[eggplant43]

The theory that the federal government should outsource its operations to private firms usually rests on a simple premise: It saves money. But why should we believe it saves money? Often the argument is made by pointing to salaries for public- and private-sector employees in comparable jobs and noting that the private-sector employees make less. So outsourcing the task to the private worker should be cheaper, right? That’s the theory, at least. But a new study from the Project on Government Oversight suggests that this theory is quite wrong. In many cases, privatizing government turns out to be far more costly.

For its study, POGO decided to do something different than the usual method of comparing public- and private-sector salaries. Instead, the group scrutinized the actual contracts that were awarded to companies for specific tasks and compared them with what it cost the government to do the same job in-house. They looked at 550 contracts — all deemed “fair and reasonable”— across a range of 35 different jobs, from auditors to food inspectors to groundskeepers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...rss=ezra-klein

[poochee]

General Motors, United Auto Workers Reach Agreement On New Four-Year Contract
First Posted: 9/17/11 01:15 AM ET Updated: 9/17/11 11:26 AM ET

DETROIT -- General Motors Co. and the United Auto Workers, sobered by the government bailout and bankruptcy just two years ago, agreed on a new four-year contract without the public acrimony or strikes that have plagued the talks in the past.

Details weren't released, but the union said the deal reached late Friday includes some of its major goals, including improvements in profit-sharing, promises of new jobs and better health care benefits. The deal will serve as a template for contracts that still must be negotiated with Chrysler Group LLC and Ford Motor Co., setting the pay and benefits for 112,500 U.S. auto workers. It also will set the bar for pay and benefits at nonunion auto companies and other industries across the country.

The talks are the first since GM and Chrysler needed government aid to make it through bankruptcy protection in 2009.

"When GM was struggling, our members shared in the sacrifice. Now that the company is posting profits again, our members want to share in the success," UAW Vice President Joe Ashton, the chief negotiator with GM, said in a statement.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_967286.html

[poochee]

UAW Says General Motors Labor Deal Creates Or Keeps 6,400 Jobs
By DEE-ANN DURBIN and TOM KRISHER 09/20/11 02:31 PM ET AP

DETROIT -- A new four-year contract deal between the United Auto Workers and General Motors Co. will add or keep 6,400 jobs in the U.S. with a $2.5 billion investment, the union said Tuesday.

Most workers won't get annual pay raises, but will get at least $12,500 in bonuses, profit-sharing and other payments over the life of the contract.

Union leaders from around the country were briefed on the deal in Detroit in a morning meeting, and they voted to recommend that GM's 48,500 factory workers ratify it. Workers are expected to finish voting on the deal by next Thursday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_972170.html

[poochee]

Inside Amazon's warehouse
Lehigh Valley workers tell of brutal heat, dizzying pace at online retailer.
There is no Union to protect employees.
This is a very long article.
By Spencer Soper, Of The Morning Call
10:34 p.m. EDT, September 17, 2011

Allentown, Pa.— Elmer Goris spent a year working in Amazon.com's Lehigh Valley warehouse, where books, CDs and various other products are packed and shipped to customers who order from the world's largest online retailer.

The 34-year-old Allentown resident, who has worked in warehouses for more than 10 years, said he quit in July because he was frustrated with the heat and demands that he work mandatory overtime. Working conditions at the warehouse got worse earlier this year, especially during summer heat waves when heat in the warehouse soared above 100 degrees, he said.

He got light-headed, he said, and his legs cramped, symptoms he never experienced in previous warehouse jobs. One hot day, Goris said, he saw a co-worker pass out at the water fountain. On other hot days, he saw paramedics bring people out of the warehouse in wheelchairs and on stretchers.

"I never felt like passing out in a warehouse and I never felt treated like a piece of crap in any other warehouse but this one," Goris said. "They can do that because there aren't any jobs in the area."

Goris' complaints are not unique.

Over the past two months, The Morning Call interviewed 20 current and former warehouse workers who showed pay stubs, tax forms or other proof of employment. They offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it's like to work in the Amazon warehouse, where temperatures soar on hot summer days, production rates are difficult to achieve and the permanent jobs sought by many temporary workers hired by an outside agency are tough to get.

Only one of the employees interviewed described it as a good place to work.

Workers said they were forced to endure brutal heat inside the sprawling warehouse and were pushed to work at a pace many could not sustain. Employees were frequently reprimanded regarding their productivity and threatened with termination, workers said. The consequences of not meeting work expectations were regularly on display, as employees lost their jobs and got escorted out of the warehouse. Such sights encouraged some workers to conceal pain and push through injury lest they get fired as well, workers said.

During summer heat waves, Amazon arranged to have paramedics parked in ambulances outside, ready to treat any workers who dehydrated or suffered other forms of heat stress. Those who couldn't quickly cool off and return to work were sent home or taken out in stretchers and wheelchairs and transported to area hospitals. And new applicants were ready to begin work at any time.

Taking advantage of advantage of people desperate for work.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-a...001,full.story

[poochee]

Increasing Union Membership Would Boost Middle-Class Incomes: Study
The Huffington Post Jillian Berman First Posted: 9/27/11 04:26 PM ET Updated: 9/27/11 04:26 PM ET

If the incomes of the union rank-and-file rose by just a tenth, middle-class incomes would go up $1,479 per year -- even for those who aren’t members, according to an analysis of Census data from the Center for American Progress.

DETAILS HERE:.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_983702.html

[poochee]

General Motors Factory Workers Approve New Profit-Sharing Contract
TOM KRISHER 09/28/11 06:31 PM ET AP

DETROIT — Factory workers at General Motors have overwhelmingly approved a new four-year contract with the company that includes profit-sharing instead of raises for most workers and promises thousands of new jobs.

The United Auto Workers union said Wednesday that 65 percent of production workers voted for the deal, while 63 percent of skilled-trades workers such as electricians were in favor. Voting by GM's 48,500 blue-collar workers ended on Wednesday.

GM was the first company to reach a deal with the union, which is now negotiating with Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC. The GM pact is a template for the others, but there will be differences. The deal sets pay and benefits for more than 112,000 auto workers nationwide, and influences pay at foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S., auto parts supply companies and for other manufacturing businesses

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_985853.html

[poochee]

Dave Jamieson
dave.jamieson@huffingtonpost.com
American Worker Super PAC To Back Dems In Latino-Heavy Districts
Posted: 9/29/11 06:12 PM ET

WASHINGTON -- In a sign that unions too are looking to make the most of the Citizens United decision, labor groups on Thursday launched a new super PAC that plans to pour money into efforts to elect pro-labor Democrats in key 2012 congressional elections.

The American Worker PAC will focus its attention on some two dozen elections in 11 states, mostly those in which Latino voters will figure prominently, according to PAC president Chuck Rocha. The super PAC plans to spend as much as $1 million each in individual races in Florida, Texas, California, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona, among other states. It will stress the importance of good-paying jobs, infrastructure investment, and traditional Medicare and Social Security programs.

Rocha said the committee will work with unions and workers' groups to support only the Democrats they deem pro-labor and pro-worker. The group will not devote resources to any candidate who supports the pending trade deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, for instance, or to any candidate who supports privatization or overhaul of Social Security.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_987886.html

[poochee]

Arthur Delaney
arthur@huffingtonpost.com
Civil Rights, Labor Advocates Demand End To Employment Credit Checks
First Posted: 10/11/11 04:32 PM ET Updated: 10/11/11 04:49 PM ET

Using credit histories to screen job applicants, the groups said, can trap the jobless and disproportionately burden black and Latino candidates. They want TransUnion, one of the Big Three credit companies alongside Equifax and Experian, to stop making credit reports available.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is currently suing two companies for reasons related to credit checks, held hearings on the practice last year. "The EEOC is concerned that not hiring people with poor credit may exclude qualified job seekers and some minority groups, and therefore may be discriminatory under civil rights law," EEOC spokeswoman Christine Nazer said in a statement to HuffPost.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1005295.html

[poochee]

Ford workers ratify new contract with UAW
DEE-ANN DURBIN and TOM KRISHER | October 18, 2011 08:27 PM EST | AP

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DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. factory workers have approved a new four-year labor contract that promises profit-sharing checks and billions in U.S. plant investments but keeps the company's labor costs under control.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-w...ct-talks-ford/

[poochee]

Chrysler workers in Indiana approve contract
October 19, 2011 12:38 PM EST | AP

DETROIT — Workers at Chrysler's largest United Auto Workers local have voted in favor of a new four-year contract.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-w...alks-chrysler/

[poochee]

Chrysler CEO Says Company's Two-Class Wage System Has To Go
By BREE FOWLER 10/28/11 03:01 PM ET AP
Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.

The head of Chrysler said Friday that the carmaker's two-class wage system has to go, potentially setting the stage for a fight over wages when all three U.S. automakers and their largest union head back to negotiating tables in 2015.

Sergio Marchionne said Chrysler eventually needs to transition to a one-wage structure and wants to make that happen in its next contract with the United Auto Workers union.

Marchionne said the current system creates two classes of workers, which as more bottom-tier workers are hired will only serve to divide the automaker's blue collar ranks. New workers in the bottom tier make about half as much money as longtime UAW members.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1065131.html

[poochee]

Trumka heads to Ohio before referendum vote
By Kevin Bogardus - 11/07/11 06:00 AM ET

The head of the nation’s largest labor federation is expected at several events throughout the state to help get out the vote to repeal legislation, known as Senate Bill 5, which would curb public workers’ collective bargaining rights, according to an AFL-CIO official. Trumka’s presence in the Buckeye State before the vote Tuesday will garner even more national attention to what has become a crucial test of unions’ political strength heading into the 2012 elections.

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbyi...eferendum-vote

[poochee]

Wisconsin unions encouraged by Ohio vote
SCOTT BAUER | November 9, 2011 12:01 PM EST | Associated Press

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MADISON, Wis. — Democrats and union officials encouraged by voters' rejection Tuesday of an anti-union law in Ohio hope to channel that momentum and money into the next big fight – the effort to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

The drive to recall Walker, a Republican, just a year into his term stems from legislation he backed that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers in Wisconsin. Walker opponents plan to begin next week collecting the more than 540,000 signatures needed to trigger a recall election.

Unlike Ohio, Wisconsin law does not provide for a referendum vote on rejecting the collective bargaining law. Opponents initially targeted state senators who supported the measure and now will turn to Walker.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-w...vernor-recall/

[poochee]

Posted on Thursday, December 1, 2011
Modified Thursday, December 1, 2011
Railroads, unions reach deal to avoid pre-Christmas strike
Curtis Tate McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The nation's freight railroads and two labor unions representing 26,500 railroad employees reached a tentative agreement Thursday to avoid a strike that threatened to halt shipments of consumer goods three weeks before Christmas.

A third union agreed to a 60-day cooling-off period that averts an immediate strike.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/0...h-deal-to.html

[poochee]

Union Rule Changes: National Labor Relations Board Approves New Rules Speeding Up Union Elections
By SAM HANANEL 12/21/11 11:22 AM ET Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- In a win for organized labor, the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday approved sweeping new rules that would speed the pace of union elections, possibly making it easier for unions to gain members at companies that have long rebuffed them.

Business groups quickly denounced the move, saying it limits the time that employers have to educate workers about the impact of joining a union. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have already filed a federal lawsuit challenging the rules.

Unions say the old rules allowed companies to file frivolous appeals, stalling elections for months or years. The new rules could help unions make inroads at businesses like Target and Wal-Mart, which have successfully resisted union organizing for years.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1163258.html