By The PA. AFL-CIO

– The Harrisburg Patriot News ran an extensive Front-Page Article (http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/10/house_leadership_striving_towa.html) in their Sunday edition over the weekend, reporting on the current status of the transportation funding bill, and on Republican efforts to tie any new funding to changes in the Commonwealth’s Prevailing Wage Act.

It is extremely unlikely that changes to the prevailing wage law would result in any savings for taxpayers, and would instead simply shift money away from workers and into larger profits for the contractors. This begs the question: what is really motivating the legislators who are pushing for these changes to prevailing wage? And why do they want to reduce middle class wages?

“You wouldn’t support lowering the minimum wage to $5 an hour to try to bring back manufacturing jobs from China. It’s the same kind of thing here;” Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale was quoted as saying. “The question is, what kind of quality of life do we want?”

In the spring, the State Senate passed a $2.5 billion transportation funding bill, with no strings attached, by an overwhelming final vote of 45 to 5. Since then, the State House has attempted to tie a vote on the measure first to privatization of the State Wine & Spirits stores, and now to changes in the prevailing wage.

Go To: http://act.aflcio.org/c/236/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7321 To E-Mail Your State Legislator, And Tell Them:

– Transportation funding is too important to be used as a political football
– The ideological attacks on Prevailing Wage are misguided and hypocritical
– You want them to oppose ANY changes to the Prevailing Wage law

Source: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=2960

From UFCW PA.

– Below is Wendell W. Young, IV’s response to the Herald-Standard’s article published on October 16, 2013. The story examined Corbett’s continued efforts to sell-off the PA Wine and Spirits Stores despite how the stores are an asset worth improving, not dismantling:

“The Herald-Standard deserves credit for its thorough look at the on-going battle over dismantling the PA Liquor Control Board (Corbett not giving up on getting state out of booze business, Oct. 16, 2013).

“I would urge your readers to be wary of polling touted by the state’s leading cheerleaders for privatization. Independent polling shows clearly that Pennsylvanians support modernization over privatization.

“Voters support modernizing or leaving the current system alone by 20 points – 57 percent to 37 percent – compared to privatization, according to the Franklin & Marshall poll conducted this past spring.

“No matter how hard the Commonwealth Foundation and Keystone Politics try to spin their scheme, the fact is that they have an agenda driven by their donors.

“They can’t deny the PLCB generated more than $660 million in taxes and profits for the state and local treasuries last year, including more than $128 million in profits-a new record for the PLCB.

“As your article noted, lawmakers have an opportunity to strengthen this valuable asset by passing common sense modernization proposals to help generate another $75 to $100 million a year in additional revenues that could be used to fund our schools or other vital state needs.”

Wendell W. Young, IV
Chair, United Food and Commercial Workers of PA Wine and Spirits Council
President, UFCW Local 1776

Source: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Save-the-PA-Wine—Spirits-Stores–The-fight-continues.html?soid=1112575112488&aid=PjKWzl6ipw4

By Bryce Covert

– Federal workers’ pay has been frozen for three years, but in President Obama’s budget proposal for next year, he included a 1 percent raise that would occur by default if Congress didn’t pass legislation mandating other numbers. The Senate deal that was passed to fund the government and re-open it on Wednesday evening doesn’t have any language about federal workers’ pay, so if it goes through as-is the modest raise would occur. The bill “would permit the President to implement his plan for a 1 percent pay raise in January, 2014,” according to a joint statement from Democratic Maryland Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin.

If nothing changes, a presidential order would be needed in December to finalize the increase. It would show up in the first full pay period in January. Congress did include a freeze on their own pay in the funding measure.

There are still a few things that could block the raise for federal workers. House Republicans, who have voted to maintain the pay freeze, could introduce separate legislation to halt it, although the Huffington Post reports that such a move looks unlikely. Some agencies may also not have enough money to give workers a raise depending on next year’s budget and whether the conference mandated by the recent deal ends sequestration.

Before and during the shutdown, federal workers told ThinkProgress that the pay freeze, coupled with furlough days brought about by sequestration, had eaten into their savings, making it harder to get by during the shutdown. Many of those workers now say they are living paycheck to paycheck.

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/18/2803241/federal-workers-raise/

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– Over the summer, the Commonwealth Court heard arguments during a 12-day trial challenging the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s Voter ID law. The law, passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Corbett in the spring of 2012, would prevent legitimate registered voters from casting a ballot if they did not have an approved form of photo identification. So far, court injunctions have prevented the law from being enforced, and voters will NOT need to show an ID for the general election next month.

“The fact that the law has not yet been enforced has not prevented the law from causing irrevocable harm by disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters in the past year;” said Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale.

The Department of State maintained an aggressive “public education” leading up to the 2012 general election, to inform voters that they would be unable to vote without an approved photo ID – and some of these ads and mailings continued even after the law was blocked. These ads ultimately provided misinformation to voters, and Commonwealth Court Judge Bernard McGinley agreed:

“There is no value in inaccurate information, and the Court does not deem inaccurate information educational,” read a portion of a Court order following this summer’s trial. “Telling a qualified elector that he or she will not have the right to vote in future elections if he or she does not obtain compliant photo ID, when that information has been erroneous at best, deceptive at worst, will not be continued. Not when this Court has witnessed two prior injunctions where the information, in effect, misled qualified electors.”

Unfortunately, and in spite of this rebuke, the State has now restarted broadcasts of their infamous “Show It” ads, committing $1 million of PA taxpayer money to inform voters that they will be asked to show ID when they vote in November, even though voters are not subject to any such requirement. While the ads have been edited so they no longer say that an ID will be required in order to vote, the confusion that will result from these television ads is obvious.

“There is no question that voters will be misled by this new round of advertising, resulting in more legitimate voters being disenfranchised;” said Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder. “Our own research has proven that over 35,000 eligible voters were disenfranchised in the November 2012 election as a result of confusion over the status of the Voter ID law. This new round of advertising will do even further harm.”

The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO is calling on the Corbett administration to immediately stop the advertisements, and to stop wasting taxpayer money on a campaign that seems designed to confuse and mislead Pennsylvania voters.

“The ads that are currently running, have maintained the line that says ‘If you want to vote, show it!’ alongside the image of a woman holding up her photo ID card;” pointed out President Bloomingdale. “Regardless of other edits made to the advertisement, there is no way the administration can justify that sort of misleading campaign. It has to stop now.”

Source: http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=2913&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

October 17, 2013

Finally — after more than two weeks of government shutdown, with hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work and billions of dollars in avoidable losses — Republican leaders have stood down. While it is good news that we have avoided a crisis, we all know that it should never have happened. No party or faction inside a party should hold our economy hostage to extract political gains. We commend President Obama, Majority Leader Reid, and the leadership of the Democratic party for standing firm and resisting extortion.

Now that we have survived this self-inflicted catastrophe, perhaps we can move on to address urgent national priorities. We must pass comprehensive immigration reform, so that 11 million aspiring Americans are no longer second-class citizens and the rights of all workers are protected. We need to grow our way out of a slow economy by investing in infrastructure, creating good jobs with good benefits and rebuilding our struggling middle class. In order to create good jobs we cannot continue to give tax breaks to companies that outsource jobs. Building economic security also means making retirement for millions of Americans more secure — and not cutting benefits for critical programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

We desperately need to create an economy that works for all. The across the board sequester cuts hamper that effort and must be repealed. We need to focus on big ideas and the future – rather than getting bogged down in petty political battles. Working families deserve better.

Contact: Amaya Smith (202) 637-5018

Source: http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/Statement-by-AFL-CIO-President-Richard-Trumka-on-GOP-Shutdown-and-Debt-Ceiling