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Home→Tags Labor

Tag Archives: Labor

1/22-23 Weekend Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on January 22, 2022 by BennyJanuary 23, 2022

Sanders: ‘anti-democratic’ Republicans to blame for Biden woes, not just Manchin and Sinema

Bernie Sanders on Sunday sought to turn fire aimed by Democrats at two of their own, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, onto Republican senators he said were “pushing an anti-democratic agenda”.

“Republicans are laughing all the way to election day,” the Vermont senator told CNN’s State of the Union. “They have not had to cast one bloody vote which shows us where they’re at.”

But the Vermont progressive also confirmed that he will campaign against Manchin and Sinema, both Democrats, should they face viable primary challengers.

Manchin, from West Virginia, and Sinema, from Arizona, have blocked Democratic priorities including the Build Back Better spending plan and, this week, voting rights reform.

Their refusal to contemplate reform to the filibuster, the rule which requires 60-vote majorities for most legislation, meant two voting rights bills in answer to Republican attacks on voting in states were always doomed to fail.

On Saturday, Sinema was formally censured by her state party. Sanders said he supported that move. He also confirmed his threat to campaign against Sinema and Manchin in 2024.

“If there was strong candidates prepared to stand up for working families who understand that the Democratic party has got to be the party of working people, taking on big money interests, if both candidates were there in Arizona and West Virginia, yes, I would be happy to support them.”

But, Sanders insisted, “it’s not only those two. It is 50 Republicans who have been adamant about not only pushing an anti-democratic agenda but also opposing our efforts to try to lower the cost of prescription drugs, trying to expand Medicare … to improve the disaster situation in home healthcare, in childcare, to address the existential threat of climate change.

“You’ve got 50 Republicans who don’t want to do anything except criticise the president and then you have, sadly enough, two Democrats who choose to work with Republicans rather than the president, and it will sabotage the president’s effort to address the needs of working families in this country.”

Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, Sanders insisted the Biden administration made “a great start”, in part with a Covid relief bill passed with just 50 votes and the casting vote of Vice-President Kamala Harris, but was now bogged down thanks in large part to Manchin and Sinema.

“The president and the Democratic Congress,” Sanders said, “… looked at the economic crisis that was caused by Covid. We passed the American Rescue Plan … and we also passed along the way the strongest infrastructure bill that has been passed since Dwight D Eisenhower … We were off to a great start.

“And then I will tell you exactly what happened. Fifty members of the Republican party decided that they were going to be obstructionist … and then you had two United States senators joining them, Mr Manchin and Senator Sinema.

“For five months now there have been negotiations behind closed doors trying to get these two Democratic senators on board. That strategy, in my view, has failed. It has failed dismally. We saw it last week in terms of the Voting Rights Act. We now need a new direction.”

Asked if he was frustrated, Sanders told CNN he was.

But, he insisted, “we need to start voting. We need to bring important pieces of legislation that impact the lives of working families right onto the floor of the Senate. And Republicans want to vote against lowering the cost of climate change, home healthcare, whatever it may be. And if the Democrats want to join them, let the American people see what’s happening.

“Then we can pick up the pieces and pass legislation.”

Some Democrats advocate splitting Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan into separate bills, in order to pass what they can.

Sanders conceded that most such legislation will not pass, given Republican obstruction and the machinations of Manchin and Sinema. Bringing bills to the floor, he conceded, would really be about electoral politics ahead of midterms this year in which Republicans expect to take back the House and possibly the Senate, and the presidential contest in two years’ time.

“Once we know where people are at,” he said, “then we can say, ‘All right, look, we have 50 votes here, we have just one vote here, 49 votes here.

“But what has bothered me very much is Republicans are laughing all the way to election day. They have not had to cast one bloody vote, or two, which shows us where they’re at. And we’ve got to change.”

Got some labor news too, including a Bernie tweet.

Join us in the comments. Happy weekend!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged AZ Dem Party, Kroger, Krysten Sinema, Labor, Open Thread, Starbucks

11/18-19 News Roundup & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on November 18, 2021 by BennyNovember 18, 2021

Greetings birdies!

While Democrats gave away all leverage to pass a good BBB bill, one spark of good news on the labor front.

John Deere Workers Approve New Contract, End Strike

The picketers won significant concessions since their strike began in mid-October.

The first contract agreement reached between Deere and UAW negotiators, on Oct. 1, offered immediate raises of 5 to 6 percent, depending on the job, and an additional 3 percent in 2023 and 2025. It also proposed eliminating pensions for new hires. Workers rejected the offer by a wide margin.

The second agreement offered an immediate 10 percent raise and an $8,500 ratification bonus, plus 5 percent raises in 2023 and 2025. Deere workers rejected that one, too, but the vote was closer — 55 percent to 45 percent.

The latest contract made “modest modifications” to the second offer, the UAW said. Workers said those included tweaks to how Deere calculates bonuses for workers who meet production targets.

Kristin Jordan, a 19-year veteran at a Deere combine factory in East Moline, Ill., said she was relieved to see the vote pass.

“I’m exhausted and nervous, but I’m proud of what was accomplished,” she said Wednesday night.

Picketers at other companies have also recently won concessions: striking Nabisco and Frito-Lay employees returned to work after negotiating better terms for pay and working hours.

More news, tweets, and of course, your comments below. This also serves as an open thread. Sure Happy It’s Thursday!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BBB, John Deere, Labor, News Roundup, Open Thread

2/28 Labor News and Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on February 28, 2021 by la58February 28, 2021

Most of it is old news plus a couple other things.

Continue reading →
Posted in Open Thread | Tagged grassroots, Labor, News, Open Thread

11/18 News Roundup & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on November 18, 2020 by BennyNovember 18, 2020

Greetings birdies! A bit of news you won’t see in the NYT today.

Airport Workers Rally for “Healthy Terminals”

Give Thanks, give health care” – that’s the message airport workers will deliver to Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a rally today at noon at LaGuardia Airport.

In July, New York lawmakers passed the Healthy Terminals Act, a bill supporters say would provide some 25,000 terminal cleaners, baggage handlers, security officers and other service workers at New York airports access to quality, affordable health insurance. But the governor still hasn’t signed the bill.

And according to Rob Hill, vice president of SEIU local 32BJ, despite being urged to stay home to slow the spread of the coronavirus, many people will travel for the holidays.

“We know that travel is going to pick up at the same time the pandemic is picking up again,” Hill said. “And these workers are still being asked to work in close quarters inside without health care. And that’s got to get fixed.”

Opponents of the bill say it actually could eliminate jobs by raising costs for airlines already facing huge economic losses due to the pandemic.

But Hill pointed out the airlines got $50 billion in federal relief through the CARES Act and could get more in a second relief package. And without the Healthy Terminals Act, he said, many frontline airport workers won’t have access to health care.

“To the extent employers offer some health care, it’s usually something that has a copay or it’s out of reach for what these workers can afford, and so they generally don’t have it,” he said.

The bill would require airline subcontractors to pay a benefits supplement of $4.54-an-hour so workers can acquire quality health insurance.

Hill noted workers at other airports get similar benefits. And he contends that, if it is left up to employers, the problem of inadequate health care will not be addressed.

“The bottom line is, the only way they’re going to have decent health care is if it gets mandated,” he said. “And there are other cases – LAX airport and San Francisco airport – where they mandate this same kind of thing. So, it’s something that’s been done before that should be done here in New York City.”

Cheap-ass Cuomo. Just in time for the busiest air travel.

More news, tweets, videos, etc in the comments. See you there!

Posted in Activism, News, Open Thread | Tagged Andrew Cuomo, COVID, Labor, NY, SEIU

11/8 Labor News and Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on November 8, 2020 by la58November 8, 2020

Some labor news. Old and new.

Continue reading →
Posted in News, Open Thread, Uncategorized | Tagged Labor

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