This is what happens when you have a Republican governor. The Philly transit workers had barely declared their strike when they were ordered back to work via declaration of a "Presidential Emergency".
The real emergency is the appalling lack of worker's right in the world's richest nation. The real emergency is the collapse of unions and the rise of "Right To Work" legislation.
The transit agency should have been forced to mediate to stop the strike- not the other way around!
I hope the Philly transit workers won't back down. They deserve better!
We all do!
http://news.yahoo.com/philly-rail-resumes-obama-intervenes-100013464--finance.html
OPTINSTL
OCCUPY! PUBLIC TRANSIT Image by Eric Drooker for Occupy Wall Street, click on image for Drooker's website
Showing posts with label right to work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label right to work. Show all posts
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
SAN FRANCISCO'S TRANSIT WORKER'S BLUE FLU
http://news.yahoo.com/bay-area-commuters-face-delays-transit-workers-call-204813890.html
Way to go, San Francisco!
It sounds like their situation is similar to Metro drivers. Of course, union-busting Metro CEO John Nations** has let his drivers go for six years without a new bargaining contract, raise, and also eroding the pension plan, especially for new hires.
Nations himself, however, has been receiving his $250,000 a year salary, and his bonuses. As are the other executives.
Politicians, and civic leaders, and "powerful" businessmen keep telling us what a great job they are doing, and how we can't live without them. It would be chaos and anarchy, nothing would get done without them.
But the truth is, they need us much more than we need them.
BOYCOTT METRO JULY 1ST!
Time to show our strength!
**Nations is fond of telling his drivers that the first thing he will do when he gets out of Metro and becomes governor or senator is to pass "Right To Work". Legislation that makes it possible to hire non-union employees to do the same work for lower pay. We need more unions, not fewer.
Way to go, San Francisco!
It sounds like their situation is similar to Metro drivers. Of course, union-busting Metro CEO John Nations** has let his drivers go for six years without a new bargaining contract, raise, and also eroding the pension plan, especially for new hires.
Nations himself, however, has been receiving his $250,000 a year salary, and his bonuses. As are the other executives.
Politicians, and civic leaders, and "powerful" businessmen keep telling us what a great job they are doing, and how we can't live without them. It would be chaos and anarchy, nothing would get done without them.
But the truth is, they need us much more than we need them.
BOYCOTT METRO JULY 1ST!
Time to show our strength!
**Nations is fond of telling his drivers that the first thing he will do when he gets out of Metro and becomes governor or senator is to pass "Right To Work". Legislation that makes it possible to hire non-union employees to do the same work for lower pay. We need more unions, not fewer.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
MAY 15TH: OCCUPY A MINIMUM WAGE OF $15 AN HOUR!
On May 15th in 150 cities, including St. Louis and Show Me 15!, fast food workers will be on strike for a higher minimum wage.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/07/1297522/-Fast-food-strikes-to-spread-around-the-world
Join the strike: http://lowpayisnotok.org/strike-kit/
Sign the Petition: http://lowpayisnotok.org/mcpriceless-sign/
According to Raise The Minimum Wage website, if minimum wage had risen with inflation, it would be $10.86. (In 2012 I read a study that said $13.38, but I can't find the link.)
http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/facts/entry/amount-with-inflation/
And according to a study covered by HuffPost, if the wage had increased with worker productivity, it would be $21.72.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/minimum-wage-productivity_n_2680639.html
$15 really is the minimum. $10.86 is still too low. $21.72 is very justified though.
Consider this:
Employers have been under-paying their employees for forty years. Productivity is up, so they are paying less for more. Do I need to make the point about where those big executive salaries are coming from?
The ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay is 273-1, down from a high of 383-1 in 2000, but up from 20-1 in 1965.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/26/congrats-ceos-youre-making-273-times-the-pay-of-the-average-worker/
At the beginning of Reagan's presidency our country had the least unequal income gap in the world, now we have the greatest income gap.
From the same article:
CEO pay has increased faster than wages to high-skilled workers, suggesting that the salary market isn't very efficient. "Consequently, if CEOs earned less or were taxed more, there would be no adverse impact on output or employment," the report concludes.
We are doing the work- and doing it faster and better- but we are not getting any benefit.
You know what grew instead of worker's earnings? Credit cards and credit card debt. If you are over 50 you probably remember when credit cards were American Express and Diner's Club for rich people and executive expense accounts (back when their salaries were only 20 times bigger than the average worker's).
Unions have been losing strength since Reagan. The "Right To Work" states are union-busting. Right to work means "you have the right to work as a non-union employee at a union shop". For non-union wages, that is. It's not right, it is totally wrong! (Every job should have a union! http://occupyurlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/occupy-right-to-work.html
And now with the economic collapse in 2008, things just keep getting worse. This statistic tells the whole story:
The National Employment Law Project reports that that low wage industries employ 1.85 million MORE workers now than at the start of the recession while mid-and higher-wage industries employ 1.83 million LESS.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/corporate-profits-bigger-than-ever-so-companies-can-afford-to-raise-the-minimum-wage--henry-blodget-142907469.html
Basically, all of the people that lost their white collar jobs are taking over the low wage jobs. (This explains the 200 applications a week for part-time mall jobs.)
Did you know that wealth grows at a faster rate than economic growth? The rich get richer, no matter what happens to the rest of us.
As a general rule wealth grows faster than economic output, he explains, a concept he captures in the expression r > g (where r is the rate of return to wealth and g is the economic growth rate). Other things being equal, faster economic growth will diminish the importance of wealth in a society, whereas slower growth will increase it (and demographic change that slows global growth will make capital more dominant). But there are no natural forces pushing against the steady concentration of wealth.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/05/economist-explains
(You might like this, too, on Piketty's book: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/thomas-piketty-capital-surprise-bestseller)
There is no shortage of work. There is plenty to do. And there is no shortage of money, either. No executive deserves 273 times the amount of money his employees make. That is ridiculous.
And as for this argument that it will "hurt" small businesses. Well, low wages are already hurting their employees, and a higher minimum wage would actually help in weeding out unprofitable businesses. Too many people with a little inherited wealth start businesses that are really hobbies.
(And then there are places like this: http://www.kmov.com/news/crime/-Metro-East-health-clinic-raided-by-federal-authorities-258572511.html )
The people at the top-- the wealthy people, and job "Creators"-- are not going to give us decent pay of their own accord. Take Metro for example. The CEO of Metro, John Nations, makes 5 times what his drivers do (and while that isn't 273 or even 20 times what they make, this is public transit agency, not a Wall Street brokerage). Metro drivers have been working for 6 years without a new bargaining contract or a raise.
CEO John Nations is fond of reminding everyone that he is only at Metro to prepare his political career as governor or senator. He promises Right To Work will be first on his agenda, I've been told by five or six people that know him personally. Basically, we the people are paying him to advance his own interest.
I don't think these people should be running our society or keeping such big chunks of the money for themselves. I don't think a business of any size, large or small, should ask workers to live below the poverty level.
Do you?
If you agree that things need to change, support the worker's by not eating fast food on May 15th. Call the corporate headquarters of McDonald's, Taco Bell, etc, and tell them you stand with the striking workers. Call Mayor Slay and tell him you support $15 an hour in St. Louis.
Seattle will have a $15 minimum wage in three years. Let's put St. Louis on the map. SHOW ME 15!
OCCUPY $15 AN HOUR MINIMUM WAGE!
More reasons not to eat fast food: http://naturalhealthwarriors.com/chef-jamie-oliver-proves-mcdonalds-burgers-unfit-for-human-consumption/
You might also like this post, on my Occupy Your Life blog:
http://occupyurlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/occupy-work.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/07/1297522/-Fast-food-strikes-to-spread-around-the-world
Join the strike: http://lowpayisnotok.org/strike-kit/
Sign the Petition: http://lowpayisnotok.org/mcpriceless-sign/
According to Raise The Minimum Wage website, if minimum wage had risen with inflation, it would be $10.86. (In 2012 I read a study that said $13.38, but I can't find the link.)
http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/facts/entry/amount-with-inflation/
And according to a study covered by HuffPost, if the wage had increased with worker productivity, it would be $21.72.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/minimum-wage-productivity_n_2680639.html
$15 really is the minimum. $10.86 is still too low. $21.72 is very justified though.
Consider this:
Employers have been under-paying their employees for forty years. Productivity is up, so they are paying less for more. Do I need to make the point about where those big executive salaries are coming from?
The ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay is 273-1, down from a high of 383-1 in 2000, but up from 20-1 in 1965.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/26/congrats-ceos-youre-making-273-times-the-pay-of-the-average-worker/
At the beginning of Reagan's presidency our country had the least unequal income gap in the world, now we have the greatest income gap.
From the same article:
CEO pay has increased faster than wages to high-skilled workers, suggesting that the salary market isn't very efficient. "Consequently, if CEOs earned less or were taxed more, there would be no adverse impact on output or employment," the report concludes.
We are doing the work- and doing it faster and better- but we are not getting any benefit.
You know what grew instead of worker's earnings? Credit cards and credit card debt. If you are over 50 you probably remember when credit cards were American Express and Diner's Club for rich people and executive expense accounts (back when their salaries were only 20 times bigger than the average worker's).
Unions have been losing strength since Reagan. The "Right To Work" states are union-busting. Right to work means "you have the right to work as a non-union employee at a union shop". For non-union wages, that is. It's not right, it is totally wrong! (Every job should have a union! http://occupyurlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/occupy-right-to-work.html
And now with the economic collapse in 2008, things just keep getting worse. This statistic tells the whole story:
The National Employment Law Project reports that that low wage industries employ 1.85 million MORE workers now than at the start of the recession while mid-and higher-wage industries employ 1.83 million LESS.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/corporate-profits-bigger-than-ever-so-companies-can-afford-to-raise-the-minimum-wage--henry-blodget-142907469.html
Basically, all of the people that lost their white collar jobs are taking over the low wage jobs. (This explains the 200 applications a week for part-time mall jobs.)
Did you know that wealth grows at a faster rate than economic growth? The rich get richer, no matter what happens to the rest of us.
As a general rule wealth grows faster than economic output, he explains, a concept he captures in the expression r > g (where r is the rate of return to wealth and g is the economic growth rate). Other things being equal, faster economic growth will diminish the importance of wealth in a society, whereas slower growth will increase it (and demographic change that slows global growth will make capital more dominant). But there are no natural forces pushing against the steady concentration of wealth.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/05/economist-explains
(You might like this, too, on Piketty's book: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/thomas-piketty-capital-surprise-bestseller)
There is no shortage of work. There is plenty to do. And there is no shortage of money, either. No executive deserves 273 times the amount of money his employees make. That is ridiculous.
And as for this argument that it will "hurt" small businesses. Well, low wages are already hurting their employees, and a higher minimum wage would actually help in weeding out unprofitable businesses. Too many people with a little inherited wealth start businesses that are really hobbies.
(And then there are places like this: http://www.kmov.com/news/crime/-Metro-East-health-clinic-raided-by-federal-authorities-258572511.html )
The people at the top-- the wealthy people, and job "Creators"-- are not going to give us decent pay of their own accord. Take Metro for example. The CEO of Metro, John Nations, makes 5 times what his drivers do (and while that isn't 273 or even 20 times what they make, this is public transit agency, not a Wall Street brokerage). Metro drivers have been working for 6 years without a new bargaining contract or a raise.
CEO John Nations is fond of reminding everyone that he is only at Metro to prepare his political career as governor or senator. He promises Right To Work will be first on his agenda, I've been told by five or six people that know him personally. Basically, we the people are paying him to advance his own interest.
I don't think these people should be running our society or keeping such big chunks of the money for themselves. I don't think a business of any size, large or small, should ask workers to live below the poverty level.
Do you?
If you agree that things need to change, support the worker's by not eating fast food on May 15th. Call the corporate headquarters of McDonald's, Taco Bell, etc, and tell them you stand with the striking workers. Call Mayor Slay and tell him you support $15 an hour in St. Louis.
Seattle will have a $15 minimum wage in three years. Let's put St. Louis on the map. SHOW ME 15!
OCCUPY $15 AN HOUR MINIMUM WAGE!
More reasons not to eat fast food: http://naturalhealthwarriors.com/chef-jamie-oliver-proves-mcdonalds-burgers-unfit-for-human-consumption/
You might also like this post, on my Occupy Your Life blog:
http://occupyurlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/occupy-work.html
Monday, April 7, 2014
RIDER ALERT: METRO WHINES ABOUT ONE DAY OF BLUE FLU AFTER IGNORING BUS DRIVER CONTRACTS FOR SIX YEARS
Please also see this post: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/04/bus-drivers-are-sick-of-metro-too-blue.html
Metro, you are a rip-off to your riders and your bus drivers. And this entire city! In 2009, after you mismanaged your federal funds and rider revenues, you cut 24 bus lines and 30% of services. You keep congratulating yourself on what a great job you are doing, but you still have to jack up fares to keep the current system in operation.
You let your drivers work for 6 years (!) without a contract, and no raises-- not too mention cutting back full-time to part-time, and trying to erode the pension plan-- and you complain about ONE DAY OF SERVICE INTERRUPTION?!
SHAME ON YOU!
YOU NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR TERRIBLE SERVICE, NOT YOUR WORKER'S DEMANDING THEIR DUE!
You have nothing to say about the fact that a public transit rider faces an average of ONE HOUR ON THE BUS for a trip that would take 15 minutes on city streets. You have no apologies for the lack of toilets provided. You have no explanation for why you consistently ignore the needs of the people that need you most, and your excessive consideration for people that only ride the Metrolink, and only ride it to Cardinals games.
SHAME ON YOU METRO!
Also, quite frankly, why EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYED PERSON IN MISSOURI IS NOT "VIOLATING MISSOURI LAW" is incomprehensible. Missouri labor laws need to be violated! They need to be trashed! WAKE UP AND GET YOUR REBELLION ON!
"Right to work" means "the right of employers to treat workers like crap and fire them for any reason" including going to the bathroom. (There is no federal rule that workers are allowed breaks of any kind, including to use the toilet, and regulate how breaks are to be paid for if the employer, at his discretion, offers his employees breaks. Only five states require employers to give employees break-time. So basically, you can be fired for going to the bathroom, and if you ride the bus, you will need to use the bathroom when you get to work!)
"Right to Work" says they are about letting workers "choose" if they want to be unionized, but what it really means is "you better choose if you want to open your mouth about a union or if you want to be fired."
METRO YOU HAD BETTER NOT FIRE-- OR EVEN DISCIPLINE-- ONE OF THOSE 70 WORKERS!
THEY ARE RIGHT AND YOU ARE SO WRONG!
From Metro's website at 13:27 today:
Service Delays Possible on MetroBus
Some MetroBus routes are experiencing major delays as a result of some operators not reporting to work. They know that a work action violates Missouri law. We apologize for the inconvenience this is causing our customers. It is unfortunate that our operators are choosing to disadvantage taxpayers and the riding public who depend on us to get to work. We expect our operators to report to work as scheduled. We are involved in contract negotiations with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 788, which represents our MetroBus and MetroLink operators as well as clerical workers.
Service Delays Possible on MetroBus
Some MetroBus routes are experiencing major delays as a result of some operators not reporting to work. They know that a work action violates Missouri law. We apologize for the inconvenience this is causing our customers. It is unfortunate that our operators are choosing to disadvantage taxpayers and the riding public who depend on us to get to work. We expect our operators to report to work as scheduled. We are involved in contract negotiations with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 788, which represents our MetroBus and MetroLink operators as well as clerical workers.
You let your drivers work for 6 years (!) without a contract, and no raises-- not too mention cutting back full-time to part-time, and trying to erode the pension plan-- and you complain about ONE DAY OF SERVICE INTERRUPTION?!
SHAME ON YOU!
YOU NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR TERRIBLE SERVICE, NOT YOUR WORKER'S DEMANDING THEIR DUE!
You have nothing to say about the fact that a public transit rider faces an average of ONE HOUR ON THE BUS for a trip that would take 15 minutes on city streets. You have no apologies for the lack of toilets provided. You have no explanation for why you consistently ignore the needs of the people that need you most, and your excessive consideration for people that only ride the Metrolink, and only ride it to Cardinals games.
SHAME ON YOU METRO!
Also, quite frankly, why EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYED PERSON IN MISSOURI IS NOT "VIOLATING MISSOURI LAW" is incomprehensible. Missouri labor laws need to be violated! They need to be trashed! WAKE UP AND GET YOUR REBELLION ON!
"Right to work" means "the right of employers to treat workers like crap and fire them for any reason" including going to the bathroom. (There is no federal rule that workers are allowed breaks of any kind, including to use the toilet, and regulate how breaks are to be paid for if the employer, at his discretion, offers his employees breaks. Only five states require employers to give employees break-time. So basically, you can be fired for going to the bathroom, and if you ride the bus, you will need to use the bathroom when you get to work!)
"Right to Work" says they are about letting workers "choose" if they want to be unionized, but what it really means is "you better choose if you want to open your mouth about a union or if you want to be fired."
METRO YOU HAD BETTER NOT FIRE-- OR EVEN DISCIPLINE-- ONE OF THOSE 70 WORKERS!
THEY ARE RIGHT AND YOU ARE SO WRONG!
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