Go Home

On the Hill, Fire Fighters Push for Bargaining Bill

by Mike Hall, Mar 17, 2009

Credit: White House photo by David Lienemann

Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other congressional leaders told more than 1,000 members of the Fire Fighters (IAFF) yesterday that legislation protecting the freedom of firefighters in all states to join unions and bargain for a better life will be approved and signed into law.

Today, IAFF members are on Capitol Hill shoring up support for that bill and other vital working family legislation as part of the union’s 2009 Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

In his opening remarks, IAFF President Harold Schaitberger said that it has been 74 years since the National Labor Relations Act—which covers private-sector workers, but not firefighters and other first responders and public employees—became law.

We’re not going to allow our members to wait any longer. We’ve waited long enough. It’s time for passage of our collective bargaining bill. It’s been 74 years that we’ve been waiting on the outside looking in for that federally guaranteed right.

Read the rest of this entry »

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (2)

State Workers, Taxpayers Caught in a Fiscal Vise

by Mike Hall, Feb 27, 2009

Photo credit: John Meeks  
  John Meeks (third from left) and his gifted world geography class at Mayport Middle School wear red to show their support for the Florida Education Association’s “Education Cuts Hurt” campaign. The Atlantic Beach school’s students, faculty and staff participated in the effort to raise public awareness about education funding. “I hope that we can realize the value of education and work to ensure that we follow through with greater investment in our future,” said Meeks.  
 
 

The badly needed economic recovery package included some substantial assistance for states that are facing growing budget shortfalls, possible layoffs and cuts in vital services. But despite critics’ noise about the amount of spending in the package, even with that helping hand, the fiscal outlook for states is still “dire” and likely will worsen, says the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP):

The state fiscal situation is dire. Revenues are declining, and the need for services such as Medicaid is rising as people lose income and jobs….If revenue declines persist as expected in many states, additional budget cuts are likely. Budget cuts often are more severe in the second year of a state fiscal crisis, after reserves have been largely depleted and thus are no longer an option for closing deficits.

Read the rest of this entry »

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (3)


All Archived Posts »

Register to Comment and sign up to get action alerts and e-news.

 
Jeff Crosby
Out in the grassroots, workers are mighty angry at the thought their health care benefits could be taxed in a health care reform plan.
Read more diaries from the field >>
 
Ari A. Matusiak
Young America Wants Health Care Reform
 
Contact Us | Disclaimer