Archive for July, 2006
Romney Vetoes Minimum Wage Bill; Up to Lawmakers to Override It
In what likely will be the final round of the fight to raise Massachusetts’ minimum wage, the state Legislature is expected to vote today to override Gov. Mitt Romney’s (R) July 28 veto of the minimum wage legislation.
Senate’s Turn to Undo Cynical House Poison Pill on Minimum Wage Vote
It’s now up to the U.S. Senate to put a halt to what longtime Capitol Hill observers call one of the most cynical legislative maneuvers in many years. In the middle of the night Friday, House lawmakers tacked a minimum wage increase onto a bill that will drastically cut taxes on a handful of multimillion dollar estates and in the long run cost the U.S. Treasury more than $750 billion.
Gettelfinger: New Bankruptcy Rules, Fair Trade Keys to Rebuilding Auto Industry
Proposed new federal legislation would close the two biggest loopholes that allow corporate abuses in the bankruptcy process—and would be a big first step in protecting the hard-earned benefits of workers and retirees, union leaders say.
Repealing the Estate Tax by the Back Door
When it comes to the Bush administration and tax breaks for the wealthy and well-connected, after six years you’d think it would be safe to say, “I’ve seen it all.”
Back to School Special: School Notebooks Dumped in U.S.
Tens of millions of school kids will be heading back to class in a few weeks with brand-new notebooks, full of hundreds of lined pages waiting be filled. Are those notebooks being illegally dumped in the U.S. market?
Bargaining Digest Weekly
The bankruptcy judge for Northwest Airlines formally approved the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) contract covering flight attendants, pending the vote on ratification of the agreement, which is expected to be completed Monday.
House Republicans Poison Minimum Wage Increase
House Republican leaders early Saturday morning poisoned the chance for millions of minimum wage workers to receive their first pay raise in a decade.
Rather than a straight up or down vote on raising the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25, they pushed through a cynical sham bill packed with poison pills that included repealing the estate tax. As AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said Friday evening, the estate tax provision guaranteed death of the minimum wage increase “because the Senate has already rejected the estate tax repeal. That is unlikely to change, and Republican leaders of the House know it.” The cost of the combined tax package the Republicans packed into the minimum wage bill likely would be more than $800 billion for the first 10 years—on top of trillions of dollars in debt Republican economic policies already have prompted.
Mass. Governor Has Second Chance to Support Workers. Will He?
For the second time in a week, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) has the opportunity to show he supports working people. He blew his first chance July 21 when he vetoed a bill that would have raised the state’s minimum wage.
Union Activism Scores Big in the Boardroom: SEC Strengthens CEO Pay Rules
Union activists and their allies scored a victory in corporate boardrooms across the nation this week, as Daniel Pedrotty from the AFL-CIO Office of Investment explains.
You raised your voices and brought about fundamental change in the boardroom. After record input, spurred in large part by comments sent through the AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch website—and some 23,000 through the AFL-CIO Working Families Network for activists—the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) updated rules governing CEO pay for the first time in 14 years.
More Bush Cover-Up on Hazards at Ground Zero Cleanup
Even as reports continue to surface about increases in serious ailments, especially lung illnesses, among workers who toiled at ground zero in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, we continue to learn of all the ways the Bush administration has sought to cover up the chemical and other hazards workers faced.
