Which Is Better? Prison or Work at China’s Foxconn?
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Stumping for president, Republican candidates have finally figured out that the public cares more about job creation than deficit reduction. But their solutions involve luring corporations back to this country from overseas by eliminating regulatory policies that could make working conditions here a lot more similar to those offshore. A recent Jon Stewart segment shows just what that would entail.
Pointing to recent news reports that describe the slave-like conditions at China’s Foxconn factory, where 800,000 workers make iPhones, iPads, Kindles and most other Apple products, Stewart notes that most Apple products are made in China,
the Communist country where corporations get the respect they deserve.
So, to compete with China, Stewart continues,
we’ve got to make our factories look more like this Foxconn.
At Foxconn, Read the rest of this entry »
N.H. Workers Buoyed by Today’s Victory
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AFL-CIO communications staffer Nora Frederickson sends us this report.
Workers and union leaders in New Hampshire were ecstatic that months of hard work in New Hampshire paid off today when the state House failed to override Gov. John Lynch’s (D) veto of a so-called right to work bill. Nearly 100 teachers, firefighters, postal workers and others showed up to ask their legislators to support the veto during the high-stakes session day and urged lawmakers to withstand pressure from Republican presidential candidates Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry as well as a rowdy group of Americans for Prosperity volunteers bused into New Hampshire for the day.
“I was confident that the reps on our side would be there, but it was still really nerve-wracking in the House,” said Felicia Augevich, a Fairpoint employee and member of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1400 who helped monitor the session at the Legislature today.
I’m really proud of how everyone came together—Democrats and Republicans, private-sector and public-sector workers. We’re hoping that the victory today will send a positive message to the public, to the middle class, and to all of New Hampshire that collective bargaining really is what guarantees good wages and benefits for Americans. We’ve had one victory, but we still have a lot ahead of us.
Justice Dept.: Looks Like Rick Perry’s Redistricting Intended Discrimination
TPM reports that a preliminary Justice Department investigation finds that the redistricting plan approved by presidential candidate and Texas governor Rick Perry (R) appears to have been “adopted, at least in part, for the purpose of diminishing the ability of [minorities] to elect their preferred candidates of choice to Congress.”
AAM’s Job Search Tracks Candidates’ Jobs, Manufacturing Statements, Promises
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Our friends at the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) have just launched Job Search, a new online tracking tool to keep up-to-date tabs on what Republican presidential candidates and President Obama are saying about and proposing to do to solve the nation’s jobs crisis and fix the economy.
The goal of Job Search is to provide a comprehensive repository of statements these candidates have made about the issues Americans care about the most—jobs and the economy.
How would Mitt Romney’s 59-point jobs plan affect manufacturing? Has Rick Perry’s record as governor of Texas been too friendly to Chinese state-owned companies? Is President Obama living up to his campaign promises on creating a level playing field for America’s workers? Did any of the Republican candidates even mention the word “manufacturing” during the recent GOP presidential debates? Find out on Job Search.
Be sure to check back often—Job Search will scan candidates’ speeches, statements, tweets and media appearances daily and will record everything they say about manufacturing and jobs.
The Perry Plan: Low Wages, Texas-Style
Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry touts his job creation record as governor of Texas, but the reality is that new Texas-style jobs are low-wage jobs. Writing on RobertReich.org, University of California, Berkeley, professor and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich says even though Texas leads the nation in job growth, a majority of Texas’ workforce is paid hourly wages rather than salaries. And the median hourly wage there was $11.20, compared with the national median of $12.50 an hour. Reich adds:
Texas has also been specializing in minimum-wage jobs. From 2007 to 2010, the number of minimum wage workers there rose from 221,000 to 550,000—that’s an increase of nearly 150 percent. And 9.5 percent of Texas workers earn the minimum wage or below—compared to about 6 percent for the rest of the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state also has the highest percentage of workers without health insurance. Texas schools rank 44th in the nation in per-pupil spending.
Romney Is No Better than Perry on Social Security
If you’ve watched any of the Republican primary debates, it’s possible to mistake presidential wannabee Mitt Romney as the voice of reason in that group, most of whom long ago teetered off the edge of rational discourse.
But a new chart comparing the views of Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry shows that when it comes to Social Security, the nation’s most successful safety net, Romney is no better than “Social Security Is a Ponzi Scheme” Perry.
Although Romney has not used the term “Ponzi scheme,” he has called it a fraud, according to the nonprofit group Strengthen Social Security. Here’s Romney:
U.S. Senators Will Get Social Security. Why Not the Rest of Us?
Presidential wannabe Texas Gov. Rick Perry is having himself a hoot-n’-hollerin’ good time blasting Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme” and saying the nation’s most successful safety net will be bankrupt in years to come.
But such an assertion is flat wrong, as pointed out by the Center for Economic Policy Research, which reports that the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show Social Security will remain fully solvent through 2038.
Even if Congress makes no further changes to the program, Social Security will be able to pay slightly more than 80 percent of scheduled benefits from 2039 on.
The center also itemizes how much each current U.S. senator will collect in Social Security when he or she retires. The center wrote to Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, one of several in that chamber crying wolf over Social Security, that he can expect to receive a benefit of $41,439 if he retires at age 67 in 2038 and at least $33,151 (both in 2011 dollars) from then on. In short, the projections show that Social Security will continue to exist and pay a substantial benefit to retirees indefinitely.
Donate to Aid Texas Wildfire Victims
In less than a year, Texas wildfires have consumed 3.6 million acres, roughly the size of Connecticut, notes Paul Begala, an affiliated professor of public policy at Georgetown and Daily Beast and CNN contributor. Four people have been killed and some 1,400 homes have been lost just in the most recent fire. Of the 10 largest wildfires in Texas history, six have occurred this year. Yet, as Begala points out:
Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry has cut funding for volunteer firefighters, who are the first responders to 90 percent of all wildfires in Texas, by 75 percent.
Meanwhile, Texas union members are fully mobilized to help. The Texas AFL-CIO is working with United Way organizations and has set up a Union Wildfire Relief Fund.
Click here to donate to the Union Wildfire Relief Fund.
Ponzi THIS
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Imagine telling 54 million Americans who receive Social Security that it’s a “ponzi scheme.” Yet president wannabe and Texas Gov. Rick Perry did just that last night during the latest Republican debate.
In reiterating his erroneous statement about Social Security, Perry also attacked former Vice President Dick Cheney, who yesterday told ABC News that Social Security is not Ponzi scheme: “It’s a program that a great many people depend on.”
In fact, 64 percent of older Americans rely on Social Security as their retirement income. One of six U.S. residents–the elderly, the disabled and children who’ve lost parents–receive income from Social Security, the nation’s most successful safety net program.
So, the bottom line is this: Taxpayers are footing the bill for Perry’s retirement income from his years as governor. But he wants to deny elder citizens the right to get income back that they’ve contributed to the system.
Alliance Members Generate Summer Heat on Social Security, Medicare
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With Labor Day approaching, the Alliance for Retired Americans is wrapping up more than 70 actions in more than two dozen states around the country this summer. The events have ranged from celebrating the anniversaries and successes of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to holding accountable presidential candidates and lawmakers.
In Las Cruces, N.M., Alliance members told Rep. Steve Pearce (R), who wants to privatize Medicare and force seniors to pay for health care with an underfunded voucher program, that if he really believed in privatization, he should drop his taxpayer-funded, government health coverage he receives as a member of Congress.
On the other hand, Alliance members, including Brenda Kelly Nelum from Dale City, Calif., joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to celebrate Medicare’s 46th anniversary. Said Nelum:
I just thought the public should know that this was the anniversary of a program that, as far as I can see, has been a success. If we didn’t have it, I don’t know if we could even afford our medicines….We would like to see the program there for younger people.
