RATS!!

The Michigan Republicans are at it again! The State GOP has once again attacked working people with legislation that is both anti-union and targets working class people around the state. State Senator Nancy Cassis (R-Scab) has introduced both “Right to work” (for less) legislation and a bill that would eliminate the earned income tax credit that Michigan’s poorest families receive; families with two or more children who earn less than $36,348 a year would be eligible for a credit up to $4,536. Workers with no children and who earn less than $12,120 could get a credit of up to $412. Shameful! Cassis does not try to hide her intentions and comes off as being proud of doing her corporate masters biddings; here are examples that make the extreme right wing very proud.

What are you gonna’ do about it?!?! Here is a letter that the SEIU put together telling your Michigan State legislators that we don’t want to be a “Right to work” (for less) state! I have already written about the damage that this legislation can do to states here.

Around the web there are some great friends of labor that are speaking on our behalf and they should be noted: danscripps has written about Cassis and so has Liberal Lucy. Communications Guru has a great post about the “right to work” (for less) legislation.
The Guru also informs us what one of our favorite Michigan legislators is doing to fight back.

Annoy Your Legislator! Action! Action! Action!

I recently wrote about BP oil dumping more waste into lake Michigan. Senator Durbin of Illinois has crafted a letter to send out to the CEO of BP urging the company to stop the dumping in our lake, please send this letter!

The recent flood of unsafe products and foods from other countries has been widely written about including more than once on this site; here and here. Public Citizen has created a letter spurred by concern that expansion of NAFTA to Peru and Panama would only make the problem worse. You can read and sign the letter they have created that will be sent to your Senators and your Representative.

9 MILLION Children are uninsured in the United States; there is a program that has covered millions of American children for the last 10 years called SCHIP. Congress is considering renewal and expansion of this very important program, here is a petition voicing support for expansion of the program.

The breast cancer research stamp has raised $55.5 MILLION for breast cancer research; the stamp program is up for reauthorization this year. Please urge your legislators to support this very worthwhile program by sending this postcard out.

Currently non-instructional school employees do not have the right to negotiate with their employer about the issue of contracting out work. Additionally there is no legal requirement that school districts competitively bid for services that may be outsourced. The SEIU has put together a letter urging your state Rep., Senator and the Governor to support 2 new bills that would restore full bargaining rights to these workers; please send the letter.

Are you sick of the Bush administration sanctioning torture? Send this letter urging congress to look into whether or not people are being tortured by the CIA.
Do you think Dick Cheney should be impeached? Care to add your name to congressional record stating so? Dennis Kucinich wants to add your name to the congressional record showing that you support impeachment of the VP. You can sign up here

$10,191,153 - Whose Salary Is This?

$10,191,153 in total compensation for fiscal year(FY) 2006. that is a big fat pile of bread! Who is the business mastermind that receives that type of salary?

Could it be Eric Schmidt CEO of Google, whose stock has increased from an initial offer of $85 in Aug. 2004 to well over $500 a share right now, no his compensation for FY 2006 was $557,466. you really have to read how the founders and CEO of Google receive relatively little pay other than stock options.

How about Jame’s Sinegal the CEO of Costco, the company that has the “bad” reputation of paying its employees good wages and giving them benefits while ranking #32 in 2007’s fortune 500,no his compensation for FY 2006 was $454,629.

No these titans of industry who steer their businesses to profitability and earn their shareholders money while being good to their employees rewarding their hard work aren’t paid even $1 million. The CEO who is paid $10,191,153 is Richard Wagoner CEO of GM. What has the fearless leader of the 3rd largest American company done to deserve that pay? Wagoner lead the company to nearly $2 BILLION loss in 2006 and a $10.6 BILLION loss in 2005, that’s not easy!! YOU’RE DOIN’ A HECKUVA JOB RICKY!!!

Whats my point? Well it really bothers me to see articles like this that don’t even mention the pitiful job management at GM has done only choosing to give this sentence in the 14th paragraph of the article as its mention of management misdeeds:

But aside from that, and the occasional obligatory gripe about high salaries and
bonus packages for the auto company CEOs

I expect this type of one-sided hack writing from Nolan Finley but this is the Free-Press, we deserve better! The article suggests a huge concession from labor at near $25 an hour!!(I work at GM and have no idea where the $75 an hour figure comes from but it is absurd at best!) since the article doesn’t mention the pay of the CEO of the company where “the reality is stark” I have. I will also show that in 1991 the CEO of GM made $1.03 Million, yes that is about 10% of the current compensation. By comparison if hourly were to be compensated according to the CEO pay raise scale we would be making somewhere in the area of $180 an hour in wages alone!

I am not calling for a massive pay raise for hourly workers! I am calling for the incredibly poor management of this company to at least be examined when we talk of what must happen for the company to survive. In the end our fates are tied together, if GM goes bankrupt a HUGE part of Michigan and the rest of the country will suffer greatly. I wish the constructive dialogue and businesslike approach that is mentioned towards the end of the article were what the Free Press called for instead of taking sides and offering the view that GM’s troubles were all caused by labor and can only be solved by labor. If that is the case I know where we could very easily save over $10 million bucks!

Federal Laws and State Decisions

I read the previous post by farleft and I felt it necessary to say a couple things. First, great catch and thanks for making all of us aware of this idiotic move by one of the biggest idiot governors in the nation- Mitch Daniels, former Bush lackey and propagandist for telling us that the economy is doing great while we watch our communities fold as jobs are shipped abroad.

I do think it's important that we note a couple things as the Democrats listed in the post have taken other actions in response to this problem. All of them, with the exception of Mr. Stupak I believe, signed on to H Con Res 187 which expresses the sense of Congress that this action by Indiana is BS and needs to be fixed somehow. Mr. Stupak does care deeply about protecting the Great Lakes as he has introduced legislation on another problem- HR 1482 Now, as far as the legislation introduced by Congressmen Hoekstra and Ehlers goes, I think we should view this as a positive sign (hopefully). But, the sad fact of the matter is that the only way this problem gets addressed is through Appropriations and action in Indiana. This is a state making a decision. It's a Republican Governor (who aren't typically known for having an environmental conscience) choosing to allow pollution of beautiful fresh water lakes to increase the profits of his friends.

It should be noted that Mr. Kildee has been a strong advocate and recently wrote a letter on Canadian trash and how trade agreements allow this and make it almost impossible for us to do anything about it. Mr. Dingell is the father of the Clean Water Act which is the cornerstone of clean water policy. It should also be pointed out that H Con Res 187 was introduced by the 4th highest ranking Democratic leadership, Rahm Emanuel. This means that this is a priority issue that they will address in a way that will hopefully solve the problem.

I plan on calling MI legislators and asking them what they intend to do about this vile action taken by Indiana. Is the legislation by Mr. Ehlers and Mr. Hoekstra the way to go? I'm not sure. But when I call, I will assume that they are well-aware of this problem and that they will be guided by the same dedication they have had in the past to protecting our beautiful lakes when they decide how to make Indiana stop polluting the Great Lakes. I hope all will share this trust I have in these long-time defenders of our Great Lakes.

I'll Have the Salmon with a side of Ammonia and a cup of sludge.

Lake Michigan is one of my favorite summer destinations, I swim, fish and just relax and enjoy the amazing view and sound of the lake. You can understand my anger when I recently read about the oil company BP’s plans to start dumping 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of sludge into Lake Michigan EVERY DAY! Ammonia?!?! Sludge?!?! What in the hell is going on? BP is already one lake Michigan’s biggest polluters so what does Indiana do? They OK an additional 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge to be spewed into our lake, thanks Hoosiers! Our friends over at Black Bear Speaks do the math for us:

1584 pounds of ammonia per day multiplied by 365 days equals 578,160 pounds per year, and 5,781,600lbs in the next decade.4925 pounds of toxic sludge multiplied by 365 days equals 1,797,625 pounds per year, or 17,976,250 pounds over the next 10 years. The Grand Total? 23,757,850 pounds of BP bullshit.At 21 million gallons of contaminated water per day, they will pollute 76,650,000,000 gallons of fresh water in the next ten years.

Black Bear Speaks is where I first heard of this story.

I became even more worked up when I saw a list of Michigan legislators who have contacted the EPA demanding answers about this there were no Democrats! Not one! All of a sudden Pete Hoekstra and Vern Ehlers are part of the tree hugging contingent? How did that happen? Hey Stupak, Kildee, Levin, Kilpatrick, Conyers and Dingell; get your heads out of your asses and start raising hell!! How embarrassing to have Pete Hoekstra, whom the League of Conservation Voters gave a ZERO rating for his environmental voting record, suddenly become the defender of Lake Michigan while the Dem’s sit and twiddle their thumbs! Each of the listed democrats have links from which you can write an E-mail to them voicing your disgust at their inaction. Here is my letter feel free to copy and paste and edit at your own discretion.

I am writing to express my outrage at the recent news that the company BP will be allowed to dump massive amounts of both Ammonia and sludge into Lake Michigan. Over the past couple of decades Democrats from the great lake states have fought long drawn out battles to clean up the lakes and control the delicate balance between industry and environment, this is no time to let up! That is why it was even more disturbing to me to hear that the only legislators from this state to inquire to the EPA were Republicans! It is my hope that perhaps upon hearing about this you to will contact the EPA demanding answers and not let someone like Pete Hoekstra lead the way for this states environmental concerns.

Thank you in advance for your action on this matter.

Lansing's Delta Plant Featured on NextGear

What is Next Gear? The about section of the website says this:

During the last several years, new advancements in safety, fuel efficiency,
alternative fuels, and technology have transformed the automotive industry and
the vehicles we drive. Each week, join PodTech’s Matt Kelly for in-depth
conversations with the leaders and innovators helping transform this landscape,
as they discuss the technologies they’re developing to wean Americans off
foreign oil, reduce pollution, help slow global warming, and develop vehicles
and roadways that are safer for drivers and passengers.

Recently Matt Kelly came to Lansing’s Delta Township Assembly and filmed a tour of the plant. Matt was given a tour by Jerry Metts who knows just about everything there is to know about the assembly process and is a great guy! I work in this facility and was pleasantly surprised to see the inclusion of a few of the more eco-friendly features of our plant towards the end of the video. For some reason most features on our plant don’t ever talk about one of the things that is most impressive about it; we are a VERY green plant! Jerry goes through some of things that make the plant green such as nurturing the wetlands that are on the property, water-free urinals and using rain water to flush the toilets. These are just a few of the things that never get mentioned that should!

Thanks to Matt Kelly for coming all the way from California to do this piece and PLEASE! Check out the video and the website.

Union Member? Bush wants your Personal Information

The Bush Administration recently issued a new rule regarding LM 30 forms, who must file them, what must be included in the filing and criminal penalties for not complying. Let's back up a sec. What the hell is an LM 30? LM 30 is a form that some people who work for unions full time and are paid by the union must file with the federal government. The claim is that it's to monitor some union activity to fend off corruption in unions yada yada yawn. Bush is taking it to an entirely different level now.

The new rule would make LM 30 filings apply to ALL people who do more than 250 hours of union work while being paid by their employers in cases where this has been worked out in contracts. So, shop stewards, benefits reps, grievance folks (the list goes on) anyone who does more than 250 hours of work would have to file. As if that's not bad enough....

The Bush Administration also would require that if you provide your personal credit card information for any credit card that you use to pay for union related things with. They could also make you share your mortgage information as well in some cases.

The LM 30 is not a simple form either. Bush made it worse than it was before his new rule. The form would be 9 pages long with 22 pages of instructions if this regulation becomes a reality. If?

This draconian measure would begin next year with the first report required in 09. Contact your Senators and Representative and tell them this goes too far. Tell presidential candidates that this rule must be changed when they become president if they are to get your vote. Keep your eyes open and check with the MI AFl for updates on how we are going to fight the new Black List.

Great New link

Hey check out the new link for Blogging For Michigan that has been added to link list on the left. This blog has some great writers and is very Pro-union! (no wonder I like the blog!) here are two examples of great recent posts:

Another GOP Myth: Right-to-Work

Bishop Determined To Bust Unions

So I really could fill up a whole page of great writing from their blog but just go check it out for yourself, you won’t regret it!

Check Out This Ad!

Kudos to the Council For A Livable World for doing it.

Please Pass the Loofah

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao was interviewed recently by Parade magazine and in one of the most absurd reasons ever given for U.S. companies outsourcing she cited “personal hygiene” of the American worker. Secretary Chao claims to be echoing the concerns of U.S. executives when she also lists “dressing appropriately” as a reason that U.S. companies have turned to foreign workers. Read the full story here.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that a Bush appointee has turned out to be an outsourcing apologist for corporate America; what I am surprised by is the ridiculous excuse that Secretary Chao is trying to pass off to the American public. Chao has a history of trying to outsource work even from within her own Dept. of Labor.

A great post script to this story is the response of AFGE local 12 in Washington D.C. to Chao’s remarks; check it out here

It Lives!

I’M BACK! Fresh and rested from a nice vacation with the family I will now commence to blogging again after a sparse couple o’ weeks. Thanks for the patience!

Fred Thompson's Tangled Web

With the G.O.P. presidential candidate group looking incredibly vanilla many right-wingers have hitched their wagon to Fred Thompson in hopes that he will run and fill the “conservative” gap that the rest of the field leaves open. Thompson has been seen as a knight in shining armor to right-wing extremists and social conservatives hoping to further the war on gays and abortion.

Now the news comes out that Thompson was a counsel for the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) who, at the time Thompson worked for them, were trying to ease restrictions on abortions. Here are the minutes from a meeting discussing the hiring of Thompson to help lobby for the NFPRHA.

What could be even more comical then the saviour of the religious right and social conservatives everywhere lobbying FOR abortion? How about the flat out denial that it ever happened! That’s right aides for Thompson are flat out denying that it ever happened; the LA Times reports:

Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo adamantly denied that Thompson worked for the
family planning group. "Fred Thompson did not lobby for this group, period," he
said in an e-mail.In a telephone interview, he added: "There's no documents to
prove it, there's no billing records, and Thompson says he has no recollection
of it, says it didn't happen."

Besides the minutes that are linked to above a former colleague had this to say to the times in the same article:

Former Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), a colleague at the lobbying and law firm
where Thompson worked, said that DeSarno had asked him to recommend someone for
the lobbying work and that he had suggested Thompson. He said it was "absolutely
bizarre" for Thompson to deny that he lobbied against the abortion counseling
rule."I talked to him while he was doing it, and I talked to [DeSarno] about the
fact that she was very pleased with the work that he was doing for her
organization," said Barnes. "I have strong, total recollection of that. This is
not something I dreamed up or she dreamed up. This is fact."

The article just continues to catch Thompson in one lie after another it really is very funny and a touch pathetic when you consider that this is the G.O.P.’s savior! Here is a link to the LA Times full article.

Save The Earth - Drink More Beer!

You say that hugging trees is not your bag, huh? Well I recently saw a documentary about some of the greenest companies in the country and one of them happened to be a brewery! The Sundance Channel is airing a program called “Big ideas for a small planet” that highlights green products and focuses on ways average people can make a difference, VERY COOL SHOW!! In the latest episode they featured New Belgium Brewery in Colorado, New Belgium Brewery is one of the greenest breweries in the country and the owners have strived to create an ideal work environment for employees as well! this company is truly an example of what more CEO’s and business people should aim for, the business has integrated an eco-friendly workplace that also provides part ownership for employees. I urge you to go to the links above and learn more about this company and their very unique outlook and then go save the earth by drinking some of their great beer!