This went out in the mail a few weeks ago but still seemed worth mentioning. For reporting on this issue, see Robert McCartney's article in the Washington Post. For an alternative point of view, see the anti-union and pro-Ervin editorial in the Washington Post. Ironically, the editorial's use of terms such as "union bosses" undercuts their own complaint about the "tenor of public comments" made by union leaders.
Showing posts with label unions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unions. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Unions Attack Valerie Ervin
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Our Future Montgomery
A press release from Our Future Montgomery, a new coalition formed by MCEA, MCAAP, and SEIU Local 500 formed to fight for more funds for MCPS
SCHOOL WORKERS REACH OUT TO COUNTY RESIDENTS AROUND MCPS BUDGET CUTS
Unions representing 21,000 school employees hope to raise awareness about drastic cuts to K-12 education being considered by County Council
Rockville, MD (May 9, 2011) – As the Montgomery County Council considers the unprecedented step of rejecting nearly $30 million in state education aid in order “reset” education funding levels in the county, permanently lowering per-pupil investments, stakeholders are mounting a campaign to educate voters on the consequences of such proposals.
The first mailing from the group, who call their initiative Our Future Montgomery, will reach Montgomery County residents early this week (it can be viewed at http://ourfuturemontgomery.org/files/2011/05/Education_Matters.pdf).
A wave of online activity including social media outreach, online advertising, and calls to action around Mother’s Day and the education budget have already garnered thousands of visits to the group’s website www.OurFutureMontgomery.org and hundreds of emails to members of the Montgomery County Council.
“So many families locate in Montgomery County because of the quality of public education here. They’re education voters, and they need to know that the decisions being made right now in Rockville could affect their children’s education and their property values,” explains Doug Prouty, President of Montgomery County Education Association.
“This is an issue of fairness. Because schools employees have found ways to work together to absorb year after year of budget cuts, the official spin is that MCPS hasn’t taken a hit. Well, that’s just not true,” explains Merle Cuttitta, President of SEIU Local 500. “In particular, when my members, who don’t make a great deal of money in the first place and who have seen their hours slashed over the past three years, are told they haven’t sacrificed, we have to push back against that!”
“Ultimately, this comes down to the kids and protecting their interests. They don’t have a voice in the political arena, particularly those kids who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The support these kids receive that is closing the achievement gap in the county and helping MCPS be a model for the nation – that’s at risk with these budget cuts. We can’t abandon them now,” explains Rebecca Newman, President of Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals.
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Made up of parents, teachers and other school system employees, students and other stakeholders, Our Future Montgomery seeks a way forward out of our temporary – though dismal – economic circumstances and toward a brighter future for our great county. This path must involve wise and adequate investments in our institutions and our communities and most of all in our children – for they truly are Our Future Montgomery.
Monday, March 28, 2011
MCEA, MCAAP and SEIU Local 500 Plan Large Rally for April 5th
Announcement from MCEA, SEIU Local 500, NCAAP
Tuesday, April 5 in Rockville, SEIU Local 500, MCEA, and MCAAP members along with parents and students will be rallying against budget cuts to schools in Montgomery County. MCPS is an incredibly successful school system (consistently rated among the best in the nation) with unions and tenure and without a single charter school. We’re not “waiting for superman” here. But all that we’ve built is threatened by budget cuts.
Link to rally details and sign-up page:
http://500.seiu.org/StandUp4Schools
Flyer:
http://www.seiu500.org/2011/03/files/2011/03/april_5_rally_flyer_web.pdf
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Koch Brothers Boycott
Local activist Susan Heltemes asked me to pass along the following list of products produced by business entities affiliated with the Koch Brothers--their support for attacks on the rights of works to bargain collectively through union in Wisconsin has inspired a boycott.
Angel Soft toilet paper
Brawny paper towels
Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups
Mardi Gras napkins and towels
Quilted Northern toilet paper
Soft 'n Gentle toilet paper
Sparkle napkins
Vanity fair napkins
Zee napkins
Georgia-Pacific paper products and envelopes
All Georgia-Pacific lumber and building products, including:
Dense Armor Drywall and Decking
ToughArmor Gypsum board
Georgia Pacific Plytanium Plywood
Flexrock
Densglass sheathing
G/P Industrial plasters (some products used by a lot of crafters)
FibreStrong Rim board
G/P Lam board
Blue Ribbon OSB Rated Sheathing
Blue Ribbon Sub-floor
DryGuard Enhanced OSB
Nautilus Wall Sheathing
Thermostat OSB Radiant Barrier Sheathing
Broadspan Engineered Wood Products
XJ 85 I-Joists
FireDefender Banded Cores
FireDefender FS
FireDefender Mineral Core
Hardboard and Thin MDF including Auto Hardboard,
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Union Linked to Independent Expenditure in District 19
A secretive independent mailing sent into District 19 is in apparent violation of Maryland campaign finance law and is linked to a union that has endorsed one of the competing Senate candidates. We expose that union’s identity today.
During the week of August 16, this mailer was sent to District 19 residents.
The mailer has no authority line, but says it came from “Defenders of the American Middle Class” at 7 Church Lane, Baltimore, MD 21208. It lists a phone number of 443-986-5280 and a website address of Defendersoftheamericanmiddleclass.com. While the mailer mentions Senator Mike Lenett (running a positive quote about him from the Governor), it does not have any indication that it came from Lenett.
Defenders of the American Middle Class does not appear on the State Board of Elections’ website as either an issue committee or a PAC. We called the board and they confirmed that no such group had registered with them. We called the phone number listed on the mailer and were sent to an electronic mailbox. The website is one page with no contact info and two links to documents produced by the Economic Policy Institute.
Furthermore, the organization is not registered with the Secretary of State. 
But the organization does have a federal non-profit filing. That filing lists the name and address appearing on the mailer, but adds two more bits of information: a contact name of Larry Rubin and a suite number of 13.
We traced the address and suite to Ira Miller and Company PA, an accounting firm. 
Larry Rubin is the Communications Director of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters. According to its latest filing with the U.S. Department of Labor, the council paid Ira Marc Miller and Co. PA at 7 Church Lane, Ste 13, Baltimore, MD 21208 $99,750 for “CPA services” in the fiscal year ending 6/30/09. The report also states, “An outside audit is performed by independent certified public accounting firm, Ira Marc Miller and Company, P.A.”
The facts that Carpenters Union employee Larry Rubin is the non-profit registration contact and that the organization’s address matches the accountant retained by the union strongly suggests that Defenders of the American Middle Class is linked to the Carpenters. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters has endorsed Mike Lenett.
The mailer appears to be illegal in multiple ways. According to Chapter 3.1 of the State Board of Elections’ summary guide, “Political fundraising and spending is unlawful unless a Statement of Organization establishing a political committee has been filed with the State Board.” The categories of political committees are candidate campaign committees, slates, PACs, issue committees and party central committees. As we stated above, the board does not have any record of a registration of any kind by Defenders of the American Middle Class.
The summary guide also states in Chapter 3.2, “Generally, a political committee needs to be established to conduct any campaign finance activity. Campaign finance activity is raising and spending money or receiving other things of value to promote or assist in the promotion of the success or defeat of a candidate, political party or question.” Since the mailer contains a positive quote about Lenett, it is clearly designed to promote his candidacy.
Furthermore, Chapter 12.1 of the summary guide requires authority lines for campaign materials, including literature. If the material is financed by an independent expenditure, it must have an authority line including the name and address of the entity as well as “the name and title of the president, treasurer, or person responsible for the campaign material.” The mailer above does not contain this information.
We asked Senator Lenett if his campaign had anything to do with the design, production or distribution of the mailing and he said no. We asked Larry Rubin if Defenders of the American Middle Class was created and/or financed by the Carpenters. He has not responded to our email as of this writing.
We call on the Attorney General’s office to investigate Defenders of the American Middle Class and to take steps to prevent further illegal mailings.
Disclosure: The author resigned from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters last month, which is the parent organization of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters.
Monday, June 07, 2010
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689's Questionnaire on WMATA
The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689's questionnaire is worth reading. In an election season in which unions have come under fierce attack, especially from the Washington Post, it provides a valuable example of how unions can understand an issue and advocate in the public's in addition to its own interest.
Certainly, ATU Local 689's dissatisfaction with Metro infrastructure maintenance and the need to make it our first transit priority reflects public sentiment. As Jon Weintraub of the Bethesda Civic Coalition has repeatedly pointed out, major bottlenecks occur regularly at Bethesda Metro where the short escalators leading to the platform are under repair for several months. It's also common for the long escalators from the station to the bus terminal to to break down. Frequently, riders have to walk down what were once termed the "longest escalators in the free world" so that the one sole remaining functioning escalator can carry riders to the street.
Questions 1-8 from the ATU Local 689 questionnaire below the fold:
1. Unlike every other major transit system in the nation, WMATA has no dedicated stream of operating funds from the jurisdictions it serves except for a small gasoline tax in Northern Virginia. Instead, it has to request operating funds annually from each jurisdiction. Do you support establishing an adequate ongoing funding formula for WMATA?
2. There is some thought that having annual revenue targets for WMATA capital and operations that included both service expansion and inflation factors makes more sense than a single region-wide tax source (each jurisdiction decides on its source of dedicated revenue). Such an agreement was made for the "Metro Matters" capital funding program. Would revenue agreement(s) for capital & operations make more sense than a single dedicated funding source?
3. WMATA has a backlog of capital needs including repair and preventive maintaenance projects estimated to cost $11 billion over the next ten years. In October 2008, Congress passed Public Law 110-432, providing for $1.5 billion in federal funding for Metro repairs over ten years as long as Virginia, DC, and Maryland each allocated $50 million annually in matching funds and allowed the addition of two voting Federal representatives to the WMATA Board of Directors. Do you support the continued allocation of Maryland's local commitments plus the $50 million annually for ten years to make vital repairs to Metro?
4. The federal government and jurisdictions throughout the region have invested billions of dollars in WMATA capital infrastructure and operational expertise. There are a number of transit expansion projects including the Maryland "Purple Line." Some have argued that a proliferation of different technologies employed is inefficient and that stand-alone systems will result in redundant costs.
(a) Do you favor WMATA coordinating the technology for the different transit investments?
(b) Do you favor utilizing WMATA to operate this proposed systems, using WMATA's existing infrastructure, including heavy track equipment and overhaul facilities, to reduce capital and operating costs?
(c) Do you support paying wage and benefit levels on the "Purple Line" similar to those paid by WMATA?
5. Will you oppose any future proposals to replace Metrobus routes operated by workers who received decent wages and benefits with routes operated by private companies that provide inferior wages and benefits?
6. Both Montgomery & Prince George's Counties are trying to move forward with mixed use transit-oriented development around Metro stations. This often requires increasing density and sometimes requires incentives. Do you generally favor this type of development?
7. As our roads become increasingly clogged, many argue that we cannot keep widening existing roads or building new roads to serve population growth. One proposal to address this situation is to enact a principle known as "bus priority" to utilize existing road capacity more efficiently. The characteristics of bus priority measures include everything from holding signals for a few seconds for a bus to get through the intersection to wholly dedicated bus lanes. Do you support the implementation of bus priority measures on major arteries such as Veirs Mill Road, University Blvd., New Hampshire Ave, Route 1/Rhode Island Ave., Martin Luther King Jr., Branch Ave. and other appropriate corridors?
8. The collective bargaining provisions of the WMATA compact have been in place since the takeover of private bus companies. There has not been a strike since illegal wildcat strikes in 1978. There has been only one arbitration award since 1980 the vast majority of labor agreements have been negotiated settlements. Periodically, there are legislative attempts to change WMATA collective bargaining law. Do you favor keeping the existing system in place?
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