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68 Percent of Voters Frown on ‘Phasing Out’ Social Security |
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Attention Rand Paul in Kentucky, Joe Miller in Alaska, Sharron Angle in Nevada and all you other Republican congressional candidates flopping around on the far right banks of the mainstream! Phasing out, privatizing or otherwise eliminating Social Security does not sit well with the vast majority of the voting public.
The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that 68 percent of voters are “uncomfortable” with candidates who espouse such notions. Uncomfortable is putting it nicely. It’s downright painful to listen to U.S. Senate wannabes and other Republican hopefuls “babble into the vapors” about phasing out Social Security (turnabout’s fair play Alan Simpson!)
Of course, Simpson as co-chair of the federal budget deficit commission, is one of the leading howlers baying about the coming demise of Social Security (check out its real long term health here.) and the need to raise the retirement age and make other painful cuts. You might say he is one the biggest enablers of phase-out crowd.
Thanks to Bill Scheer at the Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) for highlighting the poll.
Women Soccer Players Put One in the Net, Win Union Recognition |
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As world famous soccer announcer Andres Cantor would say “Goooooooal!” We just got word that the Women’s Professional Soccer Players Union (WPSPU) won recognition today through majority sign up certified by an arbitrator.
The more than 150 players make up the seven teams in Women’s Professional Soccer (WSP) that is now in its second season with teams in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hayward in Southern California, Philadelphia, Piscataway, N.J. and Washington D.C. It is the highest level of professional soccer for women in North America.
Workers, Bloggers Get Ready for World Day for Decent Work |
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With just one month to go before the World Day for Decent Work, Oct. 7, trade unions across the world are stepping up pressure for decent jobs and social justice. And bloggers can play a big role in spreading the message.
Bloggers Unite has set up a special World Day for Decent Work site here and is asking bloggers to submit blogs on or before Oct. 7 about events in their areas. Blogs about the hundreds of events planned for Oct. 7 around the world will show world leaders how determined workers are to get decent jobs with good pay, safe working conditions and benefits. Take part by signing up today to submit blogs to Bloggers Unite here.
Organized by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), World Day for Decent Work is a day for mobilization around the world: one day when all the trade unions in the world stand up for decent work, at home and abroad.
Working America, Illinois AFL-CIO Connecting with Jobless Workers |
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Illinois AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Tim Drea knows what it’s like to be unemployed—he’s experienced it himself, as a laid-off coal miner. He knows, too, how important it is to keep jobless union members involved in the union movement and the fight for working family-friendly policies. That fact turned out to be the answer to a little mystery that presented itself recently to Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate.
Working America staff was mystified when a stack of membership registrations arrived in the mail from the Illinois AFL-CIO. Although Working America had sent membership cards to many state federations and central labor councils around the country in 2009 as part of our effort to organize jobless workers through the Unemployment Lifeline, these registrations did not use those cards. Working America was not engaged in an active organizing drive on the ground in Illinois. How did the state federation there sign up so many people?
Hotel Workers’ Faces Show Pride, Determination to Win Justice |
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Photojournalist David Bacon has captured the pride and determination in the faces of hotel workers at the downtown Hilton in San Francisco who have spent the past few weeks in a dawn to dusk picket line.
The workers, who chant to guests, “Don’t check in, check out!” are demanding that the hotel’s owners negotiate a new contract with their union, UNITEHERE! Local 2.
San Francisco’s largest hotels are demanding cuts in health and retirement benefits and increased workloads.
A typical San Francisco hotel worker earns $30,000 per year.
These are their faces—all races and ages, together on the picket line.
Jobs? Not Part of My Job Description, Says Angle |
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Most of us, especially the jobless among us, agree with Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), who yesterday said, “Jobs is Job One for this Congress.” But then there’s Sharron Angle.
The Tea Party/Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Nevada says that if she unseats Sen. Harry Reid, she’s not going to be wasting her time worrying about putting Americans back to work. After all, she’ll have to get started on eliminating Social Security and Medicare. Here’s what she says about jobs and Congress:
As your senator, I’m not in the business of creating jobs….People ask me, what are you going to do to develop jobs in your state? Well, that’s not my job as a U.S. senator.
Painters Launch ‘It’s About the Jobs’ Bus Tour |
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People who desperately want to go back to work don’t want to hear the same old rhetoric from politicians this year—they want candidates to put politics aside and tell us all what they are going to do to get America working again.
Yesterday, the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) launched a coast-to-coast “It’s About The Jobs” bus tour to connect IUPAT members across the country with the candidates the union believes are the best hope to generate and bring back jobs.
The bus, wrapped in IUPAT signature black and gold, began its monthlong trip in Seattle and will make its way across the country, winding through the West and Midwest and New York City, before ending its trip in Delaware.
IUPAT President James Williams says the bus tour will educate candidates about the need for jobs for all Americans and their families.
Our Election Choice: Open Door to the Future or Slam It Shut |
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Open the door to the future or slam it shut? That’s the choice in this fall’s elections as a new AFSCME ad makes clear. While Republicans in Congress blocked Democratic efforts to advance job-creating bills, they voted to lay off hundreds of thousands of Americans—while taking care of CEOs by closing tax loopholes.
The two-week ad is running in Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania to back Democratic candidates in those states now under attack, in part, because of their support for the jobs bill passed in August. The jobs bill provided states with $26 billion in emergency funding for vital services. The TV ad will be complemented by radio spots, Web ads, and this week, AFSCME is sending more than 300 staff to targeted districts around the country to engage in member education and get-out-the-vote drives.
Is the nation’s economy what we want now? No. Would it be far worse under Republican leadership? You betcha.
Prayer and Public Employees |
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When AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker spoke Sunday at St. Margaret’s & San Francisco de Asis Episcopal Church in Miami Lakes, Fla., as part of Labor in the Pulpits, the service had just begun when a member of the choir slumped down in her chair and fell to the floor.
The service stopped while the clergy and members called 911 for emergency help. Within minutes, fire, police and emergency medical assistance arrived to give the woman medical care. Each one was a union public servant—the people whose jobs are in danger from state and local budget cuts.
After the medics left to take the woman to the hospital, the service resumed. The ministers led prayers for her swift recovery.
Reflecting on the incident over the Labor Day holiday, Holt Baker said the situation showed that:
Prayer is good and it helps. But sometimes you also need public servants.
Union Leaders Discuss Workers’ Issues in Media Around the Nation |
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Dozens of newspaper, radio, TV and Internet media featured op-eds over Labor Day by union leaders on issues that workers care about—Social Security, jobs, young workers, immigration and job safety. While most columns ran in local media, several received national attention, including a piece on Social Security on AOL and job creation in the National Journal. A column written in Spanish on immigration appeared in several Latino publications and a column on workplace safety ran in newspapers in at least three states. Here are some samples. Click on the author’s name to read the full column.
Social Security: Wall Street and congressional Republicans are…pushing for Social Security benefit cuts, floating every idea from reducing the inflation adjustment to raising the retirement age.
…if we truly want to fix what’s broken, let’s look ahead to designing an employer-based retirement system for future generations while strengthening Social Security. —AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
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