arberagl01: This week in the war on workers

Saturday, July 2, 2011

The economy continues to work for the wealthy, not for working- and middle-class people:

Corporate profits over wages:
In fact, from the time the recession ended in June 2009 until the end of the fourth quarter of 2010, national income grew by $528 billion. But, the report states, "corporate profits captured 88 percent of the growth in real national income while aggregate wages and salaries accounted for only slightly more than 1 percent." The rest went to net interest, rental income and proprietors' income.
Child poverty is near 25%, but Republican are saving their outrage for President Obama's suggestion to close a tax loophole on corporate jets.

In case you've missed it, things are ugly in the states:

State and local governments are expected to lay off tens of thousands of employees in coming months.
Republicans forced Minnesota's government to shut down in order to prevent a tax increase on the state's 7,700 wealthiest people. The shutdown has more than 20,000 state and local workers out of work.
Philadelphia's Mayor Michael Nutter (D) vetoed a paid sick-day bill, which the City Council had passed earlier in the month. Paid sick leave is, of course, not just an issue for the workers who currently have to go to work sick or lose pay. It's a public health issue, as sick people are forced to go out and spread their germs.
In a spot of good news, Connecticut had recently become the first state to mandate paid sick days.
The Michigan legislature is targeting unemployed people and teachers.
Mother Jones on Jerry Brown 2.0:
But this time, Jerry Brown came down on the side of the bosses. On Tuesday, he vetoed the the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act.
He had signed the original 1975 act at a press conference with much fanfare. Jerry Brown 2.0 rejected the 2011 bill hidden away in his office, accompanying the veto with a weasely memo. In that sad document, the onetime-firebrand wrings his hands over the possibility of "drastic changes" to the state's farm-labor law.
Ohio passed a disastrous budget and Florida cut unemployment insurance.

On the bright side:

Democrats went on the offensive on the economy. President Obama, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid all made forceful arguments against the Republican agenda of tax cuts for millionaires and no jobs for working people.
Damn the NLRB. It's back at it?doing its job, that is. After a two-month investigation, it filed a complaint against Pocono Medical Center for, among other things, firing an employee for calling it out for a contract violation. And after a three-month investigation, it filed a complaint against reality TV studio ITV?maker of shows like Steven Seagal: Lawman?for firing a producer who supported a union organizing drive by the Writers Guild of America, East.
A motion by Boeing to dismiss the NLRB's case against it was denied by a judge.
The campaign to repeal Ohio's anti-collective bargaining SB 5 delivered nearly 1.3 million signatures to the secretary of state to force a referendum on the bill.
The AFL-CIO and Building Trades announced a five-year, $10 billion investment of pension funds in job-creating infrastructure projects.

arberagl01