Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Blog

Unemployment Insurance Extension Urgently Needed

27,000 Wisconsin residents will face an immediate benefits cut off if the federal government does not pass an unemployment insurance extension by Sunday.  Across the country 1.2 million people who have fallen on hard times are at risk of losing their lifeline.

Irresponsible actions on Wall Street caused this Great Recession.  People on Main Street should not suffer for it.  The AFL-CIO is urging Congress to extend unemployment benefits, COBRA health insurance assistance and food aid for at least a year.

“These benefits are spent in our communities on thing like groceries, rent and mortgage payments.  If assistance is cut off, it will have a ripple effect through our already weak economy,” warns Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President David Newby.

Call Senators Feingold and Kohl and tell them that thousands of Wisconsin families need an unemployment benefits extension today!

Senator Feingold - (202) 224-5323
Senator Kohl - (202) 224-5653

For more details on this dire situation, check out today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on the subject:  http://www.jsonline.com/business/85446887.html

Health Care Summit Heats Up

The following is a statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the White House Health Care Summit:

Today President Obama brought Democrats and Republicans together to work on a final health care proposal.  It has been 13 months since we began debating health care, and the process has been painstaking and tough.  But comprehensive reform is now more urgent than ever—you need look no further than the unconscionable price increases being pushed onto consumers from insurance companies, such as the 39 percent increase recently levied by Anthem Blue Cross in California.

Republicans showed once again today that they have no intention of working to solve the health care crisis.  They have turned their backs on people who need health care as well as those who are struggling to afford the high cost of health care.  Instead of offering solutions, they have offered obstruction and political posturing.

The reforms on the table from the president are not perfect.  They do not add up to the bill we would have written. We will keep working with the Congress to improve them until health care reform is signed into law—and afterwards.  But we are within sight of real health care reform that will bring down out of control health costs, begin to hold insurance companies accountable, and help ensure that no one in America goes without the health care he or she needs.  This can be a great achievement for America’s working families, and we are proud that our strong grassroots work has strengthened the proposals in important ways and brought us closer than ever to enacting comprehensive reform.

It is inexcusable that the insurance and drug companies, who have made billions in profits off the backs of working families, are fighting these common sense reforms.

America’s working people are waiting.  It is time to make health care reform law.

Media Matters: The Employee Free Choice Act Revisited

Although immediate job creation and health care concerns may have eclipsed the Employee Free Choice Act in recent months, it is still critically important to any long-term economic recovery that working people have a fair shot at bargaining for a better life.  For those of you who may have forgotten, the Employee Free Choice Act will:

1. Strengthens penalties for companies that illegally coerce or intimidate employees in an effort to prevent them from forming a union;

2. Allows a neutral third party to settle a contract when a company and a newly certified union cannot agree.

3.  Allows workers, rather than their corporate bosses, choose how to form their union.

The Beaver Dam Daily Citizen recently ran an option editorial from the local Chamber of Commerce, which distorted the facts on this issue.  The article prompted strong reactions from readers concerned with the truth.

This rebuttal was printed on February 15th:
http://www.wiscnews.com/bdc/opinion/470924

And local union members had their say on February 20th:
http://www.wiscnews.com/bdc/opinion/471094

Way to keep them honest!

Good Jobs Now: Coming Soon to a Local Meeting Near You

“It is no secret that unemployment has reached crisis levels across Wisconsin and throughout the country.  Working people can’t afford to be silent about it anymore,” says Phil Neuenfeldt, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.  “At local union meetings and Central Labor Council gatherings working families are coming to terms with how we got into this mess, and what it’s going to take to turn things around.  These discussions are the start of our grassroots fight for good jobs now.”

As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka explains in the video above, this crisis didn’t spring up overnight.

“Wall Street has run our economy for more than 30 years,” explains Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President David Newby.  “Their agenda ruptured the relationship between productivity and wages, which produced giant economic and social imbalances in America that pushed us into this Great Recession.  President Obama did not cause this disaster, but he is going to have to clean it up.”

The national AFL-CIO Five-point Plan, which has been a central focus of jobs presentations throughout the state, is designed to save or create millions of jobs.

  1.     Most urgently, we must extend the safety net for families hard hit by the downturn.  Unemployment benefits, COBRA health insurance assistance and food aid keep money in people’s pockets. Congress must extend these programs for at least another year. We can’t let Congress nickel and dime our lifeline.

2.    Rebuild America with infrastructure improvements.  We can put people to work now and strengthen the economy for the future by fixing crumbling schools, roads and bridges, developing 21st century energy and communications systems and investing in green jobs and green technology.

3.    Help state and local governments meet pressing needs. State and local governments and school districts are facing huge budget deficits.  If Washington does not act fast, this will lead to mass layoffs of vital public sector workers, including police, teachers and firefighters.  This would mean more devastating cuts in key public services.

4.    Put people to work doing work that needs to be done. The private sector is not creating jobs, and America can’t wait. It’s time for the government to step in. The economic crisis has hit the long-term unemployed, people of color, young workers, veterans and people in distressed communities the worst.  Let’s create the jobs they need where they live, from cleaning up abandoned property to tutoring school children. These must be good, new jobs with good pay and benefits, not jobs to replace existing public-sector workers.

5.    Put TARP money to work for Main Street, not just Wall Street. When small businesses can get credit, they create jobs. The bank bailout was supposed to get credit flowing again, but small businesses are still waiting. We should hire local banks to lend leftover bailout money to small and medium-sized business for job creation.

"We need to start right now, but this fight will be long term," predicts Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Sara Rogers.  "As legislation at the federal and state levels moves, we’ll need immediate grassroots actions.  Get your locals ready to mobilize members on a dime."

Mobilization efforts are already underway around parts of the statewide Good Jobs Agenda, which involves creating a Green Economy for working people, supporting and expanding our manufacturing sector, and strengthening the public services that make Wisconsin a great place to live:
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2010/02/lets-rebuild-wisconsin-with-jobs-we-can-be-proud-of.html

To schedule a Good Jobs Now presentation at your local union meeting, contact your Service Area Organizer: http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/Service%20Area%20Organizer%20Contact%20Info..pdf

(All photos are from recent Good Jobs Now presentations.  Top Left Photo: ATU Local 1310.  Photo Credit: Laurie Gruber of OPEIU Local 277. Top Middle Photo: The Allied Printing Trades Council of Milwaukee and Madison.  Photo Credit: Justin Geiger.  Top Right Photo: The Northeast Wisconsin Area Labor Federation.  Photo Credit: Greg Hinds.  Middle Photo: Service Area Organizer Greg Hinds speaking to the Sheboygan County Labor Council.  Photo Credit: Rob Boelk of CWA Local 4622.  Bottom Photo: Service Area Organizer Andy Thompson speaking to the Greater West Central Area Labor Council.  Photo Credit: Judy Gatlin of AFSCME Local 1914.  For more photos from Good Jobs Presentations, visit flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wisaflcio/collections/72157623211438772/)

Senate Jobs Bill Better Than Nothing

Yesterday’s bipartisan Senate vote for cloture on a jobs bill is a step in the right direction, but it nowhere near enough to turn things around for working families. 

The following is a statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka regarding the vote:
 

Working families are demanding to see real results from Washington and we have to focus on jobs, jobs, jobs – because there will be no economic recovery without serious job creation.  We need 10 million jobs and Wall Street and the rich -- who have benefited for years from Bush’s economic policies -- need to pay to rebuild the economy and middle class they destroyed.
 
Today’s successful cloture vote was a step forward for Majority Leader Reid’s jobs bill, which correctly eliminated the unnecessary and unhelpful tax breaks included in the Baucus-Grassley bill.
 
But on its own this bill is merely a band aid on an amputated limb.  Senator Reid has said this bill is just the first step and more actions need to be and will be taken.  We couldn’t agree more.  We need bigger and bolder actions to ensure that we create 10 million jobs and that Wall Street pays the bill to fix the financial disaster.
 
We will continue to fight for our five point jobs plan that calls for extending unemployment insurance benefits, food assistance and health benefits; rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and investing in green jobs; increasing aid to state and local governments because you don’t throw teachers, firefighters and police overboard when times are tough; increasing funding for neglected communities to match people who want to work with jobs that need to be done; and using TARP money to get credit flowing to small businesses.

America’s workers need jobs now.  We need action from Washington now.  The Senate should bring big and bold jobs bills to the floor.  It’s time to let the American people know where their representatives stand on the most crucial issue of our time – and it’s time for action, not excuses.

 
(Photo: Service Area Organizer Andy Thompson goes over the Good Jobs Now presentation at the Western Wisconsin Building and Construction Trades Council meeting.   Photo Credit: Jerry Jackson of UA Local 434. Be sure to check the blog tomorrow, when we will feature Good Jobs Now highlights from meetings across the state.)

Local Labor Movement Endorses Candidates in Chippewa, Eau Claire, and Saint Croix Counties

While the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO makes endorsements for statewide elections, central labor councils are encouraged to establish their own screening and endorsement policy for candidates running for local offices.

On February 4th, the Greater West Central Area Labor Council, in conjunction with AFSCME, held a candidate screening for 2010 spring elections.  Official endorsement decisions were made on Thursday, February 11th at the Greater West Central Area Labor Council’s regular meeting.

The following candidates have been endorsed by the Greater West Central Area Labor Council in the belief that they will best serve the interests of local working families:

Chippewa County Board
Gary Misfeldt - District 20
 

Eau Claire City Council

(At-Large Election with 8 Announced Candidates for 5 Openings)

Larry Balow
Catherine Emmanuelle
Allen Myren
Mark Olson
Dana Wachs
 
Eau Claire County Board
Kathleen Clark - District 13
Robin Leary - District 23
Gloria Christensen - District 25
John DeRosier - District 28
 
Saint Croix County Board
Eugene Reutz - District 7
Julie Speer - District 10
Dave Ostness - District 11
Richard "Buzz" Marzolf - District 12
Ken Kolbe - District 18
 

Several of the endorsed candidates are current or former union members, and all have demonstrated a commitment to working people.

(Photo: Catherine Emmanuelle, endorsed candidate for Eau Claire City Council. Photo Credit: Andy Thompson.  More photos of the candidate screening interviews are available on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wisaflcio/sets/72157623467013638/.)

Fixing Unemployment is the Way to Tackle Deficits

Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President David Newby recently responded to a Wisconsin State Journal editorial on the budget deficit.  This is the original version his letter to the editor, which ran in a slightly edited format in the paper's online edition:

The Myth of a Dangerous Federal Debt

The State Journal has fallen for the alarmist, carefully created myth that “our nation’s debt is out of control.”

Reducing it is not going to bring fiscal stability and employment for all. The myth of a debt crisis has been cleverly cultivated by conservative economists and politicians – and bankrolled by billionaire Peter Peterson. The purpose of their debt-focused alarmism is to cut federal expenditures by drastically cutting, if not eliminating, Social Security and Medicare. Debt hysteria is a partisan plan, not a reasonable economic analysis.

Our debt is not out of control. As a percent of gross domestic product (the value of what we produce each year) it is what we'd expect with the temporary drop in revenues resulting from the current recession.

What we DO have is a devastating UNEMPLOYMENT crisis, with more than 10% of those who want to work unable to find jobs – 40% of them out of work 6 months or more. We need to get people back to work to increase demand in our economy. The private sector isn't doing that. That’s why we need major expenditures and investments by our federal government to put people to work in useful ways so that they spend their wages and increase demand – which creates more private sector jobs. People who work pay taxes. And those taxes in turn will reduce the national debt.

Today, national AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka concurred, with the following statement on the creation of a deficit commission:

The most important issue facing working families today is a jobs crisis of historic proportions and a demand deficit.  Long-term budget deficits are a problem that needs to be solved, but we do not have a short-term budget deficit problem.  And we should avoid taking hasty actions now that will end up actually worsening our long-term deficit.

According to data from the Congressional Budget Office, most of the deficit over the next ten years results from Bush’s tax cuts for the rich, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, spiraling health care costs and the worst recession since the Great Depression.  The main driver of the recent increases in deficit projections is worsening economic conditions -- in short, the present deficit “crisis” is largely a symptom of the jobs crisis.

The best way to fix the deficit is to create 10 million jobs now -- the number of jobs needed to close our jobs deficit.  This will require large amounts of public investment in the short term, which should be paid for in future years by taxing Wall Street.  In addition to creating jobs for Main Street this tax will also curb short-term speculation and other Wall Street abuses that caused this recession.   

The problem with perennial proposals for entitlement commissions and deficit commissions is that they are too often premised on the mistaken assumption that short-term stimulus and entitlement spending are the root causes of burgeoning budget deficits.

Social Security is fundamentally sound and does not contribute meaningfully to our long-term deficit.  If Social Security were a private pension plan, it would be considered healthy by any measure.  Social Security can be brought into long-term actuarial balance with relatively modest adjustments and without cutting benefits.  With the decline of defined benefit pensions, the sudden loss of retirement savings for millions and the dramatic increase in economic uncertainty, strengthening Social Security's core guarantee of retiring with dignity is now more important than ever.

Problems with Medicare financing in the long term are a symptom of the larger problem of rising health care costs in the private and public sectors.  The solution to Medicare’s financing problems is comprehensive health care reform, not benefit cuts.

In December, when the deficit commission completes its deliberations, Congress should not merely rubberstamp its recommendations.  Legislation of the magnitude likely to be proposed should be considered under the regular congressional process.  We are under no illusion that Congress always works perfectly, but lawmakers from both parties need to step up responsibly and make thoughtful and deliberate decisions on these issues.
 
Under no circumstances should deficit alarmists be allowed to circumvent the regular democratic process to advance their long-standing agenda of gutting Medicare and Social Security.

Commissions have been, and can be, serious and useful mechanisms to grapple with difficult problems.  But the true test of this commission's success will be whether it helps fix our budget deficits by attacking the jobs deficit, or whether it makes our budget problems worse by sacrificing jobs and urgently needed long-term public investment.

(Top Photo: Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President David Newby.  Bottom Photo: AFL-CIO President Trumka talks tough on the unemployment crisis.)

Green Jobs on Track in spite of Republican Obstruction

The Wisconsin Legislature's Joint Finance Committee voted yesterday to accept $810 million in federal stimulus money to build a high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee.  The new service will have stops in Brookfield, Oconomowoc and Watertown and begin operating in 2013.

The budget committee also approved the use of $12 million for improvements on the existing Hiawatha line between Milwaukee and Chicago.

It is estimated that high-speed rail will create more than 4,700 Wisconsin jobs and generate economic activity by providing 14 million passengers with fast, convenient access across the Midwest every year.

“This is a victory for quality green jobs in our state,” said Phil Neuenfeldt, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.  “Not only that, but having high-speed rail access will help other businesses start-up and develop.”

The committee voted 12-4 along party lines to approve spending for the new line.

“We are happy with the outcome of the vote, but the fact that this has recently become a partisan issue is deeply disappointing,” noted David Newby, President of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.   “Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker does not seem to understand that lasting economic recovery depends on strategic investment in our infrastructure.  This project will create thousands of Wisconsin jobs, and it deserves bipartisan support.”  

Gubernatorial Candidate Threatens to Derail State’s Recovery

Scott Walker, Republican Candidate for Wisconsin Governor, is threatening to turn down $823 million in recovery dollars designated for high-speed rail as part of his recently announced job creation plan. 

“Walker’s plan would certainly create jobs,” says Phil Neuenfeldt, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.  “The problem is that those jobs will be in Illinois, Minnesota and other states smart enough to accept the federal stimulus funding that he would turn away.”

Even by conservative estimates, high-speed rail will create more than 4,700 Wisconsin jobs and generate economic activity by providing 14 million passengers with fast, convenient access across the Midwest every year.

“Beyond the immediate job creation associated with construction, high-speed rail infrastructure is needed to boost our long term economic prospects,” says David Newby, President of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.  “In other parts of the country, rail development has been an important step towards building commuter friendly communities, as well as efficient, time-saving travel links between economic centers.  That benefits all kinds of businesses and creates good jobs.”

If Wisconsin were to reject the project, these job-creating resources could not be directed to other Wisconsin transportation projects.  Instead they would simply be reallocated to projects in other states. 

The Hiawatha Service between Milwaukee and Chicago proves rail can work -- its grown from 460,000 in 2004 to 740,000 in 2009 -- or 56,000 more riders every year.

“We need a jobs plan for Wisconsin -- not Florida, Oregon, Tennessee or Missouri.  Hopefully Walker will reconsider,” said Neuenfeldt.  “After all, he flip-flopped one year ago, when he was against the economic recovery act.  He turned around and supported the $130 million in projects for Milwaukee County.”

This morning at 11AM, South Central Federation of Labor President Jim Cavanaugh will participate in a press conference in Madison, along with Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and broad coalition of high-speed rail supporters, in order to alert the public to the consequences of Walker’s threat to reject federal stimulus funds. 

Public Services Are Under Attack. What Do We Do?

Stand up, Fight Back!    So the common rallying cry goes.  The first step is for unions that represent different types of public employees to come together in solidarity and identify their common challenges.

That is exactly what happened on February 8th, when representatives from the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT-Wisconsin, Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals - AFT and Wisconsin Education Association Council - NEA met with allies from the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families.

Every union that represents public sector employees in Wisconsin is facing the same bleak picture—a growing state deficit that adversely impacts public services and public education at all levels.  This is happening at the same time that working families are depending on various government programs for economic assistance. 

The group that met last week heard a presentation by Katherine McFate, Program Officer for Government Performance & Accountability, at the Ford Foundation.   She provided background on the 1 to 1.5 million jobs that were either saved or created by the federal stimulus bill known as the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, especially through the federal aid given to the states to maintain vital services. 

More federal aid is needed for the states in 2011-12 because they continue to face record deficits.  It may be difficult to directly observe the impact of a nurse, a teacher or firefighter who remained on duty because of stimulus funds.  But if we stop funding for vital services, the absences will be readily apparent and devastating.

We must organize pressure on the Congress to act. 

The banks crashed the economy, especially the big banks that received the TARP bailout.  They brought down the economy by creating, marketing and gambling on riskier and riskier financial products—with borrowed money.  These are the consequences of that irresponsible behavior:

•  $15 trillion in personal wealth is gone

• $6.1 trillion in housing value disappeared

• The top 1,000 pension funds dropped a trillion dollars in value

• 8 million jobs have been lost since the recession began

• Unemployment hovers around 10%

• One in nine Americans—34 million—are on Food Stamps

• 39.8 million people are in poverty—the highest number since 1960

The national recession was caused by national banks and we need a national response.  Without that, there will be ever more pressure on state and local governments to privatize public services.

This affects every citizen, not just public employees, because privatization often means that we get lower quality services and less accountability for our tax dollars. 

“At the same time that public services are outsourced to private, for-profit firms, there are fewer public employees to monitor the private contracts and hold them accountable for the expenditure of taxpayers’ funds,” says Phil Neuenfeldt, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.  “Taxpayers are being pressured to give up democratic control of public assets.”

This is no time for half measures.  Community services and working families did not cause the economic meltdown, and large or small, they are too important to fail. 

Last week’s meeting was solid start, and representatives from the affected unions and community allies will continue to meet in order to plan actions to save and strengthen our public services.  

(Photos: Representatives from the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT-Wisconsin, Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals - AFT, Wisconsin Education Association Council - NEA, Institute for Wisconsin’s Future and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families met on February 8th.  Photo Credit: Bob Allen of AFSCME.)