S.B. 5 Threatens Police Safety, Wounded Cop Tells Maddow
When Ohio’s police officers sit down to bargain, the discussions go far beyond pay and benefits to issues like safety and safety equipment, retired Columbus police officer Mike Weinman said on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show last night.
That’s one reason the life-long Republican, who was shot in the line duty, paralyzed and now is confined to wheelchair, is joining the effort to repeal John Kasich’s (R) bill that eliminates the collective bargaining rights of more than 350,000 public employees. He told Maddow:
One of things we bargain for here in Ohio is safety equipment. I was wearing a bullet resistant vest that night. A lot of agencies have to bargain for those bullet resistant vests. Under Senate Bill 5 now, it would be up to city councils whether or not you get that safety equipment.
Weinman estimates 70 percent of the members in Ohio’s Fraternal Order of Police—where he is director of government affairs—are conservative Republicans and the FOP endorsed many of the lawmakers who voted to strip police officers, fire fighters and other public employees of their collective bargaining rights. But they are part of the statewide drive to repeal the bill.
“There’s a lot of bitterness out there,” he said.
Click here to see the full interview.
Michigan Republicans Use Budget Crisis to Make Outrageous Assault on Democracy
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In an outrageous power grab, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and the Republican-dominated state Senate passed, and sent back to the House, legislation today that allows Snyder to declare a local city to be in a financial emergency and appoint an emergency manager. That manager can, without anyone else’s approval, cancel contracts, including collective bargaining agreements, force consolidation of schools, townships, cities and counties and, unbelievably, unilaterally remove local elected officials.
Mark Gaffney, president of the Michigan State AFL-CIO, said the bill allows the financial manager to abrogate collective bargaining contracts for five years. “It takes every decision in a city or school district and puts it in the hands of the manager, from when the streets get plowed to who plows them and how much they are paid. In schools, the manager would decide academics or if you have athletics,” Gaffney said.
This is a takeover by the right wing and it’s an assault on democracy like I’ve never seen.
Unbelievably, the bill even allows Snyder to appoint a corporation as the emergency manager. On her MSNBC show last night, Rachel Maddow made clear what is happening:
This is not about a budget. This is about using or fabricating a crisis to push for an agenda that you would never be able to sell under normal circumstances.
Even more outrageous is the fact that Snyder’s budget creates the crisis by eliminating most of the state financial aid from local schools and local governments that many of them will be in dire straits. So, then, as Maddow points out, the governor who created the crisis can declare an emergency and decide what’s best for an entire town. No one can question it because the emergency manager can suspend the elected officials and even remove the town’s incorporation all together.
The state Senate passed the bill by a 26-12 margin today. The legislation now returns to the House, which already had passed it, to approve minor changes made by the Senate.
Maddow: Half of Wisconsin Voters Want to Recall Walker
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Nearly half of Wisconsin’s voters want to recall Gov. Scott Walker after he launched attacks on public employees, workers, children, seniors and poor people.
Writing on Americablog, Gaius Publius discusses a segment on “The Rachel Maddow Show” about Walker and the Republican attempt to re-brand their attacks on workers. During the segment, Maddow reveals results of a poll showing 48 percent of Wisconsin voters want to recall Walker.
The poll agrees with another poll released yesterday, which shows if Wisconsin voters could vote over today, they’d support defeated Democratic nominee Tom Barrett over Walker by a 52-45 margin.
Check your local listings to find broadcast times for “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
New Yorkers: Solidarity with Cheeseheads
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New Yorkers looked particularily festive in their bright yellow swiss cheese hats today, as hundreds became honorary Cheeseheads while marching in solidarity with embattled workers in Wisconsin.
Bob Fertik writes about the event at the Jobs Party blog:
In just 24 hours, NYC supporters of Wisconsin workers organized a spirited Cheesehead Rally in Manhattan to launch the Cheddar Revolution nationwide….
While we chanted, we crossed Sixth Avenue to rally in front of NBC for a few more speeches. Little did we know the Rachel Maddow Show was taking photos of us from their offices way up above – hi Rachel!! Then we crossed Sixth Avenue again to end our rally in front of FOX News. Justin from Wisconsin led us in singing the chorus of Woody Guthrie’s “Union Maid.”
At the Daily Kos, Ask, a visitor from Norway, adds a European perspective: Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. Health Care System Wasting Billions, and Other Health Care News
A new report today from Thomson Reuters shows how badly the nation’s health care system is failing working families. The report estimates that more than $500 billion, and maybe as much as $800 billion, is being wasted every year. Health costs in the United States are so high because standard practices are so wasteful. If we can recover savings from that waste, it would far exceed the cost of health care legislation being considered in Congress—legislation that can provide more people with affordable, quality coverage.
Some “highlights” from this unsettling report:
- The average hospital is spending a quarter of its budget on billing and paperwork.
- Tens of billions of dollars a year are wasted because of outdated, paper-based records systems that discourage information sharing.
- Conditions like uncontrolled diabetes that should be avoided through smart preventative care cost tens of billions a year.
- Medical mistakes and unnecessary care cost hundreds of billions a year.
A Robust Public Option Creates Competition
Stopping by “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC last night, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka discussed why the AFL-CIO supports health care reform legislation that makes sure Big Insurance doesn’t monopolize the health care field—and why the bill passed this week by the Senate Finance Committee, which does not include a public option, must be improved as it goes through Congress.
Right now as your last guest [Wendell Potter, former Cigna executive] said, American insurance companies have a stranglehold on the health care industry. In 90 percent of the markets, they’re called highly concentrated, or there’s one or two companies that control them. As a result, profits have gone up 1,000 percent and premiums have gone up 300 percent. The only way to hold them accountable is to create competition and the only way you can create competition is with a robust public option.
Alison Stewart, who filled in for Maddow, asked Trumka:
Let’s talk about the public option. Is it a make or break issue?
His answer:
Absolutely.
Auto Crisis Threatens Entire Economy; Union Ready to Do Its Part—Again
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If Congress does not soon approve emergency loan legislation to keep Detroit’s Big Three automakers operating as they ride out the nation’s financial crisis, job losses will ripple not just through the auto industry but through the entire economy, warned UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.
At a news conference today following an emergency meeting with UAW local and regional leaders, Gettelfinger said the union is willing to “take the extra step” to aid the industry. Union leaders, he said, have agreed to delay automakers’ payments to a union-administered health care fund and to modify the union’s job banks program that provides laid-off workers with a portion of their wages and benefits.
But he reiterated that UAW members already have agreed to wage and benefit concessions that have lowered labor costs at the Big Three.
