Every one is aware of the work the American Red Cross (ARC) does on disaster relief operations around the world. However, this is just a fraction of what they do. What many don't know is their blood services division brings in more than $2 billion a year, amounting to over two-thirds of their national revenue.
We appreciate the role they are playing in our communities and around the world, but that does not mean they get a free pass when it comes to ensuring the safety of blood donors and complying with fair employment practices. In fact, the real disaster is how the American Red Cross Blood Services Division treats its blood donation collection staff, and how that affects the safety of our blood donors and blood supply.
ARC's record speaks for itself. Since 1993, over $37 million in fines have been levied by the Food and Drug Administration because of significant violations of blood safety rules. As recently as last summer $16 million in fines were paid to the FDA - money HPAE believes would be better spent on safe staffing and other improved safety practices. Red Cross has also been cited over and over for labor law violations, violating terms of their collective bargaining agreements with many of the 3000 blood service workers across the country.
When the New Jersey State Department of Education was competing for $400 million in federal funds last Spring, then-Education Commissioner Brett Schundler reached an agreement with the teachers’ union on an approach to utilize the money. This didn’t sit well with Governor Christie, who abhors workers, especially those in unions. Consequently, Schundler was fired for having the temerity to negotiate with the union, Christie’s minions modified the grant application at the last minute, and New Jersey lost out on the federal funds.
This action apparently did not go unnoticed by Department of Transportation Commissioner James Simpson. At a hearing of the Assembly State Governance Committee today, it became apparent that Simpson got the message and in the last several months his office went from cooperation to obstruction in dealing with the toll collectors on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.
While the hearings, which were held in a packed meeting room, were ostensibly billed as a discussion of the privatization of toll collection services, it became quickly apparent that this initiative is another move by the Christie administration to punish union workers.
A powerful video - the invocation at the 2011 Building Trades Conference. h/t Andy Douglas, Mount Laurel Democratic Club president who sent this to me.
How did we get onto the subject of good vs. bad teachers?
The issue is the economy. It rises and falls, so too should public spending.
Let's not be distracted by raising some pay, while lowering, or replacing, others. Let peer review handle that.
The idea is to cut total spending in line with what is happening to the rest of our middle class.
Unions have important roles. Look at coal mining conditions now, to before. Unions kept corporations from perpetuating inhumane conditions on unknowing 'scabs'.
Regarding payroll, the unions and 'owners' together should be responsible enough not to agree to suicide pacts, as happened in the auto industry......
This logic goes for schools. Ask just how education will be continued if many homeowners have to sell their kitchens and baths in order to pay school taxes?
The NJEA should push for eliminating regressive school taxing, and aligning with our middle class better.
By now everyone knows of the massive rallies in Wisconsin protesting the attacks on the middle class. The middle class represented by firefighters, police, those who plow our streets and keep our neighborhoods safe and clean. They are our neighbors, our children's teachers, EMTs and nurses who come to our aid when we need them. They are also members of HPAE, 4000 nurses, health professionals and medical researchers at UMDNJ and Runnells.
While Wisconsin Governor Walkers' assault on the right to bargain for decent working conditions is severe, it is also part of a national trend to make middle class workers pay for the economic crisis. So I traveled to Wisconsin, along with other HPAE members and staff, to show our support for nurses and other public service workers. By the time we got there, the Governor had shut down the Capitol, locking out hundreds if not thousands of protesters. A few hundred are still in the Capitol Building, because police refused to arrest them, and some even joined in the protest. In fact, firefighters and police are the clear heroes around here, leading many of the parades and photographed by nearly everyone.
That's because even though Governor Walker exempted police and firefighters from the elimination of negotiating rights, they joined the protest - in huge numbers. Noone said it better than firefighter leaders: "We are the ones who run into the burning houses when everyone else is running out," said one firefighter. "Well, the house of labor is on fire, and we are here."
Well, the house of labor is under assault and so is the middle class that is represented by so many teachers, nurses, firefighters and police - from New Jersey to Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Indiana and Florida. In scores of states, new Republican legislators and Governors have proposed the elimination of bargaining rights, wage freezes and pension deductions. The budget crisis facing our states is a very direct result of Wall Street greed, its collapse and the subsequent loss of tax revenues due to high unemployment and business failings.
Over the past two weeks, the goals of Governor Walker have become clear to many here in Wisconsin, and around the country. And it is not about saving money in this year's budget. Not only would the Governor's legislative proposal take away democratic negotiating rights, but it would also allow his Cabinet to sell public utilities without bid, and reduce Medicaid services without legislation or public hearing or notice. It is drastic, and will undo years of democratic progress. Republican Governors and legislators blame the high salaries and benefits for public employees. This is simply false. Various studies have shown that employees in the public sector actually earn less than their counterparts in the private sector, and the shortfall in pension plans is due to the downtown in the stock market, and the failure by states like New Jersey to pay into the system even while borrowing against the funds. Throughout these bad economic times, public workers continued to pay their share into the pension plan.
I would like to express how upsetting it is to me to hear how the Public Workers have it all & are blamed for the economy crisis. In hopes of educating those who are ignorant; I will tell my story which I'm sure some can relate too......
Seven years ago, I worked in the Private Sector as an AA; I paid into my healthcare,had annual raises, vacation time, paid overtime & even bonuses. I left this job when I got the opportunity to work for the State (DYFS)..... Being a single mother of 2, I figured this would give me stability & great benefits, & knew that they shared the same holidays as the schools & that would allow me to be home more often with my children. I took a little over a $10,000 annual pay cut without realizing how difficult the next few years would be. When I saw my 1st paycheck, I almost quit because I didn't know how I was going to make ends meet.
Here I am, thinking I have all these Cadillac Benefits & have to work a part-time to ensure I have food on the table for my kids & a place to call home! The hurt of coming home; my kids sleeping & not spending quality time but only on weekends was killing me!
Unfortunately, with the salary that I was making, I had no choice but to work a part-time and to my surprise, I qualified for state fundings! I received assistance from Catholic Charities, which helped me pay for my sons daycare on a sliding pay scale, assistance for paying my utilities etc. etc. At the end of the day, I had to readjust my ways of living & budget myself to make this work!!
Thankfully with the grace of God & family..... I've learned to manage!
Sadly to say that It's taken me nearly 7 years to earn what I was making when I left the Private Sector but of course with no bonuses and for the 1st time experienced salary freezes not to mention that I still had to pay taxes & towards my healthcare & pensions. Some people may say that I had the choice to leave but I truly enjoy my job. I could relate to those families in need & have always done my best to go above and beyond to make a difference in someone's life. Our workers have to meet certain state requirements & trainings......to ensure the quality of service being provided. Do you really think privatizing would ensure these regulations are followed?
People really need to try to understand the importance of our jobs & all the services being provided to those families in need & ensuring the well being of children. You never know, one day it could be you we're helping & wouldn't you want the peace of mind knowing that we can!! I agree that a change is needed to better our economy but not solely on the count of us Middle Class Workers!! In speaking for myself & public workers, we have done our fair share of sacrifices & after 7 years, I feel that I am being stripped away of all that I worked hard for! We all deserve the opportunity to live the American Dream & we can only reach it by working together, educating one another, & most of all respecting humanity and the morals which have been the foundation of the great America!!
Democrat Steve Sweeney and Republican Jennifer Beck (smell a deal in the making) are the co-prime sponsors of a bill that sets out a schedule of healthcare contributions that all public workers will make.
The issue is not about the schedule of payments. The issue is that once such a schedule is legislated, in New Jersey, it becomes ILLEGAL to collectively bargain anything else.
It is a back door to making collective bargaining illegal.
CWA and other unions are ready to negotiate over healthcare and everything else. We have been ready to go to the table for months. The Governor has now - only finally given us "tentative" bargaining dates for March.
We have always been willing to negotiate and try to figure out how to save services, jobs, and protect workers fairly. We saved the state hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars in our 2007 contract with Corzine and later again with our MOA that provided for furlough days and a wage freeze in exchange for solid job security.
There is no good reason for the Legislature to pass the Sweeney-Beck bill except that it will cripple collective bargaining in this State.
The Trenton rally is now just a memory. We sang and shouted in the rain. We felt empowered and inspired. We felt sad at what the governor is doing to the people of New Jersey. We felt happy that we had such an energetic crowd of workers, retirees, and just plain citizens who were willing to get drenched in the deluge to send a message to the powerful.
None of us wants last Friday's event to turn out to be just a blip in the governor's never-ending quest to subjugate New Jersey's public workers to benefit his political career and his hold on power. So where do we go from here?
A few days ago, we ran a purely satirical post claiming that Chris Christie was going to hold a counter-rally tomorrow at the state house, with other GOP electeds who want to turn the clock back on labor's right of collective bargaining.
Some of you took it seriously, and we had to run in and post "snark" warnings on it, just to set the record straight. Now today, we get word that there will be a counter-rally. Joey wasn't seeing into the future; it's not Christie, but the man who sits at Christie's right shoulder, telling him always that he's not right enough. Steve Lonegan, Christie's GOP primary opponent, and now NJ Director of Americans for Prosperity, a "conservative" "activist" group that is stronger in this state than almost anywhere else. I put those two terms in quote marks because AFP is not conservative, it's right-wing, and it's not activist in the way you're used to thinking; AFP is of course a front group, with massive financial backing from the Koch brothers. Same guys who put considerable power behind the election of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Same guys slapped an anti-union tv ad up in that state designed to turn support back to the Governor.
Actually, as these state house and capitol building rallies spread all over the country, counter-rallies, where they've been held, have been anemic by comparison. Wonder what tomorrow will bring.
I'm going to Trenton on Friday to support the unions. Why? I've never been a union member. I'm retired on a fixed income, so taxes matter to me.
This nation is at a crossroads. The Koch-funded Tea Party is undermining the very foundations upon which America is based - the tenet that, as Benjamin Franklin so eloquently put it, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
America's best economic times were when the unions were the strongest. Fair wages help the economy; safe working conditions save lives and reduce health care costs, and standards of quality that are recommended by unions help consumers.
Domenick is the Mayor of Haledon, NJ. - promoted by Rosi
Last December I wrote an op-ed for the Hall Institute of Public Policy about unions and Governor Christie. The main point of my piece was simple: union members are not the enemy, they are the backbone of our middle class. We need real dialogue for reform, but that does not mean a wholesale annihilation of a hundred years of progress for expanding worker's rights.
Now with the recent events in Wisconsin, unions are again at the forefront of political chatter. But just like in New Jersey, Governor Walker does not want to compromise to save tax dollars. He wants to totally dismantle the right to organize and collective bargaining. We all understand the need for give-and-take in reform. As a proud member of American Federation of Teachers Local 2375 and a local Mayor, I see both sides of the coin.
There will be a Rally at the Statehouse this Friday at noon to support the Wisconsin workers and to protect collective bargaining in New Jersey. AFL-CIO Prsident Trumka will attend. Please join us. You can sign up here on Facebook. and support collective bargaining.
In times like this, what is Christie really thinking about. Your problem is our concern in New Jersey. The country needs to come together as one and focus on the reality of the US. New Jersey State Legislators need to come together and reform a Bill or regulation to fund projects, jobs and put stability back where it needs to be.
By now, we've heard about what's going on in Wisconsin, where the new Republican Governor has been causing a stir (and a deficit) related to perks for "the chosen few" and an attack on public workers. And on the ground in Wisconsin, protests at the Capitol Building started on Monday with 1,000 people and has reached upwards of 30,000 as of today. Democratic Legislators have left the state to prevent a quorum in the Legislature and block these bills from coming to a vote. Schools were canceled because so many teachers "called in sick". And most importantly, the public is siding with the teachers and public employees.
Connecticut's new governor, Dannel P. Malloy, politely asks labor leaders for givebacks and wants to raise taxes on income and sales by $1.5 billion.
Mr. Malloy grew up with dyslexia and physical disabilities. He still cannot write or type. And as he closes a 20 percent budget deficit, he spends much of his energy finding ways to spare the most vulnerable.
In Wisconsin, there is an attack on public workers by a newly elected Republican Governor, much like New Jersey. In Connecticut, there is a newly elected Governor who is a former prosecutor and faces a huge budget deficit, much like New Jersey.
With the loss of the ARC tunnel project you can add unionized construction workers to the list of Christie fiscal villains.
The list is getting pretty extensive.
Teachers
Police
Firemen
State Workers of every type and occupation
Municipal and County Workers
Unionized Construction Workers
NJN Workers
Independent Authority workers ( DRPA,NJ Transit)
In reality IF YOU CARRY A UNION MEMBERSHIP CARD CHRISTIE WANTS TO BLAME YOU FOR ALL THE ECONOMIC ILLS OF THE STATE.
The individual workers must begin to confront the Governor and ask" why are you blaming me? "
The individual workers must begin to educate and promote themselves to the taxpayers.
The individual workers must take pride in their jobs and fight back against the Governors derogatory comments about their professions.
In other words the individual workers must stop taking sh** and start giving sh**!
Union leadership has done a poor job so far, maybe it is time for the workers to take control of their own destiny.
Apparently the Longshoreman's Association is currently shutting down the ports in Elizabeth and Newark in a protest over loss of jobs. This is a huge deal that is getting little coverage, perhaps because it doesn't have the antics, hate or handguns of a Tea Party rally.
But what stood out most to me was this line:
On Labor Day, dock workers at the Port of Philadelphia tossed pineapples into the Delaware River to protest Del Monte's decision to move its produce operations to a less costly port.
There you have true tea party activism. Just like the Boston colonists tossed tea in the bay to protest tea taxes, these union members tossed produce to protest the loss of jobs transporting and storing produce.
But did it get any coverage? I read about 10 papers a day and I don't remember seeing anything about it. A Google News search pulls up quite a few articles from the nether reaches of the paper, but outside of the Philly Inquirer there was little front page coverage.
Yet tea parties get tons of coverage, despite (or perhaps because of) their primary funding coming from the Koch Billionaire's Club, corporate sources and free advertising from Fox News. It reminds me of winter 2003 when millions of people throughout the country rallied against invading Iraq, yet got little coverage. Then a couple hundred thousand people in support of the war counter protested in DC and it led the television newscasts.
I'm trying to figure out whether I want to go down to Washington, D.C. for this Saturday's One Nation March. It's just 5 days away, I'm a little marched out, and I've got localraces heading into crunch time.
But I'm tempted to go since an old Washington Post article popped up in my google this morning. It suggests the massive coalition that began planning One Nation months ago were just imitating the impact of the Tea Party. Whoa, serious contextFAIL. The Tea Party's impact is already seriously over-reported, though I don't believe it's insignificant. But the Republicans themselves haven't even come to grips with their internal righty challenge, and I'm not sure how I feel about them myself. But, please. Marches on Washington are by definition not copycat replications of anything on the right. And if you think so, some of the 300 groups merging towards D.C. want to have a word with you. We'll let the union guys talk first.
Or maybe these foks - 6 California activists in the mother of all road trips, blogging their way across the country in an RV they call the blogmobile.
For those of you going, there are still free buses available to take you, most courtesy organized labor. Catch the bus info here. If you go, we'd be interested in seeing your pictures and hearing about your adventures. I-95 is going to be a party road in less than 5 days.
The Christie Pension/Health Reform will increase pension contributions by 3 % ,a jump from 5.5% to 8.5%, and increase the Health plan contributions from 8% of costs to 30% of costs which is a 400% increase .Currently state workers pay 1.5 % of their salary for health benefits. That will increase to about 6% .
What does Christie contribute? He plans to PAY NOTHING INTOTHE PENSION PLAN ! He also wants to increase from 25 to 30 a persons years of service to become eligible for retirement.He wants to increase the health care payments of those who are retired but cancel forever any cost of living increases.With The continued rising cost of health care within a few years those on fixed incomes will continue to have less money.
To put this in plain terms. A worker who currently takes home a salary of $800/week after taxes will now take home a salary of $728/week. That is a reduction of over $3700/a year.
UNDER THIS PLAN NO PRESENT GOVERNMENT WORKER WILL EVER MAKE MORE THAN THEY DO TODAY!
Will taxpayers be happy with this?
Will government worker unions have the " juice" to " bargain" this down?
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