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10/21/03
E
Messenger
The
Electronic Newsletter of the
Florida
AFL-CIO
New
Members according to the AFL-CIO Work in Progress
This week's WIP: 2,440
Year to date: 126,743
STATE NEWS
The
corporate candy store is open this session!
Miami
Herald: Gov.
Bush makes case for Scripps biotech
Gov. Jeb Bush's desire to give $310 million in incentives to lure a
biotech institute is met with some support and some skepticism
on the first day of a special session.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7062931.htm
Education
"If
Horne spent as much time managing the voucher mess as he did managing the
news, he might not be in the spot he's in today. But with each revelation
over the past two years, Horne's office has played a studied game of
denial. Students getting vouchers for a
St.
Petersburg
school in a broken-down house, in foreclosure, with no license to operate,
and no electricity or water for two weeks? Shut it down, hope the story
goes away and ignore the reasons it happened. Some $350,000 in vouchers
going to an Islamic school in
Tampa
the FBI claims is a front for terrorism? Issue a Friday-afternoon
statement saying the vouchers will be discontinued, and hope the story
gets lost in the weekend news. Vouchers going to a home-school group in
Boynton
Beach
with a parent saying she was told the money could be split with her? Hide
the dispute from lawmakers, try to hide the records from newspapers, and
drop the investigation altogether. The discovery that a few schools
received two vouchers for the same student is simply stunning. How hard,
really, is it to make sure that only one payment is issued for each
student? Governments do that every day, with Social Security checks or
Medicaid payments or Bright Futures college grants. The Department of
Education failed because, until last month, it didn't even know which
students were receiving corporate tax vouchers. It didn't know because one
of the private groups dispensing the vouchers refused to say, and Horne
did nothing."
--
St.
Petersburg
Times editorial.
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/10/19/Opinion/Spinning_the_voucher_.shtml
"Is
paying the salaries of a private company's scientists really an essential
governmental service? Bush says he has been assured by federal officials
that his proposed use of the money is proper (it helps to have a brother
as president), but that doesn't make it right.
Late last week, Bush told doubters that if the Legislature doesn't
agree to pony up the money for this, other states would be more than happy
to spend the $310 million needed to grab the prize. Some wouldn't. They've
spent their federal money on such things as education."
--
Florida
Times-Union columnist Ron Littlepage on the
Scripps deal.
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101903/opl_13811488.shtml
Bait-and-Switch
on Public Education
Voters have begun to notice that the Bush administration
wanted
to trumpet the No Child Left Behind Act without
paying
for the program.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/21/opinion/21TUE4.html?th
Florida
Election 2004
St.. Pete Times: Diverse donor base fuels
Byrd's
U.S.
Senate effort
Among the contributors are some who benefited from legislation in 2003.
By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writer
Published
October 21, 2003
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/10/21/State/Diverse_donor_base_fu.shtml
More
progress on the living wage
Living
wage ordinance would give poor a lift
The St. Pete Times
10/19/03
NATIONAL
NEWS
California
strikes continue
Grocers,
Union Still Aren't Talking
The LA Times
10/20/03
Strikes
strain Southern California
USA
Today
10/20/03
MTA
Puts New Offer on Table
The LA Times
10/20/03
Talks
With Drivers On Strike Move Forward
The
Washington
Post
10/20/03
The
real fight in ’04 – health care
WORKERS
FIGHT FOR HEALTH CARE--More than 85,000 workers are on the picket lines
from
California
to
West Virginia
as employers
try to shift even more costs for health care to the workers in new
proposed contract takeaways. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called the
workers "brave leaders on the front lines of the fight for every
American's basic right to have affordable and quality health care."
In
California
, the UFCW sued
the Albertsons and Ralphs grocery chains for
locking out their workers after employees at Vons grocery stores walked
out Oct. 11, putting some 70,000 workers on the picket lines. The
supermarket chains, negotiating jointly, are demanding workers pay higher
premiums for health insurance and accept reduced pension benefits.
Meanwhile, 10,000 UFCW members in
St. Louis
remain on
strike after rejecting the contract offer by three grocery chains--Shop 'n
Save Warehouse, Schnuck Markets and Dierbergs
Markets. Another 3,300 workers in
Ohio
,
West Virginia
and
Kentucky
struck Kroger
Co. grocery chain stores Oct. 13. In
Los Angeles
, 2,200 members
of the Amalgamated Transit Union walked out Oct. 14 over demands by the
management of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to
shift the increasing costs of health care premiums to workers. Bus
drivers, train operators and other workers are honoring the picket lines.
Health
care issues become battleground on labor front
Chicago-Sun Times
10/20/03
Workplace
feels health-coverage ills
Seattle
Times
10/20/03
More
labor conflicts expected over workers' health care benefits
Buffalo News
10/20/03
As
health care costs rise, workers shoulder burden Labor fights flare as
premiums soar
USA
Today
10/21/03
U.S.
Prescription Drug System Under Attack
The
Washington
Post
10/19/03
AFGE
battles the TSA
White
House, Union Meetings to Signal Changes in Homeland Security Workplace
10/20/03
AFGE TAKES TSA SUPERVISOR TO COURT;
ASKS FOR COMPENSATORY AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) on
Friday, October 17, 2003, filed suit on behalf of former Transportation
Security Administration (TSA)
screener Debra Cummings who was fired following an incident in which she
asked an Air Tran pilot to submit to secondary screening. In
accordance with standard operating procedures (SOPs),
Cummings requested the additional screening after observing suspicious
behavior as the pilot went through the metal passenger detection gate.
AFGE is charging both James Loy, head of the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA), and the former Acting Federal Security Director (FSD)
of
Dayton
International
Airport
with violating
Cummings' First Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution.
"It's time TSA's supervisory staff
are held accountable for the hostile environment they have created
through intimidation and fear," said AFGE National President John
Gage.
"Federal screeners enjoy their work and are dedicated to the
critical role they play on the front lines of the war on terrorism. But,
management's lack of respect as well as intimidation is
hurting the efforts of screeners to provide the
best security at our nation's airports for fear of retaliation and even
termination by their supervisors."
Despite previously receiving a positive evaluation and a certificate of
appreciation for outstanding performance and attendance, a complaint filed
by the pilot resulted in a termination letter to
Cummings, citing the incident with the Air Tran pilot as the central
reason.
Cummings, unfortunately, had drawn the attention of TSA management before
the Air Tran pilot incident, when she requested Sundays off to attend
church, again
when management became aware that she was distributing union literature
while off-duty, and following the request and approval of leave to care
for her sick children.
AFGE's complaint, filed with the U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of Ohio, charges TSA with violations of
the defendant's First Amendment rights of free speech, free
association and free exercise of religion-she was denied approval
for leave to attend church services.
In addition to Admiral Loy, the Acting Federal Security Director at the
Dayton
airport has also been personally charged with violating the Constitution.
The union has asked the court to order the former Acting FSD to
paycompensatory and punitive damages.
AFGE PRESIDENT JOHN GAGE QUESTIONS TSA'S
STANCE
AS
DHS PERSONNEL NEGOTIATIONS PROCEED IN
WASHINGTON
,
D.C.
WASHINGTON
,
D.C.
-The president of AFGE, the nation's largest union of federal workers,
today called on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to adhere
to the same personnel process
as the other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
John Gage said that TSA has been under more criticism because of its
personnel operations than all of the other agencies currently
under DHS combined.
Gage, as well as representatives from the DHS and the Office of Personnel
Management and other union leaders, are part of
a senior review committee meeting this week (October 20 - October
22)
in
Washington
,
D.C.
, at the Almas Temple. Gage said he is pleased
that Admiral James Loy, who heads the Transportation Security
Administration, is part of the review committee.
"I believe that Governor Ridge and Director James sold Congress on
the creation of a new personnel system that would put all 22 entities
within a coherent program. No one told Congress that
25 percent of the employees were to be exempt from the new system.
I suspect a great number of Senators and Representatives will be extremely
concerned to find out they were misled," said Gage.
"I, therefore, take Admiral Loy's participation on this committee as
a pledge that, in fact, TSA will be covered by the new personnel policies
we are considering," said Gage.
Presently TSA is exempt from the personnel system under consideration.
AFGE represents some 1,000 TSA screeners with 9,500 who have expressed
interest in joining the union.
Election
2004
Clark,
Lieberman decide to skip Iowa caucuses
Boston
Globe
10/20/03
With
Health Insurance, Democratic Candidates Have Got It Covered
The
Washington
Post
10/20/03
Voters'
Educational Divide Could Slow Dean's Advance
LA Times
10/21/03
Gephardt
Emerging as Toughest Rival
The
Washington
Post
10/21/03
Wal-Mart
Watch
Wal-Mart,
Driving Workers and Supermarkets Crazy
The
New York
Times
10/19/03
Wal-Mart
clouds labor conflict
San Diego Union-Tribune
10/18/03
Amid
strikes, grocers point to Wal-Mart factor
Houston
Chronicle
George
Bush’s America
Treasury
Chief Sees a Jobs Boom, but Most Don't
The
New York
Times
10/21/03
Crackdown
on Tax Cheats Not Working, Panel Says
By DAVID CAY
JOHNSTON
The Senate Finance Committee will hold hearings on tax
shelters
that, aides said, will include testimony that tax cheating continues
unabated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/20/business/20tax.html?th
What
Alabama
's Low-Tax Mania
Can Teach the Rest of the
Country
By ADAM COHEN
Before we sell voters on low taxes, we should think about whether we want
the whole nation
to look like
Alabama
does this year
or, worse, next year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/20/opinion/20MON3.html?th
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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