group of workers at an employer, all workers covered by the contract must belong to the union. Proponents of the bill say it would create jobs while opponents say it would drive down wages. The bill would exempt members of the construction industries, whose unions and management argued that the unions play a critical role in training and apprenticeships. (Read rest of article)

Related Article:
Protests Against Union-Busting Bill Sweep Midwest


B4B NOTE: The GOP plot to crush unions is but one segment of their overall diabolical scheme. They will also push for new laws allowing states to file bankruptcy which will disband union pay/benefit agreements, forcing workers to work for less pay. State bankruptcies will also force the layoffs of millions of teachers, police, fire and others nationwide. Also, pensions will be in jeopardy if state bankruptcies are allowed....another goal in their overall plot. The bottom line GOP goal is to force Americans to have to work....LITERALLY...for Chinese wages. They MUST BE STOPPED ! Lastly....ALL of this would have been avoided had my fellow whiny Dems just voted in the midterm elections.....but instead, they simply de-energized, handing over the power to the evil side. Still A Shame !!!

Next ?
The GOP's destruction of America's Public School Systems.

The Time Is NOW....
To UNITE....and FIGHT !!!!

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Federal Homelessness Program
Runs Out of Money as Need Rises

While all of the media focus is currently on Egypt....
time to focus on the needs right here at home. (B4B)

Article By: Laura Basset (HuffPo)

WASHINGTON -- Homelessness has significantly risen in the U.S. as a result of surging foreclosures and joblessness caused by the recession, but a new federal program designed to nudge people back from the brink of life without shelter is on the brink itself.

A new report, released by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty on Jan. 26, found that a homelessness prevention and re-housing program funded by the 2009 stimulus bill needs more money to meet rising need. Instead, the program will likely be left out of the new federal budget.

In response to the 20 percent increase in foreclosures that occurred from 2008 to 2009, the Department of Housing and Urban Development used $1.5 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to create the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), which helps keep people in their apartments by subsidizing their rent.

The program is quickly running out of money, however, and having a number of administrative difficulties trying to keep up with demand. In Detroit, for instance, about 50,000 people filled out applications for only 3,500 grants on the first day the money was available, and a number of major U.S. cities have already used up more than 80 percent of their allotted funds, which were supposed to last until 2012.

When the NLCHP report surveyed local service providers and legal assistance organizations to determine the overall effectiveness of the program, about 61 percent said that "program bureaucracy" resulted in over half of people applying for HPRP not receiving assistance. About half of the respondents said there was no clear appeals process to give people a second chance when their initial application was denied, and in many communities, eligible families were not even aware of the program because of a lack of outreach efforts.

Sheila Crowley, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, told HuffPost she is not surprised the program is having difficulties meeting demand because it was only supposed to be an emergency band-aid for victims of the recession.

"The program was basically created fairly quickly, and the idea was to put some cash into the hands of the service providers in communities who are there when people knock on the door and say, 'I'm about to be evicted,'" she said. "It's a program that was seen as a one-shot deal in response to what, in 2009, people hoped was a short-term crisis. Here we are two years later, and unemployment is still high, and foreclosures continue, so it's sort of the story of what happens when you do programs like that." (read rest of article)

B4B NOTE: Now that the Republicans control the purse-strings of America, thanks to my fellow Dems not turning out to vote in the midterm elections this past November, there will be a vital need to pressure and DEMAND Congress to re-fund homeless programs which will literally save lives of Americans in need.

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Why America Feels Like It's Been
Ruled By A Foreign Occupier

By John Hallmann

As Obama takes over the wreckage this country is in, one can't help but feel like something alien to America has been controlling it these past eight years. The wave of emotion that has erupted with the election of Barack Obama reminds me of the Allied victory in France in WWII. After a long foreign occupation in which foreign German interests occupied the agenda of France, French governance would once again be representing the concerns of it's populace. That hope seems to pervade America after it's long neocons occupation. Here are a few of the parallels that I see.

- American Public Opinion Has Been Ignored

Polling has consistently shown that the American government pursues an agenda far to the right of American public opinion. For the slight margin of victory that Bush had in both elections he won, the sweeping changes he pursued illuminate his disregard for the sizable chunk of our society that disagree with him.

When Dick Cheney was questioned on ABC about whether the fact that two thirds of Americans were opposed to the Iraq War had any influence on decision-making, he basically said that the American people get to make their input every four years and after that they can be ignored. The government is there to represent the people and now that it seems like that is returning; joy is understandable.

- Core American Values Overturned

America fought a revolution to have its opinions represented by it's government. That has faded in Bush's term. America set up the UN after World War II to set up international law and put an end to military aggression and imperialism. That went out the window. Habeas Corpus was inherited from England where it originated in the 12th Century. Bush in that sense has embraced the morals of the middle ages. Along that line, America reinstituted the use of torture. England discontinued its use in the 1600's Frederick the Great ended it in Prussia in 1740, Italy in 1786, France in 1789, and Russia in 1801. Besides moral reasons, the practice was written off as ineffective in terms of yielding useful information. This administrations moral conduct is clearly alien to the values of most Americans.

- Basic Infrastructure Neglected

Bridges, roads, and environmental standards have degraded these past eight years. What could be of more interest to a population than the upkeep of these vital elements of society? Clearly the vital interests of the population did not matter. You would have to be completely foreign to what America is not to see it, as basic infrastructure degraded tremendously in Bush's tenure.

- National Resources Diverted Overseas

If you study any foreign occupation, one common thread would be that national wealth would be diverted into foreign lands. While American healthcare, education, and infrastructure languished, we dumped billions of dollars into Iraq and pursued an otherwise aggressive and destructive foreign policy across the world at large at tremendous cost.

On top of that, national debt doubled the past eight years. It's like America lost a war, suffered an occupation and had to pay a 5 trillion dollar indemnity. We're in a similar position to France in 1870 or Germany in 1919 in that our common interests have been ignored, we've pursued an aggressive foreign policy to our own detriment and we are now deeply in debt.

- Propaganda Tuned Up

Bush took the stance of a foreign occupier in his governance- rational argument would never win the minds and hearts of the masses so crude propaganda such as Fox News was trotted out to scare and paralyze America into obedience. The same quest for obedience through misinformation and crude scare tactics are the same you see in the totalitarian governments from South America to Asia that have brought nothing but misery to their own people and the world at large. (HuffPo)

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