Wake Up Unions: Brown, Democrats, Not Friends of Labor

Despite spending millions of dollars to get him elected, California Governor Jerry Brown has been going after unions and the working class with almost as much gusto as his Republican cohorts. (Brown, like other Democrats, simply has enough sense to leave collective bargaining and automatic payroll dues deductions alone, thus mollifying union leadership sufficiently to get them to agree to enforce ruling class demands). In addition to the $8 billion in cuts he has already signed into law, which will results in thousands of layoffs and furloughs, as well as increased out of pocket payments for union members’ health care, Brown has been actively working to gut public employee pensions.

Public employee pensions are in fact underfunded and this is a potential long-term problem. However, most of the California public employee pensions have plenty of funds to last at least 13 years See Modern School: Relax, Public Pensions Are Fine. Furthermore, the reason that they are underfunded has nothing to do with bogus claims of worker abuse or overly generous dispensations (the average teacher pension is only $3,300 per month. They are underfunded for two reasons: the economic collapse that caused virtually all stocks and investment funds to decline dramatically and the mismanagement of the fund operators. The calls by the ruling elite to “reform” (i.e. gut) public employee pensions has several self-serving goals: (1) reduce all public spending so that their taxes can be further lowered; (2) force public employees to buy into mutual funds, thus increasing profits for fund managers and brokers); (3) weaken and ultimately crush their unions, so that wages decline further (and their profit margins go up).

The following is from the WSWS

At the end of March, the latest round of budget talks between Democrats and Republicans in the US state of California broke down despite general agreement on cuts to social spending. According to state Republicans, pension reform is the sticking point. Although pensions for public employees amount to only four percent of the state budget, both parties are using the budget crisis to demand deep cuts.
To take the initiative against Republicans, Governor Jerry Brown released seven proposals for pension reform. True to form, they overwhelmingly target the working class, and closely mirror the Republicans’ demands. These proposals come on top of $8 billion already signed into law by Brown earlier this year, including sharp cuts in education and health care spending.
Four of the seven points are aimed at supposed “abuses.” He would end “airtime,” where an employee can pay a fee to have benefits calculated as if the worker had worked for up to five additional years. Brown is also targeting “pension spiking,” a term used attack workers whose wages increase in the later years of employment, resulting in a higher calculated pension benefit. Benefits would be calculated on the basis of a three-year instead of one-year average and only include base pay. The governor would also remove benefits for those convicted of felonies relating to their employment.

To read to full article, please go here.

Hey Liberals, Democrats Are Evil, Too

The left press and blogosphere have been ranting about the crazy, evil, greedy and/or stupid Republicans and mostly overlooking the fact that Democratic lawmakers, too, have launched a scorched earth policy against children, teachers, unions, and working people in general.

Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons

Consider these examples reported today on the WSWS:

The Democrat-controlled Colorado senate, by a 30-5 margin, approved budget cuts of $250 million from K-12 education, which will result in massive teacher layoffs, larger class sizes, and a shortened school year. The budget also guts higher education and Medicaid, while canceling a $3 million nutrition program for poor children. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper initially called for $375 million in cuts to K-12 education, but agreed to reduced education cuts in exchange for bigger tax cuts for the rich and corporations. Keep in mind, Colorado’s six billionaires with a combined wealth of $20.3 billion, more than 20 times Colorado’s entire $988 million deficit, have no need for a tax break.

Washington State, with a Democrat governor and Democrat-controlled senate and house, approved a budget that slashes $2 billion from public education, cuts pay for state workers and teachers by 3%, and strips funding from “underperforming” schools. Their budget saves an additional $1.2 billion by refusing to fund a voter-approved program to increase teacher pay and decrease class sizes. Washington is also planning to cut $530 million from higher education, which would cause tuition to increase by 16% at universities and 12% at community colleges. The budget also imposes furloughs and cuts funding for Medicaid. Washington’s six billionaires have a combined net worth of nearly $100 billion, which is 25 times the state’s budget deficit.

Or consider these examples:

California has a Democrat governor and Democrat-controlled state house and senate. Yet they are proposing to close their $25 billion budget gap by slashing $1.4 billion from higher education and $4 billion from k-12 education, according to the CTA. Additionally, Reuters and CNN report that the proposed budget would cut wages by 10% for many unionized state employees, while slashing Medi-Cal by $1.7 billion, Welfare-to-Work by $1.5 billion, and $705 million from the agency serving people with developmental disabilities. Yet, if just the richest 19 residents paid 10% more in taxes, the state’s $25 billion deficit would be completely erased.  California has 80 billionaires, or 20% of Forbes’ richest Americans.

In New York, Democratic Governor Cuomo has proposed a budget plan calling for nearly 9,800 layoffs. The plan also calls for massive cuts to K-12 education (7.3%) and health care, in addition to 10% cuts to colleges and universities, reported NBC news. Additionally, CNN said that state agencies will have their budgets slashed by 20%. New York City, alone, has 58 billionaires who, together have so much wealth they could erase the State’s budget deficit without even noticing a change in their bank accounts.

In Maryland, Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley, who ran a pro-education and pro-labor campaign, and the Democrat-controlled state legislature, are now considering cuts to education and the state work force, according to the Baltimore Sun. Under the plan, current employees would have to increase their pension contributions by 25%, (7% of their pay), or they could opt to continue contributing about 5.6% of their pay, but would risk decreased benefits. WaPo reports that new employees would have no choice and their early retirement age would be raised from 55 to 60. Daily Censored says that $94 million will be cut from k-12 education, with $15 of it coming entirely from Baltimore City Schools.

Connecticut’s Democratic Governor, Dan Malloy, has pitted unions against the cities, basing his budget almost entirely on union concessions worth $1 billion over the next two years, according to CBS news. If the unions refuse to accept the cuts, he has threatened to slash state funding for cities. Hearst Connecticut Newspapers says that the losses to cities could be as much as $67 million for Bridgeport, $10.4 million from Danbury, $4.9 million Stamford, $1.8 million from Greenwich, and $5 million from Norwalk.

Teachers, Stop Being So Scared of the Rich

My school district just had their first Wear Red for Public Ed event (hopefully with many more to follow). In addition to wearing red, we handed out fliers to parents and neighbors that discussed the March 15 deadline for pink slips and how dramatically the annual teacher layoffs affect their children.

While the leafleting and unity in attire went well, I was very disillusioned (though not surprised) with one aspect of the action. My original draft for the flier included the suggestion that if the rich paid more taxes there would be no budget crisis and no reason for any layoffs. Indeed, if only the richest 19 Californians paid 10% more in taxes, the state budget deficit would be completely erased. Keep in mind that California has 80 billionaires. Therefore, if just the billionaires paid more in taxes, there would be a huge surplus, enough to increase wages and benefits, shrink class sizes, hire librarians, counselors and nurse, purchase science equipment, and increase per pupil spending to generous levels. Yet members of our union’s legislative council insisted that the word “rich” be purged from the flier. They were fearful that some of our parents would be offended.

I should emphasize that there was nothing in the flier that was rude or disparaging toward the rich. I did not call them parasites or sponges. I did not use adjectives like greedy or reckless. I simply suggested they pay more in taxes. How else can the budget gaps be closed? How else can schools, health, housing and other necessary social services be funded? The rest of us can only contribute so much of our own modest wages before we, too, become dependent on state handouts.

This controversy revealed an important paradox: We want good schools and other social services, but we are not allowed to even mention the most obvious and simple way to get them. Obviously, the rich won’t allow it. Such talk would never make it into the mainstream media or get discussed by state lawmakers. However, even the left does not want to talk about it. Words like “rich” and “wealthy” are considered dirty words. Worse, it is as if they do not even exist.

On the one hand, to discuss the wealthy, one has to acknowledge that there are those who are not wealthy. Indeed, the vast majority of us are not wealthy. Thus, by discussing wealth we must confront and accept our own relative poverty and powerlessness, something that for many is just too depressing and terrifying to contemplate. Such discourse makes plain the distinct class divisions in our society, that we are NOT all one big happy middle class. It reveals an American Dream that is really just a fantasy, or, for many of us, a nightmare. It reminds us of our own vulnerability and just how close we are to becoming dependent on others for our own survival.

On the other hand, unions and other oppositional groups are terrified of alienating potential donors or sympathizers. In fact, virtually all politicians, including Democrats, are rich relative to the majority of Americans. To union leaders, Democratic candidates are their bread and butter; they cannot make any demands that might piss them off. Alienating the Democrats would take away the one political foil to union busters like Walker and Daniels.  There are also the “good” billionaires, like George Soros, who contribute millions to liberals’ pet causes, like MoveOn.org. Don’t want to alienate them, either.

Yet if we never confront the class distinctions (and ultimately class power) in our society, not only will we fail to make any progress in our living and working conditions, we will actually continue to be pushed backward, as we are seeing most vividly in the Midwest. The wealth gap will continue to grow and the middle class will continue to shrink, while our schools and continue to get sucked dry.

The only way to improve our schools (and our own living conditions) is to get those who have more than they need to contribute a whole hell of a lot more. This will never happen if we are afraid to admit that there are rich people. It will never occur if we continue to act as though it is o.k. for some people to posses far more wealth than they can possibly use in their lifetimes, while others are allowed to live desperately from day to day. It cannot occur by playing politics and trying to compete with corporations for the allegiance of fickle and untrustworthy politicians, all of whom are members of the upper class. It will only happen through class struggle, by confronting the wealthy head on at the workplace and in the streets, by taking away their ability to make profits. Yes, teachers, some privileged parents may not like it. But you know what? They can afford it and we don’t need their approval anyway. There are more of us than them. Far more.

Class War: A National Wave of Anti-Worker Repression

Across the nation the attacks on workers is growing, and it’s not just by Republicans, either. The ruling class smells blood and fear and is getting cockier each day. As Walker and others strip away collective bargaining rights and other union protections, the mainstream union leadership has all but given up, telling workers to go back to work and not to make any trouble. This is exactly the kind of message that riles up the rich for further attacks. They can see that their prey is weak and unwilling to resist. They recognize that the time is ripe to go for the jugular.

The Republicans are preparing to destroy unions entirely. They hate unions’ ability to negotiate higher wages, which cuts into profits. They also hate unions’ ability to raise large sums of money for their Democratic allies. The Republican goal is the destruction of unions and the Democratic Party. The Democrats, on the other hand, desperately need unions and their resources and votes, but they, too, want to see a decline in the power at the workplace. The Democrats, after all, are also part of the ruling elite. They too have large investments on Wall Street, successful law partnerships and appointments on boards.

Partial Rundown of State Attacks on Labor

• Arizona has several bills on the table that will lead to a virtual police state for workers. SB 1350 blocks public employees from being a member or officer of any committee of any political party or running for office. HB 2367 bans collective bargaining entirely, including wages and applies to all public workers, including public safety employees (i.e., cops). SB 1363 outlaws all opposition to corporate abuses, including pollution or safety violations, by banning picketing, mass assembly and secondary boycotts. SB 1563 prohibits sickouts, work to rule or any other job actions that could slow down profits or services.
• In California, Republicans are refusing to allow a measure onto the June ballot that would extend regressive taxes unless the legislature slashes public employee pensions. In order to make it onto the ballot, Gov. Brown needs two-thirds of lawmakers to approve it, something that will not occur without some Republican support. Even if the measure does make it onto the ballot and is approved by voters, Brown still plans to slash $500 million each from the UC and CSU university systems, $400 million from community colleges, $1.5 bilion from Cal-Works (welfare-to-work program) and $1.7 billion from Medi-Cal, which will result in a lot of people losing their jobs and health care. (If the tax extensions don’t pass, an additional $5 billion may be cut from K-12 education).
• Connecticut has legislation pending that would block binding arbitration from awarding raises whenever unemployment is more than 7%. A sister bill would tie these raises to the Consumer Price Index. Gov. Molloy is collaborating with unions to freeze wages, add furloughs, and cut health benefits.
• Florida’s SB 830 would prohibit automatic dues check-offs by unions, thus starving them of resources and limiting their ability to organize (which is what they should be doing) as well as lobby (which is what they’re spending most of the money on). HB 7005 slashes unemployment benefits. Gov. Rick Scott also plans to fire 8,100 state employees.
• Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal plans to fire 14,000 state workers and slash K-12 spending by 5.6% and university spending by 10%, resulting in additional job losses for teachers and professors.
• Hawaii passed a law preventing unions from negotiating employer contributions to health care. They also have pending bills that would increase employee contributions to health and pensions, and one that would kill Medicare Plan B reimbursements for retired government workers.
• Indiana is trying to pass “right to work (for less)” legislation.
• Michigan is pushing a new law that would allow the governor to dissolve local governments and school boards and rip up existing workers’ contracts when he decides they are in financial trouble.
• Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton wants to slash state employee pay by 6% and is eliminating subsidized health care for 7,200 poor adults.
• Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman is demanding freezes in state employee pay and education spending.  He would also slash Medicaid and punish anyone who tries to use it without being gainfully employed.
• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wants to increase state employee contributions to their health plan by 30% and double their contributions to their retirement plans.
• Ohio’s SB 5 would end collective bargaining for public sector workers.
• Pennylvania is cutting $1 billion from K-12 education and $600 million from their university system and freezing state employee pay. Gov. Corbett also wants to freeze teacher pay. 1,500 state workers will lose their jobs, as will countless teachers and university professors. Thousands will also lose health coverage under his budget plan.
• In Tennessee, SB 1033 criminalizes all forms of union or employee opposition to corporations. Another bill prevents workers and their unions from donating to political parties and candidates. SB 1032 bans strikes and all other forms of job actions, including work to rule and other “slow down” tactics. The punishment for those who break this law would be fined $1,000 per day and any union representing those workers would lose its right to collect dues for the entire state. Other pending bills would block teachers from negotiating working conditions.
• Texas plans to slash education spending to 23% below their own state-mandated levels, and fire up to 100,000 teachers.
• Washington has bills pending that would amend their Constitution to allow pay cuts for public officials during an economic crisis. Gov. Gregoire plans to cut $1 billion from education.
• Collective bargaining for public sector workers is being attacked through legislation in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin.