Some call it labor's swan song, others call it labor's wake-up call. Right now it's a grassfire spreading across the upper Midwest, and RSN is staying on it.



The Wisconsin board that oversees elections gave the final approval to recall petitions targeting three GOP Senators, 05/11/11 (photo: AP)

Recall Walker? It's Up to Feingold

By Mary Bottari, PR Watch

For the first time in the state's history, Wisconsin recalled two sitting state senators simultaneously. While it was a difficult and historic achievement in two districts that voted for Scott Walker in 2010, it fell short of the three seats needed to flip the Senate from Republican to Democratic control and put the brakes on Governor Scott Walker's radical agenda.

While Walker's collective bargaining bill sparked the recalls, voters were also worried about the state budgetary moves which cut $800 million from local schools while giving out $200 million in tax breaks for big corporations. No jobs plan (other than tax breaks) has been proposed and, contrary to spin from the Governor, joblessness is growing in this state at twice the rate of the federal level.

Democratic Defense Will Take Priority

The recall task was enormous from the get-go. There have been only 20 legislative recalls in U.S. history. Recalling six Republicans simultaneously was an unprecedented effort. Democrats ambitiously attempted to recall a number of senators in solidly Republican districts, including one district that has been held by Republicans since Calvin Coolidge was President. The incredibly uphill nature of this fight was not well understood by many enthusiastic activists.

The Democrats make the point that "barely scraping by" on their own turf is a sign of weakness for the GOP, and they are right. Senate Republican leader Scott Fitzgerald actually predicted that Republicans would gain not lose seats. The two new Democratic senators may combine with the vote of Senator Dale Shultz -- the only Republican who voted against Walkers collective bargaining bill -- to check some of Fitzgerald's more extreme proposals.

But these gains may be short lived. On the day of the recall election, Walker signed one of the most gerrymandered redistricting maps ever conceived. Although the map will land in court and may be tweaked, it is clear the 2012 elections will be a battle royale for current Democrats just to hold onto their seats.

All Eyes on Feingold READ MORE

High Teen Unemployment Molding 'Lost Generation'

By Hansi Lo Wang

The Labor Department's latest unemployment report offered a small sign of hope, with the nation's jobless rate dipping to 9.1 percent in July. But the new numbers also showed that teen unemployment is still on the rise, now at 25 percent.

Across the country, 16- to 19-year-olds are facing the end of the third summer in a row of unemployment rates above 20 percent. Economists warn that if the trend continues, a generation of young people could face a bleak future in the workforce. READ MORE

Debt Deal Could Hurt The Wisconsin Recalls

By One Wisconsin NowEvan McMorris-Santoro, TPMDC

Even as Democrats in Washington struggle with what many progressives see as one of the biggest losses their side has suffered in years, liberals in the Midwest are preparing to hand the left one of the biggest wins it has had in ages. But the perceived progressive failure in DC over the debt ceiling deal could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the wild and crazy Wisconsin recalls, leading to the kind of political domino effect left-leaning critics of the debt deal fear most. READ MORE

Walker Surrenders Wisconsin to Wall Street

By One Wisconsin Now

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding Gov. Scott Walker's planned signing of the 2011 - 13 Wisconsin state budget on Sunday. Walker's budget includes tax breaks for corporations and the rich that will cost the state of Wisconsin taxpayers $2.3 billion over the next decade. At the same time, they are raising taxes on the working poor by $70 million, dismantling public education by $1.6 billion and slashing the University of Wisconsin by $250 million. READ MORE

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to Cut Medicaid Without Public Hearings

By Igor Volsky, ThinkProgress

Republicans argue that states are the "laboratories of democracy" that should be charged with developing new, innovative ways for delivering quality health care more efficiently. But that point is far harder to make in the face of Gov. Scott Walker's (R-WI) effort to shut the public out of a debate about Medicaid cuts and shield legislators from having to weigh in on cutting benefits and services for the neediest Americans:

The new state budget bill grants broader power to Gov. Scott Walker's administration to remake BadgerCare Plus and other state health programs with little legislative oversight, a situation that worries advocates for the roughly 1 million people covered by those programs. READ MORE

New Jersey Lawmakers Cut Benefits for Public Workers

By Richard Perez-Pena, The New York Times

New Jersey lawmakers on Thursday approved a broad rollback of benefits for 750,000 government workers and retirees, the deepest cut in state and local costs in memory, in a major victory for Gov. Chris Christie and a once-unthinkable setback for the state's powerful public employee unions.

The Assembly passed the bill 46 to 32, as Republicans and a few Democrats defied raucous protests by thousands of people whose chants, vowing electoral revenge, shook the State House. Leaders in the State Senate said their chamber, which had already passed a slightly different version of the bill, would approve the Assembly version on Monday. Mr. Christie, a Republican, was expected to sign the measure into law quickly.

In a statement released after the vote, Mr. Christie said, "We are putting the people first and daring to touch the third rail of politics in order to bring reform to an unsustainable system." READ MORE

Wisconsin, GOP's Own Privatized Idaho?

By Roger Bybee, In These Times

To borrow a phrase from an old B-52’s song, Wisconsin’s out-of-touch Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his legislative allies hope to be living in their own privatized Idaho (or perhaps Mississippi).

By 3 a.m. yesterday morning, the Republicans had rammed through the State Assembly a budget plan that is aimed at radically re-configuring Wisconsin as a Southern-style state where corporate CEO "job creators" are enthroned and enriched with new tax breaks, workers are reduced to near-sharecropper status, and public services like education and health suffer massive cuts and privatization.

Late Tuesday, the Republicans tasted an early victory when Walker’s draconian law severely restricting public-employee union rights was upheld on a 4-3 vote reflecting the Supreme Court’s conservative majority. READ MORE

Senate Sends Budget to Walker

By Mary Spicuzza and Clay Barbour, Wisconsin State Journal

Gov. Scott Walker's aggressively austere budget is one step from becoming law, but state officials say its effects are already being felt across Wisconsin.

The state Senate on Thursday night passed the $66 billion plan, which uses a combination of budget cuts and corporate tax breaks in an attempt to close an estimated $3 billion budget hole while trying to spur the economy and promote business growth.

The measure passed at about 10 p.m. on Thursday on a 19-14 party line vote, and Walker said he will sign it before June 30. READ MORE

Labor Groups File Suit to Block Parts of Collective Bargaining Law

By Sandy Cullen, Wisconsin State Journal

One day after the state Supreme Court cleared the way for Gov. Scott Walker's controversial bill limiting collective bargaining to become law, several labor organizations filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday in an effort to prevent some of its provisions from taking effect in federal court.

The groups are challenging the constitutionality of the bill they say would destroy collective bargaining rights for all but a select group of public sector workers deemed "public safety" employees, including certain firefighters and law enforcement officers.

"Scott Walker has created two classes of public sector workers, and that is unconstitutional," Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt said in a statement. "When a legislature discriminates among classes of workers, especially when doing so has more to do with political payback than with any legitimate reasoning, the law has been violated." READ MORE

FOCUS: Robert Reich | The Republican War on Workers' Rights

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

The battle has resumed in Wisconsin. The state supreme court has allowed Governor Scott Walker to strip bargaining rights from state workers.

Meanwhile, governors and legislators in New Hampshire and Missouri are attacking private unions, seeking to make the states so-called "open shop" where workers can get all the benefits of being union members without paying union dues. Needless to say this ploy undermines the capacity of unions to do much of anything. Other Republican governors and legislatures are following suit.

Republicans in Congress are taking aim at the National Labor Relations Board, which issued a relatively minor proposed rule change allowing workers to vote on whether to unionize soon after a union has been proposed, rather than allowing employers to delay the vote for years. Many employers have used the delaying tactics to retaliate against workers who try to organize, and intimidate others into rejecting a union. READ MORE

Wisconsin High Court Sides With Walker on Anti-Union Law

By Ed Treleven, Wisconsin State Journal

A Dane County judge overstepped her authority when she voided Gov. Scott Walker's measure limiting public sector collective bargaining, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a fractious 4-3 decision.

In a nine-page decision - followed by about 60 pages of concurring and dissenting opinions - the court's conservative majority said Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi "usurped the legislative power which the Wisconsin constitution grants exclusively to the Legislature" when she voided the law.

Sumi ruled that a legislative conference committee violated the state's open meetings law when it hastily met in March to amend the bill, allowing the Republican-controlled Senate to get around a boycott by Senate Democrats. READ MORE

National Days of Action: June 25th - July 2nd!

By US Uncut

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself!

FIND AN ACTION

Walkerville Tent City Grows in Madison as Budget Protests Continue

By Jay Kernis, In the Arena Blog/CNN

Four months after tens of thousands descended on the Wisconsin state capitol, progressives have a new home in what they're calling Walkerville. The Madison tent city is named in honor - or, more accurately, in defiance - of Gov. Scott Walker, who became an icon for conservatives and lightning rod for liberals after he pushed through a controversial new collective bargaining law earlier this year.

David Boetcher, one of Walkerville's coordinators, said the aim is to recapture the spirit of Hoovervilles, the shanty towns that popped up and were named to tweak President Herbert Hoover's perceived inaction in the Great Depression's early years. Since Saturday night's kick - off, about 80 tents have sprung up in and around State Street in Madison, with a handful of people sticking it out throughout, but mostly fresh rounds of activists rotating through on a daily basis.

The budget is expected to be debated by the full Legislature soon, and the tent city occupants expect their numbers to swell into the thousands this weekend. READ MORE

Wisconsin GOP to Run Fake Democrats in Recall Elections

By Daniel Bice, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The season of dirty political tricks is now officially under way.

In letters obtained by No Quarter, local Republican Party officials are encouraging their GOP colleagues to collect enough signatures to get a fake Democratic candidate on the ballot in each of two upcoming recall elections.

The spoiler Democrats, who are identified by name in the letters, would run in the Democratic primaries for the seats now held by Republican Sens. Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac and Luther Olsen of Ripon. READ MORE

Teachers Union Fights Massive Layoffs in Philadelphia

By Ben Simmoneau, CBS Philly

A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge Monday granted a temporary restraining order against the School District of Philadelphia, putting a halt for now the school district's plan to lay off 1,500 teachers.

Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman confirmed on Monday that the district was sending out layoff notices to 3,024 employees, including the teachers. She said teachers at the district's worst - performing schools (dubbed "promise academies" by the district) would not be subject to the layoffs because she wanted to minimize disruptions at those failing schools.

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers went to court on Monday afternoon, asking for a temporary restraining order to prevent the school district from moving forward with the layoffs, which the union says must done according to seniority - including "promise academy" teachers - according to its collective bargaining agreement. READ MORE

Wis. Lawmakers Target Police, Firefighter Benefits

By Scott Bauer, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin's Republican lawmakers re-opened the fight over collective bargaining rights Friday, proposing new police and firefighters pay more for their health insurance and pension benefits.

The change, approved by the Republican-controlled budget committee on an 11-4 party line vote, would force some police and firefighters to make the same contributions toward their benefits as other public workers under a bill pushed by Gov. Scott Walker and passed by the Legislature in March.

Police and firefighters were exempt from that bill, which is now tied up in the courts. READ MORE

Wis. GOP Seeking Democratic Spoiler Candidate in Recall Election

By Chris Hubbuch, LaCrosse Tribune

La Crosse County Republicans discussed running a spoiler candidate against Democrat Jennifer Shilling in an effort to delay the recall election of Sen. Dan Kapanke, according to a secret recording of the party's general membership meeting last week.

On the recording obtained by the Tribune, party vice chairman Julian Bradley says he just spoke with Mark Jefferson, executive director of the state GOP, and "we are actively keeping our ears to the ground and if anybody knows anybody for a candidate that would be interested on the Democratic side in running in the primary against Jennifer Shilling.... So if anybody knows any Democrats who would be interested, please let us know."

Kapanke, a second-term Republican, is expected to face a recall election July 12, unless more than one challenger comes forward. Shilling, a five-term state representative from La Crosse, is the only candidate to declare her intention to run.

Should a primary be necessary, the general election would be pushed back, according to scenarios proposed by the Government Accountability Board. READ MORE

Panel OKs Recall Elections Against 3 More Republicans

By Patrick Marley, Emma Roller, Journal Sentinel

Madison - State election officials on Tuesday approved recall elections against three Republican senators but put off decisions on certifying recall petitions against three Democrats. That decision by the Government Accountability Board drew cries of partisanship from Republicans and set up the possibility that two sets of recall elections would be held a week apart, rather than all on the same day. READ MORE

GOP Would Cut Health Insurance for 1.7 Million Kids

By Sen. Harry Reid, Reader Supported News

National Tax Cheat Day of Action - June 4

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself! READ MORE

Walker Revising "Giveaway" Bill to Insurance Companies Amid Bipartisan Scorn

By Kathleen Gallagher and Mark Johnson, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Having grown up in a family that could not afford health care, I know how difficult it can be to go to a doctor when you need one.

That's one of the reasons I worked on health insurance reform. No person in the United States should go without care when they need it.

I remember an afternoon in October 1951 when my 10-year-old brother Larry fell off his bike and broke his leg. There was no money for a doctor. His leg was never set, and it eventually healed crooked. READ MORE

US Uncut: June 4 - Sept 5

By US Uncut

National Tax Cheat Day of Action - June 4

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself! READ MORE

Walker Revising "Giveaway" Bill to Insurance Companies Amid Bipartisan Scorn

By Kathleen Gallagher and Mark Johnson, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gov. Scott Walker is planning substantial changes to a bill derided by some lawmakers as a "dubious giveaway" and "crony capitalism" benefiting insurance companies and other special interests, a Walker spokesman said. And a Department of Revenue estimate says that the $400 million bill, intended to jump-start job creation, would cost the state up to $590 million over 17 years. The final cost could be higher because the state would have to borrow part of the initial sum.

The portion of the bill that has drawn intense bipartisan criticism is the Jobs Now Fund, which would provide $200 million in state tax breaks to insurance companies in exchange for $250 million of their own capital. Out-of-state financial management firms known as certified capital companies, or CAPCOs, would use the money from the insurance companies to invest in or lend to Wisconsin businesses.

At the end of the fund's life, the capital companies would be allowed to keep 75% to 80% of the profits. And the companies would not have to reimburse the state for the tax credits. READ MORE

Wis. DOJ Asks Court to Lift Ban on Anti-Union Law

By Todd Richmond, Associated Press

State attorneys asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday to immediately vacate a Madison judge's decision striking down Republican Gov. Scott Walker's contentious collective bargaining law.

Judge Maryann Sumi invalidated the law on Thursday after finding Republican legislators violated Wisconsin's open records law during the run-up to passage in March. The decision came in a lawsuit Democratic Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne filed challenging the law.

The state Justice Department is representing the Republicans. The agency's attorneys asked the state Supreme Court to take the case and the court set oral arguments on whether it should make a move for June 6. Deputy Attorney General Kevin St. John said in a letter to the justices late Friday they need to act now. READ MORE

BREAKING:

Judge Voids Wisconsin Anti-Union Bill

By Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond, Associated Press

Wisconsin's law taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from most public workers was struck down Thursday by a circuit court judge but the ruling will not be the final say in the union fight that brought tens of thousands of protesters to the Capitol earlier this year.

The state Supreme Court has scheduled arguments for June 6 to decide whether it will take the case. Republicans who control the Legislature also could pass the law a second time to avoid the open meeting violations that led to the judge's voiding the law Thursday. READ MORE

WI School Districts Asked to Name Teachers Who Protested

By Matthew DeFour, Wisconsin State Journal

School districts across the state are being asked to release the names of teachers who called in sick during protests in February at the Capitol, a move that led to closures for a day or more in many districts.

It's unclear how many of the state's 424 districts received requests, but several conservative groups have made public records requests for teacher names. Most districts have released them.

But the Madison School District denied several requests, saying the release could risk the safety of teachers and students, and disrupt morale and the learning environment in schools. READ MORE

US Uncut Actions: May 28 - Sept 5

By US Uncut

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself! READ MORE

Recall Election Date Set for Three

Wisconsin Republicans

By Scott Bauer, Associated Press

The Wisconsin board that oversees elections gave the final approval to three recall petitions targeting three GOP senators, making it all but certain that those senators will face recall elections this summer.

The Government Accountability Board rejected the challenges made to recall petitions targeting Republican Sens. Dan Kapanke of La Crosse, Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac and Luther Olsen of Ripon. They also voted to file paperwork by June 3 that will allow elections to be called for July 12.

Eric McLeod, the attorney for the senators, had argued that there was no proof that the people who filed the initial paperwork for the recall efforts were actually members of the recall committees that registered with the state. The GAB requires those who wish to file a recall petition to file campaign finance registration forms with the board and file a statement of intent to circulate the petitions. READ MORE

Ohio Gov. Kasich: Extra Money

Not for Local Governments

By Aaron Marshall, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

The bucks stop here. That was the message from Gov. John Kasich Monday as he responded to the pleas of dozens of local government types, including Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, for more money in the state budget to help stave off deep service cuts.

"There will be a few more dollars I'm sure in the budget by the time this is all done, but not a lot," the Republican governor told reporters after a press event at an ice cream shop in Dublin, a Columbus suburb. "That's the end of it. Embrace the tools. Support the budget. Help us work together here to control your costs."

Ohio's tax revenues are up enough over projections that it's likely that lawmakers will have $1 billion or more left to spend just as budget deliberations are wrapping up in June. Pressed on where he thinks any extra money should be used in the budget, Kasich mentioned restoring some funds to Ohio's drained rainy day savings fund and tax cuts. "... ultimately I've always been a tax cut advocate," Kasich said. READ MORE

Michigan Unions Urge Cuts in

State Managers, Contractors

By Associated Press

Labor unions representing some state employees called Monday for state government to reduce management staffing levels and find savings from contractors.

Unions including the United Auto Workers and the Service Employees International Union released a report calling for the changes as lawmakers prepare to take key votes related to the state budget year that begins in October.

Unions say Michigan's state government work force is more top-heavy with supervisors and managers than some other states. They said changing the staff-to-manager ratio - which the report said is now roughly 6 to 1 in the state classified work force - would help the state focus on front-line services. READ MORE

Firefighters' Union Boss Acts Like an Insider

By Daniel Bice, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

If you want to know what's happening at the Statehouse, you may want to skip the talk-radio guys and the bloggers - and go straight to David Seager, head of the Milwaukee firefighters union. Because nobody seems to know more about the budget-repair bill and the Milwaukee residency legislation than Seager does.

In a recent internal note to his members, Seager - who starred in an often-played TV ad for Gov. Scott Walker's campaign - said the governor, his chief of staff, Keith Gilkes, and GOP legislative leaders have assured him that a new alternative to the budget-repair bill is "dead on arrival." Unlike Walker's measure, the new bill - introduced by Rep. Robert Ziegelbauer, an independent from Manitowoc - would not exempt local police and firefighters from key restrictions on collective bargaining.

Mayor Tom Barrett's chief of staff, Patrick Curley, said it showed Seager cutting "backdoor deals" with the Walker administration and Republican legislative leaders in exchange for his union's political support last fall. "He's bragging that he's going to cash in on these political favors at the expense of Milwaukee residents and taxpayers," said Curley, whose boss is vigorously fighting the residency bill. READ MORE

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka at the

National Press Club - Full Speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1WQjy7ZDu0

Abandon Candidates Who Abandon Labor

Richard L. Trumka, Reader Supported News

Friends, how can we make sense of the spectacle that's been unfolding across the American political landscape? Politicians in Wisconsin, Ohio and a dozen other states are trying to take away workers' right to organize and bargain for a better life.

But that's not all. In state after state, politicians are attacking voting rights by imposing ID requirements, shortening early voting periods, blocking young people from voting because they're too "liberal" and even levying criminal penalties and fines for breaking arbitrary rules in the voter registration process. Budget proposals unveiled in Washington and state capitals across our country this year revealed a despicable canvas of cruelty.

It doesn't matter if candidates and parties are controlling the wrecking ball or simply standing aside - the outcome is the same either way. If leaders aren't blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families' interests, working people will not support them. This is where our focus will be - now, in 2012 and beyond. READ MORE

Poll: Ohio Voters Say New Collective Bargaining Law Should Be Repealed

By Mark Naymik, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

A majority of Ohio voters say the state's new collective bargaining law, known as Senate Bill 5, should be dumped, a new survey shows.

Fifty-four percent of registered voters polled by Quinnipiac University said they favor repealing the law, which restricts collective bargaining for public employees, while 36 percent said the law should stand. Opponents of the law have launched an effort to place it before voters in November and are gathering voter signatures, the first step in such a campaign.

Republican Gov. John Kasich has promoted the bill - which was backed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly - as a critical tool that will allow state and local governments to save money, especially in a time of budget crisis."Although it is a long way until November when opponents of SB 5 hope to ask voters to overturn it, at this point there is strong support for repealing Gov. Kasich's signature plan," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. READ MORE

Cuyahoga County Exec. Asks for Help With Gov's Budget Damage

By Aaron Marshall, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

With tax revenues rolling in ahead of pace for fiscal 2011, making a $1 billion surplus look likely come July, Northeast Ohio local government leaders pitched state lawmakers Thursday on the need to send more dollars back home.

Without help in dampening the effects of the cuts to local governments in the state budget, Fitzgerald said services for low-income residents in Cuyahoga County such as health clinics, child care and food assistance would undoubtedly suffer. He said the cuts would cost Cuyahoga County $40 million annually once the full impact was felt in 2013.

Dramatic cuts to the state's Local Government Fund totaling $555 million are in the budget drawn up by Gov. John Kasich and approved by House Republicans. The budget also lowers the boom on local governments and schools by taking away about $1.3 billion worth of payments from changes made years ago to various business taxes. READ MORE

Doctor: Walker Budget Cuts Will

Increase Cancer Deaths

By Judith Davidoff, The Capital Times

The medical director of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene says women will likely die of cervical cancer if Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal eliminating $266,400 for cervical cancer screening prevails.

"I see at least 1-2 high-grade lesions every day during cytologic evaluations," Dr. Daniel Kurtycz says in prepared remarks to be given Wednesday to the Joint Finance Committee, which will consider Walker's budget request. "Without follow-up, there is no doubt that some of these lesions will become invasive. Because cervical cancer takes at least two years to run its course, sometime after 2015, we will have women dying of cervical cancer as a predictable consequence of the funding reduction for testing in this budget."

The $266,400 cut is part of Walker's elimination of $3.8 million in state funding for family planning services. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the funding for cervical cancer screenings covers laboratory tests for uninsured patients receiving care at community-based clinics. READ MORE

US Uncut Actions: May 18 - Sept 5

By US Uncut

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself! READ MORE

Boeing vs. NLRB

By James Sanderson, USW Local 7898 President

The National Labor Relations Board, (NLRB) complaint against Boeing has caused quite a stir and SPIN here in South Carolina. According to the NLRB charge, Boeing chose to set up its second 787 production line in North Charleston, S.C., in retaliation against the Machinists' Union because of repeated strikes against the company and the possibility the union could go on strike again.

Since the NLRB filed the complaint against Boeing, The South Carolina print media has editorialized against the NLRB action. The media is spinning out of control. It is very obvious that the media isn't interested in presenting the facts or laws that pertain to this specific incident. Instead of printing facts the media is reporting bold face lies from our elected leaders. READ MORE

Locked-Out Steelworkers Bring Fight to Honeywell

By Danya Abt, GRITtv

We first met the steelworkers from Metropolis, Illinois in Madison, Wisconsin early this spring, where workers from all over the country gathered to defend the right to collectively bargain. Until their lockout in June of last summer, these workers ran Honeywell's uranium conversion plant, the only one of its kind in the country, and they depended on their collectively bargaining rights to defend the health and safety of themselves and their small community.

A few weeks back, United Steelworkers Local 7-669 came to Morris New Jersey to exercise another right - their rights as shareholders of the very company that has locked them out. Our own Danya Abt traveled there to get the story with cinematographer Zac Halberd. WATCH HERE

Child Labor: Back to the 19th Century?

By Dick Meister

But now come business trade associations, employer groups, reactionary Republican politicians and Tea Party activists to urge severe weakening of the state laws, and, ultimately, of the federal law. They agree with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that the child labor laws are unconstitutional for a variety of obscure legal reasons. They've begun their legal attacks on state laws with the laws in Maine and Missouri.

In Maine, which was among the first states to enact child labor laws, they've been pushing a bill that would allow employers to pay anyone under 20 a six-month "training wage" that would be more than $2 an hour below the minimum wage. They'd also eliminate rules setting a maximum number of hours kids 16 and older can work during school days and allow those under 16 to work up to four hours on school days and up to 11 p.m.

The Missouri bill is even worse. It would lift provisions in the current state law that bar children under 14 from employment, They'd be allowed to work all hours of the day and no longer need work permits from their schools. What's more, businesses that employ children would no longer be subject to inspections by the federal agency that enforces the child labor laws. READ MORE

Wisconsin Assembly Passes GOP-Backed Voter ID Bill

By Reporting by Jeff Mayers, Reuters

The Wisconsin state Assembly passed a Republican-backed bill on Wednesday that will stiffen requirements for voter identification at polling places and was decried by Democrats as targeting their constituents. The Assembly passed the bill by a vote of 60-35 and sent it on to the Senate, which is also controlled by Republicans. Democrats introduced more than 50 amendments, all of which failed.

The measure was expected to further split the partisan divisions in the state after the recent bruising battle over newly elected Republican governor Scott Walker's successful campaign to weaken public sector union bargaining rights.

Democrats said the new measure, which will require voters to show an approved photo ID before receiving their ballot, was aimed at discouraging many of their constituents, especially college students, rather than addressing vote fraud, which they said was not a serious problem in the state. READ MORE

Michigan Town Bristles Under Governor-Appointed Manager

By Chris McCarus, NPR

Michigan is increasingly using what some consider a drastic method for dealing with cash-strapped cities. New laws give emergency financial managers the authority to fire local government officials.

Residents of Benton Harbor, Mich., know this option well. A year ago, former Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) sent emergency financial manager Joe Harris to Benton Harbor last year.

Now the town of 10,000 - which sits on the other side of Lake Michigan from Chicago - has just 6 firefighters and about 20 police officers. READ MORE

Ohio Budget Is Full of Political 'Extras'

By Thomas Suddes, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Everyone has a "junk drawer" in the kitchen - a place to stow scissors and other odds and ends that you just don't know what else to do with.

The Ohio House of Representatives has a junk drawer, too - House Bill 153. You think that's Ohio's next budget. But tucked between the 4,000-page budget's dollar amounts and Revised Code bafflegab is a slew of ideas that, on their own, might never pass.

And make no mistake, even HB 153's purported austerity is plenty sweet for the army of spenders that swarms the Statehouse like an 11th Plague of Egypt. READ MORE

Wisconsin Republicans Rush Legislative Agenda Before Recall Elections

By Scott Bauer, Associated Press

Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker and GOP leaders have launched a push to ram several years' worth of conservative agenda items through the Legislature this spring before recall elections threaten to end the party's control of state government.

Republicans, in a rapid sequence of votes over the next eight weeks, plan to legalize concealed weapons, deregulate the telephone industry, require voters to show photo identification at the polls, expand school vouchers and undo an early release for prisoners.

Lawmakers may also act again on Walker's controversial plan stripping public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights. An earlier version, which led to massive protest demonstrations at the Capitol, has been left in limbo by legal challenges. READ MORE

Walker Ally's Actions Show Wisconsin Isn't Broke

By The Capital Times | Editorial

Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, is one of Gov. Scott Walker's closest legislative allies.

A prime mover of the budget repair bill that claims Wisconsin must break unions in order to balance budgets, Suder says that Wisconsin faces tough fiscal challenges. But not too tough for him to support hundreds of millions in additional spending on tax breaks for corporations.

And now, Suder wants to go on an even bigger spending spree with a plan to end the state's early release program. The program, which was approved as part of then Gov. Jim Doyle's 2009 two-year-budget, allows low-risk criminals to leave prison and be watched under probation programs. The Doyle approach, modeled on successful programs in other states, was set to save Wisconsin tens of millions of dollars. READ MORE

Michigan House Approves Massive Education Funding Cut

By Peter Luje, MI Live

House Republicans approved a $13.8 billion education budget that slices a minimum of $430 per student in K-12 districts, reduces state aid to universities and community colleges by 15 percent.

The House, 57-53, with all Democrats opposed, approved the education budget that has been roundly criticized by school groups since Gov. Rick Snyder proposed it back in February.

The budget is $908 million less than the current year despite estimates the school aid fund, established in the Proposal A school finance changes, has a surplus of about $650 million. READ MORE

Ohio House Slashes Education, Elderly Services Despite Budget Surplus

By Aaron Marshall, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

As the Ohio House approved a budget Thursday that makes gouging cuts to schools, local governments and other programs, good news arrived that may ease some of the pain.

It came in the form of robust tax revenues for April that put Ohio on pace to have nearly $1 billion more than expected when fiscal 2011 wraps up June 30. As the budget deliberations move to the Senate, the extra money could soften the punishment meted out by the two-year spending plan.

The 59-to-40 vote means cuts of up to 20 percent in basic aid for Ohio school districts, a raid on the Local Government Fund, a chopping of overall higher-education funding and $470 million in nursing home cuts. READ MORE

The International Assault on Labor

By Noam Chomsky, The New Significance

In most of the world, May Day is an international workers’ holiday, bound up with the bitter 19th-century struggle of American workers for an eight-hour day. The May Day just past leads to somber reflection.

A decade ago, a useful word was coined in honor of May Day by radical Italian labor activists: “precarity.” It referred at first to the increasingly precarious existence of working people “at the margins”—women, youth, migrants. Then it expanded to apply to the growing “precariat” of the core labor force, the “precarious proletariat” suffering from the programs of deunionization, flexibilization and deregulation that are part of the assault on labor throughout the world.

By that time, even in Europe there was mounting concern about what labor historian Ronaldo Munck, citing Ulrich Beck, calls the “Brazilianization of the West—the spread of temporary and insecure employment, discontinuity and loose informality into Western societies that have hitherto been the bastions of full employment.” READ MORE

US Uncut Actions: May 4 - Sept. 5

By US Uncut

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself! READ MORE

Wisconsin Counties Work to Meet Recount Deadline

By WBAY-ABC TV

As of noon Sunday, the Government Accountability Board says only about one third of the state's reporting units have completed their recount of the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. The recount information is due to the state in just eight days.

Before the process began Wednesday, Justice David Prosser held a more than 7,000 vote lead over challenger Joanne Kloppenburg. In Brown County, the clerk's office was busy all weekend working on the recount, as others watched. READ MORE

Workers Demand Better Jobs, Pay on May Day

By Christopher Torchia and Selcan Hacaoglu, Associated Press

Activists flooded a central plaza in Turkey's largest city Sunday and marked international workers' day around the world with marches demanding more jobs, better working conditions and higher wages.

About 200,000 workers gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square in the largest May Day rally there since 1977, when 34 people after shooting triggered a stampede. Turkish unions weren't allowed back until last year. In South Korea, police said 50,000 rallied in Seoul for better labor protections. They also urged the government to contain rising inflation, a growing concern across much of Asia, where food and oil prices have been spiking and threatening to push millions into poverty.

Thousands of workers also marched in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines to vent their anger over the rising cost of living and growing disparities between the rich and poor. READ MORE

Effort to Recall Michigan Governor Clears First Hurdle

By David Bailey, Reuters

Michigan Citizens United would have to amass more than 800,000 signatures, or 25 percent of the votes cast in Republican Snyder's election in November, within a 90 day period to put the question to a vote at the next election.

Voters in Michigan can file a recall petition six months after Snyder's term began under Michigan law, unlike Wisconsin where petitioners must wait at least a year into new Republican Governor Scott Walker's term to start a recall bid. READ MORE

Fire Fighters Turn Off the Spigot

By Mary Bottari, PR Watch

Remember when the fight broke out in Wisconsin over the right to collectively bargain and President Obama and a phalanx of national democratic leaders spread out across the country fighting for the rights of American workers? Right, we don't remember that either.

As unions battled for their very existence, the thunderous silence from Washington, DC, did not go unnoticed by working families fighting for their livelihoods or by powerful political players. At least one organization has decided to hold a few of their former friends accountable.

The International Association of Fire Fighters, announced yesterday it would no longer be giving money to federal candidates. Rather, the 300,000-member union said it would put its energy and resources into the fight at the state level over collective bargaining. READ MORE

Mass. Democrats Passes Law Curbing Union Rghts

By Jordan Fabian, The Hill

The Democratic-controlled Massachusetts House on Wednesday passed a law that would curb some public-sector union rights, similar to GOP initiatives in other states.

The measure, which passed 111-42, would prevent police officers, teachers and other public employees from collectively bargaining over their health benefits, according to The Boston Globe. Supporters billed the measure as a way to save towns and municipalities millions of dollars. READ MORE

WI Senate at Stake in Recall Bids

By David Bailey, Reuters

Wisconsin has had four recall elections in its history, never more than one in any year, but eight state senators could be forced back to the polls in 2011 under petitions already filed with the state's Government Accountability Board.

The recall efforts are the latest phase in a heated battle between pro-union Democrats and newly elected Republican Governor Scott Walker over his efforts to roll back the powers of state public sector unions this year.

So far, challengers have filed petitions with thousands of signatures seeking to force recall elections on eight state senators: five Republicans and three Democrats. Democrats need to pick up three seats to take control of the state Senate and put up barriers to Walker's agenda. READ MORE

Tea Party vs. Affordable Health Care

By Frank Micciche, Politico

What does the tea party have against helping small businesses find affordable health insurance for their employees?

Tea party - linked groups have recently spiked legislation in three states that would have authorized federally funded planning to create health insurance exchanges. Activists successfully blocked the efforts of these GOP governors to explore market - based alternatives that would address the stubbornly high ranks of the uninsured in their states. In doing so, they blanketed Republican supporters of this exchange legislation with claims of complicity in the enforcement of "Obamacare." READ MORE

No, Half of All Workers Aren't Freeloaders

By Jonathan Chait, The New Republic

Now, conservatives think the main problem in American public policy is that this system takes too much from the rich. So they want to paint it as soaking the high earners and coddling workers at the bottom. Thus you will see the endlessly circulated right - wing talking point that nearly half of all Americans pay no income taxes. Here, for instance, are Veronique de Rugy and Jason Fichtner:

The top earning 1% of Americans (or 1.4 million returns) paid 38% of taxes while the Americans at the lower half of the income spectrum (or 70.0 million returns) paid 2.7% of total federal personal income taxes. READ MORE

WI Senate Recall Campaigns Move to Next Phase

By Tom Tolan, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

With recall signatures filed against six Wisconsin state senators last week - making eight in all this month - those campaigns now shift in earnest to their next phase: vetting thousands of signatures, preparing objections to them and responding to objections.

That's the next battleground for the recall campaigns before the state Government Accountability Board decides whether to schedule recall elections for any of the eight. And while the soldiers on the first battlefield - gathering signatures in the Senate districts - were grass-roots volunteers and paid organizers and circulators, this round is directed by lawyers.

The first shots in this new battlefield already have been fired in the two campaigns that submitted their signatures earlier in April, the ones to recall Republicans Dan Kapanke of La Crosse and Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac. Lawyers for those two focused on what they say is a flaw in the way campaigns filed their registrations in March. It seems likely the lawyers will take the same tack to counter campaigns against the other Republican senators, because all those campaigns were launched in the same way. READ MORE

Save Democracy in Michigan

By David Green, In These Times

Though Wisconsin has received more media coverage for its new law banning collective bargaining for public unions, Michigan's new Emergency Manager law is more insidious and potentially destructive of public goods like education and corrections, and public services such as road repair and snow plowing.

The rationale behind the law, which was passed by the Republican-dominated state legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder on March 16, is deficit reduction. It allows the governor to appoint an emergency manager for any municipality (city, township, county or school district) in a financial emergency as determined by the state treasurer.

The emergency manager may dismiss elected boards. He may abrogate any contract that the municipality has negotiated. He may issue bonds to pay the municipality's expenses for which the residents of the community are responsible - without a vote by the community or the community's elected representatives. READ MORE

Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Calls for Voter Recount

By Andrew Averill, The Badger Herald

Wisconsin Supreme Court challenger candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg formally called Wednesday for a statewide recount done by hand and also asked for another formal investigation of the discovered votes in Waukesha County.

“There are legitimate and widespread anomalies and legitimate questions about the conduct of this election, most visibly in Waukesha County, but also in counties around the state,” Kloppenburg told a gathering of supporters at the Werner Park Community Recreation Center on Madison’s north side.

Her decision to request a statewide recount came out of concerns that vote discrepancies reported in other counties meant problems occurred throughout the state, including issues discovered in the cities of Milwaukee and Racine, and Fond du Lac and Winnebago counties, Kloppenburg said.

She said she hoped a recount would shine some light on an election that seemed suspect to so many people. READ MORE

US Uncut Actions: Apr 21 - Sept 5

By US Uncut

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself! READ MORE

WI Supreme Court Challenger Will Seek Statewide Recount

By Todd Richmond, Associated Press

Refusing to concede defeat, Wisconsin Supreme Court challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg asked election officials Wednesday for a statewide recount in her flagging upset bid against Justice David Prosser.

Final county tallies compiled last week showed Prosser held a 7,316-vote lead over the little-known state attorney. The margin is within one-half of 1 percent of the total votes cast, entitling Kloppenburg to a statewide recount at local governments' expense.

"Wisconsin residents must have full confidence that these election results are legitimate and that this election was fair," Kloppenburg said at a news conference. READ MORE

Sarah Palin: The Koch Brothers' Union Maid

By Mary Bottari, PR Watch

Tax Day was approaching and the righties were out to denigrate government workers and government spending. Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska who quit her job in 2009, headlined a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, bought and paid for by the front - group Americans for Prosperity (AFP), but billed as a "grassroots" Tea Party event.

The Koch-funded AFP set up the stage and programmed 13 buses into Madison, but only six were labeled "full" on their website on Saturday. AFP also likely paid the airfare and fees of the national speakers. Braving the sleet, snow and raucous counter - protesters, Palin earned her money. READ MORE

Scott Walker and the Koch Brothers

By James P. Hoffa, Reader Supported News

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will be among friends today when he testifies before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Nearly half the Republican committee members receive funding from the notorious union-busters, Charles and David Koch. Three of the witnesses - including Walker - are supported by the Kochs. READ MORE

Wisconsin Investigates Vote Irregularities Going Back Five Years

By Mary Spicuzza, Wisconsin State Journal

The state's investigation into vote irregularities in Waukesha County will stretch back at least five years, the head of the Government Accountability Board said Thursday. Questions over vote totals in Waukesha have lingered over the past week after County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus announced she failed to report more than 14,000 votes from the city of Brookfield in initial vote totals.

The new total gave incumbent Supreme Court Justice David Prosser a lead of about 7,000 votes over challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg in the hotly contested state Supreme Court race. Official results in that race have not yet been announced.

Now questions have emerged over Nickolaus' published vote counts from as far back as the fall of 2006, when there were key statewide elections including races for governor and attorney general. READ MORE

Uncertain About Future Benefits,

Many Veteran Teachers Are Retiring Early

By Erin Richards and Amy Hetzner, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"I am totally not ready," Scharrer-Erickson, a literacy coach at the Academy of Accelerated Learning, said this week. "I never thought about retiring until the (Gov.) Scott Walker situation, because this school is so special and I am working with the most incredibly caring teachers I have ever known."

At a time when the governor's plan to eliminate most collective bargaining for teachers and increase state employees' payments for health care and pension costs looms overhead, some school districts are seeing record numbers of senior teachers such as Scharrer-Erickson turn in their retirement paperwork.

Although their pensions are beyond the reach of lawmakers and local officials, many teachers fear that changes could mean they soon could lose early retirement benefits such as health insurance that helps support them until they are eligible for Medicare. READ MORE

Anti-Union Hearings, Kucinich Grills Walker

By Zaid Jilani, Think Progress

Scott Walker Admits Union-Busting Provision 'Doesn't Save Any' Money for the State of Wisconsin

Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called Govs. Scott Walker (R-WI) and Peter Shumlin (D-VT) to testify in a hearing titled "State and Municipal Debt: Tough Choices Ahead." Much of the hearing was spent probing Wisconsin's spate of anti-union restrictions it recently passed.

At one point, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) confronted Walker about his crackdown on public employee unions. The congressman referenced a provision Walker signed into law that would require union members to vote every year to continue their membership. Kucinich asked the governor how much money the state would save from the provision. Walker repeatedly dodged the question and eventually admitted that it actually wouldn't save anything at all. READ MORE

More Twists and Turns In Wisconsin

By Lisa Pease, Consortium News

I’m still mulling over the recent Wisconsin election in general and the actions of Waukesha County’s County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus in particular.

She was the one who forgot to record votes that would have made her former boss, Justice David Prosser, the winner in a hotly contested election. After my first report on this strange set of circumstances, data surfaced to show that the missing city’s data had been reported earlier by the city itself. The numbers Nickolaus reported were an exact match.

So it doesn’t look like anyone made up the numbers for the missing town’s results in Brookfield. And then there was the stamp of approval from Democratic Party member Ramona Kitzinger who said the numbers “jived” with what she had been shown. READ MORE

US Uncut Actions: April 14 - Sept. 5

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself! READ MORE

Waukesha County Vote Panel Dem. "Shocked" at Not Being Told of Major Error

By Laurel Walker and Larry Sandler, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Democrat on the Waukesha County Board of Canvassers who was widely quoted as endorsing the county clerk's official ballot count that flipped the state Supreme Court winner last week said Monday that she was never told about more than 14,000 missing votes from the city of Brookfield until shortly before a Thursday news conference.

By then, the three-member board had finished its canvass, which had started midday Wednesday. The Waukesha County Democratic Party released a statement Monday ascribed to Ramona Kitzinger, 80, a member of the canvassing board since 2004.

In the statement, Kitzinger said that even during the canvass of Brookfield's votes during the day Thursday, no mention was made of the big mistake, something in retrospect she called "shocking and somewhat appalling." READ MORE

The GOP Is in Trouble in Wisconsin

By Steve Singiser, AlterNet

One has to imagine that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and his Republican acolytes are breathing a sigh of relief after this week. On Wednesday, it looked to all the world as if his advocate-on-the-bench, state Supreme Court justice David Prosser, had been narrowly defeated in an enormous upset by JoAnne Kloppenburg.

Walker was already scrambling, with an absurd statement about how Madison voted one way, but the rest of the state voted the other way. It was a time of high crisis for the GOP, to be sure.

But then came the Waukesha miracle. A Republican county clerk, and a former employee of Prosser's, found the mother of all tabulation errors. READ MORE

Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Heads for Heated Ballot Review

By Robert Dougherty, Yahoo! Contributor Network

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election was always set to be under review. However, the election may become the biggest political lightning rod in Wisconsin yet, if that's even possible.

The Supreme Court results between Justice David Prosser and JoAnne Kloppenburg seemed destined to go to a normal recount, with Kloppenburg as the stunning leader. But as per usual in this state, nothing is going to be normal in the next several weeks.

After Prosser gained a 6,700 - plus vote lead, when 14,000 - plus ballots were discovered from Waukesha County on Thursday, the floodgates reopened. READ MORE

Right-Wing Bullies Hold Nation Hostage

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

When I was a small boy I was bullied more than most, mainly because I was a foot shorter than than everyone else. They demanded the cupcake my mother had packed in my lunchbox, or, they said, they'd beat me up. After a close call in the boy's room, I paid up. Weeks later, they demanded half my sandwich as well. I gave in to that one, too. But I could see what was coming next. They'd demand everything else. Somewhere along the line I decided I'd have a take a stand. The fight wasn't pleasant. But the bullies stopped their bullying.

I hope the President decides he has to take a stand, and the sooner the better. READ MORE

US Uncut Actions: April 9 - Sept. 5

By US Uncut

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself!

Next National Days of Action: Tax Weekend, April 15-18th! READ MORE

Kathy Nickolaus in Waukesha Forgot to Save? Really?

ColdFusion04, Daily Kos

It was with great interest that I watched the press conference of Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus. You see, my "day job" is in the field of information technology, and I was tuned in to her every word regarding her use of Microsoft Access to tabulate the county wide vote totals. So I decided to make a little voting database in Microsoft Access 2010 and 2007, to test her story.

Results after the jump... READ MORE

Fueled by Protests, Angry Wisconsin Voters

Show Up to Fight

By Monica Davey, The New York Times

Union supporters and Democrats unleashed their fury over Scott Walker, the Republican governor, and his efforts to diminish collective bargaining rights at the ballot box on Tuesday.

Angry voters managed a task some had said was impossible: they locked a veteran State Supreme Court justice, who is considered conservative, in a razor-thin race with an opponent who is much less well known. (The opponent declared victory on Wednesday.) And voters rejected a Republican lawmaker for Milwaukee County executive - yet another contest that had been transformed, at least by some infuriated voters, into a referendum over the state's new Republican leadership.

Democrats here trumpeted the outcome as the beginning of the end for Mr. Walker and the Republicans who swept into control of the state in November. "What the vote showed is that people really woke up to Walker's agenda," State Senator Chris Larson, a Democrat, said on Wednesday. "And I'd say they're only getting warmed up." READ MORE

Unions Win Big in Wisconsin Election

By Greg Sargent, The Washington Post

In the nationally-watched Wisconsin state Supreme Court race, liberal challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg has edged ahead of conservative sitting justice David Prosser by just over 200 votes.

We still don't know who is going to win, and we may not know for some time to come. But even if Kloppenburg loses, labor strategists argue, this will have constituted a victory for unions and Dems - proof of Scott Walker's continuing toxicity, and of the staying power of the grassroots energy he unleashed. They're right.

The emerging GOP spin on this race, according to Ben Smith, is that the razor-thin closeness of the contest constitutes vindication for Walker, and proof that the right can stand up to the labor goons....

UPDATE: With all precincts counted, Kloppenburg leads by 204 votes, and she has now declared victory. What remains to be seen is whether Prosser will demand a recount. READ MORE

Hopper Recall Committee Could File Signatures After Rallies on Thursday

Tom Tolan, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Will organizers of the recall effort against state Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) be filing their signatures in Madison on Thursday? Looks like it.

One of the Facebook pages associated with the Recall Randy Hopper organization is announcing what it calls the "biggest Recall Randy Hopper events yet" in the campaign. The rallies - set for Oshkosh, Fond du Lac and Waupun on Thursday - are similar to the one staged in La Crosse last Friday before signatures to recall Sen. Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse) were filed in Madison.

The recall efforts were launched in the bitter fight over Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill. The deadline for the Hopper recall effort - and the other recalls of Republicans - to submit their signatures is May 2. READ MORE

The Peasants Need Pitchforks

By Robert Scheer, Truthdig

A "working class hero," John Lennon told us in his song of that title, "is something to be/ Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV/ And you think you’re so clever and classless and free/ But you’re still f***ing peasants as far as I can see."

The delusion of a classless America in which opportunity is equally distributed is the most effective deception perpetrated by the moneyed elite that controls all the key levers of power in what passes for our democracy. It is a myth blown away by Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz in the current issue of Vanity Fair. In an article titled "Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%" Stiglitz states that the top thin layer of the superwealthy controls 40 percent of all wealth in what is now the most sharply class-divided of all developed nations: "Americans have been watching protests against repressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet, in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nations income - an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret." READ MORE

Workers' Rights Are Under Threat

Across the World

By Keith Ewing, Guardian UK

Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis on this day in 1968. He was there to support striking sanitation workers, fighting for the right to have their union recognised by their employer; fighting for the right to collective bargaining.

Today is also a day of international solidarity with the public service workers of Wisconsin, whose right to bargain collectively has been stripped away by legislation sponsored by state governor Scott Walker, a man who has led the great state of Wisconsin to pariah status.

But as we stand in solidarity with brothers and sisters in Wisconsin, we do so in the knowledge that theirs is not a struggle confined to a single US state. Nor - as the neoliberal strategy of Governor Walker stretches to other states - is it a uniquely US problem. It is a global problem, demanding a global response. READ MORE

National Media Ignored Union Rallies

By Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America

Activists claimed to have hosted "more than 1,200 events - teach-ins, vigils, faith services and town halls" yesterday, but most national news media outlets ignored the story.

Union members and their progressive supporters staged rallies and events across the country on Monday to commemorate the 43rd anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination in Memphis, where the civil rights leader was helping local union workers organize. READ MORE

They Only Have 400 Votes

By Michael Moore, Open Mike Blog

I want to thank you for turning out today to make your voices heard - and they ARE heard, even across ocean and land. Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans are joining with you to honor Dr. King by standing up for working people all over America. It was what he was doing in Memphis when he was killed 43 years ago today, supporting sanitation workers on strike.

Today everywhere is Memphis, and it's not just sanitation workers being attacked. It's teachers and firefighters and social workers - yes, all those greedy public workers who caused the Great Recession we are in! It was the greedy teachers who caused the crash on Wall Street! It was the greedy firefighters who sent millions of jobs overseas! It was the greedy social workers who insisted that GE pay no taxes and that CEOs should make 500 times what the average employee makes!

No, my friends, it wasn't! It was the top 1% of the country who did this. THEY brought on the mortgage crisis. THEY made off with billions of dollars from our economy. THEY have systematically destroyed the middle class. And THEY have bought and sold the very people elected to represent us! READ MORE

Civil Courage in Wisconsin

By Anthony Grafton, The New Yorker

Universities don't seem to breed much civil courage these days. But the University of Wisconsin is a glorious exception to the rule. When the Republican Party of Wisconsin demanded e-mails sent by and to William Cronon, it was the university - which serves as the official "record holder" for this purpose - rather than the individual professor that had to answer the request. It has now done so, with two lucid documents that show scrupulous concern for the rights of all involved.

John Dowling, senior legal counsel for the university, has now formally replied to Stephan Thompson, the Republican operative who invoked Wisconsin's Public Records law. He has some lawyerly fun showing how badly the original request was drafted (in asking for all mails that contained the word "recall," for example, the Republicans failed to state whether or not they wanted "e-mails containing the word 'recall' in the sense of recalling a past event [e.g., "I recall from our meeting last week ..."]"). But that's only the prelude to the serious business. READ MORE

Darrell Issa to Open House Probe of Union Contract

By Erik Wasson, The Hill

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) will probe into the deeply troubled finances of the U.S. Postal Service Tuesday and will grill the postmaster general about a new tentative contract with the postal workers union that increases wages and limits layoffs.

The new three - year contract announced March 14 disappointed House Republicans, who think it is overly generous to mail carriers.

"They have had big financial trouble for a number of years. We think the postmaster has gone a long way in the contract negotiations to where they need to be. It's no surprise that if the numbers don't pencil out, we think they should go a little further," Issa told The Hill Friday. READ MORE

Dennis Kucinich: Democrats Seek Public Referendum on Ohio Anti-Union Bill

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich has signed a bill that strips collective bargaining rights for more than 360,000 state workers and bars them from striking. Democrats have announced plans to collect some 230,000 signatures in the next 90 days to block immediate implementation of the law and put it to a public referendum on the November ballot. “This idea of government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations has actually taken hold,” says our guest, Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who represents Ohio’s 10th District. “Unions are one of the last lines of defense against a corporate plutocracy.” [includes rush transcript] READ MORE

Ohio Police, Firefighters Decry Bargaining Limits

By Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — Unlike Wisconsin's high-profile effort to limit collective bargaining rights for public workers, Ohio's new law includes police officers and firefighters — who say it threatens the safety of them and the people they protect.

Opponents have vowed to put the issue on the November ballot, giving voters a chance to strike down the law. The firefighters' union in Cleveland plans to hit the streets and help gather signatures.

Patrolman Michael Cox, a 15-year veteran of Cleveland's police force, said Ohio overlooked the inherent risks of police and firefighting work when lawmakers included them in the bill, which passed the Legislature on Wednesday and was signed into law by Republican Gov. John Kasich on Thursday.

"We don't run from the house fire; we don't run from the gunshot," Cox said. "We're the guys that got to say, 'OK, we're going to go fix this problem real fast.'"

Under the Ohio plan, police and firefighters won't be able to bargain with cities over the number of people required to be on duty. That means they can't negotiate the number of staff in fire trucks or police cars, for instance. READ MORE

Ohio Governor Signs Anti-Union Bill

By Jim Lekrone, Reuters

Republican Kasich signed the controversial measure at a ceremony in Columbus one day after it received final approval from the legislature.

"(The bill) gives local governments and schools powerful tools to reduce their costs so they can refocus resources on key priorities like public safety and classroom instruction," Kasich said in a statement.

While massive protests in Wisconsin earlier this year grabbed national attention, Ohio is far more important to the union movement. It has the nation's sixth largest number of public sector union members, which is twice as many as Wisconsin. READ MORE

UAW Sees Rise in Lansing-Area, National Membership

By Barbara Wieland, Lansing State Journal

United Auto Workers union membership is on the rise nationally for the first time in six years. And numbers the Detroit-based union filed with the Labor Department show local numbers are up, as well.

The UAW's annual report, released Thursday by the department, showed its membership grew 6 percent in 2010 to 376,612 workers - the first gain since 2005. ...

The UAW report showed it had 20,946 members in the Lansing area last year, excluding UAW Local 6000, which represents state workers. That's a 15.6 percent surge between 2006 and 2010. READ MORE

Ohio Gov. Kasich Using Anti-Union Bill as Fundraising Tool Even Before He Signs It

By Reginald Fields, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Gov. John Kasich is already trying to turn his Senate Bill 5 victory into a cash cow, even before he has had a chance to sign the controversial collective bargaining measure.

Kasich today emailed a letter to his supporters touting the passage of SB5, vowing to sign the bill today and asking them to support his "ongoing efforts to fight for Ohio taxpayers" by donating $5, $10, or $20. The email arrived at 10:30 a.m., about 13 hours after the Ohio Senate passed the bill, the final step needed for the bill to be sent to Kasich for his signature. READ MORE

US Uncut Actions: Thu Mar 31st - Mon Sep 5th

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself! READ MORE

BREAKING: Wisconsin Judge Declares

Union Law Not In Effect

By Associated Press

The two houses of the Ohio Legislature approved a far-reaching bill on Wednesday that would hobble the ability of public-employee unions to bargain collectively and undercut their political clout. They sent the bill to Gov. John R. Kasich, a Republican, who lawmakers said would sign it in the next few days.

A Wisconsin judge on Thursday did what thousands of pro-union protesters and boycotting Democratic lawmakers couldn't, forcing Republican Gov. Scott Walker to halt plans to implement a law that would strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights and cut their pay.

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi, who had issued an order intended to block implementation of the law while she considered a challenge to its legitimacy and warned of sanctions for noncompliance, amended her order Thursday to clarify that the law had not taken effect, as Republican leaders argued it had.

The governor's top aide, Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch, later issued a statement saying Walker would comply with Sumi's order and halt preparations that were under way to begin deducting money from most public workers' paychecks, but that the governor's administration still believes the law took effect after a state office unexpectedly published online. READ MORE

Sen. DeMint Wants to Strip All Federal Employees' Collective Bargaining Rights

By Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times

The two houses of the Ohio Legislature approved a far-reaching bill on Wednesday that would hobble the ability of public-employee unions to bargain collectively and undercut their political clout. They sent the bill to Gov. John R. Kasich, a Republican, who lawmakers said would sign it in the next few days.

The Republican-dominated Senate voted 17 to 16 in favor of the bill Wednesday evening, hours after the House passed it, 53 to 44, with 5 Republicans joining 39 Democrats in opposition.

Republicans applauded the bill, saying Ohio's deficit-plagued state and local governments could no longer afford the costs that public-sector unions extracted in collective bargaining. But Democrats criticized the legislation, saying it effectively eviscerated public employees' bargaining rights and would make it harder for them to stay in the middle class.. READ MORE

By ThinkProgress

The defining political story three months into 2011 is the spread of anti-union legislation in the states. Now, a leading senator on the right wants to eliminate collective bargaining rights at a federal level.

During an interview with ThinkProgress in Des Moines this weekend, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), a leader of the Tea Party movement and veritable kingmaker for conservative candidates, made no bones about his desire to diminish the power of public employees. DeMint told ThinkProgress that he "Doesn't believe collective bargaining has any place in government ... including at the federal level." The South Carolina senator then went on to call public employees' unions an "unelected third party" that enjoyed "monopoly power" in negotiations. "It just doesn't make any sense," DeMint quipped. READ MORE

"We Are a Progressive Nation"

By Keith Olbermann, FOK News Channel

This is the script I wrote as the centerpiece for my "Evening" at Cornell, so the thirty minutes of hilarious recaps of every second of my Cornell life – plus my observation that while Karl Rove will be speaking at this University, he will be speaking in the Agriculture quad and thus by Ann Coulter's definition won't be speaking at the "real" Cornell – and the question and answer session that followed will have to wait until we edit and post the video, probably Thursday afternoon.

But here are those serious remarks, more or less as delivered:

Let me start in the MOST exciting way possible, by reading you part of a bill proposed in our United States House of Representatives. This is HR 1135, introduced by Mr. Jordan of Ohio, Mr. Scott of South Carolina, Mr. Garrett of New Jersey, Mr. Burton of Indiana, and Mr. Gohmert of Texas. There's a lot of interesting stuff in here but nothing more interesting than paragraph three, which is titled, with amazing straightforwardness and the kind of gall that would make a cat burglar flinch, "STRIKING WORKERS INELIGIBLE." READ MORE

Jon Stewart:

Greedy, Parasitic Public Union Workers

GE Rakes In Profits but Pays No Taxes

By New Jersey Star-Ledger | Editorial

The wealthy real estate magnate Leona Helmsley once said, "Only the little people pay taxes." She was dubbed "the Queen of Mean" and went to prison for tax evasion.

What a coincidence. Turns out General Electric, which had $14.2 billion in profits last year, pays no taxes, either, according to a news report. But no one is calling CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt names. And he won’t be doing time in a cell: President Obama made him a liaison to the business community and appointed him to lead the president’s council on jobs and competitiveness.

How’d that happen? As always, it’s who you know and what you know. And GE has excelled at drawing the best and brightest to protect its profits: A million-dollar lobbying team that includes former Treasury and IRS officials, and the savviest ex-Congressional staffers around. READ MORE

House Votes to Kill Main Obama Foreclosure Aid

By Corbett B. Daly, Reuters

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to kill President Barack Obama's signature program to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.

A bill to terminate the program was approved on a 252-170 vote. But the bill is unlikely to clear the Senate.

It was the last in series of four measures brought forward by newly empowered House Republicans to end government assistance for homeowners hurt by the housing crisis. READ MORE

Email to Walker Suggested Faking Violence

By Kate Golden, Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

The email came to Gov. Scott Walker from the personal account of a deputy prosecutor and Republican activist in Indiana.

After praise for Walker, the email - sent Feb. 19, during union demonstrations against Walker’s budget repair bill - then took a darker turn. It suggested that the situation in Wisconsin presented "a good opportunity for what's called a 'false flag' operation."

"If you could employ an associate who pretends to be sympathetic to the unions' cause to physically attack you (or even use a firearm against you), you could discredit the unions," the email said. READ MORE

A Minimum Wage Increase

By The New York Times | Editorial

As the nation grapples with a jobs crisis and unemployment hovers near 9 percent, it is easy for policy makers to forget the plight of those who work but earn very little. There are about 4.4 million workers earning the minimum wage or less, according to government statistics. This amounts to about 6 percent of workers paid by the hour. They need a raise.

Today, a worker laboring 40 hours a week nonstop throughout the year for the federal minimum wage could barely keep a family of two above the federal poverty line. Though it rose to $7.25 an hour in 2009, up $2.10 since 2006, the minimum wage is still lower than it was 30 years ago, after accounting for inflation. It amounts to about $1.50 an hour less, in today's money, than it did in 1968, when Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were killed, Richard Nixon was elected president and the economy was less than a third of its present size. READ MORE

Ohio Anti-Union Law Sparks Referendum,

May Affect 2012 Elections

By Reginald Fields, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

The Ohio House could vote this week on a controversial collective bargaining bill that will set up a politically charged voter referendum that could linger into next year's presidential election.

Senate Bill 5 sharply restricts collective bargaining rights, ends binding arbitration and bans worker strikes for all state and local public employees - including safety forces - and is backed by Republican Gov. John Kasich and most of the GOP-controlled state legislature. The bill narrowly cleared the Senate earlier this month, and on Tuesday, a House committee has scheduled a vote to send the measure to the floor.

The outnumbered Democrats have countered by threatening to team up with labor organizations to place a referendum on the ballot as early as this November to allow voters to decide whether to stick with the Republican proposal or overturn it. The pitched battle could energize Democrats as they gear up for next year's major general election. Or, as Republicans see it, the referendum - which could cost unions as much as $20 million - could sap resources that otherwise would go toward promoting Democrats and indirectly help the GOP slate. http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/03/with_collective_bargaining_vot.html

UW History Prof. Blogs About ALEC's Influence on Walker, Attacked by GOP

By Susan Troller, The Capital Times

The Wisconsin Republican Party, apparently stung by a blog post written by UW-Madison history professor William Cronon, has responded by asking the University of Wisconsin-Madison for copies of all of Cronon's office e-mails that mention prominent Republicans or public employee unions.

Cronon revealed the GOP's Freedom of Information Act request in his Scholar as Citizen blog post late Thursday evening along with a lengthy, and typically scholarly, defense. He requested that the GOP withdraw its request in that post. On Friday, the Republican Party angrily denounced that request and denied it.

In his inaugural blog post on March 15, Cronon, one of the UW's academic stars, had sketched the apparent influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a shadow conservative policy group that works with Republican state legislators, on Gov. Scott Walker's legislative agenda. It was the first time the respected professor had used a blog format and he was, to put it mildly, surprised by the response. The blog generated more than half a million hits. For many of his readers, it was the first time they were aware of the organization and its involvement with conservative legislators around the country. READ MORE

Lobbyists Raising 'Unlimited and Undisclosed' Donations to Buy Supreme Court Seat

By Ian Millhiser, ThinkProgress

Last year, Wisconsin Supreme Court justice and Gov. Scott Walker ally David Prosser cast the key vote in favor of a "justice - for-sale" ethics rule written by two corporate lobbying groups. Thanks to Justice Prosser, his colleagues are not required to recuse themselves from cases involving one of their major campaign donors. Now, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), one of the lobbying groups that wrote the rule Prosser made into law, is rewarding him by raising "unlimited and undisclosed" funds to keep Prosser on the state supreme court: READ MORE

WI GOP Ignoring Court Order,

Publish Anti-Union Law

By Eric Kleefeld, TPMDC

Yet another shoe has dropped in the battle over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) anti-public employee union law - with state Republican leaders now apparently defying or attempting to circumvent a court order that temporarily blocked implementation of the law.

Last week, a judge in Dane County (Madison) blocked the law on procedural grounds, ruling that a key conference committee used to advance the bill - and to get around the state Senate Dems' walkout from the state - had violated the state open-meetings law by failing to give proper 24-hours notice....

But now, state Republicans have had the bill published through a different office - the Legislative Reference Bureau, which handles drafting and research for the legislature - according to the LRB's statutory requirement to publish legislation within ten days of enactment. Interestingly, the LRB itself says that this publication does not constitute action that would put the law into effect. But the state's Republican leaders disagree. Senate Majority Scott Fitzgerald (R) says the LRB publication constitutes official publication and the insists the law will take effect Saturday. READ MORE

Vermont House Passes

Single-Payer Healthcare Bill

By Cris Garofolo, Brattleboro Reformer

The Vermont House of Representatives passed a bill calling for a single-payer system Thursday afternoon, putting the state on a path to become the first in the nation to adopt universal access to health care.

Lawmakers voted 92 to 49 after nearly two days of debate, including discussion on the floor until the early morning hours on Thursday.

Advocates hail the measure as the solution to control costs by reducing administrative overhead. However, critics said it leaves too much financial uncertainty and could hurt the economic growth in Vermont. READ MORE

Prosecutor Who Recommended Walker Stage Attack Resigns

By Vic Ryckaert and Kevin O'Neal, The Indianapolis Star

For the second time, an Indiana public official has lost his job because of provocative comments made about the political brouhaha in Wisconsin.

Carlos F. Lam, a Johnson County deputy prosecutor, resigned Thursday after acknowledging he sent an email last month urging Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to discredit labor union protests by orchestrating a fake assault on himself. Possibly, Lam suggested, the pretend assailant might even use a firearm.

Lam's boss, Prosecutor Bradley D. Cooper, accepted the resignation. He called Lam's Feb. 19 email to Walker a "foolish suggestion." On Feb. 23, the Indiana Attorney General's office fired deputy Atty. Gen. Jeff Cox after he suggested in blog posts and on Twitter that police use live ammunition on protesters who had poured into Wisconsin's Capitol. READ MORE

Wisconsin Appeals Court Sends Anti-Union Law to Top Court

By Associated Press

A state appeals court declined to rule Thursday on whether to allow a law stripping public employee unions of nearly all their collective bargaining powers to take effect, saying the issue should be decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

It's appropriate for the state’s highest court to take the case because of the significant issues presented and the likelihood that it would end up there anyhow, the 4th District Court of Appeals said.

It opted not to rule on whether a lower court judge properly issued an order last week temporarily blocking the law from taking effect. The law remains on hold while the legal fight continues. READ MORE

Why We Need a Fighter in the White House

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

Pro-business goals are breaking out all over. Governors across America are slashing corporate taxes as they slash state budgets. House and Senate Republicans are intent on deregulating, privatizing, and cutting spending and taxes so their corporate and Wall Street patrons will do even better.

But most Americans are still in desperate trouble. Few if any of the economic gains are trickling down. That's why the current Republican assault on workers - on their right to form unions, on unemployment insurance and Social Security, on public employees, and even (courtesy of Governor LePage) on our common memory - is so despicable.

And it's why we need a President who will fight for workers and fight against this assault - just as Perkins and FDR did. READ MORE

Wisconsin DA Shows Sham of GOP

Anti-Union Law

By Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, Daily Kos

Wisconsin District Attorney Ismael Ozanne filed a legal brief today in response to the Attorney General's legal action seeking to lift the TRO granted by a judge last week to stop the Secretary of State from publishing the anti-union law. The DA's legal brief adds some context to the complaint he filed recently to hold GOP lawmakers accountable for violating a law designed to enable citizens to participate in their government affairs.

The upshot is that the AG seeks to quickly make this anti-union law effective before the courts address violations of law. While the AG argues that there will be irreparable harm if the law is not made effective now, this TRO only remains effective until a hearing for a temporary injunction that is scheduled for March 29 and April 1.

The reason for this rush is clear: The GOP lawmakers are angry that their plan to create a new legislative process has hit this legal obstacle. READ MORE

Emails Show Steps Considered to Punish "Wisconsin 14"

By Scott Bauer, Associated Press

Everything from taking away computers to denying a year of service in the state retirement system was considered to punish the 14 Wisconsin Senate Democrats who fled to Illinois for three weeks to block passage of a bill taking away union bargaining rights, newly released emails show.

Members of Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's staff bounced ideas off one another and the Legislature's attorneys for days about how to pressure the Democrats to return and penalize them, according to records released Wednesday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. READ MORE

Ohio Gov. John Kasich's Disapproval Doubles

By Reginald Fields, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

The number of Ohio voters who disapprove of Gov. John Kasich's performance has more than doubled since he took office in mid-January, according to a survey released today.

Forty-six percent of Ohio voters, compared with just 22 percent on Jan. 19, now disapprove of the job Kasich has done thus far as governor, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. READ MORE

Poll Finds Michigan Gov. Snyder's Numbers Slipping

By Dawson Bell, Detroit Free Press

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has quickly fallen out of favor with the citizens who elected him, reaching levels of unpopularity lower than first term Republican governors in neighboring states and almost as low as the end-of-term numbers reached by his Democratic predecessor, according to a new poll.

The poll by Public Policy Polling found 50 percent of Michiganders disapprove of Snyder's job performance, compared with 33 percent who approve, and would prefer to have elected Snyder's opponent last fall, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, by a 47 percent 45 percent margin. READ MORE

Obama, Stop Letting GOP Lie About Jobs

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was in town yesterday (specifically, at Stanford's Hoover Institute where he could surround himself with sympathetic Republicans) to tell this whopper: "Cutting the federal deficit will create jobs."

It's not true. Cutting the deficit will creates fewer jobs. Less government spending reduces overall demand. This is particularly worrisome when, as now, consumers and businesses are still holding back. Fewer government workers have paychecks to buy stuff from other Americans, some of whom in turn will lose their jobs without enough customers.

But truth doesn't seem to matter. Republicans figure if their big lies are repeated often enough, people will start to believe them. READ MORE

US Uncut Actions

No action scheduled for where you are? Then be bold and organize one yourself!

Friday March 25 - Monday April 18 READ MORE

Wisconsin's Radical Break

By William Cronon, The New York Times

Now that a Wisconsin judge has temporarily blocked a state law that would strip public employee unions of most collective bargaining rights, it's worth stepping back to place these events in larger historical context.

Republicans in Wisconsin are seeking to reverse civic traditions that for more than a century have been among the most celebrated achievements not just of their state, but of their own party as well. READ MORE

WI Secretary of State Says He Wasn't Consulted

Before AG Petitioned on His Behalf

By John Nichols, The Capital Times

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's Department of Justice is attempting to appeal Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi's order blocking implementation of Governor's Scott Walker's budget-repair bill.

Specifically, according to the paperwork filed Monday, state lawyers say they are representing Secretary of State Doug La Follette, who is identified as the "petitioner" seeking to have the temporary restraining order issued by Judge Sumi lifted so that the law - which eliminates nearly all collective bargaining rights for public workers - can be published and implemented.

But the Department of Justice attorneys did not consult La Follette about whether he has any objection to Judge Sumi's order. The secretary of state says he has not complained about the judge's order.

Indeed, he says, he has already acted in accordance with it, in a move that he says allows him to "fulfill the public trust in my office." READ MORE

Wisconsin Attorney General Appeals Restraining

Order on Labor Law

By Jason Stein and Lee Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In a case that appears bound for the state Supreme Court, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Monday asked the state appeals court to lift a Dane County judge's hold on a law sharply curtailing public union bargaining.

The Court of Appeals panel in Madison quickly responded Monday by asking for information from the prosecutor on the other side of the case by the end of Tuesday, but didn't explicitly say it would take the appeal.

Justice Department lawyers argued that Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi's ruling was an overreach against the Legislature as a separate branch of government. "In the interests of the administration of justice, it is necessary - nay, it is imperative - that this court step forward and undo this inappropriate action," the request reads. READ MORE

Ohio Gov. John Kasich Counts on Drinkers to Bring Jobs

By Reginald Fields, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Kasich last week unveiled his state budget proposal, which includes a plan to lease the state's liquor distribution operation - which of late has drawn record profits - and use the cash to fund his private economic development machine.

Since floating the idea earlier this year, the Republican governor says there have been plenty of potential takers. In fact, Ohioans' propensity to consume more than ever, according to recent figures, has influenced the governor's idea most...

But the governor says he isn't making the liquor sales operation available to the open market. Instead, he's keeping it in-house. Kasich has created JobsOhio, a private economic development corporation that will eventually replace the Ohio Department of Development and take over that agency's main role of job recruitment and retention. READ MORE

Quick Fix Would Help Michigan's Jobless

By Detroit Free Press

No legislator in his or her right mind should want to turn down hundreds of millions of dollars of federal aid to some of Michigan's most distressed families - money that would also boost Michigan's struggling economy. But that could happen if politicians don't get off the dime and make minor amendments to Michigan's unemployment insurance laws that would enable long-term jobless workers to get up to 20 more weeks of federally funded unemployment benefits. Other states, including Ohio, Minnesota, Maine and Washington, have already made the change, joining 30 other states.

Legislators must conform state law to recent federal changes that enabled states to continue offering federally funded extended benefits if their jobless rates were at least 6.5% and 10% higher than they were three years ago. Prior to December, federal law required states, based on a three-month average, to exceed jobless rates, by 10%, from one or two years ago. That would have disqualified Michigan for extended benefits, with a current jobless rate of about 11%. Michigan would be eligible under the new three-year guidelines - but only if the state enacts conforming legislation. READ MORE

Cut the Unions, Hire the Girlfriends

By Keith Olbermann, FOK News Channel

The ham - handed self - serving greediness playing out in the background of Governor Scott Walker's attempt to make Wisconsin into the central battle zone in the Koch Brothers' attempt to end collective bargaining in this country, roared to the forefront Sunday night when the Milwaukee Journal - Sentinel reported that the supposedly financially imperiled state had enough money to hire State Senator Randy Hopper's mistress.

Valerie Cass, a former Republican legislative staffer, was hired Feb. 7 as a communications specialist with the state Department of Regulation and Licensing. She is being paid $20.35 per hour. The job is considered a temporary post. READ MORE

Rachel Maddow: Michigan's Dystopian (Corporate Republican) Future

By Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

Rachel Maddow, with guest Naomi Klein, looks at Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's plans for Michigan that make what happened in Wisconsin look tame.

READ MORE

Michigan Gov. Snyder to Local Governments:

Cut Costs or Lose State Aid

By Chris Christoff, Detroit Free Press

Gov. Rick Snyder wants local governments to curb pension and health care costs as a condition of receiving some of their state revenue sharing aid. That would mean requiring employees to pay at least 20% of their health insurance premiums, and placing new hires on less expensive defined contribution retirement plans, such as a 401(k) savings plan or a hybrid that includes a partial traditional pension.

Under Snyder's plan, communities would be asked to achieve the 20% employee contribution to health care costs to qualify for a full revenue-sharing allotment when their employee contracts expire and new contracts are negotiated. Employers would pay no more than 10% of employees' salaries toward their retirement plans. READ MORE

Madison Veterans' Protest Brings Small but Devoted Group

By Gayle Worlans, The Capital Times

Though their numbers were dwarfed by the estimated 100,000 people who gathered there a week earlier, more than 1,000 demonstrators against Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget and his efforts to end most collective bargaining rights for public workers returned to Capitol Square on Saturday, unified by what they said they had in common: Staying power.

"I think people are settling into the resolve and they're here for the long haul," said Cindy Murphy, a detective in computer forensics for the Madison Police Department who marched with the group Cops for Labor.

The group Iraq Veterans Against the War, or IVAW, held center-stage at a noon rally, which took place on the eighth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War and featured two hours of speeches by both veterans and labor union representatives. READ MORE

Study: Walker's Budget Could Hurt WI's Economy

By Steven Verburg, The Capital Times

Gov. Scott Walker's plans to balance the state budget by cutting spending and public workers' take-home pay will slow the state's economic recovery, according to projections by a UW-Madison economist.

An estimated 21,843 jobs will be lost over the next year or two as public agencies and workers are able to spend less in their communities, said Steven Deller, a professor of applied economics who studied the ripple effects of Walker's budget-repair bill and two-year budget proposal.

"That's not just a bump in the road," Deller said. "That's a speed bump." READ MORE

Lansing Students May Face Suspension for Capitol Protest

By Scott Davis, The Lansing State Journal

Rachel Jackson is a rookie at playing hooky. But the Eastern High School junior had enough fluency in truancy to lead hundreds of students to skip school Friday and send state lawmakers a message: Don't cut education funding. ...

"We're fighting for our teachers. That's worth a suspension," said Jackson, 17, who organized the protest on Facebook. Carrying signs that said "Nerds against the Nerd" and "Don't Take Our Money 4 Your Deficit," the students rallied outside the Capitol for about 45 minutes Friday morning before putting down their signs, filling three floors of the Capitol rotunda and chanting "Save our schools!" READ MORE

VIDEO: Walkout!

By George Slefo and Carrie Porter, MortonGrovePatch

Almost 300 students gathered outside of Niles West High School to protest Wisconsin's anti-union legislation on Thursday. Fearing the bill may have a domino effect and ultimately hit their hometown, the teens walked out of class in support of collective bargaining.

"This is obviously something that the government and big businesses are pushing, but the people don't want it at all and I know Illinois doesn't want it," said Alex Knorr, 18, a senior at Niles West and an organizer of the event. READ MORE

Idaho Teacher's Union May Ask Voters to Overturn Curbs

By Reuters

The Idaho state teachers union said on Friday it may ask voters to overturn a just-passed law that curtails public school teachers' collective bargaining rights. The law ends tenure and removes issues like workload and class size from contract negotiations between school administrators and the 12,000 teachers represented by the Idaho Education Association.

The association on Friday filed petitions with the Idaho elections office in an early move to take to the 2012 ballot the question of whether the law should be repealed. It is one of two laws, both signed Thursday by Idaho's Republican governor, affecting school teachers in public schools for kindergarten through high school. READ MORE

National Veterans Group Hosts Madison Worker Solidarity March

By Judith Davidoff, The Capital Times

The morning the state Assembly was debating Gov. Scott Walker's controversial bill to sharply curtail collective bargaining rights for public workers, protesters and police got into a brief tussle at the Ma