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02/10/04
E
Messenger
The Electronic Newsletter of the
Florida
AFL-CIO
New
Members according to the AFL-CIO Work in Progress
This week's WIP: 2,260
Year to date: 7,790
STATE
NEWS
Legislative
News
Push
grows for voucher accreditation
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Palm
Beach Post
Table
set for turkey at Capitol
(MONDAY,
02/08/2004
© Tallahassee
Democrat)
Touch
screen doubts
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© St.
Petersburg Times)
Legislature
2004: Needy seniors can qualify for additional exemption
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Naples
Daily News)
LEGISLATIVE
UPDATE: INTERIM COMMITTEE MEETINGS
(02/09/2004 © Alachua
County Post)
Tallahassee
Report; Featuring Environmental Coverage of Florida`s
2004 Legislative Session Hello everyone, those of us in Tallahassee hope
you had a wonderful New Year and that y`all
are gearing up for the 2004 Legislative session!
Truth
or Dare In Tallahassee
(
02/10/2004
© Lakeland
Ledger)
Here's a novel
idea: People who testify before the Florida Legislature ought to tell the
truth. Certainly, a prime sticking point during last year's extended
legislative debate over medical malpractice was the seemingly conflicting
statements made by legions of lobbyists who were hired
Senate
Leader Regrets Vote for Schiavo Law
(02/10/2004 © Lakeland
Ledger)
ST. PETERSBURG --
The phone calls and e-mails flooded into state Senate offices so fast and
furious last year they crashed the phone and computer systems. Their
message: Save Terri Schiavo.
AFSCME pushes
for free speech provision for state workers, UNITE organizes in
Central Florida
Free-speech
proposal a likely no-go
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Tallahassee
Democrat)
Workers
seek better conditions
(MONDAY,
02/08/2004
© Daytona
Beach News-Journal)
Education
Parents
group supports FCAT access bill
(02/09/2004 © Tallahassee
Democrat)
A coalition of
parents and two state legislators called for passage of legislation today
that would let parents see their children's answer sheets and test
materials when they take the state's student-assessment tests
Editorial:
College 'crisis'
(MONDAY,
02/08/2004
© Vero
Beach Press Journal,Jupiter Courier)
Florida
election 2004
Manatee
Dems cheer on Castor
(02/10/2004 © Sarasota
Herald-Tribune)
BY DALE WHITE ANNA
MARIA -- Veteran Florida politician Betty Castor told the Democratic Party
faithful in Manatee County on Monday night that she needs their support --
as active volunteers and not just campaign contributors -- if she's to
keep a Republican challenger from seizing the state's open U.S. Senate
seat.
ELECTION
2004: ORLANDO DECIDES
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Orlando
Sentinel)
State
ranks 3rd in political cash
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Miami
Herald)
Democrats
persistently push for paper trail
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Palm
Beach Post)
Touch
screen doubts
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© St.
Petersburg Times)
More
“fishy” deals in
Tallahassee
A
continuing education in political ties that bind
(
02/10/2004
© St.
Petersburg Times)
This is
interesting. The state has hired a private company in
Jacksonville
to track the
"continuing education" classes that
Florida
requires of doctors,
nurses and other health professionals. It's a contract worth millions. It
therefore is worth looking at how the company won it from Gov. Jeb Bush's
administration, after the Legislature passed a law creating the job.
Echoes of
“One
Florida
”
Judge:
Bush's plan is biased
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© St.
Petersburg Times)
Health care –
Look what they are doing to Kidcare
Deeming
waiting list a bother, Republicans plan to discard it
(02/10/2004 © St.
Petersburg Times)
TALLAHASSEE - For
weeks, Democrats have urged Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican legislative
leaders to eliminate a waiting list for a popular children's health
insurance program. Senate Republicans want to do just that, but not the
way Democrats had hoped.
SEIU
WINS AGAIN IN
MIAMI
--The majority
of more than 340 medical technicians, aides, maintenance workers and other
support staff at
Miami
's
Pan
American
Hospital
voted
overwhelmingly Jan. 26 to join SEIU. Their union victory comes just two
weeks after more than 185 RNs at the hospital joined SEIU. In addition,
the majority of about 250 Head Start staff of the SMILE Community Action
Agency voted Jan. 26 to join SEIU Local 100 for a stronger voice in
advocating quality preschool education. The agency serves the
Louisiana
parishes of
St. Martin
,
Iberia
and
Lafayette
. And a unit of
some 70 nursing assistants, dietary workers and clerical staff at The
Hermitage nursing home in
Worcester
,
Mass.
, recently voted
36 to 24 to join SEIU Local 2020. The facility is owned by Beverly
Enterprises.
A
path from instability
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Ft.
Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel)
Insurers
battle hospitals over a consumer rights bill
(02/09/2004 © Jacksonville
Business Journal)
JACKSONVILLE -- A
'consumer rights' bill asking hospitals to help develop a retail price
list for procedures amounts to costly harassment by insurers looking for
an edge in negotiating rates, hospital officials say.
UM
wants limit on all payouts for malpractice
(02/10/2004 © Miami
Herald)
Just weeks ago,
the University of Miami said its medical malpractice costs at Jackson
Memorial Hospital were so out of control that it would seek a legal limit
on its payouts to poor patients at the public hospital.
The
future of DEP
Who
Is That Behind The Bulldozer
(
02/09/2004
© Alachua
County Post)
The good news, of
course, is that David Struhs will soon be
gone. The bad news is there will be somebody else.
DCF
continues push to eliminate jobs
State
squeezes welfare jobs
(02/10/2004 © Daytona
Beach News-Journal)
DAYTONA BEACH
Thirty-three local child-welfare positions with the Department of Children
& Families will be cut as part of a statewide move to save money.
No
love for “stop smoking” programs
Insider
decries Florida treason
(02/10/2004 © Jacksonville
- Florida Times Union)
Former tobacco
executive-turned-whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand called Florida's use of
tobacco settlement money a 'moral treason,' and urged legislators to use
the money the state receives for its intended purpose -- prevention.
Sunshine
Law?
On
the record
(02/10/2004 © St.
Petersburg Times)
One of the most
important protections Florida residents have against reckless or improper
actions by government officials is the state's public records law. It is
democracy at its most basic - anyone can scrutinize the documents that
reveal decisions, actions and expenditures at all levels of state and
local government.
A
Public Right To Records - No Questions Asked
(
02/10/2004
© Tampa
Tribune)
T he citizens of
Florida
have a right to inspect
government records. They need not identify themselves or put their
requests in writing.
NATIONAL
NEWS
Election
2004
AFSCME's
support for Kerry signals end for Dean – Detroit News
Dean
says he'd take VP slot if necessary - Philadelphia Inquirer
Echoes
of Vietnam in presidential campaign 35 years later
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Daytona
Beach News-Journal)
Veterans
are supporting Kerry, but is
it enough?
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Jacksonville
-
Florida
Times
Union
)
War
and politics
War
budget puts veterans in pinch
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Gainesville
Sun)
Bush
defends war, Guard duty
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Palm
Beach Post)
Bush
Admits Prewar Error
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Tampa
Tribune)
Shifting
events lead to apology to the president
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Miami
Herald)
Bush's
downfall
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Northwest
Florida
Daily News)
The Bush
Economy – sending jobs overseas is good!
Bush
economic report praises 'outsourcing' jobs - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
Analysis:
Bush Policy Favors Business – The
Washington
Post
Job
hunters say the search is hard
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Pensacola
News Journal)
Shopping
ourselves poor
(MONDAY,
02/09/2004
© Gainesville
Sun)
JOBLESS
AID GAINS SUPPORT--Overcoming
long-standing opposition by Republican leaders and signaling bipartisan
support, the U.S. House of Representatives Feb. 4 approved a six-month
extension of the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC)
program. President George W. Bush opposes the extension of the program,
which expired in December. TEUC provides up to 13 weeks of unemployment
benefits for jobless workers who have exhausted their state unemployment
benefits without finding work. The Senate must approve the extension, and
Bush must agree to sign--not veto--legislation that extends the TEUC. The
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said 375,000 workers exhausted
unemployment benefits in January without a federal program on which to
fall back--the highest single-month total in 30 years. For more
information, visit http://www.aflcio.org
.
WEALTHY
WIN WITH BUSH BUDGET--President
Bush's fiscal year 2005 budget includes permanent tax cuts for the
nation's super-rich while it shortchanges and cuts funds for the domestic
programs working families need most, such as job creation, health care,
transportation and education. Released Feb. 2, Bush's tax-cut proposal
balloons the already record-high $477 billion
U.S.
federal deficit
to $520 billion in 2005 and as much as $5.2 trillion between 2005 and
2014, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Bush
budget "continues a disturbing shift away from the priorities of
working Americans and promises to widen, rather than narrow, the growing
gulf between the rich and middle class in
America
," said
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. Bush's budget proposes cuts to the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's)
worker safety programs by 65 percent but provides increased funding and
staffing for the Department of Labor to investigate and prosecute unions.
Bush's budget proposals underfund education so
drastically that hundreds of thousands of children will be left behind in
classes that are too large and with too few opportunities to participate
in prekindergarten programs, and teachers
won't have access to the training needed to upgrade their skills--despite
the promises of the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind
Act. The president's budget ignores the plight of jobless workers and
fails to call for extension of the TEUC program--at the same time it
undercuts job creation by calling for far less than is needed for
transportation funding to create jobs and upgrade roads, bridges and mass
transit. Bush's proposed jobs training program trains workers for what he
calls the "jobs of the future," but he says nothing about
stemming the loss of current well-paying
U.S.
jobs. And the
funding increases for worker training do not begin to restore earlier Bush
cuts in job training and dislocated worker programs. For
an in-depth look at Bush' budget proposals, visit http://www.aflcio.org/bushwatch
.
The
Pentagon’s five sided union busting
BUSH
ATTACKS VETERANS' RIGHTS--President
Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are
attacking the fundamental civil service rights of 700,000 civilian
employees at the U.S. Department of Defense, union leaders said at a Feb.
9 news conference. Bush and Rumsfeld are
proposing changes to the Defense Department's personnel rules, released
over the weekend, that essentially could terminate bargaining and employee
appeal rights, federal workers' unions said. John Gage, president of AFGE,
which represents 600,000 federal employees, said the plan is "the
first step to the wholesale destruction of the civil service system."
Meanwhile, AFGE is continuing its efforts to help airport screeners win a
voice on the job. On Jan. 15, the union filed a motion in the federal
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn an order by the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) prohibiting airport screeners
from having the benefit of collective bargaining. AFGE said the ban is
unconstitutional and violates the Aviation and Transportation Security Act
of 2001, which created TSA.
Employees
to Protest Pentagon Labor Plan: Bargaining Jeopardized, Unions Say
The
Washington
Post
2/10/04
Pentagon
denies union busting claim
Chicago
Tribune
2/10/04
Grocery
workers’ struggle continues
MOMENTUM
BUILDS FOR GROCERY WORKERS--More
than 1,500 union activists and elected and community leaders including New
York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi and AFL-CIO
Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson rallied on Wall Street Feb.
5, telling financial experts a Safeway-led coalition of grocers is hurting
investors and all working families. Since mid-October, more than 70,000
United Food and Commercial Workers California grocery workers have been
striking or locked out after rejecting a contract offer that slashes
health benefits and wages for new hires. On Jan. 31 in Inglewood, Calif.,
more than 15,000 workers, activists and community leaders rallied and
marched to a nearby Safeway-owned Vons grocery store. Speakers included
Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn (D) and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer
(D), whose office filed suit in federal court in
Los Angeles
Feb. 2 charging
the grocers with violating federal anti-trust laws. Make a donation to the
striking grocery workers by visiting https://secure.ga3.org/08/holdtheline
or send a check 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
.
From
the Front Lines, Workers Tell Their Side
The LA Times
Gobbling
Up Smaller Grocery Stores
The
Washington
Post
Grocery
chains, union to resume talks
|The
Boston
Globe
2/10/04
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.
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Rich Templin
Communications Director
Florida
AFL-CIO
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