- :-) 9 Mistakes Online -- 14370.4a481f53, 06/28/09 6:56pm
Starting An Online Business... and Actually Making Money. Powerful Niche Website Secrets!
Click here: http://redir1.strangled.net/_w9&f=VOY.14370
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- Has anyone seen Lester Holmes? -- NOTUXREG, 06/27/09 7:05am
Has anyone seen Lester Holmes?
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- 2 weeks off for nonunion employees -- No name, 05/29/09 7:36pm
Rumar has it that some of the contractors have informed their salary'ed employees that they need to have 10 unpaid days off between now and the end of the year and some contractors are offering early retirement now or less
Good thing its not a contract year!
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- Removal of Posts -- Calvin, 05/28/09 3:56am
Hey JB, remember your reply to deleting the anti-union posts and your refusal to edit or sensor any posts. Well I guess that only applies to others because you edited or better said removed the posts of the "Statement of Jim Bale termination..."
This site is a joke!
From JB in previous reply:
Sorry folks but it has been my contention all along NOT to edit or sensor any posts made on this message board. The only exception is spam posts.
Just because we don't agree with something someone writes doesn't give us the right to delete that post. If we only read posts that we agree with, this board would be pretty damn boring.
Remember the 1st Amendment of our Constitution. Freedom of Speech. It's what we fight for.
Disclaimer
UNLESS OF COURSE IT APPLIES TO ME THAN I MAY REMOVE ANY POSTS THAT I WANT TO...JB
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- Fred Cisneros Services -- Jb, 05/30/09 9:25pm
On Wed June 3, 2009, from 3 to 6 pm there will be a viewing with the service to be held at 6pm at the Luyeen Family Tilday-Mottell Mortuary. It is located at 5161 E Arbor Rd in Long Beach Ca 90808.
There will be a reception afterward at Freddy and Nonas house which is located at 14002 Mcnab Ave in Bellflower Ca 90706.
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- maps -- No name, 03/25/09 10:12pm
To whom it may concern:
As a part-time employee in the Union and working for several different companies here in Southern California I personally and many other part-time co-workers have been the product of Discrimination by the Teamster Local 986 and the Tradeshow Companies as well. Part-Time employee's forced associaton in Union dues payments does not guarantee any Labor rights or privileges,ie.. medical, grievences, etc.. etc.. but instead only grants the Part-Time employee the right to work in that division. So in essence I have to pay to go to work.
Pay To Work
I cannot think of another work industry in the United States of America that does. I would hope our American goverment would not allow a( Company, Union) to hold for ransom a American citizen who is only trying to earn a proper living without being Discriminated, Exploited and have wages garnished and ransom payment made to a union that exploits its Part-Time workers with no services rendered. This scheme (Union Dues, Taxation without Representation) closely resembles The Head Tax of the Chinese Immigrants who had to endure this type of Discrimination if they wanted to work (1885-1902) This Head tax if you will started the day I first started working. You notice I did not say when I joined the Union The Union has a very special clause that stipulates you can work if you let them take Garnish your check For $6.00 a day The con being they will put that money towards your membership fee. When that figure is met and you become a bonafide member you will then be allowed to make a monthly payment of $50.00 that starts out being Garnished from your payroll check. Now then in my case I finally realized that figure was met when I recieved a Sea World discount pass in the mail from the Union and a fellow slave, (excuse me i met fellow Teamster) told me I must be in the Union becuse only members could get that card............ That following week I went to a Union meeting and told the Fat man with a cigar sitting at the podium what had happened he declared that impossible until fellow members spoke up and and said essentially the same thing. He said he would look into that. (And did). As it turned out I was about 6 or 7 hundred dollars ahead as was many other guys in the Industry.... So rather then give the money back they credited us with future dues in my case about a year and a half........
Freedom Of Association
I know our Bill of Rights states that every American has the right to Freedom of Association so would you also assume you also have the right to Dissociate yourself as well. I would say that I was Dicriminated against due to the fact that at the time employment was offered to me I was not given that choice. It was either join up and pay to work or not work be unemployed, sleep on the street, and be hungry....Tell me what would you choose?
Union Dues
You would think a Part-Time company employee and Local 986 member who pays dues would have the right to Union representation by means of a Union Shop Stewart in concern to disciplinary or other? I know by means of the contract that this is not the case. Though they say they represent me they only care about the full time company employee.The treatment that Part-time Union employees receive is unfair compared to our Full time company employee Union members. Neglected and used, lied to, extorted for work hours and work hours not equally divided, Part-Time have little or no advancement no health benefits are never told of thier rights we pay to much in Union dues for no results or representation and more often then nought are never told anything.
Request of Union Information Rights
As Part-Time dues paying member does a Union member have the right to request Union information and or financial statements? Should I have the right to know where my Union dues go? How much money is invested, Bank Account, interest accumulated, stocks and bonds or other investments do i have the right through interest or capital gains or through investment , entitlement to these gains. They take my dues hold me for ransom taxation without representation and will not even allow me a little piece of the pie. Try to get a answer to these questions by phone, e-mail or regular mail and they will not respond or skirt the issue. Why would they choose not to respond?
Collective Bargaining Agreement
A company who signs in to a collective bargaining agreement with a Union association where as the rights of a Part-Time worker and Union member are being violated by the Union should also be
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- Re: maps -- No name, 03/28/09 7:52pm
- Re: maps -- No name, 03/29/09 10:01am
- Re: maps -- No name, 03/29/09 7:09pm
- Re: maps -- No name, 03/29/09 10:19pm
- Re: maps -- No name, 04/ 1/09 10:26pm
- Re: maps -- No name, 04/ 5/09 6:44pm
- Re: maps -- No name, 04/10/09 9:42pm
- Re: maps -- No name, 05/ 2/09 9:53pm
- Re: maps -- No name, 05/ 4/09 11:17am
- Re: maps -- No name, 05/ 5/09 12:24pm
- Re: maps -- No name, 05/10/09 2:56am
- Re: maps -- Calvin (whoa), 05/10/09 12:08pm
- Re: maps -- No name, 05/22/09 3:08am
- Re: maps -- No name, 05/28/09 11:41am
- Re: maps -- No name, 05/28/09 8:01pm
- Why the Republicans will continue to lose elections! -- No name, 05/22/09 10:03pm
And the Democrats have nothing to do with it
By Chris Ingram
I just got back from the Tiger Bay Club meeting in Tampa, Florida. The club invites politicians to come and speak, and then gives an award to the club member who asks the toughest question of the day's guest politicos. The lineup today included three members of the Florida legislature. I won't bore you with who they were as two of them don't deserve the attention and the other probably doesn't want it.
But one of them was a four-term member of the Florida House, who facing term limits, now feels compelled to run for the state senate. He's a Republican. I'll call him "Rep. Rambler." During his opening remarks Rep. Rambler commented about how serving in the legislature is all about building relationships, finding consensus, and working with people. He should have just 'fessed up and admitted if you want a plum committee assignment you better do what the party bosses tell you.
Rambler went on to say how proud he was that this year the state legislature cut over a billion dollars worth of services that "you won't even feel" because it was wasteful, and duplicative services that were cut. Kudus to you Rep. Rambler. What I want to know is, why does it take a budget shortfall for you and your fellow cronies to look at the budget and start cutting wasteful and duplicative services?
And if you don't think Rep. Rambler is "in" with the party bosses, consider this. He spent ten arduous minutes defending the indicted former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Mr. Ray Samson. He even admitted they used to be roommates as though that somehow makes him a good guy. Talk about out of touch...
Anyhow, this clown of a Republican legislator (Rambler that is) and the rest of the Republicans in the Florida legislature as a whole are not unique. Most every legislative body in America suffers from the same problem, and the U.S. Congress is the leader of the pack of wasteful spending Republicans who tell you with a straight face they're fiscal conservatives. At least the big-government/wasteful spending Democrats are honest about wanting to tax and spend you to death.
As a Republican, I was incensed by Rambler's attitude that the cuts they made showed the Republicans in Tallahassee were doing a good job. OK. I'll give him kudos this year. But what have you been doing the last eight years you've been in office fat boy?
The problem in Florida is indicative of the Republican Party's problems around the country. That is: we're no different than the Democrats - we just look better in a suit.
But what the Democrats lack in looking the part, they have recently made up for with a message. Now I'm not saying it is the right message, or that it is compelling to me, but it certainly appeals to some among us.
Republicans now devoid of a message go looking for a messenger. They tried Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and he fell flat on his face. The "farm team" started and stopped with Jindal, so we're back to the same bunch of good old boys like Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. John Boehner. Neither one of them are exactly touchy feely (you know, they're not exactly the types you'd want to have a beer with or God forbid watch your kids for you on date night with your wife), and outside of their own little cliques of Kool-aid drinking supporters, they have zero appeal among the electorate.
So now we have a party with no message (other than anti-all-things Obama), and no messenger. What is a Grand very Old Party to do? Well build the base of course! So the G.O.P. will spend countless contributor dollars in a hopeless effort to bring in new voters. They'll do this by investing in new technology, minority outreach (where they'll send any black guy calling himself a Republican into unfamiliar black communities and expect him to miraculously bring in new black voters to the G.O.P. - you see the party bosses think all black people are the same), as well as "get out the vote" training, and various and sundry other voter contact efforts.
Trouble is, all this money will be wasted because the party doesn't have a persuasive reason for people to support Republicans.
In looking at why the G.O.P. will continue to fail, all you need to do is understand why the Democrats were so successful last year (and will continue to be successful for years to come). They didn't win elections because Barack Obama was on Facebook or Twitter. Obama merely took advantage of their interest in him and used new technology to exploit that interest.
Republicans will continue to fail until they realize to win elections you need to recruit interesting candidates. Right now we operate on a philosophy of "give the nomination to whomever's turn it is/whoever followed the party bosses orders the best" and try to go recruit voters around them. Whereas the Democrats (at least in Obama) found a better candidate, and the voter recruits simply followed. It's a lot easier doing it the Democrats' way.
The G.O.P. seems to think if we get on My Space and Twitter people will flock to us. They couldn't be any more dead wrong. People flocked to Obama because he had a message of hope and change. I don't agree with his message, but it was effective and it gave people a sense of optimism.
Until the G.O.P. learns that the message comes before the messenger, and that the messenger shouldn't be some career politician whose "turn it is" to be the next candidate for (fill in the blank), the party will continue to lose elections. Here in Florida, that is exactly what the party is doing in the case of the U.S. Senate campaign (anointing Charlie Crist because he's the boss), and the gubernatorial race (its Bill McCollum's turn).
Speaking of the Florida governor, Charlie Crist recently wrote an opinion piece in the Tampa Tribune (which is the finest paper in America for wrapping fish or lining cat pans by the way). In it, he spoke of his desire to "Create a bipartisan task force to restructure government for a new generation of challenges. Eliminate duplicative functions across government. Modernize entitlements. Get health markets right."
Governor Crist, you've hit the nail on the head! What with all those specifics you want to accomplish and the record of providing substantive change you've shown as governor, why, you should run for president!
Of course I am joking folks. Charlie Crist is so completely lacking of leadership skills he couldn't lead a starving Tom cat to a tuna cannery. Charlie's got one thing though, he's a great messenger. Trouble for him and the rest of the G.O.P. establishment is: no message.
Chris Ingram is CEO and partner of Strategic Solutions of Florida a political consulting company. He is also the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, Front Page Florida, and National Review online. E-mail him at: Chris@411Communications.net.
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- ONLY WHITES ARE RACISTS -- UX Reg, 03/ 6/09 12:48am
There are African Americans,Mexican Americans,Asian Americans,
Arab Americans,B.O Lovin Moron Americans ect..ect..
And then there are just AMERICANS.You pass me on the street and call me "White Boy","Cracker","Honkey","Whitey","Caveman"
and that's OK....
But when I call you,"Nigger","Kike","Towel head","Sand-nigger"
"Camel-jockey","Beaner","Gook".....You call me a racist!!!
You say whites have commit violence against you,so why are ghettos the most dangerous place to live?????
You have the United Negro College Fund.You have Martin Luther King Day,Black History Month,Cesar Chavze Day,
Yom Hashoah,Ma'uled Al'Nabi,the NAACP and the National Latino League.
If we had White History Week,we'd be RACISTS!!!! If we had ANY organization to advance our lives we'd be RACISTS!!!
If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships...you know we'd be RACISTS....
There are over 60 proclaimed Black Colleges in the U.S.Yet if there were White Colleges that would be a RACIST College!!
You are proud to be black,brown,yellow and orange and you are not afraid to announce it.When we announce are white pride you call us RACIST....
UXREG is proud,but you call me a RACIST...
WHY is it only whites can be RACIST???????
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- Top Ten Liars in the Republican Party! VOTE NOW -- Calvin, 05/23/09 11:04am
List of top ten failures in the Republican Party
1. Richard Nixon
2. Dick Cheney
3. George Bush II
4. Rush Limbaugh
5. Karl Rove
6. Ronald Reagan
7. George Bush I
8. Oliver North
9. Scooter Libby
10.Charleton Heston
This is it for the top ten but there were so many qualified people from the Republican Party that could have made this list!
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- President Obama salutes veterans on Memorial Day -- No name, 05/23/09 10:46am
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama saluted veterans and urged his countrymen to do the same this Memorial Day weekend, saying the nation has not always paid them proper respect.
In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said people can honor veterans by sending a letter or care package to troops overseas, volunteering at health clinics or taking supplies to a homeless veterans center. He said it could also mean something as simple as saying "thank you" to a veteran walking by on the street.
"We have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us," Obama said. "And yet, all too often in recent years and decades, we, as a nation, have failed to live up to that responsibility. We have failed to give them the support they need or pay them the respect they deserve.
"That is a betrayal of the sacred trust that America has with all who wear and all who have worn the proud uniform of our country," he said.
The president planned to attend a Memorial Day ceremony Monday at Arlington National Cemetery.
Obama said he was committed to giving troops the training and equipment they need and making certain the Veterans Affairs Department had the money it needed. He also noted that he had signed a bill into law that would eliminate waste in defense projects and was working to improve the economy so that veterans can find a good job, provide for their families and earn a college degree.
"That is what Memorial Day is all about," Obama said. "It is about doing all we can to repay the debt we owe to those men and women who have answered our nation's call by fighting under its flag. It is about recognizing that we, as a people, did not get here by accident or good fortune alone."
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- Healthcare Reform Now! -- No name, 05/23/09 10:40am
Recent AFL-CIO opinion research of union members and retirees and polls of the general public show Americans overwhelming agree on the need for health care reform.
AFL-CIO opinion research of union members and retirees found:
71 percent of union members believe it is “critical” for elected officials to address health care (compared with 75 percent for Iraq, 67 percent for terrorism and 43 percent for economic conditions).
82 percent of union members say the health care situation is either in a “state of crisis” (32 percent) or has “major problems” (50 percent).
76 percent of union workers believe the health care situation either needs an “overhaul” (30 percent) or “major reforms” (46 percent).
82 percent of union members say the “government should do more” in the area of health care (compared with 67 percent for education and 63 percent for labor/employment issues).
Source: Financial Dynamics International Ltd. for the AFL-CIO, a nationally representative survey of 601 working members and retirees, July 25–29, 2007.
Polls of the general public show strikingly similar results:
90 percent of respondents to a CBS/New York Times poll of the general public earlier this year said the U.S. health care system needs to undergo fundamental change (54 percent) or be rebuilt completely (36 percent).
95 percent of the public believes the fact that many Americans do not have health insurance is a very serious (70 percent) or somewhat serious (25 percent) problem, according to that same poll.
84 percent of the same respondent pool said they would favor expansion of a government program that provides health insurance for some children in low- and moderate-income families in order to cover all uninsured children.
85 percent of respondents to an Associated Press poll earlier this year said health care was either extremely or very important to them as an issue while 86 percent of those polled in another CNN survey around the same time agreed.
76 percent of Americans either strongly support (53 percent) or somewhat support (23 percent) providing guaranteed health care coverage for every American, according to a recent Gallup poll.
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- SIMPLE THANK YOU WOULD BE NICE!! -- UX Reg, 03/ 6/09 1:44am
The following grievances from WHITE AMERICA need to be heard!!!
First,America has been the best country on earth for blacks.
It was here that 600,000 blacks were brought from Africa in slave ships.They grew into 40 million,were introduced to Christian believes and reach the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known!!!
Rev. Wright ought to go down on his knees and THANK GOD he's AMERICAN!!
Second,no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks
than WHITE AMERICANS.TRILLIONS of dollars have been spent
since the 60's on welfare,food stamps,rent supplements,section 8 housing,student loans,medicad,poverty programs all designed to better the black community...
Government,business and colleges have engaged in discrimination against WHITES with affirmative action and quotas to advance black over WHITE!!!
Churches,foundations,civic groups,schools and individuals all over AMERICA have donated their time and money to support soup kitchens,adult education,day care,retirement
and nursing homes for blacks....
We hear their grievances where is their gratitude????
Is WHITE AMERICA responsible for the fact that crime and incarceration rates for blacks are 7 time higher than WHITES???? Is it WHITE AMERICAS fault that illegitimacy and high school drop out rates are far higher in black communities than WHITE... Is it WHITE AMERICAS fault that black communities fail?????
As for RACISM lets talk about interracial crime.. WHITE criminals choose black victims 3percent of the time,BLACK criminals choose WHITE victims 45 percent of the time...
BLACK-ON-WHITE rape is 139 times more common than WHITE-ON BLACK....
UXREG wouldn't mind a few thank you's from the ungrateful B.O MISHA lovers out there!!! your welcome!!!!
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- Jim Bale, please consider deleting all of these anti-Union posts. -- No name, 03/25/09 7:49pm
Anti Union spam makes me sick.
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- Industry B hours -- No name, 05/21/09 11:19am
Can somebody tell me what the required amount of hours for B status was in 2008 and why it went up to 950 hours in 2009.
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- First 100 Days -- No name, 05/10/09 7:36am
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Change to Win executive director Chris Chafe issued the following statement regarding the first 100 days of the new Obama presidency.
“From investments in energy, education, health care and infrastructure, to repairing our leadership role in the global community, the first 100 days of President Obama’s Administration has inspired new optimism and hope, and introduced a new era for America’s working families. Through his bold actions he has proven his commitment to restoring the economy, rebuilding the middle class and renewing the American Dream.
“In his first 100 days President Obama has laid the groundwork for a Working Families Agenda. He has appointed nominees that workers can count on to stand up and fight for them – from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to his most recent NLRB appointments. He created the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, reversed three Bush-era anti-worker executive orders, and strengthened the voices of workers against discrimination with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
“He worked with the House and Senate to pass an economic recovery package and budget that invests in putting America’s workers back on the path of prosperity, from extending unemployment benefits, to balancing tax relief for working people, to putting a down-payment toward real health care reform. He has provided significant investments in sustainable projects that will create good green jobs, strengthen our energy independence, and protect our planet after decades of mismanagement.
“As President Obama said during his acceptance speech on election night, ‘the road ahead will be long,’ and the ‘climb will be steep,’ and during these tough economic times, that couldn’t be more true. But as the last 100 days have proven, with a leader like Obama at the helm, workers once again have a shot at achieving the American Dream.”
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- E-mail from the white house -- No name, 05/13/09 6:04pm
This is the e-mail the presedent just sent me.
Good afternoon,
You are receiving this email because you signed up at WhiteHouse.gov. My staff and I plan to use these messages as a way to directly communicate about important issues and opportunities, and today I have some encouraging updates about health care reform.
The Vice President and I just met with leaders from the House of Representatives and received their commitment to pass a comprehensive health care reform bill by July 31.
We also have an unprecedented commitment from health care industry leaders, many of whom opposed health reform in the past. Monday, I met with some of these health care stakeholders, and they pledged to do their part to reduce the health care spending growth rate, saving more than two trillion dollars over the next ten years -- around $2,500 for each American family. Then on Tuesday, leaders from some of America's top companies came to the White House to showcase innovative ways to reduce health care costs by improving the health of their workers.
Now the House and Senate are beginning a critical debate that will determine the health of our nation's economy and its families. This process should be transparent and inclusive and its product must drive down costs, assure quality and affordable health care for everyone, and guarantee all of us a choice of doctors and plans.
Reforming health care should also involve you. Think of other people who may want to stay up to date on health care reform and other national issues and tell them to join us here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/EmailUpdates
Health care reform can't come soon enough. We spend more on health care than any country, but families continue to struggle with skyrocketing premiums and nearly 46 million are without insurance entirely. It is a priority for the American people and a pillar of the new foundation we are seeking to build for our economy.
We'll continue to keep you posted about this and other important issues.
Thank you,
Barack Obama
P.S. If you'd like to get more in-depth information about health reform and how you can participate, be sure to visit http://www.HealthReform.gov.
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- IMPORTANT! -- I M Tired (pissed off), 05/ 5/09 9:24pm
THIS SITE SUCKS!I HATE ALL THE BS THAT IS EITHER ANTI UNION OR POLITICAL BUT HARDLY EVER ABOUT THE CONVENTION TRADE.
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- Where in the world is UX Reg? -- Calvin (anxious anticipation), 03/27/09 8:15am
From politics to anti union BS makes me long for the racist rants of UX Reg. Save us UX Reg, your our only hope!
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- Lousy time to be a Teamster -- No name, 03/29/09 10:25pm
Sorry, this is not a good time to be working in the So-Cal Tradeshow industry, move on.
It SSUUCCKKSS!!!!!!
Do You Get It?
Slash Your Wrists Or get over it
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- Thank you Frances Perkins -- No name, 05/ 6/09 9:13am
Americans’ fears about the economy worsened when the Department of Labor reported that unemployment had skyrocketed to 8.5 percent in March, the highest rate in 25 years.
These are not just statistics. The numbers represent real people. At 10 a.m. on a recent morning, more than 150 men stood alongside a main highway into Washington, D.C., in the Virginia city of Annandale, clustered in small groups, huddled against the wind, peering into the windows of passing cars, hoping for work. Motorists sped by quickly, looking away to avoid attracting attention and raising false hopes. Unemployed laborers are a frightening sight to those who are still working.
It is in alarming times like these that some of the key programs of the New Deal demonstrate their continuing significance and highlight how much Americans continue to rely on solutions fashioned then in response to lessons learned, in times that seem eerily similar to our own.
In this case, the economic shock absorber system is unemployment insurance. It is the FEMA of economic hurricanes, and it is keeping more than 6 million households afloat during these bad times.
The unemployment insurance system was propelled into existence by Frances Perkins, the canny but little-known social worker who was President Franklin Roosevelt's secretary of labor. She had studied the U.S. economy for 20 years before she took up her Cabinet post, and she was Roosevelt’s industrial commissioner from 1928 to 1932 while he was governor of New York. Together, they watched the Great Depression arrive and cast its shadow across the American landscape.
Frances Perkins is most famous today for her role as primary architect of Social Security. But in 1933 and 1934, the program she championed most fiercely was unemployment insurance. Now it has become a first line of defense against capitalism’s ruthless pattern of boom-and-bust cycles.
Perkins and Roosevelt had lived through at least three similar boom-and-bust cycles, in 1893, in 1907 and in the early 1920s, and they wanted to blunt the worst of the hardship average people suffered when the downturns hit. It is a program designed to help workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own, so they can keep their families fed while they look for new jobs. It is a short-term program, because Perkins and FDR had complete faith in capitalism’s ultimate recovery.
It was part of the package of social safety proposals, including Social Security, engineered by Perkins and Roosevelt and enacted in 1935. Perkins brought her drive and commitment to the effort, and Roosevelt won the political support that allowed the package to be piloted to passage.
At the time, unemployment insurance was attacked as a socialist scheme. In some right-wing circles, it continues to be excoriated. But people of every political stripe are usually more than happy to line up for their checks when they find themselves out of work.
That’s not to say the state-federal unemployment program devised by Perkins and Roosevelt is perfect. Perkins was disappointed in its failings at the end of her life. Some states are generous to their jobless workers, while others give them only a pittance. The biggest payment a worker in Tennessee can get is $275, but a worker doing the same kind of job in Kentucky can get $415 a week, according to a recent Labor Department study. Arizona’s maximum benefit is $240, but in neighboring New Mexico, the highest benefit is $455.
In addition, many workers are unfairly excluded from the system by rules that don’t acknowledge their existence. Many undocumented workers, like some of those day laborers hoping for a job along the road in Annandale, aren’t covered because their employers never paid payroll taxes on their behalf. Those who are mislabeled "independent contractors," even workers laboring side by side with payroll employees, are out of luck as well. Recent news reports, meanwhile, have highlighted crashing computer systems, malfunctioning voice-mail trees and bureaucratic snafus in many states, preventing people from getting benefits in a timely manner. Perkins would be outraged by reports of workers waiting weeks or months for their unemployment checks, by phones ringing unanswered, with desperate workers dangling in Internet hell as they try to file claims electronically. Reform is needed. If Perkins were alive today, heads would roll.
But even with its failings, the unemployment insurance program today continues to do the work it was intended to do.
Frances Perkins has been forgotten. Today, many people don’t know who she was. But more than 6 million households will pay their bills and eat their dinner because of her handiwork. And regardless of their political ideology, many people will have reason to offer her their thanks.
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- Economic Crisis - A few facts: -- No name, 05/ 5/09 9:32pm
Our nation's economic crisis has been long in coming, but the irresponsible policies of the Bush administration exponentially worsened them. A few facts:
2.6 million U.S. jobs were lost in 2008.
Overall unemployment, after peaking at about 10.2 percent in mid-2010, could still be as high as 7.6 percent four years from now.
Since 1980, productivity has grown 70 percent, but wages have increased by only 5 percent.
Real median family income has only increased by 15 percent, but only because each worker is working longer hours and more jobs and especially because each family is sending more family members into the labor force.
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- Health Care Crisis -- No name, 05/ 5/09 9:29pm
47 million people in the United States-including 8.7 million children-have no health coverage.
More than one-third of people who have insurance worry about losing it.
Even union workers, who have led the way in securing health benefits for working people, are in danger of losing secure health coverage because of out-of-control costs.
More than one-quarter of adults under age 65 with medical bill burdens in 2007 were unable to pay for basic necessities.
But insurance and drug companies are making stunning profits. Health insurance CEOs averaged $8.7 million in 2006 compensation and pharmaceutical company CEOs pulled down an average of $4.4 million.
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- STAMP OUT HUNGER - Help Letter carriers national food drive on Saturday -- No name, 05/ 5/09 9:27pm
With U.S. unemployment at 8.5 percent in March, the highest rate in 25 years—and expected to get even worse when April’s figures are released this week—the Letter Carriers (NALC) annual national food drive on Saturday comes at one of the most critical times in its 17-year history.
You can help “Stamp out Hunger” by collecting canned goods and dry food, such as tuna, canned meat, soups, pasta, rice and cereal, and leaving them in a bag or box by your mailbox. Your letter carrier will pick them up as they deliver your mail Saturday. NALC members will deliver the goods to local food banks, pantries and shelters to help needy families in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.
Last year, carriers collected a record 73.1 million pounds of food. But, as NALC President William Young notes, the drive must be even more successful this year.
Millions and millions of families are suffering—struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table. There are countless families that are destitute—many where a job loss has hit for the first time—and with little or no income to feed, cloth and house themselves.
More than ever food banks, pantries and shelters need our help this year. As families count on them for support, they’re counting on us and we must not back off on our commitment.
Young also noted that donations are particularly critical at this time because most school lunch programs are suspended during the summer months and millions of children must find alternative sources of nutrition. Gayle Whitehead, executive director of Crisis Ministry in Davidson County, N.C., says the food drive
keeps us going through the summer months….People don’t think about hunger in the summer. This keeps the pantry stocked.
Postal employees and rural letter carriers are assisting in the effort, as are members of other unions and thousands of civic volunteers. Co-sponsoring the drive are Feeding America, formerly known as America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s food bank network; the United Way of America and its local United Ways; and the AFL-CIO.
In New York City and Chicago, where transportation limitations preclude mailbox pickup, residents are asked to take donations to their local post offices between May 4 and 9.
If you have any questions about the food drive, talk with your letter carrier or contact your local post office.
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- Time is now for Card-Check -- No name, 05/ 5/09 4:32am
Bill Samuel, the AFL-CIO’s chief lobbyist, said Congress should move on a contentious union bill soon and not hope for a better political climate after the 2010 midterm elections.
“I think it would be a mistake to wait. We don’t know what the outcome of the 2010 election will be. We don’t know what the political situation is going to be in the Congress or the United States in 2010,” Samuel told The Hill.
As the head of the lobbying operation for the AFL-CIO, an 11 million-member union federation, Samuel is one of the most prominent lobbyists behind the push for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The battle over the bill, which would make union organizing for workers much easier, has been one of the most intense this Congress, with the labor movement squaring off against a number of business groups.
Republicans may be reeling now, but Samuel believes Senate races in traditional blue states, such as Illinois and Delaware, could become competitive and shake up the power structure on Capitol Hill. If Republicans were able to surprise with victories in those elections, that would leave unions with fewer supporters to move the bill in the next Congress.
But support for the legislation has faltered of late. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, then a Republican, said in a floor speech in March that he decided to vote against cloture on the bill, reversing himself on his vote last Congress. Speaking to reporters Tuesday after announcing he was switching parties, Specter said he still opposed the bill.
With Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) also indicating her opposition, unions would be at least two votes short of the necessary 60 to beat back a Senate filibuster, even if Al Franken fends off a legal challenge and becomes Minnesota’s next senator as expected.
But Samuel contends that Specter’s decision to switch his affiliation has breathed new life into the legislation because it frees him from any commitment to Republican Party, which tends to side with business over labor.
“In his mind, he wants fundamental labor law reform,” Samuel said. “He wants things to improve for workers. As a Democrat, he could get a lot closer than as a Republican.”
The party switch could also help the senior Pennsylvania senator in his 2010 election bid. Labor unions from the Keystone State were flirting with endorsing Specter but backed off once he moved against EFCA, which is also known as “card-check.” Now that discussion is back on the table, according to Samuel.
“It reopens a dialogue with the Pennsylvania labor movement that had become harder and harder to continue,” he said.
The AFL-CIO, which aggressively supported candidates who endorsed the pro-labor bill, has not let up in its campaign for the legislation in the months after the November election. The union’s organizing efforts included 400 events, 27,000 letters to Congress and almost 100,000 phone calls to lawmakers’ offices during the Easter recess alone in support of EFCA.
Samuel has the experience to know when to push for a bill. A White Plains, N.Y., native, Samuel has had a long affiliation with the labor movement. His father was vice president of Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, and Samuel has been lobbying for unions off and on for three decades, including the United Mine Workers of America and the National Treasury Employees Union.
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- Cashwork -- No name, 03/28/09 6:56am
If you were a regular would you work for a non-signatory contractor for cash?
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- The 2009 Industry B List is Out -- JB, 03/11/09 8:29pm
Just cut and paste the following link into your browser to see the current B list. if anyone has any disputes or thinks that they should be on the list, gather up your evidence such as time card copies, etc and show them to Wes. He will then take your case to the contractors. The hours stipulation for B's are 950.
http://mysite.verizon.net/resnythq/southerncaliforniatradeshowampconventionresources/industryblist.html
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- Industry B list -- RR, 03/10/09 5:26pm
OK,now that natural products is over.....are we we going to get a look at the industry B list?I sure wish our stewart would take the time to get the answers we've asking.....Maybe he should be on his way out,since he can't answer any of our questions,and he's a prefered B for GES.Should he be also on the recieving end of a first call for being stewart,by the rest of the company's?? I know this is a politcal view site as of late,but any (pertaining) views would be appreciated.Or not.....it' up to our members'who last time i looked still OWN this site.
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