By Tom Johnson

– When Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a proposed raise for the staff of the Pinelands Commission earlier this month, he castigated the commissioners for “conscious disregard of the fiscal realities’’ facing the agency and the state of New Jersey, in general.

But the commission’s 33 union-represented staff members deal with their own sort of fiscal realities.

They haven’t had a raise in more than four years, a fact acknowledged by the commission. In fact, their pay has been slashed by as much as 17 percent in that time, partly a result of being ordered to take unpaid furloughs, according to the union. The commission’s staff makes at least 30 percent to 40 percent less than employees at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection engaged in the same kind of work, the union said.

“There’s been a mass exodus of the best and brightest who were there to preserve the New Jersey Pinelands,’’ said Jenelle Blackmon, staff representative of the Communications Workers of America Local 1040, which represents the Pinelands staff. “It’s terrible.’’

The commission is responsible for overseeing the stewardship of the 1.1 million-acre Pinelands National Preserve, one of the largest remaining tracts of open space along the Eastern Seaboard and home to many rare plants and animal species. In recent years, however, many staffers have left because of the pay situation, Blackmon said.

The commission no longer has a single PhD in its science office or a staff economist, Blackmon said. In all, nearly two-dozen full-time positions remain open because of budget cuts, she said.

That’s not a unusual situation. The Christie administration has repeatedly slashed operating funds for other state agencies, including the DEP, the state Council of Affordable Housing, and the state’s clean energy program, overseen by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. Funds raised by surcharges on customers’ electric and gas bills have been diverted to plug holes in the state budget.

To some, however, the cuts at the Pinelands Commission may have had an even bigger impact.

“You’re not paying employees comparable wages,’’ Blackmon said. “Everyone has left because of the pay disparity.’’

Carleton Montgomery, executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, an advocacy group working to protect the preserve, agreed.

“The morale, as I perceive it, is very low,’’ he said. “The staff doesn’t feel they are receiving compensation comparable to their abilities.’’

Perhaps more importantly, the issue is a piece of a fundamental problem with much broader implications, Montgomery said, with the commission “losing the spirit and capacity through its first 25 years.’’ Many senior staff retired, leaving gaps in expertise, he said.

Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for Christie, declined to comment, saying the rationale for the governor’s action is fully explained in the veto message.

The debate over the direction of the Pinelands Commission has grown more heated in recent months, particularly as it concerns a proposed 22-mile natural gas pipeline that would cut through the heart of the preserve to deliver fuel to the B.L. England plant in Cape May to convert it from a coal-burning facility.

The project failed to win approval from the commission in January when it was deadlocked in a 7-7 vote on allowing it to move forward.

But the $90 million project was widely opposed by environmentalists as well as four former governors — two Republicans and two Democrats — in a rare show of a disagreement with a policy promoted by a chief executive who followed in their path. They argued the project would compromise the integrity of the Pinelands.

The proposed pipeline, however, reflects policies adopted by the Christie administration’s Energy Master Plan, which seeks to promote development of new natural gas pipelines to rely more on the fossil fuel as a way of generating electricity.

In his veto message, Christie focused on a decision by the commission to divert money from the Pinelands Conservation Fund, which is dedicated to protecting land in the preserve. Although the commission set aside funds to provide up to 5 percent raises, how much staffers will actually receive is still subject to negotiations, according to Blackmon.

“This confiscation by the commissioners of public funds, whether from conservation funds or from the state appropriation, is a gross abuse of authority granted to them,’’ Christie said in his veto. It is the first time any governor has vetoed the minutes of the Pinelands Commission, which essentially overrules any decisions made at the meeting.

To some environmentalists, Christie’s decision to block the raises was meant as a retaliatory action to intimidate the commission for its decision in early January not to approve the pipeline project, which enjoyed wide support from the business community.

To Montgomery, however, that reasoning does not make sense. He noted the commission’s staff negotiated a memo of agreement with the state Board of Public Utilities, which would have allowed the project to move forward had it been approved by the commission this past January.

“You’re punishing the staff who actually worked to get approval of the pipeline,’’ said Montgomery, who opposed the pipeline project.

Source: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/67351-union-blasts-gov-christie-for-killing-pay-raises-at-the-pinelands-commission-?linktype=hp_topstory

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– April 28th is designated Workers Memorial Day by the AFL-CIO to remember the victims of unsafe working conditions and to advocate for stronger protections and improved enforcement to protect working families.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. The Act – which guarantees every American worker a safe and healthful working environment – created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to set and enforce standards and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to conduct research and investigations. It also marks the 41st anniversary of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act

Since 1970, workplace safety and health conditions have improved. More than 410,000 workers can now say that their lives have been saved since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. But as recently witnessed by the tragic deaths of 29 miners at the Massey Energy West Virginia coal mine disaster; the death of six workers at the Tesoro Refinery explosion in Washington State a few days earlier; and the Kleen Energy explosion in Middletown, Connecticut in February that also claimed six lives; working men and women remain in danger.

The Obama Administration has increased the job safety budget, is stepping up enforcement and moving on much-needed standards, including rules on silica, cranes and derricks, infectious diseases and coal dust. But there are weaknesses in the OSH Act that must be addressed through Congressional action.

The Protecting America’s Workers Act (H.R. 2067, S.1580) would extend OSHA coverage to all workers, strengthen anti-discrimination protections, increase civil and criminal penalties and enhance worker and union rights. In the wake of the Massey mine disaster Congress is examining whether there are deficiencies in the Mine Safety and Health Act that need to be addressed.

By Kevin McCorry

– If it seems like we’ve been here before, we have.

But now it’s worse.

On Friday, the Philadelphia School District unveiled a $2.49 billion budget that will cause drastic reductions to services and staff unless additional funds are secured.

The district says it needs $440 million in supplemental revenue to begin to implement its vision for student growth, but requires $216 million just to open schools next year with the same bare-bones levels as this one.

If this year’s budget is “doomsday,” next year’s could be that which doomsday has left behind.

“Short of the $216 [million], our schools will go from insufficient to just empty shells that do not represent what I consider a functioning school,” said superintendent William Hite at a news conference Friday morning.

Hite has essentially been saying this for months. But Friday –after waiting in vain for the the city, the state, or the district’s labor partners to take steps to close the gap – he brought out the megaphone to stress the urgency of this “empty shell” scenario.

“I’m frustrated,” Hite said, adding that he’d rather focus on how the district could improve student outcomes. “But instead we’re talking about what we’re going to have to reduce or take away … from families that have already seen a lot of things taken away over the past several years.”

What more could be stripped?

Depending on how much of the $216 million comes through, mass layoffs could occur, and student-teacher ratios could climb to as much as 37-to-one in elementary schools and 41-to-one in high schools.

“Forty kids in a classroom is too many,” said Hite, “and we don’t want to go there.”

School Reform Commission Chairman Bill Green, whose overall educational philosophy does not emphasize small class size, echoed the superintendent. “My position is Dr. Hite’s position,” he said.

The district’s current contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers says classroom ratios should be no higher than 30-to-one in grades K-3 and 33-to-one in grades 4-12.

In addition to raising student-teacher ratios, district officials said that without additional funding, the line items for school support staff, facilities, transportation, health services, school police and central administration would face the knife.

The district’s budget assumes that it will gain $120 million from the city’s extension of a 1 percent sales tax; even though the Pennsylvania Legislature approved the plan, it’s by no means a certainty.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Council President Darrell Clarke want to split those proceeds with the city’s underfunded pension system – an option that would, again, require approval from the state Legislature, which would be forced to undo its previous action.

Despite the complexity and uncertainty of this ongoing debate, the district’s budget presupposes resolution.

Assuming the full $120 million comes through, (but none of the remaining needed $96 million) the district would have to layoff more than 1,000 staffers.

Assuming the $120 million is split between with the pension system (and, again, assuming none of the remaining needed $96 million), the district would be forced to lay off 1,700 staffers.

At this point, with question marks crowding the district’s financial outlook, the permutations are endless.

Talking to reporters after the event, Green, who left City Council to take the post as SRC chairman, urged his former colleagues in Council to devote all proceeds from the sales-tax extension to schools.

Speaking about the district’s ongoing negotiations with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, Green affirmed that the district has “no plans to impose economic terms at this point.” He then added that the talks have continued “without a lot of movement.”

PFT president Jerry Jordan characterized the district’s budget projections as “the latest chapter in a disturbing story of the intentional dismantling of a school district.”

“Until Pennsylvania adopts a fair-funding formula for our schools,” he wrote, “we will continue to witness the evisceration of our school district and, as a result, the ultimate decline of Philadelphia.”

Writing on the wall

Hite, who said he’s not yet ready to repeat last year’s school-funding ultimatum, said he’s “agnostic” about the source of the additional resources.

He did though sketch a plan that asks for $75 million from city (in addition to the $120 million in additional sales tax revenue), $150 million from the state, and $95 million from labor.

Last year, the city and state combined to provide the district an additional $112 million, but $95 million of that was onetime, nonrecurring revenue.

Many of the specific options for generating stable, recurring revenue have been hanging around, left undone, for months.

The sales-tax plan preferred by Nutter and Clarke aims to supplement school funding by implementing the tax on cigarettes that City Council approved last spring.

But the cigarette tax requires approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature, as well as Gov. Tom Corbett. So far, that has been a nonstarter.

At the news conference, Hite listed a number of the revenue alternatives proposed by various politicians and political candidates. They include implementing a severance tax on Marcellus Shale drilling; adjusting the share of the city’s real-estate tax sent to schools; reinstating the state’s former policy of reimbursing districts for students who enroll in charter schools; and dividing proceeds from the city’s sale of taxicab medallions.

Seemingly every school funding advocate in Philadelphia, including the mayor, wants the state to implement a funding formula that would better take into account the city’s education needs.

When interviewed at an event later Friday afternoon, Nutter re-emphasized these positions. When pressed if he was waiting for the state to move before taking further action, he said, “We have a lot of work to do and not a whole lot of time … all of us have a simultaneous responsibility to do our part.”

The district has been sending out individual school budgets to each of its principals. These budgets assume that the district will secure the $216 million needed to keep services at this year’s levels.

Despite the fact that the funding is not in place, Hite defended the district’s decision, saying he “didn’t want to signal that we we’re going below current levels of support in schools.”

Signal or not, the writing is on the wall.

“Principals also understand,” said Hite, “that those budgets could actually get worse, and get a lot worse.”

Source: http://thenotebook.org/blog/147176/beyond-doomsday-district-unveils-its-empty-shell-budget-2014-15

BY Alex Lubben

– The Northwestern football team’s union drive has garnered national press attention since Kain Colter announced that he and the Wildcats would seek representation from a players union in January. And the media aren’t the only ones paying attention—college sports’ “powers that be” are also taking notice.

On the eve of Northwestern’s union vote, which took place this morning, the NCAA expanded meal coverage for all athletes in what seemed to be an attempt to curry favor with players. Now, both scholarship athletes and walk-on players are entitled to receive unlimited meals and snacks; only athletes on full scholarship had previously been provided three meals a day or a food stipend.

But the impact of the Northwestern Wildcats’ imminent union vote is being felt far beyond the NCAA. Legislators in Ohio inserted a terse clause in the budget they passed last week stipulating that college athletes in their state cannot be considered university employees. Meanwhile, Connecticut legislators have come out on social media—largely in response to a widely publicized comment made by UConn basketball star Shabazz Napier that he sometimes goes to bed “starving” while playing for the school’s Huskies—pledging to help athletes at their state schools organize.

If Northwestern football players vote to unionize and their status as employees is deemed legal—a process that may take years and may have to pass the scrutiny of federal courts—all student athletes at private institutions would be eligible to join unions if they so chose. The reactions in both the Ohio and Connecticut legislatures indicate that state-funded institutions are watching Northwestern closely as well, even if the outcome of their unionization effort won’t affect them directly.

Connecticut state Reps. Matt Lesser (D) and Patricia Dillon (D) spoke with Working In These Times Wednesday and reiterated their commitment to athlete rights. Both expressed serious concerns about the NCAA as a governing institution: Borrowing esteemed civil-rights scholar Taylor Branch’s phrase, Lesser characterized the Association as a “cartel,” while Dillon expressed concern over the lack of medical coverage provided to student athletes.

Rep. Lesser believes the most effective way to help athletes unionize is to change the definition of “employee” in Connecticut’s collective bargaining statues to include athletes who receive scholarships to play revenue-generating sports at state-funded institutions.

Rep. Dillon is, for now, more cautious. She and research staff see a number of options besides making student athletes employees as viable ways to ensure that college athletes are afforded their due rights, including the Northwestern route of unionization, the passing of Congressional legislation to reform NCAA or compensating players for their work as athletes. “Those three [options] are still out there on the table,” she explained. “I’m sure there are more possibilities.” Rep. Dillon emphasized that her staff was still in the early stages of researching the issue.

Given that Connecticut’s legislative session ends in two weeks, a solution is unlikely to be proposed before January, according to Rep. Lesser. And it remains unclear whether actions taken in state legislatures can have meaningful effects over student-athlete unionization.

Meanwhile at the heart of the unionization battle in Evanston, Northwestern has doubled down on its commitment to keeping athletes from organizing. In an email to the team, coach Pat Fitzgerald employed relatively standard anti-union rhetoric: “Understand that by voting to have a union,” he cautioned, “you would be transferring your trust from those you know—me, your coaches and the administrators here—to what you don’t know—a third party who may or may not have the team’s best interests in mind.”

At the first practice following Peter Ohr’s NLRB March ruling that declared college football players university employees, each Northwestern football player was mysteriously given a free iPad. The university claims that the gifts had nothing to do with the ruling. The administration also created a 21-page document for the players intended to “inform” the voting decision.

The school seems to have convinced at least a few athletes that it is in their best interest to vote against unionization. Former running back Venric Mark has described the union effort as Kain Colter’s movement, while other players have said that they stand behind their coach.

Public opinion is also split on whether athletes should be treated as employees. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found opinion on the matter is divided along racial lines: while a meager 24% of white respondents supported paying college players, 51% of respondents who were also people of color were in favor.

We may not know the outcome of the Wildcats’ secret ballot vote for months, as the results of the election will remain secret until the NLRB makes a final decision on the University’s appeal. But regardless of whether Northwestern Football chooses to unionize, they’ve started a movement that’s gained traction nationally. Students at the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and the University of Miami have reportedly already been in touch with Ramogi Huma, the founder of the College Athletes Players Association, the would-be players’ union.

If NU doesn’t unionize soon, it’s likely that players at another school will.

Source – http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/16612/legislators_take_notice_as_northwestern_votes_on_athlete_unionization

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– 12 Workers Die on the Job Every Day in the United States
Workers’ Memorial Day Events over the Next Few Days Emphasize Safe Jobs for All

Harrisburg, PA – Over the next several days there will be thousands of people participating in Workers’ Memorial Day observances throughout Pennsylvania in remembrance of fallen co-workers, friends, and family as they renew their commitment to making their workplaces safer.

Labor, clergy, community, and elected officials will help in leading the observances which include: the reading of names of deceased and injured workers, the tolling of memorial bells, candlelight vigils, memorial services and remembrances. Members of the public and the survivors of victims of workplace injuries and death have been invited to attend and participate. These events are being carried out by Local Unions, Area Labor Federations, and Central Labor Councils along with other organizations committed to safe jobs and protecting human life. Dramatic visuals for still and video news photographers will be available at many of these events. These events can be accessed on our Pennsylvania AFL-CIO web-site, www.paaflcio.org.

“Safety laws and regulations don’t kill jobs – but unsafe jobs do kill workers,” Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale said. “Our elected officials should be making sure that all workers are protected, by keeping safety standards and regulations up to date and enforced. They should also be strengthening the voice of workers to advocate on their own behalf for safer jobs, not attacking their rights to advocate effectively for themselves, their families, and all workers,” Bloomingdale said.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder stated, “virtually every safety and health protection on the books today is there because of working men and women who joined together in unions to win these protections. We must do more to fight back against corporate interests that stand in the way of our rights to create safe jobs. We consider one life lost one too many. Our fight will continue until every worker can go to work and return home safe and healthy at the end of the day,”
Snyder said.

Workers’ Memorial Day, observed on April 28, the anniversary of the signing of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, (OSHA), over 4 decades ago, has been designated as the time to remember fallen workers and surviving families and to emphasize the promise of safe jobs.

With the signing of OSHA, was the promise of the right to a safe workplace. In spite of this promise, and the commitment and efforts of both workers and enlightened employers, 12 workers die on-the-job every day in the United States. In fact, a total of 150 U.S. workers die each day, (more than 50, 000 workers each year) as a result of exposure to health and safety hazards on the job.

Source: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=3967&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook