ALF V1

MADISON, Wis. -- Those against Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal are settling in for the long haul, pitching tents at the Capitol Square.

The lines have been drawn and the troops have been rallied yet again. Armed with camping gear, protesters are uniting in opposition to the budget proposal being advanced by Walker and his Republican allies in both houses of the state Legislature.

"This budget is a war on working families, the middle class, and anybody that doesn't make a ton of money," said protester Karen Tuerk.

Protesters are calling their tent city "Walkerville," named after the "Hooverville" shantytowns set up during the Great Depression.

Overnight camping will be allowed along parts of Carroll and Mifflin streets. Residents of Walkerville will also have food, portable toilets and hand washing stations.

"There are a lot of great businesses for food we can support while we're down here, so we're not lacking for food," Tuerk said.

Peter McElvanna, who owns Coopers Tavern on the Capitol Square, said he isn't worried about the round-the-clock presence of protesters.

"I'm happy to support what's going on here," said McElvanna. "It's very important what people are doing -- standing up for your rights. Too often the government doesn't listen to the little man and it's our right to protest."

Organizers of the protest said they worked hard to protect the interests of downtown businesses.

"We worked to address the concerns of the downtown business community, so we're trying to stay ahead of the curve and make sure folks are compliant with that," said organizer Peter Rickman.

Tuerk said she hopes their 17-day siege of the grounds around the Capitol will equal a victory for pro-union supporters.

Why 17 days? Organizers said that's when they estimate the state budget will have passed both houses.

"We'll be here until it is passed and letting folks know, letting legislators know, we are completely against what they are doing in there," she said.

And for anyone who thinks residents of Walkerville will tire themselves out, protesters said that's not likely.

"You know, doing this all day, you'd think it'd be a workout, it's really not," remarked Tuerk.

Channel3000.com, Sun Jun 5 2011

State Sen. Dan Kapanke, a Republican facing a possible recall election, says he's got one huge obstacle that he must overcome to keep his seat.

All the government workers in his district.

In a secretly recorded talk to La Crosse County Republicans last week, Kapanke said he is hoping that all the public employees in his district "are sleeping" on election day.

"We've got tons of government workers in my district - tons. From La Crosse to Prairie du Chien and to Viroqua and to Ontario and to Hillsboro, you can go on and on and on. We have to overcome that. We gotta hope that they, kind of, are sleeping on July 12th - or whenever the (election) date is."

During the talk, which took place May 25 at the Cedar Creek Golf Club in Onalaska, Kapanke said he was one of three Republicans who are in serious jeopardy of losing their seats.

The other two, according to the La Crosse Republican, are Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills and Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac.

"We could lose me. We could lose Randy Hopper in the 18th or Alberta Darling over in – wherever she is – the 8th, I believe. We could lose one, but then we'd better gain it back. And that'd be able to hold our line, and gain one or two of their seats, and that will shut 'em down now. We have 19 (Republican senators). If we come back with 21, after these elections, it's over."

Kapanke said the situation in Madison would change dramatically if Democrats pick up seats. He lost to U.S. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) in last fall's general election.

"If they gain control of the Senate, it might be over for us. Because redistricting will play a role, as you know, and we lose that power."

In an interview today, Kapanke campaign manager Jennifer Harrington said her boss has a number of government workers supporting him and working to help him retain his seat. In fact, she said some of those attending the May 25 speech were public employees.

Kapanke, she said, was simply trying to encourage his supporters to come out to vote in the possible recall election. She said the election is about the state budget, not government workers.

Asked if Kapanke made a mistake in saying his campaign has to "overcome" the public employees in his district, Harrington said, "I have not talked to him about that."

Harrington said she wouldn't be surprised if Kapanke's taped remarks are used to stir up his opponents.

"Everything we say, everything Dan does, brings out people," Harrington said.

Last month, the state Government Accountability Board certified the recall petitions against Kapanke, setting the election for July 12. He is expected to face state Rep. Jennifer Shilling of La Crosse.

On Tuesday, Kapanke and two other Republicans went to court to try to block their elections, accusing Democrats of improperly filing paperwork with state officials when they organized the recall efforts. Democrats have said they expect the suit to be tossed.

Kapanke is one of six Republican senators being targeted for recall elections because they supported Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair plan, which is tied up in court. The measure would curb collective bargaining for most public employees.

Three Democratic senators are also the subject of recall efforts because they fled the state in an effort to block a vote on Walker's budget proposal.

All Politics Blog - Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, Wed Jun 2 2011

This just out. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Republican state Sen. Dan Kapanke, who's facing a recall election after voting to kill collective bargaining rights for public employees, says he's got one huge obstacle that he must overcome to keep his seat:

All the government workers in his district.

In a secretly recorded talk to La Crosse County Republicans last week, Kapanke said he is hoping that all the public employees in his district "are sleeping" on election day.

"We've got tons of government workers in my district—tons. From La Crosse to Prairie du Chien and to Viroqua and to Ontario and to Hillsboro, you can go on and on and on. We have to overcome that. We gotta hope that they, kind of, are sleeping on July 12th—or whenever the (election) date is."

Oops. Looks like Kapanke forgot public-sector workers are also taxpayers. Who vote.

AFL-CIO Now Blog, Wed Jun 1 2011
Byline: Tula Connell

A Dane County judge struck down Gov. Scott Walker's controversial collective bargaining law on Thursday, ruling that a legislative committee law violated the state's open meetings law when it hastily convened to amend the measure.

The ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi won't end the legal fight over the law, which sharply curtails the collective bargaining rights of most public employees in Wisconsin.

An appeal of Sumi's decision is all but certain. And the state Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on June 6 over whether to take the case immediately in response to an earlier request by the state Department of Justice and state Department of Administration challenging Sumi's authority to act in the case.

The high court also has yet to rule on an appeal by DOJ lawyers that was filed after Sumi issued a restraining order in March barring implementation of the law.

In concluding her 30-page decision, Sumi pointed out that she isn't ruling on the legality of the law itself.

"It is not the court's business to determine whether 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 is good public policy or bad public policy," Sumi wrote. "It is this court's responsibility, however, to apply the rule of law to the facts before it."

Walker had no comment on the ruling. DOA Secretary Mike Huebsch said the case would be pursued before the Supreme Court.

State Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, who was the lone Democrat at the March 9 legislative conference committee meeting, applauded the ruling.

"This ruling sets an important precedent that when the Legislature meets, the people must have a seat at the table," Barca said. "This is a huge victory for Wisconsin democracy."

During the meeting, Barca accused Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of violating the open meetings law.

At the heart of Sumi's decision is whether the conference committee that met on March 9 to whittle fiscal elements from what was then Walker's budget repair bill had given proper public notice of its meeting under the state's open meetings law.

The law requires 24 hours' notice, or two hours' notice if "good cause" is shown. Sumi ruled that neither standard was met. Because of that, she wrote, the law is void.

"The court must consider the potential damage to public trust and confidence in government if the Legislature is not held to the same rules of transparency that it has created for other governmental bodies," Sumi wrote. "Our form of government depends on citizens' trust and confidence in the process by which our elected officials make laws, at all levels of government."

Fitzgerald said the state Supreme Court will have the ultimate say in the matter.

"There's still a much larger separation-of-powers issue: whether one Madison judge can stand in the way of the other two democratically elected branches of government," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald's brother, Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, maintained that the law was passed according to the rules of the Legislature.

But in her ruling, Sumi said Senate Chief Clerk Rob Marchant could cite no specific rule, other than "custom, usage and precedent," that allowed the conference committee meeting to take place without the required public notice. She wrote that allowing such unwritten exemptions to the law "would open the door to evasion" of the law's mandates.

Republicans have not said whether they would re-introduce the measure and did not address that on Thursday.

State Journal reporters Mary Spicuzza and Clay Barbour contributed to this report.

Wisconsin State Journal, Thurs May 26 2011

111 trade union leaders and members, including the President of the IUF-affiliated TEKGIDA-İŞ along with four other national officers of the union and 12 branch presidents, and current and former officers of the national centers DISK and KESK, have been indicted on criminal charges in connection with an April 1 demonstration in Ankara in support of 12,000 tobacco workers whose jobs and acquired rights were eliminated overnight. The charges carry prison terms of up to 5 years. The trials, which begin on June 3, are a massive attack on trade union rights and the rights of all workers.

Use the form below to send a message to the Prime Minister and the the Labour and Social Security Minister of Turkey demanding that all charges be immediately and unconditionally withdrawn.

Your support is vital! Click on link to send message.

IUF.org, Tues May 24 2011

Madison – Supporters of Milwaukee's school choice program spent more than $3 million in 2009 and 2010 to help elect Governor Scott Walker and much of the GOP-controlled legislature while opponents spent a million dollars to elect mostly minority Democrats, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.

Supporters of state-subsidized school privatization led by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, American Federation for Children and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce spent $3.36 million on mostly negative electioneering activities and direct campaign contributions to Walker, three fundraising committees run by legislative leaders and 66 legislators – most of them Republicans.

School choice opponents led by the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teachers union, and two dozen local teachers unions spent $1 million on electioneering activities and direct contributions to three legislative fundraising committees and 52 legislators – most of them Democrats.

And since the elections last November, Walker and the legislature's majority Republicans have moved quickly to reward that support with proposals to substantially expand Milwaukee's 20-year-old school choice program which spent $130 million in taxpayer dollars this year to pay for about 20,200 pupils from low-income families to attend private and religious schools.

Walker, who received $125,220 in campaign contributions from school choice supporters in 2009 and 2010 during his campaign for governor, used his proposed 2011-2013 state budget to increase the number of pupils and schools that can participate in the program. Walker also proposed increasing state spending on school choice by $22.5 million while cutting state aid to K-12 public schools by about $840 million in his budget.

In addition to the direct campaign contributions, Walker was the beneficiary of $1.45 million in outside election spending by two of the school choice program's most powerful supporters. Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business group, spent about $1 million to help Walker and the Milwaukee Association of Commerce made $446,450 in contributions to the Republican Governors Association, which spent $5 million in the 2010 elections on a barrage of ads and mailings to smear Walker's opponent.

Supporters of state-paid private schooling contributed $181,627 in 2009 and 2010 to current legislators and three legislative fundraising committees. Top recipients (Table 1) were newly elected Republican Senators Van Wanggaard of Racine at $14,399, Leah Vukmir of Wauwatosa at $13,250 and Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls at $12,050.

Most of the largest individual contributors (Table 2) to the legislators and Walker were from outside Wisconsin and gave through the Fund for Parent Choice conduit. Conduits are legal check-bundling outfits created by school choice supporters and other special interest groups to bypass political action committee contribution limits. Conduits can take an unlimited number and amount of individual contributions and combine them to give the recipient one large check.

The parent choice conduit funneled $162,825 in contributions from 26 donors to Walker, current legislators and fundraising committees – $144,075, or 88 percent of those contributions came from Texas, California, Arkansas, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, Michigan and Ohio. Most of the contributions to support Milwaukee's school choice program came from members of the Walton family, which owns Walmart, and their company political action committee which collectively contributed $97,600 in 2009 and 2010 to Walker and current legislators.

And only months after winning control of the legislature, Republicans refused to drop school choice eligibility provisions from Walker's proposed state budget even after the Legislative Fiscal Bureau identified them among four dozen policy items that should be considered as separate legislation. Republican legislators also have introduced bills that make some of the program changes sought by Walker in his budget. Those bills were approved recently by the Assembly on near party-line votes.

In addition to direct campaign contributions to the legislators, WMC spent about $900,000 and the American Federation for Children in Washington secretly raised and spent an estimated $730,000 during the 2010 elections mostly on negative broadcast ads and mailings to support Republican legislative candidates and an independent who won their races. The federation is a spin-off of All Children Matter, a Michigan-based shadowy electioneering group that spent $2.5 million to smear legislative and statewide candidates for office between 2004 and 2008.

Walker went to Washington to address the federation's May 9 event on school choice where he surprised many observers with talk of expanding taxpayer support of private and religious schools to other Wisconsin cities in the near future.

Betsy DeVos, who is chair of American Federation for Children, and her husband Dick, a Michigan billionaire and son of the co-founder of Amway Corporation, also founded and ran All Children Matter. Among the federation's other leaders is Scott Jensen, a former state Republican Assembly leader who was convicted on felony misconduct in office charges. The conviction was later overturned on a technicality and Jensen was ordered retried, but he managed to strike a deal to plead guilty to a misdemeanor ethics code violation and pay a $5,000 fine.

Those opposed to school choice and its expansion spent $785,513 on mostly negative outside electioneering activities and $217,734 on direct campaign contributions to support current legislators (Table 3). WEAC doled out $841,432 on outside electioneering activities, contributions to other electioneering groups and direct contributions to current legislators. Their spending included $354,763 on outside activities to support Democratic Senator Kathleen Vinehout of Alma, $230,750 in contributions to the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund, $150,000 to Advancing Wisconsin and $83,889 in PAC contributions and $22,030 in individual contributions through its Childrens Great School Fund conduit to three legislative fundraising committees and current legislators.

The Greater Wisconsin Political Fund and Advancing Wisconsin have spent millions of dollars in recent elections on advertising, mailings, canvassing and other outside electioneering activities to support Democratic candidates for statewide office and the legislature.

In addition to WEAC, two dozen local teachers unions contributed $99,174 to current legislators.

Another school choice opponent, the Wisconsin AFL- CIO, spent $58,515, including a $50,000 contribution to Citizens for a Progressive Wisconsin Political Fund, an outside electioneering group which backed the election of Democratic Senator Chris Larson of Milwaukee, and $8,515 in PAC contributions to two legislative fundraising committees and four Democrats who won their elections. Finally, the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators PAC contributed $4,126 in 2009 and 2010 to current legislators.

Table 1

Individual And Political Action Committee Contributions

To Governor Scott Walker And Legislators From School Choice Supporters

2009 – 2010

Name Party Amount

Scott Walker R $125,220

Van Wanggaard R $14,399

Leah Vukmir R $13,250

Terry Moulton R $12,050

Republican Assembly Campaign Committee R $12,000

Committee to Elect a Republican Senate R $7,500

Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee D $7,050

Frank Lasee R $7,050

Roger Rivard R $5,130

Pam Galloway R $4,749

Dale Schultz R $4,400

Joe Leibham R $4,300

Travis Tranel R $4,300

Jim Steineke R $4,300

Tom Larson R $4,250

Erik Severson R $4,050

Kathy Bernier R $4,000

John Klenke R $3,800

Andre Jacque R $3,500

Keith Ripp R $3,300

Mark Honadel R $3,300

Howard Marklein R $3,274

Mary Williams R $3,200

Lena Taylor D $2,925

Spencer Coggs D $2,800

Tom Tiffany R $2,550

John Murtha R $2,450

Alberta Darling R $2,450

Lee Nerison R $2,250

Jason Fields D $2,200

Garey Bies R $2,100

Karl Van Roy R $1,850

Dan Meyer R $1,650

Leon Young D $1,600

Luther Olsen R $1,400

Jeff Stone R $1,375

Amy Loudenbeck R $1,175

Scott Fitzgerald R $1,150

Neal Kedzie R $1,100

Evan Wynn R $1,100

Dean Knudson R $1,000

Jeffrey Mursau R $1,000

Tim Carpenter D $1,000

Randy Hopper R $1,000

Jim Holperin D $1,000

Dale Kooyenga R $1,000

Jerry Petrowski R $1,000

Jon Erpenbach D $800

Robin Vos R $750

Peggy Krusick D $750

Don Pridemore R $600

Bill Kramer R $600

Jim Ott R $550

John Nygren R $500

Warren Petryk R $500

Dave Hansen D $500

Kevin Petersen R $500

Richard Spanbauer R $500

Sandy Pasch D $500

Daniel LeMahieu R $450

Jeff Fitzgerald R $250

Tamara Grigsby D $250

Tyler August R $250

Scott Suder R $250

Barbara Toles D $250

Peter Barca D $200

Jon Richards D $100

Michael Ellis R $100

Josh Zepnick D $100

Rich Zipperer R $100

TOTAL $306,847

Table 2

Individual And Political Action Committee Contributions

From School Choice Supporters To Governor Scott Walker And Current Legislators

2009 – 2010

Name Location Employer/Affiliation Amount

Walmart Stores PAC Bentonville, AR Walmart $39,000

San & Joanne Orr Wausau, WI Bradley Foundation Board of Directors $25,100

Capitol Gains Club (conduit) Madison, WI Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce $22,948

Lynn & Jim Walton Bentonville, AR Walmart $17,450

Dennis & Sandy Kuester Milwaukee, WI Bradley Foundation Board of Directors $17,000

Carrie & Gregory Penner Menlo Park, CA Walmart $16,500

Alice Walton Millsap, TX Walmart $15,600

Susan & William Oberndorf San Francisco, CA SPO Partners $15,250

George & Susan Mitchell Whitefish Bay, WI School Choice Wisconsin $14,500

Dick & Betsy DeVos Grand Rapids, MI Alticor/Windquest $14,050

Richard & Sherry Sharp Richmond, VA School Choice $12,650

David & Julia Uihlein Milwaukee, WI Bradley Foundation Board of Directors $10,000

Milwaukee Police Association PAC Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee Police Association $9,650

Virginia James Lambertville, NJ Retired $9,600

Michael Grebe Milwaukee, WI Bradley Foundation Board of Directors $9,500

Christy Walton Jackson Hole, WY Walmart $9,050

Arthur Dantchik Gladwyne, PA SIG Financial Holdings $9,000

Joel Greenberg Gladwyne, PA SIG Financial Holdings $9,000

Jeff Yass Haverford, PA SIG Financial Holdings $9,000

Concerned Business & Industry PAC Madison, WI Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce $5,499

Howard Fuller

& Deborah McGriff Milwaukee, WI Marquette University/

New Schools Venture Fund $4,025

George Hume San Francisco, CA Basic American Foods $3,500

MMAC Conduit Milwaukee, WI Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce $3,025

John Fisher San Francisco, CA Pisces Inc. $1,675

Ann Brennan Akron, OH White Hat Management $1,400

Metro Milwaukee Association

of Commerce PAC Milwaukee, WI Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce $1,000

Wisconsin Family Action PAC Madison, WI Wisconsin Family Action $800

Milwaukee Professional

Fire Fighters 215 PAC Milwaukee, WI Milwaukee Professional Fire Fighters $500

Jim Blew Valencia, CA American Education Reform Council $350

John Robertstad Oconomowoc, WI Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital $125

Maureen Gallagher Waukesha, WI Waukesha Catholic School System $100

TOTAL $306,847

Table 3

Individual And Political Action Committee Contributions

To Current Legislators From School Choice Opponents

2009 – 2010

Name Party Amount

Spencer Coggs D $39,189

State Senate Democratic Committee D $36,000

Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee D $26,265

Dave Hansen D $17,924

Jim Holperin D $13,150

Robert Wirch D $11,900

Kathleen Vinehout D $5,816

Chris Larson D $4,580

David Cullen D $3,650

Sondy Pope-Roberts D $3,600

Janis Ringhand D $3,550

Janet Bewley D $3,400

Penny Bernard Schaber D $3,300

Andy Jorgensen D $2,650

Committee to Elect a Republican Senate R $2,500

Christine Sinicki D $2,250

Amy Sue Vruwink D $2,000

Gary Hebl D $2,000

Nick Milroy D $2,000

Terese Berceau D $2,000

Louis Molepske Jr. D $1,750

Mark Pocan D $1,750

Kelda Helen Roys D $1,700

Mark Radcliffe D $1,550

Cory Mason D $1,450

Fred Clark D $1,350

Bob Jauch D $1,200

Chris Danou D $1,200

Ed Brooks R $1,200

Brett Hulsey D $1,000

Elizabeth Coggs D $1,000

Frederick Kessler D $1,000

Jason Fields D $1,000

Jennifer Shilling D $1,000

JoCasta Zamarippa D $1,000

Josh Zepnick D $1,000

Tamara Grigsby D $1,000

Tony Staskunas D $1,000

Tim Carpenter D $950

Donna Seidel D $750

Robert Turner D $750

Dean Kaufert R $675

Barbara Toles D $500

John Steinbrink D $500

Jon Richards D $500

Leon Young D $500

Peter Barca D $500

Richard Spanbauer R $500

Sandy Pasch D $500

Jeff Stone R $250

Luther Olsen R $250

Randy Hopper R $250

Steve Kestell R $175

Mark Miller D $160

Stephen Nass R $150

TOTAL $217,734

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Tues May 24, 2011

Between 1980 and 2009, labor productivity increased by 78 percent but:

•The median compensation of 35- to 44-year-old male high school graduates (with no college) declined by 10 percent.

•The median compensation of 35- to 44-year-old male college graduates (without graduate degrees) grew by 32 percent, less than one half as much as overall productivity growth.

•Only the median compensation of 35- to 44-year-old men with post-graduate training came close to labor productivity growth increasing by 49 percent.

The above data from the Employment Policy Research Network noted that such an out-of-sync productivity-wage ration resuled in 1 percent of the population living on 21 percent of the nation's total annual earnings in 2009.

Next, an analysis by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the 10 largest occupations in May 2010 accounted for more than 20 percent of total employment. But here's the kicker: Nine out of 10 of these occupations are relatively low-paying jobs, meaning jobs that paid less than the U.S. mean hourly wage of $21.35.

The analysis by the New America Foundation also notes that the:

two largest occupations were retail salespersons and cashiers, employing 7.6 million people and making up almost 6 percent of total U.S. employment. Cashiers' mean hourly wages were $9.52, less than half of the U.S. mean hourly wage, while retail salespersons earned a mean hourly wage of $12.02.

Meanwhile, attacks by state legislators on public employees' right to collectively bargain for a middle-class life is decimating an avenue that enabled many workers to achieve the American Dream.

All the more reason for the timeliness of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka's message on Friday calling for an independent voice for the labor movement. In a major speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Trumka said the ongoing attacks on working people's rights, new efforts at curtailing voting rights and calls for austerity on the backs of seniors, children and the sick are not just mean-spirited politics. They are the battle lines of a moral challenge for the soul of America.

Right to Work legislation has been returning, like a zombie to NH since the 1980's. It's been rejected every time. This year, with an NH House filled with a huge number of freshman legislators who are allied with the Tea Party, the Free Staters, and even the John Birch Society, the out-of-state special found fertile ground. As Doug reported yesterday, NH Governor John Lynch vetoed the bill that had passed both the NH House and the Senate.

Last month, I wrote about a legislator who was threatened for refusing to vote for right to work. That piece had a link to the testimony of the NH Labor Commissioner before the NH House:

Copadis said he had held meetings with 2,000 New Hampshire businesses over the six years he has been commissioner and the issue of right-to-work legislation never came up.

If no one in NH wanted it - what is this all about?

Former State Senator Mark Hounsell provides some insight in The Keene Sentinel:

I maintain the bill is about union busting from personal experience. In 1985 as a member of the Senate I sponsored right to work legislation. My sponsorship provided me access to the intents and strategies of the Virginia based National Right to Work Committee. The NRW committee believes that if it can pass certain provisions state by state it will effectively cause the demise of unions nationwide.

That's what it's about. Hounsell says it simply, and he should know. He's been on both sides of this issue. He came into it on the side of Right to Work, and learned better along the way. He's been a staunch labor supporter for the last decade. He lays out the realities for NH workers should the veto be overturned very clearly.

If enacted, HB 474 will drive down wages and benefits, and the entire economy will suffer. On average union workers earn 28 percent more in wages and benefits then unorganized workers. On average, women union workers earn 34 percent more in wages and benefits than non-union women workers.

Workers in states with right to work laws earn $5,500 less per year than workers currently earn in New Hampshire.

The speculation has begun about who Speaker O'Brien and the special interest groups will "turn" in order to override the Governor's veto. There's plenty of time for threats and harassment between now and the vote on May 25, and we've seen this group isn't afraid of either.

We'll keep you posted.

Main Street, Thurs May 12 2011

ST. JOHN'S, NL, May 12 /CNW/ - A government-commissioned report examining the 18-month labour dispute at Voisey's Bay is a vindication for all workers in Newfoundland and Labrador.

"Although we are disappointed that anti-scab legislation was not included, the report is the first step in restoring fairness for workers and their families in Newfoundland and Labrador," says Wayne Fraser, Director of the United Steelworkers (USW) union in Atlantic Canada and Ontario.

"The commission's report recognizes that existing law does not deal adequately with collective bargaining problems created when powerful multinational corporations are determined to defeat workers at the bargaining table," adds USW Canadian Director Ken Neumann.

"If these recommendations had been in place prior to our negotiations with Vale, we would not have had an 18-month strike and the economic and social harm suffered by working families and their communities," Neumann says.

The Voisey's Bay workers are represented by the USW. Their struggle for a fair collective agreement included an 18-month strike against Brazil-based Vale, which ended in late January of this year.

The Industrial Inquiry Commission recommends the provincial government adopt new mechanisms to "take account of the need to ensure that (multinational) corporations respond to Canadian labour relations values."

The commission also recommends mechanisms to deal with situations in which collective bargaining is undermined by "the relative economic weight" of one of the parties involved.

"In our view, these recommendations reflect Vale's management style and its insistence on reducing the rights of workers in Canada to match its labour relations standards elsewhere in the world," says Fraser.

The Steelworkers welcome the commission's other recommendations, which call on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to:

- Recognize that mandatory labour-management committees should exist in every workplace;

- Implement interest arbitration as an effective means to achieve a fair collective agreement;

- Ensure Vale and the USW work with aboriginal peoples to ensure all participate and share in the benefits of the Voisey's Bay operations.

"We are pleased with the recommendation to work with the aboriginal peoples - the USW has made efforts in this regard and we will continue to do so," Fraser says.

"We are calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to do the right thing and put these recommendations into law as quickly as possible."

To view the Industrial Inquiry Commission's complete recommendations, visit www.usw.ca.

CNW, Thurs May 12 2011

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Local police and firefighters would no longer be exempted from key restrictions on collective bargaining under a proposed bill.

A bill introduced by Independent Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer of Manitowoc would eliminate collective bargaining rights for public safety employees on health care and pension contributions. The bill does not require employee contributions to health care and pension funds, but would allow municipalities to mandate them.

Ziegelbauer says the bill is an attempt to apply key parts of Gov. Scott Walker's controversial budget repair bill to police and firefighters without "blowing up" the entire collective bargaining process. Ziegelbauer voted for Walker's bill.

Walker's bill curtails collective bargaining rights for most public employees, but exempts police and firefighters. A judge has blocked the law from taking effect.

WBAY.com, Wed May 11 2011