Search Results for 'Massachusetts'
Economy, Legislation & Politics |
Nov 9 |
Foreign Companies Cop 84 Percent of Stimulus Green Economy Funds
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Instead of creating thousands of new jobs for out-of-work Americans, the push for alternative energy is lining the pockets of foreign companies. A new study shows that of the $1.05 billion of stimulus funds spent on clean energy grants since Sept. 1, an astronomical 84 percent—or $849 million—has gone to foreign wind companies, with one firm collecting more than $500 million alone.
Russ Choma writes that the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University found the Spanish utility company Iberdrola S.A. has collected $545 million in grants through its U.S. subsidiary. And the money doesn’t even have to go to create jobs. The group reports there are few restrictions on how the grants can be used. In fact, more than $800 million has been given to firms for wind farms that were already producing electricity before they received the grants.
This revelation comes as the public is becoming aware of and outraged by China seeking $450 million in economic recovery funds to build a planned $1.5 billion wind farm in Texas. The farm will create 30 permanent jobs in the United States and 2,000 jobs in China.
Organizing & Bargaining |
Nov 6 |
Workers Strike San Francisco’s Grand Hyatt Hotel
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| San Francisco hotel workers rallied in September for a fair contract. |
Hotel workers began a three-day strike this morning at the Grand Hyatt Union Square in San Francisco. The strike comes two weeks after members of UNITE HERE Local 2 voted by a 92 percent to 8 percent margin to authorize strikes at any of the 31 upscale hotels in San Francisco.
Local 2’s contracts with the luxury hotels expired in June. Since then, the union has been trying to negotiate new agreements. But despite earning record profits over the past five years, the hotels are using the recession as an excuse to demand changes in eligibility for the employees’ health care plan that would eliminate coverage or put it out of reach for many workers.
“This is a limited strike,” said Local 2 President Mike Casey.
It’s intended to send a clear signal to this corporation that they cannot use a temporary downturn to permanently drive down workers’ living standards.
While demanding workers take concessions, the Pritzker family, which owns the Grand Hyatt, is conducting an initial public stock offering today expected to raise close to $1 billion.
Says Aurolyn Rush, a 13-year telephone operator at the Grand Hyatt:
Hyatt’s cashing out almost a billion dollars for its owners, but at the same time they’re pushing to make health care unaffordable for me and my family? That is unforgivable, and we’re not going to stand for it.
Economy |
Nov 5 |
Biden: Strong Unions Needed to Build Middle Class
The nation cannot rebuild its middle class without strong unions, Vice President Joe Biden said today. Biden said he and President Obama believe it is impossible to grow the middle class without growing unions.
Biden, who chairs the White House Task Force on Middle Class Families, met with a panel of scholars assembled by the Center for American Progress (CAP) and Economic Policy Institute (EPI) to discuss the challenges facing America’s middle class in the 21st century economy.
At the live webcast event, EPI President Lawrence Mishel said unions set standards in the workplace. Decent standards help ensure “employers are not competing to see who can make the jobs worst, but who can make the products better,” Mishel said.
Economy |
Oct 5 |
More Than 1,000 March in Boston for Jobs, Corporate Accountability
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After the new U.S. jobless figures came out Friday, union activists in Massachusetts took to the streets to demand jobs and corporate responsibility, an action highlighted here in this cross-post from the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
On the same day it was announced that unemployment had reached a 26-year high, more than 1,000 union members, unemployed workers and community activists gathered on Boston Common and marched through downtown Boston to protest layoffs and continuing unemployment, call out rampant corporate greed and demand an economy that works for all.
Organizing & Bargaining |
Oct 2 |
Massachusetts Nurses Say ‘Yes’ to RN Super Union
Delegates to the Massachusetts Nurses Association’s (MNA’s) annual convention yesterday voted overwhelmingly to become part of the largest registered nurses union in U.S. history—National Nurses United (NNU).
The new NNU unifies the 23,000-member MNA with the 86,000-strong California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), which voted to join the super union in September. The 45,000-member United American Nurses (UAN) will hold a vote on whether to join later this month.
In the States |
Sep 26 |
Labor Leader Slain in 1907 Honored in Massachusetts
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The staff of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO sent us this great report.
In 1907, Edward Cohen, the president of the Massachusetts American Federation of Labor (AFL) and crusader for strong child labor laws, workers’ rights and workplace safety, was shot and killed by a man attempting to assassinate Gov. Curtis Guild Jr.
This week, a huge bronze plaque honoring Cohen’s achievements and labor’s contributions to Bay State workers was unveiled at the Massachusetts State House. Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes says the dedication of the plaque “is one of the greatest moments in our history.”
Where else is there a plaque that is dedicated to a slain labor leader and which captures all the amazing contributions of the labor movement in such a prominent location as between the offices of the governor and the speaker in our esteemed State House?”
Legislation & Politics |
Sep 24 |
Kirk to Succeed Kennedy in U.S. Senate
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick today named Paul Kirk to serve as interim U.S. senator, filling the open seat left by the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy.
Kirk, who served as an adviser to Sen. Kennedy as well as a chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is expected to be sworn in tomorrow afternoon. He will serve until a permanent replacement is elected in a special election, set for Jan. 19. The state legislature approved a bill allowing for the appointment of an interim senator this week, ensuring that Massachusetts will have its full congressional delegation during these critical months.
Economy, Legislation & Politics |
Sep 23 |
Unemployment Benefits Extension Moves to Senate
The U.S. Senate is expected to act by the end of this week on a bill approved by the House yesterday that will provide an added 13 weeks of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for jobless workers in high unemployment states who have exhausted their benefits without finding new work.
H.R. 3548, introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), passed 331-83, with 66 Republicans and 17 Democrats opposing the measure, which will extend benefits in states where unemployment is more than 8.5 percent.
The official unemployment rate stands at 9.7 percent and is expected to top 10 percent in the coming months. There are six jobless workers for every job that is open.
Legislation & Politics |
Sep 22 |
Massachusetts Will Appoint Interim Senator
Today, the process of ensuring that Massachusetts voters will get full representation in the U.S. Senate moved forward, as the Massachusetts Senate approved a bill allowing an interim appointment for the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.
The bill, which would give Gov. Deval Patrick the authority to name a temporary appointee to the open seat, was passed by the State Senate, 24-16, following a 95-58 vote in favor of the bill in the State House. The bill will likely go to Patrick’s desk later this week, allowing him to name a successor to the Senate’s longtime champion of working families.
Massachusetts will hold a special election early next year to fill the remainder of Kennedy’s term, which runs through January 2013. The bill passed by the state legislature ensures that, between now and the special election, Massachusetts will have a full delegation of two senators.
Economy, Legislation & Politics |
Sep 21 |
Congress Moves to Extend Unemployment Insurance to Hard-Hit States
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There are six jobless workers for every job that is open. The official unemployment rate stands at 9.7 percent and is expected to top 10 percent in the coming months. By the end of this month, some 400,000 workers will run out of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits—another 1 million by the end of the year.
Tomorrow, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to throw a lifeline to many workers due to exhaust their UI benefits before finding new work. Legislation to provide an additional 13 weeks of benefits to workers in high unemployment states is likely to win approval, and the Senate could take it up later this week.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), who introduced the bill (H.R. 3548), says the added weeks of benefits will help
hundreds of thousands of Americans who lost their jobs through no fault of their own in this so-called Great Recession.
