02/03/04
E
Messenger
The
Electronic Newsletter of the
Florida
AFL-CIO
New
Members according to the AFL-CIO Work in Progress
This week's WIP: 1,563
Year to date: 5,530
STATE
NEWS
Geraldine
Ferraro to Join Progressive Women in walk for change
Women’s
Voices works to register voters, to share information about issues that
affect our lives, and to provide opportunities to raise a unified voice
for women’s priorities - issues that affect our families before
political leaders and candidates. Some
of these priorities are education and child care, health care, jobs,
overtime pay, and safety.
Women’s Voices is going door-to-door armed with three objectives
–register, educate, and mobilize. The
mission is to register women voters, to establish ongoing communications
sharing information about critical working family issues, and to provide
opportunities to raise a unified voice for social and economic justice
before political leaders and candidates.
The first Women’s Walk
will take place on Saturday, February 7, 2004 departing from the offices
of the United Teachers of Dade Union, 2200 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL.
Geraldine Ferraro will be joining the walk which takes place from 9am- 1pm
Please make every effort to join in, and/or to pass this
information on t others in the area.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Dorothy Townsend (305) 654-7411 or at dt291@bellsouth.net
Nobody
would steal and election…trust the machines.
County
likely to approve paper ballot receipts
(
02/02/2004
© Boca Raton
News)
Palm Beach
County
voters who've demanded a
paper copy of their Election Day ballot may soon get it.
Voting
machine printers debated
(02/02/2004 © Ft.
Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel)
When Nevada voters
go to the polls in November, they'll be among the first in the nation to
cast their ballots on a touch-screen voting machine, then double-check
them on a piece of paper before making their choices official.
Wexler
ramps up reputation in fight for ballot receipts
(
02/02/2004
© Boca Raton
News)
Some had described
him as nothing more than a shill for then-President Bill
Clinton
during impeachment
proceedings a few years ago.
Jeb’s
budget, same as it ever was.
Bush
intangibles plan stirs up early debate
(02/02/2004 © South
Florida Business Journal)
Gov. Jeb Bush's
plan to eliminate Florida's intangibles tax is drawing early opposition
from Democrats, including Senate Finance and Taxation Committee Chairman
Gwen Margolis, D-Miami Beach.
Voters
spoke clearly, but Jeb didn t hear
(02/01/2004 © Key
West Citizen)
In November 2002,
Florida voters overwhelmingly supported an amendment to the state
Constitution setting limits for the number of students in every public
school classroom.
Governor
s budget a good first step
(
02/02/2004
© Orlando
Business Journal)
Gov. Jeb Bush's
just-announced budget is a major step forward for community colleges and
Florida
's economy.
Waiting
list no help for state s sick kids
(02/01/2004 © Daytona
Beach News-Journal)
In response to the
thousands of messages sent to Florida's elected leaders from families,
advocates and concerned residents, Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd,
Gov. Jeb Bush and several legislators have sent messages that paint a rosy
picture for the state's child health insurance program.
Tobacco
critics fear budget will sting
(02/02/2004 © Orlando
Sentinel)
Gov. Jeb Bush's
new budget plan calls for spending substantially less on anti-smoking
programs than he proposed in past years, prompting health advocates
Anti-Smoking
Effort Fades
(02/03/2004 © Lakeland
Ledger)
Anti-Smoking
Effort Fades Gov. Jeb Bush makes his budget increase to fund youth
smoking-prevention programs for the coming year sound good: "It's 16
times more that what was appropriated last year.
Florida
election 2004
Gov.
Bush fires up Republican faithful
(
02/02/2004
© Miami
Herald)
Argus Report: Gov.
Bush fires up Republican faithful for Bush-Cheney 2004
Florida
campaign
Florida
Deutsch
hopes to expand upon Broward base
(
02/01/2004
© Daytona
Beach News-Journal)
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS
-- U.S. Rep. Peter
Deutsch spent most of the 1980s in the state Legislature and has served in
Congress since the start of the
Clinton
administration.
Byrd,
Deutsch Lead U.S. Senate Hopefuls In Money Race
(02/02/2004 © Tampa
Tribune)
TALLAHASSEE -
Republican House Speaker Johnnie Byrd of Plant City and Democratic U.S.
Rep. Peter Deutsch were the money leaders among candidates for a U.S.
Senate seat in Florida during the last three months of 2003, figures filed
Friday with the Federal Elections Commission show.
Governor
calls for election reforms
(02/03/2004 © Gainesville
Sun)
ALLAHASSEE - Gov.
Jeb Bush is expected to ask Florida lawmakers today to end loopholes in
Florida's election laws that have allowed state lawmakers and special
interest groups to raise and spend large amounts of money in secret.
Florida
’s vouchers
examined
Bill
seeks voucher accountability
(
02/03/2004
© Ft.
Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel)
A statewide task
force is helping to revise a bill to make private schools more accountable
if they accept vouchers to educate disabled students.
When it comes to
workers’ comp – don’t say we didn’t warn you!
JUA
digs deeper into the red
(
02/02/2004
© Orlando
Business Journal)
TALLAHASSEE
-- The well is dry.
According to early estimates, the state-backed workers' compensation
insurer of last resort is $6 million in the red. Worse, state officials
expect that to balloon sevenfold this year to as much as $42 million.
Water
takeover on hold…for now.
Stopping
the water transfer Governor s decision will allow a thorough debate
(02/02/2004 © Sarasota
Herald-Tribune)
Gov. Jeb Bush
thinks the Legislature should shelve a business group's controversial
proposal to supply fast-growing South Florida with water diverted from
rural North Florida. He made the right decision, but apparently for the
wrong reasons.
Editorial:
No water wars this year
(02/03/2004 © Palm
Beach Post)
Gov. Bush and the
Senate president apparently have dropped the terrible idea of piping water
from rural areas in North Florida to high-growth areas such as Tampa Bay
and South Florida -- at least for this year. It should be the last attempt
to remove
Florida
's water supply from
public ownership.
Push to
limit access to Constitution continues
Lawmakers
trying to end petitions to amend constitution
(
02/03/2004
© Bradenton
Herald)
TALLAHASSEE
- State lawmakers
started discussing proposals Monday to make it harder for groups to change
the Florida Constitution by petition drive.
More on
the DEP Chief’s resignation
Governor
Needs To Get New Pal For Liar s Poker
(
02/02/2004
© Tampa
Tribune)
Oh, c'mon now, why
all the fuss? After all, if outgoing Florida Department of Environmental
Protection Secretary David Struhs gave a
possum's patootie about appearances, the
Ichetucknee
River
wouldn't be in the
process of being turned into a sluice gate for the Suwanee
American Cement Co.
Scripps
watch
Scripps
closing in on its big move to Florida
(02/03/2004 © Miami
Herald)
The Scripps
Research Institute is taking the final steps needed to call Palm Beach
County home for its new Florida facility. The Palm Beach County Commission
is to meet today to give ''conceptual approval'' to the county's lengthy
contract with Scripps.
Scripps,
state agree on terms
(02/03/2004 © South
Florida Business Journal)
The Scripps
Florida Funding Corp. culminated its fifth meeting, Friday, by signing an
operating and funding agreement with The Scripps Research Institute.
Other
state news
Traveling
Via `State Airways
(
02/02/2004
© Lakeland
Ledger)
Traveling Via
`State Airways'
Florida
politicians have been
misusing state airplanes almost since Chuck Yeager was a test pilot.
Before that, they misused state cars -and maybe horses and buggies
Freeze
on nursing home spending draws fire
(
02/03/2004
© Daytona
Beach News-Journal)
TALLAHASSEE
-- Three years ago,
Florida
's nursing homes were in
crisis. Stung by costly lawsuits and horror stories about shoddy care,
nursing homes couldn't find -- or afford -- liability insurance.
NATIONAL
NEWS
George’s
budget looks a lot like Jeb’s
Bush
Sends Congress $2.4 Trillion Budget (washingtonpost.com)
Washington
Post
2/3/04
Nearsighted
deficit plan ignores problems down the road, skeptics say
New York
Times
2/3/04
Editorial:
Bogus Budgetting
Washington Post
2/3/04
Krugman:
Another Bogus Budget
The New York Times
Election
2004
Dean
Labor Supporters Wary of Strategy
Associated Press (AP)
2/3/04
Kerry
Criticizes Bush on High Drug Costs
Yahoo! News
2/1/04
United
Farm Workers union endorses Kerry for president
Sacramento
Bee
2/1/04
Liberal
Donors Back Anti-Bush Groups
The
Washington
Post
1/31/04
Democrats
stress importance of Latino voting bloc
San
Francisco
Chronicle
2/3/04
Kerry
Seen as 'Electable'
Washington
Post
2/3/04
Overtime
Takeaways
VETS'
O.T. AT RISK--Employers are setting the wheels in motion to deny some of
their military veteran employees overtime pay under changes to the Fair
Labor Standards Act the Bush administration intends to issue soon. The
changes could eliminate overtime pay protections for 8 million workers and
would allow employers to drop overtime pay for workers who have received
certain kinds of training while in the military. The Washington Post
reported Jan. 29 that Boeing Co., along with other firms, wrote the
Department of Labor last year strongly supporting the changes that would
affect veterans. Pro-worker lawmakers in Congress plan to seek legislation
to halt the Bush administration's attack on overtime pay. Both the House
and Senate voted to protect overtime pay as part of an appropriations
bill, but Bush administration veto threats along with its strong-arm
tactics forced Congress to drop the overtime pay guarantee from the
legislation. Visit www.aflcio.org
to tell President Bush to withdraw his overtime pay take-away.
Hey,
what's up with my overtime!
Orlando
Sentinel
2/1/04
Overtime
Issue Isn't Dead
Chicago Tribune
Globalization
watch
Change
trade rules to even the playing field on wages, bargaining, health and
environment
Detroit
News
2/1/04
Anxious
about outsourcing
Washington
Post
1/31/04
Global
Trade Issues Hit Home (washingtonpost.com)
The
Washington
Post
2/2/04
Globalism
Minus Jobs Equals Campaign Issue
The New York Times
Grocery
workers kick it up a notch
GROCERY WORKERS ON THE MARCH--Led by national union, community and
religious leaders, more than 10,000 striking and locked-out UFCW grocery
workers and their children gathered Jan. 31 for a massive march and rally
ending at a Safeway-owned Vons market in
Inglewood
,
Calif.
The rally
followed a Jan. 28 march by hundreds of striking grocery workers and their
families to the gated home of Safeway CEO Steve Burd
to deliver 10,000 postcards urging him to negotiate in good faith. Art
Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation,
criticized police treatment of the pilgrimage and accused the homeland
security section of the San Francisco Sheriff's Department of trailing
vehicles of strikers. Since Oct. 11, more than 70,000 grocery workers have
been on strike against Vons and locked out by Albertsons and Kroger-owned Ralphs
stores. The workers have rejected a new contract offer that slashes health
care benefits as well as pay and benefits for new hires. You can make a
donation to support the striking grocery workers online by visiting https://secure.ga3.org/08/holdtheline
or send a check made payable to AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer to the Hold
the Line for Health Care Strike Fund, AFL-CIO, 815 16th St., N.W.,
Washington, DC 20006.
Governor
offers to aid grocery talks
Sacramento
Bee
2/3/04
Grocery
Execs Take Stock of Their Options
The LA Times
2/1/04
National
support promised in grocery strike
The LA Times
2/1/04
Grocery workers hold strike rally
Chicago
Tribune
2/1/04
California
Attorney General weighs in on side of workers
Calif. attorney general sues market chains over mutual aid pact
Newsflash
1/31/04
Joint
Statement From Albertsons, Ralphs
And Vons Regarding Antitrust Allegations Filed by California Attorney
General
Business Wire
1/30/04
Wal-Mart
Watch
Wal-Mart
Gives Mostly to GOP
USA
Today
2/3/04
Wal-Mart's
Costs Can't Always Be Measured
The LA Times
2/2/04
Wal-Mart
on PR Offensive to Repair Image
Rueters
The
Two Faces of Wal-Mart
Business Week
1/28/04
If you have
suggestions on how we may improve this online publication or have
information you would like to see posted please contact our communications
director at (850) 224 – 6926 or at rtemplin@flaflcio.org.
SUBSCRIBE
Union members may subscribe to the E Messenger by visiting our website
at www.flaflcio.org.
UNSUBSCRIBE
If you would not like to receive future copies of this newsletter
please let us know at cbell@flaflcio.org.
Rich Templin
Communications Director
Florida
AFL-CIO
