February 8 :: 6:38pm
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State Employee Alliance
CWA 7076 460 St. Michael's Dr. Bldg 1000, Suite 1001 Santa Fe, NM 87505 505.955.8534 SEA-CWA Main Website America's Tax War on the Middle Class Read: The Big Squeeze (PDF excerpt) UNION RESOURCES Legislative Updates Compare Your Raise Wal-Mart Workers Create Union: Increase Pay JOB OPENINGS Due to the State's hiring freeze Nov. 15, 2008, no new jobs available at this time. State Employees Respond to Hiring, Wage Freeze (PDF format) CONTRACT UPDATES Final/Ratified Update 12.12.08 Update 10.1.08 Update 9.17.08 Update 9.4.08 Update 8.21.08 Update 8.7.08 Newsletters Summer 2008 Fall 2007 |
Beat the Squeeze
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Our Economy and the Legislative Session
Hello team ~ I know you are all frustrated with our economy, the furloughs and our financial prospects for the future. Today was an important day in America's recovery - and we got VERY BAD news. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the monthly job report for December 2009. While many experts had predicted an improved job outlook - we got the opposite. The nation shed some 85,000 jobs last month. [more] Furlough Change and Related Information
Hello team ~ Due to continued pressure from our union and other leaders the governor informed us late Friday afternoon there would be a change in the proposed furlough schedule: the December 31st furlough day will be postponed until March 5, 2010. This isn't what we requested but every improvement helps 19,000 state workers and their families as well as millions of New Mexicans. The new tentative furlough schedule is listed below: December 24th January 15th March 5th April 2nd May 28th [more] Putting Pay Cuts and Furloughs in Perspective: State Workers are TAXED
Dear America's Public Workers ~ I know you have tremendous confusion and anxiety about the rumors of pay cuts and furloughs due to the state's budget shortfall. Regardless of the final outcome, it is likely we will suffer some type of "tax." Our leaders won't use this word but this is essentially what appears to be coming. They are afraid to tax the general population so they have targeted workers they believe are less politically viable. If you want to have a voice in this process you should stand up and speak out now. Years ago a president made a big splash telling America the NINE most TERRIFYING words in the English language, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Since this announcement dedicated employees in our civil branch of service have been vilified and treated as door mats. We are perceived as leeches on the capitalist engine of society. Post Great Depression and WWII, the TOP marginal federal tax rate ranged 91-92 percent. This took excess wealth from our MOST rich and allowed the middle class to prosper. This was the greatest expansion of wealth and prosperity in our nation's history. Many things have changed today. The TOP marginal tax rate has fallen to 35 percent and our nation's middle class, as you know, is collapsing. Let me provide a brief tax analysis to put things into perspective. This week it was reported that financial employees at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s investment bank, companies you bailed out with your taxes, will receive $30 BILLION in record bonuses - up 60 percent from last year. Approximately 119,000 employees will be awarded, on average, $250,400 bonuses, on top of their annual salary. [more] Mitch McConnell: Republicans Will Not Support the EFCA
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) promised that no Republicans will vote for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), should it come to the Senate floor.
In a speech before the business organization Commerce Lexington, McConnell explained that the reason for such uncompromising opposition is that workers don’t actually want to join unions due to the "very enlightened management in this country now, treating employees better and employees have decided they don’t want to pay the dues." source In a related story: Low-wage workers are "often cheated" being routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.... In surveying 4,387 workers in various low-wage industries, including apparel manufacturing, child care and discount retailing, the researchers found that the typical worker had lost $51 the previous week through wage violations, out of average weekly earnings of $339. That translates into a 15 percent loss in pay. source Pretty much shatters the "enlightened management" illusion, doesn't it, Mitch! Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, the Liberal Lion
 Born in 1932, the legislation he helped pass made life better for children, the poor, African-Americans, immigrants and workers. This is a tremendous loss for our nation and its citizens.
We honor and salute you! Ted Kennedy was, quite simply, the best friend that working people had in the Senate. He served on the Senate Labor Committee (known by many different names over the years) from his first day in the Senate through his last, and chaired the Committee for many years. During that time, he was the driving force behind nearly every major piece of legislation intended to bring justice to the workplace -- from minimum wage laws to occupational safety reforms. But critically, and more than almost anyone in public life, he recognized that dignity and fairness in the workplace are ultimately dependent not on laws, and certainly not on the good graces of bosses, but on the right of working people to organize and bargain collectively. In short, Ted Kennedy -- the scion of Hyannisport -- was a full-blooded trade unionist. And he therefore dedicated much of the last decade of his life to the fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, the labor law reform he drafted to once again give working people a real chance to form unions and win fairness on the shop floor. It simply is not possible to truly honor Ted Kennedy's memory and at the same time oppose the bill that he crafted to rebuild democracy in the workplace. Jake McIntyre Support the United States National Health Insurance Act
Get the Facts about the stabiilty and security you get from health insurance reform [Visit WhiteHouse Website]. Download "Why Is a Public Insurance Plan an Important Part of Health Reform" [here].
It's time for America to catch up with the rest of the developed world by moving toward universal health care. Many U.S. businesses cannot complete in the global market because foreign companies do not have to pay their employees health care costs. This is creating a critical disadvantage for American companies and labor. Read about the history of the U.S auto industry. H.R. 676, also called the United States National Health Insurance Act, is a bill to create a single-payer, publicly-financed, privately-delivered universal health care program that would cover all Americans without charging co-pays or deductibles. It guarantees access to the highest quality and most affordable health care services regardless of employment, ability to pay or pre-existing health conditions. [Learn More Here] SEA-CWA Local 7076 Election Results
On Friday, Dec. 12, 2008, the CWA 7076 Election Committee tentatively certified the results of the 2008 election. Download the results.
What's On Your Mind?
Question: My husband and I both work full time. It seems we work all the time. Yet by the end of the month, we simply don't have any money left over. What should we do?
Answer: Steven Greenhouse, writing in his recent book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, says you aren't alone. Since 1979, hourly earnings for 80 percent of American workers (those in private-sector, nonsupervisory jobs) have risen by just ONE percent, after inflation. The average hourly wage was $17.71 at the end of 2007.Had earnings kept pace with worker productivity, you would be making around $27.88 per hour today. Read a short excerpt from Greenhouse's book, The Big Squeeze American workers are well aware that wages have stagnated. Economists note that dismal worker pay has made the recent downturn in the nation's economy even more painful. Skyrocketing fuel and food costs have hit workers extra hard because their incomes have not kept pace with inflation during this decade. To make ends meet, you are working harder than ever. Greenhouse's research shows: The typical American worker toils 1,804 hours a year, 135 hours (nearly four weeks) more than the typical British worker, 240 hours (six weeks) more than the average French worker, and 370 hours (or nine full-time weeks) more than the average German worker.This has created both a financial and time squeeze. Employed parents don't have enough time today to be with their kids or their spouse. There isn't time to exercise, run errands or have a high quality of life. In addition you are more productive today than U.S. workers have ever been in history. You are putting in more hours at work; you are more productive on the job. This equates to increased profits for businesses. So where is all the extra money going? Greenhouse points out that corporate profits have doubled since November 2001. Between 1996 and 2006, corporate CEO pay rose 45 percent. CEOs at 386 of the Fortune 500 companies took home an average of $10.8 million in total compensation in 2006, more than 364 times what the average worker earned that same year. You're busting your ass; your kids suffer; yet corporations and CEOs rip you off by stealing the profits you are earning. Who Works For You? In 1983 union membership was slightly greater than 20 percent; today it's around 12 percent. As union membership has gone down, so has worker compensation. Who fights to get you higher pay and better benefits? Without a union, you are on your own -- GOOD LUCK! Your paycheck speaks for itself. Unions aren't popular -- with management. This is because they are effective. You will hear many negative things about unions. Most of this is untrue and deceptive. Corporate America hates unions -- because they fight to keep jobs in America, keep worker pay high relative to increases in worker productivity, and ensure work places are safe, fair and fun! Union Employees Make More Money 2007
 Unions work. The chart above shows that, across all demographic groups, union employees make more money than non-union workers. Looking at the Total column, union workers make over $10,000 more per year than non-union laborers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the union wage benefit is even greater for minorities and women. Union women earn 33 percent more than nonunion women; African American union members earn 37 percent more than their nonunion counterparts; for Latino workers, the union advantage equals 51 percent, and for Asian American workers, the union advantage is 4 percent. source Whether you are in a union or not, high union membership causes ALL worker pay and benefits to increase. Businesses must complete for workers -- at the market rate. In many cases today, businesses set their rates for labor by comparing to the world market. Workers in China, India, Mexico and other developing nations can afford to work for pennies per hour. Can you? A professional in India may make $4,000 per year for doing a job that is similar to the one you are currently doing. Can you live on $4,000 per year? Can you send your children to college on that salary? Can you afford medical care, retirement or a long deserved vacation? Today America is a playground for the corporate rich, not for American workers -- and, it was American labor who built this nation; American labor fought and died in WWII to create the greatest period of prosperity that the world has ever witnessed. The prosperous period created by our parents and grandparents has ended. If you hesitate to get involved now, your job and lifestyle will be outsourced. | ||
