American Rights at Work just released two new fact sheets to showcase more failures of our current labor law system in protecting workers. The first, “The Inadequate Costs of Labor Law Violations,” exposes the inadequate penalties employers face for violating the National Labor Relations Act — particularly in comparison with the penalties that employers face for breaking other types of employment law.

The second, “The Haves and the Have Nots: How American Labor Law Denies a Quarter of the Workforce Collective Bargaining Rights,” exposes how outdated labor law system denies millions of Americans the opportunity to join unions and thus bargain collectively with their employers. Appallingly, 33.5 million, or 23.8% of the civilian workforce, have no collective bargaining rights under the NLRA or other labor law.

As the national economy continues to spin downward, the need for Congress to take bold action in providing support for state and local governments continues to build. This week, 375 of the nation’s leading economists – including Nobel Laureates Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Solow, and George Akerlof – called on Congress to quickly put $300 to $400 billion into the economy or risk even worse unemployment and a deeper recession.

According to a letter sent by the economists to Congressional leaders:

“The latest data clearly show that the economy is entering a serious recession, initiated by the collapse of homebuilding and intensified by the paralysis of credit markets. Without a fast and effective response by government, the economy could continue to spiral downward, leading to a large increase in unemployment and a sharp decline in GDP.”

Stiglitz and his fellow economists reject the notion that providing help to the unemployed and to states and localities whose budgets are being squeezed would raise interest rates and deter private investment. “It is far more likely that an effective stimulus package will promote investment,” they told Congress, “by improving prospects for higher sales and profits.

Download the entire letter in support of immediate, bold federal assistance (40k PDF).

This entry by AFSCME President Gerald McEntee was originally posted on The Huffington Post.

Right-wing critics of public employee pensions will use any angle to convince folks that these plans are bankrupting states, cities and towns. In the Wall Street Journal this week, Steve Malanga blames pension plans for today’s economic difficulties and in the same piece urges governments to sell off their assets.

Malanga fails to mention that most public pension plans are in good financial condition and does not note that states built up rainy-day funds and cut taxes during this time. It’s a fact that most of us are required to contribute to our plans regularly, and our contributions, along with our employer’s, are invested to earn additional income. While the economic downturn has caused some dips in funds, estimates of the ratio of pension assets-to-liabilities for state pension plans indicate that they are in good shape. Most plans have diversified their investments so the impact of today’s market losses is softened. Over the last twenty years, most pension funds have had a good rate of return, even during downturns, because they keep fees low and use professionals to routinely beat market benchmarks.

Pension funds, with assets from employers and employees, are an essential part of this nation’s capital market, particularly at a time of economic crisis such as the one we are currently facing. Public employees have sacrificed pay increases and made contributions in order to ensure that their pension plans are adequately funded. And governments have also been prudent about building up their reserves — as of July 2007, state rainy day funds stood at 10% of total budgets, which would have been sufficient to deal with a moderate cyclical recession. Of course, what we’re seeing is far worse.

The truth is that in these times of real budget challenges, pensions make good economic sense. Pensions put money into the economy, offer real retirement security to workers, and allow government employers to recruit and retain a quality workforce to make the vital public services that America relies on happen. The investments made by pension funds have helped make America work and can help turn our economy around in the days and months ahead.

Most Americans recognize that today’s government challenges are the result of an economic downturn rivaling that of the Great Depression and a Bush Administration that willfully ignored the economic problems. Malanga himself acknowledges several times in the piece that “rapidly declining tax collections” are the cause of the states’ budget problems. Yet this fact is ignored in the diagnosis and prescription of the fiscal crisis we are in.

Malanga also argues for privatization of roads and other public goods. The solution is not privatization, which all too often means that the public pays more and gets lower quality services while public workers are laid off and corruption scandals make the news. Americans need quality public services and efficient governments that help achieve real progress for communities. While some view selling public assets like toll roads to private firms as a panacea for infrastructure investment, the public is fiercely — and rightly — opposed to selling our roads for the pursuit of private profit.

Public pensions are providing benefits for the economy, retirement security and taxpayers. As states find their budgets under pressure, it is important that states put in place procedures and practices that will mitigate against rosy projections regarding investment income and provide a means to pay for the benefits their employees have earned.

While improvements can always be made, pensions are not the problem. The economy is the problem, and the President and Congress need to take real steps to revitalize the economy and help the American people.

This entry by AFSCME President Gerald McEntee was originally posted on The Huffington Post.

The election of Barack Obama and a new Congress demonstrated that the American people are hungry for real change. The vast majority want policies that are neither left nor right. Instead they want change that moves the country forward and solves the problems they face every day. The American people spoke loudly and clearly on Election Day: They want a government that’s innovative and effective.

In response to the Bush administration that has told Americans “you’re on your own” for the last eight years, voters said “No we’re not, we’re in this together and it’s time for a change.” Americans are demanding that government be a force for creating opportunity and prosperity, supporting and protecting our families, and strengthening our communities. That’s how we will come together to improve the communities where we live, work and raise our families. Government helps us to achieve those things we can’t do alone.

On November 4, voters demanded a government that says “Yes We Can.”

Nowhere is that more apparent or important, than in the urgent need to guarantee quality, affordable health care every one can count on. Health care reform is a vital part of rebuilding the economy and expanding America’s middle class. We have to do it now – precisely because economic times are so tough.

The Health Care for America Now! campaign has begun airing a television advertisement featuring President-elect Barack Obama’s speech last month when he said: “The question isn’t how we can afford to focus on health care – but how we can afford not to. Because in order to fix our economic crisis, and rebuild our middle class, we need to fix our health care system, too.”

He could not be more right. And it’s this boldness in his thinking that won him the confidence of the American people.

Health care costs are a huge economic issue and one of the top concerns of American families. As I talk to workers across the country, everyone is feeling the pinch. Health insurance premiums are going up three times faster than pay, with many working families shouldering a growing share of those costs. They are paying more and getting less – while being forced to fight with insurance companies to get the care they need and get their bills paid.

A new study demonstrates conclusively that health care reform and jumpstarting the economy go hand in hand. It shows that in 2007 our economy lost as much as $207 billion because of the ill effects of poor health and shortened life spans caused by lack of insurance, not to mention the pain felt by those directly impacted.

This is only going to get worse unless we do something now. The study also finds that without changes, the cost of a family’s health insurance will rise so much that by 2016 half of American families “would need to spend more than 45 percent of their income in order to secure health insurance for themselves and their families.” We must reform our health care system now to assist working families, to fix the economy, to address the squeeze on state and local government budgets, and to help American businesses struggling to compete while paying for health care benefits for their employees.

Our health care system is broken and it’s hurting everyone. We need a system that guarantees quality, affordable health care for all. Responsible businesses are willing to pay their fair share toward employee health care, and Americans recognize that government must be an advocate to keep costs low and quality high. As our economy goes through the worst crisis since the Great Depression, the need for reforming our health care system is more important than ever.

Gov. Gregoire with a WFSE supporter.

In addition to celebrating Gov. Chris Gregoire’s re-election victory, the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE)/AFSCME Council 28 has something else to cheer about: the WFSE Political Blog was singled out by the Democratic Governors Association website for its excellent roundup of endorsements in the state’s gubernatorial match-up.

Council 28 also regularly updates their Federation Hotline blog with news affecting WFSE members, maintains a photo collection on Flickr and posts online videos to their channel on YouTube.

American Rights at Work has launched a new television ad promoting the Employee Free Choice Act just in time to greet members of Congress returning to D.C. after a hard-fought campaign season.

Voters made it clear they want action taken to strengthen the middle class, and the Employee Free Choice Act is a critical part of the economic recovery we need. By restoring the freedom to form unions, this bill will help America’s workers get better health care, job security, and benefits.

Over 60 percent of the public as well as a majority of the incoming Congress support the measure, and it was cosponsored by both President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden. Talking Points Memo reports that the ad, part of a broad effort to gain support for the Employee Free Choice Act and get it passed, started airing on Sunday and will run nationally on CNN, MSNBC and CNN Headline for three weeks.

Visit FreeChoiceAct.org/AFSCME for more information on the Employee Free Choice Act and to join the fight to pass this important piece of legislation.

The Bush Administration has just issued new rules for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which are designed to make it harder for workers to use leave when they need to take care of themselves or family members.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney issued the following statement on these new regulations:

Today’s eleventh-hour move by the Bush Administration to weaken the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is another slap in the face to working families who are struggling just to get by in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis. It’s reprehensible – but all too predictable – that the Bush Administration would use its final days in office to give business interests one more gift by placing more hurdles in front of workers who need to care for their families.

Since the FMLA’s inception in 1993, workers have taken the leave they needed more than 100 million times, making it one of the most successful pro-worker laws in history. While the regulations implementing the new FMLA provisions on military family leave are largely viewed as a positive step, the Administration could have been more generous, and there is still work to be done to make sure that military families get the help they need. The other revisions would generally restrict workers’ ability to access paid leave without putting their jobs at risk.

Given the worsening economic situation facing families, we should be talking about how to expand successful laws like the FMLA to provide workers more job security and flexibility to deal with urgent family situations, not less.

Read more at the AFL-CIO Now blog.

From Americans United for Change comes this wrap-up of the coast-to-coast Bush Legacy Tour.

Bush Legacy Bus

42 States, 23,549 miles, and 150 stops later, progressive issue-advocacy group Americans United for Change today officially decommissioned its 45 foot long, 28 ton Bush Legacy Bus, bringing an end to a successful national tour launched near the White House on June 24th.

In an historic year, one that supporters of President George W. Bush dubbed his “legacy year,” the Bush Legacy Bus, a museum-on-wheels featuring several interactive exhibits on how eight years of Bush-conservative governance harmed our national security while sacrificing so many important key domestic priorities, was visited by tens of thousands of Americans throughout the country and was seen and heard on local television, radio and newspapers by millions more, with a “Cumulative Est. Publicity Value” of over $2.5 million, according to Critical Mention media service.

The majority of the tour stops took place near the hometown constituent offices of President Bush’s conservative backers in Congress — including stops in 51 battleground congressional districts and 33 battleground Senate states — where Members’ record of voting in lock step with Bush’s failed policies were spotlighted, including Senator Sununu (NH), Senator Smith (OR), Rep. Walberg (MI), Rep. Knollenberg (MI), Rep. Chabot (OH), Rep. Keller (FL), Rep. Feeney (FL), Rep. Drake (VA), Senator Dole (NC), Representative Porter (NV), Representative Sali (ID), Representative Kuhl (NY), Rep. Hayes (NC), Rep. Musgrave (CO), and Rep. English (PA).

Jeremy Funk, of Americans United for Change:

“It is our hope that the Bush Legacy Project helped extinguish any future effort of supporters of this President to try to redefine and reenvision the Bush legacy as anything less than a disaster. But this effort wasn’t just about Bush – it was about the conservative ideology he and his allies in Congress represented. Conservative ideology rails against government, argues that government is the problem, not the solution. So when a government run by conservatives is faced with the most important responsibility any government has – to protect its citizens – is it any wonder you wind up with a tragedy of epic proportions like Hurricane Katrina?”

“It is our hope that conservative ideology as a governing philosophy is now itself history,” continued Funk. “Conservatives had it their way in Washington for 6 years, and today, we’re facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression thanks to their insistence on irresponsible government deregulation, misguided tax breaks for the rich, and marching the nation into a $3 trillion, bloody and needless war in Iraq. Since Bush took office, 7 million more Americans are without health insurance and the cost of healthcare, groceries, medicine, and gas has exploded. Tens of thousands of Americans each week are losing their jobs, their homes, and their dignity. The big oil, drug and insurance companies had an all-access pass to this White House and the Republican-controlled Congress while middle-class Americans families were left behind. Millionaires and big corporations that outsourced U.S. jobs were handed more and more tax breaks that never managed to ‘trickle-down’ to anyone else. Enough was enough. The American people delivered their verdict on the Bush-conservative legacy on November 4th, and it is our hope that we helped create an enduring progressive majority that will continue to offer real solutions the American people have been looking for to provide quality and affordable healthcare for all, move the economy forward, and keep the eye on the ball of real threats to our national security.”

The Bush Legacy Bus visited symbolic and historic sites like the Superdome, Bush’s home away from home in Crawford, TX, both the Democratic and Republican national conventions, “The Birthplace of the Republican Party,” Mt. Rushmore, the St. Louis Arch, the Alamo, the Grand Canyon, and the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee. The bus even ran into Senator John McCain’s ‘Straight Talk Express’ during our travels… twice.

A number of groups have sponsored or partnered with AUFC on the Bush Legacy Bus, including Center for American Progress Action Fund, AFSCME, SEIU, AFL-CIO, VoteVets.org, MoveOn.org Political Action, Healthcare for America Now and American Rights at Work, among others.

When President-elect Barack Obama came to the AFSCME Convention in 2006, he spoke about the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike. It’s a story, he said, of ordinary people making “the extraordinary decision that if we stand together, we rise together” and “achieve extraordinary things.”

What those workers in Memphis fought for, Obama pointed out, is the idea that we have a collective responsibility to each other, “to fight for wages that can raise a family, health care if we get sick, a retirement that’s dignified, working conditions that are safe.”

That AFSCME strike was a milestone in the history of our country, when the labor and civil rights movements came together to demand basic rights and respect for all working men and women.

Last Tuesday’s election was another milestone in building an America that lives up to its ideals. People rose up, volunteered enthusiastically to campaign for change, unify our nation and make history. Just like the AFSCME sanitation workers who walked off the job to bring about change, millions of Americans voted Nov. 4 to move our nation forward with an agenda that values workers and their families.

The strike in Memphis may have ended nearly forty years ago, but the march goes on today. There are many battles yet to be won.

Michael Honey, author of a book on the Memphis Strike, notes that “Obama’s campaign proved that ordinary people do extraordinary things when working together. His dramatic and joyful election victory affirmed the power of organizing.”

He adds:

“Now it’s time for phase two: for churches, unions, community groups and other organizations to demand action from government. President Obama will need us to support him and to push to fulfill our hopes and promises. We need to take the next steps to make real the promise of a revitalized democracy. That won’t happen without mass citizen involvement. As King would tell us, we still need to organize.”

At his first press conference since winning the election, President–elect Barack Obama indicated his support for addressing the state fiscal crisis.

“Immediately after I become President, I will confront this economic crisis head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity. …

“First, we need a rescue plan for the middle class that invests in immediate efforts to create jobs and provides relief to families that are watching their paychecks shrink and their life savings disappear. A particularly urgent priority is a further extension of unemployment insurance benefits for workers who cannot find work in the increasingly weak economy. A fiscal stimulus plan that will jump-start economic growth is long overdue – and we should get it done.

“Second, we must address the spreading impact of the financial crisis on other sectors of our economy: small businesses that are struggling to meet their payrolls and finance their holiday inventories; and state and municipal governments facing devastating budget cuts and tax increases.”

Just over a month ago, President Bush and Senate Republicans blocked movement on an economic recovery bill for the states.