Labor Fights Back
by ilene - July 20th, 2010 7:40 pm
Labor Fights Back
Courtesy of SHAMUS COOKE writing at CounterPunch
If the U.S. economy eventually recovers and current trends continue, U.S. workers won’t be celebrating in the streets. The corporate establishment has made it clear that a “strong recovery” depends on U.S. workers making “great sacrifices” in the areas of wages, health care, pensions, and more ominously, reductions in so-called “entitlement programs” — Social Security, Medicare, and other social services.
These plans have been discussed at length in corporate think tanks for years, and only recently has the mainstream media begun a coordinated attack to convince American workers of the “necessity” of adopting these policies. The New York Times speaks for the corporate establishment as a whole when it writes:
“American workers are overpaid, relative to equally productive employees elsewhere doing the same work [China for example]. If the global economy is to get into balance, that gap must close.”
and:
“The recession shows that many workers are paid more than they’re worth…The global wage gap has been narrowing [because U.S. workers’ wages are shrinking], but recent labor market statistics in the United States suggest the adjustment has not gone far enough.”
The New York Times solution? “Both moderate inflation to cut real wages [!] and a further drop in the dollar’s real trade-weighted value [monetary inflation to shrink wages] might be acceptable.” (November 11, 2009).
The Atlantic magazine, agrees:
“So how do we keep wages high in the U.S.? We don’t…U.S. workers cannot ultimately continue to have higher wages relative to those in other nations [China, India, etc.] who compete in the same industries.”
President Obama speaks less bluntly about the wage subject for political purposes, but he wholeheartedly agrees with the above opinions, especially when he repeatedly said:
“We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity, where we consume less [as a result of lower wages] at home and send more exports abroad.”
So how will Obama implement his economic vision that inspired Wall Street to give him millions during his Presidential campaign? Much of the work is happening automatically, due to the Great Recession. Bloomberg news reports:
“More than half of U.S. workers were either unemployed or experienced reductions in hours or wages since the recession began in December 2007… The worst economic slump since the 1930s has affected 55 percent of
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School Crisis In Nevada; Governor Seeks To Cancel Collective Bargaining With Schools Because The State Is Broke
by ilene - February 4th, 2010 3:26 am
School Crisis In Nevada; Governor Seeks To Cancel Collective Bargaining With Schools Because The State Is Broke
Courtesy of Mish
Nevada has an $881 million budget deficit and drastic cuts are on the horizon for education. Governor Gibbons is investigating options of canceling collective bargaining agreements with school districts. Unfortunately that maneuver is likely illegal.
State revenue shortfall $881 million
It’s official. The state government revenue shortfall that legislators and the governor must eliminate through spending cuts later this month is $881 million.
State Budget Director Andrew Clinger said today that the shortfall has been formally calculated at $881.4 million, which would necessitate a 20.2 percent cut in state spending between March and June 30, 2011.
Legislators so far have not said where they want to reduce spending. They are scheduled to meet with Gibbons’ staff later today, when they will be given the governor’s proposed list of cuts.
So far, Gibbons has announced publicly he will support no more than a 6 percent cut in state employee salaries, a 10 percent reduction in public education spending, and layoffs of 300 state employees. He also wants to temporarily suspend collective bargaining rights for school employees and to close the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
Gibbons aims for 10 percent in school cuts
Gov. Jim Gibbons said Tuesday he hopes to cut state appropriations to public schools by 10 percent as he seeks to reduce state spending by $900 million between March and June 30, 2011.
Anticipating the need to roll back the salaries of teachers and other K-12 school employees in the face of declining revenues, he has ordered his lawyers to determine whether he can temporarily suspend by executive order the collective bargaining agreements with unions that bind school districts to pay specific salaries and benefits.
Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, said Gibbons cannot under state law suspend collective bargaining.
She noted that in the collective bargaining law (Nevada Revised Statute 288.150) local governments can suspend this right only "in situations of emergency, such as a riot, military action, natural disaster or civil disorder."
And collective bargaining can be suspended only for the duration of the emergency, according to the law.
"I suppose you can do almost anything in an emergency," said Tobias, a former professor at the Boyd School of Law in Las
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the site